Evening star., 1923-10-05
AMERICAN HEARS REAL
TRAGEDY OF RuAR DEEP
DOWN IN COAL PITS
CONTINUED from First Page.)


all immense illumination for the SIM
plifying OF this bewildering outfat of
contradictions. .Is
One reason is that when men work
together SO far down frs n the sun
light and SO far remover from even
the sound of their companions In the
nearby rooms and entries, they talk
to each other with a sincerity beyond
that of any place I have ever found
above ground. Another reason IL
that. just as the heart of industrial
Germany is the Ruhr. so the heart
of the Ruhr Is the heart OF grimy-
faced but strong-armed and stronger
hearted old King Coal. And the heart
OF its yearly output of 100,000,000
tons--is right here at Gelsenkirchen.
From its numerous stations 10 ship
ped in normal times greater guam
tfty of Germans chief source Of ma
terial wealth than from any other
place.
The Ruhr. it is 'une rue a.
thing more than French pun when
he thus described Germany's Pitts
bnrgh district. Not only Is 1t q very
narrow street. between the .Ruhr and
short one-about twenty-seven miles
long AS no place in all the world,
this street Is lined with a veritable
picket fence of the tall chfmneys
which seem to Join the horizon to
the heavens as far as the eve can
reach, from an amazing array of huge
steel plants and of somber coal pits
and tfpples.
When / was here two years ago,
that Cyclopean fence was responsi-
dirt-and energetic housewives equip
ped with washrag and soapstone.
Today. hardly one of those chimneys
has it's normal bouquet of smoke:
that bouquet which smells so sweet
In the nose OF every workingman
because it spells not only bread and
butter but also self-respect. Today
"Ruhr street" suffers from cleani-
ness that is almost ghastly. From END
10 end there broods over it a silence
that fairly brings SHY. shivers; ,.s. nv tho
way, before / got here.
Don't Question the Guards.
Going into the Ruhr? For the love
OF heaven, man. watch your step:
This was the advice given to me al
most every mile OF the route through
New York, Paris, Coblenz and Co
logne. The throats of passenger cut
l.y robbers on the undermanned and
badly sabotaged railroads operated by
the French: Imprisonment or rihed
pocketbooks at the hands OF un-
friendly and half-savage French SEN
tries from Morocco, or daggers plant-
ed by desperate and highly suspicious
communists-all these accounts MADE
the approach into the district more
than fairly exciting.
verified in my experience. Neverthe-
loss the trip was.not a pleasant one.
The colored or half-colored sentinels,
with their long guns end bayonets.
are not found in the Ruhr. though
our train passed many Of them In the
Rhineland. But in one town where
I ducked my head in order to read
notice through gate. the young
French guard growled warning.
When I approached him TO ASK WnAt
he had said. all the passers-by stop
ped stock still or edged away. woke
up to realize that I was engaged in
dangerous business - armed sentries
do not like to be questioned!
At various points the regular means
Of travel have been purposeiy torn
up. Instead of continuing with the
train into Dusseldorf from Cologne
you have to get out and take the
street car. After short ride you
must get out of that and either carry
your baggage for half an hours walk
ornanage to hang on to one OF the
overcrowded wagons which have been
pressed into the emergency service.
Every so often you must open your
baggage and submit your passport 10
the sharp eyes Of the armed keepers
law.
French Causes Suspicion.
Whether in the restaurant or on the
train or stree, street car yor intsi s,s o. H. the tss
proper motto. II you are going to
keep from slipping In the slime of
the all-pervading suspicion and ha-
tired. On a train one day last week
the German passengers spoke their
explained that was an American.
moment later I forgot myself and
asked-in French-the driver of
waiting engine opposite our car II he
liked his German locomotive. When 1
turned back to my companions I
found the conversation ended. got
nothing but the stony stares and ST.
lence of distrust and enmity.
1--WE put her on the stocks by post
ing her name and address or else we
appropriate treatment of a German
girl found too. friendly with the arm
ed invaders. The other night when in
a town not far away I started out
for walk. but was Immediately
warned of the danger. A recent piece
Of sabotage upon the railroad had
been punished by putting the place
under a strict 8 o'clock curfew.
Even by day, getting around fs bad
enough, because in Essen, for in
stance. the telephones and also the
gas plant are out of order. Every
where. also, in the midst of busy
streets you come upon crossing or
viaduct which has been given the
extra protection of a sentinel behind
some sandbag forts and barbed-wire
entanglements. In tune with these.
YOU notice the number of heavy shut
ters drawn down for most of the day
over a large number OF local stores.