The Washington herald., 1920-04-25
German Socialist Receiving
Information Showing Mill
tary Leaders Part.
Won WAITER INVOLVED
Letter to Commander Of
Ruhr Expedition Indicates
His Help Was Expected.
CwnshIngton HersId-PubIIe Ledrez
Service. Special Cable DIssrteAJ
By .. h. CoNGER-

ny - NJ SoNobh-
Berlin. April 24.-A steady stream
Of information showing how deeply
the German army leaders were
compromised in the Kapp conspir-
acy is coming out. The radical So
cialists have obtained possession Of
a mass of material taken from the
files Of the military organizations.
defeated by armed workmen at the
beginning of the Ruhrs insurrection-
and OF other documents secured
through sympathiZers inside the
army having access 10 the records
of other organizations. "Norwaerts'
and the radical Socialist organizs-
tion. "Freiheit." daily publish Sc
lections from the compromising
documents TO keep alive the Social
list demand for a general house
cleaning in the army.
The latest revelation Of the
"Freiheit'' is a copy Of a letter 20
Gen. Won Waiter. now commanding
the Ruhr expedition. showing Won
Waiter had cognizance Of DR..
Kapp's impending plot before March
IL and apparently was counted upon
by the conspirators TO assist f.
Letter said Action Must Commence.
A letter written by Baron Won
Luetzow. the major commanding
'IuetZow's independent corps"
(Which was practically wiped out
at Remscheid. westphalia). informs
Won Waiter that action must and
will begin not later than the 18th
and the presence of the Luetzow
corps in Berlin is absolutely indis-
pensable to this"
dence, little has been done toward
freeing the army Of reactionary Of
ficers. since the first removals Of q
dozen of the most publicly com
promised higher officers, beyond an
announcement that a mixed COM
mission including officers. officials
and members of Parliament would
be appointed TO investigate and re-
port
The Erhardt marine brigade still
is camped within twelve miles OF
Berlin fully armed and in a beIli-
! cose frame Of mind. Won Waters
troops are sendina thinly veiled ul-
timatUms TO the government de-
manding restoration OF drumhead
court-martials to deal with the
| RUhr insurEent leaders.
A regular propaganda service 10
conducted from his headquarters
under the guise of daily war re-
ports. The government apparently
i has difficulty in restraining the
commanders from violating the
{ promise to the labor leaders that
J the troops would not cross the
Ruhr and from inauguratinE cper-
ztions ito paoify" Elberfeld. Far
men and Dusseldorf
Hiding Places ReNePIed.
The FreiheB has informed the
government where Mai BisChof. one
/ of the chief organizers Of the Kapp
coup, can be found in Pomerania
! and where il is reported Gen. Won
4! Luettwitz also is hiding. but neith-
er has been arrested. Trebitsch
! Lincoln. another one of the inner
souls Of the conspiracy. can be
found without any diflculty in Ber-
/ lin by the foreign correspondents.
Army officers who arrested non
CONS and men who refused to serve
under the Kapp regime, and who
since have chucked thes> men out
/ of the service, are still in command
Of their detachments.
From every side come indications
that the officers who openly sup
ported Kapp and Won Luettwitz, or
manifested sympathy with the con-
spiracy. are still in the saddle in
the army.
Reports that a new coup is being
planned may be doubted. as even
| those least in touch with the po-
| litical life apparently realize such
an attempt for the present is hope
less Minister of Defense Gessler
who recently said he was relying
| largely on a change OF heart in tn
officer corps'to make the army q loyal
! instrument Of the new regime. al,
realizes apparently that in the pre-
I ent spirit OF the army the govern
/ ment must proceed with caution IN
| its anti-monarchial housecleaninE.
Copyright, 1890, by Public Ledger CO..