Evening star., 1950-05-27
Foreiqn Aid and PouIine's PeriIs

The omnibus foreign aid bill-which is of
vital Importance to the free worlds effort to win
the cold war-has been living legislative life
not unlike the adventures of the old-time movie
serial heroine whose hero had to rescue her
each week (as in "The Perils of Pauline'D from
falling off cliff, being sawed in half by the
william or having any number of other terrible
things happen to her. BY every rule of justice
and reason she should have been allowed to
lead an untroubled existence enabling her to
spread her goodness far and wide without inter-
ruption, but perverse characters were always
on hand to bedevil her, with fierce pertinacity,
right up until the last chapter when she finally
triumphed in blaze of glory.
In much the same way, recurrently, the
foreign aid bill has been having its narrowing
ups and downs in Congress. The latest of its
trials has revolved around the effort of Mr.
Taft and some other Republicans to defeat the
Senate-House conference version on the ground
that one item in it-$35, 100000 to launch the
Point Four program for the development of
backward areas-contans language suggesting
governmental guarantees to encourage private
American investment in overseas projects.
Happily, however the majority of the Senators
the heroes of this particular episode-have
viewed the Taft objection as picayunish and
unrealiStic and have rescued the omnibus
measure by substantial vote. As result a
sum of about $4,000, 100000 has now been au-
thorized- principally for the Marshall Plan
to finance economic assistance to our friends
abroad during fiscal 1851
But the heroine cannot be certain as vet
that all her troubles are at last over On the
contrary like Paulne's perils, the perils of the
foreign aid bill are still things to be reckoned
with. This is so because the bill-which is
merely an authorization measurement now
be acted upon by the appropriatinp committees
In other words, it will not be entirely out of
the woods, or safe from cliffs and buzzsaws,
until Congress enacts separate legislation to
supply the actual money needed for the numer-
Gus projects involved. Accordingly, before the
whole business is finally settled, some more
nick k-of-time rescue work may be necessary.
There is possibility, for example, that the
so-called economy bloc" may try to slash from
the Marshall Plans 1851 funds the $277.0oo 600
which Economic Cooperation Administrator
Paul G. Hoffman has managed to save out of
the funds granted ECA for 1850.
Such slash, of course, would be the worst
Kind OF false economy. In the first place. it
would make no allowance for the fact that the
money requested by Mr.. Hoffman for 1851 has
been figured out on the basis of what remains
unspent out of the 1850 appropriations. In the
second place, If the Senate or House made cut
OF that kind, they would be not merely en-
dangering the effectiveness of the Marshall
Plan but also penalizing the ECA dnstead of
applauding it, for good management and hus-
bandry of the funds entrusted to it. That would
be plain foolishness. In very real sense, the
whole omnibus foreign aid bill is playing too
heroic and indispensable a role in the cold war
10 be cut any further. It should stand as is
II 1T does not, then the Kremlin-the villain
of the piece-will be the gamer.