Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-12-17
:: The Truth About Belgium 3:
BY BRAND WHITLOCK

Alost, crowded IN a shed used TO
ury hops: there were 400 OIL tnem.
Each OF them had couch of straw
two inches thick, and a space OF two
meters long by 6Ity-hve cenIlmeterS
wIde-that would be about seven teet
by two feet. In this space they had
TO eat and sleep and to receive any
body who came by chance 10 see
them. Each OF these beds, said the
man. gave the spectacle of man
inpossible 20 describe" He gave
me an example of what he meant
There was Il young man who had
been lying there i'll tor two DAYS, IN
a violent crisis of asthma. lie uau
been cared for by u charitable woman
or the town, but now he had no medl-
car care. For two days he had been
imploring air-asthma, with 4bi men
crowded in a hop-drier. The man
saw him lying there gasping horri'
bly. and went out to see the Ger
man kommand3nt. The kommandant
merely remarked that the military
doctor was doing his duty. AT
o'clock the man went back TO see the
sick man, and found that he hau
not vet received the visit of any doc
tor few days later the man with
the asthma died.
The MAYER of Maeseyck, in the
nroyince of Limbourg, was ordereo
bv the German authorities to give q
list of the unemployed registered az
the Meldeamt. He replied that ne
had no such list. and referred the
Germans TO Judge Stiels, president
OF the local relief committee, y
branch of the Comite Rationale. NJ
Stiels answered that the committee
could not furnish such list until after
consultation with the patron, mi Ms
ters of the Comite National. Inc
representative of the German au-
thorities replied that if the lists Were
not Immediately handed over ne
would arrest NJ. StlelS. and IN Tue
face of this threat NJ. Stiels deliver,
eu the lists of unemployed uescIloCu
at the Meldeamt.
In The communes of Quevaucamps,
Grandglise, Betton, Beloel and Attn,
i'm the province of Hainault, the
Germans demanded OF the mayors
the lists of unemployed IN lhelr 10
calities, ordering that they be group
ed in four categories, according 70
their trades. The mayors applied
tn the local committees OF the Com
lite National TO secure these hSts'
hut these committees uniformly re-
fused TO give them. ,,,,
The same thing was going on IN inc
district of Courtrai. There the Ger
man authorities had asked the burso-
masters to furnish the lists OF uu-
employed: the burgomasterS IN gen
cral refused TO give any inIoFmdIloh
whatsoever. In some cases the Ter
man authorities took the lists Dy
force: in others the committees were
NOT y,oIested A thousand men,
some already employed and others
unennIoved. were seized and sent TO
work. The men were ordered TO take
with them clothing and eiteCts
amounting to the value of two nun
bred francs. and were PROMISED
wage of about seven cents aay'
I have told these stories, selected
almost at random from the mass that
we've related at the legation. as
nearly as possible as they were tod
to me, even with the occasional repe-
tition they may contain. They EeLe
and I have no doubt that the reader
will have experienced, as L nave
experienced in reading them over
again. a certain disappointment; or
IL not that a vague regret. that there
were not more details.