The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1918-01-10

manu-. ne - Nuiu " llAht fElNitlAth
Won Blssing's policy as too milI there
was a quarrel; Won BissIng went to
Berlin to protest, threatened TO resign,
but did not. He returned, and a Ger
man official here said that Belgium
would now be subjected to a more ter
rible reglme-would learn what war
was. The prophecy has been vindicat-
ed. Recently / was told that the dras-
tic measures are really of Ludendorf's
inspiration; do not know. Many Ger
man officers say so."
II Won BIsslng 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.. F. c. Wal
colt:
81 went to Belgium to investigate
conditions, and while there l had op-
portunity to talk one day with
Governor General Won Bisslng, who
died three or four weeks ago, a 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 a mans
heart undergoes when 1t becomes
stepped in that system,
II said to him, Governor, what are
you going to do If England and France
stop giving these people money to pur-
chase fOodP
Won 5issInu Relied on Starvation.
"He said, We have got that all
worked out and have had it worked
out for weeks, because we have ex-
pected this system to break down at
any time
"He went on to 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,
"It 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 G. 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.
"The depOrtations began in October
in the Etape, at Ghent, 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 in
Brabant, even in Brussels, despite
some indications and even predictions
Of the civil authorities that the policy
was about to be abandoned.
1.-THE 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 Tournai. The remainder of the Oc-
cupied part of Belgium was under
civil government
PitiabIe and Distressing Scene.
During the last fortnight men have
DpOH IIuDECSSSu IClC III III uhoSi'' ONe
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
nouncement of the intention to deport,
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 one
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 1,5OO men or
dered to present themselves at the
Care du Midi about 75O responded.
These were examined by German ply
sicans and 800 were taken. There
was no disorder a large force OF
mounted Uhlans keeping back the
crowds and barring access to the sta
ton 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 q loaf of bread, and some of the
communes provided warm clothing for
those who had none and in addition a
small financial allowance. AS by one
Of the ironies of life the winter has
been more excessively cold than Bel
GUM has ever known 1t, and while
many of those who presented them
selves were adequately protected
against the cold, many of them were
without overcoats. The men shiv-
ering from cold and fear, the parting
from weeping wives and children, the
barriers of brutal Uhlans, all this
made the scene a pitiable and dis
tressing one.
"It was understood that the seizures
would continue here In Brussels, but
on Thursday last, a bitter cold day,
-