Diplomatic authorities predicted today that Secretary of State Marshall will press for acceptance of a 40-year Big Four German control treaty at the Moscow Foreign Ministers conference once.
Talk of such an alliance against any revival of German military power has been renewed here in the last few days as a result of the Stalin-Bevin exchange over the alliance between Britain and Russia.
American informants say that if Soviet Prime Minister Stalin is seriously interested in gaining maximum guarantees against the chance of a new German aggression, the 40-year treaty proposal looks like his best deal.
The idea was first put forward by former Secretary of State Byrnes more than a year ago. Stalin himself is understood to have approved it at one point, but Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov found objection to it and never allowed it serious consideration in any of the Big Four meetings.
As a result of arrangements finally made in the Foreign Ministers Conference at New York in December, however, the treaty proposal was listed at item no. 4 on the program for the Moscow Conference in March. It thus ranks almost equally in importance with projects for German and Austrian peace settlements and may, in fact, be considered as a part of the total German peace settlement.
Read more in News
Green Light Given for Library Construction