Evening star., 1923-07-08
BRITISH HAVE RUHR
|. KEY, SAYS HARDEN
Cuno Would Face Crisis i
London Backs Paris De-
mand to End Resistance.
BY MAYINIILIAN HARDEN,
Germany's Foremost Publicfst.

By Cable to The Star.
BERLIN. July 7.-Germany awaits
with anxiety the result of the Lon
don-Paris negotiations. Should Bald
win and his associates indorse the
French demand that the Ruhr policy
Of passive resistance be abandoned
forthwith it would place that ques-
tion squarely up to Cuno and his own
particular advisers.
Would the Berlin government yield
to this superior pressure? I do not
know. At the present moment the
government is intimidated by the
monarchic nationalists leagues"
whose number and following steadily
is increasing and whose terroristic
threats are growing louder every
day.
The aim of these leagues" is the
restoration of the German monarchy.
Their methods are murder and the
use of artillery against cities. They
openly insist that passive resistance
has proved a failure. Former Lieut.
Schlagter. who was shot by the
French after having been convicted
of sabotage. is now being paraded
as great national hero.
Blast Follows EuIogy.
1t must be remembered that three
days after Gen. Ludendorf had initi-
ated a movement to erect monu-
ment to the memory of Schlagter.
and the Bavarian premier. in his ad-
dress to the diet, had declared him a
martyr to his country. the bridge
between Duisburg and Rheinhauser
was blown up and Belgian soldiers
were killed.
the leaders of the leagues" have
| caused the government and parlia-
ment to believe that a surrender in
the Ruhr at this time would mean the
initiation of bloody civil war
! throughout Germany, with fighting
almost universal.
The whole situation emphasizes
that the idea of a democratic repub-
lie is not yet firmly rooted in Ger
many. The battle to be waged, II
the leagues finally dominate. Will
be with obsolete weapons on one side
and Frances latest and most modern
on the other, which would, of course,
mean the destruction of Germany's
most important. industrial district,
because, If the present resistance is
continued. France and Belgium never
will consent to relinquish their grip
on the Ruhr.
Sound Despite War.
Germany came through the war
weakened, it is true, but sound TO
the core after the militarists had
been driven from power Now she is
confronted with the danger OF de-
stroying herself through her failure
to recognize the material and moral
forces which must be taken into con-
sideration in forcing her way back
into the front rank of nations.
The recent letter of the Pope has
not aided the situation very much.
The fact that its meaning was mis-
construed in many quarters and that
II was necessary for the Vatican to
issue three separate and distinct in
terpretations and = explanations OF
what was intended robbed II or most
of the hoped-for effect.
the pope would do what he could to
assist Germany at the present time
because it now is ruled by the Cath
olic party, while a papal nuncio has
been anxious to heal the misunder-
standing between France and the
Vatican, so that suggestions or Ia
yoritism do not hold.
What Poincare Wants.
The Poincare cabinet has set its
own reparations at twenty-slx Dillon
gold marks; provided there is q can
collation. of interallled DEBTS, put !,
will return to invisible occupancy"
If Germany does not renounce abso-
lutely all passive resistance in the
Ruhr. Even though this should be
done the question of guarantees must
Fra France nee probably will demand the
separation of the Rhineland from
Prussia and creation of a demilitar-
lied federal state. Germany naturally
must regard such a demand as an
invasion of her rights of sovereignty
Paris. therefore, sees little likelihood
OF an early change in the, situation
unless she can secure hearty back-
ing and cooperation from London.