New-York tribune., 1920-03-18

II is natural ana inevitable that the
tirst thought about the German revo-
! luton should be as to the possibility
which. it opens for the return of those
leaders and of that spirit which pro-
duced the World War. The success of
the present uprising necessarily points
to renaissance of Prussianism But
there is second danger, hardly less
! considerable-it is the obvious posi-
bility that following the failure of the
reaction the pendulum may swing back
ward toward real revolution and Bolshe-
vism
There are not a few Americans famil-
lar with foreign affairs who see to-day
III the German situation a parallel to
that Russian condition in 1917. May
not Kapp prove after all to be second
Korniloff? Is it not conceivable that
Ebert will in the end fall, as did Keren-
sky, not to the reaction, but to the cred"
revolution?
The government of Ebert has sunk
quite as low in the estimation of the
German people as did the government Of
Kerensky three years ago 1t has failed
to provide the people of Germany with
the peace they demanded and with the
elimination of the burdens and the suf-
ferings c2 war 1t has been as success
full in it's efforts to obtain any altera-
ton in the terms of the Treaty Of
Versailles as Kerensky was in striving
to obtain negotiated peace with Ger
many.
kerensky Us. Kornilof
Kerensky succeeded in defeating
Korniloff, but in order to win this vic
tory he was obliged to make terms with
Lenine and Trotzky, and these Bolshe
visits dealt with Kerensky only because
they perceived that when they had
helped Kerensky to destroy Korniloff
they could in destroy him, and thus dis
pose of all moderate and conservative
parties.
AS consequence, what the world has
to fear in Germany to-day is not merely
victory of reaction, putting back Lu-
dendortf. replacing the military caste.
II this does come it will be a deadly
menace to the victory which we have
won on the battlefield and COMPROMISED
around the peace table. But not less
terrible is the prospect that, reaction
having failed, instead Of the restora-
tion of the Ebert government we shall
see something corresponding to the
upheaval which wrecked the hone of
orderly reform in the Russian EN-
pire.
Either way the danger for the West
crn nations is grave that the extreme
anarchy and Bolshevism in Germany.
Joining hands with anarchy and Boil
shevism in Russia, will find little dif
flculty in sweeping away all the fimsy
structures in that Middle Europe of
to-day, where millions of men and
women are on the verge of starvation.
where hope has gone out, where all
familiar processes of life and all the
machinery of orderly governments have
been abolished.
Germany Near Bolshevisns
1t needs but very little now to throw
Germany into the hands of the Boil
shevists. Such is the opinion of everv
we'll informed person who has recentlv
been in touch with the German situ-
alton. The elements of law and order
arc sufficiently weak now without hav-
ing to undergo the strain of diyt-
sion IN their own ranks, between those
VINO wsuld preserve the existing re-
glme and those who would prefer to
restore the leaders and the methods
0l 1914. In invoking the general strike
EBERT took step almost as desperate
as that Of Kerensky when he turned
70 i'enine to obtain tho support neces-
a2xY to meet thu <,icoxnina xu