Evening star., 1950-01-17
The Suur Issue

future adjustments, French Foreign Min
lister Robert Schuman, in his conference
with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, has
served friendly but firm notice ON the
West German Republic that 1t cannot ex-
pect early revisions in the present status
of the Saar. Rejecting Bonn's demands to
that end, he has made clear that changes
If there are to be any-will have to wait
until the time comes when peace treaty
can be written for Germany.
Within recent weeks, this issue has been
the source of some tension between the
French and the Western Germans. The
latter have been objecting to moves Gin
tegrating" the Saar's economy with that
of France, and they have also been deplor-
ing what they regard as systematic effort
to make the region politically Francophile
What Bonn fears, of course, is that as time
wears on, the Saarlanders will be perma-
nently detached from Germany and won
over to the idea of working out their destiny
in close collaboration with Paris.
Territorially-sincei 1t embraces an area
OF less than 300 square miles-the Saar
does not amount to much, and its popula-
tion numbers only about 100000. But it
has rich coal deposits of type especially
good for the production of steel, and its
location on the borders of Luxembourg and
French Lorraine-in both of which there
are large iron resources and much industry
gives It a great deal Of economic i'm
portance. That is why France has been
"integrating'' 1t by means of negotiations
for f1fty-year leases on its mines and for
linking its railroad network with the
French system.
Since the downfall of Hitler's Reich, the
Saar, with its own constitution and govern
ment has become nominally self-ruling.
AS a practical matter however, in the
Bonn, 1t Is being developed into kind of
political and economic satellite of France.
Accordingly, as the Western Germans see
the situation, something should be done
in fairness to Germany-to prevent
virtual French annexation Of the region
and to avert the kind of fait accompli that
would deprive the Saarlanders of freedom
to choose what country, if any, they want
to belong to. = - ,s
All this has familiar ring. After the
First World War, with an understandable
desire to exact retribution from the Ger
mans, France tried to annex the Saar, but
Britain and the United States stood in
opposition. The result was compromise
placing the territory under the League of
Nations, with the proyiso that the inhabi-
tants would eventually decide by plebi-
i%a At. fa nj In
their lot with the French, or continue under
League control In 1885, when the plebi-
scite took place, and when Hitlers nation
alism was kind of contagion, they chose
to become part of the Nazi Reich.
1t probably would be a mistake, however,
to ascribe the Saarlanders 1885 decision
merely to Hitler's fiery nationalistic appeal.
Very likely, even If Germany at that time
had been under another type of leader
ship, the people of the Saar would have
voted as they did. For they are completely
Germanic both in terms of their history
and their racial background and that is
one of the reasons why the Bonn govern
ment today takes a dim view of the effort
to tie them in closely with France
But the Saar played key role in build
ing up Hitlers military power, and the
people of France thus have natural desire
to guard against repetition of the same
thing and to gain whatever advantage they
can out of the region. BY insisting that
settlement of the issue must be deferred
until the writing of an overall German
peace treaty, they may in effect-as Bonn
fears-be seeking to attach the Saarlanders
to themselves, but they cannot be blamed
too much for that in view of what Ger
many has done to them in the past
Whether wise or not, this is human nature.