Stresemann at Work

Foreign Minister Stresemann has been called "The German Lloyd George." Both men are admired by their friends for possessing an "adroitness" which their enemies describe by another term. Last week Herr Stresemann made certain "highly confidential statements" to a group of newspapermen at Dresden. Later he denied the versions which "leaked out" in newspapers favorable to him, and was generally considered to have been fortunate in being misquoted.

Alleged Statements which Herr Stresemann denied:

1) "Mr. Austen Chamberlain, the British Foreign Minister, assured me at Locarno that England's entire naval and land forces would be at Germany's disposal if France should dare to cross our frontier with the Locarno Treaties in effect."*

2) "When Herr Schiele was forced by the Nationalists to resign from the Cabinet, as a protest against the Locarno treaties, he broke down and sobbed on bidding us, his fellow ministers, goodbye. Previously, when asked if he approved of the Locarno Pacts, he answered with a loud and joyous Ja!"+-

3) "One of the reasons why the evacuation of Cologne is being delayed is that officers in the Rhineland decisively refuse to take over the French officers' apartments at Wiesbaden. The French officers live like swine, and their quarters reek with filth."

The Situation. Herr Stresemann and Dr. Luther were admittedly hard pushed last week to find means for securing ratification of the Locarno Pacts by the Reichstag. "The United Patriotic Societies" (a powerful group of die-hard Nationalists) adopted a resolution condemning the Pacts as "unacceptable, because they imply voluntary recognition of the Treaty of Versailles by Germany." The Council of Ambassadors+-+- at Paris hedged at setting a definite date for the evacuation of Cologne, and much as he wished to do so Herr Stresemann could not give "proofs" that the Allies are going to grant the concessions* promised Germany at Locarno.

Herr Stresemann has been employing the radio and every possible agency through which the will of the people may be swayed and made evident. Meanwhile political dicerings continued behind the scenes. The boldest guesses dared not predict in what combination the 14 parties in the German Reichstag will line up before the treaties.

*Mr. Chamberlain was "rumored to be disposed to make no official denial of the remark" last week.

+-Herr Schiele and the Nationalists of course joined Stresemann in branding the statement as false.

+-+-The Allied board charged with directing the fulfillment of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

*No open statement of these concessions has ever been made. They are universally rumored to envision: a speeding up of the evacuation of Cologne; a decrease in the Allied army of occupation; and something approximating self-government for the Sarre Basin.