Evening star., 1951-11-18
THE SUNDAY STAR C-5
Washington, D. c
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER Is, 1851
Wise Men,
3 Try to Reconcile
Armament Shares
By Quentin R. Mott

The spotlight of publicity Is turned
these days on the winter meeting Of
the United Nations General Assembly
in Paris and its voluole arguments
over disarmament. But. without fan
fare. an equally important meeting is
being held in the same city, dealing
with the practical possibilities of
building the free worlds armed
strength.
This is the meeting of the Three
Wise Men," and it would be well for
all concerned if they live up to the
na..le they have hopefully been given.
The group actually is one Of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization's
special committees on rearmament.
Its three members are w. Averen
Hartman, the new director of mu-
tual security for the United States:
Jean Monnet, French commissioner
for planning. and Sir Edwin Plowden.
the British equivalent. They are to
announce their findings formally by
December /. but an interim report
is due next Saturday.
There is nothing particularly
strange about U N. talk of disarma-
ment while a NATO committee
studies rearmament The door for
a genuine settlement of the cold war
is always open, but meanwhile. the
West must cope with the facts
and dangers of the world We live in.
Besides, the committee was named
at the Ottawa meeting Of NATO
September 10, long before the peren-
nial question Of disarmament again
crystalized.
Time Is Short
The committee has little time In
which to solve the myriad prob
lens involved in working out q salts.
factory program. Mr.. Hartman, who
was sworn in as mutual security di-
rector October 81, emplaned the next
day for London. He talked there
with the new Conservative leaders.
and then proceeded to Paris for the
committee sessions.
Between the time the COMMITTEES
was formed and its current meeting.
the British. elections ousted the
Labor government. The Conserva-
tives have not yet made decision
as to what to do about Britain's
rapidly worsening economic situation.
Therefore the British delegate so far
has been courteously and discreetly
silent about his nations commit
ments.
The voluble French delegate, M.
Monnet, knows that he represents
an industrially retarded nation and
that Frances position is in delicate
balance on matters of production.
wages, equipment and trade. He Is
ready to challenge any rearmament
plans which will deprive France OF
anything needed to modernize indus
try and put her on equal footing with
other nations.
Versatile Mr.. Horrimon
Mr.. Hartman probably is the most
versatile of the committees three
members. being thoroughly CONVEX
SAINT with the political, economic and
military life Of the whole NATO
setup. He has talked with political
and military leaders from Yugoslavia
to Britain. AS administrator Of the
Mutual Security Agency and CO.
ordinator of the program, his judg.
ment will largely affect the distribu-
ton Of the appropriation of nearly
SIS billion which this country made
to start it.
Mr.. Hartman knows that there is
no time to waste. As he sees it, the
problem is one Of mathematics.
. Reduced to its simplest terms, It
is problem Of reconciling the differ
ence between what the military stan
Of SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters,
Allied Powers in Europe) would like
to have by way Of arms-and what
the IL nations Of the NATO setup can
afford to produce. It also is a Ques-
ton Of determining how this differ
ence might be affected if various
nations were pressured or assisted
by us.
France. for instance. with an Indo-
Chinese war on her hands may fall
into the deserving class. Britain, in
volved in many strategic areas, in
cludlng Korea, has been operating Of
late without economic assistance and
may qualify for military aid.
Countries like Norway and Belgium,
on the other hand. are better of eco
nomically and may, therefore, b
asked to do more. If they cannot in
crease their own rearmament, they
may contribute to their neighbors.
Showdown Seems Unavoidable
When all the potentials are totaled
up. however. the fact, must remain
that the European nations are having
such great difficulty in Strengthening
out their economic situations that
they simply cannot afford to go all-out
for the rearmament drive. No good
end would be served if they wrecked
their economics in order to achieve
military strength. The guessing is,
therefore. that what will come out of
the wise mems parley is some scaling
down-or, at least. slowing down
OF NATO rearmament plans, In order
to bring them more closely into line
with the actual capabilities Of the ma.
tions involved.
There have been some indications
that the three may come up with
a recommendation which would try
to couple long-range showdown Of
the armament schedule with Short
range speedup. In other words,
while it might be agreed 80 divi-
sions are more than NATO can hope
to field by the 1854 target date, it
might also be possible to agree on
some plan to rush available forces
into real fighting trim in the mean
time.
s Military spending since the out
break 0f the Korean NOV h.s l..