Evening star., 1954-09-28
CONTINUED From First Page.)

N~S3AteAeSSA =
others as cordial and satisfac-
tory" Correspondents are being
given to understand that Amer
ican' and French points of view
on settling the German problem
are. in principle at least. not
very far apart. In an effort to
correct q popular current i'm
preston in Paris. several spokes-
men have made a great point of
emphatically denying any hostile
designs on the Mendes-France
regime.
And yet for all the cordial
gestures and hopeful talk, the
gap Is still there. The simple
fact Is that not one of the West
ern ministers has any firm faith
in the performance of the French
government or any clear idea
what the final conditions of
France for a re-armed sovereign
Germany may be.
At this point. the only evidence
consists of a number of vaguely
promising statements from the
French Premier and a written
set Of proposals which leave a
disturbing number of vital points
hanging in mid-air. Proof of
French willingness to cooperate
in deeds for words" is in the
general view still to be demon
strated.
Compromise Seen Possible.
There are some who can see
this uncertainty as a good thing.
One of the biggest obstacles at
the Brussels conference, it is
argued, was that positions were
publicly-and therefore, rigidly-
established long before the con-
ference itself got under way. In
a situation where compromise Of
fered the only hope of success.
advance publicity made COM
promise impossible and the con-
ference failed.
Certainly no such criticism can
be made this time. The British,
who are running the show from
the mechanical standpoint. have
put the conference site off limits
to correspondents. No formal
press brief1ngs on the conference
sessions will be held. The i'm
pact of this curtain of silence
was somewhat softened, however.
by two unofficial Foreign Of
flee press conferences which
Immediately followed the an
nouncement Of these regulations.
Other delegations have followed
suit. But the principle-that
real diplomatic negotiation calls
at least for semiprivacy-applies
in London.
Among various delegations
there seems to be a good meas
ure of agreement on what the
main problems of the conference
are and what the end result is
likely to be.
Broadly speaking. the chance
of success depends on reaching
an understanding between Mr..
Mendes-France and Chancellor
Adenauer on restoring German
sovereignty and bringing Ger
many into NATO. These general
goals are agreed on. Jokers, of
course. are the conditions, safe
guards and guarantees the
French will demand in return.
Definition Of Discrimination"
It comes down to a definition
of words-notably the word "dis-
elimination" Every one agrees
with the principle that there
should be no discrimination
against Germany as a member
of the North Atlantic Commu-
nity-that its sovereignty should
not be trimmed in any way and
that no arbitrary limits should
be imposed on Germany's right
to rearm.
When it comes to practicali-
ties. however, Mr.. Adenauer
and Mr.. Mendes- France face very
different problems and talk very
different languages. There is a
growing tendency to recognize
the fact that in France a pro-
posal for uncontrolled German
re-armament means political
suicide for any government. In
Germany any restriction on Ger
man rights means the same for
MIR. Adenauer. This is the di-
lemma which the London con-
ference must solve if it is to sue
ceed. If middle ground between
the French and German view
points can be reached, it is ex-
pected that no other delegation
here will have any serious
trouble in accepting the solu-
ton.
Most observers now believe
that the question of ending the
occupation and restoring Ger
man sovereignty can be disposed
of with a minimum of argu-
ment. The simultaneous prob
lem Of Germany's admission to