HARD BLOWS OF FATE

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1933, Page 8

HARD BLOWS OF FATE

DIPLOMAT TO ‘DOWN-AND-OUT.” NOTED GERMAN’S ILL-LUCK. 1 A man who 14 years ago was one of the most important men in Europe is to-day “down-and-out,” penniless arid seeking a trade union pension of 12s 6d a week. This is the story of Philip Scheidemann, Germany’s first Republican Chancellor and Secretary of State in the last German' war-time Cabinet Scheidemann is, one of the most romantic figures in political history. His descent to poverty is as meteoric as his rise to power. For ten years he was the most talked-of man in Germany. Then his luck changed. His health deteriorated, and he disappeared from the haunts and company of successful men. Another blow came when his daughter, Frau Lina Katz, committed suicide. Scheidemann was too ill to attend her funeral. He has gone into the country in Germany and his whereabouts are being kept a close secret. A dignified, bearded figure with wavy white hair, Scheidemann achieved fame by refusing to sign the Peace Treaty drawn up at Versailles. His remark, “This hand shall wither ere I sign such a pact,” was quoted throughout the world. He carried out his threat by resigning office before the Germans eventually signed the Treaty.

Afterwards Scheidemann became Lord Mayor off, Cassel, and during his term in that office an unsuccessful attempt was made on his life with a poison-squirting syringe. He remained Mayor until 1928, and subsequently continued his public career as a socialist member of the Reichstag. Scheidemann was the first German Labourite to become a Cabinet Minister, a member of the so-called People’s Commissars of Six, and a Cabinet Minister in the first real post-revolution Government. He was always neatly dressed, the cut of his clothes and the crease of his black striped trousers being immaculate. On November 9, 1918, two days before the Armistice, when the German workers were already in revolt, Scheidemann stole a march on the workers’ leaders by proclaiming a German Republic from the steps of the Reichstag building in Berlin.