The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-27

1 police believed. to satisfy the most eXaoting civilian. but they made 1T | custom to restore some of the cheaper articles to the victim of the robbery, figuring that as he probably expected to lose all he would be we'll satisfed if he regained part.
 These and other similar cases sug- gested the possibility that the police were working as accomplices of the criminal classes. They were certainly becoming as much of menace as the w-breaking class they were supposed to suppress.
 DISSATISFACTION IN FACTORIES
 The dissatisfaction of the workers in the factories was becoming greater , every day. The director of one of the larger arms factories employing more than 60,000 operatives, told me that conditions were becoming unbearable.
 Its just living in lunatic asylum" he explained to me. An explosion the other day in the vicinity of our plant blew out !. 900 marks worth of win dow panes and the strikers are de- handing 7ls cents an hour increase. What. with explosions blowing our plants to pieces and our hands corr stantly on strike. the lot of an employ CT is not very happy one these days, and it looks as if it is going to be worsei"
 The fact that these employers were making vast profits and that the land owners. mine-owners and agrarians were using prisoners of war to fur nish labor at minimum cost, was em- bittering the wage earners to the breaking point The longer the war lasted the worse their lot was hecom- ing. Servants were taxed not only on their wages. but on an amount which was supposed to be equivalent to the value of their board and the presents they received at Christmas. while the aristocrats, living in plenty, went comparatively tax free!
 Civilian patients in the interior hos pitfalls. especially the older ones, died in such alarming numbers that foul play was beginning to be hinted at. Less mouths to feed meant less of a burden on the nation as whole, and it was quite in accord with the Ger man idea that the weak should be sac rificed for the sake of the strong.
 CIVILIANS POWERL LESS
 How much worse internal conditions might get without bringing about a serious conflict between the hunger crazed. war-suffering civilians and the uttorities, it was impossible definitely to say, but 1t was quite evident that no disturbance could ever accomplish anything for the liberation of the peo- pie from the yoke of militarism while the army remained loyal Underfed and unequipped, what could the civilian population, made up as it was of the aged. the infirm and the immature youth of the land, accomplish against the veretans of the German army successful revolt against the or ganized military forces would be out of the question.
 Another factor that must be taken into consideration in connection with the suffering and privation which was so general in Germany at this time is that there was a strong undercurrent of patriotism still working against the tide of discontent that was developing <. There was feeling that the govern ment was doing all that it could to alleviate conditions, and that civilians ought to be as willing to suffer for the fatherland, just as the soldiers at the front do
 The weak point in the foundation