Evening star., 1952-04-25
Many Inconsistencies
In West's Trade Policy
Found in Hamburg
By Dorothy Thompson

" DototUy tHVUPSOU
HAMBURG (Via Airmail) -
Nothing could have been more
shrewdly arranged by the Soviet
government than the concurrence
of the Soviet reply to the Allied
answer to the original Russian
note, and the economic and trade
conference in Moscow, attended
by delegations from the Western
countries. notably Great Britain.
Thus. while the diplomats of
the Western powers are engaged in
the most critical exchange with
the Soviet government since the
war. the British trade delegation,
through the mouth of Lord Boyd
Orr, announced its immense salts
faction with Russian reception, in
which there was no propaganda
and not the shadow of antipathy
against Great Britain, America, or
the capitalist system" and jubi-
lating over a trade agreement
signed in Moscow between the
Soviet Union and Red China.
This, of course, strengthens all
the elements in Germany who be-
lieve that one can do business
with the Russians. and who are
opposed to tying West Germany
exclusively with the West. Nor
does it go unremarked here that
the British trade delegation. de-
spite the fact that Britain holds
Hong Kong, counts it a triumph
that they are permitted to ne
gotiate with China, not in Hong
Kong, but in benevolent Moscow!
1t should also be remembered that
although the British delegation isl
private. it is negotiating, not
with other private traders but
with governments, since both Rus
sia and China have a state mono
poly of foreign trade.
Hamburg Business Slow.
How does all this look in Ham
burg?
This great free port, before the
war the largest and busiest on the
European mainland, is, unlike all
the other European ports, doing
only so per cent of its prewar
business. Bremen is booming with
West German trade for which it
Is the natural outlet. The Dutch
ports Of Rotterdam and Amster-
dam are operating above preWar
level. Why the backwardneSs OF
Hamburg, whose merchants and
population are among the most
energetic in Europe. and who have
accomplished miracles in rebuild
ing q port which was q special
target Of British air attacks dur
ing the war. and which was still
being dismantled when I was last
here in 1949?
The reason is that Hamburg
was always the port of East Ger
many and Eastern Europe. Stu
ated at the mouth of the Elbe,
which with the Danube and tribu-
tary rivers Is navigable for freight
boats as far as Prague In Czecho-
slovakia, the trade Of the Western
Russian satellite states and of
that part Of Germany now In the
Russian zone, as well as that Of the
Baltic states (now Russian) and of
Scandinavia, flowed naturally here.
But during the war Scandinavia
built up her own ports, Baltic
trade is almost wholly with Rus
Sia. and trade with Soviet-occu-
pied Germany and the Commu-
mist satellites is forbidden by the |
Abide authorities, as 1t is with any
part of Communist East Asia.
But in any great port one can |
observe the difference between |
policy and practice as it involves |
trade. Theoretically the West is
supposed to be united in common
policy. Actually. this is q fiction. |
Variances in Policy.
To take a simple illustration: |
Two ships are lying. as I write.
in the port Of Hamburg, their own |
ers haggling over a consignment of
ammonium sulphate from East \
Germany. One is British: the
other is "Greek"-and If all the \
ships flying the Greek flag are /
Greek-owned, the Greeks must be
among the richest ship owners in
the world!
The. consignment was ordered
shipped in paper bags. but arrived |
in jute, for which the senders de-
mand payment not contracted for:
hence the haggling. And for
where are the consignments des-
tined? For Formosa! Thus the
Communists prove themselves per-
fectly willing to do business with
Chang Kai-shek and the British
and "Greeks" to do business with
the Communists, but Germans
cannot legitimately do business
even with the Communist part Of
their own country!
The authorities Of this free port
have a list Of 200 ships which are
regularly engaged in trade with
Communist countries. have the
lists, the names Of the ships, their
last sailing dates. and their ports
of call. The largest number ars
Greek, Panamanian, and British.
and numbers Of the two former |
are believed to be American
owned. They are plying between
West European ports and Red
China. and 43 Of them trade with
the Manchurian port Of Dairen,
where Russia has, according to
the Yalta agreement, an especially |
privileged position. \
The people Of Hamburg are as
Western oriented as any in Ger
many, but they are also more 4
than most directly interested In
German unification, held out by
the two Russian notes, and by the |
Russian proposal that a united |
Germany should enjoy full trade /
privileges east and west. Never \
theless. most Of them are still pre-