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Show yiH'." '?'''. h.m t).Mi- ;. v. -i. POLES DRIVEN TO GERMANYTOWORK Hun Commander's Brutal Order Issued to Conquered and ' Helpless People. . Every Ablt-Bodltd Man Forced to Leave Hie Starving Family ana Labor Under Shocking Conditions Condi-tions for the Oppreoeor. : 4-tiimmlTiiinmi4 ; i Thle I have eeen. I could not '. ; j believe It unleee I had oeen It ' . , through and through. For oev- ! '. ; ; oral weeka I lived with It) I " . , went all about It and back of ! '. ) It; Inside and out of It wao ' i shown to mo until finally I S ; j came to roallao that the tncredl- ; ; . i bio wao true. It le mensti-eue, i . ; j It le unthinkable, but It oxloto. j ; i It le the Frueolan eyetenv F.C I Walcott ; ; 1 1 n mini n n in m mt F. 0. Walcott, a Member ot the United States food administration, and during the time America waa feeding the civilian populations of Belgium,1 Serbia aad northern Franco an assistant assist-ant of Mr. Hoover la these Invaded countries, has pictured In a graphic way the conditions he found among tho people.lt was his duty to help.' After describing the terrible condl- I tloos in Poland in 1016, tho millions, that "were dying of starvation, the hundreds of thousands of defenseless peop!ethnt had been ruthlessly cut down by tho sword of tho German conqueror, con-queror, he says: In that situation, the German commander com-mander issued a proclamation. Every able-bodied Pole was bidden to Germany Ger-many to work.- If nay .refused, let no other Polo glvo him to eat, not so much ns n mouthful, under penalty of German military law. Tills ts tho choice the German government gov-ernment gives. to tho conquered Pole, to tho husband and father of a starving starv-ing family: Leave your family or die or survive as the case may be. Leave your country which is destroyed, to work in Germany for its further destruction. de-struction. If you aro obstinate, wo shall see that you surely starve. Staying with his folk, he Is doorded and they are not saved ; the father nnd husbauU can do nothing for them, he only adds to their risk and suffering. Leaving them, ho wilt bo cut off from his family, they may never hear from him again nor ho from them. Ger-ninny Ger-ninny will set him to work that n German Ger-man yorl;mnn may bo released to fight against his own land and people. lie shall bo lodged In barracks, behind baibcd wlro entanglements, under armed guard. He shall sleep on the bare ground with a blnglo thin blanket. blan-ket. He shall bo scantily fed and his I cnrnlngi shall be taken from him to pay for his food. That Is the choice which the German Ger-man government offers to a proud, ' sensitive, high-strung people. Death or slavery. '. When a Polo gave mo that proclama- tlon, I was boiling. But I had to re- strain myself. I was practically tho only foreign civilian in the country and I wanted to get food to tho people. That was what X was there for and I must not for any cause jeopardize tho undertaking. I asked Governor General Gen-eral von Beselcr, "Can this be truer "Beally, I cannot say," he replied. 1 have signed so many proclamations ; ask General Von Krles." So I asked General von Kries. "General, "Gen-eral, this is a civilised people. Caa this be truer "Zee," he said, "it la true" with aa air ot adding, Why not? I dared not trust myself to apeak; I turned to go. "Walt," ha said. And ha explained to me bow Germany, official Germany, regards the atate ot, abject peoples. It U hard for aa to laaglaa wuA condition la America aa Mr. Walcott has described as existing In Hun-ridden Poland, and yet that is just what would exist should oar boys, and the boys ot our allies, now fighting la France fall to defeat tho soldiers ot thla Border empire. This fair coan-try coan-try ot ours would be made into a German Ger-man province; our people would bo the slaves of the Junkers ot Germany, subject to tho beastly whims ot tho officers ot tho German army. la ao war la which America has ever engaged en-gaged have .the stakes beea ao great as la this present conflict Should we, by any chance, lose; should the Hun, by any chance, win; oar liberties, oar happiness, everything Americana bold dear, would be loot |