Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-12-30

even balancing on the car roofs. Sew
eral fell off and were killed on each
/ trip, / was told. Nevertheless the
train ran almost on schedule time
and There was limit to confusion.
Al CoblenZ lieutenant in charge
of the station conveyed MS to the
headquarters of the council of work
ers and soldiers. The white armband
which everywhere is the insignia OF
the revolution sat anonymously or
the lieutenants spic and span tunic.
He was typical Prussiau officer, col
laboratiug with the revolutionaries
from the patriotic conviction it was
his duty to help avert chaos rather
than from any urgings toward demo-
cratiZation. He carried on the job he
had held under the old authority. but
his orders now Were all subject to SUI
pervision by a delegate of the coun-
ell.
Cooperation Prevails.
This method of cooperation pre-
walls in all relations between erst-
while imperial officials whether civil
ian or military, and the new COVER
nors In Coblenz, Private Fritz Da-
moth, president of the soldiers coun-
ell for the Eighth army copps district
counterSignS all orders eminating
from Count Won Schmettow, the corps
commander. Danoth has his desk in
the generals office. and the two men
get along famously together though
Schmettow is altogether of the old
school
Sitting in the hotel reception room
with the red flag hanging from the
wall, We discussed the revolution with
Danoth and his fellow councillors un-
til o'clock in the morning. Danoth
is characteristic of the men now run
ming Germany. A thick-set sturdy
man of Rooseveltian externals. born
of peasant parents in a little duchy
where the relying duke had well-nigh
despotic powers. Danoth embraced
the socialist creed in early youth, and
for twenty years has worked for n
revolution. Over forty years old. he
fought all through the war and still
wears the soiled uniform of a Ger
man private. He won the iron cross
but does not bother to wear it.
The composition of the executive
body over which he presides is also
typical. There are dozen members
elected as an executive committee by
the main council of the workers and
soldiers delegates. The main council
itself is composed of men elected on
basis of representative for every
fifty workmen or soldiers, The sys-
tenn is Identical throughout the whole
country. 1t came into being during
the night of November SO without
the slightest friction anywhere. There
was no general order given and one
town was quite ignorant what was
happening in another. But the social
democratic party had had revolution
airy plans mapped out for long time
and it's leaders simply took control.
Councils Democratic.
Although their tendency is always
socialistic, the councils with which
came into contact were made IN of
men from almost every strata of So
ciety. In many cases the soldiers
have elected an officer AS their dele
gate without reference to his political
opinions. The officers have no vote
In balloting for delegates, but they
may serve as such If they are elected.
We motored from Coblenz TO
Frankfort and found conditions in the
latter city very much the same. The
revolution was carried out in Few
hours, the only casualties being two
deserters shot down while looting
stores. A young banker Heinrich
Reinhart who had learned from
the revolt, went down to the railroad
station alone and enlisted force of
sixty soldiers. Under his command
this company occupied the station,
postoffice, telegraph office, military
and police headquarters and other
public buildings. Before the news
papers went to press they had the
news that the city was under revolu-
tionary control. and on the morning
of November the townsfolk awoke
TO find the new order of things in full
swing.
From Herman Wendell, reichstag
deputy, and Walter Loeb eS-em-
ploye of the Ladenburg- Thalman
company OF New York. who at the
age of "a is one of the most powerful
figures in Frankfort. we learned that
the revolution directly was due to the
breakdown of the military forces,
which opened the peoples eyes to the
fact that they could go no further
under their old leaders. Ludendorffs
strenuous efforts to keep the reins of
political power in his hands could not
succeed longer because of the popu-
lar knowledge of the gravity OF the
situation at the front. The revelation
of Americas military power, delib-
erately moderated by the Berlin gov
eminent, came as a painful shock to
all Germany. And over and above all
of these factors was the perpetual
skeleton in the closet-starvation
Doubts Vanish Quickly.
President Wilson's message served
to emphasize that which the thinking
German radicals had long deemed the
only possible course. Doubts van
ished overnight, and when the revo-
luton appeared the great bulk OF the
people were glad to welcome It,
In tour of Frankfort we gained
an insight into the living conditions
that made Bolshevism the ever-pres-
ent peril We saw woollen suits cost
ing 5000, others in shoddy cotton at
$75, and still others of paper at sl2.
We looked in at an empty bakery and
an empty butchers shop. In the lat
ter the butchers wife Informed us she
had lost fifty-eig pounds in weight
since the war began. though If any
one could have got food 1t would
have been she. In q shoe store ~
stood beside hundreds of pairs of
shoes awaiting repairs that cannot be
made owing to the lack of leather
and labor
For Gods sake, ask your govern
ment to send its shoes and condensed
milk for our children" Loeb ex-
claimed, pointing out children's shoes
so hopelessly worn they were no uro-
lection whatever against the wet pave
ments of winter
Here and on many other occasions,
the danger of an appalling increase In