Evening star., 1950-11-01
Europe's Soft UnderbeIIy-W
By Bloir Moody

ATHENS.-The Greeks think
Paul r. Porter, Economic CO.
operation Administration mission
chief now returning to Washing
ton as assistant Administrator,
was a tough old meanie for sud-
denly slashing their allotment of
Marshall Plan money by SGT mil
lion, Mr.. Porter says he did them
a favor.
This -harassed and gallant
little nation has made progress
under heartbreaking conditions
since the end of World War II.
1t is the only country in the world
attacked successfully by the three
ruthless modern aggressors-
Mussoloni, Hitler and, through
puppets, Stain. It is only a few
months since thousands of Greeks
were refugees, driven from their
homes in the northern villages by
Red guerrillas.
The country is lacking in raw
materials and heavy industry. It's
wages are low and prices high. It
Is riddled by privilege, and after
the war its reform movement was
captured politically by the Com
munists, typical Red technique.
It still lacks responsible party gov
ernment.
Teamwork Gets Results.
Nevertheless, teamwork between
determined Greeks and American
experts shows startling results in
such fields as agricultural produc-
ton. Economic Co-ordinator
Constantin Doxiadis proudly re-
lates how the Greeks have trans
formed hundreds of acres of for
merly hard-baked salt flats into
f1ourishing rice fields by irrigation.
How a hybrid wheat especially
adapted to Greek soil has increased
production from 40 to 60 bushels
an acre. How growing pure breed
chickens has boosted the egg sup
ply. How the rundown condition
of Greek cattle herds has been i'm
proved by importing artificial in
semination to strengthen the
breed. How better marketing has
made Greece self-supporting in
potatoes. and so on.
The Greeks have rebuilt their
shattered port of Piraeus. They
have reopened the Corinth Canal
Their biggest since ECA project is
an $50 million hydroelectric devel-
opment to increase the nations
power. and therefore productivity.
They have built more than 1000 |
miles of highways. They have
wiped out hoof-and-mouth dis
ease. once epidemic in their cattle, |
at half the cost of a similar |
project in Mexico.
American dollars and advice |
contributed to most of these |
achievements, but basically they
were done by the Greeks. Yet |
Greek exports in the last year |
have not increased, but dropped
The dollar gap, plugged by United |
States aid, is not narrowing, but |
widening. And Mr.. Porter cut the
ECA allotment not alone to save
dollars and contribute to financ-
ing the United States budget, but
because he felt the Greeks could
not use the extra money profit
ably. They are operating their
economy badly. If they can't put
it on firm basis now, they won't
have much fun when Marshall
aid ends.
The trouble here. as in many
other parts of Europe, is that a
favorite word is "im- poss-See- bile" >"
It denotes. usually. something a i
politician, or the power behind a
politician, does not want to do.
Mr.. Porter, with the recent. po-
tent help of the new United States
Ambassador, John E. Peurifoy, has
had much difficulty making the
Greek government see that many
things are possible if there is the
will to do them. And many re-
forms are inescapable if a Greece
whose exports now pay for only
Is per cent of imports is ever to
stand on it's own feet without
being engulfed by Communism.
History of Hardship.
Mr.. Porter comedies the Greeks
have had a hard time of it. They
suffered centuries of rule by the
Turks. Since independence they
have been invaded by the Italians,
overrun by the Germans. kept in
turmoil by the Reds and only now,
on the strong arm of Uncle Sam,
are they learning to walk alone. |
But that is no reason why today |
they should do so little about the |
shocking gap that separates the |
workers from the wealthy, or to
break through thick crust of eco
nomic tradition that has nothing
at all to do with the glories of the |
ancient Acropolis.
These are traditions imposed by