Evening star., 1925-04-27
By the. Associated Press

| By the, Associated Press
Veneration for the PruSsian royal
house, implicit faith in God. un-
bounded enthusiasm for the military
profession and consuming love for
| the Fatherland-these are the char
acteristics of Field Marshal Gen. Paul
Won Beneckendorf und Hindenburg,
elected President of the German Re
public as standard bearer of the Ma
tionalist parties. as they are revealed
in his autobiography Aus Meinem
Leben,' published in 1920. and of the
biography 'Feldmarschall Won Hin
denburg." written by his brother
Bernhard and published in 1916.
One is taken back to the days when
Germans still believed in the divine
right of kings. when the profession
of arms was the most sacred of call
ings and when the German para
wrong" had not yet given place to
the motto MY country when right to
be kept right, when wrong to be set
right"
Peace is Latest Ideal.
But in later years. and particularly
since entering upon the campaign
which has had as its outcome his ele-
walton to the presidency, the field
unity of the German people, peace and
| good will toward all humanity and
still place in the sun for the Father
land.
Born in 1S47 at Posen. Won Hin
denburg's career has ever been a mill.
| tary oneN He first saw active service
| in the war of 1865 with Austria. Then
came the Franco Prussian War. and
though he had retired in 1911, he was
I4,- IF -
Sth Army Corps, with Ludendorff as
chief of staff. and his victories of
| Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes
in the World War raised him again
as a popular hero, with rapid pro-
motion to a field marshars baton.
Staid Through Revolt.
Perhaps one of his greatest serv-
ices to his country was his refusal
to desert his post when the revolu-
ton came. After the world war he
personally led the armies back in an
orderly, disciplined manner to their
home bases. He again retired from
active service in 1919. When there
was talk OF prosecuting William III
he offered himself as a substitute for
his emperor.
Field Marshal Won Hindenburg, by
training and temperament alien to
political campaigning, was drawn re-
luctantly in his old age into an arena
unknown to him when he consented
to become a candidate for the presi-
dency Of the republic Of Germany for
the parties of the Right, known as
the Nationalist Conservative Bour-
geois bloc.
The martial figure of the imperial
Germany that has passed seemed to
| fit awkwardly into his new role. His
speeches were few and brief, he did
| not travel from his home town OF
Hanover. His press agents found him
| unskilled in the wiles Of publicity and
| not adept in the ways of elf-seeking
Won Hindenburg declared in resist.
| ing the attempts to make him a candi.
date that he was too old, that he
could not understand the new genera.
! ton.
Appeals fer Unity.
His entire campaign activities con-
sisted in receiving delegations that
came to Hanover, making several
short addresses at his home, and, to-
ward the last, giving interviews. The
outstanding points of his speeches
were an appeal for unity of the Ger
| man people, a declaration of his
| aversion to war, his insistence that
| Germany must regain her independ-
enCe anu not pe dependent upon
other nations.
Only the future, he informed the
Associated Press, could show wheth
er the Dawes reparations plan was
capable of fulfillment, and, asserted
! the field marshal, Germany will not
be able to fulfill the conditions un-
less the foreign powers participat ting
in the pact evince political and
economic loyalty"
Asks place i'm SUM-"
| IN his first and most important
| campaign speech, delivered before
great national gathering at Han
over, Won Hindenhurg denied that
| his candidacy represented reaction
or was inimical to the republic. He
spoke, however, for "a place in the
sun" again for Germany and avoided
any reference to such international
issues as the security pact, the
League of Nations and reparations
in general.
After the first presidential election
on March 90. DIR. Karl Jarres. Ma
tionalist leader. and DR. Wilhelm
Marx, former chancellor and nom
inee of the Republican bloc, emerged
as the apparent candidates for the
second and decisive test by ballot
But the Nationalists, fearing that
Marx would defeat Jarres, appealed
to Won Hindenburg to replace Jarres,
4 which, under the German system,
was possible.
Delays Reply for Days.
] The field marshal, after several
| days delay, yielded, declaring that
he did so because Of feeling OF
duty alone, and not by personal in
clination." He asked God to grant the
prayer that. If elected, II may at
the end of my life be still of some
use to the believer fatherland."
| The Communists renominated Ernst
Thaelmann, with the object Of keep