Show DEATH BELGIUM IS HIGH under german occupation III treatment and poor fo food od kill thousands WORSE THAN AN EPIDEMIC mortality in civil life greater than on battlefield situation can on ly be worse says legation ono one execution dally daily the existing death rate in belgium I 1 Is s as high as at the time of the most terrible epidemics and greater st eater than that on the battle field due to fo the extremities to which german occupation has reduced the country in addition at least one belgian dally daily Is executed by the german authorities according to a statement ronde made public by the belgian legation the statement came from havre and read as follows not taking into account the losses on ci the field of battle belgium has suffered heavily in its civilian population through the ln invasion aslon and occupation of if its territory by the germans 1 I 1 civilians killed during the jn in vit sion august september 1014 1914 although we ill ale e not yet in possession of it corn complete list of the civilians killed by the germans during those fateful days we know the number of victims to be well over for the following provinces we have approximate estimates namur more than 1800 luxembourg about 1200 liege more than 1000 brabant hainaut Hal about most of these celms victims fell in the towns where under unde r pretext pretest fit of the existence of sharpshooters german fury knew no limits dinant counted GOO COO victims andenne aldenne An denne more than famines tamines Ta tan lines mines more thal than louvain Lou berschot about abou t namur about 75 deportees death rate high T 2 among the deportees the mortality resulting from privations ill treatment under underfeeding feeding C etc tc exceeds exceed 9 largely the normal percentage of deaths some too have met death on the battle fields where the germans forced them to do auxiliary work if we possess ample information about individual places ind find undeniable testimony on the broken health of the returned deportees in general we are however unable to quote figures 13 3 the electrified wire which makes the belgians prisoners in their own country accounts for a great number of victims especially among young people who try tri to escape in order to join the army or among couriers couil ers who try to smuggle news in or butof out of belgium in less than a tear year between august 1910 1916 and july 1017 persons were electrocuted since then the average number of victims has increased owing to the strengthening of the guards and the putting up of new wires 14 4 the death penalty ty pronounced by tile the german military arf courts for crimes of patriotism levies a heavy toll on the population it Is estimated that each day one belgian at least suf fers cers the supreme penalty the food situation due to the requisition of the home grown foodstuffs and the sinking of many relief ships the use of unsuitable substitutes the lack of fuel as a res result u lt of the exploitation by germany for lier her own consumption and for exportation por atlon tation of the belgian coal fields hati ha dangerously increased the death rate deaths from hunger and cold are not unusual but it Is mostly indirectly that the under underfeeding feeding of the population causes numerous premature dent deaths lis for through lack of physical strength many people are subject to tickets rickets or pre tuberculosis and so become unable to resist slight illness which under normal conditions would not prove fatal As to the bad effect of unsuitable substitutes it will suf fice to recall tile diseases contracted by the deportees through 9 11 tile use ilse of raw rutabagas and the paralysis or of the brain mid of ilie he marrow or the special kind hind of jaundice provoked by tile lie use ilse of lupin lapin deeds seeds as a substitute for or coffee berries white plague prevalent the death rate all over Belg belgium luni but especially fl n the large towns Is as high dat ii nt at the time of tile the most terrible epidemics A lir brussels paper appearing with the cons consert eilt of the german censorship admits that there are more civilian dead from lack of sufficient food than belgian soldiers fallen on the battlefield on the ather hand a report on the work of tile the war orphans in belgium shows that in 1917 there were fewer orphans of soldiers Bold lors fallen in rhe war than of chiv walls killed during the atme period find and of deportees dead in III consequence of their deportation cardiac affections and cerebral hemorrhages account for the greater p part of the deaths tuberculosis especially under tinder the form of tubercular meningitis for almost as ninny many typhoid fever caused by the occupying army has oc occasionally aslon ally levied a heavy toll on the civilian population the situation in 1018 1918 can only grow worse it Is undeniable that the physical standard of th the e nation Is lowering dangerously and that the effects of the german occupation on tile the health of the people will make themselves felt for ft a long time after the war |