Stalled at the Crossroads

"Germany--once more your partner in world trade," read the posters. Beneath them German sightseers and foreign businessmen crowded their way in to look with interest at the 1,200-odd exhibits of the Hanover Export Fair.

U.S. and British occupation authorities had sponsored the exhibition in an attempt to build up an export trade for their combined zones, called Bizonia. A breakdown of orders placed by the 1,500 foreign visitors showed 20% for automobiles and accessories. Only 20% went for toys, musical instruments and other small industry products.

Commented a German exporter: "You want us Germans to produce consumer goods and get out of the field of heavy industry, so that we won't menace anybody. So what happens here at this fair? Most of the buyers are interested in our heavy industry goods; buildings full of toys don't even get looked at."

In the first ten days of the fair, $5,700,000 worth of contracts were signed. Germans, who had hoped for much more, were bitter. Said a grey-haired Siemens-Schuckert representative with a saber scar on his cheek: "Our labor productivity is down about 50%, our wages are frozen, our raw material costs are up, and we are expected to sell at a world market price."

Caught between U.S. free enterprise and British socialism, Bizonia's economy has combined the worst features of each. Its labor has no incentive to work; business has none to produce. Bizonia's military governors had a choice between free enterprise and the sort of strictly planned economy that the Russians have in their zone. Meanwhile, the displays at the Hanover Fair were only samples of a stalled production machine.

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