International: Spring Cleaning

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Besieged Berlin had weathered the winter. The West this week marked the victory and the season by moving to clean up the Berlin currency mess.

Ever since the Russians imposed their blockade last spring, a troublesome currency situation has existed in West Berlin. The Western Allies permitted the use of the Russians' East marks as legal tender alongside the West's own currency. In their own half of Berlin, the Russians had shown no such liberal attitude. Western currency was strictly banned. Since Berliners had more confidence in the Western than in the Eastern currency, West marks last week were worth four times as much as East marks. But people in West Berlin had to accept the East mark for wages, rent, etc. Explained a Western statement this week: "Real wages have no longer depended on a worker's ability or energy, but on the accident of whether his employer had been in a position to include a substantial proportion of West marks in his wage packet. Those inequalities have thrown increasing strain upon the economic and social structure of the city . . ."

To end these inequalities, the Western Allies announced that the East mark was no longer legal tender in West Berlin.

The move cheered most Berliners. It proved once more that the West was in Berlin to stay. Announcing that the airlift would be stepped up once more, the U.S. commander, Brigadier General Frank Howley, declared last Sunday: "Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Neither the Soviet blockade at the Elbe nor winter's ice or snow have kept food, medical aid and coal from coming into the city. Attempts to scare the population have failed ... It must be clear even to the densest and most ill-willed Communists that their tactics are not succeeding."