Evening star., 1953-05-06
Dulles Says Aid
Cut Would Be
False Economy
Would Boost Cost
Of Defending U. S.,
Congress Warned
Bv ]. A. OLeov

Dy }. a. OIeoFy
Secretary of State Dulles
warned Congress today that if it
cuts the new foreign aid au-
thorization below the Eisenhower
figure of $5.8 billion it would
have to add a greater amount to
this country's own defense
budget.
He made this statement to the
House Foreign Affairs Committee
as some members of Congress
were already talking of scaling
the bill down to $5 billion.
do you believe this foreign aid
bill is as essential as any part of
our own defense budget?" asked
Representative Richards, Demo-
crat, of South Carolina.
II would go further" Mr..
Dulles replied, land say that, by
and large, any cuts in this field
would require in the near future
more money for our own defense
than could be cut from this bill"
Method Called Cheaper.
His reasoning was that addi-
tional security can be obtained
cheaper by increasing tn e
strength of allies than by rely
ing on defenses at home.
Representative Battle, Demo-
crat, of Alabama. asked if the
Secretary sees any possibility of
working out of this foreign aid
program in the next few years."
Il see a possibility-indeed, a
probability - of a considerable
reduction in the contribution we
will have to make" said Mr..
Dulles. There is already a cut
coming in the straight economic
aid," he said.
StaSSen TeStifies.
Mutual Security Director Stas-
sen, appearing simultaneously on
the other side of the Capitol,
told the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee that the Eisen-
hover administration "cut as far
as we could, bearing in mind the
budgetry situation at home"
In response to question from
Senator Sparkman, Democrat, of
Alabama he said that it is inn
possible at present to say how
much less the administration will
spend than the $7.6 billion figure
requested in January by Presi-
dent Truman.
''We will spend substantially
less" he said, "but it is not
possible now to tell you what it
will be. It will depend on how
much we can expedite delivery
on some contract items, how
much we can slow down on
others and whether we will need
new equipment for Korea"
Questioned by Senator H.
Alexander Smith, Republican, of
New Jersey, on MSA stating
overseas, Mr.. StaSsen said the
administration hopes to carry out
it's program with the smallest
possible number of highly trained
people overseas" He said MSA
is already in the process of cut
ting it's staff in France by more
than so per cent.
Emphasis Shifts to Asia.
AS the committees began
separate hearings on the
new program, a study of the
measure shows that the Eisen-
hover administration has shifted
the emphasis somewhat from
Western Europe to Asia, where
two hot wars are going on.
In the new bill military aid for
Europe is placed at $2.5 billion,
whereas last year Congress al
lowed $3.4 billion for that pur-
pose. This is a reduction of about
5000 million.
At the same time, the new bill
allocates little more than 81
billion for military aid to areas
fighting communism in Asia, as
compared to only 1854 million
ear-marked for that purpose last
year.
The tentative program calls
for the two committees to swap
witnesses at their afternoon
sessions.
In comparing these new au-
thorizations with last years
appropriations, it must be borne
in mind that they do not
reflect the amounts that ac-
tually will be spent in the
next fiscal year in any given
part of the world.
The figures submitted to
Congress yesterday are all for
new money. in addition to unex-
pended balances from prior
years. It has been estimated
that when the new year starts
July / the Government will have
more than SO billion of foreign
aid money unspent from past
appropriations. All but $400 mil
lion or $500 million of it is ex-
pected to be obligated by that
date, however.
Fiennh0wnre r.