"Brief, Appropriate"

At Potsdam 74-year-old General Cixt von Arnim opened proceedings incident to the unveiling of a War monument, as follows: "I have the high honor, which His Majesty the Emperor and King entrusted to me, to dedicate this memorial to the Guard Regiment of the Empress Augusta Victoria. . . . The chief duty for us all is the fulfillment of our duty and loyalty to the articles of war and the oath to the flag which we swore to His Majesty."

The General then unveiled the monument, revealing a fallen soldier with a clenched fist, and the inscription in Latin: "From our bones will arise an avenger."

A troop of the German Reichswehr was officially present. President von Hindenburg in full war regalia arrived by motor a few moments later. After a representative of the sometime Kaiser had placed a wreath on the memorial, the President did likewise with the words: "Your blood shall and will never be shed in vain."

Then, in company with Prince Oscar of Prussia, von Hindenburg reviewed not only the Reichswehr company but a parade of "Fatherland Societies," which are both militaristic and monarchistic. When someone inquired whether as President of a republic, he was not lending himself too much to a monarchistic demonstration, he pointed to the fact that his automobile did not bear the Presidential standard. That omission indicated that the Herr President, in the uniform of a Feldmarschall, was "participating unofficially."

For the Republican newspapers this was too much. Why, they wanted to know, had Defense Minister Gessler allowed the Reichswehr to participate, if the unveiling was "unofficial"? Herr Gessler declared that a formal pledge was given him that the ceremony would be nonpolitical, and stuck to that alibi. Said the Socialist sheetlet Vorwaerts: "The monument was unveiled in the name of William II. The President of the Reich gave the representative of William II precedence, and participated in a ceremony at which the Reichswehr was incited to a breach of its oath. The game of Feldmarschall-today-and -tomorrow -President serves neither Hindenburg the man nor his high office."

The monarchist Press, for once, spoke softly. Minimizing the episode as much as possible, they suppressed General von Arnim's speech; spoke of it as "a brief and appropriate address."