Simultaneously with the reports that strong repressive measures adopted by the German Government had put an end to the extensive strikes at many places came a new report of a labor outbreak at Jena, where a third of the workmen have gone out on strike. This new strike is a protest against the recent conviction of Dittmann, a Socialist who had led a former strike.

The German papers, evdently under orders from the Government, have done their best to minimize the recent industrial disturbances. But their very efforts in this direction have served to emphasize the seriousness of the revolt. When the Government finds it necessary to court-martial industrial workers in a building closed to the public and guarded by bayonets, its alarm is great. It may very likely be that bayonets and machine guns may keep the mob of Berlin and other cities in subjection for the time being, but this will not destroy industrial demands and deep dissatisfaction. The Socialist paper "Vorwaerts" is right when it says that this movement comes from the workers' fear that they have been misled:

"They want food and peace and Germany free outwardly and inwardly. Any attempt to hold them by force is dangerous. All thoughts of an attempt to force on the people aims which prolong the war, aims for which they never fought, or to keep from the people their promised rights, can only work as disintegrating factors. That today is our greatest danger." --The Outlook.