The Times News

DICTATORSHIP VS. JUDICIARY

Signs continue to multiply that the Nazis, who hail their movement as a revolution, are laying the foundations for a future revolution, which in the very nature of things may not be as lacking of the bloody features of most revolutions as the present overturning.

The latest and most radical movement yet undertaken or proposed by the Nazis is the abolition of all court authority to hear appeals from the arbitrary acts of the rulers.

Dr. Hoche, counselor of the Reich Ministry of the Interior, declared in a recent issue of the German Jurists' Journal, that "review by any judicial authority of political acts of the state or important acts of the government is unthinkable in the National Socialist State."

He declares also that this principle "must already be considered valid law, although it is not yet put down in paragraphs."

And he says "the National Socialist revolution itself is the source of law, with immediate application."

Perhaps the most significant thing in this whole statement is the definite application of this principle in plain words to the arbitrary imprisonment of any persons whom the government desires to put out of the way. There is now no judicial authority to prevent abuse of this power.

Two Catholic priests were sent to prison Saturday because they dared to mildly criticize Hitler.

The implications of this "principle" are startling. And the possibilities of revolution, even bloody revolution, when the German people begin to resent being made mere puppets for the exploitation of a political idea, are impressive.—The Rock Hill (S. C.) Herald.