francs ($8,000,000) until further
notice. Calculating that the Belgians in the occupied territory
numbered 6,000,000, this fresh levy meant that every man, woman, and
child would have to pay about $1.35 into the German war treasury every
month. This new levy order issued by Baron von Bissing differed in
some important particulars from the one issued a year previously. No
limit was referred to upon the expiration of which the tax should
cease; in the former order the period of a year was mentioned. Another
new clause was to the effect that the German Administration should
have the right to demand the payment in German money at the customary
rate in Brussels of 80 marks to 100 francs. This device probably aimed
at raising the rate of the mark abroad. That nine Belgian provinces
had hitherto been able regularly to pay these large monthly
installments was due to the fact that the provincial authorities
secured large support from the Societe Generale de Belgique, which
bank expressed its readiness, on certain conditions, to lend money to
the provinces and make payments for them, these transactions, of
course, taking place under the supervision of the German authorities.
On the other hand, the Societe Generale was granted by the Germans the
exclusive right to issue bank notes, which had hitherto been the
privilege of the Belgian National Bank.

The uninterrupted and intense activity along the front with grenades,
mines and heavy guns can be only vaguely described or even understood
from the brief chronicles of the official bulletins. This underground
warfare, to which only dry references are occasionally made, was
carried on steadily by day and by night. The mines, exploding at
irregular intervals along the lines, gave place to singular incidents
which rarely reached the public. Near Arras, in Artois, where sappers
largely displaced infantry, was related the story of two French
sappers, Mauduit and Cadoret, who were both decorated with the
Military Medal. The story of how they won this distinction is worth
repeating:

They had dug their way under and beyond German trenches when the
explosion of a German mine between the lines cut their gallery,
leaving them imprisoned in a space eight feet long. This happened at
ten in the morning. They determined to dig toward the surface and
encouraged each other by singing Breton songs in low tones while they
worked. The air became foul and they were almost suffocated. Their
candles wen