Evening star., 1948-03-07
Thorp Says Ruhr Plan
Relates 10 Supervision
And Not Ownership
By the Assoeiated Press

NEW YORK, Mar. 6.-Willard L.
Thorp, Assistant Secretary of State
for Economic Affairs, said today
that the agreement announced in
London today does not commit the
United States Government to in
ternational ownership of the Ruhr.
The United States, Great Britain
and France announced in London
they had agreed on international
control of the Ruhr, but specific
recommendation were not made
public.
Mr.. Thorp told a reporter that he
had not seen a full draft of the
London agreement when he dis
cussed the Ruhr situation In an ad-
dress earlier today. He and Trygve
Lie, secretary-general of the United
Nations, were among speakers at
the New York Herald Tribune Youth
Forum.
THE United States Government Is
not committed by the London agree
ment to international ownership of
the Ruhr but to supervision Of al
locations (of Ruhr resources), Mr..
Thorp said.
Positive War Curb Favored.
In addressing the forum, Mr..
Thorp said that the United States
does not favor detaching the Ruhr
industrial area from Germany, as
step to assure peace. Instead, he
said. this country prefers positive
action designed to curb Germanys
war r-making power" He added:
The United States Government
remains to be persuaded of the
advisability of direct international
ownership, management or alloca-
ton of Ruhr resources, but is pre-
pared to agree to plan for the in
ternational supervision OF German
ALLEGATION of vital Ruhr resources,
but is prepared to agree to a plan
for the international supervision of
German ALLEGATION of vital Ruhr re-
sources, to insure their equitable
distribution throughout Europe and
to prevent their utilization in build
ing up a new war potential in Ger
many"
Mr.. ,Thorp said he believed he had
stated United States policy, and
would be surprised If the full Lon
don agreement. when made public,
deviated from that position.
Lie Cites u. N. Difficulties.
Mr.. Lie told the forum audience
that the U. N. 'is not what 1t was
intended to be-"
Its members are not doing all
they could be doing to make 1t
work" Mr. Lie said.
I'VE have failed to take definite
action on problems Of great and
urgent Importance - the control
of atomic energy, the provision of
armed forces to serve the United
Nations, the reduction and control
of conventional ornaments.
The Security Council has often
failed to reach clear and effective
decisions because there has not been
full agreement among the nations
which have permanent seats on the
council-the Big Five"
On the credit side, the secretary
general said the U. N. had served
as a forum "in which the nations
can air their differences" and as
place Ito which any nation, large
or small, is able to bring complaints
against other nations and to de-
mand satisfaction"
Mrs. Roosevelt Speaks.
More than a dozen speakers ad-
dressed two forum sessions. Each
session was attended by about a.
900 students from about 780 New
York area high schools and 20
students from the Scandinavian
countries, Great Britain and Aus
tralia.
Gen. A. G. L. McNaughton, per-
manent Canadian representative to-
the United Nations said the idea
that the menace to world peace
presented by the atomic bomb could
be solved merely by the signing OF
an international agreement to pro-
hibit its use or manufacture seems
very unreal"
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, chair
man of the U. N. Commission on
Human Rights, said the organiza-
ton cannot prevent wars, but
added:
The United Nations is machinery
and it is the way we the people
of the world use it that we can
build, perhaps. peace"
Charles E. Bohlen, councillor to
the State Department. said the
United States is the chief target
in a campaign of vicious propa-
ganda" to misrepresent the policies
OF "the free nations of the world"