Der Tag

Stroking his jowls with a quiet gesture of satisfaction, Chancellor Heinrich Bruening made his way out of the oblong chamber of the Reichstag one day last week, strode back to his office through a swarm of Deputies and lobbyists who proffered congratulations.

One year ago exactly Herr Bruning came to power comparatively unknown (TIME, April 7, 1930) except as a protege of old Paul von Hindenburg. Last week he stood at the German zenith. He had just put through an unpopular budget against hot opposition, ahead of time. He had forced the niggling Reichstag to dissolve until October. And he had fashioned a sharp spit on which to cook the goose of Adolf Hitler, "the pocket Mussolini."

For Henrich Bruning Der Tag was a great anniversary.

Scared Socialists. Six months ago the electoral victories of Fascist Hitler and the march of his 107 brown-shirted deputies into the Reichstag seemed to doom the Bruning Cabinet to the fate of Humpty Dumpty.

A working majority could be found in the new Reichstag by the Chancellor only if the Socialists would support him--and they hated the thought, he being a conservative.

With great skill and some luck Herr Bruning softened the Socialists' hate of himself by exciting their fear of the Fascists. He pointed out that the fall of his Cabinet would mean dissolution of the Reichstag. This, with the brownshirt star then so definitely in the ascendant, would mean Fascist gains and Socialist losses. Upon reflection, the Socialists decided to support hated Herr Bruning "temporarily." Month by month he has slowly consolidated that support. The budget was the test.

The budget passed last week is a great budget. It incorporates most of the retrenchments, many of the reforms which Germany has delayed adopting for years. But the budget is also a Hindenburg budget. It provides loans and relief for the farmers of East Prussia, that "hard luck province" cut off from the rest of Germany by the Polish Corridor which enjoys the particular sympathy of Old Paul, himself a Prussian.

Finally the budget provides for building a second super-cruiser like the famed Ertsatz Prcussen (TIME, Nov. 26, 1928). As pacifists, the Socialists stomached this hateful appropriation only when Finance Minister Hermann Dietrich consented to find the money by doubling the German surtax, i.e. poor Socialist workmen who naturally pay no surtax (a luxury of the rich) will not pay one pfennig toward the new war boat.

On the final budget ballot the Bruning Cabinet triumphed by the overwhelming vote of 227 to 64. Almost weepy with relief, Herr Dietrich exclaimed:

"We have got by this fearful winter! There is no longer any doubt that the central and state governments can maintain complete order. Confidence in this fact is the basis for the revival in our industry" (German stocks & bonds were upping as he spoke).

Again Bismarck. To crush every challenge to his power Chancellor Bruning, as soon as the Reichstag adjourned, went straight to his patron and got Old Paul to sign the most drastic decree ever issued by a German President.

Under this decree:

1) The so-called "fundamental rights" of personal liberty granted by the German Constitution are suspended.

2) The Government is empowered to disperse any meeting, censor any newspaper or stop any public utterance which it chooses to term "seditious."

3) This is carried to the extreme of permitting the Government to suspend entirely any offending newspaper for periods up to eight weeks; and before a public meeting the police are empowered to demand the written text of every speech that is to be made.

Prince Bismarck at his proudest possessed no more power. It was evident last week that Germany again has an "Iron Chancellor." Soon both Fascists and Communists will feel the gag.

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