The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-11
MOCKERY TO HUN
Bitter Celebration of Armistice
Day ThruOut Germany.
Nation UncOmfOrtably Close to
National Bankruptcy.
LABOR IS SULLEN and LAZY
"f We Can Only Get Thru the
Cold Winter" Is Cry.
Fear That Spartacists viii
Battle the Land in Blood.
LABOR is SULLEN and LAZY
BY CARL D. GRoAT.

l.
Berlin, Nov. 11.-One year of pea ce!
A bitter mockery, says Germany to-
DAY on the anniversary of the great
wars end.
1t has been a year af aught but
peace for her
And, she looks out into the uncer-
tain vista of the future with misgiv-
ing She fears that it is the old cry
OF peace! peace! when there is no
peace She shrinks before the reali-
ties. For they spell for her. perhaps,
further plunge into the chasm of
moral, physical, economic disintegra-
ton which has marked the Teuton
course
Conclusion of one year of peace
found the nation today uncomfortably
close to national bankruptcy. 1t found
her with a laboring class, unclaimed
from the grind of the past. now un-
willing to work-and in many cases
unable for want of the raw materials.
1t found her with a government which
despite good intentions and hard eff
forts has been unable to progress ma
terially. And, too. it found her with
internal strife. with political haulings
and pullings, with strivinGs after mon
archy and with strivings after prole-
tartan dicta torship, in short, with
confusion and a moral breakdown
which threatens before the winter
dies to flame out in new civil up
heavals with possible bloodshed or
with further Industrial stagnation.
The pendulum here has swung from
the. redism of last November's revo-
luton to more moderation. 1t is true
And, there have been signs that the
ultra conservatism of the Pane ermans
would sweep back into power. The
? ir is filled with rumors of putsches.
"Bathc Land in Blood.
One side says, THE monarchists will
Ea me nj a
Hindenburg or even a Hohenzol1ern in
power" The other says, THE Spar
tacists plan trouble. They will bathe
the land in blood again to establish
their rule of the proletariat."
And both sides speak with some de-
gree of truth. For certain it is that
the extreme right and the extreme left
are bent on esta blishinG new order
of things, while the present Ebert
Bauer Mueller government, formed of
majority Socialists, Centrists and Dem
ocrats. banks IN Noske and his iron
guards to keep Germany in order.
Aside from Noske and his guards,
Germany has little to bank on. She
only prays and hopes with sort of
blind hope that the spring will bring
her a new life,
Get Thru the Winter.
If we can only get thru the winter
is the prayer on every side.
For the poor. confronted with coal
shortage-cold homes and still re-
stricted raIions-it is a prayer that
something will come to make new
era For the politician in power, it is
a hope that he can stave off political
ruin and perhaps the disruption of his
country. For the business man it is
the thought that if his work isn't So
ciaIized or ruined this winter, help
may come in the spring
And everywhere those in power are
hoping against hope that an unfriend-
ly outer world will finally take the
German view that purely as matter
of good business for the whole worlds
security. financial aid will be extended
whereby Germany can drive off the
specters of unemployment hunger, So
cfal unrest, unwillingness to labor, and
Of general apathy.
Labor Sullen and Lazy.
The government rests on very un-
table basis German industry is bad
Iv shaclled for want of raw materials.
And German labor is sullen and lazy
discontented with things as they are.
none too well nourished, and unWllllng
to work under old conditions. 1t de-
rnands. and is obtaining, more ana
more a say in how its own oestinS
shall be ordered.
The dry is for more socialization.
The moderate parties want TINS
brought about gradually; the radicals.
abruptly; and the conservatives not at
all.
Germany's play from now on will be
to obtain a tightening of her peace
terms thru the league of nations. She
has launched a campaign for that and
will carry it on continuously She
maintains that with a republic. and a
new deal all around. she is entitled TO
more consideration than the treaty
gives her.
Her leaders are doing their utmost
to squelch the Pan-Germans, ana az
the same time to curb the reds They
seek to present Germany to the world
as new nation with new ideas.
She is a new nation-but one sunk
in a morass.
A nn'orass of moral decayi A morass
of financial decrepitude! A morass
of industrial and political uncertainty.
And in this state of affairs. Ger
many consequently views the peace an
niversary obviously and says that for
her, at least, peace to date has been
but bitter mockery.
YEAR OF DELUSIONS