Evening star., 1948-11-21

but we must pour into 1t until we
down the black market Who pays
for that? The American taxpayer.
Another thing the French cid was
to get their export program going
before the Americans and British
did, with the exception of the Ruhr
coal. The French started right away
because they had to. They paid for
the necessary imports to their zone
with exports. 1t would have been
political dynamite for them TO have
asked the French government to
appropriate funds for the zone.
The American Army took the
course of least resistance. They
imported food and medicine to keep
down unrest and disease and let
the American taxpayer foot the bill.
We criticize the French for "ex-
plotting" their zone. Actually. we
should congratulate them on being
better managers than we are.
Difference in Methods
We've criticized the French for
having such large number of peo-
pie in their military government.
They have 10000 for an area of
only 100000 Germans whereas the
British have only 5000 for 23.000,-
600 Germans and we Americans have
only 2,4O0 for 100000 Germans.
In addition. the French say they
have about 10000 troops, the British
about 100000 and the Apericans
10000.
We pride ourselves on having SO
few Americans in our zones mill
tary government. But perhaps II
we had had more Americans to
supervise the farms, we would not
have had to spend so many millions
importing goods. GA French soldier,
incidentally, costs only about a
fourth as much as an American
soldier to maintain in Germany
Moreover, our cutting down on
American personnel means that we
are turning over more and more
powers to the Germans. The French
think this is premature-that you
can't make trustworthy followers of
democracy in three short years of a
people who have had IL years of
Naziism. And they think it is a
mistake to give the Germans power
without responsibility. This stands
10 cost us a pretty penny. For the
Germans know that they can count
on the American taxpayer making
up their local government deficits.
Deficit Inexcusable
The French say it is inexcusable
to have a deficit in q zone with as
much industry as exists in the
Anglo-American zone. They them
selves have brought coal produc-
ton up to about IS per cent of pre-
war in the Saar, which is now
economically attached to France.
The Ruhr under nglo-American
control is producing coal at the
rate of only about IA per cent of
prewar.
In the Saar the French demon
strated the flexibility and realism Of
their policy. This was not a case
that called for hardboiled treat
ment such as that applied to the
boarding farmers. Instead, the
French started long before the
Anglo-Americans did in the Ruhr
to give their saar coal miners pref
erential treatment in food when
they saw that was necessary to get
production up. Then, when this
wasn't enough, they extended the
special food allowance to the min
ers' families, too.
Technically they did smart thing
in taking direct control OF the mines
with their own technicians instead
Of leaving German technicians on
the job. The British argued with
me in the Ruhr that they did not
have enough technicians to. take
over this way as the Fren did
What they did not tell me was that
the French had offered to loan them
some surplus French technicians