Evening star., 1947-07-16
No Blinking the Fuct'

Although he used circumSpect language,
Secretary Marshall did not equivocate in
his solemn address to the Conference OF
Governors at Salt Lake City. Speaking
at time when sixteen free nations Of
Europe are meeting in Paris to act upon
his proposal for their common recovery,
he made clear that the United States
must support them to the full or risk
Seeing them move in directions which are
consistent neither with their own tradi-
tions nor with those of this country"
Translated into less diplomatic terms
with specific mention of the country Secre-
tary Marshall was careful not to name
this means simply that if we do not help
the Paris conferees to help themselves
they will 60 into an economic and political
decline likely to wreck their free civiliza-
tion and expose the whole of Europe to
the dominance of Communist Russia. Add
to this the danger of similar development
in Asia, and it is easy to understand why
the Secretary, in an obviously Somber
mood, has urged the Governors to consider
most carefully what such situation could
mean for the future prosperity and
security of our own land.
Certainly, in the Secretary's words,
"There is no blinking the fact that this
country now stands at turning point IN
it's relations to its traditional friends
among the nations of the Old World" To
get back on their feet to maintain them
selves as independent lands, to escape be-
ing engulfed by the Kremlin's expanding
totalitarianism, they must have all the
moral and economic support we can give
them. This will impose burdens on us.
1t is likely to call for kind of lend-lease
program costing us billions of dollars a
year for four years or more. 1t may even
require the return of some types of ration
ing among us. Yet, as Secretary Marshall
has warned, the United States will either
follow such a course or face "a radical
alteration of its own position" in the inter-
national balance of political, economic and
military power-an alteration that could
leave us globally isolated, with the Soviet
Union eventually so entrenched through
out all of Europe and Asia as to have a
profound effect on our own free way Of
life, our prosperity and our safety.s
This is the most challenging fact before
us in the age of the atom, and there is
indeed no blinking it. The day IS coming,
moreover, when Congress will have to act
upon it one way or the other-when the
decisions will have to be made to back
European recovery either feebly or strongly
with our money and other types of aiG. AS
Secretary Marshall has said we have an
'incalculable stake" in the situation. At
the moment-since the current Paris Con-
ference marks the first direct approach to
the problem-the American people may not
fully understand all that is involved, but
nothing could be more important than that
they come to understand it as soon as
possible
The Governors who have just heard the
Marshall address can play vital role in
this respect. BY building up clear under
standing at the State level, they will be
promoting the same kind of understanding
at the national level. Given that, when
the time comes for Congress to act, the
action will be affirmative and American
aid will be forthcoming in sufficient guam
tity to preserve western civilization. In
any event, there is no blinking the fact
that a do-nothing course would be perilous
folly for America.