Evening star., 1946-11-17
Single Pacts
MayBeAsked
Roosevelt Plan B Saw
Separate Treaties
as Alternative
By Constantine Broom

BY strange turn of fate, it now
seems possible that Republican Com
gress may put into effect Franklin D.
Roosevelt's plan B" which provides for
the conclusion of separate peace treaties
with enemy nations, in the event the
u. S. S. r. maintains an adamant atti-
tude.
The present meetings of the Big Four
Foreign Ministers Council are kept
moderately secret. While little is re-
ported about the arguments which are
taking place in the Council rooms at the
Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York,
the principal American representatives
are not concealing from the public their
dissatisfaction at the slow progress being
made.
The Paris Conference has approved
peace terms for Italy, Finland and the
German satellites in the Balkans These
are as good and fair as could be ex-
pected. But there is as yet no indication
that these drafts will be adopted by the
supreme authority-the Big Four Foreign
Ministers Council, where Russia holds
the veto power.
When Secretary of State Byrnes left
Washington for New York two weeks
ago he expressed the hope that by
November 20 the Council would tackle
the much more complex and difficult
problem of peace treaty with Germany
Some of Mr.. Byrnes' associates attend
ing the New York meetings say now
that the Secretary has indicated the
day and the month when these negotia-
tions will start, but has neglected to
say what year. Judging from the slow
progress on matters which already have
been clarified by the vote of the vast
majority of the participants at the
Paris Peace Conference, it may take
another couple of years before Moscow
is willing to start serious discussions
for treaty with the Reich.
Germany Presents Thorny Problem.
While discussions with the govern
ments of Italy, the Balkan satellites and
Finland were easy, there is no question
that Germany presents number of
very thorny problems. There Is no
national government in the Reich, not
even puppet government as installed
by the Russian authorities in Romania,
Bulgaria and Hungary.
Furthermore, there is that secret
Teheran agreement entered into by
President Roosevelt and Prime Ministers
Churchill and Stain which provided
that the eastern borders of the Reich
would remain the same as they were
in August 1889. This agreement is
purported to have been verbal, since it
was based on the mutual confidence of
the three Allies
Since the fall of 1943 many things
have changed and the Russians are now
in military occupation of East Prussia
Saxony and Thuringia, while the Mos
cow-sponsored government has taken
over Silesia and Poznan.
At the Potsdam Conference, President
Truman and Secretary Byrnes reminded
Stain and Foreign Minister Molotov of
the Teheran agreements. The Russians
did not deny that the question of Ger
many's postwar borders had been taken
into consideration in the fall of l943,
and explained that the presence of their
troops in areas far beyond the German
borders was due to military necessity.
They were unwilling, however, to go
further into the discussion of the prob
/ lem
In the meantime the German popula-
ton in the Russian and Polish occupied
areas has become minority represent
ing fewer than 20 per cent of the in
habitants on We day. This factor may
be taken as basis by the Russians for
reconsidering the pledges they gave at
Teheran not to dismember pre-Munich
Germany. 4
Speech Rouses Hostile Comment.
In his Stuttgart speech last summer
Secretary Byrnes clearly indicated that
this country wants denazified, pro-
gressive and democratic Germany to
rise from the ashes of Hitler's Reich. He
mentioned the importance to Europe
of Germanys economic and industrial
resurrection. But he also favored taking
necessary safeguards to prevent her
from ever becoming an aggressor nation.
Mr.. Byrnes' speech was received un-
favorably in Moscow and was the target
of outright hostile comment in Warsaw.
The press and radio comments in to-
talitarian countries are a more impor-
tant manifestation of the policies of the
government than some of the speeches
Of their diplomats. The severe critA
cism to which Mr.. Byrnes' statement of
policy was subjected in both the U. S.
S. r. and Poland is clear indication
that the road to peace in regard to
Germany will be hard and tortuous.
According to the few who were ION the
inside" at the various Big Three confer
ences since Teheran, President Roose-
Velt was not entirely confident that
Stains word was as good as his bond.
Within few weeks after the Teheran
love feast, certain developments took
place. Some were just storm in tea
cup-such as the accusation from Mos
cow on the basis of report from Cairo
that the British government was sending
peace feelers to Germany. Others were
more important and indicated that Rus
sia was determined to gain world pre-
ponderance after the war.
All these incidents-the majority
never reached the public either in this
country or abroad-were brought to the
attention of President Roosevelt by
the few who maintained their inde-
pendence Of judgment. They told him |
that the Russians would give us trouble |
after Germany was defeated and that |
the entire naaao etr Co., .s.I~;.l.