The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-29
From Prince to Pauper
By SCOTT NEARING
(Stan Correspondent Federated Press)

| II ROM prince to pauper in a decade
sums up the last ten years in the
economic life of Germany. In 1918
the German people were the most
prosperous on the continent of Eu-
rope. Today Mr.. Hoover estimates
i that 20 millions of them (nealy a
third of the entire population) are
on the verge of starvation.
The Germany of 1918 was a coun-
try of abundant coal, iron and other
essential resources; a country of high
agricultural efficiency; country of
busy factories, active railroads,
crowded market places; a country
that added 80 millions to its popu-
lation in 40 years. Full Of optimism;
inspired by the will to power; deter
mined to spread trade and culture
across the world; believing in them-
selves as the super-race, the German
folk stood on the pinnacle Of pros
ifpSz;sayy and s.akis'serrreTsht.
Ten years have passed. The pros
porous Germany of 1913 is reduced
to beggary. For all except the rich,
the standard of living has been fore
ed down far below the pre-war level
of the unskilled worker.
Science was one Of the most promi.
nent features of pre-war German
life, but, today, with books almost
beyond price; with apparatus so cost
ly that even the best endowed insti-
tutions cannot afford to renew fail
ing equipment; with the practical
cessation of the importation of for
eign publications, the German scien-
tifc world finds itself isolated and
the scientists themselves can barely
keep body and soul together on their
meagre salaries. They cannot afford
to buy a magazine, to take a street
car, to get their shoes re-soled, to
get their teeth filled. They are for
tunate if, after standing for hours
in line, before a bakeshop, they re-
ceive half loaf of bread.
There are more than GO millions
of people living in Germany-train-
ed, efficient, willing to work, but with
the mark selling at 100000, 000,0 24
ga billionths) of cent, the whole
financial structure of Germany is
shot to pieces. Meanwhile, only the
iungle-struggle for food and warmth
remains of the nation that, ten short
years ago, was the proudest finan-
cial empire of Europe.
4 No further demonstration should be
necessary to convince, even those
who see public events but dimly, that
the present economic system is the
/ - ~4rkI r - 10
predecessors. Slavery is lost in an
tiquity, feudalism lasted thru cen
turtles, but capitalism, which is the
child Of yesterday, withers at the
first breath of calamity.
Did the economic system. in Ger
many die of old age? Not for a
moment. II was stabbed to death
in a brawl between bankers and bust
ness men from all Of the leading
Christian countries.
There is only one rule that is
known to masters of modern life:
The weakest to the WALL Not only
in their dealings with their weaker
fellows--in India, in Korea, in the
Congo, in Haiti, in the Philippines
do modern empires follow the law
Of the Jungle, but in their dealings
with each other they take an eye for
and eye and a tooth for a tooth, and
take them firstl
What is going on in Germany The
disintegration of the present eco.
nomic system along the lines that
have been predicted by scores OF
writers, from Marx TO Lenin. War
is a part Of the capitalist-imperialist
game. The people Of the United
States are playing the game today
Tomorrow their bill will fall due.