Another Kaiser for Germany !

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1922, Page 4

Another Kaiser for Germany !

; (Bv G. Ward Price). BERLIN. Germany is a nation as bitterly divided against itself a_s Ireland, throughout the whole country run the threads of a Monarchist conspiracy

whose aims are: 1 Civil war. •2. Overthrow of the Republic. 3. The restoration of a Kaiser. Not the Kaiser. Professions of undying fidelity notwithstanding, German reaiitouaries realise that the ex-Kaiser disqualified himself for ever when he scuttled over the border into Holland instead of coining back to Berlin to face the German Revolution.

But large and important sections of tho nation dream with longing of the day when another German Emperor shall lie crowned in Potsdam. Not the Crown Prince, who also bolted in tlie hour of danger; not Prince Max of Baden, who was too much compromised by tlie revolution; nor Riippreebt of Wittelsbach, as Prussia would never tolerate a Bavarian; but perhaps the eldest son of tlie Crown Prince, now a lad of sixteen, lining brought up quietly anil simply by bis mother, the exCrown Princess, at Potsdam.

To tho upper and intellectual classes of Germany the Empire stands for the “good old times.” Forty thousand exGerman officers whose one-time social prestige anil privilege have been exchanged for obscurity and sometimes poverty, form the backbone of the Monarchist Party.

Behind them are ranged all the landowners, the professors, school teachers, students, doctors, in whose personal experience the present regime stands for nothing but hardship and humiliation. The Republic is strong only in the big cities, where tho German workpeople are thickly massed and highly organised.

Tho headquarters of this sedition are in Bavaria; the Bavarian Premier himself recently expressed in a public speech tho hope that the Monarchy would soon return, and a vote of censure against him in tlie Bavarian Parliament failed. But every part’ of Germany lias its rival groups. Not even at the seaside *lo Germans forget their civil Rtrife.

On the Baltic coast are two favourite watering places—Bansin and Heringsdorf. Tho former is the stronghold of

the Monarchists. Hotel Hindenburg and Pension Lndendorff are the names of tho boarding-houses. No Jew could get n bed in the place for German Monarchists combine their anti-Republican-ism with a frenzied hatred of the Jews.

Not a lmthing-van on the heath but flies the old Imperial standard,,and on the flight after Dr Rathenau, was murdered young counts and barons made Bansin ring with the revelry of the wine parties they gave to celebrate the event.

Hen'ngsdorf, next door, is where the Republicans take their holiday, and since the Jews are the Republican who have most money, they abound. But between them and Bansin is fixed as impassable, if invisible, frontier. WiM the Monarchists he strong enough to realise their aims when the time comes?

That depends on whether the Ro:chsvelir, the new German army of 100,000 picked men, remains faithful to the Republic. The officers are reactionary almost to a man, but not even the head of the Inter-Allied Military Commission, who have been studying the Reichswehr, ever since its foundation, ca«i foretell if, in a sudden trial, the men would stand by, the Republic to which they have sworn allegiance, or would follow their officers into tho Monarchist camp and establish the Empire again by force of arms.

This uncertainty, a.nd the knowledge that a proclamation of tho Monarchy in Germany would be instantly followed by French occupation of the Ruhr, have hitherto made the conspirators cautious, but they mean to make the attempt yet.