Agreement in the West

Monday quarterbacks have been regretting that Eisenhower's armies did not attack Hitler through the Balkans instead of in France. Had the Western powers occupied southeastern Europe, containment of Russia would now be that much farther along. The fact is forgotten that by stabbing as they did, directly at the heart of Hitler's power, the West got a prize far more important than the Balkans. It got the Ruhr.

Until last week, however, the West made little serious effort to use the Ruhr for what it was--the key to Europe's recovery, the key to control of Europe. First the British alone occupied it, although they did not have the resources needed to get it going again. Then it was brought into the joint U.S.-British economic administration called Bizonia. The French refused to enter any arrangements for the rehabilitation of the Ruhr, because they wanted assurance that the area would be separated from Germany and placed under international political control. Britain and the U.S. knew that this would not work.

The Log-Jam Breaks. Last week, in the old India Office in London, the logjam broke after ten days of hard-driving pressure, stepped up by the Czech crisis. The Big Three of the West (the U.S., Britain and France) began the conference with a sensible and long-delayed step--admission of the Little Three (Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxemburg). The Benelux countries depend so closely on German industry that they insisted on a settlement. France yielded along the logical lines of compromise. The agreement in principle looks toward a Ruhr that will be politically part of Germany, but an international control of its economy will see that its products are available for Western Europe's needs.

There were other tentative agreements. The U.S., Great Britain and France would dovetail the economies of their occupation zones in Western Germany. A federal government, protecting states' rights but allowing for "adequate central control," was proposed as the best ultimate form of rule for a unified Germany. These agreements will be translated into specific clauses at another conference in April. Then the French will probably come into a new administrative unit, Trizonia; it will control 69% of Germany's population, a higher proportion of its industrial plant.

The Coal Comes Up. Meanwhile, more sensible occupation policies, including incentive rations, have been stepping up Ruhr production of the coal all Europe needs. A year ago coal production was running at about 235,000 tons a day. One day last week it hit a postwar high-- 291,000 tons. The area that used to produce 22% of all the coal and 31% of all the steel in Europe was going to work for peace.

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