Prussia at any rate will vote under relatively normal conditions,
for the state of emergency was lifted on Tuesday by the 'same type of Presidential decree as had imposed it. The renewed ban on public demonstrations has done its work and the fatalities of the last week-end was comparatively few. Meanwhile the emergence of General von Schleicher into public view is an event of some interest. His broadcast talk on Tuesday evening has attracted attention abroad mainly by its threat of rearmament by Germany if disarmament is rejected by the rest of Europe. But his insistence that he would never allow the Reichswehr to be used as a party instru- ment, and his explicit declaration (before a Reichstag Committee) that it would be invoked unhesitatingly against the Nazis if they attempted to seize power by force, were quite as notable in their relation to Germany's internal situation. There is still every reason to regard the von Papen Government as the last dam raised against the Nazi tide, not as a disguised agent of Nazi policy. But everything is in flux till the election, and what the situation may be after it no German, and certainly no foreigner, can foretell. Neither Herr von Papen nor General Schleicher is likely to relinquish power easily. And they can pretty clearly count on the President's support. * *
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