Evening star., 1950-08-01
Our Allies and Armoments Aid

In asking congressional leaders for action to
provide an additional 81 billion for ornaments
aid to our friends abroad the President has
taken step made imperative by the grave new
threats confronting our own country and the
rest of the free world. AS indicated by key Demo-
Gratis and Republicans in both the Senate and
House, his request will almost certainly be granted
with as little delay as possible The grim logic
of events as expressed in the mounting menace
of Kremlin- directed Communist aggression, is
too clear and compelling to leave any room for
doubt that the measure must be enacted-and
the sooner the better.
The 81 billion increase as proposed by the
President is to be over and above the 81 ,222 5O0,
600 already approved by Congress for the second
year of the Mutual Defense Assistance Program
The great bulk of the money is for aid in the form
of guns, tanks, ETC., to fortify Britain, France
and our other overseas allies in the twelve nation
Atlantic Pact It's purpose is to enable those
countries, working closely with us through the
pactS machinery for joint planning and CO.
ordinated defensive action, to hold on to Western
Europe against possible onslaught by the
Russians and their satellites.
But the enactment of this greatly enlarged
program-a kind of revival of our wartime lease
lend-cannot of itself strenthen the security of
the West. First of all, the shipments it emissions
must be produced and delivered-a condition that
assumes the Communist aggreSsor will not un-
leash an an-out attack in Europe in the mean
time. Beyond that-and at least equally i'm
portant-our assistance, even If there is no
global explosion in the months immediately
ahead, will not be sufficient to place the overseas
members of the Atlantic Community in a sound
defensive posture unless they simultaneously step
up their own arms production, adequately build
up their armed forces in being, and increase their
military budgets as we are doing.
Some of these countries-France and Britain,
for example-have been almost equalling and
even exceeding our own reKorean military out
lays in terms of the percentage of their national
incomes that they have been spending on de-
tense. But that percentage is no longer enough.
Like ourselves because of the new dangers at
large in the world, they must now increase it
substantially and at the same time shift an ap-
preciable part of their production from civilian
channels to rearmament-a shift that is bound
to affect their living standards and put added
but bearable strains on their economies just as
in our own case here in the United States
1t seems safe to assume however, that our
friends abroad-as they have already indicated
in Atlantic Pact discussions-are ready to do
these things Speaking for the United Kingdom,
for example, Prime Minister Attlee, though re-
gretting the need to increase military production
at the expense of civilian recovery, has bluntly
warned the British people that they are up against
an evil force of globa dimensions that the fire in
distant Korea may burn down their own homes
and that they must therefore be prepared to
make sacrifices now if war is to be prevented or
If they are to safeguard their liberty and do
their duty in the common effort to preserve the
free world
If all the free nations act in keeping with
the spirit Of these words, if our overseas allies
back up our ornaments aid and our help under
the Marshall Plan with great exertions of their
own, and if we ourselves do not falter or vacillate
here at home, then it may we'll be that general
war will be averted and that our world-the nom
Soviet World-may succeed in due course in max
ing itself powerful beyond challenge In that
sense, peace-a long-term peace-still seems
possible.