United To Scare Nations For Profit.

New York Times 100 years ago today, April 27, 1913:
German, Austrian, and Belgian Factories in Secret Agreement, Says Liebnecht.
BACKED BY FRENCH MONEY
These and Other Concerns, He Tells the Reichstag, Lived on the Alarm They Could Cause.
    BERLIN, April 26.— Dr. Karl Liebknecht, the Socialist leader, continued in the Reichstag to-day his revelations concerning the methods of armament concerns, which, he said, though living on international hostility, were run on internationalized capital.
    He cited a contract existing between four leading small arms and ammunition factories, two in Germany one in Austria, and one in Belgium, principally backed by French money, by the terms of which, the Deputy alleged, an agreement had been reached to eliminate competition and guarantee mutual profits.
    Dr. Liebknecht pointed out that German companies were selling arms to Russia and that another concern, largely capitalized with French money, was furnishing armor plate to Germany, and, all these companies, he asserted, were engineering war scares in order to make sure of getting contracts.
    The Socialist leader to-day introduced the names of Emperor William and the German Crown Prince, mentioning that although the Vorwärts printed in 1910 a letter, showing that an attempt had been made by a German arms syndicate to obtain the publication in French newspaper of false news regarding the strengthening of the French Army with the object of causing reflex action on German opinion, the Emperor later did not hesitate to appoint Herr von Gontard, director of the syndicate, a life member in the Prussian House of Lords. Herr von Gontard is a son-in-law of Adolphus Busch of St. Louis.
    Referring to the Crown Prince, Dr. Liebknecht recalled that the heir to the throne was demonstratively applauded in the Reichstag in 1911 during the campaign of a war clique against the German War Minister.
    Gen. von Heeringen, Minister of War, replied briefly to Dr. Liebknecht. The Minister ignored the charges made by the Socialist-Deputy and declined to comment further upon the Krupp Incident, in which a representative of the gun firm was alleged to have bribed officials of the War Office to obtain information as to pending military contracts.
    Gen. von Heeringen, in conclusion, asserted that the attacks of the Socialists on the War Minister were an honor to him, proving that he was doing his duty.
    Hugo Haase, Socialist, characterized this as superciliousness. Herr Simon, another Socialist, shouted "Impudence!"
    The Speaker called both these Deputies to order, after which the economists had no difficulty in getting the majority to pass the Budget Committee's amendments, doing away with the posts of commandants at Dresden, Darmstadt, Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart, and ten out of sixty-six Adjutants attached to the staffs of the German Princes.
    The War Minister agreed to drop the ten Adjutants, promising a final arrangement of the matter in the next budget. It is understood that he will negotiate in the meantime with the Princes for a reduction of their staffs.
    The House also voted to eliminate the standing appropriations for supplying Generals with horses, although Gen. von Heeringen warned the Deputies that it would make it difficult for officers without private means to accept promotion to a Generalship.