Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-11-22
Continued from Last Issue)
Erathc In Rice

GraInc IN R4Ce
There was for q time - opera
zion what almost amounted to Sys-
TEN for the purchase OF rice. The
Belgians had not generally eaten
rice before the wal, they ulu nol
like it. and when the &. +. j.. I'M
ported II ana the L, y. distributed ,
IL. ta,y sold their minuc lationS
to- AGENTS who went about the coun-
lry ard smas! towns. And mus pa
tiently the agents collected. as one
might say. 3 grain 1T time, ana
so made up stocks which they solo
10 the brokers. They would have
stocks @muEgie1 into Brussels, SOLO
more or less clandestinely on the
curb. and the broker would scnd
cart to their hiding place at night
German soldiers aided in the
smuggling that went on at the
frontier, as it goes on at all iron,
tiers There were certain inns ana
out-of the-way cabaretS where the
smugglers and the soldiers ana rem
ecadeS Of all sorts met IL comraue-
shin. with the cigars or othef lux
urieg that had been brought through
the electric WirS by the counlVance
of the soldiers, and there dlNlueu
the spOilS Soldiers, too, used 10 so
TO The farms with large baskets ana
tr,- to buy eggs or chickens. and the
OcasauyS were afraid to send them
away empty-handed .
There was an additional incentive
to smuggling in the fact That II was
forbidden by the Germans to trans
nCrt food from one commune 10
another. 1t was always gong on
with Brussels or Antwerp as the
goal and final market. women ana
Young girls from the QUARTER des
MaroIliens would go out INTO the
country and slip back into town at
81 lNa farm
Droduce-butter, potatoes or hour.
Thev passed the soldiers on sentry
duty by giving them rev narks'
AID son, etimeG 50 the GOsslpS SAID
the sentrIes eXacted a payment OF a
nature somewhat more deEcate anu
with With the German army seizing
so many horses, Belgium was for
long time a paradise Tor Morse
traders, who, with the versatile
adaDtability that seems to dlstln-
guish the horse trader everywhere
in the world, profited by the sltua-
ton. For a Ions time they work
ed i'm conjunction with certain Ger
man officers said TO be susceptible
TO brides, and when farmers
horse had beer seized or requlSi-
toned by the Germans, the trad
crs went to console the proprietor
by selling him another.
II is not 4 pretty story, and its
incidents were made possible by
the vast dupleXity and intrlcacy OF
the German system that Strangled
all trade and commerce and by the
evil inherent in the times. NOT
all the German officials nor all the
German SentineiS were corrupt All
through that summer SmuSgle r3
were stalking through the FoFre5
dc SoiGnCS. Juggling their potatoes
into the city; at Quatre Bras ana
the trans that came in from Ter
vueren. soldiers were searching
the women for produce and then
herding them off to prison. And
now and then a SmuggleT fieeln@
wildly from them would be shot
down dead in his tracks.
The young men of the G. II. y.
could tell the story in more en-
tightening detail than / can. for
they were in daily contact with its
unfolding. They came to have
greater understanding Of German
methods, too, and they must rave
expressed it in their gay, youthful
way in the song they composed in
that affectionate fun they were al
ways having with the qu2ndam
Mexican Charge dos AfIaireS Her
maucito Bulle, the chorus of which
ran:
"When Bulle is the King CT Mexico.
Wen have good positions,
And live on acquisitions,
When Bulle is the King CT Mexico"
It was, therefore, not alone with
differing soldiers that the relief
work had 10 contend. it was. with
an army OF corrupt officials. brok-
crs. spectators, smugglers, knaves
Of al sorts who were trafffciling in
the misery and suffering of the
land. We did our best but we could
not overcome with any means at
our command the willy efforts of
such Il band: even old Won Kissing.
strive how he would, could not
thwart them. They we're arrested
OH our constant and reiterated COM
plants, and punished by the Ger