And So to Paris

After two weeks of vainly trying to settle the Berlin issue in Berlin, Germany's military governors passed the problem back to Moscow. For the eleventh time, the Western envoys went to call on Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. The Russians had agreed "in principle" to lift the Berlin blockade; in practice, they refused to budge. It was obvious by now that the Russians were merely carrying on what T. S. Eliot once called "a tedious argument of insidious intent."

After the last Kremlin meeting, U.S. Ambassador Bedell Smith said: "The three Western envoys had a delightful hour and 30 minutes' talk with Mr. Molotov. I have no comment."

After that, the Western envoys (Smith, Britain's Frank Roberts and France's Yves Chataigneau) took off for Paris where the U.N. General Assembly was about to meet. All the other principals converged on Paris--from Washington came Secretary of State Marshall, from London Ernie Bevin, from Berlin General Lucius Clay. The visitors were joined by France's Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. The chief decision they would have to make was whether to continue the delightful talks with Molotov in Paris (if he should decide to come), or whether to throw the Berlin issue into the U.N. Assembly or Security Council for debate. Exposing the Russian blockade--and the why and what of the great Berlin airlift--to the world's view might be an effective move in the building of public morality which, at this point, was U.N.'s main business.

The British were known to be hesitant about breaking off the talks with Molotov. The key to the situation was the question of whether the airlift (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) could continue, throughout the winter, to feed, warm and hold Berlin. That crucial question General Clay answered last week with a clear yes. He said he was sure that the airlift could not only provide Western Berlin with its necessities but sustain its economic life at pre-blockade level. With the possible exception of two tough winter months, he was convinced that "Operation Vittles" could be extended to flying in raw materials and flying out finished products for Western Berlin's industry.

If General Clay was right, the West would look much like a poker player who started betting on a pair of deuces and found, on second glance, that he held a pair of aces.

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