.. a poor little country without
influence.... See what the Germans have made of it.... There was no
compulsory education, and the number of illiterates was scandalously
high,' (I am sorry to say that this at least is true.) 'They are
introducing compulsory and free education. In the big towns, 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.
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