Evening star., 1928-05-20
BY FRANK III. SIMONDS.

the third in Europe of the
| present year, and the last Of
| i great Importance, unless the
! British government changes its
mind, present no clear issue, as did
| the Polish and French campaigns.
! There is neither political dictator
ship, such as Pilsudski has established
nor a financial dictatorship like Poin-
cares, to be passed upon by the people
Nor is there any dominating personal
| ity, although Stresemann remains the
outstanding political leader in the
Reich.
Four years ago the German election
followed the making of the Dawes
plan and disclosed the slight, but clear,
| German reaction from the bitterness
and passion which had resulted from
the occupation of the Ruhr in the
previous year and had swelled the
Reichstag contingentS of both the Ma
| tionalists and the Communists. On
the other hand, the election of Marshal
Won Hindenburg as President of the
republic in the following year demon
| strated that the past had at least a
sentimental hold upon the majority of
| Germans.
| Poor Domestic Record.
The Reichstag, which is now dis
solved, has to its credit the acceptance
Of the Locarno compacts and the con-
sistent support of Stresemann's foreign
policy of appeasement politically and of
cooperation economically. On the
other hand, its domestic record Is far
from inspiring. Under the Presidents
| guidance. and with the consistent urg-
ings of Stresemann. control was finally
lodged in a coalition, which included
the Nationalists and excluded the
Social Democrats. while the Democrats,
despite all invitations, declined to join.
Thus the Nationalsts supplied the
| larger share Of the votes within the
coalition and held many places in the
cabinet. Actually the coalition was
made up Of the NationalistS. Peoples
| party. Centre and various minor
groups, including the Bavarian Peo-
pies party. which is also Catholic and
| thus an ally OF the Centre. The sew
| eral parties were represented in the
Reichstag thus: The NationalistS held
| ITO seats, the Centre 10, the Peoples
| party. so. and the Bavarian Peoples.
| 20. The coalition held $50 seats in
| total Of 493. This fairly slender ma
| jority was reinforced by the votes of
| smaller groups and was, in fact, never
seriously challenged.
Two issues, however. wrecked the
coalition. The Catholic centre. which
| is largely made up of the working men
| OF the Rhineland region, had Joined
the group on the express promise that
the majority would put through legis-
lation favoring confessional schools.
But IN the end the Peoples party re-
volted against this program. In the
second place, the Centre party itself
was divided over the eternal. issue be-
tween the Republicans and the Ma
tionalistS. Its leaders seemed to in
cline toward the monarchial camp
while its masses remained faithful to
the republic.
Lose Support.
On the other hand, the Nationalist
were put in very difficult situation by
reason of the fact that they had been
compelled TO pledge themselves To
! loyalty to the republic as a condition
| to taking Office, while the bulk of their
| membership in Prussia was still anti
republican. The attempt 70 square
themselves with their pledges by doing
nothing disloyal and to reconcile their
constituents by constant public criti-
| ciSm OF the republic ended by making
| them ridiculous and losing them both
the support Of their own following and
the respect OF the general public.
The fact is that the Nationalist party
| Is in fun evolution. 1t is developing
| away from traditional monarchial po-
Sition and tending to become not a
royaliSt but conservative party. Its
| most astute leaders see that the repub-
lie has come TO stay and that the
future of the Nationalist party is as
the exponent of conservative financial
and economic principles. But the rank
and file Of the party remain as Yet
loyal to the older creed. In the end it
seems certain that the NationahStS will
evolve into something closely approxi-
mating the British Tory party. But
this process will take time.
The coalition cabinet. headed oy
Marx, who Is OF the Center. broke down
last Winter and it required all TIE
authority of Hindenburg to prevent dis
solution before the appropriations and
other necessary legislation was passed.
All Semblance of unity disappeared ut
the end and nothing was accomplished
save routine business.
Nationalists Face Less.
Ordinarily the forthcoming election
would snow considerable gain for the
Social Democrats and like loss for the
NationahSts, who were represented In
the last Reichstag by l3l and ITO men,
bers respectively, When was in Berlin
a Few weeks ago. the general forecast
was that the Social Democrats would
obtain between $50 and 100 seats and
the NationaliStS fall 10 between 50 and
90. slight losses by the Peoples Party
and the Democrats. considerable losses
by the Communists and the capture Of
so seats by the new Economic party,