18 OCTOBER 1930, Page 2

If this sort of pogrom is to be characteristic of

German Fascism, there could not possibly be a worse sign. Herr Hitler; however, has discreetly repudiated all respon- sibility. He says that his Party is highly disciplined, and that any Fascists who behaved as the crowds behaved on Monday would be punished. He puts the blame entirely on the Communists, who, he says, have acted as agents provocateurs. On the other hand, the police are satisfied that all the persons they arrested were Nazis, or sympathizers with the Nazi movement. The tide of nervousness in France naturally flows in response to the fatal attractive forces of these German portents. Besides the Nazis there is the Stahlhelm, whose recent parades showed it to be more efficient than was supposed. This is the force supporting the more old- fashioned German Nationalism. Meanwhile, it is at least a favourable symptom that some outside observers are quietly convinced of the ability of German reason to pull the country through. The United States has just lent Germany £25,000,000. Dr. Bruning will be greatly helped by this money. It will make it practicable for him to redeem the large floating debt, and the value of the mark ought also to improve.

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