The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-28
The First Thousand Slaves.

The seventeenth OF October was A dav
of dun sky that grew dark as he af-
terhoon wore on. The lagHard guns
sounded louder than ever, as II 10 show
that while they could not advance, or
do anything else. they could make more
noise, reiterate their one argument in a
heavier voice, Vernon Kellogg, Of the
g. K. B., nnA ! were playing truant.
We had run away from the gloomy le-
cation with it's reCollections OF sorrow
and tragedy and Care and we were to
meet at Ravenstein 10 lunch alone and
' talk about the things OF a world that
once had been, Of a world we some
times feared could never be again. He
came driving up to the terrace, and the
smile he usually wore was gone from
his pleasant Countenance; in its place
was the adumbration Of evil things.
And then he told me;
In Flanders the Germans had forcibly
seized between POO and 1,40O men and
carried them off to Germany to work In
the mines.
] remembered then the speech Of
Helfferich In the reichstag a few DAYS
before, in which he had DECLARED that
the time had come when the empire
must force the men in the occupied
territories to work. And | recalled the
repeated conferences with reference to
the unemployed, the Chomeurs, as they
are called, that inCessant p"reoccupation
Of the Germans, a subject to which they
mad returned again and again with the
naggtng persistence that characterized
them. Once they had an idea in their
ing it.
! was hardly surprised; not that I eX-
peoted precisely this, but the Germans
had tried every other means they could
think OF to compel the chomeurs 10
work, and as they put all their trust in
| fOFnA fhHV NpnFa mot taffnp4 T., a-....--4
or discussion--a waste of time, they
felt, II one has the power to take what
one wants. Thus they added slavery
TO their creed, rounding it out and max
Ing, Il symmetrical and complete.
n new policy was co~inCidental with
the coming Of Hindenburg to the west
ern front; 1t was the work OF the mill
tary clique and they gloried In It openly.
the first fruit of the policy which was
to teach Belgium what war is" as the
threat had been at the time OF linden
burgs visit. The policy had not as yet
been applied to the occupation district.
Won Kissing was said to be opposed to
Il. and Won der Lancken had gone to
Berlin to induce the government, II pos
sible, not to apply such measures to
their jurisdiction.
We were having our biweekly meet
Ing the following day to discuss the
relief work, and we talked of little else
''ifh "ANNA alNO Nilhl AliS APPROPRIATIONS,
to employ the euphemism by which the
slave drive became known. DR.. Kellogg
by that time had details based on the
reports Of the delegates of the G. r. b
who had just come into Brussels for
their weekly meeting, Demands to
work for the German army were being
made on unemployed and even on m
ployed men, not only in the Belgian mil
itary districts, but In the territory of
the general government itself, as In
Luxembourg and in the Hainault. In
Luxembourg the Germans had actually
issued orders that certain public works,
undertaken by the Belgian civil author
tiles Of the province or tho communcs
IN order to provide work for the unem-
ployed, should be discontinued. and fur
Their orders were given to the effect that
the men thus thrown out OF work were
not to be employed by private persons.
The men had then been invited by the
German military authorities to work for
them, and when they refused they had
been seized by force. And already we
at the legation had been informed that
men had been taken to Liege, Dinant
and Nerviers. Thus, despite the gov
ernor-general and before LanCken could
go to Berlin, the policy was already In
vogue in the occupation district.
In Journal demands to work for the
military authorities had been made on
large numbers of men, and when the
men refused, they had been informed
In camps as prisoners and put on bread
and water. The ration of bread issued
TO them was fixed by the military au-
thorities at $50 grams per person per
day. The relief organization had been
ordered to furnish this bread, but was
not allowed to provide for any part OF
the regular r%ations, such as bacon, lard,
peas and beans. There were, besides,
numerous instances Of demands made
by the military authorities on the loca.
committees Of the relief organization
for lists Of the unemployed. the ex
pressed intention being to use these
lists as a means OF determining what
men should be impressed Tor labor In
the service Of the German army; anC
the civil authorities who had refused tc
give these lists had already been ar.
rested and deported to Germany.
These acts constituted an inrractior
of the agreement with regard to tn,
forcing Of labor, not only the agreement
In The Hague conventions II one eveI
thought of citing them any morc-bur
the undertaking in regard to the relic.