The Washington herald., 1919-03-16

tiee, then disarmed and then
robbed.
In that case, they will refuse
to pay.
Now when nation, disarmed
and defenseless refuses to pay q
debt what can the debtor nation
DO? Send in an army to collect
the debt? Surely, but from
whom? How? In a letter to a
paper in Holland q German pro-
fessor writing Of the situation
facing Germany. and realizing in
spite of his protests the Justice
of the impending bill which Ger
many will have to face. declares
that Germany cannot and will
not pay IL. He says that II the
bill is enforced Germany will go
Bolshevik. For Germany" he
writes. always has before her
the classic example of Samson.
who in his agony and shame
pulled down the temple upon
matter Of fact. destroy his enc
mics" And the professor inti-
mates that the victory which was
denied to Germany may be thus
vouchsafed to her in peace! For
Bolshevism is a social disease: If
IL attacks Germany nothing can
keep 1t out OF the rest OF Europe.
There can be no doubt that Ger
many would prefer to take her
chances amid the wreck of Euro
pean civilization. rather than to
md herself so heavily handi-
capped by a Just war debt she
would be ten years behind the
rest of Europe in the race for the
worlds markets. Thus will II be
seen that letting go the tail of
the bear Is no easy job.
1t is hard to realize how Eu-
rope Is teetering on the edge of
Bolshevism. One finds rowing
bands OF bandits living in old
trenches and dug-outs in North
ern France and Belgium; for the
first time in a hundred years one
encounters robbers in woods re-
mote from great cities. Now and
then a slow train filled with food
is boarded by natives and sacked.
Red Cross wagon trains of food
have been pillaged. and on docks
and in railroad yards food and
cloth sometimes-not often, disap-
pear. Strikes common all
over Europe. serious strikes
which tie up transportation
and various important in
dustries. The coal miners in
England and Germany are in a
bad mood, and Europe is shiver-
ing. 1t Is true that shop win
dows are full of food everywhere
in Europe. But II also is true
that this food. while It reaches
the rich and goes to the big ho-
tells, is barred from the poor. The
policeman who guards public or
der in Belgium, for instance. gets
four france day and the street
car driver 5 francs-S0 cents and
81 a day. The common laborer
in the Rhineland gets 65 cents
per day, and butter is 81 per
pound; and other things accord
Ingly. In Albania and the near
East where actual famine is
found, they are selling young
Greek girls in the market place,
and one hears that prices are
very reasonable" In the Bal
ksns a kind of near-war RACES
which amounts to semi-private
killings and the whole conten-
-tien at base, is food. Fifty are
killed today. seventy yesterday.
hirty tomorrow.
Russia Starving.
And i'm Russia starvation Is al
most the common lot. The Bolshe-
Wiki are depending upon widening
the area of pillage to hold their
adherents. The workmen in Boil
shevik factories have fallen OFF 80
and 10 per cent in almost every in
dustry. according to their own So
Wet reports. The workers either
go back to their villages or go to
army, and the army is recruiting
because it assures them food-food
through plunder. All European
conditions are bad for the work
ingmen, some conditions are worse
than others, but no condition Is
good.
Bonuses are being offered work
men to remain in various CONT
mental armies until industrial con-
ditions will permit of the soldiers
going into steady Jobs. And in
certain muhition factories the
workers are kept on half time or
on no time and half pay because
industry cannot assimilate them
and they cannot be turned loose
TO starve. And as a matter of fact
conditions on one side of the Rhine
are little better than on the other.
But as a matter of fact Germany.
with her factories intact. her civil
Iization organized, with the gov
ernment functioulng and lacking
only peace and raw materials to
start from the jump in the indus
trial race, is better off than
France. But all of Europe this
winter is tiptoeing gingerly across
the dread fields that leads to the
dark tower. Anarchy is always i'm
minent.
All of which proves to the
modern world how futile and
meaningless Is the appeal to
arms to settle international dis
putes in a world delicately ad-
justed with thousands of eco
nomic springs and checks and
balances.
The victor at arms may easily
be the loser in business and the
loser at arms may become the
victor in the very things for
which the war was fought.
Might at arms does not produce
right IN any area OF human liv-
ing. War is a maniac's coudt!
One must not imagine that the
iunker spirit is dead in Ger
many. 1t has received a body
blow. But 1t still has hopes. The
present government is function
ing in Germany under cynical
Junker hope that the middle class
now in control will go down un-
der pressure of war indemnities
and problems and that chaos will
rule-working GLASS chaos
which will bring the junkers
hack IN rule The Junkers feel