Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.

question OF the domestic political
i situation within the Reich becomes
one of general impor ance. For
there is here involved the problem as
to whether the present chancellor. Dr.
Bruening, can hold the reinS OF govern
ment indefinitely. If he were to STAY,
1t is clear that his country would profit
by the confidence he has earned for
himself abroad-a confidence which
certainly rivals that of the late Gustav
EtreSemann.
Stated in the form Of Reichstag seats
the situation of the Bruening govern
ment is this: In Parliament Of SIC
members it is supported by coalition
of many parties counting in the aggre-
gate Just under half of the total. This
coalition consists Of the Social Demo-
Gratis, the Center (Bruening's own
party, the Bavarian Peoples party,
CLOSELY associated with the Center and
similarly Roman Catholic group. the
Peoples party cheeseman's old camp,
the States formerly the Democratlc)
and tiny rump Of Moderate National
lists. All told. this coalition counts 285
seats, and of these the Social Demo-
Gratis and the two Catholic parties count
143 and 81, respectively.
On the other SIDE the two opposition
parties, united only by common pur-
pose to pull down the Bruening govern
ment, namely, the National-Socialist-
National combination, and the Com
muniStS, count 225 voteS-106 to the Hit
lerites, A to the Nationalist of the
Hugenberg stripe and rs to the Social
lists. Between the government and the
opposition is a middle ground occupied
by number of so-called splinter par
ties which have frequently supported
the Nationalist, but never with enough
unanimity to bring down the govern
ment.
Bruening Majority Shown.
On the face Of the figures, therefore,
Bruentng can today count on a slight
but still real majority. His difficulties,
however, arise from the fact that there
is no common basis of union between
his own followers beyond the desire to
prevent the incoming Of Fascist re-
gime. The Social Democrats and the
Peoples party, which is party Of the
great industrialists, are at daggerS
drawn on all economic and social issues.
All the underlying sympathies of the
Peoples party are with the enemy, in
so far as the question of national do
nestle order Is concerned
AS for the Social Democrats, their
situation is wholly analogous to that
of the Liberals in England, they are
supporting a cabinet dominated by
bourgeois influences as the British
4IIDcldIo d1S UdChlIlB VI
Socialists, solely because an election
now would mean a tremendous party
disaster. But, like the Liberals, they
are losing strength in the country very
rapidly, because the rank and file of
the membership do not understand the
present alliance.
Thus nothing is more likely than that
. disintegration of the Bruening bloc
may take place at any moment and
H. i
weakness of the German character lies
in the infinite capacity of Germans to
divide over academic political questions
even at moments of national crisis.
Today. when the stability of the Reich
economically and financially is at stake,
1t is not possible to bring about a gov
eminent of public safety, such as was
constructed in France in similar
crisis in 1926, because the opposition
not only the Communists, but the
FascistS and Nationalist as well, are
solely occupied with their fight for
power and are thus ready to further,
rather than arrest, economic and finan-
cial disaster.
Coalition Wants Power.
The acknowledgements coalition
wants power at any price measured in
German misfortune. It sees clearly
cial crisis continues indefinitely, bring
ing in its train domestic suffering
public opinion In the long run will turn
in its direction. It is thus deliberately
trading on the misfortunes of its own
country to the end that IL may obtain
power. That is why President Hoover's
Intervention was even more roundly de-
nounced in Nationalist and Maj"
newspapers in Germany than in the
most extreme press in France. For
moment the opposition was fearful lest
Germany might be saved and thus its
own aspirations thwarted.
The key of the political situation in
Germany is not however, in the
Reichstag door, alone Control in this
the civil government but even more i'm
portant is the control Of the PrusSian
police and this rests with the PruSSian
Parliament. Here, also, a similar Goa
lition rules and two strong men, Braun
as head Of the PrusSian state and
Severing as master of the police, con-
stitute the real foundation of the pres
ent regime in Germany. Moreover, the
Socialist-Center control in this house
has been uninterrupted since the revo-
luton and in these years it has been
possible to build up republican police
force which can be relied upon to de-
fend the existing government. in the
Reich equally against the Hitlerites ana
the Communists.
But the present control of the Prus-
sian Parliament must face new cleo
ton in a few months. And in such an
election there is the gravest danger
that the Nationalist, Hitlerites and
Communists would together get enough
GeatS to turn Braun and his associates
e.it. In that case the control OF the
police would be lost, the existing force
hot RI nipNpc
barrier to revolution would be abolished.
No one who has not been in Berlin in
the past IL months can appreciate what
this means, but actually the city-and
all other large towns-have been practt-
cally under martial law. Policemen are
everywhere, machine guns and tanks
are in constant evidence, and fighting
has been going forward uninterruptedly
and with many casualties.
Playing Waiting Game.
Both the Hitlerites and the Com
Snunists are at the moment playing
waiting game, Both count on the
eventual collapse of the Bruening gov
eminent as assured. Were there any
prospect of its succeeding at its task,
then both the Communists and "Nazis"
would take the field. But they see
Winter approaching, the number OF
unemployed little diminished the new
financial crisis imposing fresh hard
ships and additional tax laws bringing
further burdens. Thus they are salts
fed to let the fruit ripen and drop into
their waiting hands.
The real strength of the position OF
che opposition lies in the fact that the
German people as whole are exhausted
by the successive hardships of the war,
che revolution, the Ruhr occupation, the
world economic depression, which hit
Germany very hard, and finally this last
financial breakdown. Progressively for
years thew have been coming to the