The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-18

enjoyed a brief success. President Ebert and his government were frightened into a burlesque flight to Stuttgart, but then the monarchists were frustrated by their own CO., lossal incompetence, for the task they had undertaken, and by the gen eral strike of industrial workers.
 Everybody Knew Whereabouts
 The legend is that after their de- feat, the Kappists fled into hiding As matter of fact, their where abouts has been everybody's secret. They regularly visited their old friends and o-conscpirators at their country homes, unmolested by the police, who simply entered "unfind- able against their names on the complaint register and let it go at that.
 The government, though it has all ways shown itself miserably weak toward the wretched military poli- ucians and adventurers of the Lutt- witz type, ought at least to have had the courage to llquidate the affair at once, whether in stern or mild manner. But at that time the pris- ons were full of condemned commu- nists and extreme socialists and as a result the 3S0 political murders Which lie at the door of the nation alist party have gone unpunished
 But some example had to be made. The millions of German workers would have regarded the non-prose- cution of the Kapp revolters as a grave class injustice and so the gov ernment blundered into a half and half policy-only the advisers and actual leaders were brought to trial, while the "hisled" followers were amnestied This explains the pres- ent absurd farce at Leipsic.
 Trying to Enforce Constitution
 Two junkers, one a favorite of Wilhelm II, the other an Agrarian. and third leader, writer have been placed on trial. All pretend they never intended to follow Kapp be- cause he was attempting to over i throw the government, but on the contrary. they wanted to have every paragraph of the constitution carried out to the letter. Yet Ludendorfr participated in all the conferences with "Chancellor" Knapp, which were held daily for weeks.
 An obscure dentist named Schnitz- Ter was the subterranean spirit of the whole plot, but he has not been ac- cused-only called to testify. He swears he knew nothing of any trea- sonable intent on the part of those now on trial and extols Luttwitz as a model republican and guardian of the constitution.
 With such testimony as starter, it is easy for anybody to imagine the tone adopted by the high politicians and military nabobs who also figure in the list Of witnesses.
 The German minister of Justice, in charge of the prosecutions, is a so- cial democrat. ex-professor in Kiel university, an intimate friend of many of the communists now in jail for political offenses and reputed to be a strong radical. Yet the Rap pists on trial for treason are treated like grand seigneurs. They are not under arrest, they live at the most luxurious hotels.
 How Trial Progresses
 When the presiding justice ad- dresses them he begins:
 May I ask a question:" and then realizing how ridiculous it sounds, says "excuse me-" and re-commences. At least 10 times day he gives par "General," Admiral" "Mr. Minister" Your Excellency." whereas court procedure requires that they be named simply "the accused" or the witness"
 Everybody present at the trial seems thoroughly convinced the de- fendants, and particularly their ab <sent accomplices. are noble men de- serving the fatherlands undying gratitude, though admitting that they acted perhaps a bit rashly. There is a childish belief among the reaction aries that the spectacle of this trial