Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-07-05

could, little as that can be, To nllevi-
ate the distress that this gratuitous
cruelty has caused the population of
this unhappy land.
Whitloek Opposed Belgian Idea.
ain order to understand fully the
situation. IL is necessary tn 10 back To
the autumn of 1914. At the time we
were organizing the relief work, the
Comite National-the Belgian relief or
ganization that collaborates with the
commission for relief In Belgium
proposed an arrangement by which
the Belgian government should pay
to Its own employees left In Belgium,
and other unemployed men besides.
the wages they had been accustomed
to receive. The Bclgians wished to
do this both for humanitarian and pa
trlotic purposes they wished to pro-
vide the unemployed with the means
of livelihood and, ut the same time,
To prevent their working for the Ger
mans. | refused To he connected In
any way with this plan, and told the
Belgian committee that II had many
possibilities of danger; that not only
would II place premium on idleness,
but that II would ultimately exasper-
ate the Germans. However, the policy
was adopted, and has been continued
In practice, and on the rolls of the
Comite National have been borne the
names of hundreds of thousands
some 100000, I belleve-of idle men
receiving this dole distributed through
the communes.
1.-THE presence of these unemployed,
however, was constant temptation
! to German cupidlty. Many times they
sought to obtain the lists of the cho-
meurs, but We're always foiled by the
claim that under the guarantees COW
ering the relief work, the records or
the Comite National and Its various
suborganizations were immune. Rath-
or than risk any interruption of the
ravitaillement for which while lOath
to own any obligation to America, the
Germans have always been grateful,
since ID has had the effect of keeping
the population calm, the authorities
never pressed the point, other than
rnunes. Finally. however the mill
tary party, always brutal, and with an
astounding ignorance of public opin-
ion and of moral sentiment deter
mined to put these idle men to work.
General Won Kissing and the civil
portion of his encourage had always
been and even now are opposed to this
a \ S,tp aIxr
what they could first, to prevent its
adoption. and secondly, to tighten the
rigors of Its application"
German Promises Worthless.
In the early days of the German ad
vance into Belgium, the people hat
learned to fear the worst. This was
particularly true in Antwerp. In or
der to alleviate their fears and to OBJ
tain guarantees which might haster
the restoration of settled conditions
Cardinal MERCER secured from tn,
German government AT Antwerp prom
ises, and I'm circular letter dated DC
tOber 18th, 1914, asked the clergy o.
the province of Antwerp to communi
cate them to the people:
1.-The governor of Antwerp, BaroI
, Won Hoiningen, General Won Huene
has authorized me to inform you I'm hi!
name and to communicate by YOU
obligng intermediary to our popua
tions, the three following declara
tions:
"O The young men need not feal
being taken to Germany, either to b'
enrolled into the army or to be EN-
plOyed at forced labors.
"(2) II individual attractions of pc
lice regulations are committed, tn,
authorities will institute search fol
the responsible authors and will pun
ish them without placing the respon
sibility on the entire population.
"(3) The German and Belgian au
thorities will neglect nothing to see
that food Is assured to the popula
ton"
These promises were not kept, al
Cardinal MERCER and his colleagues
show by abundant evidence in the ZAP
peal to Truth"
"On March Odd, 1915 at the arsena
~ AS''''N NV ''ih BoSt
cd notice demanding return to work
On April Dist, 200 workmen We're call
, ed for. On April 9th soldiers wen
to fetch the workmen from thei
homes and take them tn the arsenal
In the absence of II workman, mem
Der of the family was arrested.
, Workmen Imprisoned on Trains.
However the men maintained thei
!, refusal To work, because they wer
unwilling to cooperate in acts OF wa
against their country
son May 4th, "A workmen detalne
In prison at NiveleS were tried u
Mons by n court-martlal, 'on the charg
of being members Of secret societ!
:, having for its aim to thwart the carr!
ing out of German military measures
They We're condemned to imprisoI
l. ment.
= "On May sth, 1915, AZ workme
were shut up In freight car an
taken to Germany
son May Nth, 45 men were depor
ed to Germany.