GERMANY NEEDS NO DICTATOR-VON OY

Mr. France Von Oy, Sp. G.B., who is now at the University studying economic conditions in America as compared to conditions in Germany, has written the following article for the Crimson on the possibility of a dictatorship in Germany.

Many different circles in Germany are now circulating rumors regarding an impending dictatorship in Germany. The sources which start these rumors are for the most part politicians and business men and especially landlords and proprietors in the East. All of these sources have more or less identical attitudes in politics. In the midst of the difficult economical problems with which Germany has been confronted throughout the past year, and which the Nationalists were powerless to cope with, there has now arisen a fairly general demand for a "strong man" whom it is hoped might be able to stop the downward movement, the increase in bankruptcies and unemployment.

Economic Depression Acute

The right wing of the German government has never trusted the Parliamentary system very much and has hoped to cut down on the powers of Parliament and to increase the powers of the President and the state officials. It is natural that times of emergency should make louder and more general the call for a dictator. The acuteness of the prolonged economic crisis has made even many a Chamber of Commerce and farmer organization call for a wirtschaftdietatur. It is in the agricultural and business fields that the need for a dictator is most pressing.

The crisis through which Germany is now passing is substantially the same as that which came to a head in America, England, Japan and all countries with a steady currency in 1920 and 1921. Prices do not fall as they should in order to correspond to the purchasing power of the consumers and to start a new economic development on a lower price level. Much of the credit recently granted as working capital is still misused to sustain the high prices. Too much of the small amount of available working capital has been invested in very old or very new plants and has become worthless. But the cleaning up process, the exclusion of weak, newly founded enterprises seems to be nearly finished. The export surplus in December together with the reawakening of the international money market is one of the best signs of a slowly recovering economic situation. Even if this recovery should fail to become a lasting

one, the great majority of the German people have not the naive optimism to be live that a single man can take over the difficult task and responsibility, which the representative government has failed until now to fulfill.

Sounds Optimistic Note

It was not Parliament as an institution that failed, but it was the policies of the leading parties and more than that the magnitude of the task which Germany had to face, while Russia has fallen into Bolshevism, Italy into Fascism, and France is verging on a dictatorship, Germany has succeeded in maintaining her stability and order. The chief task of the new government, Chancellor Luther has stated, will be to overcome the present economic crisis. If it succeeds there will be no dictatorship, but if it does not succeed, there might come temporary experiment of "Wartschafiadiktatur", but it would be a passing one