The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-12-02


cruisers, that form, together with
a few destroyers and torpedo
boats, all the remainder of the
pride of Admiral Won Tirpitz. The
excessive amount Of the expenses,
the German finance ministers in
fers, is not only caused by the
low value Of the mark, but chief
ly by the conditions of the peace
treaty which oblige Germany to
keep costly army Of mercen-
aries. The pre-war soldier, he
says, cost Germany 200 marks
per year. whilst the mercenary'
exceeds 1900 marks. This com
parison, of course, is not correct
and exact.
"A national soldier Of prewar
times could under the present cir
cumstances not he kept for less
than ten 10 twelve times the
amount Of former days, and that
the popular army with general
conscription would prove to he
less expensive, considering its
enormous size, than the small
professional army, is certainly
very improbable. Why, by the
way, is this army always spoken
Of even officially, as an army
of paid soldiers? The old army
contained considerably more 'mer-
cernaries' than the present one,
/. e., 10000 officers and 100000
sub-officers in 1918.
The Reichswehr' of definitely
100000 men shall, (this is the law
of the conqueror), be Germany's
army for long time to come.
All attempts at Spa to have a
greater number granted having
had no success. il will be neces-
sary to create legal constitution
for this army. A new army-law
is under consideration by the
Reichsrat and will shortly be laid
before the Reichstag. The parlia-
mentary consideration of this law
is sure to arouse a very hot con-
troversy about the whole nature
of the Reichswehr. The law tends
to deprive the army of it's poll
teal influence and this is its
chief aim. The parliament, there
fore, will carefully investigate
whether the army has changed
since last March in a manner to
actually deserve the title Of faith
ful tool in the hands of the gov
ernment.' as its leaders claim it
to be. That the army had not yet
got onto the right way under its
first minister, Noske, is proved
by its relation to Kapp. Fol- all
the well known difficulties il
should have been possible to
create n reliable police army. Now
many wrong steps are taken in
the beginning, the difficulties eX-
perienced in using this army in
the new state have considerably in
creased. The best thing might
be to make an officer whose faith
fulness TO the republic cannot be
doubted minister, provided such
a man could be found. To find
a civilian for this ministry, equal
TO this military power, would be
a rare exception; Gambetta-natures
have not yet grown within our
parliament. In any case Noske's
successor. who only unwillingly
accepted his office, is not this rare
exception. Perhaps it will not
be possible at all to achieve this
enormous work, of changing at
heart the army into a republican
guard, true to the black-red-gold
colours. During the incumbency
Of Mr.. Gessler the army, as far
as the small number of men de-
serve this title. has only gained
in internal strength. This is
chiefly due to the highest mill
tary leaders, especially TO General
Won Seeckt, the chief OF the gem
eral staff. Herr Won Seeckt has
f'''iiiN lilNii anu lilOIt lllt real
war minister as We are told by
close observers. Mr.. Schcidemann
has yesterday clearly stated so in
the Reichstag and IL the minister
refers TO his. own responsibility
which he shares with nobody else,
this is only a formal statement.
As the matter stands as desrcib-
ed, II is worth while TO try and
get an idea Of the private opin-
ions Of the officers leading the
l!eichswehr. The general is very
reserved towards outsiders, cor
responding to Prusslan tradition,
but nevertheless there Is no doubt,
that he thoroughly dislikes the
present system. Socialistic and
revolutionary papers seem to know
and publish every day that the
general staff OF the army wants
and is preparing nothing else but
the counter-revolution and after
the experiences with Herr Won
LeuttwitZ such suspicion Is only
natural. What thoughts the de-
Gliding men really are broodlng,
Is not known, but we are told by
persons who have moved much in
their company that open and con-
scious opposition and disloyal,y
need not be feared. As reaction
airy as the army command may
be ut heart, they are ambitious
primarily In the milltary-techni-
cal line. They certainly refuse
TO accept the idea which in the
circumstances Is the only proper
one, !. g., 10 treat the army as a
police-army and to m II out nc.
cording To its work Of keeping
order What they would make
out OF II Is a miniature but quite
exact copy Of the old army So
then q superfluous and expensive
institution is carried on as re-
quired only by an important war
army. The Reichstag might well
lpal into Tho ,na,tar aua n,.t,...