The Carlisle independent., 1918-01-10
Urged That lnhuman Deporta- tions Be Stopped Because of
 Effect on NeutraIS.
GERARD SUMS UP SITUATION
"Germans Will Stop at Nothing, anu the Only Thing They Respect Is rorce" Huns Capacity for
 Cruelty Told by Whitlock.

depOrtdt1onS 0t the pe0pte ID Bel giun and France, socialist deputies in tue reichstag protested against the continuance of the practice. Am basSador Gerard'S evidence ShoWS the ertent of tue horror.
 In the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of December ?, 1916, the fol | lowing protests against the deporta- 1 ton of Belgians to work in Germahs appeared, made respectively, by So- cialist Deputy Haase and Deputy Ditt- mann, members of the reichstag: "Thousands of workmen in the oc cupied territory have been compelled to forced labor; we earnestly ask the government to restore to these work men their liberty, especially in Bel | gium. In truth, we (the Germans) find no sympathy in neutral countries; even the pope has made protest against this procedure, and several neutral states have done the same. Common sense itself demands that we abandon this procedure which moreover is in | opposition to the Hague convention to | which we have agreed"
 "In opposition to the secretary of state, I must recall that when former l ly the Belgian workmen who had fled to Holland returned to Belgium, Gov ernor General von Bissing promised that these Belgian workmen would un- der no circumstances be deported to Germany This reassuring promise has not been kept"
 Ambassador Gerard's interesting tes- timony appears in his recent book: Ambassador Gerard's Evidence.
 The president (during my visit tt America in 1916) impressed upon me ms great interest in the Belgians de 1 ported to Germany. The action of Ger many in thus carrying q great part of the male population of Belgium into virtual slavery had reused great indig l nation in America. As the revered | Cardinal Farley said to me few days before my departure You have to go | back to the times of the MedeS and | the Persians to find like example of a whole people carried into bondage
 "Mr. Grew had made representations about this to the chancellor and, on my return, immediately took up the | question.
 "I was informed that it was mili tary measure, that Ludendorf had | feared that the British would break through and overrun Belgium and that the military did not propose to have q hostile population at their backs who might cut the rail lines of cOmmunl cation, telephones and telegraphs, and that for this reason the deportation had been decided on. I was, however. told I would be given permission to visit these Belgians. The passes, nev- | ertheless. which alone made such visit ing possible were not delivered until few days before left Germany. BeIgans Forced to Make Munitions
 Several of these Belgians who were put to work in Berlin managed to get away and come to see me. They gave | me a narrowing account of how they had been seized in Belgium and made to work in Germany at making muni tions to be used probably against their own friends.
 "I said to the chancellor, There are Belgians employed in making shells contrary to all rules of war and the Hague conventions' He said, I do not believe It. I said, My automobile is at the door. I can take you. in four minutes, to where 30 Belgians are working on the manufacture of shells But he did not find time to go. Americans must understand that the Germans will stop at nothing to win this war, and that the only thing they respect is force" e."-James W. Ge- rard My Four Years in Germany, 19l., pp. 3951-52
 A similar point of view is expressed in an article entitled "Vae Victis" from the Hungarian newspaper News zawa of Budapest Quoted in K. G. Os- siannilsson, Militarism at Work in Bel gium and Germany, 1917, pp. 53-54.)
 Mixed Hungarian Opinion.
 Mechanical skill, and especially qualified mechanical skill, is for the moment more important factor than usual, and as 1t must be obtained where it can be obtained, Belgium has
 
 had to suffer in accordance with the old saying which always holds good Vac victis (woe to the vanquished). In Poland mechanical skill and the armc which exist there are mobilized under the glorious and fortunate ban ners of Poland in Belgium under the banner of necessity"
 "... The question remains: for what kind of work will the Germans use the Belgians? 7. every kind of work in Germany is war work, wheth- CT it is called agricultural or indus trial work. AS the deported Belgians have not given their consent. their use is contrary to international law, and the policy of the Germans in Belgium and Poland is equally to be deplored. Instead of aiming at bringing us near ] CT peace, 1t serves to embjtter OFT op-