Here are two other placards, printed in Germany, which show plainly that it is according to a system that our oppressors hold the entire community responsible for the act committed by a single person; or rather, as we shall see, for the acts of the Belgian army. PLACARD PRINTED IN GERMAN, FRENCH, RUSSIAN, AND POLISH, SURROUNDED BY A BORDER OF THE GERMAN COLOURS. NOTICE. Any person who shall have damaged a military telephone or telegraph will be shot. Any person removing this notice will also receive the severest punishment. If the guilty person is not found, the severest measures will be taken against the commune in which the damage has been caused or the present notice removed. THE GENERAL COMMANDING THE ARMY CORPS. (_Posted at Bieghem, copy made 22nd October, 1914._) NOTICE. All damage done to the Telegraph, Telephone, or Railway lines will be punished by the Military Court. According to the circumstances, the guilty person will be condemned to death. If the guilty person is not seized the severest measures will be taken against the commune in which the damage has been done, THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. Printed by H. A. Heymann, Berlin, S.W. (_Posted at Tervueren, copy made 15th April, 1915._) Very frequently the penalties with which the community is threatened are not specified in these placards. One may suppose that it would consist of a fine; this is indeed the punishment most frequently applied, doubtless because it is the most productive. Here are some examples, for cutting the telegraph wires, various localities in Flanders were forced to pay fines in December 1914. The military chest does not lack for money; for in a garrison command a fine may be inflicted more readily than elsewhere. Here is an example. An officer was choosing some music in a shop; and found, amidst a heap of pieces of music, a copy of the _Marseillaise_. Now it has never been stated that one must not possess the _Marseillaise_. Result: the shopkeeper was condemned to pay a fine of 500 marks or to twenty days' imprisonment. "I prefer the imprisonment," said the unfortunate man. "But, my good fellow, you can avoid going to prison! Pay the fine!" "I know, but I have not got 500 marks. I could only scrape together 150 frs. at most." "All right, give them to me!" * * * * * _Fines for Telegraphic Interruptions._ The military chest is also replenished by the fines paid because the telegraph and telephone do not work properly. Now it has often happened during the last six weeks that communication has been obstructed in Flanders. The smallest communes have been forced to pay fines. Here is a brief list of such fines: