Evening star., 1934-08-26
REICH FACES ECONOMIC
AND POLITICAL CRISIS
Without Aid From Great Powers Hitler
Is i'm Same Position as Luden-
dorff Was 20 Years Ago.

abroad more than 1t buys.
Like Great Britain and the United
States, Germany is q great industrial
nation, for more than half of her peo-
pie live by their labor, performed in
factories and mines. In order to meet
the present depression the German
government, like the British and
American, is driven to increase its
public works. But the two Anglo
Saxon countries have within their
frontiers-or obtainable through pur-
chases easily made-all the essentials
to keep their own plants running.
They will be run at loss, not impos-
sibly, but that loss will be represented
by an increase in the public debt.
The Germans. however, cannot keep
their plants and factories running be-
cause they cannot get the raw ma
terials which must come from abroad.
And in the present situation their
problem is complicated by the fact
that the necessity of importing food
for their people reduces their resources
for importing raw materials for their
factories. Thus slowly the German
machine is running down. And at
the same time progressively the stand
ard of living of the population is
declining. Work and bread are be-
coming less and less.
Now If you go back to the figure
with which this article began, the
comparison of Germany's situation
now to that during the war, the
meaning of the parallel is evident.
To win the war the Germans had to
break the circle about them. They
had to get the raw materials and
the foodStuffs which they could not
find upon national soil. But the
British blockade-despite the many
holes in that wall-inexorably closed
German access to the things without
which she couldn't get along indefi-
nitely.
Those who were in Germany In the
Spring and Summer of 1918-when
Ludendorff was making his final Of
fensives, which on the map seemed
such amazing triumphs-all reported
afterward that the extent to which
the country had been swept clean Of
everything to make possible these
heroic and magnificent operations
was beyond exaggeration. When these
offensives failed to bring decision
Germany collapsed inwardly. The
power of resistance of people had
been sapp Il, the will to cary on had
been brokeA. Almost overnight the
war ended in a mad forward sweep Of
the allied armies.
Powers VIII Not Lend Aid.
Now, so far as 1t is humanity pos
sible to read the future, that is what
seems likely to occur again. No one
of the great powers is going to aid
Germany because Csefman policy as
directed by Hitler and his associates
constitutes direct menace for all.
Baldwin has announced to the world
that the British frontier is at the
Rhine. MuSsolinis still mobilized
forces watch the Austrian frontier.
French policy is irreconcilable. The
United States is lending neither money
nor goods in Europe.
What Is the next stage, then? Ger
tainly no one is going to employ mill
tary force against Germany in any
war Of prevention by military means.
For that there is no longer any temp
tation. On the contrary every coun-
try interested is now sitting down to
wait until starvation and unemploy-
ment again exhaust the will to resist
Of the German people. When that
time comes Hitler will have to go as
the Kaiser went in November, 1918.
1t is patent that before the end
there may be terrible suffering and
nnAlacC dfcnFdor in DYtN
it is also true that not even the
argument that after Hitler will come
the red deluge will longer enlist the
attention or support of the British,
American or French publics. In all
three countries the Hitler regime has
taken on the appearance of a mad
dog affair. A century and a quarter
ago Europe came to the same decision
about Napoleon. After that Leipzig
and Waterloo came swiftly.
Change in Is Months. e.
Hitler's chance was not inconsid-
cradle when he came to power. The
Italians were eager to join the Ger
mans in breaking up French domina-
tion. The British were angry with
the French for actions which they
believed we're responsible for the COM
ing OF the Nazis. The people of the
United States were angry with the
French over the debt and disarma-
ment issues and ready to give moral
support at Geneva to Germany's claim
for equality in means of self-defense.
France was isolated and suffered from
a realization of that fact.
Eighteen months after Hitler came
to power, however, all has changed.
British and French military men hold
public conference. Italy, with the
of London and Paris, has
mobilized and prepared to throw her
troops against Germany's. If they
enter Austria. The Soviet Union has
the partnership of Czarist
Russia with Republican France. Po-
groms, blood baths and maSsacres have
abolished all American sympathy, as
debt defaults have eliminated all
chance of fresh credits from this side
Of the Atlantic.
The Germany Of August, 1894, is
thus in the situation of the Germany
Of the same month in 1918, when,
on what Ludendorf afterward de-
scribed as "the black day." the British
attack crashed through the Kaiser's ar
mics in Picardy and began that ad-
vance which in less than a hundred
days was to lead to the armistice of
Rethondes. AS yet, of course, the
decisive step has not come. Hitler's
ines. at the mmoent that write, are
intact. They are exposed to no
foreign offensive. All that Is going
20 happen is that the siege will con-
'inue implacably until the moment
when Hitler becomes at home the
symbol and the sign of the misery
hat has already become general and
With the coming Of Winter is bound
% be acute.
This phase may last 8 months or
!, but 1t can hardly endure for IL.
t may be terminated by q sudden
;onvulsive upheaval. 1t may end
,nly after a long, dreary period of