Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-09-21
WNU Service, 1916 I Street N. w.,
Washington, d. C.

Washington, D. G.
With the fanfare accompanying the
first steps of the occupation Of Japan
now dying on the Pacific breezes,
some hints of the heavy responsible
ties of Uncle Sans European
problems begin to appear.
Already the small nations which
were occupied by the Axis and
whose peoples resisted the Nazi-Fas-
cist yoke are being heard from in
rising chorus of complaint and
criticism against the Allies.
Belgium and Holland are perhaps
loudest in their charges of what they
feel is discrimination against them
In favor of their former enemy
neighbor, but voices are raised as
far away as Greece and Yugoslav-
la, which say that Germany and
Italy should not receive material
assistance on the same basis as the
once-occupied countries.
The charges from Holland are the
most specific. The Netherlands gov
eminent has presented claims for a
share in both the external and in
ternal assets of Germany as repara-
tons. The note handed the Allies
asks for immediate return of loot
now within the occupied zones in
Germany, which the Dutch claim is
listed and identifiable. They say that
parts of their country were stripped
bare of capital and consumer goods;
that some Of the former, such as
machinery, is now being used to the
advantage of the Germans.
In addition to the formal protest,
Col. J. c. A. Faure, deputy chief of
staff of the Netherlands civil affairs
administration, was quoted in Lon
don as saying that the Allied mill
tary governors were playing into
German hands when they prevented
the Dutch, Belgians and French
from retaining Immediately ma
chinery and other property stolen
from them by the Nazi armies.
He said that protests to SHAEF,
while it existed, were fruitless land
when the new child (the British and
American occupation organization)
was born 1t was too young" He ex-
planned it was understandable that
since the Allied commanders in their
respective spheres have their hands
full in creating order out of chaos in
Germany, each wants to do a good
job, and for that reason doesn't want
to lose any material aid that will
help. But that doesn't provide much
comfort for the Dutch or Belgian
farmer who looks across the from
tier and sees German peasant driv-
ing home COW which he swears he
knows is his by its crumpled horn
and the spot on its rump. The same
applies to the factory owner who is
positive his property is turning
wheels in Germany.
Army Aim:
Speed Job
From sources in close touch with
conditions in Germany I heard this
example which pretty well echoes
Dutch explanations but doesn't solve
their problem. For instance: An Al
lied commander moves into a Ger
man town. One of the first things
he wants is light and power. His
men repair the power plant. Later
1t is claimed that the main dynamo
was stolen from Holland. That is
not the commanders affair. Light
ing the town is. His job is to re-
store the place as nearly as possible
to self-supporting community.
But that is not the end, for the
restoration of European economy as
a whole is Of vital importance and
naturally those nations which suf-
fered under the German heel feel
they should have first call on the
sinews of normality, especially
when those sinews were torn from
their body economic by Nazi hands.
On this score there have already
been rumblings of complaint against
the American occupation. Already
the wheels of German factories are
turning in the American zone. The
purpose is to manufacture goods
and provide services required to
keep the occupation forces going and
to supply the minimum needs of the
community.
The Germans have to have shovels
and hoes and rakes if they are to
till their fields and cultivate their
gardens in order to get enough food
to live on. These tools, if made and
sold, would be in competition with
goods the Americans make. But
there are not enough ships to carry
vast supply of such products
across the Atlantic and besides