The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-05-19
MANY QUESTIONS
PUZZLE CONGRESS
Of NEW GERMANY
There Is Little Unity Now in
Assembly Where Every
Talk Ends in WrangIing
Without Hope of Settlement

-
WEIMAR. May 10. Correspondence
OF the Associated Press.l-The German
national assembly has been at work
some weeks now. and has demonstrated
among other Things, two things clearly.
II Is unable 10 DO business much more
speedily than the old reichstAg, chiefly
because there is little unity and much
dissension between the parties, and the
old order of things has changed very
little despite the myriad Of new faces.
The latter is perhaps the most i'm
portant point, because the assembly
was hailed by countless German pa
pers--and particularly by the agencies
that supply the outside world with new
as the birth Of the new republic, the
beginning OF a new regime, the living
emblem Of the passing OF the old. II
Is new In a sense, and the old regime
has passed perhaps, but there are
enough of the old people left, and so
many OF the new people are not much
unlike the old. that the effect in the
Weimar theRter Is not much different
from the reichstag. One hears pre-
cisely the same arguments from the
floor, watches precious time fly by over
the same or similar arguments as used
10 make one despair of constructive
legislation.
Perhaps the most striking thing Is
the tone OF the great majority of the
party speeches. just one delegate has
had the courage 10 attack the conserva-
ties and the moral strength to 20 on
record as admitting that Germany had
something to do with starting the
Man after man, regardless OF party, has.
IN speeches, proved to his own and the
houses satisfaction that Russia. France
or England, not Germany, started the
var. Several have declared that neither
the German government, nor the Ger
man people wanted the war, or knew
even that 1t was coming, let alone be-
ginning 1t or having the remotest to
do with starting 1t, One one man has
had the courage to tell the house that
the German treatment Of Belgium for
ever forbids German complaint from
being effective. The great bulk OF the
delegates, as the great bulk at least
Of northern Germany. seems to have
adopted the attitude:
Well, It's all over now We, the
people, didn't start the thing, at any
rate, so let's start out even and square,
with no hard feelings on any side. And
singular as II may seem, there doesn't
seem to be n person hardly who can
get the viewpoint Of any foreigner, even
that Of the now popular American.
The assembly IL the principal outlet
for every known kind OF propaganda,
INDUCED In nearly as yehemently and
excltedly by the social democrats as by
the conservatives, First there Is the
Alsace Lorraine question. II comes up
three, four, a dozen times a session,
and always rouses the same enthusi-
asm. Every old and shop-worn argu-
ment is trotted out and cheered. 1t has
never occurred to the Germans that
on the other side of the fence there
are fairly good arguments to support
Frances retention of these provinces.
The junction with Austria provokeS an
almost equal enthusiasm, and II would
almost seems as II half the speakers
insert 1t In their speeches for that
purpose alone. "A countryman from
farthest East Prussia can be sure OF q
bravo II he mentions the brethren
In Austria yearning to become the tail
end of the German kite. The Schleswig-
Holstein question has come to the front
lately and Germany Is filled with prop
uganda to show that Schleswig should
and must remain German.
No speech Is complete without at
least a reference to Poland and CZecho-
Slovakia, and the longer the reference
the more braves. Yet not one OF the
speakers but knows that these ques-
tons viii be settled, for good or Ill,
by the peace conference.
The failure OF the German to change
materially IN In no way better to be
observed than In his attitude to the
question OF the conduct Of the war, II
Is only rarely that q criticism OF It Is
heard In the house, and the general
feeling seems to be that, II anything
was wrong with II, that Is all in the
past and should be forgotten or over
looked by Germany's enemies.
The prisoner OF war question Is as
pu2Eling to the student Of German psy-
chology Just now as anything else. Viz
tually every speaker touches upon the
rl.-..A AaNt AG--A AA A.
tribune, Tell a German, first, that
the armlstice made 10 provision for
the return OF German prisoners, and,
secondly, that while Germany begs
daily for food, abe attempts at the same
time to saddle herself with 500, 900 more
mouths to feed. and It has no effect
on him, II can not be sheer pity for
the welfare Of the prisoners, because
| plenty OF Germans know only too well
how slim the food Ia. The assembly
has had Its I'LL Of speech making that
consists chiefly OF party programs that
everyone knows, or more frequently In
attacks, often personal, that shows how
bad the feeling IL beneath the surface,
Now u proposes to do some real work
In committee. The press may not at
tend but gets what the committees
care TO give out, unless some member
tells tales out of school.
Listening to delegates to the assem-
bly,, and talking TO Germans outside Of
II, the correspondent finds that the old
German viewpoint he learned to know
so well during the war until the breach
with America, Ia still abroad In the
land. though in less truculent form
The German thinks differently from
any other human being In the world,
and therefore does not understand why
he now should suffer, why everything
can not be placed on a basis Of status
quo ante, why anyone should hold
against him a conduct OF the war with
which he claims he had nothing to do.