Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-06-18
The Truth About Belgium

BY BRAND WHITLOCK

! soldiers in strange uniforms and
curious caps, but that may have been
the guns borrowed from the Aus
! trians.
We were without news except the
statements posted now and then on
/ the walls by the military authorities,
and about these the Belgians would
gather, and. after reading them,
/ turn away with sneering incredullty.
/ We knew that the Germans were
marching on Paris and we expected
each morning to hear that they had
got there. There were reports that
/ Charleroi had been passed on the
way south; the guns could be heard
no longer in the outskirts of the city
/ The Uhlans, a word that connoted all
| fearful. shuddering things, were said
| to be within forty kilometers or
! Paris. They were always rumors OF
coming relief; one evening came the
/ Countess S., reporting a large
! English army at Vilvorde, which, she
( said, would be in Brussels in the
morning. Within three days the re-
ported English army had swelled TO
! 10000 in number and had advanced
, to Laeken, in the northern SUBURBS
of Brussels and battles were already
/ in progress in the plains west OF the
/ city: they could be seen from the
Palais de Justice. A gentleman OF
my acquaintance came breathlessly
/ TO the legation to say that ne hdu
seen a cavalry charge himself from
! the ramp of the great structure. he
: said if we hurried we might see IL
( Ont then we rushed and gaZed Tar
/ over those plains toward the west, Ill
/ the warm glittering September haze'
! but we saw no cavalry charge, no
! hattie. nothing. l asked the agent
de police standing there gloomlly IN
his kepi and cape; he bad seen noth-
| ing. I asked him why the crowd as
sembled there every day.
I'll ny absolument rien a voir,
Monsieur lie Ministre," he said in re-
greet, 'tous les Bruxellois restent
/ chez euX en- temps de paix sans
! jamais regarder lie beau panorama,
mails depuis la guerre la rampe de la
! terrace est toujours occupee dune
/ foule enorme." ('There is absolute
! ly no hing to see, Monsieur Minister;
all the people of Brussels stay at
/ home in times of peace without ever
/ looking at the fine panorama. but
since the war the stairway of the
/ terrace is always filed with an enor-
nous crowd.")
Hunger Comes to Belgium
Then we began to note a new phe-
nomenon, new at least in Brussels
women begging in the street. Hun
| ger, another of wars companions,
had come to town. l had the visit
of group of citizens asking me to
have food imported from England.
But how was l or any one to import
it? Bourgomaster Max asked Villa
lobar and me to come to see him, and
we went. He wished us to be patrons
of a relief committee that was being
organized to provide food for the
poor Of the city; the situation was
desperate. We agreed to act as
patrons of the committee of distin-
guished Belgian citizens, at the head
of which was Mr.. Ernest Solvay, the
kindly old Belgian millionaire, who
has made an immense fortune by the
"Solvay Process" which he invent
ed. / have but the haziest notion of
what the "Solvay Process" is, for sci
entific processes are but mysteries to
me, but ] did know that he had de-
voted his fortune in great measure
to the poor; had endowed institu-
tons; the popular school in the Pare
\ Leopold bore his name. He was a
modest little man of simple manner
and attire, with a kindly gray-beard-
ed face. and blue eyes that were
filled with sympathy and pity. He
was at the head of the committee
that met that first morning in Sep
TENDER there in the Burgomaster' s
cabinet at the Hotel de Vile; he and
other wealthy men had given liberal
ly and were to provide food for the
poor of the city. Villalobar and
were there in our capacity as patrons
and another notice was soon posted
on the walls of Brussels announcing
this new charity, or this new justice
or attempt at justice.
We did not know then, VillalobaI
and /. Just what it was all so soon to
lead to; we gave our names, little
dreaming what tremendous draughts
il was to make on our sympathieS
and on all that we had of tact and
diplomacy, nor how it was to weld
our friendship.
General Won Luttwitz had told us
one afternoon, Villalobar and me
that a new governor general was
coming. some famous victorious
Pacha from Turkey; he would install
civil government and show Bel
gians how to govern. A civil govern
ment. The Germans we're to have
passed through Brussels in three
days; and they had been there fol
three weeks, gradually spreading out
over all the ministries and very much
at home. And now they were goins
to install a civil administration. II
had a somewhat too permanent, If moi
ominous, sound!
Brussels was perturbed for his
coming and the manner of 1T might
have its effect on the fate of Belgium
There was a word on everybody's lips
that no one dared to pronounce; die
it mean-did it instrumentation?
The Arrival of Won Der Goltz
The victorious Pacha duly arrived
to be followed later by whole regl
ments of functionaries. 1t was the
old Field Marshal Baron Won de-
Goltz. | had word that the field
: marshal would call on me formally
: on Thursday, the Sd, in the after
noon. So then on that day, prompt