Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04
BY FRANK III. SIMONDS.
T T Is one of the striking paradoxes
of which contemporary politics
furnish many that the defeat OF
the extreme ODDonentS Of the old

| Il Il Is one or the striking pardQOXeS
of which contemporary politics
furnish many that the defeat of
i the extreme opponents Of the old
monarchial regime in Germany
! In their effort to appropriate the
holdings of the former sovereigns by
referendum should demonstrate to the
satisfaction of the whole world that
the German Republic has come TO
stay. Yet this Is the conclusion which
even the most nervous French COM
mentators draw from the returns.
| 1t Is true that the French. like all
other observers, have by this time
appreciated that the German Repub-
lie is and will remain German even
before it is republican-thati is to say
that 1T differs as essentially from the
French, not to say the American, Re-
public as the Prussia of the last CEN
fury differed from both the Bourbon
and Napoleonic regimes in France.
1.-THE kings are gone from Germany,
in all probability for good, but Ger
many remains, with its own funda-
mentally German characteristics.
| The first years of the German Re-
public were doleful in the extreme.
At the outset the revolution and the
proclamation of the republic were not
a consequence Of any profoundly re-
publican development in the German
|
the complete defeat of the last months
of the war was not only popular in
Germany but in the main satisfactory
| to all elements in the population. The
Hohenzollern dynasty had made Ger
many great after having provided 1t
with unity, and in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century German
industrial and economic expansion
had been well nigh unparalleled.
Wilson Aided Revolution.
| President Wilson, more than any
one else, was responsible for the Ger
man revolution, because his utter
ances, his refusal to deal with the
German government, which represent
ed the old order. created the double
conviction in the German mind that
peace could only be had by the exile
of the kings and that such exile would
insure easy terms of peace.
The treaty of Versailles destroyed
the illusion of easy terms. There was
an almost universal conviction within
Germany that the allies had broken
faith in giving to republican Germany
substantially as severe treatment as
must have been the portion of mon
archial Germany. since no German
could conceive of more severe terms.
The average German felt that he had
turned out his emperor, upset his sys>
TEN of government, obeyed the be-
hest of the conQueror, only TO find
that these sacrifices had been without
reward.
The years which followed from 1919
to the occupation of the Ruhr and
the domestic and international COM
plications of 1923 all had a severe
effect upon the republican regime.
, 1t was artificial. it did not represent
IA~Sy I'D
concomitant with 1t was a period OF
suffering and humiliation which sur
E, passed anything Germany had known
since the hevdey of the power of the
great Napoleon. BY the end of 1923
the republic had fallen to a state of
widespread contempt 1t existed: a
change seemed likely TO produce even
greater chaos. Therefore. it contin-
ued, but enthusiasm for it was non
. existent.
o Reichstag Is Divided.
Meantime a curious but not unnat.
y | ural development had taken place.
, The purely republican parties. which
|, were both radical and democratic-the
. Socialists. the Center and the Demo
6 cratic parties-had lost control of the
Q situation. They no longer mustered
r majority in the Reichstag. The So
cialist party had split and a very con
q siderable portion of the membership
t had gone red and become Communists.
Q What was left of the Socialists, to.
n gether with the Democrats and Catho
O lie Center, could no longer muster a
e ma jority in the German Parliament.
:. An even more profound change was
e also taking place. The republican
:. group was tending to break up over
j. domestic issues. Between the Social
lists and the Democrats and Catholics
: there was a basis Of agreement in the
l. matter of the form of government,
e but both the Democrats and the Cath
J. olics tended to bourgeois, conservative
principles in domestic legislation.
Thus a new combination began to
design itself as early as 1924. This
e was an alliance between the Demo
: Gratis, Catholics and the Peoples party,
l. which was the organization of big
e business. The basis of this combina-
l. ton was simple. Big business accept
e ed the republic as the only possible
: form Of government for the immedi-
l. ate future. although most of it's mem
t bers had been monarchists and a ma
5, jority probably remained loyal to the
r principle of monarchy. But all saw
a that to do business with the world,
y to get foreign loans and to limit for
l. eign occupation, 1t was necessary to
t placate. not affront, British and Amer
lean opinion, which might restrain
j. French action.
h The Center and the Democratic par
y ties could work with the Peoples par
S ty on this basis, because they re-
e manned controlled by elements which
t had little sympathy with the radical
: doctrines of the Socialists. On the
l. other hand, the Peoples party could
e not work with the Nationalist, who
: ! remained insistently monarchial and
j opposed all reasonable efforts at
i Cancellation abroad Thus the first
Y coalition, the Weimar bloc, which last
c ed from 1920 to 1924. made way for a
t new block, which might be described
l. by the name 1t ultimately earned
l. namely, the Locarno bloc
" Bloc Pledged to Republic.
l. The Locarno bloc was pledged to
s. the republic, and 1t was assured on
Q this issue of the support of the So
. cialists. and thus of a majority in the
Y ReichStag. 1t was pledged to concili
y alton and settlement abroad, and
thus again it enlisted the support OF
y the Socialists. But it was hostile to
e the radical measures of the Socialists
d the most striking example of which
d was the, recent attempt to seize the
o property of the princes, and on radi
IL cal issues it had to look to the mon
e archists of the Nationalist parties for
support.
From 1924 to the present year
mainly through the Luther Strese
mann cabinet or cabinets, Germany
has been ruled by the Locarno bloc
which has applied and fulfilled the
= Dawes plan and made the Locarno
n pacts, sought admission to the League
# of Nations and. broadly speaking, re-
n stored GermanY'S position In the world