Evening star., 1923-10-08
BY WHITING WILLIAMS,
Author of 'sWhat'x On the Workers
Mind" Etc.
ARTICLE Iv-BAYONETS, BIG BUS1-
NESS OR BOMBS IN THE RUHRs

NESS OR BOMBS IN THE RUHRs
GELSENKIRCHEN, Ruhr, Germany.
September 17.-'Now when a roof
sounds like this (tap-tap with the
top of his pick), so my miner buddy
explained to me down in the mine
few days ago. Its holding fast; it
will not fall But now see this here
(tap-tap)-'ha! that sounds fine, but
it may fall any instant. Now take
my pick and get that coal down, but,
um Gottes willen,, watch sharp"
Believe me, it was unpleasant-but
typical.
"Ruhr street" is just like that. 1t
may provide a sure. safe road to the
peace which the politicians have been
discussing, or 1t may drop on these
leaders, in spite of all the propping
of either fair words or bayonets
The last few days do make It look
sistance is fading. Last SUNDAY l
saw a huge crowd over at Bochum
pressing In close upon some musicians
giving a public concert. / was amaZ-
ed to fina the band was IS not snidia- OF Ger
soldier replied when 1 asked IL the
Germans gave him and his comrades
QnV trouble. Love hO Soh
tinued; "well, the chief obstruction
is, of course, the language"
Yesterday In a slightly frequented
room in the big and now dirty anu
disorderly Essen station saw palr
Of dapper young I,gss srenen aannla Of local
sailing with kisses a COUPE VI Ao
servant girls.
If at least some of the natives mere
aren't any more excited than tnat
about holding out against the IN
yaders, it's not strange IL the gov
ernment in Berlin has begun to feel
the back breaking weight of sup
porting the districts whole popuIa-
tion whether working or loating. The
burden, of course, grows all the more
intolerable now that the mark has
fallen into SO infinite an abyss.
resistance of both the district and
the. nation caves In, very serious
question still remains. 1t Is this:
Can the political leaders inside the
country and outside work out the de-
tails of their get-together arrange
ments quickly enough?
Winter Brings Menace.
They must hurry. for If winter
should come before those cellars can
be filed which have been to date kept
empty by the French use of coal and
potato. bullets in their cold-and.
hunger warfare, then "Ruhr street
may be rocked with an explosion
from which not only Germany but
also Europe and America will suffer
That possibility Is all the greater
because of that complication l have
earlier mentioned, namely. that re
volt here would be aimed not only
against the districts military mas,
ters, but also against it's Industrial
and civil leaders. ,,..,
OF course there would be little
in
of communism, and 1t would be a
local outbreak and not an 'in-break
from Russia. But these days OF con-
versation with normally reasonable
and logical men give me ample evil
dence that communism does not come
heart. It comes mainly from the
stomach. When a man Is hungry
when great groups of men are nun
cry, mainly because the machinery
of the state for filling stomachs mas
broken down, then mems stomach's $
simply tell heads and hearts to mind
their own business till a bit Of new
machinery is put on the job. And
neither all the bayonets nor all the
prayers in the world can stop them
until that job Is done.
Can Germany and the allies so get
Complicated con engine of that Ruhr
going again before snow flies?
The answer Ito that question de-
pends on a vast array of highly
Complicated matters OF, mainly. Ger,
men, French, Belgian, British and
Italian economies politics and psychol-
ogy. But here are just few items
which these weeks here make me
think important:
/. From a strictly military point
OF view, Frances occupation or the
Ruhr has been, on the whole, well
handled. Depredations and brutaI,
ties there have been. But imparIlal