ERZBERGER’S FALL. MINISTER’S CAREER OVER. EXPOSURE OF CORRUPTION.

From Our Special Correspondent. Berlin, Wednesday.

Herr Erzberger’s ministerial career is finished. It is assumed, both on the Right and the Left, and though the papers of the government parties pretend to dispute it, their resignation is audible through their half-hearted protests and tepid apologies. For the present, his administration of the national finances is merely “suspended at his own request” till the mystery of his taxation returns is cleared up. It is that, and not the accumulated evidence in his libel action against Dr Helfferich, which has been the direct and immediate pretext of his retirement behind the curtain. For the Conservatives have published the facsimiles of these declarations, which seem quite incompatible with his admissions on the witnessstand. The documents were extracted from the confidential archives of the Commissioners of Taxes, and duly returned to their dockets after being photographed. Such manipulation can have been possible only through a gross breach of official faith, and Erzberger’s defenders – it might be an overstatement to speak of his friends – make a great show of righteous indignation over this subornation of corruption by the Conservatives. However, the effect is produced, by their sanctimonious objurgations at a time when it has almost become a prescriptive right to kill a man if you very strongly object to his political views. The essence of the matter is whether the returns are genuine, and as to that there seems to be little doubt. Unquestionably, they will need a good deal of explaining away. It is all very well for the ordinary mortal to put an extreme strain on the elasticity of his conscience when dealing with the taxgatherers, but it is quite another matter for a finance minister, who is continually preaching the duty of fulfilling pecuniary obligations to the state up to the utmost farthing to follow the course which Herr Erzberger took.

AN IMPOSSIBLE PERSON.

But even should he clear himself on this point, and resume his ministerial functions, it will not be for long. The hearing of the charges against Helfferich has already rendered Erzberger impossible. The formal verdict counts for very little. It hardly matters whether the particular statements which formed the basis of the charge were true or not. What does matter is whether Erzberger’s public, political and private pecuniary affairs were interwoven in such a way as to give one another mutual support and strength. And that they were so interwoven has been proved up to the hilt. The evidence has been a vivid characterisation of the prosecutor, and has supplied a key to his strange and interesting political career. It has displayed all the amazing application and the astounding industry of this phenomenal busybody. There seems to have been hardly any branch of business in which Erzberger did not try his luck. In nearly every case he figured as the influential parliamentarian and party chief, who could command the ear of ministers and the obsequience of heads of departments. He ran about from one government office to another, fetching a permit here, a concession there, and an indulgence somewhere else. Generally, there was some sort of patriotic or benevolent colouring about all the enterprises with which he was mixed up, but, on the other hand, there was also profit; not, as a rule, of a superlative character, it is true, but profit none the less.

RESULTS OF ECLIPSE.

Thoroughgoing pessimists say that Erzberger’s combination of politics and business was far from exceptional, and that at least a score of parliamentarians were much more deeply involved than he in such transactions. That is perhaps, nay, probably, true. But then, they were not Erzbergers. The immediate consequences of his eclipse will be imperceptible. He is in no way indispensable to the government. Equally capable finance ministers are to be had by the dozen in the Behrenstrasse. In fact, the cabinet might conceivably gain momentarily in prestige by shaking off its most unpopular member. On the other hand, the remoter consequences of his departure might be very considerable. The gradual development which has made possible a coalition between parties so fundamentally irreconcilable as the Centre and the Socialists has been mainly his work. The close of his term of utility coincides with a strong reflex movement towards the Right, which is at least as pronounced among the Catholics as it is among the socalled Protestants. When once he is no longer dominant in the party counsels it will be much easier for the Centre to find its way back to its old allies, the Conservatives and National Liberals.