The Omaha morning bee., 1924-10-23

be at last in sight and the light of a
new day shines.
Chaos Looms Again.
| Through all the tragedy, the des-
peration and death in German, the
moral fiber OF the German people
has not broken. They are still strong
! OF heart. Those who call them selves
communists in Germany are really
not communists, but men made
desperate through lack of hope.
| They are weak, they have used up
their strength. Another setback and
they may give themselves up to the
madness of desperation. II Germany
goes down, If this new hope is
blighted, then all central Europe will
go down with it, and America cannot
hope to keep clear of the chaos that
will follow.
Outline OF Picture.
This is the chief outline of the pic.
Iture. the heavier lines. There was
also a background. a background out
of which the picture itself came into
lexistence.
Germany before the war had a total
wealth of some 5000. 100000 The
cost of the war to Germany was
about $4,000, 100000. In the treaty
that ended the war there were taken
away from Germany all OF its colo.
MES the rich provinces of Alsace and
Lorraine, its ocean cables, its mer-
chant fleet, vast quantities of military
stores, its navy. much of the rolling
stock of its railroads and all of its
foreign investments with the excep-
ton of that which we are now hold
ing down in Washington. All OF
these properties were worth easily
IS ,000, 900, 900.
Subtract from Germany's pre- e-war
wealth the cost of the war and the
value Of the lands and properties
taken from 1t by the treaty of Yer
sailles and there is left a total wealth
OF $4,000, 900. 900. The reparation
commission has said that Germany
must pay s132, 900, 100000, or nearly
three times the value of all the prop
erty in the country. and it must pay
this within 80 years.
Armies Slapped Wealth.
In addition TO the properties taken
from Germany, and In addition to the
reparations which must be paid, the
treaty sent into Germany a dozen
high commissions" made up of men
from the allied countries. These in
cluded total personnel of some
10000. Then there was sent into
Germany French army, an English
army and for time an American and
an Italian army, numbering hundreds
or thousands of men. The members
or these commissions and these
armies had to be paid In gold.
There was no gold in Germany.
How was she to get It? Ordinarily
a nation gets gold In one of two
ways. Either they push their exports
and hold down their imports. getting
paid by the foreign countries In gold
for the difference. the balance in
trade" or they issue bonds. Ger.
many could do neither. Her exports
fell after the war to a fifth of what
they had been before the war. There
was no balance of trade" Ger.
many could not borrow because no
one would lend. Under the terms of
the treaty, the reparations committee
had first mortgage on all the prop
erty In Germany and would not re-
linquish that mortgage. Unless II
was relinqunished there was no Sc
curity for a loan. Germany got gold
with which to pay the commissions
and the soldiers by selling paper
marks, by initiation.
Then the bottom was not only out
Of paper marks, 1t was out OF every
thing. The feverish prosperity turn
ed to panic and unemployment. For
two winters. Germany has lived on
the verge Of starvation. Unemploy-
ment has been as high as so per cent.
In one of the big industrial cities.
out of so, 900 workmen. 1000 had fair
ly steady employment and 700 inter
mittent employment. The rest were
idle.
With the s2oo,o0o,oo which the
Dawes plan loan has already placed
at the command of Germany, her