The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-08-24
BY LOUIS F. KEEMLE

Unlte0 FreSS Stan correspondent
 The inter- Allied fiareup over free elections in eastern Europe looks like good chance to clear the air 1 of vexing political problems which are obstructing the path of world | recovery.
 These problems are not insoluble. l By raising a comparatively minor | issue over Greece, Bulgaria, Roman ia and Hungary, the Big Three may make it possible to tackle the ma jor task of economic reconstruc- | tion with more freedom.
 Indissoluble Factors
 The two questions-political and economic = are inseparable. The more urgent is the economic, for a large part of Europe is under the threat of near-starvation this win- ter. Hunger, cold and unemploy- ment lead toward revolution and an- archy. If, therefore, political bal- ance can be achieved promptly, prospects of physical recovery will be improved.
 The differences between the So- viet Union on the one hand and Great Britain and the United States on the other over the polit- ical structure of Europe are not as vast as they sometimes have been made to seem.
 Russia, above all, wants 6 belt of friendly nations on her western frontiers. The Soviet government Is frankly opposed to any anti-C Com munist states in eastern Europe. At the same time, there is absolutely no evidence that Moscow Is trying to impose Soviet regimes on those countries.
 See Leftast Trend
 Britain and the United States recognize . strong leftist trend in many European countries, but are against seeing the continent divi- ded into an unavoidable combination of states half Communist and half Democratic. Britain herself has vot- ed into power Labor-SocialiSt government, but has no evident fear of rise of Communism either in her own country or her immedi- ate continental neighbors.
 The current dispute is more over procedure than the political prin- ciples involved. All Big Three pow CTS agreed at Potsdam on the de- sirability of free, democratic elec- tions in the recent Axis satellite or liberated countries.
 The United States, Great Britain and France have arranged to send commissions to Greece "to aid in securing the free expression, by se- cret ballot, of the will of the Greek people" Russia has declined to take part, contending that it would be supervision" which would violate sovereignty and interfere with the internal policy of another state.
 Britain and the United States at the same time have refused to rec ognize the validity of the forthcom- ing Bulgarian election on the ground that it has been fixed" by the Georgiev government so that democratic voters will not be free from the fear of force and intimi- dation.
 ROmania Situation
 The situation may be clarified when the Big Three act on King Michael's plea for assistance to Ro- mania in forming a government which will be recognized by the AL lies and able to make a peace treaty. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes also has opened the way to clarifi- cation by disputing Moscow's con- tention that the Allied policy con- stitutes supervision" of such elec- tions. He said the United States does not want to "supervise" the elec- tions but observe them.
 In calling for the admission of four news correspondents to Buda- pest, Hungary, Byrnes suggested that free access of the press to lib- erated countries would do more than anything to ensure fair elec- tions. Byrnes incidentally pointed out that Moscow did not impose censorship on foreign correspond