It will be understood that prohibited journals are rare. On certain days, when the hunt for the vendors is particularly fruitful, people will offer fifty francs, or even two hundred, for a copy of the Times. As it is chiefly across the Dutch frontier that the smuggling of the English "dailies" is carried on, the authorities have enacted measures which grow more and more Draconian relating to the traffic across this frontier. By the end of 1914 it had become practically impossible to enter Belgium from Holland by the ordinary route (see the Düsseldorfer General-Anzeiger of the 20th December, 1915). The smugglers of journals are therefore obliged to insinuate themselves in secret, and their trade is not without danger; only in the suburbs of Putte (province of Antwerp) the German sentinels killed two of them in December 1914.
Since the spring of 1915 the frontier has been guarded with barbed wire and wires traversed by high-tension electric currents; the crossing has naturally become more difficult. But "difficult" is not "impossible."
Secret Propagation of News.
So that a greater number of readers may profit by the newspapers smuggled into the country, the important passages, especially those relating to military operations, are copied by means of the typewriter. These extracts are searched after as much as the originals, but none the less there are those who continue to prepare and to distribute them in secret. In Brussels alone there are fifteen of these secret sheets, each of which has its public of subscribers; many of them are gratuitous. From time to time our oppressors scent out one of these typewriting establishments, but some other devoted person immediately continues the business.
In certain well-known establishments one could, for a time, obtain the use of a newspaper for ten minutes for one or two francs; but the secret was finally betrayed, thanks to one or other of the innumerable spies supported by the Government.
Secret Newspapers.
Finally, not a few persons, possessing a typewriting machine or other means of reproducing writing, copy and sell clandestinely, for the profit of some charitable undertaking, articles from foreign newspapers or reviews, which bear upon the current political situation. Many documents have reached us in this form.
Lastly, courageous Belgians have undertaken to print, in the midst of the occupied territory, and in spite of all the German prohibitions, newspapers which reach a circulation of many thousands. The two most important are La Libre Belgique and La Vérité. In vain have our persecutors promised the most enticing rewards to those who should denounce the authors of these sheets; they continue imperturbably to appear. Which proves, be it said in passing, that the Germans lie most horribly when they state that numbers of Belgians send them anonymous information.
German Placards.