The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-11-07
uments which follow illustrate Belgian
appeals and German answers.

"In the matters of the requisition
made by the German authorities on Oc-
tober 20, 1915 (requisition Of a list of
workmcn to be drawn up by the mu-
nicipality)
"The municipal council resolves to
maintain its attitude Of refusal.
ut further feels 1t Its duty to place
or record the following:
"The city of Journal Is prepared to
submit unreservedly to all the exigen-
cies authorized by the laws and GUS
toms of war, Its sincerity cannot be
questioned. For more than two years
1t has submitted to the German occu-
patton, during which time II has lodged
and lived at close quarters with the
German troops, yet 1t has displayed
perfect composure and has refrained
from any act of hostility, proving
thereby that It Is animated by no idle
spirit of bravado.
"In his declaration dated September
2, 1914, the German governor general
Of Belgium declared: 4 ask none to
renounce his patriotic sentiments
"The city Of Journal reposes con
idence in this decoration, which it is
bound to consider as the sentiment of
the German emperor, In whose name
the governor general was speaking. In
accepting the inspiration of honor and
patriotism, the city is loyal to a funda-
mental duty, the loftiness of which
must be apparent to any German Off
GER.
"The city Is confident that the
straightforwardness and clearness of
this attitude will prevent any misun-
~derstanding arising between itself and
the German army"
Answer Is Lecture and Fine.
journal, 23rd October, 1915.
"In permitting itself, through the
medium of municipal resolutions, to
oppose the orders of the German mill
tary authorities in the occupied ter
rltory, the city is guilty of an
pied arrogance and of a complete mis-
understanding Of the situation created
by the state of a
"The clear and simple situation is
In reality the following:
1.-THE military authorities order the
city to obey. Otherwise the city must
bear the heavy consequences, as l have
pointed out in my previous explana-
tons.
"The general commanding the army
has inflicted on the city-on account
of Its refusal, up to date, to furnish
the lists 1emanded-a punitive con
tribution of 100000 marks, which must
be paid within the next six days, be-
ginning with today. The general also
adds that until such time as all the
lists demanded are in his hands, for
every day in arrears, beginning with
December 81, 1916, a sum of 10000
marks will be paid by the city.
HOPPER, Major General,
"Etappen-K ommandant."
The Commission Syndicate of Bel
gian workingmen also attempted to in
duce the German authorities to aban-
don their terrible plans.
Reeited Wrongs Of Workmen.
Commission Syndicate of Belgium,
Brussels, Both. Oct, 1915.
ITO the Governor General Of Belgium.l
"Excellency: The measures which
are being planned by your admins
tration to force the unemployed to
work for the invading power, the de-
portation of u unhappy comrades
which has begun in the region Of the
etapes, move most profoundly the en-
tire working class In Belgium.
"The undersigned, members and rep
resentatives Of the great central So
cialist and Independent syndicales of
Belgium, would consider that they had
not fulfilled their duty did they not ex-
press to you the painful sentiment
which agitate the laborers and convey
to you the echo of their touching COM
plants.
"They have seen the machinery
taken from their factories, the most
diverse kind of raw materials requisi-
toned, the accumulation Of obstacles
to prevent the resumption Of regular
work, the disappearance one by n of
every public liberty of which they were
proud.
"For more than two years the la
boring class more than any other has
been forced to undergo the most bit
ter trials, experiencing misery and
often hunger, while its children far
away fight and die, and the parents
of these children can never convey 70
them the affection with which their
hearts are overlooking.
Pathetic Appeal O~isreearded.
sour laboring class has endured
everything with the utmost calm and
the most impressive dignity, depressing
its sufferings, Its complaints and heavy
trials, sacrificing everything to its
ideal of liberty and independence. But
the measures which have been an
nounced will make the population drain
the dregs (of the cup) of human sor-
row; the proletariat, the poor upon
whom unemployment has been forced,
citizens of a modern state, are to be
condemned to forced labor without
having d~isobeyed any regulation or
order.
"In the name of the families of
workmen among which the most pain
full anxiety reigns at present, whose
mothers, whose fancees, and whose