The Washington herald., 1920-05-30
GUNS BANNED
Tn RED" RUHR.
Travellers Searched for
Weapons to Save Death
Sentence.
DISCONTENT IS RIFE
Workers Want Soviet Rule
And Others Appeal to
Entente for Help.
DIScoNTENT IS RIFE
Cwashington Herald-Cross Atlantic
servfee-speeiaI Cable Dispateh)
By HENRY w. FRANCIS.

Cwashington Herald-Cross Atlantic
serviee-speciaI Cable Dfspateh.)
By HENRY w. FRANCIS.
Essen, May 2s.-"Have you any
rines, revolvers, daggers, or arms
of any kind in your baggage"
This question Is put to those
seeking accommodation by innkeep-
ers throughout this revolution
SCARED area Travellers, If they
would travel, must stress the pa
cific nature OF their purposes; II
they would be lodged they must
lay bare the mechanism Of their
portable typewriters and patented
boot trees.
All Are Gun-shy.
The hotelkeeper. like the taxi
driver who takes you to the hotel
In a machine which, he regretfully
admits. is his personal property, is
as gun-shy as a girl, despite his
three years in the trenches before
Verdun. He makes sure your walk
ing stick is not of the concealed
sword variety, and he apologies by
saying he Is trying to protect his
clients, as "the possession of any
weapon whatever means a death
sentence"
This statement evidently is true.
1t Is set forth in huge letters and
posted at vantage points along the
crooked little streets of this smoke
begrimed town. Groups of citizens
discuss the warning, soberly, fear
fully. One burly burgher tells Of
the discovery of a rife in a house
near his own; he speaks of the
'frightfulness" of the find.
This fear is lacking in the ranks
Of the wage-earning class. which
sees none of the blessings of peace
in life on S1.25 or $3.50 a day and
salt pork British army stock) at
rs cents a pound.
This class chiefly is composed of
majority and independent socialists
and communists; II comprises, also,
in the Ruhr region. a large element
which has abandoned all hope of
successful political action and be-
lieves in the desirability of over
turning the present government and
establishing Soviet rule by force or
arms.
Essen is just recovering from the
physical damage done as a result
of the revolutionary outbreak of
this element three weeks ago. Shat
tered shop fronts have been boarded
up and stocks. depleted by the re-
cent looting, have been re-arranged
and replenished wherever possible.
Work is proceeding where there is
raw material to work with. and
with the neatly uniformed, heavily
armed but rather youthful MEM
bers of the Reichswehr on guard.
-good- order is maintained.
Discomfort. however, is rife; the
- Of oil 81
complaints form the general theme
of conversation. French and Bel
gian persecution" and high prices
are discussed in trains, tram-cars
and wherever opportunity offers.
Ask Entente Aid.
The manager of a large Dussel-
dorf department store says:
Our only course is to carry out
the terms of the Versailles treaty
in good faith as best we can. We
ask nothing better than to be all
lowed to work and pay the in
demnity. We cannot work if revo-
luton seizes our factories. To OBJ
serve the treaty we must fight revo-
luton, but by so doing we incur
the displeasure of France and Bel
gium, which invade our land and,
by harassing our government, COM
fort the reVolutlonaries. We throw
ourselves upon the good sense OIL
the entente"
Capt. Otto Won Baumbach. COM
mander-in-chief of the Reichswehr
in the Essen district says:
We must be allowed to recruit,
equip and transport sufficient
Reichswehr troops to disaffected
areas in order to completely restore
order and stamp out Bolshevism.
In the Ruhr area we now have 49,
900 Reichswehr troops; the reds
number 100000. They are we'll
armed, being equipped with heavy
artillery and aeroplanes. Our troops
have only light artillery and no
aeroplanes. The reds are led by
Russian officers, and there are Rus
SLAMS IN the ranks Of the red army
who wear their old uniforms and
who cannot speak anything but
Russian. Those who say this revo-
luton has no connection with the
Soviets of Russia are not in
formed"
DOWNRIGHT 1a2o, cross-Atianue Newspaper
Service, Incl