GERMANY'S BIG PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 20194, 6 June 1929, Page 13

GERMANY'S BIG PROBLEM

Petty factional quarrels among the Extremist and Liberal Parties have for the last ten months been making the political situation in Germany most uncomfortable. instead of transforming his “Cabinet of Personalities” into a grand " coalition, as he had planned, Chancellor Muller has had to I'aec the defection of the powerful Centre Party. Since none of the par-, ties whose representatives sit in the present Ministry arc bound by parliamentary rules to support the Government, there is continual danger of similar withdrawal of some other parly. Even as it now stands, the Midler Cabinet's majority is extremely slender; any important action it may take might result in a vote of lack of confidence by the Reichstag. This, added to the open revolt in the strong People’s Party against its leader, ])r Strcsemaun, leaves a weak resistance against the Nationalist Opposition. Should the Nationalists assume control of the Government, German foreign and internal policy would change abruptly. The Nationalists would immediately establish the dictatorship which is provided for in “emergencies and times of stress’’ by the German Constitution. Dr Hugcnberg, head of the Nationalist Party, and called “the German Northeliffc ” because of Ids extensive newspaper holdings, has long cherished dictatorial ambitions, and there are strong inclications that the Nationalists are not an impotent, opinionated group. Opposed to these parties of the extreme Right arc ever twenty Liberal and moderate Left parties. They far outnumber their opponents, yet jealousy prevents them from presenting a united front against the chauvinism that threatens the country. Such a picture of party disagreement is ugly, if not incomprehensible, especially in view of the ‘momentous negotiations nmV under way in Paris. Still, it is the Experts’ Conference that throws the only available light on the situation. Whatever sum is agreed upon in Paris will bo found by the Germans to ho 100 high, but they will nevertheless have to pay it. Some party, or someone in Germany will then have to take the responsibility of accepting the settlement. If a Coalition Government accepts, it means that whatever parties it represents will be forever damned in the eyes of the public. But if a “Cafinet of Personalities ” accepts, the_ responsibility will fall only on its individual members.