The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-19

to dissuadc the supreme council from it's decision regarding the sep aration, by informing it in May, 1918. that without Upper Silesia Germany would not be able to pay the repar- alton demanded That is not abso- lutely correct, as the value of Upper Silesia does not amount to more than 2 per cent of the total German pos sessions. It is correct, however, to say that Germanys reparation pos. abilities will be lessened if it has less coal and loses the Upper Sle~ sian iron. zinc and lead, which mean d part of her manufacturing ability.
 Allowed PIebiscitc
 The supreme council finally al- lowed a plebiscite Being an Upper Silesian by birth and a Pole by pas sionate conviction, Korfanty became the Polish commissioner. This cum ming, energetic man, who always called himself half socialist, belonga to those people who when In luck and the possession of power, thro " common sense to the winds
 The sharp words of charminG American lady who once said "a conquered Frenchman is charming, but a victorious Frenchman unbeaf able" can be more correctly applied to Korfanty During the war he was SuITRuHQed Dy UlStTu5l anu looked upon suspiciously by military Poles in authority. He often swore. even to me. that resurrected Po- land would always be guided by hui man kindness and not assume the harshness of the Prussian regime.
 As plebiscite commissioner, how ever Korfanty immediately kindled the widest hatred of the Germans. He and his supporters went beyond the bounds of common decency, in- sultinR everything German and ur- til the last hour he swore (and proved by his maps) that the plebis- cite would yield at least so per cent Polish votes It was a personal de- feat for him when the returns showed only 40 per cent Polish vote
 l<orfanty then tried to save him self by forcible measures. This was made easier for him by the rather thouGhtless English proclamation that Poland should receive the districts of Rybnik and Pless. He obtained further support as result of the triumphant shouting of the Berlin government that the plebiscite meant return to Germany of an undivided Upper Silesia. In accordance with the wording of the treaty of Yer sallles an undivided Upper Silesia is an impossibility, but this is unknown to all but one In a thousand Ger mans and almost the whole nation is convinced that as a result of the plebiscite only shameful illegality on the part of the allies can take away any part of Silesia.
 Korfanty took advantage of this misrepre proclaimed him. self dictator, and called the masses | Ja1I In. frfa a11 1f ha tnr TOT of German frightfulness,' of Jewish pogroms, plundering, etc.. to force the non Polish elements into civil war, which because of Poland < superiority regarding arms and anu munition would lead to making the province Polish and thus acquire rec ognition from the allies. This has been prevented, although great mis- takes have been made by German militarists and adventurers.
 Vagabonds Attack Women
 Nevertheless, German Jews in Up per Silesia have lived through weeks of terrible suffering when neither their legal possessions nor the honor of their women has been spared o.y the criminal vagabonds of the in- surgent army
 The only thing to do is to give Poland enough territory to take care of the three quarters of million persons who voted for Poland. or to have Silesia administered nterna- tionally for the time being, the gov erning body to include German and Polish representatives.
 The poor German mark today is worth 22 Polish marks. Any indus trial country given to Poland today is economically lost to Europe. which cannot. however, afford to lose single square mile.