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FOOD SITUATION IMPROVES IN GERMANY
Collections are Better and May Imports Meet Quota, Military
Governor Tells Laenderrat; Bizonal Economic Council Explained
The new bizonal Economic Council
and the food situation were discussed
by General Lucius D. Clay, the Mili-
tary Governor, with the Laenderrat
at its meeting 3 June in Stuttgart.
The text of his speech follows.
Last week I sent by special messen-
ger to the ministers-president a copy
of an agreement for the further in-
tegration of the American and British
Zones worked out by the American
and British Military Governments.
With some minor modifications in the
document as you saw it, it has been
approved and is now an agreement
between the British and American
Military Governments.
As you know, both you and our-
selves have been conscious of the
difficulty in obtaining economic in-
tegration without political integra-
tion. Nevertheless, we have not been
willing to unify the American and
British Zones politically in the fear
that it might be harmful to the early
unification of Germany as a whole.
Thus, the agreement which we have
reached still does not provide for po-
litical unification of the American and
British Zones. On the other hand,
within the field of economics, and
under strictly defined powers, it does
provide an arrangement where the
views of the German people can be
given to the American and British
Military Governments on the econo-
mic policies to be followed by the
two governments.
Elected by Landtage
There is established an Economic
Council which is composed of repre-
sentatives elected by the Landtage of
the several Laender on the basis of
one representative to each 750,000
persons, with a minimum, of course,
of one representative from each Land
of lesser population. To the extent
possible within each Land the repre-
sentatives of the Economic Council
will be proportioned to the political
party strength at the last election. The
Economic Council will 'be charged
with the enactment of policies and
ordinances within the field of econo-
mics, subject, of course, to the appro-
val of the British and American Mili-
tary Governments.
In addition to the Economic Council
and to assure co-ordination among the
bizonal economic agencies there is
also established an executive com-
mittee. This executive committee will
be composed of one representative
from each of the Laender. It will'
nominate the heads of the executive
agencies for confirmation by the Eco-
nomic Council. It will be authorized
to issue implementing regulations
under the policies and laws of the
Economic Council. It will sit con-
tinuously and will be responsible' for
the coordination and supervision of
the several economic agencies.
As an executive agency it must
operate under the policies and or-
dinances of the Economic Council.
However, it is not subordinate to the
Economic Council and it is charged
with co-ordination and supervision of
economic agencies -in its own right.
There will, of course, be reporting to
this executive committee, the execu-
tive directors of the several econo-
mic agencies whose duties and func-
tions will be roughly comparable to
that of state secretaries.
The law will become effective on
the tenth of June in the hope that
both the tconomic Council -and the
executive committee will be selected
by the Laender and will be ready to
work without delay. I know that you
may ask yourselves what the effect of
this law will be on the Laenderrat.
As you know many of these functions
have been transferred by your own
legislation to the existing executive
committees. Moreover, the Economic
Council is not a political body and
its powers- are limited.
The Laenderrat, on the other hand,
is a political body and subject to the
approval of Military Government. Its
activities cover the full range of gov-
ernment. The Laenderrat has been
a most effective organization since
the day it was formed and it has been
particularly helpful to Military Gov-
ernment in presenting the views of
the German people.
In a personal way it has been most
helpful to me in helping me in the
discharge of my responsibilities. I
hope that you will agree with me,
therefore, that it is most desirable
for the Laenderrat to continue in the
remaining fields of government until
Germany's political unification. That
includes the continuance of our
monthly meetings.
I would now like to say just a few
words on the subject of food. First,
I would like to congratulate the
Ministers President on the improve-
ments which have been made in the
methods of collecting the food. These
methods, if continued and improved
as I am sure you will continue and
improve them, will do much to better
the collection record from the coming
harvests. The results to date, par-
ticularly in meat collections in Ba-
varia, have been excellent.
Imports meet Quota
At our last meeting of the Laender-
rat I think I told you that you were
at a low ebb in -food stocks; that the
food situation would get no worse and
would slowly improve. I know that
it is dangerous to talk in generalities
with respect to food, particularly with
a low stock position, as - call-ups
against- the ration will vary from lo-'
cality to locality. However, I am
certainly under the impression that
the call-ups against the ration are
improving in many localities and the
arrival of imports is constantly in-
creasing.
We had promised an import pro-
gram of over 300,000 tons of flour-
equivalent for May. During the month
we attempted urgently to get the con-
sent of other countries for the tem-
porary divergence of ships where the
stock position of the other countries
(Continued on page 22)
16 JUNE 1947
WEEKLY INFORMATION BULLETIN
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