The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, May 30, 1918, Page 6, Image 6
GERMAN WAR
Edited by Dana C. Mi
versity; George C. 5
of Wisconsin, and J
University of
Issued by the Committee
IV. DEPORTATIONS AND FORCED c<
LABOR. J y
e
Advance in Humanity?Until August o
1914.
Until the present war the whole j P
civilized world has boasted of'its ad- &'
vance in humanity. This advance
had been marked in many fields, and j P1
in none had greater progress been j ti
made than in the protection to be; a;
given to the private citizen in an in-!
vaded country. As far back as 1863, ei
in the Instructions for the Govern- d'
ment of Armies of the United States w
in the Field, the United States de- ai
clared: jb<
United States Treatment of Civilians, hi
1863. ol
"22. Nevertheless, as civilization la
has advanced during the last centuri-! kl
ries, sohas likewise steadily advanc- j ?]
ed, especially in war on land, the!
distinction between the private in- i
dividual belonging to a hostile coun- B
try. and the hostile country itself, j ia
with its men in arms. The principle
has been more and more acknowleged ej
that the unarmed citizen is to be j ai
spared in person, property, and honor,
as much as the exigencies of War ft
will admit. 1 ci
"23. Private citizens are no longer I st
murdered, enslaved, or carried off to b<
- - - ? . .
distant parts, and the inoffensive in-j ?
dividual is as little disturbed in his n*
private relations as the commander
of the hostile troops can afford to
grant in the overruling demands of m
a vigorous war. si
"24. The almost universal rule in 0t
remote times was, and continues to ^
be with barbarious armies, that the ^
private individual of the hostile k
country is destined to suffer every ! i
privation of liberty and protection,;
and every disruption of family ties. a,
Protection was, and still is with un- ta
\ civilized people, the exception." r
, . German Government's Reversion to fr
t \ t
Barbarism. m
These declarations were made in : ps
the midst of our Civil War?one of 8(
* the world's fiercest conflicts. A half-1 at
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PRACTICES
jnro, Princeton UniJellery,
University
Vugust C Krey,
Minnesota
on Public Information
sntury later, after more than 50
ears of progress, the German Govrnment
has gone back to the methds
used by "barbarious armies" and
uncivilized people." It has delib
rately adopted the policy of deorting
men and women, boys and
iris, and of forcing them to work
>r their captors, it has even comelled
them to make arms and munions
for use against their allies
ud their own flesh and blood.
No other act of the German Govrnment
has aroused such horror and
etestation throughout the civilized
orld. Thousands of helpless men
ud women, boys and girls, have
sen enslaved. Families have been
oken up. Girls have been carried
if to work?or worse?in a strange
md, and their relatives have not j
uown where they have been taken,'
p what their fate has been.
The system of forced labor and j
sportation embraced the whole of;
elgium, Poland, and the occupied'
.nds of France.
The plan for setting forth the
ssential facts of the deportations j
ad forced labor is as follows: the'
ipumpiitc that is t.n saw a small!
action of those which could be!
ted, will be allowed to tell" the'
,ory, and only such comments will.
3 added as are needed to enable,
le reader easily to grasp the con-!
jction of events.
BELGIUM.
"The deportations' * * * were the'
ost ' vivid, shocking, convincing, j
n'gle happening in all our enforced
>servation and experience of German
isregard of human suffering and j
uman rights in Belgium." Vernon j
ellogg in Atlantic Monthly, October, j
917.
A summary of the whole situation, |
3wn to January, 1917, can be ob-:
,ined by reading continuously the;
.'port of Minister Whitlock, taken j
om the files of the State Depart-j
ent, which is given in italics on j
iges 49-50, 54, 55-56,'69-70, 76-77,
)-81. The insertion of his report
apprpopriate points has made it i
" 11 11
PMF
ave just receive
Bamberg. The*
irkets, and rani
tk of condition
nt you to see t
you good just 1
GIES,
ave also receiv
the market, an
fays complete.
'**
possible to avoid all but a minimum
of repetition.
"Legation of the United States of
America, Brussels, January 16th,
1917. The Honorable, the Secretary
of State, Washington.
Horrifying Behavior of the Germans
in Belgium.
"Sir: I have had it in mind, and
I might say, on my conscience, since
the Germans began to deport Bel-!
gian workmen early in November, to1
prepare for the Department a detail- j
ed report on this latest instance of
brutality, but there have been so
many obstacles in the way of obtain-;
ing evidence on which a calm and
judicious opinion could be based, and
and one is so overwhelmed with the'
horror of the thing itseu, mac 11 nas
been, and even now is, difficult to 1
write calmly and justly about it. I
have had to content myself with the
fragmentary despatches I have from I:
| time to time sent to the Department
and with doing what I could, little j
j as that can be, to alleviate the dis!
tress that this gratuitous cruelty has j
| caused the population of this unhap- i
I py land. j
"In order to understand fully the!
situation it is necessary to go back <
to the autumn of 1914. At the time
we were organizing the relief work, i
the Comite National?the Belgian
relief organization that collaborates :
with the Commission for Relief in j
ESSBOOi
:nt
id a shipment of
ie mules were pe
jefrom 1,000 to
, and there is n<
hem, whether y<
to look at them.
WAG'
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ed a shipment o
id my stock of h
My prices are
BAMBERG
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Belgium?proposed an arrangement!
by which the Belgian Government j
should pay to its own employees left
in Belgium, and other unemployed ;
men besides, the wages they had i
been accustomed to receive. The <
Belgians wished to do this both for
humanitarian and patriotic purposes:
they wished to provide the unemployed
with the means of livelihood, and,
at the same time, to prevent their
working for the Germans. I refused
to be connected in any way with this
plan, and told the Belgian committee
that it had many possibilities of
danger, that not only would it place
- J1 1 x .*1
a premium on luieuess, uui tnac it
would ultimately exasperate the Germans.
However, the policy was
adopted, and has been continued in
practice, and on the rolls of the
Comite National have been borne the j
names of hundreds of thousands?
some 700,000, I believe?of idle men
receiving this dole, distributed ]
through the communes.
German Cupidity Excited.
"The presence of these unemployed,
however, was a constant tempta- 1
tion to German cupidity. Many times
they sought to obtain the lists of the
chomeueurs but were always foiled (
by the claim that under the guaran- 1
tees covering the relief work, the
I
records of the Comte National and 1
its various suborganizations were immune.
Rather than risk any inter
CARLISLE BOYJ
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OF
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the finest mule
rsonally selected
1,500 pounds,
ot a cheap mul
hi want to buy
rw n
U1NS,
>f the best bugg
arness, whips, h
always reasonal
t, s. c.
>E=aE=IC
I
ruption of the ravitaillment, for
which, while loath to own any abligation
to America, the Germans 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 burgo- i
masters of the communes. Finally,
however, the military party, always;
brutal, and with an astounding ignorance
of public opinion and of moral '
sentiment, determined to put these i
idle men to work.
"General von Bissing and the civil
portion of his entourage had always
been and even now are opposed to
this policy and I think have sincerely
done what they could, first, to prevent
its adoption, and secondly, to
lighten the rigors of its application." j
In the early days of the German
idvance into Belgium, the people
had learned to fear the worst. This
was particularly true in Antwerp,
in order to alleviate their fears and
to obtain guarantees which might
hasten the restoration of settled
conditions, Cardinal Mercier secured
from the German governor of Antwerp
promises, and in a circular j
letter dated October 16th, 1914, ask-'
id the clergy of the Province of Ant- j
verp to communicate them to the j
people:
Solemn Promises of Germans Not to
Exploit Belgians.
"The governor of Antwerp, Baron
S AT DRILL.
MUI
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is that ever come
I in the Westerr
They are in the
e in the lot. 1
or not. It wil
HARN
ies and wagons
in rnhes. etc.. is
T ? 7 7
)le.
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1
von Hoiningen, General von Huene,
has authorized me to inform you in
his name and to communicate by
your obliging intermediary to out
populations the following declarations:
"(1) The young men need not
fear being taken to Germany, either
to be enrolled into the army or to
be employed at forced labors.
"(2) If individual infractions of
nnlire regulations are committed, the
authorities will institute a search
for the responsible authors and will
punish them, without placing the responsibility
on the entire population.
*
"(3) The German and Belgian
authorities will neglect nothing to see
that food is assured to the population."
These promises w*ere not kept, as
Cardinal Mercier and his colleagues
show by abundant evidence in the
Appeal to Truth.
"On March 23rd, 1915, at the arsenal
at Luttre the German authority
posted a notice demanding return to
work. On April 21st, 200 workmen
were called for. On April 27th soldiers
went to fetch the workmen
from their homes and take them to
the arsenal. In the absence of a
workman, a member of the familywas
arrested.
(To be continued next week)
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