Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-22
Germany breads
Return of Soldiers
csnsInued from rase One

Confinued from PAGE One
workers" Such councils indeed are bios
soming forth in great variety even tn
boprgeoise classes, having somewhat re
covered from their stupefaction. ar
forming councils now. all Of which tr!
TO do their best to aid the new Govern
uent to preserve law and order.
Many Councils Forming
M Today the newspapers tell of coun
Gil Of the stock exchange men, including
mere employees; Of a council of acadc.
micians. embracing students and profes
sors alike; of n council of the reformed
Liberal parties of n council Of Berlr
employees. a council of gardeners and
peasants, and many others.
"Soon we shall hear of a council OF
junkers or even council of abdiCatcd
primes" remarks an irrepressibe jester
ea But, Joking aside, the Centrist party
led by the Archbishop of Munich and
even Conservative organizations have is
sued this morning requests to members
TO aid the present Government, insisting
however. that a national convention be
called as soon as possible for the recon
stitution of the state. This. Chancellor
Ebert promised, shall be convened in the
beginning of January.
1t is only just to state that the pres
ent Government is extremely fair in
its attitude toward the employees Of
the former regime leaving as many as
possible in their old positions Perhaps
too many, the extremists claim. since
there is the danger of laying a viper
IN noaIQ oWn boSOD, for tbprn rott.,,,,
be any doubt that many of the old on
cials especially of the higher ranks
would rejoice in the failure OF the pres
ent Government, no matter at what cost
to their own country.
Things Going Smoothly
But, despite all these tremendous diff
ficulties, things are going astOnshngly
smooth, considering the appalling diff
culties. What seemed the most imme-
date danger to the Ebert government
namely, the rupture of the two larger
groups of Socialists which support it,
has happily been avoided by their
making common cause.
The Spartacus group. which formed
q small part of the independent social
lists, now threatens to secede from it,
because it is dissatisfied with the Gov
terhments conservative policy. Last
night the SpartaCus group called a
meeting to formally separate from it's
old associates. but both its leaders,
Liebknecht and Sarah (Rosa?) LuXem-
burg being absent, no decisive step was
taken. The reason for their absence
was that a squad Of armed men had in
vaded the Lokal Anzeiger's editorial
printing room in order to suppress that
paper and publish in its stead their own
ThaN had 1nDa
this two days before the revolution, but
had been persuaded to eHaCuata again.
Their second attempt also proved futile.
because the Socialist printers refused
to work for Die Rote Fahne, and the
Ebert government gave orders this
morning that they must leave at once or
take the consequences.
The attitude of this small group is no
longer considered dangerous, because
the Council of Soldiers refuses to recog-
nize 1t and it Is losing what little back.
ing 1t had.
With more apprehension. however, the
public and present Government regard
the swelling tide of uniformed humanity
that Is beginning to flow back from the
western frontier and has already inun.
dated Westphalia. Within week it
will probably have reached Berlin.
Everything imaginable is being done to
prevent another catastrophe and to lead
this great flood into proper channels.
but the question is, Will the impover-
ished and exhausted people and this ter
ribly handicapped Government be able
to accomplish this? To this end supplies
are being scraped together wherever
found. To o>civilians. all distant travel Is
barred every locomotive, every car is
reserved for homecoming soldiers. the
former Crown Princes palace and the
House of Lords in which the peoples
fate used to be decided, are prepared
for the reception of those who cannot
find room in already overCrowded bar
racks and whom the war has deprived
of their own homes. Around Cologne.
Berlin and other great cities Cordons of
soldiers are being formed to divert the
threatening flood into harmless channels
II possible.
Nevertheless, everybody's heart Is
heavy with apprehension of what the
next few days may bring.
Much Done for Municipal Reform
Much, too. has been done for re-
form In municipal government in Berlin,
Hamburg and all other cities. Every
where the old form of election for city
parlaments has been replaced by a
secret, universal ballot. In Berlin the
peoples new police president, Eichhorn,
has abolished the much-hated political
branch and also abolished the hated
name of "Schutzman" CProtector'D
which has been replaced by Watch.
man
The watchmen no longer carry sabers.
but go unarmed until they can be fur
nished with rubber clubs. Meanwhile
they are aided by members OF the Coun-
ell of soldiers, who are carried through
the streets on autos formerly IN the mill
tary service. They carry rifles and ma
chine guns and are the terror OF house
breakers and plupderers. with whom
they make very short work.
Considering the circumstances how
ever, there have been astonshingly few
cases of robbery and similar crimes
Among the autos now employed in pa
trolling the city are some that formerly
belonged to the eX-Kaiser, and their
horns, sounding the "Zuetion Hasecat,"