Evening star., 1921-01-07
HOPING TO RESTORE
GERMAN MONARCHY
Radicals and Reactionaries,
Dissatisfied With Govern
ment, Busy Scheming.
BY GEORGE wITTE.

ihVtS1 Ouoy SOisStubSs
BY GEORGE wITTE.
Correspondence of The Star and Chicago Daily
News.
BERLIN, Germany, December 20
There are more believers in the mon
archistic idea in Germany today than
there were two years ago just after
the Hohenzollern regime had gone to
pieces. The reason for this Is the
general dissatisfaction with the pres
ent government. In this one point
radicals and reactionaries agree.
Numerically. those opposed to a re-
turn to monarchism are stronger than
those who advocate it. On the other
hand, the monarchistS are far better
organized, from a military standpoint,
as well as from that of publicity and
propaganda.
Roughly speaking. Germany is di-
vided into two parties-the monarch
lists and the anti-monarchists. South
ern Germany, with the exception of ons
or two of the large Industrial cities. is
| monarchistic. Central Germany, which
includes the Saxon, Rhenish, Ruhr and
Westphalian industrial belt, is de-
cidedly anti-monarchistic and in spots
very radical. Northern Germany, with
the exception of Berlin. Hanover. Ham
burg, Bremen and one or two other
cities. is monarchistic. Mecklenburg,
sia are more reactionary than they
were during Wilhelm us regime.
Monarchists Still Hopeful.
The monarchists have not stopped
bemoaning the fate that befell Herr
| kapp's revolution. They severely
| censure him and his followers. not
| because they tried to overthrow the
prepared to follow up the momentary
advantages they had gained.
The next time We shall have pre-
| pared and planned everything with
all the painstaking care of general
who knows that the fateful hour of
a decisive battle is at hand" is the
monarchistic watchword
The little news of their preparations
| that from time to time leaks out and
gets into the opposition press shows
clearly enough that the monarchists
are not merely boasting but are real
news is about the discovery of secret
war material depots, in which arms
and munitions are stored.
L am able to give the names of sew
| eral of the principal monarchistic or
EXAMINATIONS actively engaged in max
ing preparations for a new reaction
ary coup d'etat- They are: The Ger
man Officers League CDeutsche OFF,
ziersbund), the Association of Former
One Year Service Men (Verein
Ehemaliger Einjaehriger = composed
chiefly Of the sons of the better mid
die classes. Association of NATIONAL
istic Front Soldiers (Verein National
gesinnter Frontsoldaten), Association
Of German National Shop Clerks
l(Deutschnationaler Handlungsgehilfen
veroand) and the academic section of
the German national peoples party
(Akademikergruppe der Deutschna-
| tionalen VoIksparteD.
Inc leaders of the monarchists, of
course, are chiefly former officers, and
while such famous generals as Hinden-
purg. Ludendorf, Mackensen and Hoff-
mann deny they are lending their moral
or financial support to the movement
the monarchists boast that they are
sure of their cooperation as soon as
they have been successful in their first
steps toward re-establishing a monarch
| lStic government.
Ludendorn Most Feared.
Among these generals it is principally
Ludendorn whom the social democratic
movement is being watched. The fact
that Ludendorf settled in Munich re-
Gently and is hobnobbing with such
leaders Of the Bavarian reactionary
movement as former Crown Prince
Rupprecht Of Bavaria and other men,
bers Of the royal family, and is seen
often with Herr Escherich, organizer
| of the "Orgetsch," is regarded by the
Berlin government as an indication that
he is closely connected with the Ba-
varian separatist movement
Gen. Mackensen. on the other hand,
| Is under suspicion Of being one of the
leaders of the North German monarch
istic activities. Hoffman,, too. is often
seen in the company of well known
Berlin monarchists. Field Marshal
I 49,, 1.yytv, -
seclusion in Hanover. Only now and
then he appears at the meeting of some
| old time nationalistic organization.
The members of the Hohenzollern
! family who still live in Germany take
| no part in any of these activities. but,
! to avoid any mention Of their names in
connection with the monarchistic move
ment. They are afraid they will be
expelled from Germany II they should
/ become involved in any Of the intrigues
and plots of the reactionary crowd.
Government In Weak Position.
Both the radicals and the reaction
aries are stronger than the present
government. and both are determined
to get political power and force their
ideas and ideals on the German peo-
ple Both sides have attempted to
overthrow the government, and both
have failed. Both have learned the
lessons their failures have taught
! them, and both would act more care
fully and shrewdly if they thought
the hour had come for another revo-
luton.
The social democratic party, before
the war the political party Of which
the kaiser and his court lived in
constant fear. is the only real sup
port the Ebert government has. But
that once strong party has become
quite shaky and unstable since 1t be-
came the ruling party of the Ger
man republic.
Two formerly large and influential
parties-the centristS and the demo-
crats-are backing the government to
limited extent, just because they
have no use for either the radicals
or the monarchists. But they WELD
only little power over the masses
that really count.
In this light it will readily be seen
that it is not exactly sinecure to
hold a high government job in Ger
many today. The cabinet minister
soon finds that to sit around Herr
Ebert's green table means to be
heartily unpopular with the people.
For that reason the few really big
men left in Germany refuse to accept
cabinet posts.
Thus we get down to the fact that
the German government needs a big
man, a man with a head like Bis
marck's, more than anything else. It
needs somebody who will take hold of
the tangled-up Skein of German state
affairs and unravel it. But so far
there has been nobody who has arisen
to the occasion.
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