ALSACE-LORRAINE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 119, 20 May 1912, Page 7

ALSACE-LORRAINE

DISCUSSION IN THE REICHSTAG "THE WORST PUNISHMENT" MINISTERS LEA"VtE THE CHAMBER. By Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright. BERLIN, 18th May. In tho Reichstag, Herr Schoidemann, the Socialist member who occupies the position of Vice-President of the Chamber, declared that tho Kaiser regarded incorporation with Prussia as the worst punishment he could inflict on an insubordinate province. . It was equivalent to penal servitude, loss of civic rights, and degradation to the lowest rank in the federal system. Socialists desired that Prussia should no longer be regarded as » German Siberia. The statement wa6 received with tumultuous protests, and Herr Bethmann Hollweg, Imperial Chancellor, signalled the President for a rebuke, but this was not forthcoming. Hen' Bethmann Hollweg and all the Ministers then quitted the Reichstag, and were absent two hours.! They returned only after Herr Scheidemann had been called to order. The Chancellor, referring to the AlsaceLorraine Diet's censure of the Prussian authorities for withdrawing orders foilocomotives, said the Kaiser's warning was justified, but was not intended to encroach on the rights of the Federal Councils or the Reichstag. Herr Bethmann Hollweg concluded by accepting full responsibility for the situation arising out of the incident. SOCIALISTS' INTEMPERATE LANGUAGE. EVADING THE~REAL ISSUE. (Received May 20, 9 a.m.) BERLIN, 19th May. The newspapers cay that the intemperate language used by Socialists in the Reichstag respecting the Kaiser's indiscretion at Strasburg evaded the rea] issue, though tho Liberals and Radicals denounce the Chancellor's defence as "insincere. [Last week it was stated that Austrian newspapers were expressing scorn and regret at a threat made by the Kaiser to rescind tho Alsatian Constitution. Die Zeit said that what might be permissible in an individual with his feet on a beerhouse table was not permissible in &t& t monarch. Owing to vehement criticisms of the recent remarks by the Kaiser, the Burgomaster of Strasburg felt called upon to explain that His Majesty merely meant that any change in Alsace-Lorraine must bo made through the Imperial Legislature.]