Tuesday, July 15, 1930

Berlin:  President Paul von Hindenburg announces he will refuse to attend Rhine liberation celebrations in Prussia, because of that state’s ban on the nationalist Stahlhelm paramilitary, of which Hindenburg is the honorary president.  Hindenburg still plans to attend celebrations in Hessian and Bavarian cities.

Meanwhile, maneuvers in the Reichstag are getting tense over the taxation proposals of Finance Minister Hermann Dietrich.  Chancellor Heinrich Bruening again threatens to invoke Article 48 of the German constitution and enact Dietrich’s taxation measures by emergency decree if the Reichstag doesn’t approve them.  That threat – especially in view of President Hindenburg’s demonstrated willingness to play hardball (relative to Prussia) -- is enough to get one of Dietrich’s proposals through: an income tax increase.  Even so, the nationalists, communists and nazis vote against it.

 

Meanwhile, beer sales have plummeted as a result of the tax on alcoholic beverages.  Sales are down 20%, which just about offsets the 10-20% price increase resulting from the tax.  Bavarians are buying across the border in Czechoslovakia.

 

Helsinki:  President Lauri Relander dissolves the diet and calls for new elections after legislators fail to pass (for the second time this month) a constitutional amendment outlawing communist organizations.  Relander and Prime Minister Pehr Svinhufvud reportedly hope new elections will produce a parliament that will pass the amendment.