Evening star., 1920-03-18
DANGER TO WORLD
IF JUNKERS OR REDS
CONTROL GERMANY
Allied Victory Menaced on
One Hand, Civilization on
Other, Is Claim.
BY FRANK IL. SIMONDS.

It is natural and inevitable that the
first 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 points to re-
turn of Prussiansm. But there is
second danger. hardly less consider
albeit is the obvious possibility that
following the failure of the reaction,
the pendulum may swing backward
toward real revolution and bolShe-
vism.
miliar with foreign affairs who see
today in the German situation a par
alict to that Russian condition in
1917. May not kapp prove after all
to be second kornilof? Is 1t not
conceive BILE that Ebert will in the end
ian as did kerensky. not to the re
action. but to the red revolution?
These are the questions which are be
ing raised today in many quarters.
Low Opinion of Ebert.
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 Ger.
many with the peace they demanded
ana with the elimination of the bur
dens and the SufferinGs of war. II
has been as successful in its efforts
to obtain any alteration in the terms
of the treaty of Versailles as ker-
ensky was in striving to obtain ne
gotiated peace with Germany.
kerensky succeeded in defeating
korniloff. but in order to win this
victory he was obliged to make terms
with Lenin and Trotsky. and these
hp1 Sfc
because they perceived that when they
helped Kerensky to destroy korniloff
they could in turn destroy him, and
thus dispose Of all moderate and con-
servative parties.
Deadly Menace to Victory.
AS consequence. what the world
has to fear in Germany today is not
merely victory of reaction. putting
back Ludendorff, replacing the mill
tary caste. II this does come it will
be deadly menace to the victory
which we have won on the battlefield
and compromised around the peace
table. But not less terrible is the
that reaction having failed.
instead of the restoration of the Ebert
government we shall see something
to the upheavaI which
wrecked the hope of orderly reform in
the Russian empire
Either way the danger for the west
anarchy and bolsheviSm in Germany,
joining hands with anarchy and boil
sheviSm in Russia will find little diff
Guilty in sweeping away all the f1imsy
structures in that middle Europe of
today. where millions of men and
women are on the verge of starvation,
Where nope has gone out. where all
familiar processes of life and all the
machinery of orderly governments
have been abolished.
Law and Order Weak.
1t needs but very little now to
throw Germany into the hands of
the boishevists. Such is the opinion
OF every well informed person who
has recently been in touch with the
German situation. The elements of
law and order are sufficiently weak
now. without having to undergo the
strain of division in their own
ranks, between those who would pre-
serve the existing regime and those
who would prefer to restore the lead
ers and the methods of 1914. In in
vokine the general strike, Ebert took
a step almost as desperate as that
of kerensky when he turned to Lenin
to obtain the support necessary to
meet the incoming Korniloff forces.
Thereafter the men who were seek
ing to transfer Russia into a pro-
gressive democracy. preserving it's
patriotism. but abolishing it's tyrants.
loSt coHtTOl COmpIelely. 1here was
nothing left to meet the next push.
which came from the bolshevists.
New Problem Not Simple.
1t is not a simple thing-this new
German problem. The defeat of the
counter revolution and the restora-
tion of the Ebert government, desira-
BILE as it seems to the western world.
may not prove solution but mere
prelude to the final collapse of Ger
many, a descent into the abyss of
chaos totally reminiscent of that which
for three years has been Russia's plight.
In 1917 the western nations blum
Gered into the support of Korniloff,
party in Russia. Today there seems
may he made, particularly
in British quarters. ~ transitory
toward conservatism, mis-
taken and encouraged as the Korni-
loft uprising was encouraged. might
easily result in a complete break be-
tween the allies and all moderate ele-
ments in Germany in the sacrifice of
the only element which carries any
promise of orderly democracy.
The more clearly German condi-
tions are set forth the palmer the
fact that we are in the midst of a
reaction, itself destructive of our own
victory and of the permanenCe Of our
peace settlement. while as an alterna-
tive of this reaction we face unmis-
taxable danger of triumph of boil
shevism in Germany and, in it's turn.
the arrival of anarchy and of chaos
at the Rhine. which more and more