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Organ of Public Opinion
The action of Gen. Joseph T. McNarney
in discussing German problems freely with
representatives of the German newspapers
at his last press conferences before retiring
as US Military Governor in Germany was
cited by the Mittelbayerische Zeitung (Re-
gensburg) as an illustration of what Ger-
man authorities must learn "before demo-
cratic concepts will be generally accepted."
The editorial said in part:
"Large circles of our people can learn
much from this application of practical de-
mocracy. The Commander-in-Chief of the
American Armed Forces and the American
Civil Administrator in Germany deems it
expedient - though he certainly is not
obliged -to grant any information to the
German representatives of the press, because
he . . . . is deeply convinced of the im-
portance of the press as an organ of public
opinion .
"Does the same conception prevail in all
German central administrative offices? Un-
fortunately, this question must be answer-
ed with a 'No' . . . By mentioning. .. ex-
amples which reveal the arrogance of Ger-
man authorities toward public opinion rep-
resented by the press, we recognize how
much the Germans have got to learn before
democratic concepts will be generally ac-
cepted."
Moscow Peace Conference
The Moscow Conference continued to be
top news in the licensed German press in
the US Zone with editorials generally agree-
ing with the statements of US Secretary of
State Marshall, opposing Soviet reparation
demands as too high for continued German
existence, and showing occasional skepticism
as to the outcome of the conference.
The Rhein-Neckar Zeitung (Heidelberg)
suminarized the first two weeks of the con-
ference as "no p
"TThe foreign n
their time to di,
DP's, the employment of former Nazis, etc.,
because their representatives were not able
to solve these questions. When, how, and
by whom will the main problems of the
international situation be solved? The will
to create a peace regulation by itself is not
sufficient to make the term 'peace negotia-
tions' appropriate for the present Moscow
discussions . . . . What has been achieved
so far is not a beginning, but a continuation
of debates that already led to a dead end in
London."
The Fraenkische Nachrichten (Tauber-
bischofsheim) said French Foreign Minister
Bidault finally touched the point at Moscow
"that to us Germans seems the quintessence
of the whole peace problem" - namely that
Germany soon will have 200 inhabitants per
square kilometer compared to 75 in France
and 62 in Poland. It continued:
"The loss of the eastern areas and the in-
flux of expellees will force us to increase
exports . . . . This forced export from Ger-
many will constitute a permanent factor of
perturbance in the world market. As soon
as the demand accumulated during the war
years has been more or less satisfied, the
industrial nations - the United States, Eng-
land, France, and Germany - will stand in
sharpest competition with each other on. the
export markets.
"The tendency of the cheapest labor sup-
ply to press down prices will then become
effective. The communist economic system
has to fear least from that. But the only
way out, for all concerned, remains that
proposed by Bidault: an international agree-
ment for the stabilization of the German
population on a reasonable economic and
geographical basis."
The Heilbronner Stimme (Heilbronn) saiC
the world suffers from lack of confidence.
Germany is not feared today. but each of the
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