Evening star., 1948-06-13


peace" offensive. to major up
heaval than the State Department
likes to admit.
Our foreign policy trainers and the
advisers at their elbows are supposed
to be conversant only with the de-
tails of the international situation.
They know little about domestic
conditions al the implications OF
over-spending.
While the military spenders had a
concrete objective before them-to
defeat the enemy by using all avail
able national resources, regardless
of ,cost-our policy-framers now
have to deal with the subtleties OF
intergovernmental relations and with
unpredictable foreign governments
and peoples whose ways OF thinking
and objectives frequently are differ
ent from our own.
Despite the heavy sacrifices made
by American taxpayers for Britain
during and after the war, the Lon
don government may be led away
from its tight ties with the United
States and directed closer to the
USSR because Of American poll
cies in the Middle East.
Influence Is Doubtful
A coalition of heterogeneous ma
tions hangs together in wartime
because they all have single pur-
pose, to avoid defeat at the hands
of common enemy. But when the
emergency disappears, their interests
often head in completely opposite
directions. No amount of money can
influence the national policies OF
another country for any length OF
time
The State Department, by the use
of cliches about international har-
mony, persuaded Congress to vote
billions for UNRRA. Its lamentable
failure to achieve international good
will now is admitted even by Its
proponents.
The $3.50, 100000 loan to assist
Britain's economic recovery also
was forced down the throats OF
legislators, who were told in execu-
tive sessions that unless the money
was provided, Britain would go Com
munist. The loan has been ex-
hausted and the results have been
negligible. Britain's economic pre-
dicament is about as serious as it
was at the end of the war. s
Spending Still Advocated
Although the $40, ,000, ,000, 900 worth
of sedatives administered to Europe
have shown no tangible results, the
State Department continues to advo-
cate huge spending, leaving to other
branches of the Government the
task of devising means of preventing
such expenditures from impairing
our whole economic and social
structure.
1t is within the province OF the
State Department, our foreign pol
icy trainers say, to spend money,
but it is not their job even to
INQUIRE where and how the money
and materials are to be obtained
from the las 100000 Americans who
are called on now to support the
rest of the world.
ANY objection to this dance of the
billions is decried' Immediately as
"isolationism." The sad part OF the
story is that, after the expenditure
of billions of dollars, the peace
which the public was told would
ensue has become so unstable that
it was necessary to provide the mills
tary establishment with not less
than $4,000, 100000 for the current
fiscal year. And that is only the
beginning.
If Moscows soft words" cease in
the next few months and the cold
war threatens to become hot, the
country will be called on to put up
many more billions. We will have
to strengthen a national defense
establishment which was pulverized
after the war ended because our
policy-framers considered that ap-
peasement of the USSR would bring
peace in our time"