The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1918-05-15
WHITLOCKS,STORY.
OF DEpORTATIONS
Report of German Disregard of
Human Rights on File in
State Department.
OVERWHELMED WITH HORROR
Minister to Belgium Declared II Was
Difficult to Write Calmly and Justly
In View of the Huns Gratu-
itous Cruelty.

UCto COf1COibT0y uto UopOf tUttOU
of Belgians and the forced labor er-
torted by the "Hun" military lead
ers, which ercited the indignation of
the civilized world, haze been thus
officially set FORTH:
The plan of setting forth the essen
tial facts of the deportations and
forced labor of Belgians is set forth
by the committee on public informa-
ton as follows: the documents, that
is to say, a small fraction of those
which could be cited, tell the story, and
only such comments are added as are
needed to enable the reader to easily
grasp the connection of events.
'"The deportations were the
most vivid, shocking, convincing, single
happening in all our enforced observa-
ton and experience of German dis
regard of human suffering and human
rights in Belgium" Kellogg
in Atlantic Monthly, October, 1917.
A summary of the whole situation,
down to January, 1917, can be OBJ
tanned by reading continuously the re-
port Of Minister Whitlock, taken from
the files of the state department. This
tells of the brutality of the deporta-
tons.
Legation of the United States Of
America, Brussels, jan 16, 1917.
"The Honorable, the Secretary Of
State. Washington.
"Sir: I have had it in mind, and I
might say, on my conscience, since
the Germans began. to deport Belgian
workmen early in November, to pre-
pare for the department a detailed
report on this latest instance of bru-
tally, but there have been so many
obstacles in the way Of obtaining evil
dence on which a calm and judicious
opinion could be based, and one is
so overwhelmed with the horror of the
thing itself, that it has been, and even
now is, difficult to write calmly and
justly about it. have had to content
myself with fragments Of dispatches
I have from time to time sent to the
department and with doing what I
could, little as that can be, to allevi-
ate the distress that this gratuitous
cruelty has caused the population Of
this unhappy land.
WhitIoek Opposed Belgian Idea.
SIN order to understand fully the
situation, it is necessary to go 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 it's own employees left in Belgium,
and other unemployed men besides,
the wages they had been accustomed
to receive. The Belgians wished to
/ do this both for humanitarian and pa
! triotic purposes; they wished to pro-
vide the unemployed with the means
Of livelihood, and, at the same time,
to prevent their working for the Ger
mans. + refused to be connected in
any way with this plan, and told the
Belgian committee that it had many
possibilities of danger; that not only
would it place a premium on idleness,
but that it 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, believe-of idle mer
receiving this dole, distributed through
the communes.
"The presence of these unemployed
however, was a constant temptation
to German cupidity. Many times they
sought to obtain the lists of the cho
meurs, but were always foiled by the
claim that under the guarantees GOV
ering the relief work, the records Of
the Comite National and its variou!
suborganizations were immune. Rath
er than risk any interruption of thu
ravitaillement, for which, while loatf
to own any obligation to America, thu
Germans have always been grateful
since it has had the effect of keeping
the population calm, the authoritie
never pressed the point, other thai
with the burgomasters Of the com
munes. Finally, however, the mill
tary party, always brutal, and with al
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 Away
been and even now are opposed to thi
policy, and I think have sincerely don
what they could, first, to prevent 1t
adoption, and secondly, to tighten tn
rigors Of its application"
German Promises Worthless.
In the early days of the German ad
, vance into Belgium, the people ha
learned to fear the worst. This wa
particularly true in Antwerp. In OF
der to alleviate their fears and to OF
tain guarantees which might haste
the restoration of settled conditions
Cardinal MERCER secured from tn
; German government at Antwerp prom
ises, and In circular letter dated o.
; tober 10th. 1914, asked the clergy Q