Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-07-30
Dunube Conference BEGINS


The international conference for regula-
ton Of navigation on the river Danube
opens today under unusual circumstances.
Indeed, the conference itself is somewhat
enigmatic in character.
This conference owes its inception to
American initiative. Two months ago, the
State Department sent an identic pro-
posal to the Foreign Ofnces of Britain,
France and the Soviet Union for q meet
ing to draft q convention for free navi-
CATION Of the Danube. Such a convention
would revive the international agreement
made nearly century ago which provided
that this mightest OF Europe's rivers, COM
parable to our own Mississippi as major
artery Of water-borne commerce, was open
on equal terms to all nations. The need
for such an arrangement arises from the
fact that the Danube, in its 1,800-mile
course from its source in the German
Black Forest to Its mouth on the Black
Sea, passes through the territory Of sew
eral nations. During the late war the old
convention broke down, first under Nazi
domination and later under the control of
the Soviet Union and its satellite regimes.
criminatory regulations by Russia and its
satellites which virtually exclude naviga-
ton by outside interests. And this situation
greatly handicaps the economic recovery
Of much of Europe.
Largely through American insiStence,
freedom Of Danube navigation was en-
dorsed in principle by the Council of For
eign Ministers in December. 1916, and was
likewise written into the peace treaties
| concluded with Bulgaria, Hungary, and
Romania. But augmentation of the
principle in an international convention
was baked by obstructive Russian tactics
1t therefore came as a distinct surprise
when Moscow promptly acceded to the
American suggestion for a conference to be
held on July 80 at Belgrade, the capital of
Yugoslavia. This was before the rift
| between Marshal Tito and the Moscow
dominated Cominform became public.
Nevertheless, Moscow has made no sug-
gestion of changing the meeting place, so
Soviet delegates, together with those of the
satellites who are boycotting the Tito re-
gime in other matters, are sitting in the
conference, and are presumably accepting
Tito's hospitabe welcome.
| All this does not change the logical query
As to what lies behind Moscow's willing
ness to confer on a matter which 1t had
previously evaded. This is so contrary to
the general pattern of Soviet diplomacy
that suspicion has been aroused in Wash
ington, London, and Paris. 1t should be
understood that the three Western Powers
are to sit down on equal voting terms with
Soviet Russia and six OF its satellites who
are riparian Danube states--these being
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Ro-
mania, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. The other
riparian state, Austria, has been barred
from voting rights by Russia but will par
ticipate as an observer.
Obviously, the three Western Powers will
be outvoted more than two to one If Yugo-
slavia follows the Soviet lead. And it Is by
no means improbable that Moscow may be
specializing on getting a majority endorse
ment for ratifying existing discriminatory
arrangements which would legalize the
present notification Of the free navigation
principle. The only way the western Powers
could block such a move would be to in
woke the rule of unanimity for binding
conference decisions. But this would be
embarrassing, because the Western Powers
have repeatedly objected to Soviet insis-
tence upon unanimity in other interna-
tional conferences where the Soviet bloc
has been in the minority The Belgrade
conference may thus raise ticklish proce-
dural problems.