Report from Moscow

Two minutes behind schedule, but after a speedy 33-hour flight, the C-54 touched down on runway 36, turned into the taxiway and braked to a brisk stop. The door opened and Secretary of State George Marshall stepped out--back from Moscow.

The President was on hand to meet him. As the band struck up Hail to the Chief, they walked together over to the waiting microphones, posed for the cameramen, exchanged greetings. Said the President: "I am most happy to receive you back. I am very well pleased with what you have been doing. I know that when you make your report to the country the people will also be pleased."

Next evening, at a White House gathering for congressional leaders, Secretary Marshall began his job of reporting to the U.S. The gist of it: though the Moscow deadlock was a short-term diplomatic failure, it held the promise of becoming a long-term political success.

This week Secretary Marshall went on the air to expand that theme. After painstakingly reviewing the tedious hours of conference haggling, he said: "Despite the disagreements . . . and the difficulties encountered, possibly greater progress towards final settlement was made than is realized. The critical differences were for the first time brought into the light and now stand clearly defined so that future negotiations can start with a knowledge of exactly what the issues are that must be settled."

His hope that they would be settled he based on a continued U.S. policy of patient firmness--and on his 90-minute, closed-doors talk with Joseph Stalin a fortnight ago. Reported Marshall: "He thought that compromises were possible on all the main questions, including demilitarization, political structure of Germany, reparations, and economic unity. . . . I sincerely hope . . . that it implies greater cooperation by the Soviet delegation in future conferences."

But Marshall warned: "We must not compromise on great principles in order to achieve agreement for agreement's sake." He reminded the world that misery could not wait: "We cannot ignore the factor of time involved here. . . . The patient is sinking while the doctors deliberate. . . . So I believe that action cannot await compromise through exhaustion."

In a speech prepared for delivery in New York this week, Republican Adviser John Foster Dulles largely echoed Secretary Marshall's conclusions. He added a new retort to an old accusation: "The positions we took will show the world that we have ideas and ideals and not merely dollars."

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