Daily Kennebec journal., 1925-03-02
Took Helm in Darkest Hours of
FatherIand

subjected to much ridicule. chiefly
by monarchists when he headed the
republic that succeeded the downfall
OF the Hohenzollern reign in Germ
any. Friedrich Ebert was regarded
mighty by the people generally, and,
In his own country at least. was Civ
en- most of the credit for bringing or
der out of the chaos that followed
the abdfcation of Emperor William.
When the upheaval came on Nov.
3. 1918, Ebert became chancellor in
succession to Prince MaXimilian of
Baden, who had been instrumental
in negotiating the armistice.
A few weeks late Ebert became one
or the six commissioners who ar
ranged for the first meeting of the
German National Assembly at Wei
mar to form a provisional govern
ment OF the republic. On Feb. IL,
1919, he was elected provisional
President, receiving 277 out of the
o79 votes cast in the assembly.
During the first few months Of the
provisional government it's founda-
tion was threatened by the crisis
which arose over the question Of
signing the peace treaty. President
Ebert and his first premier, Phillip
Schetdemann, were opposed to yield
ing 70 the demands of the allies,
With no other course left but to ac-
cept, Scheidemann and his cabinet
resigned and provisional govern
ment was formed. which included
some of the ministers of the prev
ious cabinet. The new government,
while denouncing the terms of the
treaty decided to accept it. and in
July, 1919. President Ebert signed
the bill ratifying the treaty,
Born in Heidelberg
President Ebert was born Feb. 4.
1871, at Heidelberg, the son of a tail
or: He attended the elementary
schools. but never found time or
finances to enable him to attend the
Heidelberg University. Early in
III iiis ne became an apprentice in a
saddler's shop and although he
worked IL and IA hours a day. he
read and studied a great deal at
night.
After he had learned his trade as
saddler he began migra ting from one
town to another until he finally set
tied in Bremen. There he became
intensely interested in the socialistic
movement in an effort to improve
the conditions of the working class
es he took an active part in a CO.
operative bakery movement and was
up regularly at 3 o'clock in the
o..
Ebert wrote several books detail
ing the circumstances under which
laborers lived and worked in the in
dustrial renters. These literary ef-
fortS attracted attention in his own
country and led to his obtaining a
position s reporter on the Bremen
Bergerzeitung in 1891.
In 1900 Ebert became a trade un-
ION secretary. and little later a
member of the local governing body
or Bremen. Five years later he was
elected member of the presidin
board of the Social Democratic
rarty, and in 1912 was elected a de-
putty in the Reichstag. There Re
gradually forged to the front as a
political leader and became head of
his party for all Germany. In 1915
he was chosen head of the main
committee OF the Reichstag.
Work Hard as President
When Ebert became President OF
the republic, he declared that if hard
work. plus loyalty and application
to details, political and otherwise,
would hold the republic together,
there would be 10 doubt as to its
success. How he has kept that
pledge is shown by the fact that, no
iiioltCl iiO" ITO nave CIlll-
oised him, none have accused him
loafing on the presidential job.
That Ebert accepted the pre.;i-
dency in the interest Of the coun-
try and not for personal gain is
shown by the manner in which G
lived. His salary has been a meagre
one as head of a nation, and when
the government made him an GLOW
ance for social functions he returned
it to the TREASURY to be used for 9TH
er purposes.
Horseback riding and walking
were his principal recreations. He
| cared little for automobiles and sell
dom went to the theatre. He seldom
joked and scarcely ever more than
smiled at the jokes of others.
President Ebert had a unique me-
thod of handling politicians. espec-
tally those who were his enemies or
critics. Under fire he always held
his temper and permitted his OPP
ponents to talk themselves out. Then
he would step in and have his say,
which was usually final. In this
manner he was credited with hav-
ing patched up innumerable party
controversies which had reached The
breaking point.
President Ebert married in 1894
and was the father of four children.
V..oV.o.. D,,crc TD1c,vcne IN IDo E'hnYf