TRIBUTE TO STRESEMANN

Taranaki Daily News, 5 October 1929, Page 9

TRIBUTE TO STRESEMANN

LAST POLITICAL SUCCESS SAVED CABINET FROM CRISIS DEEPEST RESPECT EVIDENT Bl’ Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Australian Press Association. United Service. Berlin, Oct. 3. Dr. Stresemann’s death has brought confusion to German politics. He was the strong man of the Government, which is now like a ship without a helmsman. He undoubtedly killed himself by overwork. He had been suffering for years from fcevere kidney disease, • and the doctors repeatedly warned him' that his life was in danger if he continued in politics. Last Friday he gave a reception to foreign journalists, when he gave the impression that he was a sick man, who ought to be Jn bed. , Yesterday he had a very strenuous day fcnd held several conferences with the Chancellor and other politicians. He also attended a meeting of the People’s Party in an effort to avert the threatened Government crisis over the unemployed insurance law. He made a long, statement, but wag able to speak only slowly and feebly. At the meeting, which was excited and sometimes stormy, and lasted four hours, he converted the waverers to support the bill. It was the final drain on his strength. He went home, dined moderately\and instantly had a stroke, which deprived him of the joy in the morning of seeing the Reichstag pass the contentious bill by a majority of 103. Thug once more Dr. Stresemann had saved the Government from a crisis. ? King George of England sent a message of sympathy in which he declared that Dr. Stresemann’s death was a loss not only to Germany but to Europe. After lying in state at the Reichstag Dr. Stresemann will be buried on October 7 in the Berlin cemetery where his relatives are interred. EULOGY IN REICHSTAG. When the Reichstag assembled this morning Dr. Stresemann’s seat on the Ministerial bench was draped in black and a wreath laid on it. A bunch of white chrysanthemums adorned the place where he sat as deputy. AH, excepting the Communists and extreme Nationalists, who Bated Dr. Stresemann and his policy, rose when the Vice-President opened the sitting, by eulogising Dr. Stresemann s work and declaring it should be written in letters of gold. The Cabinet is holding a mourning sitting.. _ M. Briand telegraphed to Frau Stresemann : “I learned of Dr. Stresemann s death with the deepest emotion. I shall always retain the deepest respect for hib memory. In pursuit oi our common ideal Dr. Stresemann caused me to appreciate his lofty outlook and fine loyalty.” On board the Berengaria, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, was deeply affected by the news of /Dr. Stresemann’s death. ~ rx “I am deeply grieved,” he said, for Dr. Stresem'ann was on© of those men upon whose work the peaceful evolution of Europe depended, and in my various contacts with him I came to know and esteem him as a friend. His memory is secure, and I cannot believe that the great services he has given to pacification with such patience and faith can be undone. On behalf of the British Government, I send his relatives and his country deepest sympathy.” , News of the death of Dr. Stresemann has been received with profound regret and. a sense of personal loss in London official circles, and especially by Ministers and exMinisters who have worked .with him at international conferences during, the past few years, states the British Official Wireless. , Dr. Stresemann, who was only ol years of age, had since 1923 been German Foreign Minister with two intervals as Chancellor. For the last few years he had suffered from persistent ill-health, but, despite this physical suffering, bore the strain of his difficult task at home and conducted the German case in numerous trying conferences with an ability and far-sightedness that earned the admiration of all nations. His policy of reconciliation with Germany s war-time enemies has helped enormously towards European appeasement. GERMANY AND THE LEAGUE. With Dr. Luther, then German Chancellor, he signed the Locarno Treaty in 1925 on Germany’s behalf, after which he did much to secure his country’s entry into the League of Nations, and the acceptance of the Dawes’ reparations scheme. Dr. Stresemann played an important part in the recent conference at The Hague, and afterwards went to the League meeting at Geneva, which wag the last international conference he was to attend. At the Labour Party conference at Brighton this morning delegates stood in silence for a few minutes as a tribute to the memory of Dr. Stresemann. Mr. Arthur Henderson, Foreign Secretary, said: “We shall not soon forget the courage and patience with which he laboured for the entry of Germany into the League of Nations, for that policy which we call by the name of Locarno, and for the general cause of world disarmament and co-operation.” Mr. Herbert Morrison, president of the conference, recalled how, after the Versailles Treaty Dr. Stresemann, instead of pursuing thoughts of spitefulnese and revenge, loyally co-operated with other countries in laying the foundations of permanent peace between the nations of the world. The British Government has sent a telegram expressing their sense of loss at Dr. Stresemann’s death, and numerous Ministers and ex-Ministers have sent individual messages. The Foreign Secretary in his telegram says: “Dr. Stresemann had been an essential factor in the work of the consolidation of peace in the last few years, and the example he has set will stand for all time and act as an encouragement to those who desire to bring that work to final success. I experience a sense of real personal loss,' and I shall always remember my happy collaboration with Dr. Stresemann at The Hague and Geneva.” Tributes were paid to-day by other leadino, British politicians. The Rt. Hon. P. Snowden, Chancellor of the Exchequer, described his death as a terrible loss, not only to Germany, but to Europe. Mr. Snowden added: "It is particularly unfortunate at this time when there are a number of very important problems on the way to settlement. Mr. Lloyd George, Liberal leader and former Prime Minister, described hig death as a disaster to the peace of Europe.- He i was a great conciliator. He rendered im-

mortal service in the.cause of European and world peace. Viscount Cecil said: “Germany will be fortunate indeed if she can find another man who is not only so great a German, but also so great a European as Dr. Stresemann.’