ent war? Have you never
heard that, on the fifteenth of June, 1907, at The Hague, forty-four
nations of the civilized world (and Germany was one of the number)
assembled and met together to form such a league? Have you never heard
of the treaty that was signed then which, according to the wording at
the treaty's head, had for its object "fixing the laws and usages at
war on the land"? Have you never read the terms of this convention,
have you never glanced through the sixty-odd articles which today, in
the presence of the nameless horrors in which we lend a hand, offer a
prodigious interest to actuality?

Glance over these articles--and let us see how they have been applied:

ARTICLE 4 provides that "_prisoners of war must be humanely
treated. All their personal belongings, except arms, horses,
and military papers, remain their property_." Now all the
prisoners held by Germany have, without exception, been
spoiled of their money, of their portfolios, of their rings,
of their jewels, of their eyeglasses.

ARTICLE 6 says that "_the state may employ as workmen the
prisoners of war_," but it is careful in stipulating "_that
the work must not be excessive and must have nothing
whatever to do with operations of war_." ARTICLE 7 says
that "_prisoners of war shall be treated as regards board,
lodging, and clothing on the same footing as the troops of
the Government who captured them_." Each of these two
articles has been violated since the beginning of the war by
the Germans. After the Battle of the Marne, when the
advancing French troops of Joffre arrived on the Aisne they
found French civilians captured by the Germans and compelled
by them to work in the trenches. Moreover, an official
report emanating from Mr. Gustave Ador, President of the
International Red Cross, now member of the Swiss Federal
Council, called the attention of the belligerents as soon as
October, 1914, to the bad treatment of the French prisoners
in Germany. Each French officer had, as prisoner, a salary
of one hundred marks per month, which was not even half of
the pay of an under-officer.

ARTICLES 23, 25, 27, and 28 are so interesting that they
must be quoted _in extenso_:

ARTICLE 23. In _addition to the prohibitions provided by
special conventions, it is especially forbidden_:

(a) _To employ po