The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning and The Echo. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1928. REACTION IN GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 251, 23 October 1928, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning and The Echo.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1928. REACTION IN GERMANY.

Tor the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance. For the future in the distance, And the good that *oe can do.

The election of Herr Hugenberg to the post i of President of the National People's Party seems to have caused a pronounced sensation in German political circles. For Hugenberg holds extreme opinions on all public and national questions, and he is one of the leaders l of the "irreconcilable" party which is doing its best to make peace impossible for any length of time in Europe. He repudiates the Peace of Versailles, denounces the Locarno Pact as' a cunning trick, and maintains that there never can bo any amicable understanding with France at 5 least till Germany's "rights" are restored. But Hugenberg does not go much further than the rest of the People's Party in their detestation of France and their rejection of the Versailles Treaty. Moreover, his predecessor, Count Westarp, a typical West Prussian "junker," was even more of a "fire-eater" than Hugenberg, and quite as intractable in his opposition to the Republican Government. But Hugenberg is one of the most influential and dangerous men in Germany to-day. Gifted with great natural ability, he has control of immense wealth, and as the head of a great journalistic combine, with newspapers circulating throughout Germany, he has exceptional facilities for forming and guiding public opinion. He is hand in glove with the militarists who compose the Steel Helmet organisation that looks to war as Germany's only hope of restoration, and he is the leader of the German Fascists, who naturally detest democracy and republicanism. For such a man in such a position the opportunities for stirring up trouble are almost limitless, and no doubt Hugenberg will take full advantage of the situation; At the same time, it would be a mistake to assume that Hugenberg's election, though it is a distinct victory for the extremist section of the People's Party, means the triumph of the reactionaries throughout Germany. For though the political tension may be momentarily more severe, the people, as distinct from the "junkers" and the capitalists, have & much stronger hold upon the situation to-day than at any time since the close of the Great War. The last elections greatly strengthened the Socialist Party in the Reichstag, and while the People's Party suffered a serious reverse, the moderates who prefer republicanism to militarism and monarchy were correspondingly encouraged. In spite of the Steel Helmets and Fascism, the Republic holds its ground, and Hugenberg is not the type of man to overthrow it.