Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
GERMAN POLITICAL FUTURE
OFFERS LITTLE OPTIMISM
Government Unlikely to Present World
Assurance of Domestic Order and Unity.
Time Needed for International Acton.

closed the other day to preserve order
to recognize the peril which comes from
young Germany.
There are a handful Of courageous
men who are stalking their lives-not
their political lives alone but their ex-
istenc2, for the assassination Of Rattle
nau and ErZberger shows what they
have to expect If they fail-in the fight
to save their country. Bruening, Cur
titus, Braun and Severing ere the most
conspicuous, and the two former led
machine-gun attachments in the war,
an ultimate test of courage. But these
men-and Luther, the head of the
Reichsbank and former chancellor, must
be counted in the same number-Stand
on very fragile scaffolding, and, indeed,
can survive politically only because they
have the support of the President, which
enables them now to rule Germany by
decree law-that Is, without recourse to
Parliament
But HindenburgS term Is running
out and, as in the case of the Prussian
Parliament, new election Is imminent,
and there Is the double doubt as to
whether the old marshal, now over 80.
will stand again, and whether, even II
he were a candidate, he could be re-
elected. And here, after all, the de-
cisive factor must be the economic con-
dition of the country during the next
few months. And there the prospect Is
pat.ntly bad.
For even If it were conceivable that
Germany could save herself, it Is not
less clear that the effort would involve
still greater sacrifices and suffering on
the part Of a people which is literally
dominated by despair The gulf which
psychologically separates the German
from all other peoples now Is just as
profound as that of the war era. Today
the mass Of the German people believe
that the rest Of the world must come to
its aid, that what it suffers Is the result
Of the moral wrongs done 1t in the
peace treaties. and that If the world
does not now intervene 1t will suffer far
more than Germany.
But once it be made clear to the mass
Of the German people that the world
Is not going to intervene, that 1t Is not
going to abolish, not merely postpone
separations payments, lend billions and
agree to the revision of the Eastern
frontiers, then the Communists and the
Nazis believe their time will come But
as both will strike for power at the
same time, the result must be a civil
strife. provided things go as they now
calculate. And in such a civil strife
the victory Of the Nazis would be
assured.
Lack Of Ability.
Unhappily, there is not. however, in
the National-Socialist or National party
any man Of even moderate ability, and
the larger fraction are youths of little
experience and with a judgment better
suited for service in storm battalions
than in national cabinet at the mo-
ment of an international crisis The
program of the National-SocialistS is a
quaint mixture of Chauvinism. Commu-
nism and jewbaiting. and its pledges
begin with the promise instantly to
abolish the treaty of Versailles both in
its financial and territorial clauses.
The fatal weakness of the Bruening
situation lies in the fact that it has
never had the loyal support Of big bust
ness. The money which financed the
last campaign of the HitleriteS came
from the industrialists and even some
of the big banks. And the explanation
lies in the fact that these interests are
more occupied with their purpose to get
rid of the Social Democratic influence
upon the government and repeal the
long program OF postwar social legiS-
lation than with any larger considera-
ton. They favor a Fascist control be-
cause they believe it would take Mus
solini tone, and they have displayed a
true German disregard for Whist might
be the international consequences of
such change.
In sum. then, the German domestic
political situation is too incoherent and
the condition of the German people too
weak to warrant any extreme optimism
as TO the future, if, as seems likely now,
weeks or even months must intervene
before there is any international action.
In France, when Poincare took the
helm at the moment of the franc crisis,
he was able to rally behind him not
only the mass Of the members of the
Chamber Of Deputies but all the f1nan-
cial, industrial and business elements
of the country. His very coming re-
stored confidence, and confidence, of
course was then, as now, the main
thing lacking.
But there is no Poincare in Germany
and no basis for national unity. With
all their many great talents, the Ger
mans have never yet learned the lesson
Of putting party or class consideration
aside in a crisis; and by class 1 mean
economic not social distinctions. Thus
the root difficulty is not impossibly go
ing to be the inability of any German
government-and that of Bruening is
actually the last chance-to present to
the world any assurance of domestic
order and unity which will convince
American, British and French bankers
Of the wisdom of risking billions Of
money in salvage operation.
Copyright, 1919