Show AIMED TO MAKE POLAND DESERT german system reckoned on starvation of people to promote imperial ends VON KRIES REVEALED PLOT country after population had been systematically done to death was to be Re stocked by settlers from germany the extent of human misery in poland caused by the german occupation cu was as great as that in belgium and france the entire heartlessness which characterized the kai I ai sers high officers is welt well shown in in a statement oy by mr yemen vernon kellogg Eel logg prepared for a pamphlet issued ty by the committee on public information which we copy the systematic exploitation of human misery by the german authorities in poland followed the general plan laid down by the laisers kaisers kai kal sers orders in order to prove the identity of procedure it will be enough to present the detailed report prepared specially for a pamphlet issued by the committee on public information and written by mr frederic C walcott A fuller and in some ways more touching treatment Is given in his article devastated roland poland in the national geographic magazine for may hay 1917 september 1917 toland poland russian poland Is perishing and the german high command imbued with the prussian system Is coolly reckoning on the necessities cities of a starving people to promote its imperial ends west poland which has been prussian territory more than a hundred years Is a disappointment to germany its people obstinately remain poles this time they propose swifter measures in two or three years by grace of starvation and frightfulness they calculate calculi te east poland will be thoroughly made over into a german province in the great EUn lundenburg hindenburg denburg drive one ona year ago the country was completely devastated by the retreating russian army and the oncoming germans A million people were driven from their homes half of them perished by the he roadside for miles and miles when I 1 saw the country the way was littered with mud soaked garments and bones picked clean by the crows though the larger bones had been gathered by tho the thrifty germans to be ground into fertilizer ti wicker baskets the little has basket in which the baby swings from the rafters in every peasant home were scattered along the way hundreds and hundreds until one could not count them each one telling ft a death deliberate policy of starvation warsaw which had not been destroyed once a proud city of a million people was utterly stricken poor folks by thousands lined the streets leaning against the buildings shivering in snow and rain too weak to lift a hand dying of cold and hunger though ithe the rich gave all they had bad and the poor shared their last crust they were starving there in the streets in droves in the stricken city the german governor of warsaw issued a proclamation all able bodied poles were bidden to go to germany to work it if auy any refused let no other pole give him to eat cat not so much as a mouthful under penalty of german military law it was more than the mind could grasp to the husband and father ol of broken families the high command gave this decree leave your families to starve if you stay we shall see that thai you on do starve this to a high strung sensitive highly organized d people this from the authorities of a nation professing civilization and religion to millions of fellow christians captive and starving general von kries erics the ko governor vernor was kind enough to explain candidly they preferred not quite so much starvation it might get on the nerves 0 of the german soldiers but starvation being present it must work for german purpose taking advantage of this wretchedness the working men of poland were to be removed the country was to be re stocked with germans it was country germany needed rich alluvial soil better suited to germun expansion than distant possessions if the poland that was hod had to perish so much the better for germany to make poland german province remove the men let the young and weak die graft german stock on tho the women see how bow simple it Is with a crafty smile general von kries concluded by and by we must give back freedom to poland very good it will reappear as a german province slowly I 1 came to realize that this monstrous incredible thing was the prussian system deliberately chosen by the circle around tho the all highest and kneaded into the german people till it became part of their mind ag german erman people ore are material tor for building the state of no other account other people are arc for germanys germanas Germ anys win will to work upon humanity liberty equality the rights or of others till nil foolish talk democracy an idle dream the true prussian lives only for this that the german state may be mighty and great all the woes boes in the long conot against germany are part of theorus the sian system the invasion of belgium the deportations the starving starring of sub tvr v eject lect people the armenian massacres massacre frightfulness ulness sinking the Lusita illa the submarine horrors the enslavement of 0 women all piece into the monstrous view the rights of nations the rights of men the lives and liberties of all people are subordinate to the german aim of dominion over fill all the world FREDERIC C WALCOTT mr vernon kellog kelloggs Kell 9 Is statement Is as follows saw only massacre and ruin it AN was anas as my privilege and necessity in connection with the work of the commission for relief in belgium to spend severn several months nt at the great headquarters of the german armies in the west and later to spend more months nt at brussels as the commissions director for belgium and occupied france it was tin nn enforced opportunity port unity to see something of german practice in the treatment of a conquered people part of whom the F rench french and the inhabitants of the tha belgian provinces of east and west flanders were under the direct control of the german general start staff and the several german armies of the west and part the inhabitants of the seven other belgian provinces under the quaal civil government of governor general von dissing I 1 did not enter the occupied territories until june 1015 1915 and so eo of course saw none of the actual invasion and overrunning of the land I 1 saw only the graves of the massacred and the ruins ruin of their towns but I 1 saw through the long hard bard months much too much for my peace of mind of how the germans treated the unfortunates under their control after the tha occupation destruction complete As chief representative for the commission it was my duty to cover ebli whole territory repeatedly in long lone motor journeys in company with the ger man officer assigned for my protect protection lorl and for the protection of the german army against tiny any too much seeing As aa I 1 had opportunity also to cover most ol 01 0 belgium in repeated trips from brussels into the various provinces I 1 necessarily essa ess rily artly had opportunity to compare the destruction wrought in the two regions 1 I could understand why fertala cert alif towns and villages along the macuse and along the lines of the french and english retreat were badly shot to pieces there had been fighting in these towns and the artillery of first one side and then the other had worked their havoc among the houses bouses of the inhabitants inhabitant but there were many towns in which there had been no fighting and yet all too many of these towns also were ill ruins it was not ruin by shells but bul ruin by fire and explosions these thes were the famous punished towns town either a citizen or perhaps two oj oi three citizens had fired from fa window on the invaders or were alleged t have thereupon a block or two of 01 three blocks or half the town was wn methodically and effectively burned of 01 blown to pieces there are many ol 01 these punished towns in occupied france and between these towns and are innumerable isolated single farmhouses that are also in ruins it Is not claimed that there was any sniping from these farmhouses they were just destroyed along alona the way and by the way one may maj say when the roll of destroyed villages and destroyed farmhouses in occupied pled france Is made known the th world will be shocked again by this evidence of german thoroughness neutrality impossible but the horrible methods of that thai deportation were such that we although trying to hold steadfast to a rigorous neutrality could not but protest mr air gerard our ambassador to berlin happened at the very time ol 01 this protest to make a visit to th the great headquarters in the west and the th matter was brought to the attention of certain high officers at headquarters on the very day of sir arr gerards rind and in his hearing so that he added ills his own protest to that of mr air poland our director at the time and gurthel deportations were stopped but a terrible mischief had already been done husbands and fathers had been taked from their families without a word ol of goodby good by sons and daughters on whom perhaps aged parents relied for sup port were taken without pity or apparent thought of the terrible consequences quen ces the great deportation deportations 0 belgium have shocked the world bul these lesser deportations that ls Is lesser in extent but not less brutal in 10 their carrying out are hardly known know germany must be civilized 1 I went into belgium and occupied france a neutral and I 1 maintained while there a steadfastly neutral behavior but I 1 came out no DO neutral I 1 cannot conceive that any american enjoying an experience similar to mine could have come out a neutral he would come out as I 1 came with the ineradicable conviction that a people or a government which can do what the tha germans did and are doing in belgium and france today must not be allowed if there Is power on earth to prevent it to do this a moment longer than can be ba helped and they must not be allowed ever to do it again 1 I went in also a hater of war and I 1 came out a more ardent hater of war but also I 1 came out with the ineradicable conviction again that the only wily way in which germany under its present rule and in its present state of mind can be kept from doing what it has done Is by force ot of arms it cannot be prevented by appeal concession or treaties nence hence ardently is as I 1 nope that all war may cease I 1 hope that chat tills this war may not cease until germany realizes that the civilized world simply will not allow such horrors as hose bose or which germany is responsible ti and france to be any longer tong er possible |