GERMAN ELECTIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 18811, 9 December 1924, Page 6

GERMAN ELECTIONS.

The new elections, held In Germany on Sunday, have gone better for that nation, and for tho prospects of European stabilisation, than those held in May. It will be remembered that as the result of tho appeal which was made thou to the people the extreme parties of the Right and Left, tho Nationalists and the Communists, both increased their strength. Tho Nationalists—all except the Luclcndorff section—wore induced to vote, very reluctantly, for the ratification of tho Dawes scheme, but troubles wore caused immediately afterwards as tho result of a proposal, urged most strongly by tho People’s Party, of which Dr Streseanann (Foreign Minister) is the leader, that, as a reward for that surrender, they should be admitted to the Ministry. Tho Chancellor (Dr Marx), who represents the Centre (former Catholic) Party, was persuaded to consent to their inclusion, but tho Democrats, one of tho smaller parties, mutinied 1 , threatening to withdraw' its members from the Coalition Government if the Nationalists were to have a place in it. Tho parties which are associated in the Ministry being thus unable to agree among themselves, the Reichstag was dissolved on October 20, and a fierce election contest has been since in progress. Though tho ridiculous number of twentyfive parties were concerned in it, the main issue has been simple—whether Republicanism, and a new co-operation with the Allies for the re-estublishment of herself and Europe, should bo the policy of Germany, or whether reactionaries, brooding bitterly on revenge and eager for the restoration of tho Monarchy, should bo her rulers.

From the outset o£ the campaign the Nationalists left no doubt of their position. In a manifesto, signed by Lndcndorff, they declared that their party remained Monarchist, and was determined to create a Germany “ free from the over-lordship of Frenchmen, Jews, and parliamentary coteries, and from capitalist control, in which wo and onr children will he able to stand erect and proudly do our duty.” So their scorn was poured on the Dawes Report. It was proclaimed further that they would have nothing to do with tho League of Nations, and intended to get rid of tho Treaty of Versailles. Even Dr Stresornann had to separate himself from those frormies. Tho Chancellor, with belated wisdom, declared that ho was opposed to tho inclusion of Nationalists in tho Government, as calculated to rovivo foreign mistrust of Germany, f possibly delaying the evacuation of the Ruhr. Discussions between M. Harriot and Mr Austen Chamberlain have since left small doubt that that would have been tho first effect of it. The table-thumping and swordrattling of tho Nationalists, Dr Marx pronounced truly, were useless to a nation that was disarmed. In Franco it was anticipated that tho Nationalists, if victorious, would probably put forward one of tho Kaixer’s sons, Prince Eitel or Prince August, as a candidate for the Presidency when Herr Ebert’s term expires in a short time from now, as a first stop to tho restoration of the Monarchy. Prince Eitel has a farm near Potsdam. He had a considerable war service, and it has been said that, though without official status, ho is strongly militaristic in taste and temperament. While his cider brother was in exile Eitel never forgot that he was the head of the HohenzoHern family in Prussia.. He is a special bugbear of tho Socialists. Prince August is a bank clerk in Berlin. Ho got out of tho army at tho earliest possible opportunity, and has given no offence since to any party. But to bring his discredited family back to power again would be the worst omen for the future relations of Germany. Provisional final returns of the elections show that tho peril has been averted. Tho German nation 'has assorted its common sense. The Social Democrats, the strongest supporters of the Republic, boast a gain of twenty-nine seats. The Centre Party, People’s Party, and the Democrats, wiio contributed to the Coalition Government, have in a less degree improved their position. The Communists have lost eighteen seats, and the extrema supporters of Ludcnciorff have been reduced to loss than half their previous strength. A pro-Dawes majority in the now Reichstag is assured. On tho whole, the Allies can have hopes for Germany. Their new era for Europe will not at once bo frustrated by tho nation whose conditions they must better before they can better thoir own.