Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-11-29
:: The Truth About Belgium ::
BY BRAND WHITLOCK

cry OHG O1 the uEAC6dlCS 4AeAd SOAA4G
such tale to tell; they were half
sick with the horror of it, but they
had rendered all the help they could,
even when that help was only the
sympathy they could not refrain
from expressing.
enth of October, a day of cold rain
and wet leaves falling disnlally. At
o'clock in the afternoon we went
to the political department, the Mar
quiS of Villalobar, NJ. van Nollen
hoven, NJ. Francqui, NJ. Emanuel
Jansen and I, were met by the Bar
on Won der Lancken and by DR..
Brohn and DR.. Reith. Before taking
up the question of the deportations,
Won der LancHen, opening the meet
ing in his formal way, asked DR..
Reith to read us a letter just writ
ten by the governor general and ad-
dressed to the protecting ministers,
according what we had asked at our
latest interview with him, reprSen-
tatIon on the various Zentrale, and
more stringent control. The letter
was satisfactory to us, and after we
had discussed some OF the details,
the baron said that he wished to de-
fine the attitude of the general gov
eminent in regard to the chomeurS.
We Discuss-and Discuss
It was very still in the little sa-
Ion; we had made the formal pro-
by the handicapped table, began
his reply by saying that in Germany
the old men and the women I'd the
children were working in the fields,
while in Belgium there were seven
hundred thousand idle folk, more
than half of them men for the most
part young and capable OF working.
His eXceilency, the governor general,
had twice, publicly and officially, Of
fered work 10 the chomeurs. but it
had been refused; now, because of
the lack of labor in Germany, the
general government was determined
to force these Belgians to so to
work. The general government, he
said, felt that it had not only the
legal, but the moral, right to do this;
that iGleness WIS always menace,
and that If the war continued year
or two longer, these men would lose
the habit of work completely. They
would, therefore, be transferred TO
Germany-somc ter thousand had
already been sent-where they would
be set to work in the fields. in the
quarries, and elsewhere, but that
not one of them would be compelled
TO work for the army or for any
military purposes whatever.
He paused a moment. with a wide,
exculpating gesture as of one VINO
admits some trifling exception. and
said:
Il do not say that not one of them
will work on a rail over which a
military train may pass. but
The decision had been made; there
would be no resembling of ii. DR..
; Brohn, who was a director in the
Krupp works, remarked that there
were hundreds of Belgians working
the Krupp works, but not in the
munitions department. But, said
one of us, some Belgians had been
set to work making trenches in
YanrfIarTl ESr4nnR this the Baron
denied: no Belgians, he said. had
| been employed at such labor save
those who had como voluntarily and
asked for work, though he did admit
that some of them had been employ
ed on the new foTtifications at Ant
werp.
Then Villalobar and / by turns
called the baron's attention to the
storm that the reports OF the seizures
would produce in the world outside,
and asked him IL they had consider
ed the effect The measure would nave
on the relief. The baron replied
that the Comite National and the
Commission for Relief would be re-
spected. and that the engagements
entered into with them would be
would not ask the Comite National
for the list of chomeurs. though
he would ask and would insist that
no family of a Belgian taken away
be punished by having food taken
Then we called his attention &c
the state Of affairs in LuxemOurg
There were no chomeurs in the
province OF Luxembourg, the COM
munes had undertaken public WORKS,
bridges, town halls. dltcnesIany;
justifiable Improvement that might
tighten the needs Of the people. But
The German civil president had or
dered all this construction dlscOn-
t!nued, he had even gone so far as
to prohibit workmen living in one
commune to go into nelgnoorIR M
communes in search of work Or.
Reith replied for the baron. saying
that these public works had been
undertaken after the Germans had
called for workmep. which was
doubtless accurate enough, since the
Germans had begun calling Tor WORK
men almost Immediately after the
occupation. and that the Belgian au-
thoritieS had inauSurated these VOTES
in order to defeat the German plan
to secure manual labor.
It was a long and futile discus
sion: one after another we brought
up all the objections that so readily
occurred to the mind. but to no avail.
There was once more that lmpreg-
nable impasse, that magic phrase
military necessity: meSsleurs les
militaires had pronounced it, and
that closed all debate. Baron Won
der Lancken shrugged his shoulders
to show that he was powerless and,
besides, he had not been in favor or
the policy originally. The discus
sion went on. was interminable. and
at last despairing.
The discussion fraying out into
those vain and idle repetitions that
mark the end of most conferences.
some one, Villalobar, I believe, asked
Iancken to state once more the Of
fetal German position with regard
to the relief work-he had alreadv
stated it five or six times, and the
Baron, emphasizing each word with
a blow of his fist on his knee, said:
1--WE rest and we shall rest on
our rights: we respect and We shall
respect our engagements; we shall
: IL Ln1nrncrirnor To the