Evening star., 1950-04-16

tanks to satisfy public opinion.
Hitler would come to power. HE
is crazy" he said, you won't be
able to deal with him." But the
French were adamant.
Andre Tardieu. the French Pre-
mier. replied that he knew the
warning was true, but that he
would not last half an hour at
the head of the French govern
ment if he made even a vague
suggestion that such a step be
taken. He stayed in Office an
other six months. But in 1888
Hitler came to power, and the war
which broke out six years later
was on the way.
Giobal Defense Unaccepted
These past experiences do not
seem to have taught the Western
Europeans anything. The psychol-
ogy which prevailed in Western
Europe before World War II per-
sists today, although the Germans
are completely disarmed and there
are sufficient warnings to show
that unless they are accepted as
partners in the Western setup they
will turn toward the East. The
political leaders of the West seem
to pay little heed to the fact that
the Russians already have Or
ganized a force of at least 1901
trained Germans in the Eastern
zone of Germany.
We talk about global diplomacy
in the United States. But in
Europe the idea of "global de-
fense" has not yet permeated.
Military strategists without ex-
ception (and the French and
British are included in this group
agree that the defense of Western
Europe is an empty word unless
all the component parts of that
part of Europe become full -fledged
members of the defense coalition.
With Germany as a no-man's-
land and Spain kept out of the
Western European system, all our
efforts will be useless. The new
idea that America must provide
strong permanent garrisons in
Germany, France, Belgium and
England might appeal to the
peoples across the Atlantic, but
certainly will not appeal to the
American people. Any attempt
by this Government to accede to
such a request would bring back
a wave of isolationisrn which
would wreck all present plans to
help Europe.
The present conflict is primarily
between America and Russia. The
U. S. S. r. is a threat in Europe and
potentially an even greater threat
to us in the Pacific. The modest
military establishment modest in
size but not expenditure admit
tedly is insufficient to meet an
emergency, especially when we
realize that if war breaks out we
will have to fight on the Pacific as
well as the Atlantic front.
We have done more than we
actually can afford to help Europe.
In exchange we occasionally have
received some kind words of
thanks. We witness a temporary
and probably superficial recession
of communism in Western Europe,
but no material help toward unity
of Europe, which would provide
genuine defense of that part of the
world over which we have assumed
unprecedented responsibility.
The French have told us frankly
that they will have serious diff
culties in finding the manpower
to organize even seven tank divi-
sions in the course of the next
three years. This is understand
able. France, like the rest of Eu-
rope Except Spain, Switzerland
and Turkey, has been bled white
in the last 80 years. Under the
best conditions imaginable, nations
of the Atlantic pact cannot muster
even one-tnird of the military
strength they had in 1889.
No Help Toward Unity
In spite of repeated suggestions
from Washington, the economic
alliance of the Western European
continent is making very slow prog
ress. The idea of economic unity
receives lip service only. Instead
of genuine attempts to find out
how the industries of Western
European nations complement
each other, tariff and impart bar
riers still are in existence. Europe
is more concerned with exporting
it's overproduction, which now is
increasing by leaps and bounds,
to the United States than with
finding outlets in Western Europe
Itself.
The reason for such exports to
America, produced at much lower
cost than in this country, is said
to be the necessity of closing the
dollar gap. But what will happen
to the American worker? We al
ready have 100000 unemployed.
This situation seems to be of little
concern to Western Europe and
to some of our own political men.
A unified Europe, in which all
the nations which want to main
tain the democratic form of gov
ernment are included, is the only
answer to the present problem,
provided dread events do not over
take us before this can be accom-
plished.
If we enjoy another few years
OF breathing spell the only effec-
tive resistance to Russia's military
and economic threats is in genuine
union of all the portions of Europe
which are not behind the iron
curtain.
Such a union will help Europe
and the United States alike. It is
in such an eventuality that the
$500, 600 we now are spending