Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-11-29
(Conttnued from Last Issue)
rha nChomeursD Arc Seized

The "Chomeurs" Are Seized
This. then, was the denouement,
the end of all those efforts put forth
by the Germans and so often frus-
trated. to inquire into the charity
distributed by the Comite National
and to obtain the lists of those to
whom it was given. The chomeurs,
we called them, and no reproach at
tached to the term, for their unem-
ployment was not due to their in
dolence, but to the invasion and to
the patriotism that resisted the in
vasion. Il was these chomeurs whom
the Germans were Selling.
Ii was not difficult to imagine the
effect of such proceedings on the re-
liefs The next courier from Eng
either the deportations or the relief
work cease. And then? 1t was q
sober and discouraged group that
met tina. afternoon, but we could DO
no more just then than to wait Won
der LAX EMS return from Berlin in
the hope, rot very strong, that he
would bring some sort o. good news,
and, in the more likely event that
the news wls bad, to prepare to pro-
test.
The press-gang was not new In
sti.utiOn in the zone OF operations.
1t mad been at work in Lille. in Rou-
baiX and in Tourcoing, as early as
June, 1915, where the civilians had
been forced to weave stuff and tC
make sacks for use in the trenches.
had seen the correspondence be-
tween tho GerT ans and the Mayor
of Lille. More than a hundreds
mayors and leading manufacturers
Of that Industrial center of the north
OF France had been arrested and sent
TO Germany for having refused to
aid the Terplans in their press: and
knew Of a retired manufacturer
81 DsNrNh pI ~
was locked in a bathroom Tor twelve
6ays-and he was i'll at the time
simply because he refused to use his
moral influence" 10 compel his
former employees to work.
But this was in the war zone and
we were long since peyono, surprise
at anything the militaires did there.
But now it was the military district,
and there were instances of it in the
occupation district. Thus it began,
this Kidnapping, this shanghaiing.
this crimp4ng, in those remote and
obscure hamlets which knew so
many more horrors than the cities
ever knew, because there the officers
were supreme, under no supervising
eye. Since in the German system
there are no equals. but only SUI
periors and interiors, so that every
man Is covering, before the man
above him and bullying the man be-
low, they could work their brutal
and irresponsible will as they chose.
Prowling thus III far and hidden cor
ners OF the land, they bounced upon
their helpless prey, rounding slowly,
stealthily in on the larger cities, re-
serving Brussels and Antwerp for
the last.
The stories of the seizures. with
details of a cruelty and brutality
the like of which one could recall
only vaguely out of the memory OF
- Il RI frT-
ers in the African jungle, came up
to Brussels from the provinces. and
after the first dazed incomprehension,
the early skepticism, there was Il
rage and indignation far beyond that
produced by the earlier atrocities.
These, as l have said, had seemed
to be accepted by the people in q
kind of dumb fatalism, as they might
have accepted some vast and appal-
ling cataclysm in nature. But this
deed. with it's monStrouS and cynical
cruelty. perpetuated upon a cultivat-
ed people, in the year of our Lord
1916, at q moment in the history Of
the world when, despite all it's dis
illusions. it believed human slavery
no longer possible on any OF it's
continents, created a rage that was
black, iEplacable. remorseless, a
hatred that found its savage inten-
sity deep down in the primeval in
imagined, much less seen. any hui
man motion compare BILE to tt; hone
never to have to look upon the like
again. 1t transformed the faces of
men I knew; they grew hard. dark.
stony. until a livid hue Of passion
lit them up, and then their Dyes
blazed. their jaws were set. and>they
could find no wo~ds to express their
'oathing of this foulest deed commit
ted by man. or that hatred of the
men who Committed It.
L'esrlavaee!" they would say. with
a harsh. rasping voice.
"L'esc1qvagei" And they would re-
peat: "L'esclavage"
And sometimes tears would start
20 their ewes. tears at their own Inn
N0tence I'm the passionate and terrible
longing for revenge.
Won der Lancken's Message
Baron Won der Lancken returned
from Berlin with the result that we
had expected: there was nothing to
he done. The German military au-
thorities were adamant. determined
to go through with 1t at all hazards.
even if it put an end to the relief
work
That week. for the second time
since the slave-drive had begun, the
delegates OF the c. r. &. came in
from the province for their regular
meeting. shaken by the scenes they
had witnessed. Tuck, Richardson
md Osborn came to tell me of it.
Four thousand had been seized at
Client. and Tuck had stood by the
bridge at Mons and watched long
trains Of cattle-cars go under it,
many of them Nppen to the sky.
crowded with Belgian miners. AS
they went they sang La Braban-
come" and La Marseillaise" The
people gathered in crowds on the
h1sT6 loo 49, s,es
potatoes. anything and all they had:
the chomeurs seized these raw
vegetables and ate them ravenous-
", like animals. The crowd Joined
in their cries. the single German
sentinel on the bridge running about
n Il nlcr. L., L. 81