DISARMAMENT IN GERMANY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24801, 15 February 1946, Page 5

DISARMAMENT IN GERMANY

Partial Agreement Reached HEAVY REDUCTIONS IN INDUSTRY (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 14. New attempts are being made in Berlin to establish full Allied agreement on the future level of German industry, says the diplomatic correspondent of “The Times.” All agree that industry is to be drastically reduced and the whole structure of German economy is to become much more agricultural, but they cannot yet agree on the precise scale of reduction. The four Allies had agreed Germany should be left with a potential productive capacity of 7,500.000 tons of steel a year, but that actual output should not exceed 5.800.000 tons a year, unless the Control Council decided otherwise. All steel plants beyond those required to give this capacity will be taken away or destroyed. This means that by far the greater part of the German steel industry will disappear. Level of Other Industries

So far the Allies were agreed. But then they turned to settle the level of other industries. Once again there will be a heavy reduction, the inevitable consequence of cutting down the output of steel, on which almost all industries depend. But the question is which figure for steel should be taken as a measure for the level of other industries: 7.500.000 tons of potential capacity, or 5,800,000 tons of permitted production? The British favour the higher figure. In the British view, if the lower figure were now to be taken as the decisive figure in settling the future level of industry as a whole, Germany would not have the means to pay for necessary imports. She would be a constant liability to the Allies, requiring subsidies. The other three Powers stand by the lower figure, insisting that Germany cannot be trusted with more than the barest minimum of steel, and pointing out that the figure of 5.800.000 tons a year was reached only as a compromise. British representatives maintain that Germany, with a balanced economy, even though heavily reduced, would be less of a danger to peace than a Germany economically unstable. There the matter rests for