LUTHER, HANS (1879— ), German statesman, was born in Berlin, on March so, 1879, and studied law in Berlin, Kiel and Geneva. He then entered the local administration service. At first he was stationed in Charlottenburg, and from 1907-13, in the Magistrat in Magdeburg under the former minister of finance, Lenze. In 1913 he was elected secretary to the German and Prussian "Stadtetag." On July 5, 1918, he was elected burgo master of Essen in the Ruhr district. There he gained the reputa tion of being one of the best local administrative officials in the west of Germany. On Dec. 2, 1922, he entered the Cuno cabinet, and became minister of food and agriculture. He retained his post in Essen and, when the French marched into the Ruhr in Jan. 1923, he returned to Essen immediately. There he was the hero of a famous episode. The general commanding the troops marching into Essen wished to speak with the burgomaster at the door of the Rathaus (town hall). Dr. Luther sent a message that he was only to be seen in his office. The order was repeated twice, but at last the general was obliged to give way.
After Cuno ceased to be chancellor, Luther retained his office in the Stresemann cabinet. In Stresemann's second cabinet, he be came minister of finance. As minister of finance, he per formed signal services in stabilising the German currency, and in balancing the budget of the Reich. Dr. Luther kept his office in the Marx ministry which followed, and had a share in the prepa rations for the Conference of London and the conclusion of the Dawes agreement. In the autumn of 1924 he concluded the Dawes loan for Germany. He has himself given an account of his work in restoring the finances of Germany (Feste Mark—solide TVirtschaft, 1924). After the elections in Dec. 1924, Marx, in spite of many endeavours, was not able to form a new cabinet and Luther took over the task in the middle of Jan. 1925. A
cabinet was formed under him, which was the first since the revolution of 1918 to include members of the German National party. Luther carried through a great taxation reform, completed the revaluation legislation, and made a provisional customs tariff which made it possible to commence negotiations for commercial agreements with some prospect of success for German economic life. This economic legislation was accompanied by the Locarno policy initiated by Stresemann with the essential agreement of• Luther, who, as chancellor, was responsible for the conduct of policy as a whole.
At the Conference of Locarno, the German delegation which initialled the clauses of the treaty was led by Luther as chancel lor. After his return from Locarno, the German National party left the Government. In spite of this, the cabinet found a ma jority for the policy of Locarno, and on Dec. 1, 1925, signed the Rhine Pact and the Arbitration Treaties in London, after which it resigned. After tedious Government crises, Luther again re ceived the mandate to form a cabinet. As the Social Democrats forsook the chancellor, there was nothing left but to form a cabi net out of the moderate bourgeois parties. Dr. Luther was not a party politician, and often proclaimed his independence. While in charge of the affairs of the Reich he distinguished himself by extraordinary energy and sober clarity of political judgment, and the German people indubitably made important progress towards reconstruction under his leadership. On May 13, 1926, he resigned his office as chancellor. (See GERMANY.) (F. KLE.)