The New York herald., 1920-01-27
GERMANY ACTS TO
STIFLE RADICALS
Many Newspapers Suppressed
/ as Industrial Pro oblemS
Continue to Increase.
FOOD SUPPLY. ENDANGERED
Minister Of Economics Appeals to
, Miners to Get Out More
{ Coal.
FOOD SUPPLY. ENDANGERED
Especial Cable to the Herald. J

; especial C0ble to the Herald
+ BERLIN. Sunday (dela ayed).-Gerrnany
is face to face with grave Industrial and
food problem, and. with thousands of men
outlof employment radicalisn1 is growing
fast. Gustav Noske. Minister OF Defence,
and other officials of the government are
adopting energetic measures to handle the
situation Herr .Noske suppresses one or
more radical newspapers vry day.
Five meetings We're called by fndepend-
ent Socialists in Berlin today to protest
against this Wholesale suppression of their
newspapers. They charge that the free
dom Of the press has been taken away.
The arrest of many radicals and strike
agitators has been reported
lockout has been resorted to by thir-
teen additional railroad shops, bringing
the total number of shops closed to seven
teen, and it was announced that when
these shops are reopened only those will
be re-employed who are Declined desirable
and who agree to the reintroduction Of the
p!ecework system.
Food supply Menaced.
next few months depends upon the miners
and railroad shipment. but also the food
supply of the cities. Mayor Wermuth told
the Berlin CITY Council yesterday that the
next few weeks would be the most anxious
since the beginning Of the var, except the
short period in 1919 before rationins hegan.
All experts were agreed, he said, that sup
nj iec nuailahIa hut Tho tnnd
lacked coal for threshing and transporsa-
ton facilities for delivery: also. they did
not realize the predicament Of the ci,ies
A comprehensive review Of the indus
trial situation is made in an appeal 10 the
coal mixers by Robert S1nn.it. Social ist
NJ. iistek of Economics who says:--
Evidence is accommodating that the Com
munfst propaganda is seeking to destroy
the industrial peace which cost SO much
care to restore in the. Western mine dis
tricts. Blinded politicians again are threat
ening the foundation of the State with a
general strike under the banner of the six
hour day. One cannot believe that the
mass of workers will receive such criminal
attempts cordially. 1t is to be hoped that
the unions will succeed in defeating the
proposals OF the political wire pullers."
He recalled that the strike last April
cost 35OO,OOO tons in production and added.
in reference to the difficulties under which
Industry is laboring today
'rhe glass industry has forty per cent
output. and porcelain fifty per cent. FIFTY
mills manufacturing newsprint with prior
ity coal privileges, have only twenty per
cent output. Nitrogen factories could raise
their production 10000 tons IL their coal
needs were fully supplied, and, as ton
Iof nitrogen represents fifteen tons OF grain,
lit is apparent that the coal shortage can
mean a shortage of 100000 Tons OF grain,
Ior one-fourth of the crop as estimated
Ioffcially.
what do these figures signify? In the
first place that the growing unemploy-
ment. now nearing the one million mark
is not due, in the great majority OF cases,
to the state of our International relations.
nor to a lack of technical ability. nor to
shortage OF raw materials, nor to difficult
ties of marketing, but hundreds OF thou
sands Of workers are on vacation because
their colleagues in the coal mines have not
been successful in increasing their produc-
tion.
I'm the second place. we cannot gain
access to the worlds markets. England
stands ready to buy at any price what
ever ceramic products industry can manu-
facture, America has asked for 100000 tons
of newsprint paper. South America Is
ordering monthly hundreds Of carloads OF
paper. These orders cannot be filled be-
cause OF the coal shortage.
"F'inaly. this limitation upon exports
forbid our obtaining foreign money IN
payment; hence the daily diminishing
prospect of importing foodstuffs."
Schmidt reminds the workers OF the
friendship of the government, as shown by
the special food rations they obtained all
last year and, mentioning plan to erect
150. 600 miners dwellings,, he asks:-"May
not the government expect the miner to
accept the proffered hand. TO do his full
duty and to provide by working overtime
the materials with which his own home
will be built?
introduce tho six hour day does not harm
the government nor the capitalist, but he
literally brings starvation to his brothers
In the city trades"
The railroad situation has reached the
81 itical stage with the closing of all shops
where the extreme radicals hne won a
hold on the employees The Minister OF
Public Works Is hopeful that refusal to
rn-employ the trouble makers when the
shops are reopened may cause an i'm
rrovement 10 set in. The spectacle of a
Ia or-democratic coalition government in
ddlgng i'm discrimination against its own
omployes and resorting to a lockout has
passed so far without comment. taci-
turnity which in itself shows how critical
the situation Is believed TO be.
Negotiations with tho railroad shop
unions are making progress, and an agree
mont has been reached on the wage scale
which adds TO most wages one mark per
day. The men in November demanded
ninety pfennigs but they increased the
demand when the parleys started. The
remaining tcrms of the national agree
ment are being considered now.