"Article 1. Whoever, without reason, refuses to undertake or to
continue work suitable to his occupation, and in the execution of
which the military administration is interested, such work being
ordered by one or more of the military commanders, will be liable to
imprisonment not exceeding one year. He may also be transported to
Germany.
[Sidenote: Germans flout international law and order Belgians to work
for them.]
"Invoking Belgian laws or even international conventions to the
contrary, can, in no case, justify the refusal to work.
"On the subject of the lawfulness of the work exacted, the military
commandant has the sole right of forming a decision.
"Article 2. Any person who by force, threats, persuasion, or other
means attempts to influence another to refuse work as pointed out in
Article 1, is liable to the punishment of imprisonment not exceeding
five years.
"Article 3. Whoever knowingly by means of aid given or in any other
way abets a punishable refusal to work, will be liable to a maximum
fine of 10,000 marks, and in addition may be condemned to a year's
imprisonment.
"If communes or associations have rendered themselves guilty of such
offence the heads of the communes will be punished.
"Article 4. In addition to the penalties stated in Articles 1 and 3,
the German authorities may, in case of need, impose on communes,
where, without reason, work has been refused, a fine or other coercive
police measures.
"This present decree comes into force immediately.
"Der Etappeinspekteur,
"VON UNGER,
"Generalleutnant.
"GHENT, _October 12th, 1915_."
Cardinal Mercier's brief comment is as follows: "The injustice and
arbitrariness of this decree exceed all that could be imagined. Forced
labor, collective penalties and arbitrary punishments, all are there.
It is slavery, neither more nor less."
[Sidenote: October 3, 1916, German Government inaugurates wholesale
deportations.]
Cardinal Mercier was in error, for the German authorities were able
to imagine a much more terrible measure. In October, 1916, when the
need for an additional labor supply _in Germany_ had become urgent,
the German government established the system of forced labor _and
deportation_ which has aroused the detestation of Christendom.
The reader will not be misled by the clumsy effort of the German
authorities to mask the real purpose of the decree.