The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-28
The "Chomeurs' Are Seized.

AAC NAO14lC uIS hIS 6SAAcu.
This. then, was the denouement, the
end of all those efforts put forth by the
Germans and so often frustrated, to in
quire into the charity distributed by
the conite national and to obtain the
lists Of those to whom 1t was given.
The chomeurs, we called them, and no
Teproach attached to the term, for their
unemployment was not due to their in
dolenCe. but to the invasion and to the
patriotism that resisted the invasion.
II was these chomeurs whom the Ger
mans were Selling.
1t was not difficult to imagine the
effect Of such proceedings on the re-
liefs, The next courier from England
would bring a demand that either the
deportatiOns or the relief work cease.
And then? 1t was a sober and dis
couraged group that met that after
! noon, but we could DO no more just
then than to await Non der Lancken's
return from Berlin in the hope, not very
strong. that he would bring some sort
OF good news, and, in the more likely
event hat the news was bad, to pre-
pare to protest.
The press-gang was not a new instt-
tuition in the zone Of operations. 1t
had been at work in Lille, in Roubalx
and in TOurcoing, as early as June,
1915, where the civilians had been
forced to weave stuff to make
sacks for use In the trenches; I had
seen the correspondence between the
Germans and the mayor Of Lille. More
than a hundred mayors and leading
manufacturers of thar industrial CEN
ter of the north Of France had been
arrested and sen to Germany for haV-
ing refused to aid the Germans in their
press; and I knew of a retired manu-
faCturer owning a factory at RoubaiX
who was locked in a bathroom for l2
days--and he was Ill at the time
simply because he re:used TO use his
moral influence to compel his former
employees to work.
But this was in the war zone and
we were long since beyond surprise at
anything the militaires did there. But
now 1t was the military district, and
there were Instances of ii in the ocCu-
patton district. Thus It began, this
kidnapping, this shanghaiing, this crimp-
ing, in those remote and obscure ham
let's which knew so many more hor-
rors than the cities ever knew, because
there the officers were supreme, under
no supervising eye. Since In the Ger
man system there are no equals, but
only superiOrs and inreriors, SO that
| every man Is covering before the man
above him and bullying the man be-
low, they could work their brutal and
irresponsible will as they chose, Prowl.
Ing thus in far and hidden corners Of
the land, they pounced upon their help
less prey, rounding slowly, stealthily in
on the larger cities, reserving Brussels
and Antwerp for the last.
The stories Of the seizures, with de-
tails of u cruelty and brutality the like
Of which one could recall only vaguely
out of the memory of tales, long since
read, of e~drivers in the African
jungle, came up to Brussels from the
provinces and after the first dased in
comprehension, the early skepticism,
there was n age n indignation far
beyond that produced by the earlier
atrocities, These, as I have said, had
seemed to be accepted by the people
In u kind of dumb fatalism, as they
might have accepted some vast and
! appalling catacylsm N nature. But this
deed. with its b1onstrous I'M cynical
cruelty, perpetrated upon q cultivated
people, In the year Of our Lord 1916,
at a moment In the history of the
world. when, despite all It's disillusions,
1t believed human slavery no longer
possible on any of its continents, cre-
ated "A rage that "a black, implacable,
remorseless, a hatred nat found its
savage intensity deep down in the
primeval Instincts of the race. I had
never imagined, much less seen, any
human emotion comparable TO 1t; hope
never to have to look upon the like
again. It transformed the faces of
men | knew they grew nard, dark,
stony, until a livid hue of passion liz
them up, and then their eyes blazed,
their jaws were set, and they could
find no words to express their loathing
Of this foulest deed committed by man.
or that hatred Of the men who com
mitted il.
"L'esclavage"" they would say, with
a harsh, rasplng voice.
"L'esclavage!' and they would de-
peat: "L'esclavage!"
And sometimes tears would start ia
their eyes, tears at their own impotence
in the passionate and terrible longing
for revenge.
Won der Lancken's Message.
Baron von der Lanckeu returned from
Berlin with the result that wO had OK.