The raw materials which the Imperial Government has bought in Antwerp, Ghent, and other places will be paid for as soon as possible. The payment will be made only after the goods have been transported into Germany and after the valuation has been made, and the payment shall be made in such manner that no money shall be sent from Germany to Belgium during the period of the war.
Professor Munro and his fellow-editors have drawn freely upon the official texts printed in the work entitled "German Legislation for the Occupied Territories of Belgium," edited, in ten volumes, by Huberich and Nicol-Speyer, (The Hague, 1915-17.) These volumes cover the period from Sept. 5, 1914, to March 29, 1917, and contain a reprint of "The Official Bulletin of Laws and Ordinances" in German, French, and Flemish. The documents show that the first step under the Rathenau plan was to ascertain what raw materials and other supplies were accessible. Consequently, there were many ordinances commanding the declaration of certain wares. The following is an example:
Brussels, Dec. 11, 1914.
All stocks of benzine, benzol, petroleum, spirits of alcohol, glycerine, oils and fats of any kind, toluol, carbide, raw rubber and rubber waste, as well as all automobile tires, shall immediately be reported in writing to the respective chiefs of districts or commanders, with a statement of quantity and the place of storage. * * *
If a report is not made the wares shall be confiscated for the State and the guilty individual shall be punished by the military authorities. (From "German Legislation," &c., Vol. I., p. 95.)
Such a declaration made it easy for the military authorities later to acquire the wares either by direct requisition or by forced sales. The following are examples:
Brussels, Aug. 13, 1915.
Article 1. The stocks of chicory roots existing within the jurisdiction of the General Government in Belgium are hereby commandeered. (From "German Legislation," &c., Vol. IV., p. 148.)
Brussels, Jan. 8, 1916.
Article 1. All wools (raw wool, washed wool, tops and noils, woolen waste, woolen yarns, artificial wools, as well as mixtures of these articles with others) and also all mattresses filled with the wools above specified and now an object of trade or introduced into trade, found within the jurisdiction of the General Government, are hereby commandeered.
Wool freshly shorn or in any other way separated from the skin shall also be subject to seizure immediately upon its separation. (From "German Legislation," &c., Vol. VI., p. 57.)
Between October, 1914, and March, 1917, there were ninety-two separate ordinances of the General Government commanding the declaration, forced sale, or confiscation of various materials. Of these, forty-five were issued in 1915 and thirty-five in 1916. How these decrees passed by rapid evolution from mere declaration to complete confiscation is instanced in these typical examples:
1. A decree issued at Brussels July 19, 1916, lists several pages of textile materials which are to be declared.
2. A decree of Aug. 22, 1916, enlarges the preceding list.
3. A decree drawn up July 19, 1916, but not published till Sept. 12, 1916, declares 75 per cent. of this material subject to seizure by the Militärisches Textil-Beschaffungsamt.