Presidential Campaign

Nominations were closed for this year's second Presidential election. Candidates :

Ex-Chancellor Wilhelm Marx ... Republican

Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg ... Pro-Monarchist

Pro-Monarchist Stevedore Herr Ernst Thaelmann..Communist

Considerable propaganda was circulated in Germany and abroad, mostly against the candidacy of Von Hindenburg, and it seemed evident that domestic and international pressure was being brought to bear to prevent the election of the 78-year-old soldier.

The main speech of Herr Marx was at Berlin and was characterized by a total lack of personal criticism aimed at Von Hindenburg. The chief point in his speech was the nailing of the Austrian Union plank to the Republican platform. The union of Germany and Austria has for 100 years been the dream of German Imperialists and, with Austria allegedly no longer able to subsist in its present shadow of its former self, the dream has come within an ace of reality. The main obstacle is Czecho-Slovakia, although there is considerable, but not insuperable, opinion against the move in Austria. However, Herr Marx's plank was received with wild joy and termed a courageous dictum.

Field Marshal von Hindenburg's most important speech was made at Hanover. For 90 minutes, he stood with evident fatigue, while thousands of roaring Monarchists marched by, some goose-stepping it. His speech, which lasted for 15 minutes, was moderate and uninteresting. He refrained from attacking anybody but deprecated the distortionate propaganda that had been circulated about him. He called for German unity, voiced a determination that through peaceful means Germany would be steered to her place in the sun, scored "the blatant falsehoods about military reaction having inspired my candidacy."