Evening star., 1929-11-03

MoHaTCnlStS III Germany. III was Dy
their votes that the old soldier was
made President of the republic. His
loyalty to his old imperial master, to
the old flag and the old order were
beyond question. His election, itself,
was mistakenly but none the less uni
versally viewed abroad as the first sign
of HohenzoIIern restoration.
Yet, from the very outset the
Nationalist have missed no opportunity
to compel the victor of Tannenberg to
give public proof of his inability to fol-
low their futile policies. For, invari-
ably, the Nationalist programs have
been futile. AS far back as the days
of the Dawes plan, the NationaliSts
adopted the absurd course of publicly
denouncing and opposing what every
sensible German recognized was the
single hope of economic salvation. But
when the critical moment came the
Nationalists were forced to supply votes
to insure the adoption Of the legislation
necessary to permit the Dawes plan to
operate.
When the late Gustav Stresemann
had negotiated the Locarno pacts the
NationalistS who were in the cabinet
remained silent for a long time and
then shamefacedly followed their party
in opposing what they had shared the
responsibility for negotiating. After
Locarno, when the Nationalists again
entered the cabinet, this time in a
Marx coalition. they began by taking
a solemn pledge to respect the existing
regime. But no sooner were they in
side and able once more to enjoy the
patronage of office than they renewed
all their customary attacks upon the
republic which they had publicly sworn
to defend
Now, when it is a question of the
Young plan they are up to their old
tricks, trying to insure the rejection of
this program which promises the
early evacuation of German soil and
the material reduction of reparations
payments; And their maneuver has
been to tie the Young plan up with
demand for the resembling of the So
called guilt clause" of the Treaty of
Versailles. On the one hand all SEN
Sible Germans believe that the Young
plan should be adopted. but on the
other there is unanimous demand for
the repeal of the paragraph of the
Treaty of Versailles which declares
Germany to be solely responsible for the
war.
why Hindenburg Spoke.
The Nationalist game was to get
large vote upon the sentimental issue
and claim that it had been cast against
the Young plan. And in attempting this
they did not hesitate to proclaim that
Hindenburg, himself. shared their
repugnance for the Young plan and in
dorsed their referendum scheme. To
put the thing through they needed
100000 votes, the number of signatures
fixed by the constitution to insure
referendum The old marshal's public
utterance was designed to disassociate
himself with the effort to kill the Young
plan by indirection.
The trouble with Nationalist tao
tics lies in the obvious necessity to
demonstrate that the republic is a
failure and that democracy is i'm
possible in Germany. To prove this
thesis 1t is at all times necessary to pre-
vent the republic from accomplishing
But while there still remain a large
number Of MonarchistS in the Reich,
only a relatively limited number are
ready to sacrifice all present prosperity
to the hope of future return to the
imperial system. And that is what the
Nationalist strategy calls for. The Ma
tionalists were against the Dawes plan
because it offered an avenue of escape
from the misery of the moment
In the same way they opposed Lo-
carno, not because they were eager for
war or even thirsting for revenge, but
because the promise that Germanys
foreign relations would be improved,
that Germany would regain her posi-
ton as a great power and at Geneva
speak again from the Council of the
League as an equal of her recent ene-
mics, meant for them that the repub-
lie would inevitably gain prestige. And
now the same old motive explains the
opposition to the Young plan.
Republic Is Thriving.
In sense, too, the situation of the
Fationalists has become critical. The
republic is now more than 10 years old.
II the first years we're marked by hui
initiation and misery. eliminating in
the occupation of the Ruhr and the
financial debacle incident to imitation.
the last fve years have seen the steady
Improvement of German conditions at
home and of German standing abroad.
II, having restored financial stability,
brought back economic prosperity, re-
established international prestige, the
republic is now to earn credit for
achieving the evacuation of German
soil flve years in advance of the treaty
provisions. the outlook for the Nation
allSts is rather unpromising.
StreSemann wanted to work with the
Nationa1sts. He was a Monarchist,
but although he made many attempts
70 persuade the Nationalists to sink the
issue OF regime for the moment and
join with him in restoring Germanys
position abroad and in insuring con-
SerVatlVe financial and economic control
at nome, he was again and again forced
to break with the Nationalists because
ther program was invariably sterile
ana stupid; they were against every
tnlng because everything necessarily
came from republican regime.
OF course there is very considerable
traction OF the Nationalist party that
recognizes the logic OF the Stresemann
formula. It sees that the future of the
Nationalist party must lie rather along
economic than dynaStic lines. Ger
many Is reafry crying for a party that
would have many of the doctrines of
the Republicans in the United States
and of the Tories in Britain. Beyond
much question the majority of Ger
mans are conservative in domestic
politics, but of this majority a very
considerable minority are Republicans
either from conviction or because Of an
intelligent opportunism.
Needs Foreign Capital
The Peoples party, the Clerical Center
and even the Democratic pa.ty would
rather make a coalition with the Ma
tionalists than with the Socialists, but
the Clericals and the Democrats are
republican, and the Peoples party, as
the party of big business has no wish
to see foreign confidence and domestic
tranquility shattered by a premature
raising of, the dynastic issue. Germany
still needs foreign capital badly, but a
domestic struggle would certainly prove
a poor prospectus for new loans.
Probably the supreme blunder of the
Nationalist was in forcing the election
of Hindenburg. They believed that with
the old soldier in office they would
through him Illustrate all republican
legislation. They could not comprehend
tIaat hayzacf ,1nay1 the nld marshal