The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-07-11

OFF APPROPRIATIONS
Report of German Disregard Of
Human Rights on File in
State Department.
OVERWHELMED WITH HORROR
Minister to Belgium Declared II Was
Difficult to Write Calmly and Justly
In View Of the Huns Gratu.
itous Cruelty.

III vtVvV w Nv EbGuo
itous Cruelty.
Facts concerning the deportation
of Belgians and the forced labor er-
torted by the Hun" military lead
ers, which ercited the indignation of
the civilized World, have been thus
officially set forth:
The plan of setting forth the essen
tial facts Of the deportations and
forced labor Of Belgians is set forth
| by the committee on public informa-
| ton as follows: the documents, that
Is to say, a small fraction of those
which Gould be cited, tell the story, and
only such comments are added as are
needed to enable the reader to easily
| grasp the connection Of events.
1.-THE d~eportations . were the
most vivid, shocking, convincing, single
happening in all u enforced observa-
ton and experience Of German dis
regard Of human suffering and human
| rights in Belgium."-vernon Kellogg
In Atlantic Monthly, October, 1917.
A summary of the whole situation,
down to January, 1917, can be OBJ
tanned by reading continuously the re-
| port of Minister Whitlock, taken from
| the files of the state department. This
tells Of the brutality Of the deporta-
tons.
Legation of the United States Of
America, Brussels, Jan. 16, 1917.
1.-THE Honorable, the Secretary Of
State, Washington.
"Sir: I have had 1t in mind, and I
might say, on my conscience, since
the Germans began to deport Belgian
workmen early ip November, to pre-
pare for the department a detailed
| report on this latest instance of bru-
tally, but there have been so many
obstacles in the way Of obtaining evil
| dence on which a calm and judicious
| opinion could be based, and one Is
so overwhelmed with the horror Of the
| thing itself, that 1t has been, and v
now Is, difficult to write calmly and
Justly about 1t. have had to content
myself with fragments of dispatches
I have from time to time sent to the
department and with doing what I
| could, little as that can be, to allevi-
ate the distress that this gratuitous
cruelty has caused the population Of
this unhappy land.
Whltloek Opposed Belgian Idea.
"In order to understand fully the
situation, II Is necessary to go back to
| the autumn Of 1914. At the time we
we're organizing the relief work, the
| Comite Matchmaking Belgian relief or
g~anization that collaborates with the
| commission for relief In Belgium
| proposed an arrangement by which
the Belgian government should pay
to its own employees left in Belgium,
and other unemployed men besides,
the wages they had been accustomed
| to receive. The Belgians wished, to
| do this both for humanitarian and pa
| triotic purposes; they wished to pro-
vide the unemployed with the means
| of livelihood. and, at the same time,
| to prevent their working for the Ger
mans. I refused to be connected In
any way with this plan, and told the
| Belgian committee that 1t had many
| possibilities Of danger; that not only
| Would 1t place a premium on idleness,
| but that 1t would ultimately exasper-
| ate the Germans. However, the policy
was adopted, and has been continued
IN practice, and on the rolls Of the
| Comite National have been borne the
names Of hundreds of thousands
some 100000, l believe-of idle men
receiving this dole, distributed through
the communes.
1.-THE presence of these unemployed,
however, was a constant temptation
to German cupidity. Many times they
sought to obtain the lists Of the cho-
meurs, but were always foiled by the
claim that under the guarantees COW
ering the relief work, the records OF
the Comite National and its various
suborganizations were immune. Rath-
err than risk any interruption of the
ravitaillement, for which, while loath
to own my obligation to America, the
Germans have always been grateful,
since 1t has had the effect of keeping
the population calm, the authorities
never pressed the point, other than
with the burgomasters Of the com
munes. Finally, however, the mill
tary party, always brutal, and with an
astounding ignorance of public opin-
ion and Of moral sentiment, deter
mined to put these idle men to work.
General Won Kissing and the civil
portion of his encourage had always
been and even now are opposed to this
policy; and ! think have sincerely done
what they could, first, to prevent Its
adoption, and secondly, to tighten the
rigors of its application"
German Promises Worthless.
In the early days Of the German ad-
vance into Belgium, the people had
learned to fear the worst. This was
particularly true in Antwerp. In or
der to alleviate their fears and to OBJ
tain guarantees which might hasten
the restoration Of settled conditions,
Cardinal MERCER secured from the
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