Gunnison news-champion., 1919-01-17


GUM than for any other helligerent."
Old Men and Boys Taken.
The news dispatches indicate that
the deportation and forced labor OF
Belgians still continue. In a dispatch
from Havre New York Evening Post,
September 13. 1910 it is stated: The
removal Of the civilian population of
Belgium continues, according to ad
vices received here. The town of ROu-
Iers, Immediately behind the battle
line in Flanders. has been evacuated
completely. Ostend is being emptied
gradually, and two thousand persons
already have been sent from COurtrai."
In another dispatch from Havre
washington Post, September "a, 1910
ii is stated that "the German military
authorities at Bruges, Belgium, are
conscripting forclbly all the boys and
men of that city between the ages of
fourteen and sixty to work in munltion
factories and shIpyards. The rich and
poor, shOpkeepers and wOrkmen, all
are being taken, only the school teach
ers. doctors, and priests escaping"
German Officer Rebuked Men.
The following "Order of the Day"
shows how the town of Huy escaped
The fate of so many Belgium and
French towns. Drunken German sol
diors were frightened and began to
shoot men and burn houses. The
commanding officer condemned this be
cause 1t was not G1ne by his order and
h,CaUSe two German soldiers were
wounded. 1t is evident that massacres
commanded by the officers.
Last night shooting affray took
place. There IS no evidence that the
Inhabitants of the towns had any arms
in their houses, nor is there evidence
that the people took part in the shoot
ing; on the contrary, it seems that the
soldiers were uuicr the influence OF
alcohol and began TO shoot in a sense
less fear of n hostile attuCll.
The behavior Of the soldiers during
the night. with very few exceptions,
makes scandalous impression.
at is highly deplornhle when officers
or noncommissloned officers set houses
on fire without permission or order of
the commanding. or, as the case may
be, the senior officer, or when by their
they encourage the rank and
file to burn and plunder.
"Thc miserable behavior of the men
caused nOHCommiSSOncd officer and
a private to be seriously wounded by
German bullets.
"MAJOR Won BASSEWITZ"
Report of Minister WhitIock.
"One interesting result of the depOr-
tatiOns remains to be noted, a result
that once more places in relief the
German capacity for laundering, al
most as great as the German capacity
for cruelty. Until the deportations
were begun there was no intense ha-
tired on the part of the lower classes.
t. O.. the wurliingmen and the peasants.
The old Germans of the LandSturm
had been quartered in Flemish homes:
they and the inmates spoke nearly the
same language; they got along fairly
well; they helped the women with the
work, the poor and the humble having
none of those hatreds of patriotism
that are among the privileges of the |
upper classes. 1t is conceivable that |
III" Flemish population might have
tSted under German rule: 1t was
icutonic in its origin and anti-French !
always. But now the Germans have
all that.
"They have dealt mortal blow to |
any prospect they may ever have had |
IF being tolerated by the population |
of Flanders; in tearing away from |
nearly every humble home in the land |
a husband and father or a son and |
brother they have lighted a fire of |
hatred that will never go out; they |
have brought home to every heart in |
the land, in way that will impress
its horror indelibly on the memory of |
three generations, realization of |
what German methods mean, not, as |
with the early atrocities, in the heat |
or passion and the first lust of war,
but by one of those deeds that make |
one despair of the future of the hu- |
man race, a deed coldly planned, studl-
0usly mGtured, and deliberately and |
Systematically executed, deed so |
cruel that German soldiers are said |
to have wept in Its execution, and so |
that even German officers
are now said to be ashamed.
"WHITLOCK."
Mr.. Hoover's Conclusions.
Mr.. Hoover's mature conclusions on |
the German practices in Belgium, |
which he wrote for the pamphlet is |
sued by the committee on public in
formation. reinforce the detailed evil
dcncr already presented:
September. 1917.
have been often called upon for n
statement Of my observation of Ger
man rule in Belgium and northern
France
have neither the desire nor the
adcun.te pen to picture the scenes
whch have heated my blood through
the two and. half years that l have