Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-10

Washington, d. c., June THE
statesmen who are seeking to settle
economic and political affairs in Eu-
rope are confronted by an extraordin-
airy development which is upsetting
many calculations. 1t is a revolution
airy movement on the part of the ris-
ing generation in middle Europe, par
ticularly in Germany and Austria. It's
members, scores Of thousands in num-
Der, refer to it as the Erie Deutsch
Jugend or the Free Youth Of Germany.
The movement consists of the youth
Of the land, ranging in age from mere
striplings of 10 or II years to stu
dents and young men up to 25 years of
age. These youths, both boys and
girls, have ~revolted from the social,
political and economic ties which have
bound them for generations, and have
declared their emancipation.
The manifest demonstrations of the
movement appear in the literal free
dom OF these youngsters. They have
become a sort Of high class of tramps
or gypsles. In twos, threes Or groups
larger in number they wander about
Germany and Austria, tasting their
first absolute liberty. To understand
this, it must be remembered that ev-
eryone in middle Europe is poor
whether he tramps the road or stays
at home. If he stays at home and
works he is paid in money which may
be worth only half as much tomorrow
as it is today. There is little induce
ment for him to work.
BY wandering about the country, q
healthy young man or girl can pick up
odd jobs Of work in return for meals
or a nights lodging. On warn nights
it is no hardship to sleep under hedges
or in haystacks, in barns or in the
fragrant fields beneath the stars.
The serious Importance of the free
youth movement is seen by the" states
men attempting to solve European
problems in the fact that the new gen
GRAFTON of workers is slipping out of
the harness of the old economic sys-
tenn. The statesmen do not declare
this is wrong; they merely are forced to
recognize that if the movement ron
tinues. they must alter completely their
calculations of how debts are to be
paid and how the worlds work is to
be done.
What Worries the States men
The big question as to Germany is
this: Under the Versailles treaty. Ger
many owes the allies hundreds of mill
lions of dollars in reparations, payable
in money or in goods. 1t is the plan
that these payments shall extend over
a number of years. But if the rising
generation Of workers strikes in this
manner and declines to do the indus
trial labor to produce the wealth or
money with which to pay the repara-
tons. the statesmen who have been
counting on a continuation of the old
system are confronted by a dilemma
for which there is no obvious solution.
The attitude of the free youth is
that they were all children. some of
them unborn, when the war started in
1914 and particularly when the old
aggressive Hohenzollern policy respon-
sible for the war was being put into
execution. They declare they are in
no way responsible for the loss to the
allies. They did not start the war.
most of them did not take part in it.
and they feel that they owe nothing
to anyone. Further, they assert that
they are out Of sympathy with the old
military system and that they do not
fear any threats of force from the al
lies which might be made in an effort
TO collect. The allied statesmen find
themselves in the position of a man
striking at a soft pillow. There is
nothing TO resist.
Reports show that the underlying
causes of the Free Youth Movement
are deeper than any questions of the
war or the Preparations. The revolt is
against the entire system of repression
of which the militarism which caused
the war was but a part. The world is
familiar with the exacting discipline
of the German army and the mechan-
zeal precision of German efficiency.
From One Extreme to Another
The Free Youth throw off the entire