Germany and the Young Plan On Wednesday the Reich Electoral
Committee estab- lished the final figures of the recent canvass for the Referendum against the Young Plan. The Government has consequently submitted the Referendum Bill to the Reichstag, acCompanying it with a strong and sound defence of its own attitude of firm opposition. This document explains that a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag will be required, because such a challenge to the ordinary procedure in foreign affairs involves a change in the Constitution. The Referendum is to be held on December 22nd. We do not for a moment expect that twenty million Germans will be cozened by the Nationalists into a declaration which would undermine the whole structure of the Republic. That this is the Nationalist aim was made abundantly clear by Herr Hugenberg at the Party Congress last week, When he appealed for a united " bourgeois " front against the Socialists. The abstention of the powerful " Land group would show, if proof were needed, that this cock will not fight.
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