The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1934-08-02

and orders of his Majesty, the En-
peror and King, concerning the
waging of warfare, were issued
upon my advice and upon my re.
sponsibility. | beg you, therefore,
to inform the German people and
the Allied governments of this
declaration"
Won Hindenburg resigned com.
mand of the German army in
June, 1919, and once more retired,
at ~. No one, least of all him.
self, had the faintest notion that
he would ever be called upon to
succeed Ebert, "the saddler presi-
dent" who died in February,
1925.
After the parties of the right
had been convinced by the pri-
mary election returns in March,
1925, that their candidate, Lord
Mayor Jarres of Duisburg, could
not win in the finals, Admiral Al
fred Won Tirpitz insisted that the
only man in Germany who could
defeat Wilhelm Marx, the candi-
date of Centrists, Socialists and
Democrats, was "der Alte"-the
Grand Old Man of Germany. Won
Tirpitz was commissioned to look
him up at Hanover.
On April 9, 1925, Germany was
eonfounded by the news that Won
Hindenburg had consented to run
for the presidency. All sorts of
dire predictions were made-that
Germany was again headed for
monarchism. that militarism would
take a new lease of life despite
the Treaty of Versailles.
Receives Press Unit
| A week before the election, the
popular balloting for president un-
der the republican constitution,
the aged field marshal received
the representatives of the German
and foreign press at Hanover.
They saw vigorous, impressive
personality, who made it plain
that it was only from a sense of
duty to his Fatherland that he
abandoned the quiet of his home,
and that he hoped that this ex-
ample of devotion to duty might
contribute to the unification of Il
Germany sadly torn by fraction
al strife.
AS to the charge of warlike in
tentions, he told the newspaper.
men in a touching, fatherly tone
of the horrors he had witnessed
during the world war. and how
at the end of an eventful life
there was no though further re
moved from him than of sanction.
ing or preparing for a new war.
On April 20, 1925, at the elec.
ton, 14,639,399 Germans cas-
their votes for Hindenburg, who
thus became the second president
Two surprises were sprung be-
fore he was inaugurated. He re
quested Secretary of State DR.
Otto Meissner, under Ebert, to re,
main, and authorized the thcr
Chancellor Luther to proclaim hi;
solidarity with the cabinets adj
herence to the Dawes plan and it;
program of international recon.
Citation which later eliminated in
! the Locarno agreements.
Inaugurated President
On May II, 1925, Won linden
burg was inaugurated, and with d
! loud, unhesitating voice he swore
allegiance to the republican con.
stitution. Everybody, friend and
foe alike of the new order, knew
from the character of the new
president and from his religious
regard for the sanctity of the oath,
that his office would be admins
tered strictly according to the con-
stitution.
The longer the president was in
office, the more apparent it be-
came that the Hindenburg admin
istration, far from being a men,
ace to republicanism, was destined
to fortify the new order, even
among those who had hitherto
stood aloof from it.
Won Hindenburg, then rs years
old, spared no effort or energy to
accustom himself to the tasks Of
his new office. With clock-like
regularity, the chief of the gov
ernment's press division had to re-
port to him every day on world
events as reflected in the daily
press. An hour later, ministers,
chiefs of departments. specialists
on various public questions were
requested to report.
TO increase the respect for the
exalted office of chief executive,
President Won Hindenburg soon set
out upon a number of Swings
around the CIRCLE" visiting one
province after another, meeting
officials, greeting the masses, and
everywhere preaching the message
of unity. Forget your party
strife, let us all pull together for a
unified fatherland' was the bur