The Wilmington morning star., 1946-07-20
Contest Over Germany
BY ANNE o'HARE MCCORMICK

terday that discussions with American au-
thorities in Berlin will begin soon to work
out closer economic relations between the
British and American zones in Germany. This
is the immediate sequel to the statement of
Secretary Byrnes that American military rep
resentatives in Germany will be instructed
this week. to cooperate with any or all OF
the three occupying powers in essential adj
ministrative matters. we will either secure
economic cooperation between the zones,'' he
said, "or We will place the responsibility for
the violation of the Potsoam Agreement"
This is the most important passage in Mr..
Byrnes' report from Paris. 1t is also the sad
dest, and emphasizes the note of sadness that
runs through his frank and somber story of
the difficulties and disappointments of peace
making. In having recourse to what he de-
scribes ss a last resort method to break
the economic paralysis caused by the division
o. Gernany into four closed compartments
the Secretary of Sta:e puts into words and
tentatively into action the 'either-or" policy
every responsible A m i had hoped
against hope to avoid.
The decision of the American Government
to make what arrangements it can with other
governments to open communication between
the occupation zones is no mere political ma
neuver. At the Paris meeting the French, on
condition that the Saar is excluded, agreed
Y tIC -1-Sl lIllC IL lHS BLUSH ana AI16II-
cans to establish central agencies to admins
ter Germany as an economic unit. So now
we have France, heretofore strongly opposed,
reluctantly acquiescing in this policy, and
Russia, At the very moment when Mr.. Molo-
TOW comes out with his resounding pronunci-
amento against the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of a
Reich already dismembered by Soviet in
sistence at Potsdam, blocking it by postpon-
ing consideration of the American proposal.
Unless the Russians can be induced to tall
in, our decision to fulfill the Potsdam pro-
gram as far as possible without them marks,
therefore, a long step toward that permanent
division Of Germany, and hence of Europe,
which the people of the world, and Europe
above ali, view with the greatest dread.
1t is a very serious step. Like all the de-
cisions Of the peace treaties so far, it repre-
sents what seems to be the lesser of two
evils. For what pushes the United States
Britain and probably France to demand a
different control of Germany is that a con-
t%inuation of the present system is impossible.
That is no secret, as Mr.. 3yrnes asserted.
1t was clearly foreseeahle from the start that
a highly integrated country could not be
arbitrarily cut up into four separate states,
each completely walled off from the others
and run on different lines, without making
the task of the administrators intolerably hard
and costly.
This has now been proved. Under present
conditions Germany cannot support herself
even on g 1000 calory belcw-subsistence level
without outside help. She cannot import with
out exporting, or export without manufactur
ing. Mr.. Byrnes argued in Paris that our
zone costs the American taxpayers 5000, 900,
900 a year, and Mr.. Eevin that the British
have 20 pay $500, 900, 600 a year to maintain
their zone. Mr.. Molotov might have responded
that the Rssian zone is not only better fed
because it. is the best agricultural area but
is more industrially productive for two rea-
sons: fist, the Nazis moved more industry
to the east than most outsiders realize and
the plants were less damaged than those in
the Ruhc, and, second. the Russians are. in
their own word, 'activat1ng'' these plants to
the utmost.
Without considering the effect on Germany
Itself, the occupation system has also proved
dangerous to the Allies. Instead of becoming
a means of bringing them together, as every
body fe~rvently hoped, 1t is the chief breeding
place OF suspicion, irritation and rivalry. This
tension a. the center distur bes the atmosphere
OF the whole continent just as the economic
stagnatlon is a drag on every plan for re-
ard reconstruction.
The Ruhr is typical. Mr.. Molotov dealt a
shattering blow to French policy when he de-
clared that the Soviet Union was opposed to
tAe uSldCIIileHI VI luS huQr ana Rnlneldnd
from Germany. He raised the terrifying
Specter that Russia m light choose to use Ger
many rather than carry out the pact with
France, which de Gaulle and Bdault have
so much to secure.
Not to internationalize the Ruhr while in
ternationalizing Trieste is the climax OF in
consistency. Control Of the Ruhr never seemed
so vital as now, when the subnormal output
OF coal - due as much to the four-zone oc-
as to the immense destruction in
this area-demonstrales the extent to which
all Europe is dependent on it's production.
The reason Mr.. Byrnes and Mr.. Bevin are So
that conditions cannot 60 on as they
are is that they threaten catastrophe to all
Of Europe The Western powers have been
put in the position of defending themselves
against. Russia!-from a charge of seeking a
peace OF vengeance. In a Germany inevitably
but with startling rapidly transformed into
a political battlefield, they are now endeavor-
ing to take the offensive 1t is another test,
more definite and more crucial than former
try-outs. We move from showdown to show
down nome final as yet, hut each helping to
shape the ultimate decision for which military
victory merely paved the way.-New York