Evening star., 1947-04-15
By the Associoied Press

MOSCOW. April 15.-Secretary
of State Marshall today rejected
as out of place Soviet Foreign
Minister Molotov's proposal for
amending the American-pro-
posed Big Four treaty for dis
arming Germany.
Gen. Marshall asked Mr.. Molotov
whether he was willing to name
negotiators for the kind of treaty
the United States seeks.
Recalling that British Foreign
Secretary Bevin and French For
eign Minister Bidault had agreed
yesterday in principle to such a
pact and to naming negotiators for
it, Gen. Marshall told the Council
OF Foreign Ministers.
I should like to know whether
the Soviet delegation is willing to
refer this matter to plentipotenti-
aries for negotiation on the basis
which the United States proposed .
Treaty First Basic Step.
Yesterday we discussed the
United States proposal for a four
power treaty to assure the continu-
ing OF disarmament and demilitari-
zation of Germany" Gen. Marshall
said. 1--WE have proposed that treaty
as a first step and a basic step. AS
the first step it would dispel the
fear which is never a wise counselor
AS bisic step it was simple and
limited to one concrete thing
namely, preventing the rearmament
OF Germany"
There are many aspects to the
German settlement" Gen. Marshall
said. THE four-power pact is not
intended to deal with all of these.
We have not so represented it. If
there are any illusions about this,
they are not of our own creation.
But a first and basic step should be
directed against one thing which
can be identified and which is most
feared, namely, the military re-
armament Of Germany.
1T has been suggested that the
purpose of the four power treaty
should be amended to deal with a
great mass of other subjects, such
as the permanent regime for the
Ruhr, the denaziication of Ger
many, the democratization of Ger
many, the accomplishment of land
reforms, the collection of repara-
tions, the elimination of cartels and
so forth.
Have No Place in Treaty"
"All these matters must be dealt
with by the control council in the
ultimate peace settlement. To deal
with them in the four-power treaty
which we propose would be to alter
the scope and purpose of that treaty.
Such amendments have no place in
the kind of treaty proposed.
Such provisions have no more
place in the proposed treaty than
in the series of bilateral treaties
against German aggression which
have been negotiated by the Soviet
Union, all of which are simple and
none of which contain any such
provision as the Soviet Union now
proposes for the four-power treaty.
"The pT--oosal. in our opinion,
would usu- ,, for four of us, peace
treaty powers which belong to the
Allied Nations as a whole.
To-day I put the inquiry as to
whether the other three powers here
are prepared in principle, I repeat
IN principle, to negotiate quickly a
treaty of the character suggested by
the United States whereby the four
of us will undertake to keep Ger
many disarmed That question,
understand, has been answered in
the affirmative by France and the
United Kingdom. L should like to
know whether the Soviet Union
delegation is willing to refer this
matter to plenipotentiaries for ne
gotiation on the basis which the
United States proposed
Interested in Rome Report.
Gen. Marshan's advisers were re-
ported much interested in a diplo-
matte report from Rome quoting
a Communist paper (said to be
| L Unita) to the effect that the Big
Four disarmament treaty would be
a bad thing because it would keep
the United States fingers in Euro
pean affairs for the next 40 or so
years.
This has been called to Gen. Mar
(See MOSCOW, Page A-4.)