FRENCHMEN IN BONDAGE

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1917, Page 8

FRENCHMEN IN BONDAGE

WHAT THE KAISER MUST ANSWER FOR. (London Times). Little by little the world is beginning to realise the sense in which Germany understands and uses such phrases as "humane treatment" and ('humanitarian objects.' We are learning by bitter experience that these expressions synchronise very often with Belgian atrocities, sinking unarmed ships, bombarding open toyns, inflicting untold cruelties on prisoners of war, as well as witli overtures of peace—or for a peace conference, which is rather a different thing. It should, therefore, be a matter of little surprise to us to learn from the lips of those who have just, escaped froi.. a two years' thraldom, the bitterer because it has to be endured in their own homes, that probably nothing can exceed the tyranny even now being exercised over the unfortunate inhabitants of Belgium and Northern France by the German invader, whose desire "to stem the flood of blood and to bring the hor- . rors of war to an end" has recently been ; announced to an incredulous world. The present writer had an opportunity some 18 months ago of collecting evidence from some of these poor exiles on , their return to France, and their stories of suffering and misery belong to the category of tragedies that "lie too deep for tears.' Now, for the past few weeks, another sad procession of some 20,000 lefugees from Northern France has been wending its way back "home' in a series of convoys at the rate of about 1000 ' persons a day. Once more the warmhearted and hospitable people of Swit- | zerland have given them of their best; they have housed, fed and clothed them, and sent them on their way rejoicing. Once more, alas, neutral ears have heen pained to listen to grim narratives ot harsh treatment" and .starvation and worse, which appear to be inseparable from German domination in time of war. It is perhaps well that some of these stories should be repeated for the benefit of those who still find it cf.i'licult to imagine the conditions of life passed beneath the vigilant eye and the iron heel of an invader. STARVATION AND SLAVERY. It matters little from which province of invaded France the refugees are being repatriated; their condition is practically the same—broken in body and mind, but unconquerable in spirit. Some convoys say that they have not tasted meat for two years, others have had it in small quantities as lately as 15 months ago; the most fortunate of all tell us that meat rations came to an end a fortnight before their departure. All food ia at famine prices; candles cost 12 francs for a packet of eight; petrol isprohibitive. Yet, ir spite of all this physical impoverishment, forced labor is the rule in town and village alike; the old men and women up to any age, and children as young as 13, are compelled to work in factories and fields, their wages varying from two to three francs a day, out of which they have to pay for their food about 50 per cent, of their total takings, To this rule there is no exception; one person in every household is allowed to ftop at home to perform domestic, duties, which indue the washing of German soldiers' dirty linen. The discipline imposed scarcely differs from slave-driving in it:, palmiest days At harvest-time, work is obligatory all the week round, Sundays and foasl- days included; no one may stop work to go to mass, Two girls who went to church one Sunday morning were in prison tinsame afternoon; a child of 14 in the same village, got four days' imprisonment for not doing a full da.Y'« work; a woman who gave an apple "to a Belgian prisoner was condemned to ten days' imprisonment; another woman's sentence was 42 days with hard labor for straying 20 yards beyond the boundary FRENCilmen in bpm]ago .. .. —TWO Hrp.it, and yei another, aged 79, received a fortnight's cells for goin gto see a sick daughter, who lived a short distance out of bounds. These are but a very few cases, typical of h,,-.u!reds, which iflustrate the bitter complaints against the behaviour g{ the German troops and of the officials in occupation of Frenoi territory, REQUISITIONING OF PRODUCE. Convoys from the Aisne district tel! us a particularly sad story of their daily life. There has been no school held for at ieast six' months, the children over 8 years of age being forcibly oeeupied in shelling beans a.U day long. Adults, when therp is any work to be done, are eom- | pelled to accomplish it as best they may, [ without any prospect of a holiday on week-days or Sundays; they may till their own fields (under German superin- ' tendenee), but the produce is seized as soon as it is ripe, and then, perhaps, resold to its owners. Villagers who own cows are forced to supply the Komman- . datur with most of the milk, hut a small | quantity of skimmed milk Is still al- : lowed to families containing children. Those who keep poultry are bound to produce so many eggs a day for their [ gaolers, often having to* buy "eggs in or- . der to make up the quantity required. , Here, too, all mattresses have been re- , quisitioned, even those used by infanta and small children, who have to be con- \ tent with sacks stuffed with feathers or wood shavings, To add insult to injury, all bons dp requisition for commandeered ; property had to be left at the Maire ! when the owners left the district to be I repatriated; no receipts whatever could • be taken away to prove title to the \ stolen property. "All copper, down to , the handles of doors, and all agricultural implements have been seized, as well as the village chitrcD bells and the metal candelabra." From Lille we hear that, owing to tne : extreme scarcity and costliness of food, ■■ infant mortality is very high and tubcv ' culosis is alarmingly 'high among the ; young people. Of the deportations we ■ learned southing from one or two of the sufferers; how in April last they were driven out of house and home 'in the middle o{ the night by soldiers with fixed bayonets, whilst iii certain streets the guns were turned on them. In No--1 vember, 1910, it seems that 198 persons were taken away as hostages to Germany (the .reason given being that this was an act of "reprisal"), and that among the girls who had thus been de- , ported, many had been shamefully treated, In conclusion, three stories of wanton j brutality remain in my mind, and I repeat them as they were told to me. In May, 1913, a particularly revolting orimo was committed. Two young lads, belonging to W—-, who we're amusing themselves In the main street, ran away when the observed tlu approach of a ; well-known gendarme; : - officer fired at one of them, and wr- 1 the lad so i severely that he died u ".->■ hours later; his little Bister was for calling the gendarme a coward. Then this policeman had the* effrontery to visit th« hora* '