wns, sexual
morality was rather loose, but the Germans are now regulating all that.'
(You should hear German officers speak of prostitution in Antwerp and
Brussels.) 'The evil was great, but fortunately the Germans came and are
cleaning up the country.'--That is their way of doing and talking. It
does not take them long to convince ingenuous and uncritical Americans
that everything is splendidly regulated by German efficiency, and that
if only the Belgians were complying, everything would be all right in
Belgium. Are not the Belgians very ungrateful?

"The Belgians do appreciate American generosity; they realize that
almost the only rays of happiness that reach their country come from
America. They will never forget it; that disinterested help coming from
over the seas has a touch of romance; it is great and comforting; it is
the bright and hopeful side of the war. The Belgians know how to value
this. But, as to what the Germans are doing, good or not, they will
never appreciate that--what does it matter? The Belgians do not care one
bit for German reforms; they do not even deign to consider them; they
simply ignore them. There is _one_--only one--reform that they will
appreciate; the German evacuation. All the rest does not count. When
the Germans speak of cleaning the country, the Belgians do not
understand. From their point of view, there is only one way to clean
it--and that is for the Germans to clear out.

"The Germans are very disappointed that a certain number of Belgians
have been able to escape, either to enlist in the Belgian army or to
live abroad. Of course, the more Belgians are in their hands, the more
pressure they can exert. They are now slandering the Belgians who have
left their country--all the 'rich' people who are 'feasting' abroad
while their countrymen are starving.

"The fewer Belgians there are in German hands, the better it is. The
Belgians whose ability is the most useful, are considered useful by the
Germans for the latter's sake. Must it not be a terrible source of
anxiety for these Belgians to think that all the work they manage to do
is directly or indirectly done for Germany? It is not astonishing that
she wants to restore 'business, as usual' in Belgium, and that in many
cases she has tried to force the Belgian workers to earn for her. Let
me simply refer to the protest recently published by the Belgian
Legation. But for the American Commission for Relief, the Belgians would
have had