The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-10-06
Won BETHMAN-
HOLLWEG HAD TO RESIGN BE-
CAUSE THE POWERFUL CENTER
PARTY BACKED ERZBERGER-
SKETCH OF VALIANT CATHO-
Lie GERMAN LEADER.

Lie GERMAN LEAOER.
Matthias Erzberger, a prominent
member of the German Center party,
has become an international figure
because of his activities in the
Reichstag. Recently the Boston Tran
script gave an interesting, although
not altogether, accurate, account of
his personality and his relations to
the Center party. Concerning the eff
fects of his great speech in the
Reichstag, which led to the fall of
Won Bethmann-Hollweg, the Tran
script article says:
''He eclipses, temporarily, Beth
manns hitherto unparalleled and
world-stirring tight-wire act over the
whirlpool of indecision He relegates
Scheidemann and his somersault to
the limbo of back numbers, and sends
Zimmerman, the Mexican lariat-
thrower, to his political death. I'M
passioned scenes take place in hidden
chambers. The Kaiser shivers, the
son hurries to Berlin The world is
agog for news. Has the debacle
come? Have tinse and the man met
at last? Is Erzberger the savior of
the fatherland? All these questions,
and more than one chancellor
ITO explain what this means | need
only say that the present Center Party
in the Reichstag differs greatly from
that Center party which was so fa-
nous in the days of Bismarck and
Windthorst. The Kulturkampf has
disappeared as an issue, the old lead
ers are dead, and the Center party
has, to a great extent, become nation
alist. It's objects are no longer strict
ly religious-the protection of Catho-
lie interests, to modify it a little-but
politically German, in the national
sense of the word"
Erzberger's family was in. modest
circumstances, but his surroundings
were not at all mean" He studied
at the preparatory school and teach
ers' seminary at Saulgau, Wurttem-
berg, and after teaching for some
time he repaired to the University of
! F'rieburg in Switzerland
A typical Suabian, he was fearless
and aggressive.
Editor of Catholic Daily.
He first gained prominence as editor
Of the Deutsches Volksblatt, the Cath
olic daily and Centrist organ of
Stuttgart, Wurttemberg With the
Rev. Eckhardt he organized the Chris
tian Trades Unions and the Catholic
Workingmen's Societies in that king
dom.
The intimation that he was more of
a Socialist than a Centrist, is absurd
| The fact that he was delegate to
the international congress at Zurich
in 1897, is no evidence to this effect
The prime mover of that conference
was Gaspard Descurtin, the great
Catholic social leader of Switzerland
1t was sDescurtin's pet project to as
semble labor representatives irrespec
tive of religious and political beliefs
with a view to paving the way for uni
form international labor legislation
ErZbergers participation in that con
ference, in the light of these facts
can hardly be construed as evidence
of his Socialistic Tenderness.
This picture of ministers turning
somersaults and of the Kaiser shiyer
ing in his boots, is, of course, over
drawn. Erzberger's speech caused
CONSERVATION because it reflected thu
view of the Center party, which ha:
in the past caused the downfall O
more than one chancellor. Tht
writer in the Transcript gives the fol
i lowing sketch of Erzberger's life:
Erzberger of Humble origin.
"Erzberger is forty-tWo, a native o
Buttenhausen in Wurttemberg, and ;
man who has made his way up from
q very mean surroundings. He was tn
son of a poor tailor who could not al