The Dark Valley

To assure the disarmament and demilitarization of Germany; to further the recovery of the countries of Europe, including a democratic Germany; and to promote that intimate association of their economic life which . . . alone can assure a peaceful and prosperous Europe.

This was the high purpose of a six-nation agreement announced last week for the control of Germany's Ruhr--the dark, smoke-grimed valley that cradles the industrial heart of Europe. The text of the agreement was simultaneously given out in the capitals of the U.S. and the five Western Union nations--Britain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg.

The agreement sets up an International Ruhr Authority on which the six signatories and the new government of West Germany (now being constructed at Bonn) will be represented. The authority will decide what part of the Ruhr's coal, coke and steel should be kept at home for the good of Germany, and what part should be sent abroad for the good of Europe. Together with a Military Security Board (representing the U.S., Britain and France), the authority will watch what the Germans make and what they do with it, check them if they get out of hand.

The authority's council will have 15 votes--three each for the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, and one each for the three Benelux nations. Decision will be reached by majority vote, with no veto.

Ominous Cloud. For six weeks, between Armistice Day and Christmas, representatives of the six signatories had sat in a smoke-filled room in London's Foreign Office, hammering out the agreement clause by clause and word by word. The conference started under an ominous cloud, caused by a decision of the U.S. and British military governors in Germany that ownership of the Ruhr industries should ultimately be handed back to the Germans (TIME, Nov. 29). The decision, embodied in "Law 75," drew violent protests from the apprehensive French. (The question of ownership was not on the agenda at the London conference, and so Law 75 still stands. The French clearly reserved their right to reopen the ownership question later.)

In the face of public sympathy for the French view, the U.S. shifted its position. The French, although yielding on their first demand that the Ruhr be lopped from Germany, were pleased with last week's agreement--especially since its terms were expected to be written into a German peace treaty (whenever one becomes possible) and so will remain in force after the occupation armies withdraw.

Professional Duty. As everyone had foreseen, there were loud cries of pain from Germans of all political shades. In Diisseldorf, Britain's military governor General Sir Brian Robertson slapped them down: "Stop complaining. Be thankful for what you have got. The Germans must understand that Germany's record has caused other countries to be nervous about her behavior in the future." The sanest German opinion was well expressed by a Berlin businessman: "Of course the politicians must cry out in anger--that is part of their professional duty. But we need a year before we can really tell how this will work out."

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