THE BUTCHERY OF BELGIUM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14235, 1 March 1917, Page 3

THE BUTCHERY OF BELGIUM.

M. MAETERLINCK *S CALL TO

AMERICA

The New York Tribune recently printed' an appeal by M. Maeterlinck, the distinguished Belgian author-poet, to the American people to intervene to saw the Belgians from Germany's monstrous inhumanity. The appeal is telegraphed from Paris by the Tribune's correspondent, to' whom M. Maeterlinck said : "Tell the American people that the whole world is watching them to see if they still retain the spirit of their fathers, the founders of their great country. Does America, understand what is being don* to Belgium and the Belgians? There are not words m the human language to tell the story; there is no precedent m history. One musi go bank beyond the deluge. What Rome did was to make slaves and care for them tenderly and preserve their lives and usefulness. What Germany is doing is wholesale murder. She seeks to destroy a race. Germany is prac tising not merely slavery but also death The population of all Belgium is being systematically starved into consumption, and other diseases stalk through thp land. , The miserable inhabitants are dying like animals ; women and children are being herded into Germany to mako munitions for the German army, fltnH every man between the ages of 18 nr<l 30 \a being taken not to German fi**tones but to the German trenches There are 50,000 Belgians -under .forced labor digging trenches for the Germanbehind Soissons. They are ha.lf-starved men seized from the factories, and dracrged into the frozen fields of winter, clothed ofter, only m a single garment, and driven with the^ bayonet to dig trenches and set up wire entanglements Only on Saturday I received word of the death of one of th«ir old friends. H<> had been seized by onp of the Germn." slave gangs and was killed m thp firstline German trenches behind Soissons. "That is not war. That is murder. That is butchery. The United States signed treaties with Germany agreeing to abide by the- principles of humanity m making* war. Germany has broken thes*e treaties, broken her* faith, broken her word. Now let America act. loi America at the head of a league of neutrals force GoTmamy into the road of humanity. No mere word* will suffix : there must be summary action. All tho world krows of th<» friendship of tb<> American neople for Belgium. Lot them now force their will on the Government and make tho Government act. T^ have watched th*», recent signs of a vising: of the American people. Tt ha« been hard to understand why they have not risen before, but now they seem to be m motion. The world is watchircr to see if the streneth of their fathers still lives m them. They an* the only leaders (treat enough, powerful enough to art. Force alone will serv<>."