San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-03-16
Events Of Week Show Ger
mans Prefer to Be Ruled
by Iron Hand.
DID NOTHING USEFUL
Parliament Only Trouble
some Hindrance in Diff
ficult Situations.
BY MAMMALIAN HARDEN.

Berlin. March 15.-The Reichstag
which has just been dissolved, dies
upwopt. Public opinion is, not even
astcnished at lis demise. The Reich.
| stag practically eliminated itself sew.
eral mcnths go through the transfer
| of Gictatorial powers to the govern
mcnt. Its doings. vapid and point
less. were, buried ON the inside pages
of tac newspapers. People didn't
even read about if.
| This Reichstag, in which lis So
| c.alists and dozen or so other men
! elected under Democratic colors. sue
cecded in discrcditing the German re-
/ more Thoroughly than the widest
monarchist could have dared To hope.
How thoroughly it proved that in
| Germany at least. parliament is only
! n troublesome hindrance in difficult
situations. is shown by the events
that occurred during its dying hours.
The modest question Of denuty as
! 10 whether history will term General
I.udendorff a great military leader
evoked hail of i-dignant cries OF
SHANE :"
The gencs,l. as the all-powerful
commander of an army of uncxcelled
bravery. lost the war. and was forced
TO demand thrice on Il Single day the
spcedicst armistice. Nevertheless there
| was no retort to the crics of "Shamc :"
LIGendorff Demanded Arnisiice.
1t was said. in 1918 that only the
/ counsel of three Jcws-Ballin. Fried
lander and Rathenau--had impelled
| the kaiser 10 cessation OF hustilitics.
! As a matter of fact, the rich and
utterly unpolltical coal magna,c.
FriedlGnder, was already dead then; ;
Balm. creator of the Hamburg-Amcr-
lean Line; was prevented from bring
ing his ideas TO Wilhcims attention !:
Rathenau. who always prophcsied
| cleverly and ialsel~. had written in
August. 1918, that Frances army and
government would soon be showed
baci; 10 the Pyrcnces; he regarded
| the wars end in October as "prema-
ture:" considered the supreme com
| mand too ncurasthenically anxious.
and without any knowledge OF the real
situation. called for continuation OF
| the war.
Ii has been proven beyond doubt
that Ludend0rff ard Hin,lcnburg alone
demanded and achieved the armisticc.
! permitting all the conditions tn be
dictated by Marshal Foch. But the
fable OF the Jewish bctrlycrs cir
culated further and was not denied
in the Rcichstas.
At the same time the program Of
the Bavarian .coolcs' party, a branch
of the ruling Catholic center, demand
Ped punishment of those responsible
for the revolution in 1918 and resora-
ton of the monarchy, first OF all in
Bavarin. This state. too. has Il Re
publican constitution. Public and of
ficially, however. former Crown
Prince Runprecht, is termed his
majesty" by the states highest rep
resentative.
Parliament Died rnwept.
All of those and similar things
which are not unimportant for De-
mocracy's existence were not even
mentioned in the Reichstag. Nobody
asked by what right man whose
father was forced TO leave the throne
in 1918 could become king years later
under a Republican constitution. One
wonders whether the republics reign
ing party is not likely to bring to trial
on a criminal charge those RESPONSE
BILE for the revolution that made it a
republic.
Earlier the Reichstag had made all
conceivable experiments with cur
rency and taxes, had fearfully dam
aged Germany's finances and indus
try by hopeless resistance i'll the
Ruhr, had revoked the principle of
equality of all citizens before the law
and made possible the state of siege,
the military dictatorship and unjust
and exceptional laws of every variety:
And the single gain-stabilizing OF
domestic prices-was achieved with
out assistance from the Reichstag
from which not a single practicaI
proposal emanated.
That this parliament died unwept
and that only monarchist national
lists enter the election campaign with
joyous hopes, is understandable. All
payties endeayor to ascribe the blame
for the miserable parliamentary show
ing to "hostile foreign countries"
Explains Wilson Flag Incident.
The Center and Peoples parties are
endeayoring to align themselves to-
ward the right in order TO maintain
part of their power, whatever the re-
suit of the elections may be. Even
the group of weak bourgeois Demo-
Gratis which has everything to fear
and nothing to hope for, boasts of
its opposition to the peace treaty.
which it calls shameless breach of
faith" still repeating the false asser-
ton that the treaty rests on Ger
many's admission under duress of sole
guilt for the war; and regretting the |
weaponlessness of the fatherland.
All this explains why the Wilson |
flag incident. whose regrettable con-
sequences were kept silent here. was |
not even mentioned in the Reichstag. |
Such is the situation in the German
republic in the sixth year of its ex-
istence. Criticism now is too late, |
and prophecy would be useless. The
election must show clearly whether
the nation has the courageous will to