Evening star., 1923-02-11


The Ruhr and the RhineIand.-The
struggle continues obscurely, not un-
1 like some Arthurian battle describ-
| cd by Tennyson. There has been little
| disorder during the week, but a great
| increase of sabotage has constrained
| the French authorities to threaten
| the death penalty for the most out
rageous cases.
! The embargo on export of fuel to un-
| occupied Germany has been effective.
1t has been extended to include all
by-products of coal.
On Sunday the 4th. the French
pushed forward the kehl bridgehead
| Gin Baden. opposite Strassburg)
las 20 take in the railway functions
! Of Appenweir and Onenburg; this,
! says the official statement. in reprlSal
! for the refusal of the German au-
| thoritieS to furnish coal for the Paris
i Orient and Paris-Prague expresses.
whereas the Versailles treaty requires
that they furnish every facility TO
| trains of the allies crossing Germany.
! The defensive argument of the Ger
! mans that it is the fault of the
! French through depriving them of
! coal that the required service is lack
! ing. is a typical passive resistance
J argument. The French argument in
German arteries of transportation
! is an effective tit for the German tat.
| and then some.
The latest French move is to en-
| circle the important manufacturing
| town of Elberfelt on the Wupper.
What this may portend intrigues the
! ina agination.
The German railwaymen remain
adamant in their refusal to assist in
| transportation of fuel to France or
Belgium or of supplies for, or per
! sonnel of, the occupying forces. West
| of the Rhine they are all on strike.
| In the Ruhr basin they seem to be
! for the most part at work assisting in
services other than those named
| above. The French have continued to
. make it their first solicitude to main
| tain the distribution of adequate food
1 supplies to the population, and their
second TO maintain the distribution of
adequate fuel supplies to the popula-
| tion and to the German industries;
! this to the retardation of their plan
to get coal on the move to France
and Belgium. They have a militarized
belt line around the Ruhr basin, with
complete French or Belgian person
/ mel. They have just sent into the
Ruhr basin enough additional French
railwaymen to feed the belt line with
coal cars from the complicated sys-
tenn of cross lines. From now on.
doubtless attempts at sabotage will
increase. but NJ. Trocquer, the French
| OIL pubic WOTkS, is COuuueHt
| The methodic transportation" he de-
clares, "of coal and coke to the allied
countries. will soon be complete and
\ effective"
development from the French point
OF view. But over against 1t must be
set a new development Of a most
disquieting sort. Some days ago the
coal miners in the Sarre valley struck.
and on the sth 10000 or so Lor-
| fpa mi inf a g.
tensible issue in each case is wage
one. But the real cause Of the Sarre
strike is partly the desire of the
miners (fomented by agitators from
their countrymen, and partly COM
munist agitation. Agitation by French
communist leaders is responsible for
the Lorraine strike; their object Is
political. though most Of the miners
are hornswoggled into the belief that
the issue is purely economic. Further
strikes Of French miners. among
whom the communists are numerous
and influential far beyond their num-
bers, are threatened The communist
leaders are exploiting the embarrass-
ments Of the French government In
| the interest of Moscow and general
anarchy. Doubtless the French gov
| ernment will know how to deal with
them and will get the French strikers
at work again, but the Sarre situa-
tion is more dubious. These strikes
have already reduced the supply OF
| coal to France by 40 per cent. Should
this situation get much worse, there
might. Of course, be dangerous politi-
| cal reactions within France; which
is. of course, the goal of the COM
munists desire. The struggle pre-
cipitated by the French occupation of
the Ruhr seems to be broadening OUT
and intensifying. ! recur to the IKE
moss to some Arthurian battle In
Tennyson's pages. an intense gloom
brooding over the blind struggle. L
! expect Poincare to win out, but the
| week seems to me to end more uupi-
ously for his great experiment than
did last week.