Rejoicing Traitors

Germans who committed political crimes or acts of treason between Nov. 9, 1918 and Dec. 1, 1924 rejoiced exceedingly last week. The six-year period thus delimited was the era of attempted putsches to restore the Hohenzollerns, the period when "Separatists" in the Rhineland agitated to set up a Rhineland Republic. Last week the German Reichstag with a stately gesture wiped this huge, dirty slate clean, declared a general amnesty for the benefit of persons so fortunate as to have committed their political crimes or treasons between the dates specified.

Exception: the assassins of Cabinet Ministers. This exception was especially inserted to prevent the return to Germany of great Matthias Erzberger's assassins, Schultz and Tillessen who, after murdering him on Aug. 26. 1921 escaped to Hungary. It was Herr Erzberger who signed the terms of Armistice handed him by Marshal Foch and became undeservedly "The Best Hated Man in Germany." As Chancellor of the Exchequer directly after the War, he wrested his country's railways from the numerous German states, established and coordinated the national railway of the Reich, today a model of speed and punctuality.

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