DRASTIC STEP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 January 1939, Page 5

DRASTIC STEP

DISMISSAL OF DR. SCHACHT VICTORY FOR MORE EXTREME NAZIS. IMPETUS TO EXPENDITURE ON ARMAMENTS. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON. January 21. The Berlin correspondent of the -Daily Telegraph" says that the removal of Dr Schacht is the mos. drastic step toward the further radicalisation of the Nazi regime since the army purge. Taken in conjunction with the replacement of Baron von Neurath by Herr von Ribbentrop as Foreign Minister, it means that Germany's policy will be for unrestricted rearmament, the money for which will be raised by any and every means, regardless of the possibility of financial collapse.

Dr Schacht, with the support of the Finance Minister, was pressing for taxation increases in the hope that it would be possible, to continue to finance the re-armament programme and public works from revenue. Herr Hitler, realising that increases in direct taxation are most unpopular, refused.

Projected cuts in the expenditure on army building were dropped as :: result of pressure from the radicals. Dr Schacht, seeing that it was impossible to carry out his plan, and not wishing to be identified with methods of' which he did not approve, asked to be relieved of his post. The "Daily Telegraph" adds that financial circles believe that Dr Schacht is being retained in the Cabinet to ensure that he remains in Germany. The Berlin correspondent of the “News Chronicle” contends that Dr Schacht’s dismissal is considered to be the first outward sign of the tremendous internal differences in the Nazi Government.

The correspondent says that Dr Funk's first step will be to effect sweeping economies. Other devices to which Dr Schacht was opposed are under consideration. They include a capital levy of 20 per cent, disendowment and confiscation of properties of Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, and the repudiation of foreign debts. ■ The “Manchester Guardian” in a leader, describes Dr Schacht’s dismissal as a victory for the more extreme sections of the Nazi Party. It gives Herr Hitlers younger friends more power and, therefore, means a Germany with fewer restraints. The “Daily Telegraph” reveals that During his recent visit to London, Dr Schacht emphasised that unless the British Government was prepared to give substantial financial assistance to Germany along the lines he suggested, the result would be a victory for the extreme Nazis. ANOTHER DISMISSAL. REICHSBANK VICE-PRESIDENT. BERLIN, January 21. Herr Hitler has dismissed Dr Dreyse, vice-president of the Reichsbank and Dr Muelse, a member of the bank’s directorate. Dr Funk has appointed the 45-year-old Dr Rudouph Brinkmann, secretary to the Economics Ministry, to succeed Dr Dreyse. CAPTAIN WIEDEMANN’S NEW POST. ANOTHER EXTREMIST SUCCESS. BERLIN. January 21. The appointment of Herr Hitler’s Aide-de-Camp, Captain Wiedemann, as Consul-General in San Francisco which is equivalent to a polite paid exile, is regarded here. like Di Schacht's dismissal, as a further victory for the extremists, as Captain Wiedemann was notably moderate and formerly considerably influenced HenHitler's major decisions. The announcement of the appointment coincides with an article by Di Goebbels in the “Voelkischer Beobachter” lashingly declaring that, while the United States lectures Germany on civilisation and liberty, American humaneness expresses itself in lynchings. Its civilisation is marked by rockingpolitical scandals and 11.000.000 unemployed. Dr Goebbels asserts that America’: antagonism toward Nazism has become an affair of high politics. He emphasises that economic measures are a double-edged weapon.