Evening star., 1925-12-06

the first clear and illuminat-
ing test we have ever had of
the actual state of mind of
the German people-that is. of course.
since the close of the war. The issue
submitted to the German Parliament
WAS perfectly clear. a rejection Of
tho Locaruo paCtS would have put
the whole world on notice that Ger
many was resolved not to accept the
decisions of the war, and that Il pol
icy of passive resistance was TO be
continued until strength was avail
able TO translate that policy into ac-
tive operations
From its inception in the note of
february to the conclusion of the
pacts in the Swiss Alps the issue pre-
Sented by the proposal has been very
lear. II was u German proposal of
peace, for an adjustment of European
differences which would abolish the
fatal atmosphere of distruSt and fear
which has ovcrhung Europe for all
the years of the war. As such. il was
accepted by those nations. and par
tcularly tho French. which have
hitherto viewed everything German
with distruSt
In the discussions the proposals
we're modified: it was inevitable that
German offers should meet the de-
mand for further arrangements COM
sulting documents were accepted by
the German chancellor and the foreign
munster. Therefore. had the Locarno
pacts been defeated or subjected to
destructive amendment in the German
ReichStag, the result would have been
10 confirm suspicious of the past and
impair hopes of the present and the
future.
Election OF IIindenburg
Last Spri>.G the world had made up
its mind to test German sentiment by
The presidential election and it was
therefore temporarily disappointed
when the election of Tfindenburg
seemed to represent triumph for the
extreme Nationalist elements whose
opposition 10 reConciliati ton seemed alb
solute. Looking backward, it becomes
Cltr that the test was not quite fair,
for the element of personal affection
and admiration entered into the equa-
ton and elected Iiindenburg. although
ne did not have a clear ma jority of
the votes.
No such qualification could. how
ever, have had place in the Locarno
case. The plain issue was: Does Ger
many want peace on the terms now
possible or not? Now what was the
answer when the vote in the Reichstag
comes TO be analyZed. for these statis-
tics must have enormous value. Ac-
Cepting the LoCarno question as an
ultimate test, what does it disclose?
In the first place, Of the five con-
siderable parties in Germany, aside
from the Communists, who are to be
regarded as a permanent negation
voting with absolute consistency
against everything. four, namely, the
Socialists, Democrats, Center and
Peoples parties, made the adoption of
the Locarno pactS a party issue.
These parties together hold 292 Of
The 493 seats in the present Reichstag,
and they polled with the Bavarian
peoples, which threw it's lot in with
them, 100000 votes in 4 total of
approximately 10000 ,000 at the last
election. The final vote. too, was 291
10 ia for ratification, so it is clear
Ihat since there were the inevitable
absences these parties not only held
practically all their followers but
picked up votes from minor groups.
Analysis of Vote
Analyzing these parties, we see that
three of the four, the Democrats, So
cial Democrats and the Catholic cen
Ter represent the so-called Weimar
hloc-that is, the parties committed to
The republic. The fourth, the Peoples.
is the party of big business, which
contains members who are republicans
%
Broadly speaking. then. the majority
Tor the treaties was made up of the
Socialists, who in reality are not to
be confused in the American mind
with extreme radicals or the Commu-
niStS, who do represent radical ideas
of the Russian brand; the Catholics,
the Democrats, who are the intellec-
tual but not the politically powerful
nOderates. and all of that element
which constitutes business and finance
Now over against this combination
what do we find? First of all the
NationaliSts, the frankly monarchial
and reactlonary party, which counts
in the Reichstag 10 members Allied
with them on this issue We're the mem.
hers of the Hitler Ludendorf faction
the extreme and wholly irrational Ma
tionalists, with - votes at the outside.
The voting strength Of this group Is
l2J and II represents pretty fairly the
real opposition. The Communists,
with As votes. are. as l have said,
purely negative-againSt all govern
ments, but in no sense to be taken
as monarchists They desire to de-
stroy the republic. to prevent the re-
turn of the monarchy and to set up
the Russian system in Germany. The
combined vote of the Nationalists and
Hittlerites at the last election was
$500, 900, just a shade more than a
third of the pro-Locarno group.
Accepted Three to One.
Three to one, then, Germany ac-
cepted the LoCarno pact, but 1t would
not be quite fair or accurate to say
that the NationaliStS as q unit op-
posed the idea of Iocarno and held
themselves resolutely against any ad-
iuStment. Some of them do-perhapS
" majority-but just as there We're
many Nationalists who broke away
from their party and voted for the
Dawes plan. including old Admiral
'rirpitz and young Prince Bismarck.
there were many NationalistS at the
later stage whose opposition to Lo-
.arno was in detail rather than princi-
ple, and one may say with some war
rant, / believe. that had votes been
needed to put the ratification through,
Nationalists votes would again have
been Forthcoming.
Some, If not ma jority i'll the Ma
tionalist party opposed the Locarno
pact because while they recognized
that q general adjustment was not
only necessary but inevitable. they
believed that better terms could and
should have been made for Germany.
They agreed that what Locarno repre-
sented broadly was all essential detail
in readjuStment. but they said openly
that Germany was paying too much.
Moreover. by holding themselves in
rhe opposition they rather helped than
hindered the Luther Stresemann gov
rrnment by enabling il to ask conceS-
..tons from the allies outside of the
.,rreements to strengthen them at
1a.,,e. And these concessions were
cranted, beginning with the prompt
-,romise to evacuate the Cologne zone
-, M