"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. THE DECREE OF OCTOBER 3, 1916. "DECREE CONCERNING THE LIMITING OF THE BURDENS ON PUBLIC CHARITY.... [Sidenote: German verbal camouflage.] "I. People able to work may be compelled to work even outside the place where they live, in case they have to apply to the charity of others for the support of themselves or their dependents on account of gambling, drunkenness, loafing, unemployment, or idleness. "II. Every inhabitant of the country is bound to render assistance in case of accident or general danger, and also to give help in case of public calamities as far as he can, even outside the place where he lives; in case of refusal he may be compelled by force. "III. Anyone called upon to work, under Articles I or II, who shall refuse the work, or to continue at the work assigned him, will incur the penalty of imprisonment up to three years and of a fine up to 10,000 marks, or one or other of these penalties, unless a severer penalty is provided for by the laws in force. "If the refusal to work has been made in concert or in agreement with several persons, each accomplice will be sentenced, as if he were a ringleader, to at least a week's imprisonment.