U.S. SEEKS SHOWDOWN WITH RUSSIA

Chronicle (Levin), 2 May 1946, Page 5

U.S. SEEKS SHOWDOWN WITH RUSSIA

OBJECT OF FOUR POWER TREATY Receiyed Wednesdav, 7 p.m. LONDON, May I. The Ameriean delegation has entered the Foreign Ministers' Conferenee determined to have a real showdown with the .Russiahs, savs Heuter's Paris correjspoiuleiit. This, according to a lligh authority, -is The real meaning of Mr. Byrnes' unexpected production of a draft 25-year Four-Power Hecurity Treatv. Mr. - Trurnaii is in full agreement with Mr. Bvrnes that the conferenee shall not be a mere feneing match, le'aving the fundamental question of the relations between ltussia and the Western Allies unsettled. The draft treaty for dennan disarmament was not on the agenda. The normal time for its introduction would have been later when Genuany comes up for consideration. .Mr. Byrnes, however, decided to ignore formal procedures and put the trealv not only before tlie conferenee but also before the world, thereby saying clearly to Russia: Do - vou \yant. security Or expausion? Are you'wil'ling to come in with us or eon-. tinue x>laying a lone hand? ' ' : While Mr. Byrnes was proposing a security guaranlee ia the form of a 25-year Four-Power treaty for the ,complete disarmament of Germany, Britain was seeking to meet the Freneh ideas of security by suggesting an international regime for the Ruhr for a period up to 50 ■ years, Says the N.ow sYork Times' Paris correspondent. Two British projects — oue for the Ruhr alone. and the other for a combined Ruhr and left bank of the Rhine regime, embody a irrinciple dear to the Prench of the decentralising of the Reich by the creation of- more ot less autonoiuous Btates in a Ioose federation. Tlie prin-. cipal Freneh tnisgiving is that botli' plans would take eftect ouly when the occiipation of Germany ends and mear.while the British would- hang on to the Ruhr and its cotll. "for an indeiinite period> even 50 years. An international regime does not satisfy the Freneh who want the permaiient removal of the Ruhr froin Germah eontrol. The Frencli, however,'- are eucotiraged by tlie British leaning toward federalisin. The latest Frendh plan proyides for a Commission of eight members to govern the Ruhr. The Ihench think the pui'pose of the British. plans is to enSure" British retention of the Ruhr until the British find out whether they can • come to terms with the-Soviet on the whole question of Gerinany's future.