Evening Post. FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1928. A SATISFACTORY VERDICT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 122, 25 May 1928, Page 8

Evening Post. FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1928. A SATISFACTORY VERDICT

How rapidly we are leaving the Great War behind us was illustrated by the interesting statement in "our first report of the German. General Election that • . '2,000,000, new voters have 'sprung up since the'l924 elections, with no knowledge of pre-war Germany, and unable to contrast Republican with Monarchical conditions. As twenty is, the qualifying age for the suffrage in Germany, none of those who have qualified since the date of the last General Election— the 4th May, 1924—can have been more'than ten at the beginning of the War or more than fourteen at its close. And the five per cent, of voters with no pre-war knowledge which these 2,000,000 represent will of course be a steadily increasing proportion as the older voters* with their bitter memories drop off. Here at any rate is one way in which time is automatically healing the wounds that the War has left. It must, however, be remembered that this happy pro? cess of oblivion is not without its risks. The obliteration of all memory of the "Gott strafe England" fury may be an unmixed gain, but if their ignorance of the Monarchy, renders new voters "unable to contrast Republican with Monarchical conditions,",may not an otherwise beneficent process be at the same time weakening one of the safeguards of the Republic? Like other human institutions, the German Republic is to be justified, not as ideally perfect but as better than any other practicable alternative. The defects of the Republic might therefore become arguments for the only other alternative practicable •in Germany with those who have not realised what a curse the Monarchy was, but the most hopeful thing about the polling on Sunday4 last is.the conclusive evidence which it supplies that the new leaven of what may be called postwar voters is riot working in that direction. . ■■■< The disquieting feature of the German General Election of 1924 cannot be described by the ordinary metaphor of the swing of the pendulum. We cannot credit a pendulum with contradictory swings, but as there were no less than twelve parties in the field:it is not surprising that more than one pendulum would be needed to supply a fitting illustration. Just when the tranquillity of Germany and the peace of- Europe demanded the return of a Reichstag with a strong moderate majority to enable the Marx Government to bring the Dawes Plan into operation, the moderate' parties received a serious set-back, and the extremists on both the Right and the Left Wings gained heavily. The Nationalist or Monarchist vote was 5,755,000, representing a gain of about 2,500,00Q, or nearly 80 per cent. With the much smaller total of 3,712,000 the Communists had made the still greater proportionate advance of nearly 90 per cent. But a third party of extremists has to be brought into the account before it is complete. The Freedom or Fascist Party—the fanatical and vindictive Monarchists of whom Ludendorff ■ was the most con-spicuous—-were a negligible force in the Reichstag of 1920-24, but in 1924 their three seats were increased to 32. That despite these formidable accessions to the strength of the irreconcilables the Dawes Plan has been put into successful operation, and Germany has accepted the Rhine frontier as fixed at Versailles, signed the Treaty of Locarno, and entered the League of Nations is a result which reflects-the utmost credit on German statesmanship, and especially on that of Dr. Stresemann. The main question to be decided on Sunday last was whether this great work .of reconciliation and progress would be allowed to proceed, and though there is still some uncertainty owing to the multiplicity of parties and the need for new combinations the' answer is in the main highly satisfactory. There has been no further swing of the pendulum in-favour of Kaiserism. The Nationalists have lost nearly all that they gained in 1924, and instead of nearly tying with the Socialist Party for first place, as they did on that occasion, are about 5,00.0,000 votes, and more than 50 per cent., behind. The Fascists have lost just.half their seats. 'The only flies in the ointment are the strong predominance of the Socialists with some 9,000,000 votes and 160 seats—more than the combined strength of any two of the other parties—and the maintenance by the Communists of the gains that they made in 1924 almost unabated. Though "an- unofficial forecast" of the constitution of the new Reichstag was cabled from Berlin on the day of the election, the official returns, delayed by the complications of proportional voting, are not yet to hand. Accepting the unofficial forecast as

correct, and transferring the "Economic Party" mentioned in the cablegram to the "Other Parties," as it does not appear in the previous lists, the comparative figures for the last three elections are as follows: — 1920. 1024. 1928. Socialists 171 100 160 Nationalists ..' 65 96 70 Centra 68 65 69 Communists 16 62 58 People's Party 66 44 54= Democrats .'.'. 38 28 25 Fascists 3 32 16 Bavarian People's Party 20 16 19 Other parties ...... 11 9 29 It is clear that no changes in the figures' can affect the general result, which is described as follows:;— It distinctly favours peace, as' the advocates of a war of revenge were numerously defeated. The strongest party will be the Socialists of the German variety, who aro much less extreme than the British. Tho most important feature is the fading of the Hohenzollerns. Germany is definitely turning ' from Monarchism to Republicanism. The electors have done their duty, but *he uncertainty of Dr. Stresemanri's health unfortunately leaves some ground for: anxiety. ' •