Evening star., 1949-11-13

lll1Co Cildt NOdAltl tSo oAC llOg oA1Ay
titles.
icy is synthetic. Our Secretary Of
ON American ambassadors or has
fetal thoughts about some of the
topics of the month.
OF course, lesser luminaries Of
American missions abroad do take
trips throughout the countries to
which they are assigned, but they
whisk about the land in high
powered cars bearing awe-inSpir-
ing diplomatic corps tags. They
stay at the best hotels and again
meet only the "best people"
What the Frenchman, the Ital-
ian, the Britisher and the German
think only too frequently is over
their hea6, not because they are
incapable of grasping situations
quite the contrary-but because
they do not give themselves the
opportunity to get close to the
man-ip- the street.
In the last analysis it is the
common people who comprise
country and in times of peace it is
they who eventually decide a
democratic nations policies. They.
too, decide whether they will fight
another war or not.
Perusal of reports sent on
France, for instance, before World
War II would show how frequently
the military potential of this
country has been misjudged. be-
cause those reports presented to
our Government as fact the wish.
full thinking of some of our OFF,
cials.
The same thing applies to the
erroneous evaluation which our
Government received of Russia's
ability to withstand the Nazi on
slaught. In fairness. however, to
those who predicted that tho
U. S. S. r. would collapse in 40
days, it must be said that personal
contact with the people themselves
in that vast country was impos-
sible then-as it is today-under
the Kremlin's totalitarian regime.
But in other smaller, democratic
countries the people falkland
freely.
ICIA AGENTS Circulate
This criticism of officials sent
from Washington applies also to
other unofficial observers who pre-.
fer cozy capitals and other large
cities and association with peoples
like ourselves to the discomfortS
| of scouting the countryside In con.
tinental Europe or England.
| 1t seldom occurs to our official
and unofficial observers to don q
shabby suit of clothes, ride bus
or travel in the third-class COM
partments of a slow train and
spend a week or so chinning with
ordinary people. They do not do
it at home and they do not do it
abroad.
The American Foreign Service
has specific duties which 1t be-
lieves can be performed best by :
sticking to capitals and the i'm
|portant people in those capitals.
Military. naval and air attaches
also have specific duties which can
be performed by staying close to
official Establishments. In fact,
any departure from such routine
might be interpreted as prying
into things which are none of their
official business. and the word
spying" is not particularly pleas
ant.
The representatives of the
Central Intelligence Agency are
not held down by any such OBJ
legations and they move about
more frequently. But because Of
the Soviet problem, which has
different ramifications in every
country. their principal effort Is
directed at determining facts Of
material developments and not
Of thoughts and trends of thought
which ultimately decide what will
happen abroad.
Relatively few people know
what the Germans are thinking
today. It may be that the warm
words of DR.. Konrad Adenauer.
chancellor of the West German
republic, and his associates are
correct. But we must remember
that his position depends entirely
on the billion or so dollars the
United States is allocating to
Germany and on the fact that
Germany is still occupied by
foreign troops, which by their
very presence discourage any
violent opposition.
This lack of more constant
contact with the people of Ger
many has caused many of our
observers to believe that there Ia
danger Of a renaissance Of
NaziiSm, while, in fact, there is q
revival of nationalism.
Unemployment and suffering are
being exploited in Germany lust :,
as Stain exploits dwindling io6
prospects in France, Italy and
other Marshall Plan countries.
American observers in Germany
shrug their shoulders when they
are asked what will happen if the
number Of unemployed were to
reach 1850, ,000-to which must be
added the 100000 evacuees who
cannot find more than occasional,
partial employment.
French in Doubt
Some German officials contend
that an end to dismantling win
solve the problem. But other pri-
vate Germans insist that it will