Excerpt from Protest and Appeal in the American Relief Action for Poland: Filed With the Department of State of the United States of America

Convention which would prohibit the using of civilian population as a shield for the armies attacking positions of the enemy, but the judg ment of conscience on this question is settled among civilized nations which earnestly and sincerely uphold the principles of humanity.

By virtue of international law the duty of protecting the civilian population in an occupied territory rests with the army of occupation. This side of the question was familiar to the Russian authorities when the latter, acting in an understanding with Russia's allies, ordered a complete devastation of Eastern Poland. The purpose of an action thus conceived cannot give room to any doubts. Russia consciously and with a definite purpose devastated Poland in order to compel the invading armies of Germany and austria-hungary to take up, at least partially, the relief of the unfortunate population because even regardless of the welfare of the population, the very interest of the army of occupation requires that this population should not become, through lack of food supplies, the carrier of contagious diseases, and should not, from sheer despair, provoke disturbances on the lines of communication of the armies Of occupation. Thus the devastation of Poland was supposed to become one of the expedients of the economic war which is raging parallel to the military war. Through this method of Russian tactics, Germany and austria-hungary were expected to face the catastrophe of starvation threatening the population of Poland, and were to suffer the effects of the bitter feelings of the Poles unless the armies of occupation were to use part of their food supplie for purposes of a relief action. That this plan failed to materialize to the extent it was schemed, is due to not a small degree to the Polish Relief Committees and to the spirit of sacrifice and the circumspection prevailing in the Polish nation. It remains, however, a fact that the lives of the Polish civilian population, and particularly of women and children, were used by the Allies as one of the weapons of the present war. This is not a lesser violation of international law, and not a lesser crime against the principles of humanity, than driving the civilian population in front of an army so that the enemy might use up a part of its ammunition on the defenseless civilians. With full consciousness Of responsibility, I formulate this accusation and submit it to the tribunal of conscience Of all neutral nations, and in the firstplace to the conscience of the United States which showed so much energy in defending the sacred right of civilians on the high seas.

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