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Show SERIOUS METHODS FOR THE GERMANS Abundant Possibilities of j Trouble Majority Wish to Work Younger Element for Strikers. i PARIS, April 3. (By the Associatpd Press) The latest advices concerning the fighting, at Frankfort and the re-inrwal re-inrwal of the strike in Berlin confirm the impression prevailing In Germany i when the former Berlin correspon-jdent correspon-jdent of the Associated Press left there a week that the then comparative lull in the manifestations of industrial disorder and revolutionary violence I and pillago by the rabble was only 1 temporary. Germany was at that time fairly I quiet, the only important exception i being a strike in the surrounding region. re-gion. The March insurrection in Berlin Ber-lin nnd the disturbances in central Germany and in East Prussia had been suppressed; the flame of disorder disor-der was only flickering in the Silesia coal fields, while order was being maintained in Bremen. Essen and other oth-er cities, formerly scenes of Sparta-can Sparta-can uprisings, and the Socialist proletariat prole-tariat of Bavaria, although running affairs in that state without regard tq the central government, were nbt seeking any occasion of conflict with the central authorities. ivm i'h the surface there were abundant possibilities of trouble. The I majority of (ho German w orking men, ; particularly the married men, wish to work, although higher wages are be ing constantly demanded, to meet the rising cost of food. An energetic jSpartacan minority and the younger irrepressibles, however, are constantly! I causing trouble and preaching lioMu-- vism doctrines of reiterated political I strikes to dispossess factory owners' and overthrow the present govern jment. I On earlier occasions, as at Berlin and in the Ruhr region, these minorities minori-ties had been able to invfigle or persuade per-suade others into joining the strike movement, producing higher wages in case of success and holding out the' bait of abundant food shipments from! Russia if the government were ovej--thrown and an alliance concluded with1 bolshevist Russia. The factory owners feared that ihr-I ihr-I radical minority might again domin-ate domin-ate their fellows if a new strike was j called under propitious circumstances particularly as there were a number of big establishments, known colloquially colloqui-ally as "Liebknecht Plants." where the workmen were largely Spartacan, who could be counted on to give a most satisfactory impetus to a strike by go -! ing out In a body at a given signal. Eactory owners and others In close touch with industrial conditions re--ard iht distribution of American food1 supplies at reasonable prices as the' only possibility of mastering the strike movement, re-establishing industrial order and stimulating production. With the workmen able to buy with their j wages the necessary food, the may j be able to shake off the influence ot ' the radicals. Without this possibility all must inevitably drift completely into the domination of the extremists The Industrial situation is complicated compli-cated by a shortage of coal and raw materials. Factories are running only j five days a week on a short schedule' of hours. Should the coal production I be increased and transportation lni- proved, there would be a far better outlook for industry. 1 ieaaing uerman manufacturers particularly par-ticularly in the electrical and machinery machin-ery lines, assured the correspondent that they would have rfo difficulty in (doinq a profitable business even under un-der the present wage scale if the food and fuel difficulty was solved. The food situation was rapidly becoming ! critical when tho food and shipping agreement was signed. But the speedy arrival. of American food ships :with food on board, had already had an imposing effect on general sentiment, senti-ment, though distribution had not begun be-gun a week ago I The exhaustion of the potato stocks waa In sight, the food administrators j hoping only to continue the reduced ! ration until into May. Some stocks of grain could last at best onlv into the third week of May. The emaciated emaciat-ed herds of Germany were no longej able to supply even "the reduced meat j ration of from four to seven ounces per weel. The governmental distribution distri-bution of bread was slightly over live pounds a week, but was still function- : ing efficiently. Rationing Machinery Broken Down Otherwise the rationing machlnerv hod largely broken don. either on account ac-count of exhaustion of supplies or in-! ability of a weak government to en-I force the purchasing regulations, Which had been beyond the power of a strong war government The ration, even on papor, was inadequate to' maintain the working ability of people peo-ple weakened by four years of food I privation. Everyone, rich and poor, j bought what supplies could be obtain-1 ed outside the rations at enormous j prices. The workman, earning his imposing thirty or forty marks per day. had) been spending a day's wages for a pound of lard, pork or beef. The more unfortunate middle (lass man, on a fixed salary, was unable to tinance such luxury except on the rarest occasions. oc-casions. Both of these classes at the1 end of March found that, even at such exorbitant prices, nothing was to be obtained Restaurants, which earlier had catered to customers with money and had furnished them with food, without the presentation of a card! were being forced to obey the law. The long wait for the" decision of j ihe peace conference, and the press' reports from time to time of decis- 1 ions adverse to Germany had produced a very pessimistic sentiment, and, just I as the government representatives' talked of refusing to sign a humiliating humiliat-ing treaty, so many publicists and men in various walks of life had begun to argue the advisability of casting over the west and coming to an understanding understand-ing with Bolshevist Russia. This sentiment, when coming from those of the better classes, was undoubtedly un-doubtedly voiced largely for foreign consumption. An alliance with Russia Rus-sia and Bolshevism, however, is a plank in the plan of the independent socialists in their big drive for power, and is a cardinal principle of the propaganda prop-aganda of the Spartacans who are so largely financed by Russian money that the government early in March introduced in-troduced special emergency legislation 0 i to prohibit the importation and circulation cir-culation of Russian currency. |
