Evening star., 1925-02-28

subjected to much ridicule, chiefly
by monarchists, when he headed the
republic that succeeded the downfall
Of the Hohenzollern reign in Ger
many, Friedrich Ebert was regarded
highly by the people generally and, in
his own country at least, was given
the major portion of the credit for
bringing order out of the chaos that
followed the abdication of Emperor
William.
When the upheaval came on No
vember 8, 1918, Ebert assumed lead
ing role, becoming chancellor in sue
cession to Prince Maximillan of Ba-
den, who had been instrumental In
negotiating the armistice. He was In
office only 36 hours. being forced out
when control of the government was
taken over by the peoples commits
saries. 1t was Ebert. il was said,
who by skillful maneuvers at that
time prevented the Radicals from
gaining the upper hand in the tur-
moil created by the revolution.
A few weeks later Ebert became
one of the six commissaries who ar
ranged for the first meeting OF the
German National Assembly at Wei
mar to form provisional govern
ment of the republic. On February
II, 1919, he was elected provisional
president, receiving 277 out OF the
379 votes cast in the Assembly The
constitution adopted by the National
Assembly provided that "the exec
utive power lies with the people"
Based Rule on Freedom.
The provisional government functioned
until August 23. when Ebert took the
oath as imperial President, and two days
later the National Assembly ceased to
exist being superseded by the new
Reichstag. Upon taking the oath Presi-
dent Ebert said: THE essence Of our
constitution shall above ALL be freedom,
but freedom must have law. This you
have now established. We will Jointly
hold It 1t will give US strength to testify
for the new vital principle of the Ger
man nation, freedom and right
During the first few months of the
provisional government its foundation
was threatened by the crisis which arose
over the question OF signing the peace
treaty. President Ebert and his first
premier, Philip Scheidemann, were op-
posed to yielding to the demands Of the
allies. With no other course left but to
accept, Scheidemann and his cabinet re-
signed and q pro-treaty government was
formed. which included some OF the min
listers of the previous cabinet. The new
government. while denouncing the terms
Of the treaty, decided to accept it, and
in July, 1919, President Ebert signed the
bill ratfying the treaty.
With this phase of the treaty crisis
over, the Ebert government was con-
fronted with the problem of getting dele
gates to go to Paris and shoulder the
responsibility of signing the treaty.
These were obtained after many de-
cltned what they regarded as an empty
honor, because the opinion was practi-
caliy unanimous in Germany that the
terms of the treaty were unjust and
sought to disrupt Germany as nation.
Internal Ills Increased.
Internal troubles were bobbing up
nearly every day in all parts of the
country. but President Ebert vigorously
opposed the varied movements of Spa rita
cists and Communists. He handled his
difficult job so we'll that when It came
time for the scheduled presidential cleo
ton in 1922 he was requested by a coali-
ton of several parties to remain in Of
flee until June, 1925, which he agreed to
do. The. election of 1922 was postponed
because of the dangers of bolshevist
agitation and the general unsettled con-
ditions and hard times that prevailed
throughout Germany.
AFTER the new government had been
transferred TO Berlin one of the first
OIL 1TeSlQent Ebert
was that he did not intend TO live in
the palaces of the. former Kaiser.
These. he characterized, as museums
OF dead epoch"
1t was no easy task to hold to-
gether the new republic, because OF
the conditions that existed wnen it
was born. And even after II was
formed and functioning the new gov
eminent of the people was confront
ed with one danger after another
Scarcity of food, clothing and fuel,
riots in various parts of the country.
frequent agitations and movements
designed to overthrow the republic
and re-establish the monarchy, and
finally the crash of the country's
financial and monetary systems,
which became the joke of the busi-