Show DEATH RATE IN BELGIUM IS HIGH under german occupation III treat treatment ment and poor food kill thousands WORSE THAN AN EPIDEMIC mortality in civil life greater than on Batte battenfield field situation can only be worse says legation one execution dally daily washington the existing death rate in belgium Is us as high as at the time of the most terrible epidemics and greater than that on the battle held due to the extremities to which german occupation has reduced the country in addition at least one belgian dally daily Is executed by the german authorities accord ln to a statement made public by the belgian legation the statement came from havre and road read as follows nt N t taking into account the losses OR on tile the field of battle belgium has suffered heavily in ili its civilian population abrou through 11 the he invasion find and occupation of its territory by the germans 1 I 1 civilians killed during the invasion august september 1914 although we are not yet in possession of a complete list of the civilians killed by the germans during those fateful days wo 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 about most of these victims fell in the towns chere under pretext pretest of the existence of sharpshooters german fury knew no limits dinant counted GOG COO victims andenne aldenne An denne more than more than louvain Lou berschot about amur about 75 deportees death rate high 2 among the deportees the mortality resulting from privations III treatment under underfeeding feeding etc exceeds largely the normal percentage of deaths some too have met death on the battle fledda where the germans forced them to do auxiliary work it we possess ample information about individual places find undeniable testimony on the broken health of the returned deportees in general we are however unable to quote figures 3 the elec electrified trifled wire which makes the belgians prisoners in their own country accounts for a great number of victims especially among young people who mho try to escape in order to join the army or among couriers who try to smuggle news in or out of belgium in less than a year between august 1910 1010 and july 1017 IGO persons were electrocuted since then the average number of victims las bas increased owing to the strengthening of the guards lied and the putting up of new wires 4 the death penalty pronounced tty oy the german military courts for crimes of patriotism levies a heavy toll on the population it la is estimated that each day one belgian at least suffers the supreme penalty the unsatisfactory food situation due to the requisition of the home grown foodstuffs and the sinking of many relief ships sl illis the use of unsuitable substitutes the lack of fuel as a result of the exploitation by germany tor for her own consumption and for exportation por tation of the belgian coal fields has haa 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 deaths for through lack of physical strength many people jire are subject to rickets or als and so become unable to resist slight gilness which under normal conditions would not prove fatal As to the bad effect of unsuitable substitutes it will sut suf ice fice to recall the diseases cont contracted I acted by th the deportees through the use of raw rutabagas and the paralysis of tile the brain find and of the marrow or tile the special kind of jaundice provoked by tile he use ilse of lupin jupin seeds as a substitute f for or coffee berries white plague prevalent the death rate ill all 01 cr belgium but especially in the large towns Is as 89 high us as at tile the time of the most terrible epidemics A brussels paper appearing with the consent of the german censorship admits that there tire arc more ci civilian dead from lack of sufficient food than belgian soldiers fallen on the battlefield 1 on the other hand a report on the work of the war orphans in belgium shows that in 1917 1017 there were fewer orphans of soldiers fallen in tn the war than of civilians killed during the urne period and of deportees dead in consequence of their deportation Card cardiac lac affections and cerebral hemorrhages account for the greater part of the deaths tuberculosis especially under the form of tubercular meningitis for almost as many typhoid fever caused by the occupying army his has occasionally levied a heavy toll on the civilian population the situation in 1918 1018 can only grow worse it Is undeniable that the physical standard of the nation is 19 lowering dangerously find and that the effects of the ger german M a n occupation on the health of the people will make themselves felt tor for a long time after the war |