THE NOME NUGGET
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Friday, April 2, 1948
Toward A German Settlement
!T?nr1<v Mountain News)
THE TENTATIVE AGREEMENT rn rjprpnpy fov
six Western democracies is the first effective renlv to
Stalin’s latest aggress’on.
It must be followed bv enactment and efficient opera
tion of the Marshall Plan, and bv a Western European
economic and security union. But agreement regarding
Germany is the necessarv basis for the European recov
ery program and for the democratic union recently con
cluded in Brussels.
Germany remains today as always the heart of the
European problem, in peace and in war. Her size, her
geographic position, her natural resources and indus
tries, her organization and technological skills are pre
ponderant. Either for good or ill.
The problem to prevent their misuse for conquest
by another Kaiser or Hitler, while harnessing them for
the peaceful and productive use of the European com
munity.
The weakness and chaos of Europe, nearly three
years after VE-Day, are caused chiefly by allied failure
to agree on a German solution. Russia has sabotaged the
Potsdam pact to that end, and disagreements between
the American-British governments on one side and
Paris on the other have compounded the evil.
When Stalin wrecked the recent London Big Power
Conference for unification of all Germany, the democ
racies decided on temporary consolidation of Western
Germany. Soviet absorption of Czechoslovakia provid
ed the final prod for America, Britain and France to
compromise their differences and to include the Bene
lux countries—Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxem
bourg—in a German settlement.
At this six-nation conference in London “in 10 days
more prograss has been made than in the preceding
three years,” our Ambassador Douglas says.
The present agreement concerns general principles,
but final decisions regarding detailed application should
not be too difficult. On the all-important Ruhr question
the Americans and British have met the French and
Benelux demands for international control, which is not,
to be confused with international ownership. The Ger
mans will have a participating voice later, but not the:
Russians—unless and until they change.
Germany is to be the loose federation desired bv the
French and Americans, rather than the more highly
centralized state originally favored by the British.
French zone economy is to be co-ordinated immediately
with that of the British-American united zone, prepara
tory to a later three-way merger.
Though territorial reparations and military questions
are still under study, the general agreements regarding
the Ruhr, interzonal co-ordination, and federalism go a
long way in advancing a democratic settlement.
TTiey should permit development ofi Western Ger
many as an integrated part of the Marshall Plan recov
ery and security area, with safeguards to prevent event
ual domination by a revived Germany.
If the six democracies are wise they will rush their
German settlement to completion before next month’s
Marshall Plan conference and the Communists’ power
grab in the crucial April elections in Italy.
■ ■ — ■■ ■ •
Unite Or Die, Czech Moral for Europe
(By Barnet Nover)
i WHILE CONGRESS DEBATES the Marshall plan,
five Marshall plan countries—Great Britain, France,
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg—arrived
at and signed a regional security pact in a meetilng in
Brussels.
On the surface, the Brussels meeting, while clearly an
APRIL FOOL »
^«**=*i 1
t
outgrowth of the Marshall plan, would seem to have
only an incidental relationship to it at the moment. Ac
tually, the success of the one depends on the other.
Without economic recovery, each of the remaining
free nations of Europe would be vulnerable to the grow
ing menace from within and the mounting threat from
without.
Without a large and increasing measure of unity
among the western European countries, the long-range
purposes of the Marshall plan might never be achieved.
Two months have elapsed since Foreign Secretary
Ernest Bevin of Great Britain made his historic speech
in the House of Commons urging a union of Western
Europe.
This proposal has even more meaning to it and a
greater urgency than it did then. What has happened in
Czechoslovakia and Finland has made it clear that, in a
very literal sense, the choice before Western Europe is
to unite or die.
Just as it is essential for the free nations to pool their
resources in a common effort to achieve economic re
covery, so it is equally necessary that they establish a
united front against aggression from whatever source.
And both economic and military co-operation require, if
they are to be fully effective, an increasingly large mea
sure of political unity.
This organic relationship between the problem of Eu
ropean recovery and the problem of European security
has again and again been brought out in the Senate de
bate. Differences, sharp differences, have arisen as to
what part the United States ought to play in fostering
European unity.
Some Senators are convinced that because recovery
would be meaningless without unity, we ought to make
unity the precondition of our aid to Western Europe.
This suggestion Senator Vandenberg has rejected on
the very good ground that the urge for unity must come
from within Europe itself; it cannot be imposed from
the outside, even from a nation, such as the United
States, which has no ulterior motives in urging such
unity.
Moreover, in view of the exposed condition of some of
the sixteen countries participating in the European re
covery program, the linking of military with economic
co-operation might place those writers in a perilous po
sition. As Senator Vandenberg said:
“Some of the more exposed nations which are exhib
iting, in my judgment, a high degree of heroism in even
being willing to discuss the European economic pro
gram in view of their hazards and exposure would, I
think, find themselves under infinitely greater pressure
if there were anything which textually links this pro
gram with a political or moral objective.”
This should not stop the less exposed countries from
acting, however, as Great Britain, France and the Bene
lux countries are now doing.
In view of the Czechoslovak and Finnish develop
ments the example of those five countries is likely to be
followed by others.
In this connection, the Norwe
gian prime minister, Einar Ger
hardsen, made a significant state
ment on Feb. 29. "The threat to
Norway,” he said, “is the danger
which the Communist party repre
sents.
Those who head the Commun
ist party in Norway," he added,
"are Comintern Communists. Like
their fellow workers in other
lands, they are disciples of terror
and dictatorship."
| Despite the fact that, earlier in
: this statement, Premier Gerhard
| sen argued that the "problem fur
Norway is first and foremost of a
domestic nature," it is clear from
h s remarks that the internal men
ace which confronts Norway can
not be divorced from the external
threat. In warning his people to be
on their guard against “Comintern
Communists,” the Norw egian
statesman is also underlining the
Russian menace as well.
As one nation after another
comes around to recognizing this
circumstances, the urge for the
creation of a solid bloc of free
states will enormously increase.
But the urge must eome* from
within if it is to have real mean
ing and real force.
Republican Parly’s
1948 Platform
_
Below is the text of the Repub
1 lican party’s 1948 platform in the
Fourth Division.
It pledges GOP candidates run
ning for Territorial office this
year to battle for a balanced bud
get, necessary taxes, and various
forms of Territorial aid for farm
ers, for veterans, for qualified old
age pensioners, for the schools and
for the University of Alaska.
There are special planks recom
mending aid for farmers and for
inclusion of Alaska in the Federal
Highway act.
The platform is as follows:
1. We recommend the following
tax program: a. Net income tax.
b. General property tax, c. Other
methods of taxation if additional
revenue is needed to balance the
budget.
2. We recommend aid to quali
fied prospectors and miners to as
sist in the exploration and devel
opment of mining on the public
domain.
3. We recommend continued aid
to war veterans.
, 4. We recommend increased
assistance to qualified old age pen
sioners.
5. We recommend adequate aid
and assistance for the University
of Alaska and for the Territorial
school system.
6. We recommend the direct
election of the Governor of Alaska.
j 7. We recommend that the Con
gress of the United States be re
quested to include the Territory of
Alaska in the Federal Highway
■ Act, so 9; to enable the Territory
to construct more and better roads
airports and small boat harbors.
8. We recommend the immedi
ate construction of roads and air
ports now needed to serve the cit
ies and outlying communities, and
we further recommend the reha
bilitation and repair of existing
airports, roads and bridges now
serving cities and outlying com
munities.
9. We recommend that the
Congress of the United States be
requested to provide adequate
funds for the hard surfacing of all
main highways in the Territory of
Alaska, as a defense measure.
We recommend adequate sup
port for the Territorial Public
Health Program; and we further
recommend that the Congress be