Evening star., 1949-04-05
Armament Economy
Seen Costing Nation
10 Billion a Year
Thoughts Of Substitute
Less and Less in Minds
OF Government OfficioIs
By Datid Laurence

Perhaps the most significant
and thouEht-provoking piece OF
statistics that has come out In
q long while Is the statement by
Senator Millard Tydings, Demo-
crat, Chairman of the Armed
services Committee, that the
"cold war" with Russia is costing
the United States at least s10,-
900 900, 900 a year.
Mr.. Tydings frankly comments
that If it were not for the threat
of communism. this expenditure
would. in large part. not be nee
essary.
This tells in unmistakable Ian
Fuage what the failure Of post
war diplomacy has cost America
and will continue to mean unless
some way of producing an atmo-
sphere of mutual trust is found
and some means Of bringing RUS
sia into a peaceful relationship
with the rest of the world can be
devised.
There is no sign that the Ameri-
can Government is thinking just
now along those lines. On the
contrary. all the talk is of defen-
sive alliances and more military
aid Of a lease-lend nature to i'm
plement the Atlantic Pact.
Could Have Been Avoided.
There was time. shortly after
the war, when an economic plan
for world rehabilitation involving
much less money might have been
used to secure concessions from
the Russians, but skillful states
rnanship was lacking and the cold
war" ensued. The foundations
for such a post war relationship
might well have been laid during
the war. Possibly If President
Roosevelt had lived. some formula
might have been developed. for
he had the confidence of the
Russians. It certainly does seem
that a lineup of East VS.. West
might have been avoided by the
opportune use of reconstruction
funds.
Basically the Soviet demands.
which the Allies say have been
impossible for them to grant. in
volve at root the matter of money.
A treaty with Austria would have
been signed long ago II Russian
demands for reparations could
have been satisfied. The same
holds true with respect to Ger
many. The Russian rulers need
and want financial help for their
own country.
But today the situation has
reached the point where America
Is helping to build up the de-
mocracies and even former enemy
countries. and Russia is on the
outside, too proud to beg aid even
If she could get 1t here. To the
above line of reasoning. the
answer is customarily given that
the present Russian rulers are
unscrupulous and that any help
for Russia would be "appease-
ment.n" It Is, however. a problem
of timing and a matter Of reach
ing peoples over the heads of
governments. This ais where
financial and economic assistance
can be tempting and the Russian
government would respond or
lose Its power. -.s.
Fourth of United States Budget.
Sooner or later a way will have
to be found to live in the world
with the Russian system along
side the democratic system. Ex-
penditures of $4,000. 100000 a
year on q cold war" cannot be
continued indefinitely. It is one
fourth Of the Federal budget.
Incidentally, Senator Tydings.
unwittinsly perhaps, revealed the
pump printing" aspects of the
$4,000, 100000 stimulus to the
American economy. While the
Marshall program. for example,
he said. is designed primarily to
help our Western European allies
to regain strength from the ef-
fects of the war, indirectly it does
create work for our workmen and
markets for the products of our
people" He added that "prac-
tically all of 1t is spent in our
own country to purchase food,
machinery and other supplies
which Western Europe needs to
regain economic stability and Sc
curity"
1t makes one shudder to think
what the outbreak of sudden
peace might mean to the American
economy. 1t could make the diff
ference between recession or mild
readjustment. such as is being
experienced today, and deep de-
preston. Small wonder perhaps
that an armament economy is so
easy to perpetuate and that all
thoughts of peacetime substitute
"a world economy based on nor
NAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS at the
moment to be less and less in
the mind of Governmental Of
flcials.
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