Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-11-22
=: The Pruth About Belgium =:
EY BRAND WHITLoCK

mans; thcy were arrested and prose
Cutcd by The Belgian courts, they
we're pursued by the department {.
inspection and control of the CON-
mission. under the direction of Mr.
Joseph Green; but it was like con
tlGinS with the rising tide OF the
sea.
Fer such dark, subterranean sys-
TENS OF corruption there IS no cure
anywhere but in the Illuminating IL
tiuencc of publicity. and with conG.-
tion@ rs they were in Belgium !:
was impossible TO le- IN the purllE
IL antISeptic light. We struggled
III despair. but we could never OBJ
tain. as far as the native foods
were concerned, the results we were
so proud of in the case of the i'm
Ported food products. The loss n
these was small fraction OF one
per cent; no business anywhere
could show such Il result, no govern
ment could conduct its custom
houses with such near approach 10
perfection. That was due, of course,
to the fact that the imported foods
{. f. +. or the {. y. until they
went into Belgian StOmachs. but We
despaired of ever producing such
iCeal results with the native prod
ucts. which we never touched and
could not control
Again and again we made repre-
Sent& lions as to the abuses TO be
attributed to the Zentrale. There
were in the German administration
those who did not hesitate privately
to recognize their evil, and in the
limited circle where such things
| were known, they became a scandal.
| but nothing was done, arc und9i
the civil administration new Zen
trale were constantly organized.
There was somewhere some occult
power stronger than the apparent
authority that ruled. som2. hidden
spring of government which We
could not reach. much less dislodSe.
What made it all the more diff
cult was that the Germans were IN
bad temper as the result of the
battle on the SOmme and the adj
vance of the British tTops, whose
distant unceasing drum fire we
| could always hear. The Germans,
indeed, were discouraged with the
! situation of their armies; never be.
fore in fact, had they considered
themselves so nearly beaten, prob
| ably never before were they so
nearly beaten. Won Hindenburg, :
was said, had been in Belgium and
had criticised Won Kissing, charac-
terzinG his reign as too lenient,
and urged new rigors. The city
should be closed at o'clock in the
evening. all citizens of countries at
war with Germany should be placed
in detention camps, and, worst OF
all, there was the first suggestion
of that monstrous cruelty, the de-
portatiOn as salves of Belgian work.
men. There was a quarrel between
the two, and Won Kissing had huT-
ried off to Berlin to protest against
| HindcnburgS interference. 1t was
| at the moment when the military
party in Germany was getting the
upper hand; Won Tirpitz was clam
| oring. the reopening of the sub
marine war was being urged; Won
! Bethmann-Holl was lettering 70
his fail; his speech in the reichStag,
warlikc as it was, did not satisfy
J the mad warriors into whose hands
Germany was more and more con-
fiding her destinieS.
| Now Belgium will learn what
was is said one of the Off at
! headquarters. with what seemed al
! most like a personal satisfaction in
I the prospect.
! The world was looking dark
| those early October days. The low
! gray skies. the leaves falling in
amp mSSseg, the cOalG wind blOwin mig
| in from the sea, gave a melancholy
! tone to nature that accorded well
! with the sadness in the heart OF
man. The conditions of life were
| more and more difficult; prices of
! necessities had increased to eXtrava-
/ giant proportions. But more than
| all else. there was some PRESENT.
lnent IN the air, the portent of some
vague. unknown and monstrous
| catastrophe. German submarines
had appeared in American waters;
the controversy begun by the blow
/ ing Up of the Lusitalia would not
down.