The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-09-17

After the 1870 victory. Rome be- came more powerful than ever and after the 1918 defeat the Catholic center party held the balance of power. It produced three chanceliors and filled many high posts, despite the loss of Alsace. Posen, Upper Sile- sia and West Prussia. Furthermore tho pope was represented for the first l time by nunoio In Berlin.
 The Protestant clergy's power. meantime, had been weakened be- cause of their being obliged in the pulpit to support the war loans, the surrender of metal money and su- perflous foodstuffs. But the peas- ants wife whose love of church and respect for the concentrated clergy never fails now has made her hus- band return to blind obedience of the | church.
 Fight Within Church
 The fight within the Catholic church Is one of sharp divisions. In north Germany the priests exhort l their congregations to respect the republican constitution while the Bavarian cardinal, Won Faulhaber, calls that constitution "a combina- tion of perjury and high treason"
 Meantime, the lower Bavarian clergy. under the leadership of Premier Ler- chenfeld are endeavoring to restore the monarchy and place c Wittels- bach on the throne, first of south German state and later to gain the imperial German crown. The south German state will be composed of Bavaria and Austria.
 Centuries of experience. culminat- ing in the Bolshevist Tchitcherin's conversations with the archbishop of Genoa show that the church can, if necessary, adapt itself to any form of state and the fact that its north ern army pursues different tactics
 than the south does not prove they are not seeking the same aim.
 People Need Religion
 Since the Kaisers fall, little has been heard from the Protestants, who still use that name, although ceasing to protest against Rome like Luther or Calvin. But the cessation from the church is not so rapid as expected and the people have felt the need for religion just as they do after every great catastrophe and expressed this need also by running after theoso- phist concert room prophets and the like.
 The working masses see in Chris tianity only the beginning of a so- cial movement to make the poor in- herit the earth. The Prussian church, representing the military and official class, upheld submarine war fare without arousing public protest, but lost its point when the Prussian King, it's highest bishop, fled, and the people became sovereign. This new church constitution, like the state constitution, is being attacked because 1t gives too much liberty, although this liberty follows Luther's teachings that Christianity allows no supreme authority.
 Agreement Effective
 Most Germans know nothing of this quiet struggle and wish to know nothing. They also do not notice the louder struggle in the market place. The first attempt to find guarantees for the treasury notes which Ger many must pay Belgium failed be- cause the German government wanted three times as much breath ing space as the commission allowed. The Lubersac-Stinnes agreement was much more productive than tho 13 conferences of statesmen. It grants France help for rebuilding the de- vastated regions and guarantees Ger many against dangerous unemploy- ment when stagnation begins. It forms a bridge whereon two neigh boring people can meet and realize lucrative labor without customs re- strictions.
 With a Russian market similarly opened financial stability may be re- stored. But even this welcome news of a feeble beginning of a Franco German understanding seems to in- terest only communists who loudly proclaim that Shines will make bill lions while German workmen will bear the yoke of French slavery.
 Materialism has terribly ravaged the hearts of the people in their sud- den fall from the heights. Every body thinks only of himself and his family, high living costs and the pos- sibility of making money by specu- lation. If the Savior should come again to earth He would not be asked the purpose of His mission, but whether He though the dollar would rise or fall before Christmas. Such is postwar life.