CLOSE CONTEST.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18367, 28 April 1925, Page 9

CLOSE CONTEST.

GERMAN PRESIDENCY. HINDENBURG ELECTED. A MONARCHIST TRIUMPH. JBT CABLE- -PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPY2IGHT.) (BELTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

(Received April 27th, 9.10 p.m.)

BERLIN, April 26. Marshal von Hindenburg has been elected President.

Public tension is apparently increasing as the results appear. Strong police patrols are posted everywhere. The first three Berlin stations gave Dr. Marx a 50 per cent, majority, but later eight combined Berlin districts showed Hindenburg to be elected. The voting shows that Hindenburg led in Pomerania, East Prussia, and Bavaria. Dr. Marx led in Berlin, the Rhineland, and the Ruhr. Official provisional figures show that 30,346,000 votes were polled as under:—

Hindenburg .. 14,039.000 Marx .. .. 13,753,000 Thaelmann .. 1,932,000 Two people wore killed and others injured in election riots near Karlsruhe.

A Nationalist crowd tried to storm the town hall at Katibor, Silosia, and collided with the police. Manj arrests were made.

There was unprecedented excitement at Cologne, where there was heavy pulling. Hindenburgites were most active. There was a great turnover in the Rhineland, which is the stronghold of Dr. Marx.

Excitement in Berlin. A turnover of only 6 per cent. of. votes compared with tho first ballot on March 23rd was required to givo Hindenburg victory. Excitod crowds 'massed at hundreds of spots in the city to hear the results of the polling, which closed at C o'clock. Tho first results were known at S o'clock. Thero was immense cheering when the first figures published showed that Hindenburg was tho victor in the Potsdam district, men and women waving the old Monarchist colours and singing "Deutschland Übcr. Alles," bareheaded in spite of falling Tain. There were further cheers when later figures disclosed further gains for Hindenburg, oven in the working class districts of Berlin. Any successes achieved by Dr. Marx were received with hooting, catcalls, and groans. There were numerous clashes bctwen rival electioneering factions. It is estimated that 85 per cont. of the doctors voted.

Restoration of Monarchy. The restoration of the monarchy in Germany is only a question of time, \, rites Brigadier-General J. H. Morgan, formerly Deputy-Adjutant-Geueral on the Inter-Allied Commission of Control in Germany, in an article in the "Weekly Dispatch." General Morgan was a member of the Allied Commission in Germany from 1919 to 1923. He says that everything that has hap-'. pened in Germany in the past five years points towards monarchism. "The change of public temper in Germany respecting the monarchy is astonishing," ho says. ; "When I first went to Germany in 1919 the monarchy seemed to be gone for ever. There wab' none so poor as to do it reverence. Within 24. hours 22 thrones and sceptres tumbled in the dust. Never was the Republican movement niore complete. Never was a dynastic capitulation more abject. Kings, grand dukes, dukes, and serene highnesses bolted for cover like rabbits. They stole down the back stairs of palaces at night and vanished across the frontier. Wo voice was raised in favour of these vanishing pomps, once so dear to the German; no hand was lifted to prop the fallen thrones.

Hohensollern Tradition. "How has the prestige of the Hohenzollerns' been revived ? The answer is 'Tradition,' aided by the Nationalist Parties' cunning policy. The Hobenzollciu tradition is far stronger than any individual member of the dynasty. Germans forget the ex-Kaiser's disastrous record. : They remember Frederick the Great. Soon after the Kaiser's debacle the Nationalists used every propagandist, method, films, plays, posters, and brochures to quicken "the dormant memories of the King who made Prussia great. The cult of Frederick grew up. The Nationalists' most offectivo electioneering poster was a portrait of Frederick asking 'What has become of my Prussia?' "If Von Hiindenburg is elected, the restoration of the monarchy will certainly follow. If he is defeated, which is probable, the Nationalists will have nailed their colours to the mast. Defeat of the Republicans in this momentous election will mean irretrievable defeat; to the Monarchi&t it will be only a check."

LONDON ASTONISHED,

(BBOTKK'B TSLZGBiMSO (Received April 27th, 11.50 p.m.) LONDON, April 27. Though most papers managed to get the announcement of Hindenburg's election into tho stop press, there has not yet been time for considered comment beyond headlines expressing astonishment at the result. After the initial results to hand it was recognised that the many defections from the Democrats would prove the determining factor in Hindonburg's election.