San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-08-19
French See Signs Of Cessa-
ton of Passive Rests
lance Soon.
MISERY IS OBSERVED
Workers Unable to Keep
Families Comfortably :
on Berlin Doles.
BY WILLIAM Z. NASH.
Special Gable to The San Antonio Light
and the Chicago Daily News.

and the Chicago Daily News
Copyright. 1898.
Dusseldorf, Aug. 18.-Riots and
shooting throughout Germany this
week, particularly those in occupied
territory near Aix-la-Chappelle, arc
regarded by the French as signs OF
hope of a cessation of passive resist.
ance on the part of the rich industrial.
lists. The industrialists have every
thing to lose from an expansion. of such
disorders. They would probably be
victims of communistic or proletar-
ian rule. Already they have been
struck more heavily than any other
class by the stoppage' of production in
the Ruhr and consequently they are
supposed to be holding their ears close
, to the ground for sounds betokening
reconciliation.
In fact, il anything at all has been
accomplished by the Ruhr occupation
thus far it has been the exercise of
pressure on the rich German indus
trialists, according TO liberal French
mdl here. The industrialists see II
per cent of their mills and fa> tories at
standstill through q lack of raw
materials. Their export commerce is
ruined. Their income has been stopped.
The country is compromised. Their
very lives are endangered by a contin-
uation of the quarrel which car. lead
them nowhere in the future. In short
they are beginning to realize that the
payment Of reparations will be cheaper
in the end than the continuation of
passive resistance.
Strcseman's Talk Held Cheaply.
The utterances of Chancellor Strese-
man that resistance must be kept up
indefinitely are regarded as Political
propaganda, statements calculated to
react on the popular morale rather
than sincere announcements of the
policy of the new German governn It.
Moreover Stresemann is far away from
the Ruhr and hence cannot b, entirely
conversant with the .assitude that pre-
walls among the industrialists there. it
is said. II resistance does cease. how
ever, it must do so gradually, degree bys
degree, and not suddenly by sptctac-
ular order from Berlin. AL. authori-
ties, both French and German agree
that it would mean disaster il all
workers in the Ruhr went back to
their jobs at til, same time.
No government would dare to de-
mand unqualified capitulation. De-
spite the misery which cannot be hid
den, the idle workmen are celd to be
better off comparatively speaking than
employers. They receive secret SUBJ
sides from Berlin and additional aid
from Ruhr sympathizers abroad. The
average married man out of work gets
two million marks pei day, or % cents,
as strike pay. That is, he gets from 60
to 20 per cent Of his normal wages
upon which he manages to exc out a
species of existence for himself and
family. The employer receives moth
ing for his losses. Furthermore labor
leaders insist that their followers will
not be the first to yield. Coal supplies
on hand will last them until November
they say. After that woods and for
ests can be cut down as fuel, even to
the beautiful shade trees.
Misery Is Observed.
Conditions are not as bad now as
they were during the war. the work.
ers maintain. Nevertheless despite
these assurances. misery is very evident
in the Ruhr toda,. The writer this
afternoon saw scores of ragged chill
dren chasing coal carts TO pick up
Jumps Of fuel which had dropped off
into the street and hundreds of old
women standing in line before gro
ceries and bakeries to get bread and
butter at reduced prices. At meal
time the writer met dozens of male
adults gazing hungrily into restaurant
windows.
1t stands to reason that big indus
trial region like the Ruhr cannot livt
a healthy life with two million people
out of work. A married MN cannot
support family in luxury unless he
has been unusually farsighted. Money
is the backbone of passive resistance.
II the mark takes another abysmai
plunge like that of last week. or IL the
scarcity of money continues TO make
itself felt, passive resistance may col
lapse at any moment. Labor leaders
swear they will turn to bolsheyism in
that event.