The Snowflake herald., 1918-07-12

says: (On file in state department)
'Then, in August, Won Hindenburg
was appointed to the supreme COM
mand. He is said to have criticized
Won Bissing's policy as too mild; there
was a quarrel; Won Bissing went to
Berlin to protest, threatened to resign,
but did not. He returned, and Ger
man official here said that Belgium
would now be subjected to a more ter
rible regime-wOuld learn what war
was. The prophecy has been vindicat-
ed. Recently I was told that the dras-
tic measures are really of LudendOrfs
inspiration do not know. Many Ger
man officers say So"
If Won Bissing had opposed the pol
icy of deportation when his own Judg-
ment was overruled, he consented to
become the "deviPs advocate" and de-
Tended the system in public. Espe-
cially instructive is the following con-
versation reported by Mr.. f. G. Wal
colt:
81 went to Belgium to investigate
conditions, and while there had op-
portunity to talk one day with
Governor General Won Bissing, who
died three or four weeks ago, a man
seventy-two or seventy-three years
old, a man stepped in the SYSTEM
born and bred to the hardening of the
heart which that philosophy develops.
There ought to be some new word
coined for the process that a mans
heart undergoes when 1t becomes
stepped in that system.
ST said to him, Governor, what are
you going to do if England and France
stop giving these people money to pur-
chase foOdY
Won Bissing Relied on Starvation.
'He said, we have got that all
worked out and have had it worked
out for weeks, because we have ex-
pected this system to break down at
any time
"He went on to say, Starvation will
grip these people in thirty to sixty
days. Starvation is a compelling force,
and we would use that force to compel
the Belgian workingmen, many of
them very skilled, to go to Germany
to replace the Germans, so that they
could go to the front and fight against
the English and the French
"'As fast as our railway transpor-
tation could carry them, we would
transport thousands of others that
would be fit for agricultural work,
across Europe down into southeastern
Europe, into Mesopotamia, where we
have huge, splendid irrigation works.
All that land needs is water and 1t
will blossom like the rose.
""The weak remaining, the old and
the young, we would concentrate oppo-
site the firing line, and put firing
squads back Of them, and force them
through that line, so that the English
and French could take care of their
own people,
'It was a perfectly simple, direct,
frank reasoning. 1t meant that the
German government would use any
force in the destruction of any people
not it's own to further its own ends. =
Frederick G. Walcott, in National Geo
graphical Magazine, May, 1917.
A brief general view of the character
of the deportations can perhaps be
gained best from the report of Minis
ter Whitlock.
"The deportaHons began In October
in the Etape, at Client, and at Bruges,
as my brief kilograms indicated. The
policy spread; the rich Industrial dis
tricts of Hainault, the mines and steel
works about Charleroi were next at
tackled; now they are seizing men in
Brabant, even in Brussels, despite
some indications and even predictions
of the civil authorities that the policy
was about to be abandoned.
1.-THE etapes were the parts of Bel
gium under martial law, and included
the province of western Flanders, part
of eastern Flanders, and the region
of Journal. The remainder Of the oc-
cupied part of Belgium was under
civil government
PitiabIe and Distressing Scene.
"During the last fortnight men have
been impressed here in Brussels, but
their seizures here are made evidently
with much greater care than in the
provinces, with more regard for the
appearances. There was no public an
nouncement of the intention to depOrt,
but suddenly about ten days ago GER
tain men in towns whose names are
on the list of chOmeurs received sum-
mons notifying them to report at one
of the railway stations on given day
penalties were fixed for failure to re-
spOnd to the summons and there was
printed on the card an offer of employ
ment by the German government, Ell
ther in Germany or Belgium. On the
first day out of about 1,500 men or
dered to present themselves at the
Care du Midi about 750 responded.
These were examined by German ply
sicians and 300 were taken. There
was no disorder, a large force of