Evening star., 1947-09-26

Russia intends, or desires, a con-
quest by force Of arms Of additional
territory to that occupied during
the war. I have not felt-for the
present at least-that Russia desires
q fighting war, or would give serious
consideration to 1t. I do feel that
Russia desires to make communism
the accepted form Of government.
both in occupied territories and
throughout the world. I do not
believe we should yield to Russia
IN any way in its plan for spreading
the Communist philosophy.
Form Of Aggression.
In communism we face curious
form Of aggression. But outside the
power Of the Russian army limited
to Europe and Asia, 1t Is the battle
Of tdeologies. We cannot fight the
ideology Of communism with SOL
diers. War in itself creates a con-
dition favorable to totalitarian gov
ernment, and therefore to commun-
ism.
In general, the battle must be
fought out in each country by the
people Of that country. Undoubted-
ly the conditions are more favorable
for communism In countries having
severe economic hardship, and so in
that Held we can be helpful with
loans and other assistance. But let
us not overestimate the power of
our money. Certainly, our money
cannot rule the peoples Of the world.
was willing to try q large-scale
use OF money In Greece to maintain
the status quo during the peace
negotiations, but we might as well
recognize that the Greek type of
experiment Is impossible In Italy
and France because of the tremen-
dous scale on which money would
have to be poured in. 1t might well
produce more hostility to the United
States, and more arguments for the
Communists.
But one thing Is certainly clear
We should meet communism first
here In the United States, bring it
out into the open and eliminate
its influence. If we can't meet
it successfully at home, how can we
hope to meet it in Europe? Our
leaders should speak out in behalf
OF the American system and get
away from the inferiority complex
about 1t we have seen in recent
years. The New Dealers really at
tackled the basic philosophy of
American government, It's belief In
individual and local freedom. In
competition and in reward for in
centive. They echoed the arguments
OF Moscow against 1t, and wanted
to move our system well over to-
wards that Of Russia. The time
has come for leaders Of all our par
ties to point out the merits Of the
American system, and the principles
behind 1t.
Should Reverse P0tsdam Plan.
In Germany, we should speed up
the present tendency to reverse the
Potsdam plan. We should help the
Germans develop an economic sys-
tenn which will support them with
out assistance from this country.
We should work out at once, and
announce, the limitation and nature
OF the controls required to prevent
the development Of another war ma
chine. We should also work out the
amount OF coal and other current
production which can properly be
required In the nature of repara-
tions. Within those controls and
requirements, the Germans should
be allowed to develop their own
economy regardless Of competition
with other nations, and with the
same freedom Of access to raw ma
terials which the other nations have.
In Japan we should proceed to
make peace as rapidly as possible
and with controls to insure against
the development OF armament, q
much more simple matter in the
case Of Japan than Germany. We
should permit Japan to support it.
self like any other nation.
We might as well face the fact
also that II We are going to keep
any nation. at a lower standard Of
living than the rest Of the world,
1t will soon learn to produce more
cheaply than other nations and
compete with us throughout the
world. We might well return to the
principles of the Atlantic Charter
and recognize that our policies
should be directed as far as prac-
ticablc toward raising the standard
OF living OF every nation, including
the conquered countries.
The Marshall Proposal.
In the economic field, we have
had proposed to us the so-called
Marshall plan, which is not really
a plan at all, but only a combina-
ton Of suggestions. The first sug-
gestion Is that European nations
try to help each other before ask
ing the United States for help. That
certainly is q reasonable proposal,
but we have heard little Of any
effective proposals to that end from
the conference in Paris. II such
self-help can be worked out by a
customs union, 1t should rebound to
the development in each country of
that production to which 1t Is best
suited. I still hope that we can
reach an agreement with Russia
regarding a unified Germany. If
that is not done, then the rest of
Germany outside the Russian zone
should certainly be integrated into
the economy Of Western Europe.
When 1t comes to our part in the