Evening star., 1951-02-01


when we need their trade. Take
such items as manganese, cop
per, uranium. Could we pos
sibly think Of existing without
access to them?
I believe that such things as
this are tied up in our concern
with the Western European COM
plex, and our determination. our
decision that, as I understand
it, has already been made that
we must defend them with us.
Morale At Core of Problem.
But I refer again to the state
ment I have made. We cannot
do this thing alone. All we
would be doing would be to dis
perse our strength throughout
the world unless we are sure,
first, that we would or that we
were being met by full Coop
Grafton and, second, that this
strength of ours will inspire
the growth of still other power
and multiply every single effort
that can be made by the COM
parative efforts on the part of
our friends.
AS I said a moment ago,
military strength is made up of
various things. of which the
fighting forces are merely the
cutting edge. One of the great
est factors in this whole thing is
morale. and, ladies and gentle
men. almost the rest of my talk
will be made up, directly or in
directly, in discussions of this
question of morale: because
morale involves understanding
it involves heart, it involves
courage, fortitude, basic pur-
pose
Where my trip comes in is
this; what have I been able to
find out about the basic intent.
the basic purpose, the basic
morale of Europe? It is a COM
plex question, again, and GER
tainly I do not consider that
there is anything sacrosanct
about the conclusions I reached.
Again, I can only say they are
not.
European Attitude Explained.
We have. heard for many
years, five of them, much about
the destruction of European ma
tions. about their material de-
struction: but, above all, about
their loss of spirit, their loss of
will, their unreadiness to do
something for themselves. OF
course, I think that Americans
in general have not really tried
to blame Europeans for this
failure. as we have seen; they
have tried merely to explain it.
After all, Europe was occu-
pied for four years. It's indus
tries were destroyed. People
lived in fear of informants next
door. They were questioned.
Their systems of government
were uprooted. And they have
lived according to the dictates
Of an invader since that time.
Although the effects of the
Marshall Plan have been mark
edly noticeable and critical to
the existence Of Europe and to
its partial rehabilitation. it
would be false and idle to say
that there does not exist in
many strata of society a pessi-
mism bordering upon defeatism.
But there is likewise evidence,
ladies and gentlemen. of a re-
juvenation, a growth of deter
mination, spirit to resist.
spirit again to try to live the
lives of free men, to hold their
heads up in the world to do
their part, and to take the risk
I am going to quote to you a
few examples, because I do not
ask you to accept such a state
ment as that on face value. I
would rather give you a few ex-
amples of those things that in
fluence my judgment.
No French Draft Exemption.
I landed in France and I
talked to the government. There
I found this: That to their con-
scription law they have now
added a proviso that permits
almost no exemptions for any
cause whatsoever. They have
made it one of the strictest. most
inclusive conscription laws that
would be possible to devise. AS
of this moment, their tour of
service is 18 months, but they
pointed out to me the very many
factors that have limited them
to anything greater and indicat-
ed that as these bottle necks
were removed, notably inStruc-
tors-they cannot get instructors
because they are losing most of
them each month in Indo-
China-but as that is relieved
and they get more equipment,
they may even go for their en-
tire force for two years (sic),
although that is not yet a mat
ter of law.
There is no question that they
have determined to face up to
the whole threat of commu-
nism, both internal and exter-
nal, as made. They have cour-
age in. their hearts, and most of
it has been inspired, or at least
it has been encouraged, by the
enactment of the treaty. In my
mind, there is no question
about it. I moved to Belgium
and I found similar purposes.
In Holland I just received with
in the last few days statements
of the increased military prepa.