Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1921-02-06 | Page 8 | Rich Coal Land Scene of Fight

RICH GOAL LAND SCENE OF FIGHT Germans and Poies Strive Desperately to Win Votes in Silesia i i :. . starr Special LONDON, Feb. Germany anil Poland are battling bitterly to win the plebesclte In Upper Slb-sla M.irch 13. ,j By this plebiscite tin- people will d-termlne d-termlne whether they will come undsr .German or lollsb rule.j Both countries vv.inl this l.-i-flt'irv because of Its ftrent coal n-. ,,in ar- Germnny, v. Iikx has had i.. surrender surren-der thc-Saar lias in coal repns lo France for 15 years, says it vl mean total ruin If it loses tho Slllan coal fields. F Poland claims she mmnave tlierr. to fuel her industries, t w n. ii i:.i n Loth sides charge ijff.ib campaign methods lntimidatlonnd Violence ThouBh most of tn'- people speak Polish, lle territor has been under German rule for years. Political ladeiyln Germany talk of violence f the alies award the tl rn-tory rn-tory to Poland. Vive versa with Pol-!lsh Pol-!lsh leaders. Tho Freneb have 13.000 troops policing po-licing tin- rq.lon. The Poles have i forces mobied within striking dis-tance. dis-tance. Ih "ernuins. too. have forces not far distal.. LHMY iVJSJRES. Thf polis-h legation aTnninces that the Polish general staff is ren .ini; a regular army according to fwM&ry atandarda Hut it denleaj Tb.it the army Is beHig mobilizes. In full 8tr-ngth: That the Poli s ;,ie concentrnt Infc troops on the Bsthonian, Latvian and Rumanian frontiers. That there are prospects of renewal of warfare between Poland and Bolshevik Bol-shevik Russia. The legation blames to Germans for the baseless mobilisation report, which it lays to Germany's desire to depress Palish currency and credit, to otherwise weaken the country, and to Influence the plebiscite. It reports that five . l.-.s.-e.s r,( tho army have been demobilised ind that it now numbers only 300. 000 men. Th legation says the Polish high command .jxpects a peace treaty to be signed with the .Bolshevik.