Evening Star Newspaper, January 11, 1931, Page 27

i = EDITORIAL SECTION WASHINGTON, D. C, POLITICO-ECONOMIC CRISIS RENEWS GERMAN ANXIETY Critical Situation Must Last Five Months, But Chance of Domestic Upheaval Is Believed Remote. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. ERLIN.—What is going to happen in Germany? This question, posed by the spectacular Fascist triumph of September, has been repeated with renewed anxiety in the face of the double phe- nomenon of steadily growing Fascist success in local elctions and ever-in- ereasing strain due to the economic « erisis. So severe is the double crisis, eco- ic and political, that even the informed Germans within and out- @ide of official circles hesitate to make Aoy too confident forecast. For five nths, at the very least, the situa- on must be critical. During these ve months it is not possible to ex- clude the possibility of grave and even dangerous events. Yet, at the very outset of this article, it may be said with all emphasis that the one point_on which there is general agreement is that there is little chance of any form of revolution, of a violent seizure of power by a dictator, Com- munist 'or Fascist, leading to civil war or domestic upheaval. System Held Broken Down. To understand what may happen it 18 essential to perceive the actual situa- tion. Parliamentary and thus demo- sratic government, in the ordinary sense of the word, has broken down. The strife between the innumerable political parties over domestic issues, the truly colossal extent of the economic crisis, the apprehension aroused among re- rubllun parties by the rise of the H ler party, all these things have com- bined to determine a resort to a form of dictatorship which preserves the * spirit of democratic ideas, but not less joes daily violence to the forms. Today Germany is governed by what might be compared to a junta of men, relatively new in political authority, ‘who are acting outside of liamentary lines as a Committee of blic Safety. These men, who constitute the Bruen- ing cabinet, assured of the complete port of the President, Marshal Hind- enmger[. are formulating proposed laws, obtaining the President’s signature for these, thus transforming them into de- cree laws, ‘and then daring the Reich- stag to abrogate them. And so far the Reichstag has not found the cour- age to take up the challenge. Legislation by ordinary methods is impossible. To obtain Reichstag ap- proval for measures immediately nec- essary to save national credit, to miti- gate the incredible misery of economic depression—in fact, to keep government going—would consume months, when it is needed in days. Parliament cannot function, hence this dictatorship. But all this emergency and decree legisiation is instantly challenged by the partiies of disorder, by the Fascists, the Nationalists at the right and the ts ] elemen! Bruening e o e | = b\mne-—“th.:mh, v.bel Center, s;c’m Democratic Peoples part) in- forced by the sadly dimished {Jhenh Nevertheless, the government has cer- advantages. It has office, the sup- port of the President, the possession of the police. This police force is efficient, numerous, wholly devoted to the republican regime, which has train- pression of a city under martial law. ‘What, then, is the danger, for danger' there obviously is? this double fact: The ever-growing vigor of the attack coming from Fascism and the equally growing pressure of an eco- nomic depression which will, so the government estimates, lead to an un- employment figure of 7,000,000 by Feb- ruary 1, a figure comparable to 14,000,- 000 in the United States. On the one hand, then, you have the swelling army of Fascism, Nationalists and Communists pressing to the attack, on the other the dally increasing army of unemployed, the expansion of suffer- ing, the muitiplication of circumstances for which, umjustly but inevitably, the government in power is held responsi- e. Thus the real issue is whether the Bruen! cabinet can hold the fort during next five months and above all whether it can meet the assured | European February crisis with the brilliant suc-§ cess which marked its struggle first in October and now quite recently in De- ‘cember. If, under the double impact of politi- cal and economic pressure, the Bruen- ing cabinet is beaten, this will not mean instant or inevitable chaos. What will happen will be that Fascists and Na- tionalists will enter the cabinet, re- placing organized labor as its main sup- . Labor itself is not actually in the | present cabinet, but is its chief defender, measured by votes. There will be a cab- inet dominated by super-Nationalists. But since these super-Nationalists of the | Hitler order have adopted a program of economic absurdities and interna- tional challenges, the result will be & grave shock to German credit abroad at the precise moment when the economic conditions demand foreign aid. Lack Majority In Union. Even united, Pascists and Nationalists ° will not have a majority. They will be able to do nothing actually dangerous, since the Roman Catholic and Labor parties can check them, and even the Communists would be lined up against | . them. At a moment when the economic | be paralysed. And no other conceivable | solution can be foreseen, save a new general election. But in such an election, I have been by representatives of every party, Fascism would double its present i Communism would gain ¥ materially and every other party would lose, perhaps more disastrously than last September. And recalling the effect in- | | seasonal ‘conditionf government would able. The reason is simple. When all is said and done Fascism is continuing to spread in Germany like a ire fire, and beyond all else Fascism is the ulti- mate expression of a disillusioned young Germany in revolt. Today the break g:tween u;e Ckx‘:nuu A:VEI' and under years of age is complete. The Germans who lived through the war in the trenches, who know its misery, horror, suffering, who have come to apreciate the limitations im- posed by defeat and disarmament, re- main totally opposed to any chauvinistic afirmation of supper-nationalistic ideals. This generation wants peace beyond all else. And the Bruening government, led by men chiefly around 50 years old, expresses this desire. Contemptuous of Logic. By contrast, the new generation, led by Hitler and Goebbels, who are around 35, is totally contemptuous of all ap- peal to logic, experience or reason. For them Germany's present plight is due to betrayal—betrayal of the army by the Communists in 1918, betrayal of the na- tion' by republican leaders when the peace treaties were made and since. For them Germany has only to speak in the voice of might—to declare the repara- tions contracts null, the peace treaties at an end, the restrictions of German armament abolished—to bring a terri- fied world to its knees. All this. passion of youth, all this fire and violence would fail to carry far in @ Germany which was fairly prosperous, reasonably contented, moderately satis- fled with its world status. But you have a whole people growing hungrier, becoming daily more humiliated by in- ternational events, roused by the spec- tacle of the alleged persecution of Ger- mans by Poles, Czechs, even by Lith- uanians. You have & Germany in which the conviction continues to spread that eventual ruin is insured by the territorial clauses of the treaty of Versailles, by the financial terms of the Young plan, by the maneuvers of the ament conference at Geneva. And relentlessly, incessantly Fas- cism reinforced by Nationalism repeats the story of Germany's tion and doom, and dally the revolt spreads. In the universities the spirit runs with all the violence of a religious creed. Spontaneously, unanimously, young Germany goes out to hear Goebbels, Hitler, to dedicate itself to the task of national salvation. And in the same spirit it, s out to break up presenta- tion of War films, like “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which are designed to spread peace sentiments. In the face of this national explosion the very duties of government com- promise its chances. The long pro- gram of new taxes and necessary economies enormously increased the number of opponents who welcome Fascist arguments that Germany is being bled white to satisfy the claims of a France swimming in gold and ever in its armament. But, on the other hand, every time the Bruening cabinet in the face of domestic danger utters words In sum, the situation of government is, as I have sald, that of a besleged city; the condition is that of a race be- tween renewed business activity and a fresh domestic political crisis which may retard Germany's domestic re- covery and compromise Germany's in- ternational situation for some years to come. In this situstion the men actually follies of the the despair ollies of young, impoverished and the malice of the an- archistic. To insure financial solvency they .must impose new taxes; to pre- serve international position they must comply with unpo treaties. They are men sincerely devoted to peace, eager not for international conflict, but for co-operation; %l;mlnx neither re- venge nor violence, but struggling under it is impossible to exaggerate and in the face of a problem which seems today insoluble. The issue is primarily the immediate future of Germany. If the Bmenln1 cabinet falls much of the international credit built up by the steady and wise policy of Stresemann will be destroyed. Given the it posture of Germany, economic, cal, sy carinot lead = tack upon any coun retard, if not prevent, that between Germany and the world, which is alike essential to Ger- man recovery and the organization of Ppeace and world prosperity. All this the men who make up the Bruening cabinet see. Their fight is to preserve Germany primarily from her- self, against the disasters which must follow the success of Fascism in its present stage. But they are fighting with their backs against the wail. Thus the struggle is the most critical since the close of the World War itself, in Germany. Moreover, while, as I have said, the promise.of victory is pl and I would end on a note of optimism in this respect—the present struggle must leave enduring results. After it Europe and the rest of the world are going to be in the presence of a new Germany, dominated by another spirit than that of the defeated Germany of the post-war years. This Germany of the future I shall discuss in my next article, outside (Copyrisht, 1931.) Volcano Predictions Planned for Hawaii ‘Tragedies, such as the destruction of Tokic by earthquake and fire seven years ago, are preventable, declares Dr. Thomas A. Jagger, noted volcanologist, and accordingly he is urging the estab- lishment of an institution for “terres- trial research” in Hnnlh For 20 years Dr. Jagger has been devling his life to | volcano " study, spending most of that time literally on the edge of the vol- cano of Kilauea, about 200 miles from Honolulu. He strongly believes that modern sclence can amess a body of experience which will enable volcanolo- gists to t earthquakes and erup- tions at least in time to warn the popu- ternationally of the far less considerable | jace of crewded cities or threatened Fascist and Communist victories upon 's international situation, financially and politically, the meaning of such & new event can be appre- elated. ‘That, then, is the double possibility— destruction of both foreign and towns. Earthquakes, tidal waves and volcanic eruption which take place in inhabited lands all may be foreseen a few hours by phenomena which scien- tific instruments and scientists can read, he says. offers the best place such a study. He hopes that such an institution may be established and maintained by private funds, feeling that the Government would hatdly un- SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 11, 1931 On Old Footsteps By J. Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of Great Britain, R AR Drawn for The Bunday Star by 8. J. Woolf. WE BEGAN A TALK ON TRIVIAL THINGS WHICH ARE THE AVENUES OF APPROACH TO THE INTIMATE, ing into the unknown seas bearing a | trenches in France and are moldering cargo of g:ld and silk and spices n | there with some of the youths who we did when, mounting the first of the | climbed them. The woods are gone, and never feel the world’s change 50 much as wl we return to old paths and haunts. There we see how the shadow of Time has passed over the dial of Life. I have wandered back to a scene of great exploits. The unruly crowd who went to Drainie School to be licked into shape by Bain's Grammar, out in the firth; mid-air like squirrels from tree to tree until we went the round of the Nineteen | to have forgotten us all in its own for the first time. Then we were fit [ misery. for any venture. We had accomplished | Then there were the romantic wan- the grand achievement, and had passed | derings by the shore, where every week | We the tawse, and a much respected domi- | to a niche among the heroes. fairies nie are scattered to all the winds, but, I returned and found the place deso- whether dead or alive, in their dreams | late. The trees, like ourselves, had | its changes. The sandbanks have been they must often return to those wild [grown old, and the ax had been laid | blown up by the winds and washed by days when a tear or two dissolved the | to their roots. They have passed on to | the tides into new shapes, and the worst of cares and every sunrise brought | another life. Perhaps they bear the |shingle has come farther west. a hilarious day. scanty supper of the lavorer; perhaps |upon the beach are the familiar tins, And what were those days without | they are behind the veneer of some mfi uprooted trees and all the scraps are the to be with shame. It seemed | merciful, Anhd- and close by CThe Sundiny Star, we used to treasure for their fossils are still washed up from their beds far though mo one seems Nineteen, we swung and jumped in |the naked ground appeared to my eye |to gather them now. Here time has been moved from their its whose ; paren! At the end g. the hamlet that itself, under its with its whitewashed 1t had been thrown u ROOSEVELT HANDICAPP AS PRESIDENTIAL Too Far Out in Front at Present and New York Democrats Are Not of Mind 1o Give Him Nomination. E‘E‘ & 8% & g | P H Ei Gov'. mh v&n is suffering the cap, familiar_to every experienced ticlan snd President- the Nineteen Trees? No mariner re- | shoddy creation of industry; perhaps laythings of the waves. turned with greater pride from voyag- | they kept up the muddy .Rf.f. of | And the black bituminous shales which BY C. PATRICK THOMPSON. OR the twenty-sixth year in suc- cession they are reviving Peter Pan in London. Theater history offers no parallel to this revival phenomenon. The wonderful boy will not grow up; neither will he die. His attraction seems undiminished in a new age and a world which is en- tirely unrecognizable from that enrap- tured one to which he made his first bow. He is Barrie's (and McCon- nachie’s) _greatest tri h. It is 45 years now ice those two , , north of the 'nhecd, :l‘ smrd-neuww:th the mx:.tkmu policy conquest peaceful pene- tration. (England and her empire are now ly in lh: Ppredatory. hands of Economical, as one would expect, Barrie and McConnaghie inhabited the same human envelope. Odd? No gdm;zt: b\at, we. fl-;o(m:n d-ungk:)m y and a world (8s thosé who know their Barrie—and hie—are aware (in which thi happen that are often mexpllcnblelI{b'; '-hlpl?lndlrdl of reality. ful in management of eareer. Mc- Connachle, on the other hand, was creature of fancy, not of thought; a dreamer of r and delicate dreams which seem for a moment in the thea- ter-or by a fireside after dinner to be more real than the of one's waking life. Without McConnachie, Barrie would have lived and died a good journalist and a competent novel- ist. But without Barrie, M¢Connachie would have been as much lost to the world as & bed of snowdropé hidden in & fairy wood. Forgetting McConnachie (Barrie him- self would tell you that he doesn't mind) from now on, we may observe that the unique partnership has made Barrie what he is today—the most dis- tinguished living British man of let- ters, a baronet, the only Hving writer to hold the Order of Merit (limited to 22 individuals), so rich that he can afford to rest on his oars and pl fairy godmother ves! Meks & celebpfl.t; SIR JAMES M. BARRIE—HE LOO%(LS(‘I(!‘.;.(S‘:( UPON 45 YEARS OF LITERARY Those every rase public erance is d g ToNs amose Jetters and| He had other and less perceptible [home which Wendy inhabits in the mn;&#ww lndhflm f i fetch | assets. To get at them one needs to | Neverland, while the boles of the ulous prices, whose play revivals are | retrace his steps through time and | in the garden the Barrie boy knew ; an event o; the Mugnv l'lhom the uni- | space. Behold Kirriemuir 70 years ago. the ways to the versities u‘: msm-n{ elect their lord | A pleak little Scottish town in which | ground home for Lost Boys. B rector, lend of premiers, the most notable features of the land-| As she sews in the dim little kitchen, and peasants, a man whose presence in pe % altering the worn clothes of one child the greatest houses in u;he hree king- | tory and a cemetery on the hill. You to fit-another, Jamie's mother tells him m';llfil'.md by OWDeTs as & |go down the Brechlin road to the tene- | stories of her youth. He will never for- considerable " honor. ments. In one of those little four-|get them. y sink into his mind Wrote 17,000 Words-a Week. roomed weaver's cottages lives Ma) they Ogilvie, the stone-mason’s daughter, . The young Scot who arrived in Lon-|and her man, David Barrie, the |up, use don in 1885 scarcely looked such & con- | weaver, who has educated himself - queror. He was a very little man with & | begat 10 children. James—Now Sir |ful books and plays which moved and ragged black mustache, a notably bulg- | James, O. M., LL. D., M. A.—was the | enchanted all the Anglo-Saxon world, & soul ing brow, a large, reflective, luminous | ninth, b e Was. Close to Mother. eye; shy, sensitive, chaste, a dry, mak- Humor, make-believe, the power to An impish, lvely, sad, indomitable inanimate objects—he ing his first tentative expériments with a pipe. 'But at school and st B e . ke child, close to mother. ere . 'When WaS m’m Toom in house—the to-send articles | W burgh University (where he the Resf 28 t 4 i 3 i if §.‘ g ] g 5 A § ¥ Eg § g REVELEE e e O§fl§ E Bidecs i i H7! ith personally, but the followers of_Bmith. Xt ’ éxGov. Bmith am m."’imn"h"‘m Prince’s Paintings Win tional Demosratic Josders teon ooy i Praise at Exposition ask, with respect to the Democratic - presidential nomination, “If Gov. Roose- Telt, why not ex-Giov. Smith?” Thers The validity in this point of view and | xhibil there is political dynamite in it. wers pres Is “Anti-Power” and “Web”. ‘exceptional Clov. Roosevelt’s avallability for, the | rious blend corkitions, Which ave Jissios| Vealing & wi are made Gov. Smith reasons of at an R H e i ik E§l§5 . Egga b