Page:The Destruction of Poland - Toynbee - 1916.djvu/14

 An ominous note of severity had thus been introduced; for organisation is versatile, and can be benevolent or severe as occasion requires. This was in March, 1915, and the inwardness of German administration now began rapidly to be revealed. By this time the "Import Company, Ltd.," was getting to work, and its ambiguous title was charged with as much disillusionment as a Delphic Oracle. For the benefit of the starving Poles it had been organised to import foodstuffs—out of Poland into Germany!

The German organisation of Polish foodstuffs had now passed through a series of stages. First came the more or less miscellaneous collection and removal of supplies in the autumn of 1914; then, in winter, the paralysing embargo on local transport, while a more comprehensive scheme was being prepared. Finally, on April 27th, 1915, came an order from the Imperial German Administration in Poland, which revealed what the function of the "Import Company, Ltd.," was to be.

By this edict, the German authorities put an embargo on all stores of grain and potatoes in Russian Poland, ordering that after 54 lb. had been left for each inhabitant up to the next harvest, the remainder was to be handed over officially to the "Import Company, Limited," at Posen. This order was accompanied by the following commentary:—"The company is to provide with flour those districts in which a scarcity of that article has been ascertained."

The mask was falling away, but the German authorities still made such vehement professions