Evening star., 1949-08-18
By J. A. OLeory

By J. A. OIeory
The outcome of efforts to. cut
the administrations 81 100000, 900
foreign arms program hung in
doubt in the House this afternoon
as leaders pressed for passage Of
the bill by evening.
Backers of the full amount pre-
dicted they would win by a mar
row margin. but the early hours
of debate showed unexpected
strength for some reduction in the
l,160 800 900 earmarked for West
ern Europe.
The showdown is expected on
the motion of Representative
Richards, Democrat, of South Car
olina, to cut the European fund in
half to s580,495, 900.
Two Other Amendments.
Before the Richards motion is
voted on, however, there will DO
preliminary tests on two other
amendments proposing smaller
cuts. They are:
l. BY Representative Battle,
Democrat, of Alabama to trim
$1O0, 900 from the fund for
Western Europe.
2. BY Representative Javits. Re
publican, of New York to cut
1924, 760 900 from Western Europe
and fix March 81 as cutoff date.
The pending bill would run to
June 80.
If most of the I'll Republicans
vote for the Richards reduction.
the outcome is likely to hinge on
how the Southern Democrats
divide.
| AS the debate got underway,
Representative Lodge. Republican,
of Connecticut placed in the rec
ord a letter from Secretary Of
State Acheson, again stressing the
Importance Of enacting the pro-
gram without strings attached.
More Aid Called Impractical
/ Mr.. Acheson wrote that the ad-
ministration "is firmly convinced
that further provision of military
assistance to the Chinese National
government is impractical and un-
likely to be effective"
Concerning curtailment Of the
European part of the program, he
said:
1T is also the firm conviction
of the executive branch that the
solemn commitments undertaken
by these European nations in join
ing with us in the North Atlantic
treaty provide maximum
of assurance that further common
defense planning will progress as
rapidly as can be desired"
He said holding up the arms
program until the planning is
completely perfected would serve
"only to delay in improving the
security of the area and to pro-
long the period during which our
ability to resist attack is not COM
mensurate with our stated deter
mination to do so.
He added:
Such delay will be likely to be
interpreted as indicative of sus-
picion and distrust of our allies,
and may serve to create doubts
both in their minds and in the
minds of the Soviet Union as to
the sincerity and stability Of
United States policy.
Mr.. Acheson's letter, dated Au-
gust IS, was in response to a
series of questions submitted by
Mr.. Lodge. who is supporting the
administrations arms program
but also is advocating aid for
non- Communist China.
South Split on Amount.
The Southerners appeared to
be divided over the amount of the
bill. Representatives Cox Of
Georgia and Durham of North
Carolina pleaded for the full
amount, while Representative
Kilday of Texas took the floor to
support the reduction sponsored
by Mr.. Richards.
Mr.. Cox made direct appeal
to his Southern colleagues, declar-
ing that while he does not know
what they will do in this issue,
reliance on them has been conf
dence we'll placed whenever the
national security has been at
stake" Mr.. Cox said to cut this
bill would be appeasement."
On the Republican side Repre-
sentative Vorys of Ohio took the
floor to support the Richards cut.
Were not in a dire emer-
(See ARMS, Page A-4J