The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1947-11-13
us. Cdn Help Win Europe's
Cold Wdr Trumun Is Told

up Dy IICSiuCiiI lIuIIldH TepOItcu
last week that while the future of
western Europe lies Every much in
its own hands," that a program of
u. S. aid might serve as the spark
which can fire the engine" of pro-
duction on the continent.
CIO secretary-treasurer James
Carey and AFL secretary-treasur-
er George Meany participated in
preparation of the report, which
goes into exhaustive detail on how
the u. S. can help to meet the needs
expressed by the 16 nations who
met at Paris this summer and drew
up a list of their basic, rock bottom
needs as the first step in program
| Of rehabilitation.
"The interest of the U. S. in
Europe" the report explains, "can-
not be measured simply in economic
terms. 1t is also strategic and po-
litical." They assert: "Open ideolo-
gical war has been declared already
by the totalitarian nations and
their satellites upon all other ma
tions and peoples believing in in
dividual liberty. 1t has been called
cold war; The first major battle
in the cold war is being fought
now in western Europe. 1t is cold
only in the sense that guns are
not smoking and bombs and guild
ed missiles are not exploding. In
every other respect the theological
war of the Communists is as ruth
less and as determined a drive to
achieve world domination as a hot
war;"
Any attempt by Congress or
whatever Marshall Plan agency is
set up, to set conditions such as
adherence to a capitalist form of
economy, the committee asserts
sharply, "would constitute an un-
warranted interference with the in
ternal affairs Of friendly nations"
They insist that "aid from the U.
s. under the plan should not be
conditioned on the methods by
which the participating countries
reach these goals, so long as the
methods are consistent with basic
democratic principles"
Food and steel, the committee
found, are the two commodities
in greatest need in western Europe,
and in scorce supply compared
with domestic demand-here in the
II. S.
On both points, the 19-man COM
mittee differs from the report of
the Council of Economic Advisers,
which has also reported to Presi-
dent Truman on the Marshall Plan
program. The Council criticized the
steel industry for it's reluctance to
expand its productive capacity in
the postwar years, though it agreed
that any expansion now would be
too late to provide more steel dur
ing f948. On the one hand, the 49,
man committee says that any ex-
pansion now planned would have
little effect on the supplies of steel
for Europe during the next two
years. On the other hand, further
expansion of steel capacity may be
so important in the light of long
er range considerations as to justi
fly the use of scarce items for this
purpose during the next two
years"
This issue was battled out in the
committee between the labor
spokesmen, who wanted plant ex
pansion and Hiland Batcheller,
president of Allegheny-Lud
Steel Corp. and chairman of the
subcommittee which worked on the
problem, who defended the steel in
dustry's current low-capacity oper-
ating program.
The u. S. may not be able to
meet food requirements of the
countries, as drawn up at the Paris
the committee warns.
Leaving aside any need to control
the committee urges plan
of government priorities for ex-
port, conservation orders, and "set
asides" for export which "would
operate at the producer level"
While carefully avoiding speci-
fic proposals, the committee asserts
that "the food distribution regula-
tions applied by the Secretary of
from time to time to
professors and distributors of a
few of the most important agricul
tural commodities illustrate the ma
ture of the measures the Commit
tee has in mind for which legisla-
tive authority no longer exists but
which may become necessary to
prevent waste and assure that es-
sential needs are fully met"
"The Committee feels that the
of the current food crisis
in Europe cannot be overemphas-
ized," they report. Failure to meet
urgent food needs now from any
source where food is available on
reasonable terms will certainly de-
lay and possibly prevent even ao-
proximate realization of the long
ar term goals of economic recov-
cry in Europe"
The Committee Congress to set
LID new agency to administer |