General Uneasiness

The Communist strike in the Ruhr, which has reached serious dimensions, a discord developing between France and Belgium over the lines upon which the next note will be sent to Germany after the expected note from Berlin, and the German political situation are the principal factors affecting the Ruhr problem.

Three hundred thousand men are now striking in the Ruhr district for " a dollar a day pay." The Germans are concerned over the strike, which they fear may lead to extensive damage in the mines. The French are confident that the Communist strike will soon die down, but this is far from certain. Meanwhile they decline to allow the Germans to deal with the Communists unless they promise to order every man in the Rhineland and the Ruhr back to work.

The Franco-Belgian discord is only just making itself felt. Belgium wishes to present a separate note to the Germans after receipt of the second Cuno offer. Her reply will be based upon Anglo-Italian support, which is precisely what France desires to avoid. It seems that France must either admit all the Allies into the Ruhr discussion or try to drown the harmony of an orchestra with a noisy trombone. It is, therefore, probable that an Allied reply will be sent to Berlin.

Chancellor Cuno is preparing his second offer to the Belgians and French. It is expected that he will have very little more to offer and that the note will, therefore, be unsatisfactory. Herr Stresemann is scheduled to take the place of Cuno, whose resignation is almost certain if his second note is rejected.

Stresemann, head of the People's Party, is considered the most able man in Germany and the only man who could supplant Cuno.