Evening star., 1945-12-09

S1SAAo "AAo 1ldtC UCGH dSSOClaJeO
with the Control Council and oppose
the course suggested in the Draper
Hoover report, for instance, have told
the writer that four basic points of
view influence Interpretation of the
Potsoam declaration. They are inclined
10 lst nrst not the temptation which
may come to an American to serve
seiflshly German financial interests
which are also his interests or the
kindred group committed by their busi-
ness backgrounds to the support of
monopolies and cartels but simply the
native American quality of trying to do
a good job, according to American
standards.
Would Leave "a Little Fire"
Maj. Gen. John H. Hilldring, director
OF the Civil Affairs Division of the War
Department, acknowledges that diff
Guilty. In his testimony before the Xii.
gore committee he said:
L think it is natural for a soldier
to want the outfit he has under his
charge to be highly efficient according
10 our standards, and we are going to
nave to reckon with that as part of the
human nature of the soldier and be
on the alert and contend with it. The
Army IN this business is little in the
position OF the fire department that is
told to go to the fire and not put it
completely out, and We recognize that
| point"
Yet, by the statement of both mill
tary and civilian attaches of the Con-
troll Council who have recently been
In washington, American Military Gov
| ernment in Germany has been reluc-
tant Ito put the fire completely out"
They think of things in terms of what
| we are accustomed to in the United
| States and not in terms of the minimum
| tnat Germany can get along with" one
OF these informants told the writer.
| third element in the situation rep
resents those who fear Russia more
than Germany, and want Germany re-
| built as bulwark in Central Europe
| against Communism.
Fourth may be listed those who take
| 'buslnessman's view of the situation
that Germany must pay the cost of her
occupation and can do so only by re-
building her industry,
| Russian Would Limit Size.
illustrative OF the opposing viewpoints
OF the Allies is their failure so far tn
agree on Russian proposal for defn-
ing excessive concentration of economic
! power IN Germany, or on any substitute
Tor the Russian proposal. Russian rep
resentatlves wanted specific defini-
ton, suggesting as excessive any busi-
ness which employs more than 5000
persons and is capitalized at more than
25,0OO,OO0 reichsmarks ts10,00O, 900 at
the Old Official rate of exchange.
United States representatives coun-
tered with much less specific pro-
gram The British didn't like even that.
and compromise was evolved. setting
out long list of factors to be con-
Sloered in determining whether any
enterprise represented an excessive"
concentration of economic power. Now
the United States representatives are
under instructions from Washington to
draw up law along the lines of the
Russian proposal, but so far as is known
here nothing definite has happened.
| In the British Parliament there has
been increasing criticism of the opera
ton OF the Potsdam declaration, coming
from both Labor and Conservative
benches, on the ground that the penal
ties 1t imposes are too harsh. The
influential London Economist recently
came out fatty with the assertion that
the controls envisaged at Potsdam are
probably impossible under any condi-
tlons." 1t suggested that Germany will
require high degree of industrializa-
tlon to sustain on even a moderate basis
the population which will be crowded
into her reduced borders, and pro-
posed, instead of the controls decreed
at Potsdam, simply the prohibition of
all armaments, from v weapons to
small-arms ammunition.
Would Avoid World War 1 Error.
In the light of these considerations
1t is interesting to recall as former
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Nor
genthau, jr., does in his recent book,
Germany Is Our Problem" how de-
feated Germany, after the first World
War, was permitted and encouraged to
rebuild her industry in order to meet
reparation payments. In Morgenthau's
estimation, we are in danger of making
the same mistake all over again.
Although it differs from Potsdam in
many details, the "Morgenthau plan"
for Germany, which he drew up last
year at the request of President Roose-
velt, Is fairly close approximation of
what was done at Potsdam. He wants
German heavy industry-metals, chem
icals and electric power-destroyed
conversion of the Germans into people
largely agrarian; internationalization
OF the Ruhr, and partition of what
would be left of Germany into two
states. northern and southern.
Yet Morgenthau had not finished
writing his book last August before
our own leaders permitted a partial
revival of these factories"
Hardly were the zones of occupa-
tion formally set" he wrote, than we
began to hear that since Allied troops
we're on German soil, German factories
would be used to supply them"
Baruch Idea Less Drastic.
Bernard M. Baruch, the white haired
adviser Of Presidents, would not 60 so
far as Morgenthau in stripping Ger
many of economic power, and not even
50 far as the stricter interpreters of
Potsdam, but he is displeased with the
way things have gone in the six months
OF Allied occupation of Germany.