Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-12-23 | Page 3 | Belgians Shed New Light upon Deportations

BELGIANS SHED HEW LIGHT UPON DEPORTATIONS I Director of Documentary Bureau of the War Min-' Min-' istry Refutes Reports From Berlin. MASS MEETING IS HELD IN BALTIMORE President of Princeton Says There Should Be No Talk of Peace Unless Belgium Bel-gium Is Restored. HAVBE, Dec. 22, 3:15 p. m. Specific details of the deportations of Belgians refuting the reports from Berlin that only those without work were deported, and if others were taken it was the fault of ,the Belgian munition authorities, authori-ties, were communicated to the Associated Associ-ated Press today by Fernand Passelecq, director of the documentary bureau of the Belgian war ministry. "The German pretension that errors in judging the social condition of those deported were involuntary and imputing imput-ing them to the bad faith of the Belgian Bel-gian authorities is entirely ronlvary to the facts," said 11. Passelecq. "It is to be noted in Governor General von Biasing's reply to the protest of the senators ami deputies, recently made public, that he did not dari to contest the facts concerning the arbitrary seizure of employed persons. "At Quaregnon, in t h -? coal region vrrit ti of Mons. .fi'wi; w.rlnnc-n were :--.im-moned and :S'j-t li.-uo.-re f of whii;h 227 never had bevn cut of wjrk. At "atr.f ISO were deported, o: whom UIO were working; at lrrainofie3 iOC vrorc deport- , edf of whom is? were workiug; at Hornu 14U were denorted, of whom 7 ' were working; at Ghlm 150 were taken, ! of whom 64 were woriiin. Proofs Refused. "At Havre, Belgium, tbo mayor of the town offered to give yroof concern-ini? concern-ini? wbrther the meu wjie etn ployed or not. The proofs were refused. "Forty-six men, all regularly employed em-ployed at the Baume-Marpent rolling mills at llaine St. Pierre, were taken. From the Gilson works at La, Croyere fifty employed were taken out of a total of '225 summoned. From the works at De Louve fifty workmen were taken. Fifty-one iron workers were arrested in the rolling mills at La Croyere, Croy-ere, and twenty-five were taken from the lo0 employed at the bolt works at La Louviere. From tne Compagnie L'entrale de Construction at Haine St. Pierre twenty-five workmen were taken. From the blast furnaces and foundries at La Louviere 70 per cent of the total number employed were seized, making it impossible for the works to continue operations. Skilled Workmen Deported. "From the Boel works at La Louviere Lou-viere 259 men regularly emplod were taken, including the office manager, ten office employees, twenty -one foremen fore-men and 317 workmen. The glass works at Jemappes, the orjly establishment of its kind in the district, resumed work December 4, 91o, and worked without interruption, increasing- its output until November 1, 1916, when it shut down for repairs until November 10, with the; intention of increasing the production. More than half of the skilled workmen at these works were arrested and deported, de-ported, including 40 per cent of the blowersj 60 per cent of the first-class apprentices, o'2 per cent of the second-class second-class apprentices, 3o per cent of the extenders ex-tenders and all of the electricians and adjusters. German v released a few hundred out of the 100,000 taken to make a show of magnanimity. The releases were not spontaneous, but were the result of the pressing representations made by the American and Spanish ministers at Brussels."