The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-10-12
'MUT|NYBR|NGS
REAL CRISIS TO
7 GERMANRU[ERS
Attitude of Government Be-
Iieved to Be Mistake
SOCIALISTS AROUSED
Attempt to Make Political Capital
Out of Revolt Starts Op-
position.
SOCIALISTS AROUSED

Amsterdam, Oct. 12.--Germany'
paper crisis over the pan-German
propaganda, which loomed so big in
anticipation, but was so small in re-
suits, has passed, says dispatch from
Copenhagen. In its place has risen a
new. and this time really serious,
cellor Michaelis, Vice-Chancellor
Helfferich and Minister of the Navy
Won Capelle to use the alleged plot in
the German navy as political weapon
against the party of the extreme left
in the Reichstag.
1t is not improbable, German po-
litical observers point out, that, Chan
cellor Michaelis in an hour of appar-
ent success sowed the seeds of his
own downfall, Results are not to be
expected Immediately, as the Reichs-
tag adjourned this week. but the new
conditions OF German political life, it
is contented, will undoubtedly from
now on work against Won Bethmann-
Hollwegs successor.
The immediate results of the disclo-
stres of Chancellor Miachealis and
yice-Admiral Won Capelle have been
|ahat the government socialists have
been driven into complete opposition
and into alignment with the radical
ociaIsts; that the followers of PHI
declaration of war against the gov.
arnment until Chancellor Michaelis
hat
the radicals. the members of the cen
ter and even the national liberals
have critized and condemned the Mi.
chaelis-Capelle move as one which
ought not to have been made unless
the government had full adequate
proof of the completely of the three
radical socialists in an actual con-
spiracy to mutiny-proof which they
evidently believe the government will
be unable to produce.
Stripped of its embellishments the
government statement reduced itself
o the charge that agitation TO enroll
members for the radical socialist par
ty had been carried on in the navy;
that leaflets had been distributed and
hat two of the executed sailors had
visited Deputies Haase, Vogtherr and
Dittman
The three socialists made great
play of the fact that the government
had made no attempt to bring them
to trial before or after the courtmar-
tial at Wilhelmshaven on August 80
and they argued that the crown pros
ecutor would not have missed such
an opportunity if he had any evidence
upon which to convict them This
argument evidently appeals to all but
The conservatives and it has distated
the attitude of large share OF the
press which, despite dislike for the
radical socialists, takes the stan6
that Chancellor Michaelis misused the
affair for political capital.
The newspapers intimate that to-
ward the close of the Reichstag ses-
sion Deputy Haase and his radical
socialist colleagues appeared rather
in the role of accusers than of the
accused, and they print in large type
Deputy Ledebour's ironical interjec-
ton as Chancellor Michaelis rose to
reply; THE prisoner will now take
the stand"
The statements of Vice-Admiral Won
Capelle. the German minister of ma.
rine, have turned the Reichstag into
a theater of the widest scandal, says
the Berlin Worwaeters. Discussing
the exposures of mutinies within the
German navy, the socialist newspa-
per adds that there Is no shadow of
proof that any deputies were guilty
of illegal action in connection with
the mutiny
The Vossiche Zeitung describes the
attack on the independent socialists
as a deporable and illegal trick on
the part of the government. The
Tageblatt contends that if the Reichs
tag believes that the independent SO
cialists are guilty. they must be hand
ed over to the court
The Koenische Zeitung expresses
surprise that the government, 'whe'
it had such strong proofs of gull
against three persons suspected of
treason, did not ask the consent of
the Reichstag to take legal measures.
No Reichstag would have been able
to refuse consent" The newspaper
complains that the treatment of the
affair in the Reichstag will be ex-
planned abroad to the disadvantage
of Germany.