Evening star., 1946-09-06

most certain to develop unless there
is q common financial policy di-
rected to the control of imitation.
A program Of drastic fiscal reform
to reduce currency and monetary
claims, to revise the debt structure
and to place Germany on a sound
financial basis Is urgently required.
The United States has worked
hard to develop such a program,
but fully co-ordinated measures
must be accepted and applied uni
formly to all zones If runious In
flation Is to be prevented. A cen
trail agency Of finance is obviously
necessary to carry out any such
program effectively.
Other Unifications Required.
1t Is also essential that trans
portation, communications and
postal services should be organized
throughout Germany without regard
to zonal barriers. The nationwide
organization of these public serv-
ices was contemplated by the Pots
dam Agreement. IL months have
passed and nothing has been done.
Germany needs all the food she can
produce. Before the war she could
not produce enough food for her
population. The area Of Germany
has been reduced. The population
in Silesia, for instance, has been
forced back into q restricted Ger
many. Armies Of occupation and
displaced persons increase demands,
while the lack of farm machinery
and fertilizer reduce supplies. To
secure the greatest possible produc-
ton OF food and most effective use
and distribution of food that can
be produced, a central administra-
tive department for agriculture
should be set up and allowed to
function without delay.
Similarly, there Is urgent need for
the setting up of a central German
administrative agency for industry
and foreign trade. While Germany
must be prepared to share her coal
and steel with the liberated coun-
tries Of Europe dependent upon
these supplies, Germany must be
enabled to use her skills and her
energies to increase her industrial
production and to organize the most
effective use of her raw materials.
Germany must be given a chance
to export goods In order to import
enough to make her economy self
sustaining. Germany is a part Of
Europe and recovery in Europe, and
particularly in the adjoining states,
will be slow indeed If Germany. with
her great resources of iron and coal,
is turned into poorhouse.
Self-Government Not Denied.
When the ruthless Nazi Dictator
ship was forced to surrender uncon-
ditionally, there was no German
government with which the Allies
could deal. The Allies had tempo
rarily to take over the responsible
ties of the battered German state.
which the Nazi dictatorship had cut
on from any genuine accountability
to the German people. The Allies
could not leave the leaders or min
ions OF Naziism in key positions,
ready to reassert their evil influence
at first opportunity. They had to 20.
But 1t never was the intention Of
the American Government to deny
to the German people the right to
manage their own internal affairs
as soon as they were able to do In a
democratic way, with genuine re-
spect for human rights and funda-
mental freedoms.
The Potsdam Agreement, conclud-
ed only q few months after the sur
render, bound the occupying powers
to restore local self government and
to introduce elective and representa-
tive principles into the regional, pro-
vincial and state administration as
rapidly Is was consistent with mill
tary security and the purposes OF
the military occupation.
The principal purposes Of the
military occupation were and are to
demilitarize and denazify Germany,
but not to raise artificial barriers
to the efforts Of the German peo-
pie to resume their peacetime eco
nomic life.
Building Of Democracy Required.
The Na1 war criminals were
to be punished for the suffering
they brought TO the world. The
policy Of reparations and indus
trial disarmament prescribed In the
Potsdam Agreement was to be car
ried out. But the purpose Of the
occupation did not contemplate q
prolonged alien dictatorship Of Ger