Evening star., 1933-02-12
ENTIRE WORLD WATCHES
FOR HITLER'S NEXT MOVE
Possibility of New War or Disastr rous
Civil Conflict, With Return of Mon
archy, Arouses Confusing Fears.

IN the Center are highly organized and
equally determined to prevent repeti.
tion Of Italian events. Any attempt Of
Hitler to emulate MuSsolini will precipi-
tate general strikes, street fighting and
not impoSsibly civil war, If one is to
trust all German reports. And the role
OF the army in such struggle is OBJ
scure.
Nor Is there any present reason to
believe that Hugenberg and Hitler,
even If they were agreed upon it, as is
totally unlikely, could bring about a
restoration OF the Hohenzollerns. Against
TINS the Communists Socialists and
catholics would certainly stand together
and even Nationalist opinion would be
divided Certainly if the Kaiser want
ed to move from Doom to Potsdam or
any other Prussian town, there would
DC no considerable objection. But to
moe back into the palace in the Lust
garten, now national property, would
be something else.
! Today the real issue is whether out
OF the ill-aSsorted combination of Nazis
/ and Nationalists there can emerge a
rea! conservative party, reactionary.
perhaps, in its social and economic
OUTLOOK, but willing to accept the polit-
lcal 1orms: And in this connection
people on this side of the Atlantic must
recognize that the Nazis are themselves
not party united by common pur-
pose and serving definite policies, but
only the accidental union of people
whose personal or patriotic emotions
nave been reused to fever pitch.
NO less than a third of the Nazis be-
long in the Communist or Socialist
camp mainly in the former, for they
are reVolutlonaries. You cannot have
| any orderly government in Germanv
radicals
gether ami the conservatives similarly
united. TIE evolution which must take
place viii not follow the British or
american example, however, and pro-
ouce two PARTIES Rather 1t must fol-
low the French course and produce a
Left, Center and a Right But the
people have to become sorted accord
ing TO their natural affinities first.
The coming of Hitler constitutes q
great danger to German order and
even to world peace. No one can mis-
take That. On the other hand it Is
something which had to happen. and
before 1t happened foreign and domes-
TIC policy could not be settled If Hit
ler turns out to be intransigeant in
foreign relations, If he brusques the
disarmament issue, takes Germany out
OF the League of Nations. reopens the
question OF the Polish Corridor with
fresh violence, Europe is in for a period
OF political chaos and economic paraly-
sis. And the end of such a policy can
readily be war.
On the other hand, II Hitler at
tempts within Germany to follow the
course OF Mussolini. to set up a die.
tatorship backed by control of the po-
lice and the army and by acting with
out sanction of parliament, then Ger
many can hardly escape civil war, pre-
ceded by the hardly less destructive
preface OF general strikes and local dis
order. Again, the possibilities of the
situation are not to be mistaken. And
civil war, like foreign adventure, must
have dire economic consequences.
People Uncertain.
There remains the third possibility.
Germany may continue to struggle with
its political incoherence and party
anarchy until presently there ID
evolved a sane system of political divi-
sion. But nothing can happen until
1t Is established beyond challenge what
form of government the German peo-
pie desire, whether republican, mon
archial or dictatorial. As long as q
political crisis opens the question Of
regime an election must become bat
tie and not mere consultation OF
popular will as to the administration of
form of government universally ac-
cepted
Hitler may succeed in becoming a
dictator But he will find himself
faced as was Napoleon III by powerful
and permanent republican opposition.
Hugenburg and his Nationalistic fol-
lowing may presently exploit the Ma
tional Socialist movement and produce
restoration Of the Hohenzollerns, but
the Hohenzollerns, like the Bourbons or
the Stuarts, returning from exile would
find a far different state from that
which they had been compelled to quit.
Meantime the German people do not
yet have any clear idea of what they
actually want Abroad they are still
seeking to recover all of their lost posi-
ton of the pre-war era. At home they
are similarly striving toward their
former state of order and prosperity.
But they cannot agree upon the means
by which to attain the end. And as
a consequence of disillusionment pro-
duced by peace treaties and despair
born Of the depression, they have be-
come the unconscious victims of delu-
Sions and of passion. And Europe
and the world must wait upon German
return to reason fully aware that this
may take time and impose heavy costs.
After all 1t took France full CEN
tury after 1889 to stabilize its political
institutions. There was no reason for
expecting Germany to accomplish the
same results in the years which have
followed 1918.
Copyright. 1887