Hohenzollern Dictator

In the Balkans a monarch must often act with vigor if he expects to stay King, and at Bucharest last week Carol von Hohenzollern suddenly made himself as much a Dictator as was his brother-in-law, the late King Alexander of Yugoslavia, assassinated at Marseille (TIME. Oct. 15, 1934, et seq.). Carol II has long hankered after the absolutism of his Hohenzollern kinsman Wilhelm II. Last week's crisis broke after Premier Octavian Goga received two heavy blows: 1) his entire slate of anti-Semitic decrees was declared unconstitutional; and 2) a brawl in which Goga's own political rowdies, "The Lance Bearers," killed two members of the Nazi-Fascist Iron Guard caused anti-Semite Goga to be deserted by this potent anti-Semite organization.

King Carol's is not a master mind, but His Majesty saw clearly enough that Octavian Goga could no longer conceivably win the Rumanian election scheduled for March. Everyone else in Rumania saw this too, and although only a few thought the King had "planned it that way," none was surprised when Carol II dismissed Premier Goga with curt, characteristic Balkan ruthlessness, abruptly snapping: "I want your resignation!"

Rumania woke up next morning to find its Constitution suspended and all power in the hands of King Carol, who had proclaimed nationwide martial law, replaced the prefects of Rumanian districts with the local military commanders, and ordered all Rumanian citizens having arms or ammunitions to surrender them to His Majesty's Government. In morning papers, Rumanians read that shortly before dawn the Orthodox Church's venerable Patriarch Miron Cristea, 69, had been sworn in by King Carol, 44, as Premier of what His Majesty was pleased to call a "National Concentration Government."

An assortment of six former Rumanian Premiers, few outstanding as national figures and all bitter rivals of each other, were announced to have entered the Cabinet as Ministers without Portfolio--i. e., window dressing for "National Concentration Government." Rumania's second largest political group, the National Peasant Party of famed Dr. Julius Maniu, was not represented. In the windy way of dictators, Carol II proclaimed: "In these stern times only heroic measures can save Rumania. ... I am determined to save it by the single thought of the Fatherland's needs! . . . Along this path we must advance. God help us! Long live Rumania!" The Peasant Party's Dr. Maniu, even though no Rumanian paper could print his words, denounced King Carol for having "assembled a conglomeration of persons . . . which will cover the real executives of the King's will. ... It is a Dictatorship which frankly says it will disregard both the Constitution and Democracy."

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