Paris Peace Conf. 184.01102/343

Professor Philip M. Brown to Professor A. C. Coolidge12

No. 26

Subject: The coal and iron situation in Hungary.

1.
I enclose herewith copy of a special memorandum13 concerning the coal and iron situation in Hungary, furnished me by Dr. V. Koller, Mining Engineer, and now an official connected with the Department of Socialization under the new government.
2.
This memorandum, of course, is only the expression of an opinion, and is to be read with some reservations, as being a naturally ex parte statement. I have, however, submitted it for perusal to an American engaged in a big industrial enterprise here, who assures me that the memorandum is in all essential respects correct.
3.
I would call attention first of all to Dr. Koller’s remarks concerning the wrongs and hardships endured by the miners and iron workers. [Page 431] Not only were they not permitted officially to organize unions, but after the outbreak of the war they were compelled to labor in the mines and factories—not on the footing of workmen, but of soldiers, receiving a daily wage of 16 hellers. Later on, special allowances were made for their families, but their condition, from all accounts, was miserable. On the other hand, while the workmen were being treated as vassals, the owners of these factories and mines were making colossal fortunes.
4.
The statistics concerning coal are only approximate, of course, but are fairly reliable. I would draw special attention to Dr. Roller’s plea for the importation of coke in order to enable the iron industry to carry on, and provide labor for a large number of employees. This coke can only be secured in Silesia, by way of Oderberg, Czaza, etc., — not a long haul to the main industrial centers.
5.
Dr. Roller takes up the question of food, showing the great need of the miners for fats, their diet consisting mainly of bread and butter. I consider this of very great importance, because underfed workmen are not exactly a sound basis for the reconstruction of social order, and of the establishment of sound political conditions.
6.
As I have previously reported, the iron workers, numbering about 150,000 organized laborers, probably hold the key to the political situation. As long as they support the government, the tendency will be against terrorism of any sort. Their whole influence has been conservative, so much so that it has been seriously questioned whether they would continue to support the present government, even with its marked tendency to free itself from the extremists. It is, of course, significant that the organizer of the iron workers, William Böhm, is now virtually Commissioner for War under the nominal direction of Kun Bela, the controlling personality in the new government. I understand that Böhm is organizing these iron workers in the neighborhood of Budapest into guards, nominally for their respective factories, but really for the purpose of exercising an effective check on the terrorists.
7.
My own conclusion is that under such circumstances it is of immense importance that the industrial life of this country must be permitted to get under way again at the earliest possible moment in order to prevent the increase of discontent and disorder among men who are by nature really solid citizens, and disinclined to approve or abet Bolshevistic methods. I therefore agree with Doctor Roller in his conclusion that the two things most needed in the country to effect this purpose are food and coal, coke in particular. I will treat of the food situation in a separate report.

Sincerely yours,

Philip Brown
  1. Transmitted to the Commission by Professor Coolidge under covering letter No. 211, April 11; received April 14.
  2. Not printed.