Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-20
Threat to Young War Debt Plan
., Seen i'm Nationalist Referendum

+, let it be understood that he is neithel
fiction nor q hand-picked specimen
He Is as near to the average man II
Germany as one could find after month:
of search. I know him personally anC
scores like him, and the broad outline!
of his circumstances now as compared
with 1919, or with 1913, and his opin.
ions about his country and its future
are typical of the great lower middle
the masses" Of the country. His j!
the voice of the urban majority.
His voice will not be cast for Hugen-
bergs national referendum. That refer
endum must find its supporters in the
countryside, where hard times have al.
ways been the lot Of the German farm
er, competing on poor soil with thu
products of more literally endowed
neighbors. Only during the war, with
the blockade eliminating food imports
was the German farmer suddenly the
beSt-placed person in the country eco
nomically, and the contrast between his
now comparatively normal, but chroni-
cally poor, condition with the pros
perity he enjoyed four years is the chief
reason for his dissatisfaction. On thi:
dissatisfaction the referendum will trade
Technically, however, it is impossible fol-
the referendum to succeed even II every
farmer in Germany voted for 1t.
TO bring about his referendum HUI
genberg'S supporters had first to present
to the ministry of the interior petition
signed by 5000 voters asking that the
referendum take place. This has Just
been done. The minister of the interior
then publishes the act in the Reichsan-
zeiger and fixes the date when lists will
be publicly displayed for two weeks fol-
ei0 f1trpe hu fhnco in faVOr nf the art
If during the two weeks one-tenth OF
the voters at the last Reichstag election
have signed the lists the referendum is
assured. At the last election there were
approximately 10000, 900 voters. so that
in order to bring the referendum to pass
the lists must be signed by 100000.
Referendum Doomed.
Signed by at least 4,000,00 the act
then goes to the Reichstag, which may
accept, modify or reject it. There is
no possibility that the Reichstag will
do otherwise than reject the Hugen-
berg act.
Rejected by the Reichstag, it is re-
turned to the people for final vote. 1t
must obtain a majority of all votes
cast, and all votes cast must equal at
least one-half of those entitled to vote.
That is. at least 20 900 900 must partici-
pate ia order for the referendum to be
valid.
This requirement, that one-half of
the voting population must participate,
Is the hitch in the law that downs the
referendum from the start. All its OPP
ponents have 70 do is refrain from
voting, for their participation would
only increase the chance, remote though
it would be In any case, of getting 20,-
g. ~,-A t1Ak
many have voted the referendum fails,
even If l9,0o0, 900 were to vote in favor
Of 1t and none against.
A vote Of 100000, of course, is out
Of the question. The first 100000
Hugenberg is expected to get. For in
his own Nationalist party he has 3, $780,
900 voters, and in the National Social
ist party, allied with him for the ref
erendum, are 100000 These have al
ready been convinced that the act is
really what its name implies, AN Act
to Free the German People"
Its contents, already familiar, may
be summarized briefly in two chief
paragraphs. First, that the German
people formally repudiate the lie in the
treaty Of Versailles charging Germany
with sole responsibility for the war;
second. that the German government
renounce the Young plan and that any
government official who in any way
lends his approval to the Young plan
shall be punished for high treason by
penitentiary Imprisonment.
No one believes that Hugenberg him.
self seriously hopes that this act will
become law. He knows, however, that
If, instead of a mere 100000 votes,
he obtains, say, 100000, the present
coalition government will present its
resignation and new elections to the
Reichstag may give the Nationalist
enough seats to form a cabinet.
Hindenburg Exempted.
Even the parties of the Right, how
ever, are not unanimously behind the
act, for the discovery in the first draft
that the clause about penitentiary i'm