Evening star., 1950-03-26


Cooperation Administration.
folloWs:
My dear Mr.. Hoffman:
AS you approach your second
ECA anniversary next week, I
am conscious that you took this
critical assignment, in part, as
a result of my insistent urging.
1t is a source of profound re-
gret to me that illness prevents
my active participation in cur
rent decisions which mean in
finitely much, in this connec-
ton, to American security and
to free peace in a free world.
The least can do is to take ad-
vantage of this occasion to say
that, in my humble opinion, you
and your ECA associates, at
home and abroad. have rendered
incalculably vital service to our
country and its indispensable
leadership for liberty. You have
paid off in current dividends of
freedom.
ECA was launched as an un-
partisan enterprise-established
by a Republican Congress in full
and free cooperation with a
Democratic Executive. This
working unity typified our fin
est traditions and our greatest
safety in the presence of ex-
ternal hazards to all Americans.
regardless of party. You have
clung tenaciously to this un-
partisan concept in your admin
istration of ECA. AS one citizen
to another, I thank you for this
service from a grateful heart.
United. we stand. Divided, We
fall. want American to stand.
It was inevitable that there
should have been disappoint-
ments in the evolution of these
unprecedented programs - as
you have been among the first
to stress. There is understand
able and legitimate debate in
many of these aspects. It Is
our duty. under these programs
OF self-help and mutual aid, to
be as frank about the "liabili-
ties as we are about the "as-
sets" You would be the last
to say that ECA is "untouch-
able"
Europe Has Jagged, He Says
Western Europe has not
moved ahead adequately with
the economic integration which
is essential to its permanent
recovery. including Western
Germany. There must be sharp
improvement in these trends.
We confront increasingly OBJ
vious limitations upon the do
mestic resources which we can
safely and wisely" commit to
overall foreign aid. Further
more. these resources can no
longer ignore or minimize the
impact of Communist aggres-
sion in the Far East. This is
not your problem, but the prob
lem of Congress and the Execu-
tive. These are essential sub
jects for judicial Congressional
survey in that same factual
spirit which must continue to
strive to put our country first
in our considerations.
But is is equally true that our
overriding need is to clearly
understand the victories we
have won in this cold war;"
and how we won them; to
realize, thankfully. that we
have succeeded in helping es-
tablish vital zones of freedom
where independent govern
ments have survived aggres-
sion and subversion which,
two years ago, threatened to
isolate us in an ominously COM
munized world; in a word, to
avoid getting so close to the
trees" that the forest" is OBJ
scured.
The ECA smoked out Soviet
Russia's sinister plan for world
dominion-always aimed finally
at us. It set up a new type Of
peaceful cooperation between
independent peoples seeking
not conquest but honorable sur
vival for liberty under law and
for the aspirations by which
free men live. 1t built peaceful
sinews into the precious hopes
Of the United Nations and of
the subsequent North Atlantic
Community and the peaceful
dedications of America. 1t has
made inevitable mistakes which
must, be rectified. But its tre-
mendous vindication stands
clear as crystal on the 1850
map.
How Much Is 1t Worth?
In all candor can it be sue
cessfully denied that ECA has
been substantially responsible
for reversing the corroding
gloom which threatened West
ern civilization two years ago,
and which might have brought
the iron curtain" to the very
rims Of the Atlantic but for
this brave adventure? How
much is that worth, in liberties
and lives and dollars, to our
own United States? How much?
Let us not ignore any of the
lessons we have learned--em-
phatically including the lesson
that we. and our friends, are en-
gagged in a struggle that is
epochal in nature and global in
design.-emphatically including
the lesson that free nations
must continue as free nations to
work together in closest, prac-
tical harmony for the effectual
defense of their mutual hertz
age.
Ii