Evening star., 1947-04-18
Marshall Asks counci
10 Compromise Issue
|0f Assets in Austria
sy ,hs Assoe;cssd Pre,s

MOSCOW, April 16.-Secretary d
State Marshall told the Council O
Foreign Ministers today that til.
time had come ''to make q deter.
mined effort right here and now
to compromise the issue Of German
assets in Austria. Success in com.
pleting an Austrian treaIy depend,
on that, he said.
Gen Marshall offered q settle.
ment formula retaining the Ameri.
can. insistence that property which
the Germans acquired In Austria
under force or duress" should moi
be considered as assets subject tc
seizure by the Allies.
Seeks Definition Of Assets.
On this key point, however, Gen
Marshall made 1t clear he was not
insisting on the exact words force
or duress" although there should
be no disagreement among us as to
the property of excluding from
sizable German assets forced trans
fers by coercion"
II a proper definition OF assets
could be reached. Gen. Marshall de.
clared. II should be prepared to
agree that each of our governments
should take necessary steps to au-
thorize the Austrian government
formally to transfer Immediately to
the Soviet Union those properties,
rights and interests In Eastern Aus
tria which are German assets as de-
fined In the formula We agree upon
here"
He also said that while the Big
-Four have agreed that property
seized in Austria should be subject
to Austrian law his formula pro-
vided for moratorium on possible
naturalization Of these properties
by the Austrian government in or
der to- prevent their being national
lied for certain period OF time
after the treaty becomes effective.
The Big Four would fix the period.
Gruber Appeals to Council.
Earlier Foreign Minister Karl
Gruber Of Austria appealed to the
Council to finish the Austrian treaty
quickly.
At the same time, however, he
asserted that his government would
not sign a pact which gave to
Yugoslavia any territory which Aus
tria considered rightfully Austrian.
As the Council approached a
showdown on the frontier issue over
Yugoslav demands for Southern
Carinthia and the question of what
constitutes German assets in Aus
tria for reparations purposes-either
of which could make or break the
chances of completing the Austrian
treaty here-Dr. Gruber declared in
q prepared speech to the Council: !:
Austria stands tomorrow as the
best evidence Of your ability to
settle questions on q basis of mutual
understanding ="
Answers Kardelj Demands.
DR.. Gruber spent most of his time
answering the demands made yes
terday by Yugoslav Vice Premier
Edward Kardelj. He denied there
were ethnical, cultural, or any other
grounds for transferring Austrian
territory to Yugoslavia.
: Then he declared the Austrian
government rejected any alteration
of prewar frontiers and would not
sign treaty which did not permit
establishment of those borders.
As the morning session opened,
the American delegation was report
ed about ready to press for a show
down to determine il 1t will be
possible to wind up the Austrian
treaty here.
The tentative American strategy
outlined was to. press for decision
on this issue II the Russians back
the Yugoslav claim to the full, as
Is indicated, and the United States
and Britain cling to their support
OF the Austrian position then the
issue will be deadlocked and the
chances for early completion Of an
Austrian treaty will be dim.