Evening star., 1948-03-09
A Matter of Power

head of new French government, General
Charles de Gaulle has come out with a
proposal that has great logic on it's side,
even though many Americans may be in
clined to resist it most bitterly The pro-
posal Is simply this: That the United
States join with free Europe in a mutual
security pact embracing strict and specific
military guarantees against aggression
This means, of course pact designed to
prevent-by armed force if necessary
Soviet dominance of the entire continent.
Few Western European political leaders
have spoken out on this subject as openly
as has General de Gaulle, but there can
be no doubt that all of them share pretty
much the same view. There is good reason,
moreover, for the United States-Govern-
ment and people alike-to start giving very
serious thought to it. For the fact is that
the on-CommuniSt world is faced with
situation full of such mounting danger
that safety can be had only through far
reaching cooperative action to build
united front of the strongest possible kind.
To that end, America and free Europe
are already acting together to effectuate
three history making undertakings. The
first of these is the move by France,
Britain and the Benelux countries BEL
GUM, the Netherlands and Luxembourg,
to form union under an all-inclusive po-
dtical, economic and military treaty The
second is the agreement by those powers,
together with the United States, to inter-
nationalize the Ruhr, unity the Anglo
French-American zones of occupation and
lntegrate the economy of Western Ger
many with the European Recovery Pro-
gram (the Marshall PLAN. And the third
Is the ERP itself-the great long-term
enterprise under which sixteen independ-
ent nations, with billions of dollars in help
from u.s. are preparing to work individually
and collectively to get back on their feet.
Each and all of these measures, fitting
into single pattern of action, are in
dispensable in the present grim and urgent
situation. But General de Gaulle is on
sound ground in suggesting that they
probably are not enough in themselves to
DO the job that needs to be done If. the
advance OF Red totalitarianism is to be
checked and reversed What is going on
now IN Europe Is a fateful power contest
a contest in which our dollars and union
OF Britain and the Western European
countries, vital as they are, are likely to
prove inadequate as q counterWeight to
the aggressive Soviet drive. In General
de Gaulles judgment the force behind that
drive can be balanced or outweighed only
If the Marshall Plan and kindred non
military uodarto a H{venc hnn
a security pact to which America, with all
Its actual and potential might, is a party.
Such a commitment-in effect. a mill
tary alliance with the free nations of the
Old World-would be a portentous new,
development in our history. But it would
differ little from the antiaggression obli-
cations we have assumed in the Western
Hemisphere, or from what we have offered
to do to guard against resurgent Ger
many. The realities of the atomic age
an age in which oceans have ceased being
protective barriers-argue strongly for 1t.
Above all. Soviet policy itself argues
strongly for it.
1t Is true enough, of course, that
security pact with Western Europe would
INV AiohC us dDoOluGCly 6lOuk WILL
like the Marshall Plan, however,
it would constitute the best insurance now
available against the danger of our friends
abroad being overwhelmed one by one and
ourselves eventually being isolated and
encircled in hostile Red world. Power
respects power. If the men of the Kremlin
are confronted with enough of it, they will
think long and hard before embarking on
new adventures. Indeed, they may even
be persuaded to pull in their horns