Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1919 — The Only Way in Which Germany Can Be Made Truly Safe for Democracy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Only Way in Which Germany Can Be Made Truly Safe for Democracy

By BARTOW A. ULRICH

The friends of German democracy in the United States, especially the descendants of the heroes of 1848, who have recently been actively engaged in directing the thought of the Germans in this country to a proper understanding of the fundamental principles of our representative democracy, should now assist in every way possible to establish a real republic in Germany. Those previously classed as pro-German should now show their love for the fatherland by using their influence in Germany toward building up a republican form of government to replace the former empire, now

liberated from autocratic leaders. German-speaking lawyers and statesmen and other prominent Germans who are familiar with our system of government should be sent by the United States to ifssist the democratic leaders in the reconstruction of a government on a republican basis like that of the United States or Switzerland. The Germans should not attempt some new method, like of socialism, which has not been tried. The present government of Germany, in nominal control, has ordered an election on January 19, 1919, to elect by universal suffrage delegates to a constitutional assembly, to make the constitution for the federal government comprising the twenty-five existing states. Unless Hindenburg’s present army can be relied upon to protect the •convention which is to be assembled, effort should be made to enlist a republican army, composed of those loyal to the proposed new government, which will protect the delegates while working out a new republic. The people in Germany need strong, well-informed republican leaders, •capable of joining together under one banner intelligent, clear-headed citizens. They need their support in establishrng-this new system of government, patterned after the United States’ or Switzerland, which has already been tested and found satisfactory. The autocratic rulers formerly controlling Germany are watching 'the outcorneof the movement and secretly aiding in fomenting discord among the different parties, expecting eventually to step suddenly forward and seize the reins of government under the plea of maintaining order. In this way they will claim it is necessary for them to re-establish the old autocratic system of force to maintain a monarchical government. The transformation to a republic can take place quicker and with less friction in Germany than in Russia, as the mass of the German people are better educated and more suited for self-government—The more rational and intelligent middle class will be able to control th& extreme socialistic element and eradicate or overpower bolshevism and keep control of the state governments. The bolsheviki do not understand the fundamental principles of the science of government and are not able to formulate a practical working constitution and establish a state which would be recognized by other modern governments.