AS A WARNING TO NEUTRALS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 251, 11 July 1918, Page 6

AS A WARNING TO NEUTRALS

£ HUNS PUBLISH LIST OF BOOTY AN 3n CAPTURES ed ' . — % A BOASTFUL BULLY id n- : 3" m m , . , . Washington, Juno 9. it -leutomc fnghtfulness as practised in vo * rl »i«e and Belgium has been made the n . subject of a German warning to neutral 10 nations of the fate which they may exp- ?,, ". ™ ev take up nras rgainst the lfl (.-eiuiul Powers. _ "If there are any still ;hinki'ng of siding willi tho Allies, let them take ld warning from the fate of others," says tho warning. It is in the form of a (.'lrcular, which- recites the amount of booty seized in France and Belgium, the number of churches damaged and destroyed, the money wrung from the stricken inhabitants, ar,d, finally, the deliberate mistreatment of English urieoners of war. German propagandists have flooded hpain with this document printed in opanish, and copies have 'orae into the possession of the Stftte Department. Having established its German origin, tho Department lust night mado public this translation :— "Besides an untold amount of war material captured on the battlefields, tho Germans have taken possession of incalculable booty in Fran:e and Belgium, including: High-grade vatcb.es, -117; average watches, 501G; under wear, 18,07?; embroideries and women's handkerchiefs, 15,132; umbrellas and parasols 37C5; silver spoons, 187 C; bottles of champagne, u'23,000. These figures show a large increase over those of the campaign against Franco in 1370-71. In Belgium, besides many art treasures, they have confiscated /old paintings valued at 3,000,000 pesetas. Due to the heachery of Cardinal Mereier and other priests, who did their utmost to stir the priests against the good-hearted soldiers, i.hey were forced to teach a severe lesson to lhe Belgian and French Catholics. Cathedrals destroyed, 1; rendered unserviceable, 8; churches destroyed, 27; unserviceable, 3d; total, 73. In Poland also ft large number of churches havo been destroyed for military isasons. Tho figures concerning theso kive not yet been published. "As a result of the stupid stubbornness of the-Belgian people ;n continuing the struggle after their bloody and final defeat on the battlefield the German officers wero forced against their will to impose punishments on many uch individuals and wealthy cities. . This contributed the following amounts to the German treasury :—Punishments, 87,000,000 pesetas; security, 13,000,500 pesetas; reprisals, 15,750,000 pesetas; forced contributions, 4,320,850. Total, 120,071,350 pesetas. This amount includes :i. fine cf 15,000 pesetas imposed on tho Alsatian children who insist on speaking the French language and lefuse to study the beautiful Geirmaa language.'Thise statistics are a most useful warning to neutral countries. If there aro still any thinking of siding with the Allies let thorn take warning from the fate of the others." In connection with claims of tho extent of territory occupied by German troops tho following footnote appears:— "When it is held that the Germans havo occupied no English territory, and that on the contrary they have lost all their ..African "colonies, amounting to some thiee million syuare kilometres, it must be remembered that the English, .according to tho declaration of their Ministers, are not intending to secure any extension of the British Empire; that they have entered the struggle only with the aim of helping the Belgians. That is to say, the English have practically pledged themselves to return the Gorman colonies after the war in exchange for <he evacuation and indemnification of Belgium. The Germans, ;herefore, are to recover all that they have lost in Africa." It is claimed in this document that more than 50,000 British havo been made prisoners, and in this connection the following statement is made:— "Although to , these figures the English oppose 124,806; German prisoners taken by them on tho Western front, it nniet be remembered tho English treat their prisoners with notable kindnesji (blandura notoria), while the rcgimo imposed on the English prisoners by the Germans is one of extreme rigor, eo that the Germans with a email number of prisoners have secured a much superior moral effect. Besides, to the 2264 officers and 51,325 soldiers must be added ie several thousand English prisoners that havo died inconsequence of disease, scanty food, and other accidents in German concentration camps." The figures regarding British prisoners, it is explained, refer to tho total. pTior to tho recent drive in Picardy and Flanders.