Evening star., 1949-07-11
plans for Civilian Rule
Fail 10 Bring Cheers
From West Germans
By Thomas A. Reedy
Associated Press Foreign Correspondent


BERLIN. July II. - Western
Germany is bidding fervent
farewell to military government.
A new kind of rule under civilian
high commissioner is coming in
to being.
No one knows for sure at this
point what the changeover will
mean, least of all the Germans.
Civilian rule is an experiment,
Just as military government was.
But there are big differences.
In 1945 the PROSTATE German
virtually welcomed military gov
nerment. He had none of his
own. Everything was chaos
Trained to look to a superior for
even his food. he felt military
government gave him what he
wanted superior.
Today the German has had
four years in which to forget
what his own government did to
him and four years in which to
think what the Allied Military
Governments were doing either
for or to him. He has developed
tendency to bellyache about
what he has and wish to heaven
he had something different.
No Cheers From Germans.
The new civilian high commits
sion, therefore, is not taking office
with any noticeable cheers from
the German.
Moreover, the new rule will be
handled by men in multi. Some
people think this is a psychology
ical mistake unless the German
has changed a lot. He'll take
from a general what he won't
take from a civilian.
The commission formally takes
over in September after the
Western federal republic is Gre
ated by a general election in the
American, British and French
zones.
John J. McCloy. former World
Bank president. is the American
commissioner. Andre Francois
Poncet. ambassador to Berlin for
10 years before the war. is the
choice of France. Sir Brian
Robertson, four-star general and
military governor, will doff his
uniform to represent Britain.
1t isn't just question of each
of the three moving into the chair
of the military governor and say
ing: Let's go" or Let's do this
like they did"
Power Transition Planned.
The advent of the new republic
requires a transition in power and
responsibility.
The West German has been
given a constitution and also a
bill of rights, in the form of an
occupation statute. The occupa-
ton powers reserve certain privi-
leges.
The principle under which the
new government will govern its
46,000,000 people Is that once it
passes a law and three weeks go
by without a challenge from the
Western powers that law is on
the books.
In the days of military gov
ernment, the occupiers passed all
the laws. They told the Germans
what to do.
Now the Germans will decide
what to do and 60 ahead with
it. The high commissioners hold
a veto power over something only
after it has been done.
In nutshell, the Germans
should be able to go ahead rather
freely in domestic affairs as long
as they don't build guns and
tanks.
All this applies to West Ger
many only. The Russians are
sticking by their military admin
istration. Their generals and
colonels still run the Soviet zone
and the creation of a peoples
congress" and a peoples coun-
cil' hasn't altered the system.
The only decisions that count
come from Soviet military head
quarters and those decisions orig
mate in the Kremlin.
The Boston Museum of Fine
Arts collection of Chinese and
japanese sculpture is the most