Salt Lake Telegram | 1917-09-16 | Page 25 | Serbia Devastated under Heel of Teutons

I I SERBIA S ER B IA DEVASTATED DE UNDER HEEL OF I Bulgarians Bulgaria s Aid in Reducing Neighboring Nation to Waste Is Charge By Milton Bronner Staff Special W WASHINGTON Sept 15 Belgium Belgium and northern Fr France nce may be starved and strangled by the Germans but Serbia is being crucified by the Austrians Austrians Austrians Aus- Aus and the The two nations nations na na- na- na vie with each other In their cruelties They are not deterred in part by public opinion as are the tho Germans Ger Ger- mans News has come out of BelgIum Bel- Bel gIum glum but very little comes conies out of Serbia The speaker was V. V M. M former professor In the University University sity Ity of Belgrade for nearly two years years ears witness eye with the Serbian armies and now in this city attached to the Serbian legation For some time before before be- be fore coming here one of his principal duties in charge of the Serbian press bureau at Corfu was to go through Bulgarian Austrian and Hungarian newspapers for news of what was happening happening happening hap hap- pening to Serbia When the Austrians and the Bul Bul- gars get through there may be he no Serbian nation he said Add to the thelo lo looses ses in the lighting the deaths from suppressions of Serb rebellions the deaths from disease and hunger the deaths from wholesale executions for offenses never before punished so drastically and you get an enormous figure The Austrians have third one-third of my country the hold the rest Before Before Before Be- Be fore the war the population was 4 Serbia's general loss in population pop- pop popI I amounts to From this we may have to deduct in the Serbian army at wounded and reserves at Corfu and in France and Tunis prisoners in enemy countries civilians In Interned interned interned in- in and refugees The prisoners or 01 interned are for the I greater part doomed to perish or become become become be- be come permanently incapacitated So I the Serbian losses are roughly already I souls souls more more than one-fifth one of the entire population I And the end is not yet We Ve know knew i that Serbs perished when they I revolted at Nish and against Bulgar cruelties According to a statement statement statement state state- ment by Otokar the have deported over Serbs to Asia Minor and about Serbian girls between the ages of 10 and 14 14 have been sent to the harems of Constan Constan- They have also deported en masse maSEe all business men officials teachers and priests Serbian is no longer all allowed owed in the schools schools teach the Bulgarian language In the churches Bulgarian priests preside Serbian books which were not burned have been converted into pulp for making malting new paper Children Children Chil Chil- dren are sent b by the wholesale into Austria In one Hungarian pap paper r I saw that were interned at Brunau and Hungarian teachers had been supplied The object of course is to denationalize denationalize alize them and to utilize their laborIn laborIn laborIn labor In the parts parti of Serbia under control of the Austrian Archduke Frederick we learn from the tile Novine organ of the Austrians that death on the gallows is provided for persons men or women in whose possession possession possession pos pos- session are found arms or explosives for those who assist prisoners to es escape escape escape es- es cape for having more food in the house than Is permitted by the military for retaining copper utensils after orders to give them up for conveying letters other than ones one's own Not long ago Siblin wealthy merchant of Brus was hanged for refusing to reveal where private property of the Serbian crown prince had been deposited In the of the Serb armies the men buried burled arms and munitions on farms When the Austrians Austrian find these things they often hang the farmers utterly ignorant of the whereabouts of these Implements of war People have been hanged because they either could not or would woul not re reveal reveal reveal re- re veal where Serbian state archives were vero I hidden There is another and more refined way of ruining the survivors and that thatis is by seizing all their goods and meney money money mon men ey either through taxes or other methods methods methods meth meth- of robbery under color of military law lav The Austrians and change the laws on taxation and customs in introduce introduce introduce in- in new monopolies abolish the moratorium and force the inhabitants to subscribe to to their war loans and make donations nations to their Red Cross The evident aim is to bring about the economic ruin of the Serbs Although Serbian money in the open market is of more exchange value than Austrian and Bulgarian the conquerors conquer conquer- ors era have arbitrarily reduced it by one- one half thus at one blow depriving Serbians Serbians Ser Ser- i blans of one-half one of their savings In Inmany Inmany Inmany many Instances Serbian money has been taken by force from the people and Austrian money substituted and of course not on equal terms The have gone a step far far- ther Wherever a Serb has left the country they have declared his estate ownerless property and sold it for forthe forthe forthe the benefit of the Bulgarian treasury