Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-07-27
Arms Aid and the Pact


posed Military Assistance Program, Sen
ator Vandenberg and others have sug-
gested that it might be better to extend
only smalI-scale aid on an interim basis
to cover the period between now and the
time when the twelve members of the
North Atlantic Treaty are effectively OPP
Grating the machinery called for in Arti-
Gle g.
Under Article g. the treaty's signatories
are to establish twelve-nation council. In
turn, among other things, this council IS to
set up defense committee whose duties will
include recommendations regarding the ex-
tent, nature and timing of the continuous
and effective self-help and mutual aid" en-
visioned in Article 3. Since the committee
has not yet been organized, however, and
since its earliest meeting probably will not
take place until some time in September,
Mr.. Vandenberg has the impression that
the current arms proposals have been
drafted without reference to what it may
actually recommend after it convenes. Ac-
cordingly, although he apparently is still
reserving judgment, he feels that the wiser
course to follow at this stage may be to
enact only token" aid and to put off the
question of >largescale program until
the next session of Congress, after the pact
committee has begun to function.
But this view is open to question To
begin with, according to the State De-
partment's booklet on the subject, many
months ago the European members of
the North Atlantic Treaty submitted de-
IN; OF ho eli
and composition of their forces-in- being
and those contemplated in the near future,
the extent to which they are now, and can
be, equipped from internal resources, and,
finally, the net deficit of equipment for
which United States aid was needed and
requested" The requests were then care
fully screened "by representatives, at home
and abroad, of the National Military Es-
tablishment, the Department of State, and
the Economic Cooperation Administra-
ton" AS far as the pact's requesting sig
natories is concerned, the arms proposals
that have been based on this process have
been put forward as something requiring
immediate action. On the other hand, the
recommendations to be made by the pro-
jected defense committee under Article 9
will bear upon the long-range, continuous
problem of self-help and mutual aid.
On the subject of immediacy the State
Departments booklet argues that the pro-
posals should 60 into effect during fiscal
1885, It has this to say: 1.-THE building up
of adequate defenses in Western Europe
is not to be accomplished by promises
of assistance nor by planning on paper
program to be applied at a later date. The
planning L. has been accomplished, but
it has required year of careful work. {.
Much remains to be done If this program
is to be translated into an actual better
ment of our security. Existing equipment
must be reconditioned, packed, shipped,
unpacked, and delivered into the hands of
the men who are to use it. Those men
must be trained in the use of the equip
ment. Other equipment will take even
longer to be effective, for it must be newly
manufactured. . BY initiating this pro-
gram now, a necessary foundation is pro-
vided for the work of the North Atlantic
Pact organization. At the same time, the
defensive increment so afforded will in
itself operate to deter an aggreSSor."
In other words, as the State Department
sees the situation, delay in the extension
of adequate military aid until the next
session OF Congress- or until the pact's de-
Tense committee makes its long range rec
concentrations, would overlook immediate
necessities and result in lost time-per-
haps year or more-at stage in history
when the free world cannot afford to lose
time. This view deserves to be weighed
rsost carefully. If it is sound, statesmen
legislators like Mr.. Vandenberg will have
good reason to Danish their present doubts
about the substance and timing of the pro-
gram proposed by the President.