The Carlisle independent., 1918-01-10

ward us amongst the neutrals. Many times and more and more we have had occasion to observe that the neu- trals show more sympathy for Bel gium than for any other belligerent."
 Old Men and Boys Taken.
 The news dispatches indicate that the deportation and forced labor of Belgians still continue. In a dispatch from Havre (New York Evening Post, September 13, 1917) it is stated: "The removal of the civilian population of Belgium continues, according to ad- vices received here. The town of Rou- lers, immediately behind the battle line in Flanders, has been evacuated completely. Ostend is being emptied gradually, and two thousand persons already have been sent from COurtrai." In another dispatch from Havre CWashington Post, September 24, 191O 1t is stated that the German military authorities at Bruges, Belgium, are conscripting forcibly all the boys and men of that city between the ages of AONA tSNAA anu HlAly lO NOih III nun N4Cii factories and shipyards. The rich and poor, shopkeepers and workmen, all are being taken, only the school teach CTS, doctors, and priests escaping
 German Officer Rebuked Men.
 The following "Order of the Day" shows how the town of Huy escaped the fate of so many Belgium and French towns. Drunken German sol diers were frightened and began to shoot men and burn houses The commanding officer condemned this be- cause it was not done by his order and because two German soldiers were wounded. It is evident that massacres and arson were permitted only when commanded by the officers.
 Last night a shooting affray took place. There Is no evidence that the inhabitants of the towns had any arms in their houses, nor is there evidence that the people took part in the shoot ing; on the contrary, 1t seems that the soldiers were under the influence of alcohol, and began to shoot in a sense less fear of a hostile attack
 '"The behavior of the soldiers during the night with very few exceptions, makes a scandalous impression.
 ''It is highly deplorable when officers or nOncommissioned officers set houses on fire without permission or order of the commanding or, as the case may be, the senior officer, or when by their attitude they encourage the rank and file to burn and plunder.
 "The miserable behavior of the men caused a noncommissioned officer and a private to be seriously wounded by German bullets.
 MAJOR VON BASSEWITZ."
 Report of Minister Whitlock.
 "One interesting result of the depor- tations remains to be noted, a result that once more places in relief the German capacity for blundering, al- most as great as the German capacity | for cruelty. Until the deportations were begun there was no intense ha- l tired on the part of the lower classes, i. e.. the workingmen and the peasants. lllc Olu 1cl Ol llIt LII III had been quartered in Flemish homes 1; | they and the inmates spoke nearly the same language; they got along fairly we'll they helped the women with the work, the poor and the humble having none of those hatreds of patriotism that are among the privileges of the upper classes. It is conceivable that aich ir,h hou existed under German rule; 1t was Teutonic in its origin and anti-French always. But now the Germans have changed all that.
 "They have dealt a mortal blow to any prospect they may ever have had of being tolerated by the population of Flanders; in tearing away from nearly every humble home in the land a husband and q father or a son and brother they have lighted fire of hatred that will never go out; they have brought home to every heart in the land, in a way that will impress it's horror indelibly on the memory of three generations, realization of what German methods mean, not, as with the early atrocities, in the heat of passion and the first lust of war, but by one of those deeds that make one despair of the future of the hu- man race. deed coldly planned, studi- ously matured, and deliberately and systematically executed, a deed so cruel that German soldiers are said to have wept in it's execution. and so monstrous that even German officers are now said to be ashamed.
 "WHITLOCK." Mir. Hoover's Conclusions. MT. Hoover's mature conclusions on