The Ruhr: Mar. 17, 1923

Hugo Stinnes. Crafty, potent, indurate, Herr Hugo Stinnes, coal magnate, multimillionaire, present " All-Highest " of Germany, plots a coal victory in the Ruhr. His aim is the control of the European steel industries, and, like all mysterious figures who move in the no-man's-land of international politics, he stands to win whichever side comes out on top.

At present it suits Stinnes to back his own country. The establishment of a great coal and iron industry in Germany has obvious advantages to himself. It insures illimitable profits for the future. So the great magnate stirs the people up against the French under the guise of patriotism; and hungry, discontented, deceived men resist and suffer for the Coal King and his satellites.

If France wins, or should a compromise be agreed upon, Stinnes is still the hero; for through a back-door agreement with the Comite des Forges, the great French steel trust, he will be able to exchange the kingly throne for the Emperor's Crown. And conceivably, the dictatorial tactics of General Degoutte are a barrage put up by the magnates of Paris, who, in serving themselves, will also serve Hugo Stinnes.

Imbued with a lust for power, he looks upon the Ruhr with cruel eyes, and, " Hugo Stinnes, master of coke so long that he has come to look like a piece himself," waits for his opportunity.

Hugo Stinnes would probably agree with very little of this. He would almost certainly deny that his patriotism is only a shield to his own ambitions. He might be right. Coke is an agent in producing many beautiful things, and Stinnes may yet prove his policy noble, and for the benefit of the German people and the Fatherland.

Shootings. France and German}' are stranded in the quicksands of the Ruhr occupation. The policy of each becomes more violent as time goes on, and the end is still far away. Murder has been met with " killing," and the last battle on the Ruhr promises to be as bloody as the first in the Great War.

The Germans murdered two men near the town of Buer, and the French retaliated by killing eight and wounding thirteen. This alters the complexion of affairs. Germany has nothing to gain by murder. Her burden may be heavy and the way difficult, but sanguinary tactics are suicidal. France, on the other hand, will succeed in completely alienating foreign sympathy if she allows the present situation to develop. Moreover, " killings" give the Germans an opportunity of doing homage to their martyred countrymen.

On the question of policy the Germans are as adamant as ever in their conviction to resist the French. The " Franco-Belgian Entente " says that the real object of the Ruhr is to speed up coal deliveries, which seems tantamount to admitting defeat. They have, however, decided to requisition coal in the pits with their own labor backed by force, if the mine owners fail to pay a coal tax. But the true aim of the French and Belgians seems to be a separate agreement with Germany and the abandonment of the Versailles treaty.