Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-06-22

Germany has just passed through
her grayest crisis since the fall OF the
Hohenzollerns. The vote upon the
question of confiscating all the real
estate of the Kaiser and other Ger
man kings and princes lacked 1000
600 of the 1000. 900 required TO effect
the purpose of the plebiscite. but, Tor
a while. the crisis caused uneaslness
in the minds not only of royalty nut
of supporters of stable government in
the German republic.
Under cover of confiscating the
Kaiser's property. there was, accord
ing to the cables, an aggressive step
of the Socialists and Communists
toward the confiscating of all private
property. affecting stability OF all ma
tons, since that Is the ultimate nope
of Communism throughout the Worlu.
Therein Icy the real seriousness or the
event. rather than the posslollity Oh
the royal loss of property value al
total of $500. 000, goo.
The voting aroused intense connlcts
between supporters OF the repupilc
and the radical Socialists and Com
munists. on the one hand, and the re-
dictionary royalists, on the other. MIL
lions of anti.loyalists. however. voted
against lnc tOIIlSNotiOh of
Directing to taking any private prop
erty without compensation, even
under pretense of devoting 1t to the
support of war victims.
Confisca ton Is a very different act
from appropriation. by right of emf
nent domain. in case appropriation is
sincerely and honestly conducted.
Mexico. under the present regime,
Processes to have merely appropriated
the large landholders' estates, COM
pensatinS therefor with bonds on a
valuation 10 per cent higher than the
tax assessment had been on the land.
The Mexican seizure of the land
ostensibly Ia for the benefit of the
poems. to whom t is being sold on
long terms of crop payments, so as TO
make them independent farmers. The
complaint against that act lies in the
questioning of the real value of the
bonds. Many claim that since the
bonds are unstable the transaction
amounts to a cOnfiscatiOn or robbery
of the landed estate. Lincoln con
fiscated" the sla YES as an act OF war.
Government and public highways and
railroads have power to confiscate.
but only by paying full values. In
the case Of the royal castles of Ger
many there was to be no compensa
ton whatever. the argument being
that thew really belonged to the coun.
try-not legally nor technically. but
mora lly-and the Kaiser's govern
ment had brought so much suffering
and loss upon the people that they
had ample justifica ton. they claimed
in taking over the luxurious castles
and other property for the benefit
especially of the wounded and pow
erty-stricken soldiery and other vic
Tins of the war.
The election occurred on Sunday
and the partisans rallied the voters
with a Bible text isaiah. i.13): THY
princes are rebellious and companions
of thieves; every one loveth gifts and
not the fatherless. neither doth the
cause of his widow come unto them. y
While the effort failed. it leaves be-
hind a. bitterness which will not i'm
mediately he forgotten in German pol
itics. The whole undertaking Is Xix
ened to the end of French feudalism
at the outbreak Of the French Revo
luton. The defense OF the Kaiser
concerning his legal title to the prop.
erty, which he had inherited or had
acquired in his private capacity. reads
almost parallel to the defense OF the
feudal lords and Of the church hold
ers of great estates under the attacN
of the Revolutionists. The = '"h
movement eventually went far beyond
what the instigators originally had
intended or hoped for.
On the day before the real out
growth Of the conf1scatory uprising In
the French Assembly a resolution was
introduced deprecating the disturb
ances Of the peasantry. including the
burning and robbing of feudal. castles
and declaring that the ancient laws
still stand and ought to be carried out
till the authority of the nation has
abrogated or modified them"
II that resolution had passed. say
historians. 1t Yould have made a
breach between TIE Assembly and the