The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-06-29
BY FREDERICK KUN
United Press STAFF Correspondent

'NOpNAiRHt- 1901 DY OnlJeQ EEeSSJ
BERLIN, June 29.-Cabinet min
listers and taxicab drivers, worried
directors Of the Reichsbank and
humble merchants, industrial lead
ers and petty snopkeepers, high and
low await word from Paris and from
Washington that the last obstacle
TO Herbert Hoover's debt morator-
1um proposal has been removed
Upon that word rests the hope Of
national and individual economic
stability, or the fear of utter eco
nomic decentralization.
Today, Germany is lettering be-
tween thrilled anticipation Of rescue
from what has seemed certain So
cial and economic collapse, and the
graYest of fears that French oppo-
sition may yet blast the hopes
aroused by Americas message.
Dull Shadows Loom
And, casting their shadows over
this conflict of national and per-
sona1 psychology, are the antagonis-
tic political agencies of HitleriSm
and Communism, waiting to take
German morale, or to seize the OPP
portunity offered by complete
crash.
All Germany appreciates-as the
rest Of the world might do well to
consider-that if Hoover's efforts to
establish a debt moratorium should
fail, Germany'S fate will rest upon
the struggle that is bound to fol-
low between these two contending
armies, each seeking to seize con-
troll of the Reich, to establish an
iron rules and thereafter, dramati-
cally, to repudiate forever-in their
minds-the nations obligations aris-
ing from the World war and. the
postwar financing.
Three roads lie before the Ger
manic peoples today-the Hoover
road to normal rehabilitation as
mapped out by centuries of capital
istic experience; the Fascist road as
defined by the Hitlerites, which
means debt Reputation, and re-
Wval of the nationalistic, swash-
buckling, imperial spirit; and the
route to thorough Communism,
leading down the Red Russian road
to complete collapse of the existing
Germanic social order.
Has Stirred Pessimists
The thought, alone, that the
United States, richest and most
glamorouS nation in the world in
Nh ax,ae ~ Tho oIyo,o rso 1xa~V,,ov, 49,
interposed a hand to stay the de-
moralizing influences weighing him
down, has had a tremendous psy-
Geological effect throughout the
land. 1t has stirred, as nothing
else might stir, the minds of mil
lions of sullen and hopeless pessi-
mists.
Out of population of $4,000, 900,
more than 4,00O,OOO now are jobless
in Germany. When you subtract
from this population the aged, the
young, the incapacitated. you may
recognize what an appalling dearth
Of work exists in Germany.
The "white-collared class of Ger
many comprises millions. They are
men and women who want to work,
to keep clean, to have substantial
clothing, and to go to the movies.
Want to Live Well
They want to live and maintain
their self-respect, and to have the
little comforts and semi-luxuries
that make life something more than
bare existence. And they must
grind and grind and grind, merely
to pay taxes.
Their standards, far from rising,
slowly have been sinking into a
state of Shabbiness that can not
but have its reflection in peSsimis-
tic minds.
To these people, as class,
Hoovers' statement and proposal
came like a new sun to dispel the
darkness of dispair. 1t was, to
them, a warrant for new life, a re-
prieve from disaster.
Yet there are optinistS, those
who point out the recent revival of
output lin many branches Of in
dustry, such as mining, textile, ma
chine and steel. They mention a
favorable balance in Germany'S
foreign trade in the face of world
wide depression and other factors
that lend hope to the situation.
Lends Added Strength
To these-the optinists of Ger
many-the Hoover proposal lends
added strength. Given the benefit
of a years stay from the obligations
suspended, like a guillotine, over
the necks of the German people,
and they believe that through
sound economic recovery will be on
the way.
A glimpse at the economic fig
ures of German industry during the
last few years will afford substantial
reason for the unprecedented de-
preston, actual and mental, that
has existed in Germany.
The volume of industrial products
during 1891 has Shrunk to the vol
une of 1924, when Germany just
was pulling herself out Of the war
n1ire.
During the year ended April !,
1881, this output decreased IS per
cent over the previous yea Wages,
meanwhile, suffered is per cent
cut, while the cost Of living dropped
only per cent.