Evening star., 1921-03-27
GERMAN MILITIA
SPURNS D|SARM|NG
Would Be Signal for New Dis
orders in Bavaria, De-
cIares Escherich.
HAS MANY EFFECTIVES
Passive Resistance Is Now Order of
Day, Says Allied
Diplomat.
HAS MANY EFFECTIVES
BY WILLIAM f. NASH.

By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News.
Copyright, 1921.
MUNICH. Bavaria. March 26.-"De-
spite the new reichstag law we can
not and will not disarm," exclaimed
Herr Escherich. head of the German
militia organizations. for if we do
every Bavarian citizen believes it will
be a signal for new disorders.
I'VE do not recognize the last al
lied ultimatum sent from Paris. for
it violates the treaty of Versailles. ]
do not think the Berlin officials who
are to come here to try 10 enforce
disarmament viii. have much success.
Personally 1 stand in close and friend
ly relations with Premier Won Kahr
and the other members of the BaVar
ian government"
The prosperous-looking man of
about fifty. with sharp, calculating
eyes and double chin. has behind him
more military electives than any
other man in Germany. Though some
of his followers are unarmed and
many of them are interested only in
local affairs. they must amount in all
to several hundred thousand men. The
orgesch and Orka are spread all over
Germany from East Prussia to the
Ruhr. while the Einwohnerwehr are
tensibly their only purpose is to up
hold law and order and repress COM :
munist revolts. The Einwohnerwehr
have few cannon. many machine
guns and a plentiful supply of rifles.
Passive Remittance.
Passive resistance has now become
the order of the day." explained a
high allied diplomat to the writer.
The officials cannot openly resist
the orders from Berlin. for that
would mean rupture with the German
reich, but they can sit tight. refuse
to cooperate and let matters slide
If the local authorities neglect their
supposed to supervise the disarma-
ment. Unfortunately. however. that
functionary in Munich is Bavarian
by birth and is unlikely to enforce
the orders strictly: l do not be-
lieve that there will be any trouble
with him.
What viii happen is probably
this: The surrender of a few rifles
and machine guns, the disappearance
of the Einwohnerwehr from the
streets and loud protestations that
the order of the allies has been
obeyed. The same maneuver has
been repeated several times since the
armistice. Through our numerous
control stations we shall be able to
keep in close touch with the truth
underestimate the difficulties of dis
armament here. The members of
the Einwohnerwehr. as rule. are
solid. respectable citizens of middle
age who have no consciousness of
doing wrong. The people far away
from the occupied districts on the
Rhine find it difficult to realize the
seriousness for the rest of Germany.
Nationalism Strong.
Furthermore. the sentiment of ma
tionalism is strong. The Bayarians
consider themselves as good or bet
ter than the Prussians and resent the
recent actions which they ascriha fo
German reichstag should fall Bavaria
would probably live on as it did be-
fore 1870.
Finally. the monarchistic tendency
is more active here than anywhere
else in Germany. Gen. Ludendorff has
, his favorite villa near Munich. while
dozens of former generals, mobiles and
aristocrats who would support any
reactlonary movement prefer to live
in Munich rather than in socialist
Berlin The dominating, political
party in the landtag is the national
istic conservative party and not the
social democratic"
The acute crisis which seemed prob
able last week appears now to have
been avoided by the skill with which
me disarmament order was framed
last Saturday m the reichstag. ANY
element of sharpness in it would have
angered the Bavarians greatly, but
the text adopted offends no one save
the extreme radicals.
The most important problem it
| leaves open is how Premier Won kahr
can save his face" He had declared
repeatedly that he would stand or
fall with the Einwohnerwehr and his
stubborn character may find it diffi-
cult to accept even a technical order