One of the most important problems which confronted the Belgians after the German occupation was that of keeping in touch with each other, of maintaining their national morale and of establishing some sort of contact with their government and army. Between them and this army, their own sons, brothers, fathers and friends, stood the impassable barrier of the German lines. The plight of those left behind these lines was desperate. They were, as a result of the great catastrophe which had come upon Belgium, a leaderless people, robbed and outraged, checked at every turn by the powerful army of occupation. That, in their misfortune, freedom of speech should have been left to them by the Teutons was not to have been expected. Indeed, every attempt was made by the Germans to secure possession of all the means of disseminating information in order that they themselves might have a free field for their work of beguiling the now supposedly conquered people into a position of acquiescence and submission. A part of the German plan was to impress upon the Belgian population the sense of German invincibility and the hopelessness of the cause of the Allies. Having obtained control of the telegraph, telephone and mail service, the Germans conducted their propaganda, through agencies which we might designate under four heads:

First. Information furnished gratis by the German authorities and by individuals.

Second. Printed matter of German origin which was allowed to be sold in Belgium.

Third. Newspapers and pamphlets announced as Belgian, but in reality more often German, which were subject to the censorship.

Fourth. Dutch or other foreign newspapers passed by the censorship. Of these foreign sheets many were doubtless under German ownership and control, but even pro-German foreign papers, like the "Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant," were by no means allowed to enter every day. Sometimes as many as twelve and fifteen numbers a month were refused permission

to enter.

The Germans doubtless believed that they could in this manner see to it that no news was spread among the Belgians, except such as suited the German purpose. How gross were their attempts to deceive will be plain from a single instance. On the 15th of SepOn the 15th of September, 1914, a poster was put up throughout the occupied section which read as follows: "Berlin, 14th of September (official): In the Western theatre of war [France] operations have taken place, the details of which cannot yet be published, and which have brought about a battle which is favorable for us. All the news which is being spread in this regard by all

means at the enemies' disposal, and which present the situation as unfavorable to us are false." Such, then, was the German account for Belgian consumption, of the overwhelming defeat of the Germans on the Marne.

One of the most interesting and curious chapters in recent Belgian history is therefore the account of the ingenious ways in which they countered this attempt of the Germans and maintained for themselves at great peril independent methods of communication, for it is not to be supposed that a brave people who had dared oppose the German military domination would supinely submit to this intellectual tyranny.

After the German occupation of Brussels, August 20, 1914, notice was immediately served upon all the Brussels newspapers that they would have to subject themselves to the German censorship, or their offices would be closed. To the credit of Belgian journalists not one of their papers accepted this proposal at the time. Some went so far as to ruin their own plants. At the time, therefore, no newspapers were available in the capital. A few papers have since been revived in Brussels either by the Germans alone, or with the help of Belgians who have been bribed or forced into co-operation, and who in either case are heartily detested by the great majority of their countrymen. For the time being, however, no news except from German sources was supposed to be within the reach of the population.

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The German plan was doomed to failure, for from the first papers did get into Brussels from the outside, from Antwerp, Ghent, and even from the allied countries. These were brought to within a certain distance of the German lines hidden in the bottom of baskets of garden truck in the carts of market gardeners. Thus they were brought through, and then unpacked in the back room of a café, which, according to a prearranged plan, was changed daily, and given to news peddlers who sold ostensibly post cards, patriotic placards and authorized journals, which they announced to all customers. If a good Belgian approached them they added sotto voce La Flandre Liberale?" (of Ghent), or the names of Paris, London, or Amsterdam journals. In spite of all the cost and risks "La Flandre" sold for 75 centimes, as a general thing. Occasionally the Germans succeeded in holding up one or some of the gardeners' carts, and the price then rose to two or three francs. After mid-October, however, practically all of the Belgian papers disappeared, having discontinued publication. altogether, or having removed to London, Havre, or somewhere else safely beyond the lines. Though the situation had become much more difficult, blockade running continued through less regularly constituted channels. Rarely had the Germans succeeded in cap

interest of profit. "J'accuse " was sold for five francs, Waxweiler's "La Belgique Neutre et Loyale for three and a half francs. "King Albert's Book" was at first also sold for five francs, but the eager demand for it sent up the price, and later copies found purchasers for as high as twenty francs, though it should be remembered that the proceeds from the sale of this book were all devoted to charity. Works printed outside of Belgium, whose sale was prohibited, likewise showed but slight appreciation in the selling price, and well known pamphlets like those of Bédier on "The German Crimes," of Weiss on the "Violation of the Neutrality of Belgium and Luxemburg," which were sold in France for fifty centimes, were distributed by hundreds in Belgium at seventy-five. In addition to the regularly printed books and prohibited books from outside and the printed clandestine newspapers, there are also typewritten sheets, mimeographed or manifolded, of which large editions are circulated. The most important of these is "La Soupe," which sends out every week about fifty typewritten pages, which are equivalent in content to more than one hundred pages of an ordinary octavo volume. Among other things it printed the Report of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry, extracts from the Blue

Book and the Yellow Book, the Manifesto of ninetythree German Professors, with a dozen replies, the letter of Romain Rolland to Hauptmann, and the latter's reply, poetry by Rostand and Verhaeren, Cardinal Mercier's Pastoral Letter, and speeches of the Belgian minister, Lloyd George, and Maurice Maeterlinck.

In addition to providing such news and encouragement, it fulfilled another, perhaps even more important, function by exposing the falsehoods of the numerous German journals and pamphlets of propaganda, which were scattered throughout Belgium. Nothing illustrates better the amazing faith of the Germans in the efficacy of their own propaganda than their brazen attempt to prove to the martyred Belgians themselves that Germany had treated them only with kindness and justice. To this end they had distributed in Belgium countless pamphlets in French, Flemish and German, justifying their conduct during and after the invasion. The falsehoods here were so gloss and direct contradictory evidence so easily available that the task of "La Soupe" and its "esteemed contemporaries" was not a difficult one, and the value of a German document is probably discounted more severely in Belgium than in any other country.

Perhaps it was because of their lack of success with the ordinary methods of propaganda which were so easily exposed that the Germans, noticing the effect of the clandestine Belgian press, decided to go and do likewise. They themselves therefore published a little sheet resembling in form the more famous of the Belgian papers, which they called "Le Fouet." It was distributed with affected secrecy, and treated by the Germans who published it, as the work of conspirIt usually opened with ponderous raillery of some German worthy like von Bethmann-Hollweg, while the rest of the paper was devoted to sowing dissension among the Belgians. Their methods were so gross and coarse, however, that it deceived but few, and it served only as a German testimony to the importance of the clandestine Belgian press.

There is an amusing story told by Lavisse in his "Youth of Frederick the Great," of how one day Frederick William, King of Prussia, was walking "Unter Den Linden." Nearby some men were playing bowls. On the approach of Frederick William, they all fled, but the King ran after them, caught one of them, and holding him by the collar asked him furiously, "Why did you run away when you saw the King?

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"Sire," replied the poor man, "I was afraid."

"Oh!" returned the King, "you were afraid, were you?" And lifting his heavy stick he beat the man, repeating with every blow, "You must love me, you must love me."

The psychology of Frederick William is paralleled by that of the present German officials. After having failed in the use of force, they resorted to cajolery. We can give but two instances which resulted in what may very properly be called curiosities of the war. As manifest proof of their kind intentions toward the Belgians, they attempted to establish a Flemish University at Ghent, and they printed two newspapers for Belgian prisoners, "Onze Taal" and "Le Camp de Göttingen," the latter of which is reproduced on another page.

"Onze Taal" and "Le Camp de Göttingen" were unique newspapers for Belgian prisoners. In the prison camps of Germany, newspapers of somewhat this appearance are, to be sure, published, but they are edited by the prisoners themselves. At the Camp of Göttingen the newspapers are published for the prisoners by the Germans! They are edited by Professor Karl Stange, of the University of Göttingen. Why is it that the Germans are so solicitous about the recreation of the Belgian prisoners? For political reasons only. They are so blinded by the desire for