The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-02-08

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 Kissing 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 more ter
ribIe regime-would learn what war
was. The prophecy has been vindicat-
ed, Recently | was told that the dras-
tie measures are really of Ludendorfs
inspiration: I do not know. Many Ger
man officers say So"
If Won Kissing had opposed the pol
Icy of deportation when his own judg
ment was overruled. he consented TO
become the devils advocate" and de
Tended the system in public. Espe-
cially instructive Is the following con
versation reported by Mr. +. c. Wal
colt:
Il went to Belgium to investigate
conditions and while there | had 0p-
pOrtunity to talk one day with
Governor General Won Kissing. who
died three or four weeks ago, 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 mans
heart undergoes when 1t becomes
stepped in that system.
81 said TO him. Governor. what are
you going to do If England and France
stop giving these people money to pur-
chase fOodY
Won Kissing Relied on Starvation.
"He said. we have got that all
worked out and have had 1t worked
out for weeks. because we have TX
pected this system to break down at
any time
HE went on 10 say. Starvation will
grip these people in thirty to sixty
days. Starvation Is 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
GAS 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 ii
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
at was a perfectly simple direct
| frank reasoning. 1t meant that the
German government would use any
force in the destruction of any people
not its own to further its own ends. -
Frederick c. 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.
1.-THE deportations 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 Selling men i'll
Brabant, even in Brussels. despite
some indications and even predictions
% the civil authorities that the policy
was about to be abandoned.
GThe etapes were the parts of Bel
GUM 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
Pitlable 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
1,
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 enc
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 1900 men or
dered to present themselves at the
Care du Midi about $50 responded
These were examined by German ply
siclans and 300 were taken. There
vas no disorder large force of
mounted ChlanS keeping back the
crowds and barring access to the sta
tiOn to all but those who had been
summoned to appear. The commits
sion for relief in Belgium had secured
permission to give to each deported
man n loaf of bread and some of the