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Show MUST CONTINUE TO FEED TjOELGlIS Congressman Charles Scott of Kansas Sends Word to Former Governor Stubbs. SITUATION IS ACUTE Kansan Describes an Interview Inter-view With Cardinal Mer-cier Mer-cier at Malines. LONDON, Feb. 7. "The situation remains acute. If the supply of food is diminished, Belgium will starve." This message was cabled today by-former by-former Congressman Charles F. Scott of Kansas, who is returning from an inspection in-spection of relief work in Belgium and France, to former Governor Walter B. Stubbs of Kansas. While at Malines, Mr. Scott called upon Cardinal Mercier. He was accompanied ac-companied by Pessainj the printer who was fined for printing the now famous pastoral letter of the archbishop. ' Describing his interview with the prelate, pre-late, Mr. Scott said: Enjoys Dilemma. Cardinal Mercier lives in a fine old palace. The throne room has a big hole in the roof and this, with other holes in the walls, to say nothing noth-ing of broken windows, tells the story of stray shells which fell axound the palace. No German soldiers sol-diers were seen ou guard. The cardinal obviously enjoys the dilemma in which he has placed the Germans. His eyes twinkled as he told the story of his latest adventure. ad-venture. At 6 o'clock one morning, morn-ing, said the archbishop, a German officer and two soldiers brought a communication from the commander, command-er, asking him to deny statements that he had been deprived of his personal liberty. The denial which had been prepared consisted of four or five typewritten sheets. Cardinal Mercier said he to-questcd to-questcd his callers to return in the evening for an answer, but the of-, of-, ficors declared they must await a reply in the cardinal 'b room. At the archbishop's request, telephonic telephon-ic confirmation of this order was received- Describing his subsequent experiences, the cardinal said: "It is true no manacles were . used to restrain me, but I was to have performed a service at Antwerp Ant-werp and was not permitted to go there. For three days I was restrained re-strained in my palace. Two days later I was asked to modify my letter and wrote another. If the Germans aro clever they will pub- . lish my first pastoral." Message to Americans. The archbishop smiled as he made the final statement. Asked if he had any message for Americans, Amer-icans, he said: ' ' Nothing except to give the people peo-ple of your great country assurances assur-ances of our gratitude. Wo would have starved nad it not been for you. The work of your relief commission com-mission has been very efficient." So far as I could see, Cardinal Mercier was free to come and go as he pleased, subject, I presume, to tbe usual restrictions imposed upon Belgians. Men were at work bracing the walls of the cathedral and tearing down the parts which will be removed. Although terribly terri-bly battered, it now appears that the beautiful building will be saved. Tbe damago to it is estimated at $200,000. People Depressed. The people around Malines appeared ap-peared as depressed as any I saw In Belgium, which is saying more than I can describe. They wander aimlessly aim-lessly through the streets, where band's of wretched, ragged children hog from everyone in eight. Elsewhere Else-where I was struck with the courage the Belgians show in efforts to rebuild re-build their homes and resume their normal life. but. of course, they aro utterly dependent upon supplies brought In by the commission. t one of the villages near Malines Ma-lines I was told of an Insane asylum, with 200 or 300 inmates, which was In the line of German fire. The Belgian priests, nuns and nurses delermlned to take their charges to a place of safetv. The lunatics. cowed and shocked into a condition of apparent canity, marched out under a fire of bullets and shrapnel with the steadiness stead-iness of trained soldiers. When vou have seen Vise, with its population of T.tOO, now leduced to a hundred-odd families, existing In its almost total ruins: when you have seen once beautiful Dinant. now just a heap of jumbled debris; when you see one old woman with a spade trying try-ing to till a five-acre field; when vou see for miles only women w ork-ing ork-ing in the fields, then you begin to realize what war Is. Farming French Land. With a German general I motored through a large section nf France now occupied by the Germans, every foot of which has been fought over. We drove for miles, through thousands thou-sands of nres of partly harvested wheal. What had been left was tramnlcd under the feet of two army corps" Almost within the sound of firln the Germans have u thousand or more of their own soldiers at work with sang plows, drawn by gasoline tractors, fanning U'.i.ooO awes of land c,,-.Ht,,h nn Parre Twn 1 .MUST GOHTINOE TO FEEO IDE BELGIANS I (Continued from Page One.) I I which was a battlefield a fw weekii ! ago. Throughout thl region th c.' v-' v-' mnrifl have been giving the. in habitant! hab-itant! enough bre;id to kC'ep tlifiu -all-. e. but thv told in ti.ev rou Id noi po -f I bl v i-ontlnue thir. work for ' it would b phyini'-allv lnitiorfible hh hoon ai '-ti'.e op'rati'ns Hie r-r.rnni"n,"',fi. r-r.rnni"n,"',fi. Throughnut my trip I saw enough to '-ornlri'-e it." the G-r-in;irn m re 1 r(,a t i n -r w corn rn 1 :j : ; l ' n witb -trU-' t fn!rrie-, out -with a hoite good fa I ' h . l-'onr) In Kollig onh' to fltarvinif MHclanfi and Freti'-h. havr dotj- v.-fll tf u rormtry (bun far. fta '. ing off a- ', icrl fa mine, but I more food 1m vut-,,. . |