Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-14
GERMAN Revival
/ AGREEMENT FAILS
Premature Publicity and
sand Communists Blamed
{ for Economic FiaSco.
y Radio to The Star and New York Herald
Tribune CopyriRht, 1880

lElBuilts SubS1lAHtf AHSSs
BERLIN, July 14.-The interesting
experiment to bring about an economic
revival in Germany through an agree
rrient between capital and labor has
recently ended IN failure after an ex-
tremely promising beginning. The lead
ing representatives in German industry
and German trades unions met in con-
cIave in an attempt to agree on stimuli
taneous price and wage reduction. An
agreement of this kind was expected
to revise business confidence throughout
the Reich, develop production and in
crease employment and lower the ten
sion now existing in the German po-
litical world by lettering relations be-
tween employers and workers.
sAbove all the agreement would give
German industry an enormous advan-
tage in the struggle for foreign markets
by lowering the costs of production in
this country and enabling the German
exporter to undersell his foreign COM
petitors. The initiative in this matter
YVES taken by a small group of German
iadustrialists which included such rep
resentative figures as Albert Voegler,
president of the Ruhr Steel Trust Paul
Silverberg, Ignite and coal mine owner,
and Paul Reusch, leading iron mag
nate.
Weakness of Government.
Industrialists took this unusual step,
despairing of the weakness of the pres
ent German government and its no.
torious inability to lead. They also
figured, quite correctly. that either the
present unhealthy price level in Ger
mandy had TO be reduced in agreement
With the workers, or put through by
farce. But the attempt to cut wages
arbitrarily would mean strikes and lock-
outs, and that in the long run this
would prove as disastrous to German
economy as the continuation of the ex-
iSting price level nobody could doubt
who recalled the consequences to Eng
land of her general strike and the en-
suing protracted coal strike in 1925.
The overtures of the German indus
trialists received a friendly reception
from the men. The plan for joint CO.
operation was Endorsed from the start
by the Catholic and Liberal trades
unions. while the general federation.
numbering some 100000 Socialistic-
ally inclined workers, indicated that 1t
would listen to proposals from the
''other side" with an open mind At
first negotiations went very well and
an epoch-making agreement for stimuli
taneous reductions in prices and wages
from capital and labor doomed prom
tsingly on the horizon.
HeSe pEOSpeCCS were soon over
ciouded, however. by a series of I'M
happy developments. First was the de-
cision by DR.. Adam Stegsrwald, Ger
man minister of labor, declaring legally
binding the arbitrator'S award in the
wage dispute in German northwestern
iron and steel area. This involved a
T19 per cent wage reduction for the
men, accompanied by a guaranteed
price reduction. The significance of
this award was that it offered to expert
ment within limited area and a single
industry in combined price and wage
reduction which employers and the
labor organization at the time were
discussing on a national scale.
Resented by Workers.
German workers resented it, however,
because the award made the wage re-
auctions preliminary to the lower
prices. The Communist press, which is
naturally hostile to the negotiations
used the minister of labor's decision
with great effect, warning the workers
that it was a foretaste of more drastic
wage cuts to come if the proposed joint
agreement went into effect
Next. political representatives of big
business in the Reichstag-leaders of
the Peoples party-had the exceedingly
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