Evening star., 1948-03-28
U. 5. May Send Arms
To ERP Nations as
BuIwark Against Reds
By John M. Hiehtowef
Assceioted Press Stoff Writer

Vic S1llOCO SLdUCS WILL 44cStC w Q1 IL
. ish arms as well as economic aic
to strengthen Western European
nations against Russia.
a Some authorities speculate thai
. Congress may be asked to revive
the wartime Lend-Lease principle
= of arming nations whose defense i!
: in the interest of American security
Q The whole subject of American
military relations with the free ma.
tions of Europe Is being studied by
top administration officials.
Presumably decisions will he made
in the near future and European
governments have been or will be
consulted on their own estimates oil
their requirements. White House
and State Department leaders con.
stantly stress the urgency of actor
to stop Russia" and every Soviet
gesture at Western country tends
to speed up the process.
Izvestia Attacks Norway.
Another of these gesteures came
yesterday. Izyestia, Russian gov
ernment newspaper, let go with 9
blast at Norway which some dip.
lomats thought might be the start
sof the long feared Russian cam
apaign against that country.
Z Izvestia accused rightists in the
s sNorwegian government of selling
sout Norway to the United States.
The Russians said Norwegian
. American and British war depart
ssments had agred on far-reacnine
military measures such as standard
tzation of Norwegian arms and use
of Norwegian territory for American
and British bases.
American officials are extremely
cautious in discussing subjects such
as those brought up in the Soviet
charges about Norway. But Fresi-
dent Truman expressed concern
over Scandinavia in his stop Rus
sia" speech to Congress March IT
Since then there have been two
other statements bearing lmpor-
family on the situation.
Secretary of Defense Forrestal
told the Senate Armed Services
Committee Thursday that "as a
strictly military matter we cannot
afford to sit by while the rest OF
the European nations fall "one by
one"
Policy Moves Outlined.
At news conference the same
day Secretary of State Marshall
said that American policy toward
Western European alliance is still
under study. He also said that the
need of Europeans for increasing
armaments to meet the Russian
challenge might have the effect of
raising the cost of American eco
nomic aid to Europe-he couldnt
say without looking into the matter
Primarily on the basis of these
public statements and authoritative
interpretations of what they mean
1t is possible to report how Ameri-
can policy is shaping up:
President Truman deliberately went
as far as he could in his stop Rus
sia" message to pledge assistance to
the European nations. But the ad-
ministration considers the first need
of the United States is to build up
its armed forces so it can back up
talk with action. Hence emphasis
was on essentially domestic pro-
posals such as the draft.
U. S. Seeks to Strengthen Europe.
In administration and State De-
partment opinion, the strongest as
surance to Western Europe is a
United States able and ready to
act against Russia, if necessary. But
a major aim of American policy is
to strengthen the Europeans so they
also will be ready and able to act.
Thus the American Government
has encouraged formation of the
Western European union and wants
1t to go much further than the five
nations it already tentatively en-
braces-Britain, France, Belgium
the Netherlands and Luxembourg
One great aim of the European
Recovery Program, in which 16
European nations are cooperating,
is to make the Europeans so strong
they would stand virtually as their
own counter-force against Russia.
America and a revived Europe to-
gether would present a combination
Russia would not dare fight, accord
ing to this reasoning.
Conditions Call for Speed.
But the plan was laid down and
the Western European union was
conceived under a much slower
tempo than the speed of todays
events. The fate of Norway might
be decided, for instance, in terms
of weeks rather than years.
1t is this state of affairs which
has caused officials here to press
work on the military phases of
European recovery. The recovery
plan with its expected $500 000, 600
is now trimmed to fairly close
margin. To make it work, the Euro
pean countries are supposed to pro-
own. If they have to reduce this
production in order to turn out
arms, the plan will be thrown out
of kilter and might require addi-
tional funds to make up the
difference.
This leads to the alternative of
sending American arms, as avail
able, to friendly European countries
that want them. This operation
would be kept separate from the
economic side of help to Europe and
would be run, according to present
thinking, by the armed forces.
Wheel Of Progress to Meet
Senator johnson, Democrat, of
Colorado, will be the principal
speaker at the monthly meeting of
the Wheel of Progress at pm
tomorrow in the Fourth Presby-
terian Church. Thirteenth and
Fairmont streets NV. A musical
program will be presented by Mrs
Henry Stephan and Miss Eva