Evening star., 1950-04-05
The Chips Are Down

General MarShall's remarks at the ECA
family party" were designed to impress upon
the American people the fact that this struggle
with communism in (which we engaged is
not less vital to our future because we have
chosen to call it cold war.
AS he put it, 'the chips are down. Winning
this struggle is as vital to the peace and pros
perity of the world as any military campaign in
history
1t is hard to make people realize that this
is true. Obviously, some do not believe it, for
otherwise the House would not have behaved
as it did last week with the ECA authorization
bill. In the midst OF shooting war the House
would not have adopted, even temporarily, the
Irish partition clause And it would not have
arbitrarily slashed by nearly 10 per cent the
authorization for funds to carry on the struggle,
especially now that the Marshall Plan Is at its
crucial midway point.
What is happening in these days is disturb
ingy reminiscent of the foolish things that were
being done in 1899, 1910 and 1941. Those were
the days of the so-called phony war in Europe.
Those we're the days when renewal of the draft
act came within one vote of defeat in the House,
when recommended appropriations for defense
were being Slashed in the name of false economy
when variety of other schemes, just as absurd
the Irish partition amendment, could and
did receive serious legislative attention. OF
course, when it became clear that the phony
not phony after all, that it really was
a war that directly and imminently threatened
our national existence the mood changed. Con-
gressmen who had been throwing monkey
wrenches right and left outdid themselves in
getting on the right side of every vote for the
prosecution of the war, and pointed with pride
to their record.
But by that time the damage had been DONE
The failure to do the things which might have
been done and which should have been done
in 1888 and 1889 to cost us billions of dollars
and untold number of human lives later on.
Whatever chance there might have been Of
averting war If this country had been prepared
was thrown away. Let there be no mistake about
1t, for the record is clear: In the days prior to
Pearl Harbor we were our own worst enemies,
and we paid dearly for our blundering.
Now, in less than dozen years, many of
us seem to have forgotten 1t is true, of course,
that we are spending a great deal more on
national defense and doing much more to assist
our natural allies But the old urge to kid our
selves is reasserting itself To too many people,
the cold war seems to be just that and nothing
more. They will not face up to the unpleasant
truth-that if we fail the cold war will be lost
and that II it is lost another shooting war will
be close at hand And so the House, having
reduced domestic pork barrel measure, DEGREES
with a fantastic kind of logic that the cold war
authorization must be cut too
1t Is to combat this kind of thinking, or
nonthinking, that General Marshall has lent
his name and his prestige to the proposition that
we should keep our ECA commitments. If the
words of any man will carry weight, his should.
For he has been through 1t all before and he
does not want to see his country go through
1t again. s