The sight of the destroyed homes and cities, the widowed and fatherless, the destitute, the physical misery of a people but partially nourished at best, the deportation of men by tens of thousands to slavery in German mines and factories, the execution of men and women for paltry effusions of their loyalty to their country, the sacking of every resource through financial robbery, the battening of armies on the slender produce of the country, the denudation of the country of cattle, horses and textiles; all these things we had to witness, dumb to help other than by protest and sympathy, during this long and terrible time--and still these are not the events of battle heat, but the effects of a grinding heel of a race demanding the mastership of the world. All these things are well known to the world--but what can never be known is the dumb agony of the people, the expressionless faces of millions whose souls have passed the whole gamut of emotions. And why? Because these, a free and democratic people, dared plunge their bodies before the march of autocracy. I myself believe that if we do not fight and fight now, all these things are possible to us--but even should the broad Atlantic prove our present defender, there is still Belgium. Is it worth while for us to live in a world where this free and unoffending people is to be trampled into the earth and to raise no sword in protest? HERBERT HOOVER. FRANCE. [Sidenote: German practices were the same in all occupied regions.] In France the German system of forced labor and deportations, with its attendant callousness, brutalities, and horrors, was the same as in Belgium. Inasmuch as the German system in action has been adequately illustrated in the foregoing pages on Belgium, it will suffice in this part simply to show the real identity of German practice in the two occupied regions. This can be done from the official documents and from a summary by Ambassador Gerard. The harrowing details may be gathered from the scores of depositions which accompany the note addressed by the French Government to the Governments of the neutral powers July 25, 1916. These are on file in the State Department, and have also been translated, along with the official documents, in _The Deportation of Women and Girls from Lille_, New York, Doran. PROCLAMATION OF THE GERMAN MILITARY COMMANDANT OF LILLE. "The attitude of England makes the provisioning of the population more and more difficult. "To reduce the misery, the German authorities have recently asked for volunteers to go and work in the country. This offer has not had the success that was expected. [Sidenote: German proclamation at Lille, April, 1916.]