Dusty Answer

For rearmament, and for civilian construction, what Western Europe needs most is steel. Britain needs 800,000 tons from the U.S. alone; France wants an extra 150,000 tons; Italy 194,000 tons.

The Ruhr has a capacity of 15 million tons a year, but the allies, remembering Hitler, hold down Ruhr production to 11,100,000 tons for domestic use and export. Recently, the August-Thyssen Huette Steel Works asked permission to increase production from 117,000 to 1,000,000 tons. Last week a joint U.S.British-French board turned Thyssen down. The Germans were baffled. Does the West need the Ruhr badly enough to run the risks of its revival? By seeking West German participation in NATO, the West had implicity decided that it does. The answer no longer seemed so clear.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.