GERMANY: Grave Charges

Dr. Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of the Republic, returned indignant, last week, from a trip through those sections of the Rhineland still occupied by Allied troops.*

In Germany the Chancellor (Prime Minister) is expected always to retain his dignity, never to lose his temper. Therefore Dr. Marx stated to the German press with chill reserve the following grave charges:

1) Target practice by Allied artillery in the occupied Rhineland is so negligently conducted as to menace the lives of many inhabitants.

2) Autumn maneuvers by 1,000 French Negro troops and other Allied forces were recently carried out in such manner as to trample down whole fields of ripe grain without compensation to the owners.

3) More than 700 native Rhinelanders have been arraigned before Allied courts-martial on “trifling charges,” this year, and some have been punished by whippings. . . .

* Only the First Rhineland Occupied Zone (Cologne) has been evacuated (TIME, Feb). 15, 1926). According to the Treaty of Versailles, the Second Zone (Coblenz) and the Third (Mayence) are to be evacuated on Jan. 1, 1930 and 1935 respectively.