Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-01-10


cary sum to complete the amount Of
10000 francs imposed by you upon
Sissonne.
"As sovereign prince, / wish to
deal in this matter with the sovereign
who, during Is years, called me his
friend and has decorated me with the
Order Of the Knight of the Black
Eagle.
"My conscience and my dignity
place me above fear, as also my per-
sonal will shall elevate me above re-
gret; but should you destroy the
Chateau de Marchais, which is one of
the centers of universal science and
charity, should you reserve to this
archaeological and historical gem the
treatment you have given to the Ca
thedral of Retms--when no reprehen-
sible action has been committed there
the whole world will judge be.
tween you and myself.
ST tender to your excellency the ex.
preston of my high regard.
"LBERT, Sovereign Prince Of Mon.
AGO." 4
Deportations and Forced Labor. !
Until the present war the whole civ.
ilized world has boasted of its advance
in humanity. This advance has been
marked in many fields, and in none
had greater progress been made than
in the protection to be given to the
private citizen in an invaded country.
AS far back as 1868, in the s'Instruc-
ti6ns for the Government of Armies
of the United States in the Field"
the United States declared:
s23. Private citizens are no longer
murdered, enslaved, or carried off to
distant parts, and the inoffensive in.
dividual is as little disturbed in his
private relations as the commander
of the hostile troops can. afford to
grant in the overruling demands of
vigorous war.
'.24 The almost universal rule In
remote times was, and continues to be
with barbarous armies, that the pri.
vate individual of sthe hostile country
Is destined to suffer every privation
of liberty and protection, and every
disruption of family ties. Protection
was, and still is with uncivilized peo.
pie, the exception"
Reversion to earbarism.
These declarations were made In the
midst of our Civil war-one of the
worlds fiercest conflicts. A half-cen.
: tury later, after more. than 80 years
of progress, the German government
i he's gone, bacls tog the methods used
by "barbarous. armies" and ..unciv.
ilized people" 1t has deliberately
adopted the policy of deporting men
and women, boys and girls, and Of
forcing them to work for their cap.
tors; 1t has even compelled them tc
make arms and munitions for use
against their allies and their own flesh
and blood.
No other act of the German govern
ment has aroused such horror and de-
testation throughout the civilized
world. Thousands of helpless meE
and women, boys and girls, have been
enslaved. Families have been broken
work--or worse-in a strange land
and their relatives have not known
where they have been taken, Or what
their fate has been.
This system of forced labor and de.
portation embraced the whole of Bel.
glum, Poland and the occupied lands
Of France.
WhitIock's Story of Horrors.
In less moving phrases, but in dead.
ly cOrroboration, the continuation OF
the report Of Minister Whitlock says:
"The rage, the terror, and despair
excited by this measure all over Bel.
GUM were beyond anything we had
witnessed since the day the Germans
poured into Brussels. The delegates
of the commission for relief in Bel.
glum, returning to Brussels, told the
most distressing stories of the scenes
Of cruelty and sorrow attending the
seizures. And daily, hourly almost
since that time appalling stories have
been related by Belgians coming te
the legation. 1t is impossible for us
to verify them, first because 1t is nee
essary for us to exercise all possible
tact In dealing with the subject al
| all, and secondly because there is nc
means Of communication between the
Occupations-Gebie and the Etappen
Gebiet. Transportation everywher.
in Belgium Is difficult, the vicina
railways scarcely operating any more
because Of the lack of oil, while al
the horses have been taken. The peo
| pie who are forced to go from on,
village to another must do so on foo
or in vans drawn by the few miser
able horses that are left. The wagon
Of the breweries, the one institution
that the Germans have scrupulousl,
respected, are hauled by oxen.
One of FouIest Deeds in History.
The well-known tendency of sensa
tional reports to exaggerate them
selves, especially in time Of war, an,
In d situation like that existing here
with no newspapers to serve as a dali
clearing house for all the rumors tina
are as avidly believed as they ar
eagerly repeated, should Of course b
considered; but even If modicum o
all that Is told is true there still re
mains enough to stamp his deeds a
one Of the foulest that history records
II am constantly in receipt of re
ports from oil over Belgium that ten
to bear out the stories one constantl
Il =, 80 n