Evening star., 1913-12-09
Head of German Cabinet De-
cIines to Resign Be-
cause of CenSure.
ANSWERABLE TO EMPEROR,
NOT TO LAWMAKERS
Socialist Plan to Withhold Supplies
Defeated by Refusal of Center
to Cooperate.

BERLIN, December g. - The imper ial
chancellor. DR.. Won Bethmann- HolIweg
today defied parliament to pass amend
ments to the constitution proposed by
the socialists making the imperial chan
cellor responsible to the house for the
acts of the emperor and providing for
his dismissal upon the demand of the
house
Philip Scheidenann. one Of the social
ist leaders who visited New York in
October, at the opening of the budget de-
bate today moved the adoption of the
amendments put forward by his party
and appealed to the house to refuse to
vote supplies until Chancellor Won Beth
mann Hollweg had either resigned or
been dismissed by the emperor.
The chancellor thereupon rose and de-
clared the amendments proposed were
a clear invasion of the imperial pre-
rogative and announced that he had
neither presented his resis snation, nor
did he intend to do so as consequence
Of the vote of non-confidence passed by
the house December 4.
Not Answerable to Parliament.
This VOTE" he said, was not similar
to votes of censure in countries gov
erned purely by parliaments. To the
chancellor that vote merely signified
that he and the imperial parliament
held different opinions. In Germany the
emperor alone has the right of ap-
point. the imperial chancellor. 1t is
utterly unconstitutional to attempt to
bring pressure on his majesty either
by votes of nonconiidence or by the re-
fusal of supplies and the proposal of
amendments to the constitution to meet
his unbending resistance"
phoY .10y
the majority of the German nation was
unwilling that the emperor's power should
be subjected to socialist restrictions.
In his speech proposing the constitution
al amendments, Phillip Scheidemann re-
ferred to the recent incidents at Zabern
and iamented that the clever statesman
ship and the policy of peace shown abroad
by Germany had not been manifested in
the interior of the country.
Warning to the House.
II warn the house, he said. against
failure to follow it's vote of censure on the
government with the necessary steps to
establish the responsibility Of parl
and to clip the wings of the military In
the country. The aroused popu ar opin-
ion of the nation is now behind pariia-
ment and will support it in limiting the
monarchica. power by a legis ative act.
Parliament should refuse to discuss the
budget until its terms have been ac-
cepted."
Herr Scheidemann sarcastically de-
clared: "Dr. Won Bethmann-H -Hollweg is
a great statesman, who has succeeded In
uniting the popular opinion Of the nation
not for his policy, but against it. DR..
Won -Hollweg is not a sticker
in Office, but has been stuck there to o
down to history as the imperial chan
cellor who meant well, but failed to un-
derstand his times
oha lofn ta oIn
speech on foreign affairs. 1t was devoid
of anything sensational being devoted al
most entirely to the aftermath of the
Balkan war and the pending Anglo-Ger-
man negotiations. He spoke in hopeful
terms of 1.-The happy effect of the cooper
alton of the European power during and
after the Balkan struggles in maintaining
the general peace of Europe" and said
he looked with confidence to their fu ,ure
successes in maintaining the integrity of
the Turkish empire.
Urges Work for Future.
The chancellor's references to Anglo
German affairs contained no details,
but he expressed the belief that any
negotiations would be conducted along
the lines heretofore followed by both
nations to q most favorable outcome.
In conclusion he urged Germans to 'let
the past rest and work only for the
future.
No mention of the incidents between
he military and civil authorities al
Zabern was made by the chancellor.
His speech was received almost in si-
lence.
The fate of the socialist amendments
and the refusal Of supplies to the gov
ernment was settled regardless of the
chancellor's attitude when DIR. Peter
SPAIN of the center party announced
that his party would oppose the amend
ments and would vote the budget, mot
for the chancellor. but for the Ger
man nation He again gave utter
ance to cenSure of the chancellor
for his failure to inform the imperial
parliament that the necessary steps
had been taken to keep the mill
tary authorities at Zabern in their
place. He scored the government also
for furnishing the town Of Zabern and
not the guilty officers by removing the
garrison from the place and cutting
off source of revenue from the citi-