The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-05-03

them. They agreed in the end to
produce one-fifth of their coal free Of
charge for the French, to be charged
against reparations, and to pay tax
of eight francs ton on the remain
der. 1t is tax under which the
Ruhr can barely operate; the German
industrialists declare, and perhaps
truly, that it cannot keep on oper-
ating under this tax. Some of the
mines are losing money, they say, and
others are only getting by because of
the nine months of safety and ex-
tension work put in during the pass
i've resistance" and paid for by the
German people.
But Big Business in the Ruhr open
ly exults over one good result of the
French pressure. 1t has abolished the
eight-hour day. 1t gives them the
threat of foreign bayonets behind
their dealings with their workers. 1t
gives them a vast reservoir of UNI
employed, hungry enough to break
any strike. The catastrophe fall of
the mark, which was directly caused
by the Ruhr War, in its drain on the
treasury of the German Government,
has broken the trade union treasur-
les and the sick benefit funds and the
the old age pensions Of the workers.
They have nothing left; they are
down to potatoes and margarine; and
watching them are a million unem-
ployed who haven't even those po-
tatoes.
That's the situation IN the Ruhr to-
day. talked with representatives OF
Big Business who were cheerfully de-
claring that cat least the Ruhr War
did one thing, it smashed the non
sense about the eight-hour day and
workers committees" / talked to
representatives of the French, who po-
litely declared: "All that we ask is
that they shall pay the coal tax that
they owe us on reparatiens; it is moth
ing to us whether they collect the
costs from the German Government,
or pay it themselves, or get it out of
the German workers. That is a mat
ter of German internal policies"
1 went into German miners homes
where they were sleeping in the cor.
ner on straw under ragged quilt
And these were not Russian peasants,
but Germans, famed for generations
of thrifty housekeeping and well ar
ranged homes. l went thru one OF
the big dormitories-mai by
Krupps, with its roof garden, library,
club rooms-all solid in enduring
stone. And an irresponsible youth
stuck his shoulders over the parti-
ton of his cell-like bedroom, crying:
Long live the unemployed d. +. :" He
was staying in bed thru the afternoon
to keep down his hunger, for he had
nothing to eat.
l went into Office after Office OF sick
pensions, unemployment pensions, in-
surance of all Kinds. and heard the
sickening story repeated of how they
were ruined by law,-the law that re-
CURED them to place their savings
in municipal bonds and government
lloans, and that bankrupted, the de-
cent honest people who obeyed it,
while the men who invested in dol
lars and raw materials, got rich.
l heard the secretary of the EN-
ployers' Association in the biggest
steel center saying: "The workers
have become sensible; they see they
must work ten hours :. :. =" And /
heard workers representatives say:
mot at any time has there been such
hate as now against the bosses. We
know that we have been betrayed.
They told us to strike to save our
eight-hour day and our German work
ing conditions. Now they have made
terms with the French to kill all the
gains of the revolution. If they re-
fuse to sign the next contract with
the French,-we will not do another
passive resistance job for them. We
will run the mines for the French, or
for anyone who pays us wages. I'm
til, :"
But that until" is a precarious
hope. 1t means until they seize the
mines again with a Red army for a
Soviet Germany. This might have
been done easily once, il they could
have held the mines when they first
took them, but they surrendered them
again to German government too
feeble to know its own mind. A gov.
eminent which gave them back to
their private owners and then bank