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Show LjEUEF WORKERS I BELGIUM 10 QUIT COUNTRY t America's Aides Are Formally For-mally Withdrawn From Territory Occupied by German Forces. WASHINGTON, March 2. American Ameri-can relief workers in Belgium and American Minister Brand Whitlock have been formally withdrawn from Belgium. Official announcement to this 1 effect was made at the stats department this morning. ! The American relief commissioners will be replaced as far as possible by members of a joint neutral commission, ar-" under the supervision of Dutch -TTatary officials. Brand Whitlock will go to Havre, France, resuming his duties du-ties as minister at the temporary Belgian Bel-gian capital. Secretary Lansing, at the direction of President "Wilson, sent a note to the Netherlands accepting its offer to take over the work of the commission. The action of the president in ordering order-ing the Americans out was based on the belief that nothing was to be gained by keeping Americans longer in territory occupied by German troops in Belgium and northern France. It is desired for humanitarian reasons that the work of the commission be continued and the government of the Netherlands has been asked to communicate with the commission's commis-sion's Rotterdam office to take over the work and determine how many Dutch citizens will be needed for it. Will Continue Relief Work. Arrangements for the return to the United States of many of the Americans now are being made by the state department. de-partment. Americans in Rotterdam, headed by Herbert C. Hoover, will continue con-tinue to direct relief work. Founded, inspired and made efficient by Americans, Ameri-cans, the Belgian relief commission has kept from starvation nine million people peo-ple in Belgium and another million in northern France. The United States will henceforth be able to continue participation in the work on 'y by financial contributions. Chairma. i Herbert C. Hoover, on leaving leav-ing New York for Europe recently, said that An eriea 's work of supplying the means o." relief had only just begun. The w ithdrawal has "been inevitable since thif severance of diplimatic relations rela-tions with Germany. Soon after that the German :uilitary authorities ordered all Amerrfns to withdraw, with the ex-co'ron ex-co'ron of Brand Whitlock and three others, who were restricted to Brussels. ifS The commission realized immediately y" that the British would not allow sup-jiiies sup-jiiies to pass the blockade into Belgium thout adequate guarantees and they feiiVihat the Germans were simply making mak-ing aDveffoi't to throw the onus of discontinuing dis-continuing the work upon the British. The commission immediately replied by ordering all of its men to leave Belgium. Bel-gium. Evidently Germany had not expected ex-pected such drastic action, and the commission com-mission was asked to retract its order, with the explanation that the original German order had been given out oy a subordinate without authority. The men -were ordered to remain, bnt none had the slightest hope that it would be mere than temporary. About forty-five Americans in Belgium Bel-gium and northern France are affected by the new order. Makes Official Statement. The following announcement was given out by the state department: By direction of the president the minister at Brussels has been instructed in-structed to withdraw from Belgium with foreign diplomatic and consular consu-lar officers and take up his official residence at Havre. After consultation, with the commission com-mission for relief in Belgium, Mr. Whitlock has also been instructed to arrange for the departure of the American members of the commission. commis-sion. This step, the seriousness of which is fully appreciated by the government, was taken only after careful consideration and full consultation con-sultation with all the interests involved. in-volved. When diplomatic relations with Germany were broken off, the normal nor-mal procedure would have been to have withdrawn the minister at Brussels and the American members of the American relief commission. Both this government and the com-mission, com-mission, however, felt a heavy tv. moral responsibility for the millions , nf Belgians behind tho Gorman Vi Ws, and it was decided that the work of the commission must be kept going, despite all difficulties, until continued 'American participation participa-tion became impossible. For over two years it has been the single-minded purpose of this government and the commission to see that these ten millions of civilians ci-vilians were fed, .and with this end in view the Americans concerned have submitted to restrictions by the Germans which under ordinary conditions would never have been tolerated. Worked With Difficulty. Immediately after the break in i relations the German authorities in 1 Brussels withdrew from Mr. Whit- ! lock the diplomatic privileges and i immunities which he had up to that time enjoyed. His courier service to .The Hague was stopped and he was denied the privilege of communicating communi-cating with the department of state in cipher and later even in plain language. Tne members of the relief committee com-mittee were placed under great re- strictions of movements and communications, com-munications, which hampered tho efficient performance of their task. In spite of all these difficulties the government and the commission ' were determined to keep the work going to the last possible point. Now, however, a more serious difficulty dif-ficulty has arisen. In the course of the past ten days several of the commission 's ships have been attacked at-tacked without warning by German submarines, in flagrant violation of the solemn engagements of the German Ger-man government. Protests addressed by this government to Berlin through the intermediary of the Spanish government have not been answered. The German government's govern-ment's disregard of its written undertaking un-dertaking causes grave concern as to the future relief work. In any event, it is felt that the American staff of the commission can no longer serve with advantage in Belgium. Bel-gium. Although a verbal promise has been made that the members of the commission would be permitted per-mitted to leave if they desire, the German government's observance of its other undertakings has not been such that the department would feel warranted in accepting responsibility for leaving these American citizens in German occupied occu-pied territory. This government has approved the proposals of the Netherlands government to send into Belgium a certain number of Netherlands subjects to carry on work thus far performed by the American staff. |
