Evening star., 1949-08-10
Related Evils

AS the hearings on the military assist
ance program go forward, there are mount
ing indications that two mistakes may be
made.
One Of course, is the prospect that Con-
greSs will fail to provide the funds to DO
what we can do, and what we most GER
tainly should do, to bolster the armed
forces of our friends in Europe. The other
is that the advocates Of the full program
recommended by the President will paint
too rosy picture of the results the pro-
gram can be expected to produce.
Men like General Marshall and General
Bradley have set forth the arguments
against doing too little, the principal one
being that our own security, no less than
that of Western Europe, rests on our will
ingness to reinforce the Atlantic Pact by
putting the arms program into effect AS
General Marshall stated it, there are two
questions involved: What we cannot afford
to do and what we cannot afford not to
do. The main thing is to do what can be
done, within the limits of our own re-
sources and to do that promptly. If Con-
gress is not willing to appropriate the full
in Senator Vandenberg's latest suggestion.
Since only portion of the arms to be
provided under the bill are scheduled for
delivery during this fiscal year, and since
the allied defense council to be set up
under the Atlantic Pact has not yet begun
to function, Senator Vandenberg favors an
interim appropriation smaller than the re-
quested total, but with provision that
the administration may enter into contract
authorizations for the balance. Perhaps
this would be an acceptable compromise.
At any rate it would have the merit OF
being commitment to extend the full
amount of aid, although over somewhat
longer period of time.
Only less unwise than doing too little,
would be for officials Of this Government
to promise too much, or to appear to prom
Use too much. AS an illustration of this,
Secretary of Defense Johnson told the
congressional committee holding hearings
on the arms bill that it would take months
and years for this country to raise, equip,
train and transport troops across the At
lantic. Meanwhile, he said, the forces of
Western Europe must be able to resist the
enemy. In somewhat similar vein, Secre-
tary Acheson told the committee the arms
program is designed to prevent the out
break of general war in Europe by pro-
viding free nations with the means to de-
fend themselves effectively.
Secretaries Johnson and Acheson do not
think-and do not say-that the Western
nations. given the aid proposed in this
program, could resist a full scale Russian
attack. But that, nevertheless, is an in
ference which may be drawn from what
they said, and 1t would be unwise to let
such an impression stand.
The arms program has number OF ad-
vantages. It would permit start to be
made in building up an effective force in
free Europe. 1t would be psychologically
helpful to the threatened nations. It would
tend to discourage aggression. And If the
worst should happen, it ought to be of help
to the Western countries in maintaining
some kind of delaying action. But by no
stretch of the imagination can it be ex-
pected in the foreseeable future to produce
a military organization capable OF success
fully resisting the Red Army in full-scale
attack, and no such impression should be
permitted to come out of the current hear
ings on the bill