Evening star., 1951-02-16
A House Divided

a house DYI0e0 80.
Some Senators think General Marshalrs
announcement that our present policy contem-
plates the sending of only four additional Ameri-
can divisions to Europe will have SOLDERING in
1uence on the great debate" It will be good
thing if the opinion of these gentlemen is cor
rect. For this country, in critical hour, is
house divided against ITSELF and, as the Bible
reminds us, such house cannot stand
The current scene is chaotic Republican
Senators have just returned from swing around
the Lincoln-day circuit, in the course of which
they registered various degrees of dissent from
our foreign policies In the House of Representa-
tives 118 of the 1893 Republican members signed
so-called declaration of policy which, with
other things, calls upon this Nation to refuse
further aid of any kind to Western Europe "un-
less persuaded that Western Europe is carrying
its full share of the burden" Just what that
means the Republican members do not say and
may not know. But Representative Williams of
Mississippi says there are those on the Demo-
cratic side of the House aisle who are mot
without sympathy for the Republican view, and
Representative Dorm of South Carolina reports
that if his mail Is an accurate barometer the
people have lost confidence in the top execu-
tives of the country
Against the background of this battle among
goes on. General Eisenhower returns to Europe
to try to persuade the Western Europeans that
the United States is not going to let them down.
Secretary Acheson-brave man-reminds the
Communist countries that the President has
warned that any aggression might well strain
to the breaking point the fabric of world peace.
Threatened Yugoslavia is visited by an assistant
Secretary of State. Are the Yugoslavs expected
to believe that an America which cannot make
up it's mind what to do about Western Europe
can be counted upon for help in event of a
Communist attack? Secretary Finletter of the
Air Force has been in Turkey, a most valuable
potential ally in event of war. It would be in
teresting to know what assurance he felt able
to give the Turks, and how the Turks felt about
any that may have been given.
The great tragedy in all this is that we may
well be booting away the last hope of free
world. Unless General Eisenhower is a starry
eyed dreamer, and not even the rashest critic of
the policy he advocates has called him that
there Is an excellent chance that the free world
can be saved from both Communist domination
and war. All that is needed is understanding
OF the problem and the danger, plus willingness
to take reasonable preparatory measures. That
will never be done, however, unless the United
States takes the lead. We must encourage
weaker nations by our example, but we will never
allies with excessive suspicion by anesthetizing
ourselves with the notion that, after all, 1t won't
matter too much If we let Europe 60 by the
boards. ,,.e-
There are those who say that our foreign
policy has been q costly failure That simply is
not true. Our policy has not achieved all that
might have been hoped for. But it has achieved
great deal, Those areas of the world that are
really vital to our economic well-being and our
physical security remain threatened, but they
also remain outside the Communist camp. II
we had done nothing they surely would have
been lost to us. Because Of what we have done,
there still Is chance-a good chance-that
they can remain safely this side of the Iron
Curtain. Let those who are so prone to reckless
accusation, who say that our policy has failed
and should be abandoned, consider the alterna-
tives for moment. Do they really believe that
this proposed additional effort should not be
made, that 1t would be better to chuck the whole
business and resign ourselves to the prospect of
withdrawing into an isolated armed camp in this
hemisphere and trying to stay alive there from
now until doomsday?
There can be only one rational answer: We
must make reasonable effort to go forward with
the work that we are engaged upon And so
The Star hopes that the Senators are right:
that the four division announcement will have
sobering effect; that we will stop tearing our
selves apart; that the Senate's Endorsement of
the principle of this program will be forthcoming
and that before it is too late we will be able to
demonstrate to the rest of the world, both
friendly and unfriendly, that we have made up
our mind as to what we intend to do and that
we are determined to act on the basis of that
decision
Water Policy Confusion Costly