Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-23
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

The failure of DIR. Koch, leader of
the Democratic party, TO bring about
grand coalition cabinet in Germany
is one more example of the compare.
tive incoherence of purely parlia
mentary government. The German
Reichstag adopted the Locarno pacts,
because on them it was possible to
unite big business and organized la
bor-that is, the Peoples and the So
cialist parties. In such a coalition the
Democratic and the Catholic parties
could and did join. The opposition
was left to the MonarChistS, the Com
munists and the Fascist.
But with the Locarno pacts out of
the way how is it conceiva BILE that one
can bring about combination of labor
and industry when the immediate
problems are domestic and economic?
Germany is going through d very diff.
icult crisis. There is nothing novel or
sensational about it. The crisis is one
Of the inevitable consequences of
sterilization following imitation. There
is mounting unemployment, there is
9 scarcity of capital. there are hard
times and all that hard times involve.
Capital.Labor Crisis.
In such a crisis the instinct of bust
ness is to restrict wages and to in
crease hours of labor. In such time
the battle between capital and labor
becomes intense because 1t Is a ques-
ton of how the burdens incident to
the situation shall be distributed.
Thus the normal alignment is between
the parties which on the whole may be
described as conservative and those
which in a limited sense may be de-
scribed as radical.
The combinati ton which until recent.
ly ruled Germany through the Luther
Stresemann cabinet represented the
union of all the conservative and
bourgeois groups, the Nationalist.
who were agrarlans mainly, favoring
high tariffs: the Industrial groups, who
were representatives of finance as
well, and the more purely Bourgeois
Democratic party. with assistance
from the Catholic party, which Is nat
uKally more divided between labor and
capital, but tends to the conservative
side.
Pacts Broke Union.
Locarno broke that union because all
business and all capital recognized the
necessity of making political adjust
ments with the outside world to OBJ
tain capital and markets for the
future The agrarians, on the con.
trary, depending on domestic markets,
were unwilling to make any foreign
concessions. So purely limited bar
gain was made between business and
labor, to put through the Locarno
pacts. and after that the attempt has
been made to continue this combina.
ton at least until Germany is in the
league and the German acceptance of
Locarno fixed in the foreign mind.
But at this point Labor. the Socialist
party, has demanded relatively far.
reaching concessions in domestic
fields, it has offered to give the In
dustrial.financial combination its 100
votes in the Reichstag, without which
a cabinet cannot be formed, in return
for concessions in the industrial field
which. at least, seem impossible to the
groups which Stresemann and Koch
lead. Thus 1t is clear that while CAPT.
tai and labor in Germany can agree
upon foreign policy. it is practically
impossible for them to agree on any
important domestic program.
Period Of Indifference.
What seems indicated Is a period of
incoherence followed by a reunion of
the Nationalists and the Peoples
party-that is, the party of big bust.
ness-the support of the Catholics and
the Democrats. A majority of Ger
mans are Enthusiastically conservative
in domestic politics and on economic
issues, but just as clearly majority
are for adjustment with the outside
world. Locarno or the Dawes plan
can command ma ority. but that
majority cannot function otherwise
In France the situation is less
simple, because big business and high