The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-10
TODAY
and

(Staff Photo,
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II
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for the Allies is how a German
government is to be created by
the Germans. Until they have an
swered that question they AN
not hope to agree on terms which
the German nation will feel con-
strained to accept or that the
Allies can unite in enforcing.
Unfortunately, the Soviet gov
eminent is proposing to have the
Moscow conference postpone and
evade this basic question. Unfor-
tunately, too, the Western powers
are not yet clearly united on their
own position.
The Soviet government, in its
memorandum of Jan. 81. wishes
the Allies to draft a peace treaty
first, and then "When a central
government is established in Ger
many that is recognized as suit
able to accept the above docu-
ment" to discuss it with that Ger
man government. But how is such
a German government to be es-
tablished? How are the Allies to
agree that it is ~"suitable"? Is it
not plain today that if we adopt
this Soviet procedure, we shall
have an exhausting series OF dis
putes over reparations, demilitari-
cation, rehabilitation, frontiers,
ones of occupation, that during
these disputes the condition of Ger
many will deteriorate, that the
pressure to reach any kind of
agreement will override. as it did
IN the cas of Trieste and Istria,
the serious consideration of what
constitutes a good agreement. and
that at, the end, the Allies will be
In a dangerous deadlock over what
is a Suitable" German govern
ment.
We have not been able TO agree
upon a suitable government in
Poland, not to speak of Greece,
Yugoslavia, Iran of China. Unless
we can solve the problem of a suit
able government for Germany at
the beginning the chances are all
against u ever being able to
have anything to say about how if
is eventually solved.
For, once we assent to the Soviet
idea that we must recognize a cen
trail government to discuss and
ratify the peace treaty we shall
find ourselves in hopeless difficult
ties. If this government is ap-
pointed by the Allies it will be a
puppet government, and no patri-
otto German will ever recognize it's
authority. If this government is
elected by a general vote of the
German people it will be discred-
tied at birth il it honestly accepts
the treaty. In all subsequent cleo
tions no national party will, or
could, honestly accept it. All the
national parties will have to out
bid each other in promising to re
sist the treaty, to revise its terms
and to play the Western Allies
against the Eastern. That way
madness lies. 1t can lead to no
German and to no European set
tlement but only to a prolonged
and embittered contest by the AL
lies for the support of those Ger
mans who appear to favor the
East Or the West.
The rational and prudent soIu-
ton is to accept the consequences
OF the war by recognizing that a
new central government must be
created gradually, and that it can
not be created Since there
is no satisfactory way of appoint
ing or electing a central govern
ment, we should oppose the Soviet
idea that we ought now to make a
treaty OF peace with a German
government. For the time being
all we can do is to write a statute
or charter which defines how a
German government is to be Gre
a1ed, how Germany is to be gov
erned Professionally until it has
peen created, what the frontiers of
the nelghboring states are to be.
and what the Germans must do
and what they may not do with
their economy during the postwar
period while they are still on nro-
baton.
The writing Of suchaa statute is
a gigantic undertaking. But it will
De rendered much easier if we in
slst firmly and at the outset on
the principle that political power
is TO be restored first to the Ger
mans n the separate German
states, and not to the German ma.
tlon as n conglomerate mass
There must, of course, be a central
government. But for a long time
to come-surely during the whole
postwar era-the Germans in the
central government should be onlv
delegates from the separate states
ana tHe allies SLouIo retain the
final power OF sovereignty over
their actions and proposals.
This approach would be a safe
guard against the greatest danger
that the whole German natio,
could be captured by some one
centrally directed political party
be it Communist. or German ma
tionalist or the two combined as a
Nationalist Communist party.
Some of the German states would,