"In the first place I hold the Communal authorities responsible for the spread of such tendencies, and I call attention to the fact that the population will itself be responsible if the liberties hitherto accorded in the most ample measure are withdrawn and replaced by the restrictive measures necessitated by its own fault." LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRAF VON WESTARP, _Commandant de l'Étape_. GAND, _10th June, 1913_. Here, then, they declare that they are on the point of intentionally violating the Hague Convention. Certain articles which appeared in _Het Volk_, a Christian-Democratic journal of Gand, on the 15th, 17th, 19th, and 22nd June, 1915, tell us what these measures are. The workers of the Bekaert factory at Sweveghem having refused to make barbed wire for the Germans, the latter began by arresting three notables, of whom two were promptly released. Then, to force the men to resume work, they decided that the commune should be placed under a ban; it was forbidden to ride a bicycle or to use a wheeled vehicle, and the introduction of foodstuffs was prohibited. The men still persisted in refusing to make the barbed wire on which their sons and brothers were to be caught in the battles of the Yser. Sixty-one men were sent to prison. The rest hastened to leave the village. What did the Germans do then? They seized the wives of the fugitives, shut them up in two great waggons, and took them to Courtrai; at the same time they posted up the names of those who had fled, and enjoined them to return. Before the threat of seeing their wives remain in prison until their children perished in their empty homes, the workers, with death in their hearts, had to resume their fratricidal task. Truly _Kultur_ is a fine thing! In Brabant they went a different way to work. They had requested M. Cousin to make barbed wire for them in his factory at Ruysbroeck (in the south of Brussels). He refused. They offered to buy his factory. He refused. They requisitioned his works. He was forced to submit. They installed themselves in the factory and tried to begin making barbed wire. But the machinery was worked by electricity, and the electricity was provided by a central station situated in Oisquercq. Naturally the Oisquercq works refused to supply current. The Germans arrested M. Lucien Beckers, the managing director of the company, and kept him several weeks in prison. * * * * * _Living Shields._ It remains to examine a final violation of Article 23; a violation so revolting that neither those present at the Hague Conference nor the Germans themselves in their _Kriegsbrauch_ had been willing to consider it. We are referring to the use of "living shields" (_7th Report_). * * * * * _A German Admission._ _Belgians placed before the Troops at Charleroi._