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Show STRIKES IN GERMANY By . William Fotheringham Germany's hopes of victory have been getting impaired during the last few weeks by the numerous strikes that have been taking place in the principle prin-ciple factories.- These strikes have gradually increased in numbers since the first strikers dared to quit. This shows the tendencies of the German people toward freedom. It also shows that this is the first time since the war began that the people dared to oppose the government in this big undertaking. undertak-ing. This incident brings to mind the people of France during Louis XVI's time. The French people were forced to pay heavy taxes, work hard for a little, and were afraid to rebel for fear others would not follow. They needed fearless leaders, and after waiting a number of years, two appeared. Those men were Danton and Desmoulins. They caused a few to rebel and it proved successful. That was all that was necessary ; a start had been made, and the whole country revolted, overthrowing over-throwing the king. It looks as though the German- people lack a daring leader. The start has been accomplished, and each day the strikers increase. It is now up to the common people of Germany to show whether they are strong enough to stand by their rights and privileges as a civilized nation, or whether they will be trampled on further. We hope a strong leader will appear as their champion. The government is already in operation to' crush these strikes. The penalty is death to each striker. History His-tory records show that all penalties of death or imprisonment to restrict any uprisings in defense of the organizations organiza-tions have failed to crush them ; and on the other hand have increased the opposition op-position to the restricting force. ' The -1. W. W. affair is a good illustration of this point. Certain members were caught plotting to destroy certain government gov-ernment undertakings. The news spread ; the people took it into their own hands to destroy or get rid of the agitators as soon as possible. Some were killed, others deported. Did it help? No. When the strife first began there were only a few thousand, scattered scat-tered throughout the United States. Late reports are that they have increased in-creased to over one hundred thousand members. It is the tendency of the human hu-man race to combine forces to fight against a common danger. |