The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1925. VON HINDENBURG WINS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, 28 April 1925, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1925. VON HINDENBURG WINS.

Although, the election, of the sabrc-ruttling Marshal von tiiiLcleuburg to the Presidency of tiie Republic of Geimany to succeed, the modest son of a tailor who was the first. President of the new regime, provides a first-class international sensation, close observers of the march of events in Germany have feared the presidential campaign would refeult in a decisive victory for the Nationalists. ‘‘The restoration of the Monarchy in Germany is the only question of the time,"" writes General Morgan, in an article ,in the “Weekly Despatch.” He says everything that has happened m Germany during the past. five, years points in this direction. The change of public temper in Germany respecting - the Monarchy is astonishing. .“Wlien 1 first went to Germany in 1919, the Monarchy seemed gone for ever -—none so ppor as to ho it reverence. JiovV has the prestige of theiiiohenolierns beenleviveu.' Pile answer is tradition aided by the canning policy or tne ±N atibnaiist parties, d’iie Hobenzoiioi'ii tiuaition is far stronger man any individual member of the dynasty. The Germans ttorget me es-iuuser's disastrous record, iney remember h redencJi the ureat. ueheral Morgan tells us m the cable messages this momlhg that “if von xiindehbtu'g is erected the restoration of the monarchy will certainly follow . . The defeat of the liepu biloans in this momentous erection wifi mean irretrievable V defeat.” Linder ordinary circumstances the. choice of a new, head of a State is at ail times a most important oho. in • the case ox Germany, the i'resideait, once elected, remains-in office seven years, and me limits of his very considerable powers are not quite exactly 1 denned... . When ' the W eimer ■ Constitution, .which created the Presidency, was drawn up Germany was in chaos, and so me clauses relating to his functions reheat, like the whole of the Constitution, some of the coniusibn which then, prevailed. (Jne section. Of opinion wished to do without a President alto-

gether, but this view » was; 'defeated,'and in the end /an animal was evolved avlio may be said to stand, roughly, as regards his strength., between the. i< tench and the American Presidents. He does not possess the same - inde>pendent authority as the Ameaioan, but the _ designers of the, Constitution intended him to be male active than the Trench, and they left him wide, scope for making himself effective m national crises. He has the right when' a State refuses To comply with 'the',Constitution or- witlpa law of the It each to compel it to do so by armed force. That is, whereas •in Prance a state of "siege can only be declared by law, in Germany it ban bo declared by a simple order of the' President.; The same article that invests him With 'this power also permits him to suspend individual liberties “if public safety and order is materially disturbed.” ... His authority in these, respect! is not,' of course, unlimited, as his orders depend for their, validity on the co outer-signature of -the Chancellor .or of the appropriate Minister. Hut the Constitution has deliberately set up a President who is® much more than t a figure-head and has left the precise limits of his. effectiveness to be worked out-in practice. Thus upon the personality of Here Enerb’s successor , a great deal depends, since it has been. sug igested by the Berlin correspondent of. the. ‘‘Daily Chronicle” that the vital importance of the election may be judged by the fact that the President is Com-mander-in-chief of the Army and Davy,; moreover, an the opinion of the foremost lawyer's, the President could, under clause 48 of the Constitution, destroy the present Republican stinietui-e of Germany and restore the exRaiser without trespassing beyond his legal rights. This would appear almost ‘ inconceivable, but the return of von Hindenburg bodes trouble for Germany and Pur ope. It was thought, however, that the choice of President by plebiscite and not by the. Reichstag would ensure continuity of Democratio administration, and few anticipated ' that the new-born German Republic would be unable to avoid Hie dangers, that must inevitably attend the victory of a Nationalist President.