GERMAN FLAG

Southland Times, Issue 18964, 11 June 1923, Page 3

GERMAN FLAG

A CAUSE OF SUSPICION. RESIGNATION OF CONSULS. Germans living abroad, writes a Berlin correspondent, especially those in North and South America, v e , since the war, among the most orthodox upholders of the "Deutschland über Alles” doctrine. The German Chamber of Commerce at Valparaiso, for instance, in its yearly report for 1922, lays great stress upon what it calk the extraordinary importance of the question of the German flag. The Chamber of Commerce rather unconvincingly attributes the cornparative failure of German trade to make headway in Chile to a lack of confidence in the new flag of the German Republic. “The refusal of the German Government and of the Reichstag to meet the wishes of the Germans living in Chile and allow the black, white and red flag again to be flown by German ships has led,” says the report, “to many regrettable results. In the Chilean Congress, for example, the trustworthiness of several German undertakings has been suspected, and unpleasant references have been made to the Germa* change of flag. This flag question has even led to the resignation of the German Consuls. in several important towns of Chile.” f The Hamburg Press suggests that the German Embassies and Consulates abroad should be allowed to hoist the German marine service flag. The flag is black, white and red, inset with the new German eagle. The obstacle to reverting to the use of the black, white and red ensign, formerly worn by merchant ships, is, of course, the animosity of the Socialists, who regard it as a symbol of the departed Imperial regime.