Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-02


r Asst week wrote of the
fight which has taken place
in the German Reichstag over
IL the question of evasion of the
disarmament provisions of the
treaty OF Versailles, an uproar which
eliminated in the fall of the Marx
cabinet Since that time the polit.
ical consequences Of this disturbance
the political situation In Germany has
been brought sharply before the at
tention of the whole world.
1t has even been asserted. as q con.
sequence, that the republic itself is
in danger, while the French people
and press are watching the struggle
with obvious interest and the future
of negotiations to shorten the period
of allied occupation in the Rhineland
may be gravely affected by the out.
come.
1t Is, however, certainly an exagger
alton to assert that the German re.
public may fall as a result of this pres
ent crisis. The German republic
exists outside of all domestic reasons
for the simple and sufficing reason
that 1t Is the only form of govern
ment under which at the present hour
Germany can liquidate the war abroad.
Dangers From Coup
All German policy and all the desires
of the German people are concen-
trated on getting rid of the last re-
naming circumstances of the mort.
gage which defeat imposed in the form
of the continuing clauses of the treaty
of Versailles. But every German
knows that TO overthrow the repub-
lie would mean to alarm the French
public and disturb the British gov.
erment. which is seeking to forward
evacuation and hasten the return to
normal conditions of the continent.
Actually. the battle which is now
Joined in Germany is not over the
continuance of the republic, but
rather over the issue of whether the
republic shall be controlled by Repub-
licans or by the parties which repre-
sent the monarchist principle and
the old order.
If. for example, the result of the
present crisis should be the forma ton
of coalition government In which
the Nationalists, who number some
40 members in a house of less than
500. would be the dominating factor
and to them should be joined the
Peoples party. with IS members: the
Democrats with 35 and the Clericals
with 20. the actual persistence of the
republic in all present time would
not be affected.
Other Coalition Possibilities.
On the other hand, a coalition of
the Peoples, Democratic and Clerical
parties with the Social Democrats.
who hold 100 seats in the Reichstag
would unmistakably place actual con-
troll of the machinery in the hands of
parties which. dominated by the So
cialists, are more frankly and clearly
Republican.
There are in reality three large
groups in the German situation. The
Socialists and the Clericals, with 200
seats in the Reichstag. are both out
and-out Republican and to something
like the same degree made up of
workingmen. They are in that sense
democratic On the other hand, the
Democrats and the Peoples party,
with 100 seats between them, are
bourgeois: they represent business;
and the Peoples party Is the party OF
big business in the American sense.
But this middle group are, never
theless, divided between themselves
over the issue of the republic. All the
Democrats are frankly republican.
most of the Peoples party are, in
theory at least. monarchists. On ques-
tions of domestic and social legislation
they can work together easily And
in practice the Clericals most fire.
quently work with them, as they do
on questions of foreign policy.
The third group is made up of the
Nationalists, who with the outriding
minbrs factions. can count perhaps
about the same number of votes as
the Socialists. namely 1870. Over the
question of ultimate restoration of
or preservation of the re-
public the Nationalist and Peoples
parties could probably agree, in
theory.
Business Leans to Monarchy.
Monarchy. for big business as for
the monarchists themselves. remains
in theory the more attractive form of
government. In any coalition which
included the Democrats. the Peoples
PARTY and the Nationalist and would
perhaps 235 members in the
present Reichstag, all the emphasis
would be upon monarchial tendencies.
change the form of government now.
But this coalition would not have
a majority and it could not certainly
hold the Democrats. who are. how.
ever, a declining force in the political
field. like the Liberals in Great Brit
ain. And it would have the deter
mined opposition not only of the
Clericals and the Social Democrats,
200, but of the Commun-
lists, who could number at least 80.
All the trouble arises now from the
fact that as between the two squarely
opposed parties, the monarchists and
The republicans, there is no actual ma
jority 1t Is complicated by the fact
hat the Peoples party, who are mon.
,rchist in principle. have adopted
an intelligent foreign policy which is
in the Dawes plan and
Locarno, while the Nationalist were
divided on the Dawes plan. a major
ty opposing, and have steadily op-
posed Locarno up to the moment OF
ts actual acceptance.
The, Peoples party, which, although
in principle, not only has
ldopted a conciliatory policy abroad,
,ut has equally clearly recognized the
oily of an attempt to change the form
# government at home in any future
ime now discoverable, would like to
DIN with the Nationalist. and the
Democrats and the Clericals in n
coalition which would insure con-
,ervative and even reactionary do
nestle policies.
Difficulties of Alliance.
But not only does it have difficulty |
self in working with the Nationalists, |
nut such cooperation is even more |
ifficult for the Democrats and almost |
impossible for the Clericals. Yet for |
he Peoples party 1t Is almost as i'm
possible to work with the Socialists, |
BECAUSE this 10 a union Of the natural
nemies of the domestic field, namely |
apital and labor. and can only hold |
God in matters of foreign policy.