Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-17

election of Marshal Won Hin
denburg the German situation
H. seems still complex and baf-
fling. So many different interpreta.
tons have been put upon the outcome
that the lay reader finds himself still
confused. Moreover, we are stifl too
near the war not to think in terms of
war psychology of the German and of
his purposes.
There is. however, one phase of the
German situation which ] studied
with considerable care in Berlin =
phase which I believe has an impor
lance not TO be exaggerated and has so
far received on the whole too little
notice outside Of Germa ny. The recent
election seems at a distance to be,
mainly. exclusively a battle between
Republican and Monarchist, and the
whole domestic political situation 10
reeolve about these two fixed points.
In reality this is hardly the case.
You have in Germany, to be sure. the
two great contending forces, Repub-
lican and Nationalist. the former COM
prising three political parties, the So
cialists, the Democrats and the Cath
Ole Center: the latter, nominally at
least. including the Nationalists, now
almost completely centralized into one
party, and the Peoples party. which
is the party of big business almost ex
clusively.
Capital and Labor Struggle.
But wholly apart from the issue Of
republic or tmonarchy. new struggle
is developing in Germany. and II is
not mainly connected with this purely
political debate. Capital and labor in
Germany are stripping for battle to
nj nj
bear the chief burden of reparations
payments. Moreover big business in
Germany is confronted by the problem
. of regaining foreign markets. a thing
only possible If German products can
he sold cheaply, which in turn means
produced cheaply.
Now in this great economic struggle
which is developing the lines of battle
are quite different from those in the
political debate over the form of gov
eminent. If the Socialists represent
Labor exclusively, the other Republi-
can parties, the Democratic and the
Center, are made up of members of
both classes: there are employers and
employed divided by the main issue
between capital and labor. Thus at
the outset one must see the essential
! fact that .here is a fundamental lack
of unity within the Republican ranks
many--that is. the economic issue.
I On the other side the Nationalist
! and the Peoples party are substa n
! TALLY united on the question of eco
! nomics. The Nationalist are domi-
/ mated by the agrarian interests, which
desire high tariffs on foodstuffs and
! include the nobility and the great
landowners. The Peoples party is. as
! ] have said, the representative of big
! h,,r f,r-n
not only have common interests. but
/ they have the tradition of common
action coming from old imperial days.
Foreign Confidence Vital.
| In the matter of republic or mon
archy the Nationalist are manifestly
uncompromisingly for the restora ton
| of the monarchy. But the situation of
| the Peoples party is slightly different.
! In theory, | imagine, the majority of
the Peoples party prefer a monarchy,
but in practice big business is Heces-
sarily concerned with insuring that
! form of government which is best
suited to enable it to work advan-
/ tageously a home and abroad. 1t ap-
proaches the political problem from
! the economic angle.
Thus there develops between the
Nationalists and the Peoples party an
! obvious line OF cleavage. The big
( business representatives recognize
! clearly that the price of German eco
nomic reha biliation must be foreign
| confidence. Germany must have large
| lons-term loans because she lacks
pital to get her vast industries to
/ running again; she must have peace,
| because only under peaceful condi-
! tions can she regain foreign markets
and get rid of foreign armies of &C.
| cupation.
None of these essential requirements
| would be possible, naturally, If the
progress of domestic politics within
Germany gave alarm to the outside
| world And any attempt to upset the
republic now and bring back the mon
archy would manifestly constitute a
| danger signal to the outside world.
! Thus the cardinal principle of the
| Peoples party has been and remains,
/ to adjourn all discussion of the mat
| ter of form of government and concen-
trate all attention on the restoration
| of German industrial prosperity.
MOnarchism Favored.
With this condition, the Peoples
party leaders are willing to envisage
an eventual restoration of the mon
archy in some form-not the old form,
! for they are too intelligent to believe
that one can go back to the conditions
Of 1914. But this condition is primer
dial: Ii 1t is not observed their whole