Evening star., 1952-02-24
Coed News From Lisbon


Al least a. for a. petentalltieS gO there
est ge 10 q9ubt that the lisbon Conference OF
the N0rth Atlantic treaty 0PaRnIgati0n hA6 tRken
4 great and hlSt0Fle step In unanimously ApBF0Va
lha tAe eFeatleh OF ON lhteFnatl0nalIsed RHf0pRaH
army fhe qeelsl0n n o. 0hee unprecedented
Rha iaFEIeaehlner what u premises RRl0ng
6thP thlnRh "A beneheentlV revolutionary
RdvRhee t0WAFd continental Nnlheation and A
mHtHal'd defenAe HvsteFA 40 stFenGthenlna the free
western W9Fd thAt any Gevlet Attack Hpgn that
wella weHa no llttle mere than On Aet Of suicidal
insanity,
70 that end, the new eEmv=numbeFng In
the nelGhbeFh9ed 9f Z million nen==A t9 be
MADE Ap 9f the meFged forces Of LnKenlbeuFg
Belgium the Netherlands ITALY, France and vets
tosherFeArmed WeSt Germany Az Aegn a. II IA
tlnGenA ef Britain, the United States and tha
other Atlantic Allies, Serving "a tho main ground
strength OF the VESTS defensive coalition, II viii
he under General Eisenhower, or whoever may
succeed him In the future Aa tho supreme NATo
commander Beyond that, wholly apart from LTD
high significance In terms of VIghtIng tho balance
OF continental land power vis-a-via Russia, II
can hardly fall In eenjunetlon with such
projects "a tho eehuman Plan, 10 promote ever
aeeeleFating progress toward O theFeuRhgoihg
economic and political ntegratien Of the nations
OF free Europe,
OF course, this prejeet-erignaly proposed
by tho French and carried forward with the
special influence that the United States has
exercised through General Eisenhower and see-
FetaFy OF State Aeheson-is still only In the blues
print stage, Before II can become Aesh-and-
blood reality, 1t must hrst be spelled out In
treaty form and then ratified by the Parliaments
OF the six sgnatory powers Considering the
fact that many differences remain to be settled
between France and West Germany. this process
may well run into serious difficulties and delays
and conceivably-in Paris or Bonn or both
places-a legislative majority, succumbing to
nationalistic fevers or the bitter memories of
past Franco-German wars, may repudiate the
whole undertaking. Yet, when one remembers
how only few days ago-just prior to the
opening of the Lisbon Conference.-The pessi-
mists were predicting that NATO would find it
impossible to agree on the enterprise there would
seem to be good reason for considerable optimism
about the outlook.
At any rate, in view of the Lisbon decision
and the earlier understandings worked out in
London by the Big Three Foreign Ministers and
Chancellor Adenauer of Bonn, there Is ample
ground for the belief that France and Germany,
together with the four other powers, will in due
course arrive at complete and full agreement
on the European army-and perhaps much
OOOlleT SOne observers Lnlnk possible. AIUer
that, given the agreement signed and ratified,
the big problem will be an economic and firar-
Cial one for every member of the NATO alliance,
and the solution of that problenl--which TIM
doubtediy can be so1ved--will depend largely on
the United States. More specifically II viii
depend on whether or not Congress makes q
drastic cut In the ftihds the President has
requested for the Mutual Security Pf0Rfaff1.
Needless To say, sueh cut eouid gravely upset
all the present hopeful calculations
Assuming the best, however, assuming that
The ihtefhatl6haiiBed army ID ratified, that eonz
gfeSS dees what Il necessary and that the
Hfefailn does net strike before The great enteFz
prise has 0 chance 10 establish Itself, the aetleh
al blsben may be celebrated for generations o.
one OF the hnest and most fruitful ever taken by
free natl0nSr Certainly, In terms OF its potena
tlals, MP Aehesen has not eNasGeFated In des
GlaFlng that II opens ~ new day for BHPepel"
Indeed II All goes we'll with II, " can be decisive
IN bringing abeHt decent and enduring peace
by convincing tho Red tetalltaFlans that our
Atlantic weFld IA much tee formidable 10 be
challenged