22 MARCH 1930, Page 3

President Hindenburg and Germany On Thursday, March 18th, President Von

Hindenburg signed the principal Young Plan Bills. The Hague Agreements, the German-American Reparations Agree- ment, and the new Reichsbank and Railway Laws, are, therefore, in force. We cannot let this occasion pass without a word of appreciation for the great soldier- statesman who " with a heavy but a firm heart " has taken the only action consonant with true patriotism. He was plagued by threats and manifestos from hun- dreds of associations and individuals intent upon prevent- ing " the policy of fulfilment." His statement to the nation is an impressive appeal to Germany to look forward, not backward. It was a happy thought, too, to make one direct response to a typical letter from a young students' group. " The very memory of those young. volunteers who died for the Fatherland," he says, " imposes on the new generation the duty to make sacri- fices in order that . . . Germany shall rise again through the diligence and unity of her citizens."

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