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i SSNS WHITLOCK DEPICTS ‘BELGIANS’ MISERY Calls Deportation of Natives “One i. of the Foulest Deeds That « History Records.” : ON HINDENBURG IS: BLAMED bread and Some of the communes pro- vided warm clothing for those who had none and in addition a small financial allowance, “As by one of the fronies of life the winter has been more excessively cold than Belgium has ever known it, and while some of those who presented themselves’ were adequately protected against the cold, many of them were without overcoats. The men shivering from cold and fear, ihe parting from weeping wives and children, the bar- riers of brutal ublans, all this made the scene a pitiable and distressing one, “It was understood that the seizures would continue here in Brussels, but on Thursday last, a bitter cold day, Marshal Quarreled With Von Bissing!those that had been convoked were Because Latter’s Policy Was Mild | =—Says German Capacity for Blundering Equals That / for Cruelty. Washington.—The state department made public a report from Brand Whitlock, written at Brussels in Jan- wary, when he was the American min- ‘ister to Belgium, in which he describes the terrible effects of the German pol- icy of deporting Belgians to Germany to compel them to work there. Since the beginning of the war in Europe, this is the first report from Mr. Whit- lock that the state department has per- mitted to reach the American people. Allowing for all exaggeration, Mr, Whitlock says there remains enough “to stamp this deed as one*of the foul- est that history records.” tatements made by Minister, Whit- Jock suggest that Field Marshal von Hindenburg was responsible for the deportation policy. He was sald to have criticized as too mild the rule of General von Bissing, the military gov- ernor of Belgium, and sent Von Biss- ing to Berlin with the intention of re signing. When Von Bissing returned the reign of terror in Belgium began. The report from Mr. Whitlock reads as follows: y “In order to fully understand 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 re- lief organization that collaborates with the commission for relief in Belgium— proposed an arrangement by which the Belgian government should pay its own employees left in Belgium, and other unemployed men besides, the wages they had been accustomed to re- ceive, “The Belgians wished to do this for humanitarian’ and patriotic pur- poses; they wished to provide the un+ employed with the means of livelihood, and, at the same time, to prevent their working for the Germans. Tempts German Cupidity. “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 thou- sands—-some 700,000, I believe—of idle men receiving this dole, distributed through the communes. (“The presence of these unemployed, however, was a constant’ temptation to, German cupldity. Many times they sought to obtain the Msts of the chomeurs (unemployed), but were al-| ways foiled by the claim that under the guaranties covering the relief work the records of the Comite Na- tional and its various sub-organiza- tions were immune. Rather than risk any interruptions of the ravitaille- ment, for which, while loath to-own any obligation to America, the Ger- mans have always been grateful, since it has had the effect of keeping. the Population calm, the authorities never pressed the point other than with the burgomasters of the communes. ~ Final- ly, however, the military party, always brutal and with an astounding ignor- ance of public opinion and of moral} sentiment, determined to put these ‘Idle men to work. “In August Von }'indenburg was ap- " pointed to the supreme conimand. He is-said to have criticized Von Bissing’s policy as too mild; there was a quer-| vel; Von Bissing went to Berlin to protest, threatened to resign, but did not. He returned, and a German of- ficial here said that Belgium would now be subjected to a more terrible regime, would learn what war was. The prophecy has been vindicated, “The deportations began in October | fn the etape, at Ghent and at Bruges. The policy spread; the rich industrial | districts of Halnaut, the mines and steel works about Charleroi were next | attacked; now they are seizing men| in Brabant, even in Brussels, despite some indications, and even predictions of the civil authorities, that the policy was about to be abandoned. Heavy Penalties Fixed. “During the last fortnight men have been impressed here in Brussels, but their seizures here are made evidently with much greater care than in the provinces, with more regard for the . appearances. There was no public an- nouncement of the intention to deport, but suddenly about ten days ago, cer- tain men in towns whose names are on the list of chomevrs receiving sum- mons, notifying them to report at one of the railway stations on a given day, penalties were fixed for failure to re- spond to the summons and there was printed on the card an offer of em- ployment’ by the German government, either in Germany or Belgium. “On the first day, out of about 1,500 men ordered to present themselves at the Gare du Midi, about 750 responded. ‘These were examined by German phy- sicians and 300 were taken. There was no disorder, a large.force of mounted ublans keeping back the crowds and barripg access to the station to all but those who had been summoned to ap- pear. The commission for relief in Belgium had secured permission to give to each deported man a loaf of sent home without examination. It is supposed that the severe weather has moved the Germans to postpone the deportations. Rage and Despair. “The rage, the terror, and the despair excited by this measure all over Bel- gium were beyond anything we had witnessed since the day the Germans poured into Brussels. The delegates of the commission for relief in Belgium, returning to Brussels, told the most distressing stories of the scenes of cruelty and sorrow attending the selz- ures, And daily, hourly, almost, since that time, appalling stories have been related by Belgians coming to the le- gation. It is impossible for us to verl- fy them, first because it 1s necessary for us to exercise all possible tact in dealing with the subject at all, and, secondly, because there {s no means of communication between the Occupa- tions Gebiet and the Etappen Gebiet. “Transportation everywhere in Bel- gium is difficult, the vicinal railways scarcely operating any more because of the lack of oll, while all the horses have been taken. The people who are forced to go from one village to anoth- er. must do so on foot or in vans drawn by. the.,few miserable horses that are left. The wagons of the brew- eries, the one institution that the Ger- mans have scrupulously respected, are hauled by oxen. “The well-known tendency of sensa- tional reports to exaggerate them- selves, especially in time of war, and in a situation like that existing here, with no newspapers to serve as a daily clearing house for all the rumors that are as avidly believed as they are eag- erly repeated, should, of course, be considered, but even if a modicum of all that is told ig true, there still re- mains enough to stamp this deed as one of the foulest that history records: “I am, constantly in receipt of re- ports: from, all, over Belgium that tend to bear out the stories one constantly hears of brutality and cruelty. A num- ber-of men sent pack fo Mons are said to bein.a dying condition, many of them tubercular., At Malines and at Antwerp returned men have died, their friends asserting that they have been victims of neglect and cruelty, of cold, of exposure, of hunger. " Promises Are Not Kept. “I have. had requests from the’ bur- gomasters of ten, communes front La Louviere, asking , that permission ‘be obtained to send. to, the deported‘men in: Germany,, packages of food similar to those that are belhg sent to pris- oners of. war... Thus far the German authorities have. refused to permit this, except. in special instances, and re- turning Belgians claim that even when such packages are ‘received they are used by the camp authorities only as another means of coercing them to sign the agreements to work. “It is said that in spite of the liberal salary promised those who would sign voluntarily no money has as yet been received in: Belgium from workmen in Germany. “One interesting result of the de- portations remains to be noted, a re- sult that once more places in relief the German. capacity for blundering al- most.as great as the German capacity for cruelty. “They have dealt a mortal blow to any prospect.they may ever have had of being tolerated by the population of Flanders; in tearing away from nearly every humble home in the land a hus- band and a father ora 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 a way that will impress its horror indel- ibly on, the memory of three genera- tions, a realization of what German methods mean, ‘not, as with the early atrocities in the heat of passion and the first lust of war, but by one of those deeds that make one despair of the future of the human race, a deal coldly planned, studiously matured, and deliberately and systematically exe- cuted, a deed so cruel that German sol- diers are said to have kept in its exe- cution, and so monstrous that even German officers are now said to be ashamed.” PORTLAND MAN INVENTS MARVELOUS TORPEDO Portland, Ore.—Frank E. Ken- ney of this city has invented a new type of torpedo, designed to travel in the air or through the water. He is declared to have received an offer for the device from the English government, but refused it to give it to the Unit- ed States government. Tests of the torpedo have been made at Pacific coast naval sta- tions. It is declared that when tested, the torpedo, after travel- ing more than five miles through the air, dropped into the water, righted itself, plunged through steel nets and struck a target at which it had been aimed. WOLFORD BOY WINS Ralph Landis Takes Coffey Orat- Jamestown college, won the J. A. Cof- fey oratorical contest held here Mon- day evening, winning a $50 cash prize for his efforts. Leslie Dysart of Bs- mond pressed Landis close for first : y Hanson" of". one PATI AROUND COURT HOUSE UP TO COMMISSION City Board Refuses to Take Chance When County Trust- ees Hedge on Proposition CITY PRISONERS WILL BE GIVEN STREET WORK The city commission last’ evening again made it plain that whether the county ‘building shall be surrounded by mud streets or a smooth asphalt pavement, in keeping with the remain: der of the city, is entirely a matter for. the county commission to decide. This decision will affect not only. the county ‘building, toward whose sup- port Bismarck pays approximately 60 per cent of the taxes, but the Bis- marck hospital, the Bismarck public library, the Bismarck city hall, Mc- Cabe Methodist Episcopal church and the Will school, all of which, with the exception of the church, have pe- titioned for the improvement. Kirk States Stand. Commissioner Kirk, at the weekly meeting. of the board last evening, was in:favor of adopting resolutions which would, clearly place the réspon- sibility where the city commisston feels it belongs. He pointed to the fact that the county commission has twice gone on record as. declining to favor the paving of the court house |” square, first a year ago when it re- fused to sign the original petitions calling for the improvement, and again last week, when the three mem- bers present—E. G. Patterson and Birlea ‘Ward of Bismarck and C. A. Swanson of Driscoll. —,unanimously | adopted resolutions in which they de- clined to ask for the paving and sought to place the responsibility for the paving in the first place and the collection of assessments for the same in the second place on the shoulders of the city commission.’ ‘ ‘Coynty Skirts Clear. Other members of the city board last “evening felt that the public al- ready thoroughly understands where the blame should rest, and that the adoption of further resolutions at this time would not tend to improve mat- ters. It was the concensus of opin- ion that in. view of. the opposition shown by the county board the city cannot ‘afford to go, ahead and’ pave’ and then.take chances of collecting’ for the: paving. . Its .special, counsel has advised that, the county board could not be: mandamused to enforce the collection of taxes for, the pay- ment of paving assessments;, that the county property. cannot be, |sold’ to enforce payment; that in view of the attitude of the county board, the city would not have. much ofa case were it compelled to go into. court to en- force : payment of .the assessments. he county commission .would” be in position to produce records of the sev- eral meetings at. which it had de- clined| to ‘ask for the paving, altho verbally and individually < protesting | that it will not oppose the improve- ment, and the city probably would be left holding the bag, with four blocks of paving to be assessed against the general tax rolls, and.a, burden equiv- alent to probably five per cent of the’ cost of the second paving district foisted by the county on the city tax- payers. Means Mud Generally. : Mud roads around the county build- ing will mean the carrying of mud on- to the paved streets in the business district, on Fifth, Thayer, Sixth, and thence it will reach Main and Fourth and Broadway. Thus much of the benefit anticipated from paving will have been lost for this portion of the city, but there seems to be no cure for the condition, unless.citizens gen- erally are willing to be assessed for |! an improvement which the county, al- ready half supported by tax contriby- tions of these citizens, should pay. | Crosswalks. ‘Resolutions were adopted last eve- ning ordering in sidewalk extensions to the curbing.at street intersections where. walks are not. alréady built. | On petition of property owners in the north part of town who desire to ‘buy dirt for the filling in. of. coulees, the price of earth excavated front the streets was reduced from 20 cents to, 10 cents per cubic yard.” Work for Convicts. : Bismarck will force its guests in the county jail to work for their board. ‘Sheriff French’s bill last month was $100. Prisoners who have been sup- ported in idleness hereafter will be séntenced to hard labor on the streets, which labor, will be performed under the eyes of a guard. For such labor prisoners will be allowed $2 per day, which will mean 12% days’ work to meet the average $25 fine. BURLEIGH COUNT LEADS THE STATE IN REGISTRATIONS, Probably Only Division in North Dakota Where Quota Ex- ceeds Federal Estimates “The last slacker in Burleigh: coun- ty came-in this afternoon and regis- tered,” said Sheriff French today, “I do not believe there is another man of the prescried ages in Burleigh county who was not registered.” Had' every county in North Dakota done its bit so succeesfully on regis- tration day as Burleigh did, North Dakota's total would be more than 77,040, instead of a bare 65,000. The government estimate of men 21 to 30 years old in Burleigh county was 1,700. The actual registration was 1,790. “Abundant publicity produced this result,” said Sheriff French. Richland county, which the govern- 3,110 Was expected, ‘Feported 2,239; | 1,624, while the government expected| In a majority of instances, however, | great, the situation will be brought Mortonj which Uncle gem had slated | 1,910; Ward, with 3,101, came nearer’ the- percentage. of registration, based j to -the attention of the local census An whose bands have been for 2,210, registered 4,711; t tabled “showing what Uncle } Forks, billed for ve 4 y . / . “What Owninga United States Government Bond Will Mean To YOU \0. EVERY ‘tmeti‘and-woman inthis. | YOUNG BUSINESS PEOPLE. today an opportunity to Own a 84% ss'e foundation for your business finance. Here United States Government Bond, backed 7owr.sevings sro protected snd pay eq Smoren by all‘the resources of the richest nation, banker. 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