The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-06-23
mo REAL LEADER
AMONG GERMANS
None in Crowd of Petty Poll.
tiCians Had Courage to
Say "Yes" or "No.'
TIME FIDDLED A W AY.
In Hair Splittings-Finale of
Empires Fall Disap-
pointing Spectacle.

Berlin, June 22.-(By Telegraph
From NJ Y. World. Copyright )-The
| formal finale of the German empires
fall is a disappointing spectacle, der
void of all dramatic features, devoid
of any exhibition of moral courage
| in the face of misfortune, devoid even
of decent, dignif1ed funeral oratory.
The principal actors in Germany's
historic peace crisis are proving poor
| figures whose petty partisanship
| hardly ruffles Weimar's provincial-
| ism.
| In all overcrowded Weimar there is
| not one German who Is likely to have
q permanent place in history. The
superfuity of politicians posing as
| statesmen, and the lack of great
leaders, explains the situation today.
Germany, on the brink of chaos, has
fddled away precious time with for
NAL hairsplittings. Germany, wanting
| peace badly, has baked at the sign
Ing for politicians, lacking the coui-
age to say yes" or mo" and accept
the full responsibility have been try
| ing to stand from under the inevitable
fore the allied ultimatum expires,
by seeking compromise This pro-
| crastination has occasioned real
alarm lest no action be taken before
the expiration of the time limit. This
| dangerous dilemma was due to the
fact that no clear majority appeared
in the national assembly either for
signing or not signing the treaty un-
Conditonally The majority in tho
SChedemann government stubbornly
maintained it's stand against signing,
but when a straw vote of the as
sembly showed that under the peace
pressure of the masses, this majority
had disntegrated into nothing more
than a powerful and fighting nil
nority. a solution appeared in the
forcing of the Scheidemann govern
ment to resign.
Second Straw Vote Illuminating.
A second straw vote showed the
small majority of the national as
sembly in favor of signing was by no
means solidly in favor of. uncondi-
tional signing, With this situation
the democrats were the first to re-
gain their self-control. With only
one dissenting vote. the party ballot
showed itself to be solidy against un-
COfhlIlOnal signing. 30 Ine uDerdlS
thereupon formulated six conditions
under which they would be willing
to sign the Versailles treaty, subject
to allied approval. These conditions
practically amounted to not signing.
for they involved re- consideration by
the allies of the six principal points
in the peace treaty. The vote,
therefore, was tantamount to re-
newing and continuing the negotia-
tions indefinitely.
Inspired by Erzberger.
The Catholic centerists were next
to regain their equilibrium and 10
try to patch up the wide split in the
caucus. True to the policy of seek
in the middle line. the centerists
succeeded in uniting most of its men,
bers in the national assembly on a
compromise formula for signing con-
ditionally, the principal conditions.
inspired by the crafty Matthias Erz-
berger, being that Germany could not
agree TO surrender for trial by the al
lies of the unnamed military and pos
litical leaders, nor would Germany
subscribe to sole guilt for the war