Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-12
FORCES
HUN ON DEFENSIVE
Political Battles at Home Is
Present Problem of
HohenzoIIerns.
HUN MASSES MUST ACT
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Copyright. 1918, by, the New York Evening
Post. 1nc.)
Just as Marshal Foch skillfully
turned the German offensive on the
battlefield into a defensive of extraor-
binary magnitude, evidence begins to
accumulate that the enemy's peace Of
fensive will have been turned by Pres
ident Wilson into political defensive.
There are signs that the radicals,
liberals and socialists in Germany are
not satisfied with the makeshift
changes in the responsibility of the
imperial chancellor to the imperial
government and the reichstag and
that the demand for parliamentary
government continues undated.
1t is now evident that an abrupt an
Swer from President Wilson of the
character which so many people would
have liked to see the President send, and
which he himself would have preferred
to send, could only have had the eff
feet of hating for the time being the
movement inside Germany for a democ-
ratization of the German government.
Reichstag's Power Grows.
The reichstag, which meets today,
has become a more powerful body than
it ever was. a concession of no small
Importance. This concession was due
not so much to consideration for the
external demand that Germany change
the character of her government, but
chiefly to the internal pressure of radi-
cal elements
These same elements, being encour-
aged now by the friendly expressions
of the labor and socialist parties of
Great Britain and France, are insist
ing on further change.
The chancellor can still be named
and deposed by the kaiser. AS yet
there is no opportunity for the reichs-
tag, like the British house of COM
mons or the French legislature, to
turn out the chancellor and his cab
met. When that time comes and the
elected representatives of the people
are able to control the executive
branch of the government, the kaiser
Will become politically as impotent
as the King of England
See ''Step'' in Max's Speech.
Many neutral diplomats here think
they see in the decree of September
30, as ANNOUNCED by Prince Max, the
German chancellor, in his recent
speech, step toward complete de-
mocratlZatlon Of the government of
Germany. They believe the liberals
and socialists will force this change
on the theory that then the allies will
be compelled by their own statements
OF the past to treat with what will have
become a responsible government
Premier Lloyd George has said that
he was not interested in the form of
government in Germany. Nor is the
United States, though it believes a
republic with an elected executive
gives Tar more guarantee of peace
fulness than an absolute monarchy.
But the American government, while
not interested in whether Germany
has king in the future, is interest
ed IN the power of that executive to
upset the peace of the world by so
controlling his army and navy as to
be able to thrust it against an UNI
suspecting enemy without rhyme or
reason.
Rasis of Presidents Philosophy.
President Wilson has made the
whole basis of his philosophy in the
various speeches he has delivered
since America entered the war that
the world can be made safe for de-
mocracy only when secret diplomacy
and the power of autocracv has
given way to open diplomacy and the
free will of the people as expressed
by their representatives in a national
legislature.
The difficulty of the Presidents
position when confronted with the
German peace offer of last week was
liberal elements in Germany to go
further in their demand for consti-
tutional reform. and at the same
time start the whole Hohenzollern
dynasty on the toboggan. Just as The
bottom molecules of pyramid of
sand will start the collapse of the
whole thing SO the beginning of con-
stltutlonal reform in which the peo-
pie are permitted to have their saw
without fear of the wrath of an all
powerful executive can bring about
a political revolution that will rid
authorities of the empire who have
SO far conducted the war;
Wasn't Asking ''Foolish'' Question.
Mr.. Wilson did not ask Prince Max
whether he merely" represented
those constituted authorities simply
to be asking what the ways might
call a foolish question. Mr.. Taft, for
instance. in recent editorial, said:
Why ask questions when we know
the answers" Mr.. Wilson knew the
answer. too, SO far as it applies to
the situation today, but he wanted the
German people to know that he was
still asking that question, and would
continue to ask it until a reply could
be made of an altogether different
character.
That question tells the liberals and
socialists of Germany better than a
hundred epithets and sentences of de-
fiance, which only would have irri-
tated them and "riled" their patriotic
sensibilities, that America is lust as
uncompromising as she ever was about
the trustworthiness of the government
with which she will make peace
The Important Factor.
1t may not be important if the ex'
ecutive of new Germany is a king
or a president, but it is important
whether the government is RESPONSE
BILE to the masses, trustworthy in its
guarantees and assurances of civilized
behavior.
Until that time arises, there can be
no peace. The military autocracy which
rules Germany today is gathering to-
kingdoms of Germany, is summoning
the reichstag itself. to support the reply
that is to be given to President Wilson's
message of inquiry, but if the German
people can still be deluded into think
ing that the United States and the allies
will enter into a peace negotiation with
the imperial German government so
long as Emperor William and his assoc
ciates can have a thing to say to the