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OMGUS
More than 200 priceless paintings,
brought to the United States in 1945
for safekeeping, will be shipped to
the US Zone some time in April. The
paintings are the prewar property of
the German government and have
been positively established as not be-
ing among the art objects looted by
the Nazis from their rightful owners.
A third edition of "Offen Gesagt,"
the German translation of a series of
excerpts from the book, "Speaking
Frankly," by former US Secretary of
State James F. Byrnes, is being
published for distribution in Germany.
This edition will comprise 200,000
copies.
Dipartite-Bizonal
The Bipartite Board decided to re-
lease to the German economy certain
textiles manufactured from cotton im-
ported under the Commodity Credit
Corporation contract-$6,000,000 worth
immediately and $3,000,000 monthly
until further notice.
The Board approved two Economic
Council ordinances. One concerns the
dissolution of the Reich Food Estate
and the distribution of its responsibil-
ities primarily to the state govern-
ments. The second changes basically
the system of determining delivery
quotas. Beginning with the 1948 crop,
such quotas will be based on the pro-
duction capacity of the entire farm
(including animal products), assessed
as a single figure, using "grain value"
as a unit of measure for all farm
produce.
A price increase to the farmer will
be authorized for the new crop of
potatoes, the Economic Council ad-
vised the Executive Committee. The
amount will be announced later.
Dr. Erich Koehler (CDU, Hesse) was
elected president of the Council and
Gustav Dahrendorf (SPD, Hamburg)
vice president.
Army surplus stocks of dehydrated
whole milk, dehydrated malted milk
and evaporated milk amounting to
1,900 metric tons have been released
to the German Bizonal Director of
Food and Agriculture for distribution
to hospitals and institutions.
Hard coal production improved dur-
ing the period Feb. 7 to 21 over that
of the preceding three weeks, averag-
ing 269,660 tons per day for the week
ending Feb. 21. Figures of 273,000
tons for Feb. 23 and 275,000 tons for
Feb. 24 show that the rise is continu-
ing. The peak for the previous three
weeks was 262,700 tons, on Feb. 5.
Freezing weather which began
throughout the Bizonal Area on
Feb. 19 necessitated the use of ice
breakers on all canals in order to
maintain navigable channels on those
waterways.
Ten whaling vessels, allocated to
the US by the Tripartite Merchant
Marine Commission, have been releas-
ed for use in the bizonal economy.
A Military Government - sponsored
safety drive is under way to insure
the enforcement of German motor
vehicle laws pertaining to highway
safety.
A Soviet request for the movement
of additional imports through North
German ports in March has been ap-
proved by the Quadripartite Move-
ments Working Party. It was agreed
that 30,000 metric tons each of exports
and imports could be handled at Lue-
beck, in Schleswig-Holstein. Exports
and imports, each totaling 15,000
metric tons will be accepted at Ham-
burg.
There was little change in the
electric power situation during the
two weeks ending Feb. 22. Consump-
tion of power decreased accordingly.
An agreement was concluded for
exchange of power between Germany
and Austria during February and
March, in accordance with the July,
1947, contract.
Production of primary aluminum is
henceforth to be permitted in the Bi-
zonal Area. The ban was lifted to free
dollars for necessary imports.
The German Economic Administra-
tion in February allocated the follow-
ing US Army surplus stocks to the
states of the Bizonal Area and to the
US and British sectors of Berlin: rain-
coats, wool clothing, about 38,000 me-
ters of khaki cloth and more than
13,000 pairs of shoes.
US Zone
Border traffic along the Czecho-
slovakian frontier has been severely
restricted by intensified patrolling by
the Czechs.
For the first time this past winter,
railway operations were seriously
hampered in February throughout the
US Zone by cold weather.
The general level of industrial pro-
duction during January was 51 per-
cent of the 1936 rate, an increase of
two points above the December level
of 1947.
As of Feb. 24, 14 of the 69 plants
declared surplus under the Bizonal
Level of Industry of Plan of Augist,
1947, were completely dismantled and
49 others were in the process of dis-
mantling.
Twelve nations were allocated a
total of 3,678 tons of reparations
equipment from 29 plants. Yugoslavia
received the largest amount, 1,275 tons.
The German translation of a US
Government publication, "Aspects of
Current American Foreign Policy,"
has been published in an edition of
10,000 copies as the fifth title in the
MG Political Information series.
The incidence of most common
communicable diseases decreased dur-
MARCH 23, 1948
INFORMATION BULLETIN
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