Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-01-03
Continued from hast 1suue)

pOTLdLlOuS, anu we u4SCuSScu them
sadly, hopelessly;. every day, despite
the assurances, despite the cards of
exemption that had been issued, we
had reports that men connected with
the C. N. and the c. r. B. had been
seized-two hundred and fifty of
them in the province of Luxembourg
alone. Protests were becoming al
most ludicrous.
Most intolerable Of all, we were
hearing constantly of the cruelties
done to the deported "chomeurs." The
one bit of good news was in the
word 1 had had from Mr.. Hoover in
London to the reassuring effect that
the British government would not
cause Of deportations.
1--WE have weathered that storm"
he wrote, and the time seemed to
me suspicious to attempt to do
something practical to produce some
amelioration, and to have sent back
to Belgium those who were not "cflo-
meurs."
The president had sent to Berlin
a protest against the impressing of
workmen in Belgium, expressing the
ment took in the Belgian civil pop
ulation, and, by some unusual lib
crafty, this protest was allowed to
appear in the newspapers at Brus-
sells, with the response of the gen
eral government.
With this as a basis, and consid-
ering the conversation had had with
the Baron Won der Lancken, in which
he had said that any "inJustlces'
would be corrected, we thought to
for reparation might be filed by the
families of those deported, and where
if there seemed to be some reason
that might appeal to the authorities,
these might be forwarded to the gov
ernor general in the hope that some
of them at least might be rescued
from the slave compounds in Ger
many and brought back home.
Thousands of requests for such &C
ton were already pouring into the
legation and we had been at a loss
what to do with them; thousands.
doubtless the same thousands, had
been sent to the Spanish and to the
Dutch legations and to the nunc1a-
ture, and working thus separately /
felt that we should be at cross pur-
poses, and that by the conseque 1,5
duplication of demands the very, END
Of the work might be frustrated.
I undertook, then, to have the
three legations act in common and to
establish one bureau where all the
requests might be sorted out by
CLERKS ana dClSQ upOll' oDSA'I NAS''
avow at once that I failed.
There seemed to be other con-
siderations Of more Importance than
the rescue Of human slaves in the
twentieth century-or of more I'M
could bring TO bear-considerations
which it might be ungenerous to
mention here.
I had to give it up and we Or
gained a bureau of our own; The
requests were so numerous that. I
street from the legation and in
stall there a corps of clerks. And
so there was a Spanish bureau and
a Dutch bureau and other bureaus
under other neutral flags There
were no means of publicity in Bel
GUM. as I trust have shown, but
the news spread and the requests
came pouring in. and we did Whar
we could through the effort proved
verv ineffective.
Later in the midst of our own
perplexities, when all diplomatic re-
lations between the Germans and us
were broken off. we were able to do
no more for the deported chomeurs.
The annex to the legation: as we
the Countess Li~derkerck across the
street in the Rue Belliard which
we had leased and wherein were in
stalled the corps of clerks who pre-
rared the documents in the cases of
the deported, was closed, and we
The subject, however, was ever
present with the suffering. the
misery, the despair it connected. and
now the reality of it was brought
more directly to al of us by the
been repatriated by the Germans.
They were pitiahle objects of Ger
man brutality; they were those for
the most part. who had refused to
work. or whose physical condition
made them useless as workers-and
they were brought back to BELGIUM
to die, broken, MANNED, helpless,
hopeless pale, emaciated men whom
a few weeks in the slave COM
hounds in Germany had SO reduced
bv sickness, exposure and Starva-
home and flung down in their viii
lagos to die.
Some of the returned chomeurs
who We're BROUGHT to Brussels and
taken to hospitals had their feet
frozen from exposure or were IN
such state of gangrene from NAL
treatment +hot 1t was necessary to
amputate their 1eps. Those at Ant
wero we've returned at NIGHT. to avoid
notice. for their nhvsiral condition
vas so Ditiab1e thNt tho Germans
seemed to be afraid or ashamed TO
exhibit them as examples Of their
work
The deported men when they got
to Germany would not work; they
resorted to sabotage. "ca canny" and
"direct action"-deliberate ruined
machinery: they sang patriotic songs
rs they had sung them when thew.
went away. thew demoralized work
Shnn
"Lion of Flanders" at the ton Of
their voices. And we began to hear
the storv of this triumnh which,
when It did not cost them their lives,
left them broken, ruined MGR.
About seventy We're returned from
released because thew were iii. Thew
were TRANSPORTED in q Catt1e-car
which was attached to freieht-train
and in this condition they snent three
DAVIS and three NIGHTS hefore thcv
arrived at their destination. although
cypress trains cover the distance in
from civ to eight hours.
AT SOlt"u thew had received as foo"
at six o'clock in the morning q con-
cnction made Of ocorns. with rothin"
else; al midnight half a liter of
soU0. nrincira1ly OF water. hut with
. few turnirs. carrots and beets:
thore were no pOta toes or other ar
tiCleS Of food: ut three o'clock. two
hundred end fiftv grams Of black
bread. often mo16v. and hetwnen
eeven End eight O'Clock. again 4 half
liter cf SOM like that pivon at mid
dav. but occasionally with Il little
bran mr. grits. With this ahon7inan;e
diet the STRONGEST became pale, ard
it was not Ion" before thosn with
fanhle constitutions became III and
f7ied One tired Of 50 much r,iaarv
tried to escape and was shot down.
The sufferingG of these urfortunates
We're such that at night they WnulG