Evening star., 1953-05-07
Rock-Bottom Security

In calling upon congress 10 support the
Mutual Security Program with $582s billion
in new funds for the fiscal year starting July l,
President Eisenhower has effectively empha-
sized the continuing need for constant inter-
allied defensive build-up against the threat of
Red aggression-a threat that has not been
diminished in any perceptible measure by the
recent orchestration of dovelike noises from
the Kremlin
Actually, as the President has said it is
blunt sober truth" that our own and all
other free nations are still living in "a moment
of great peril when peace and war hang pre-
cariously in the balance" Despite Moscows
relatively soft words since the death of Josef
Stain, there have been no concrete develop
ments indicating basic improvement In that
respect On the contrary, considering how the
Communists have struck in LaoS-an event that
has cast dark new shadow over the whole
of Southeast Asia-it can be argued with con-
siderable cogency that the world outlook has
grown rather worse, not better, in spite of the
Kremln's olive-branch gestures and the re-
sumed truce talks in Korea.
So the President has spoken simple common
sense in declaring that we and our allies can
not afford to relax our defenses until we have
clear, unmistakable evidence of genuinely
peaceful purpose on the part of the Soviet
Union" And he has laid down five sound prin-
ciples to be followed in the absence of such
evidence: Cd That we stand ready as partners,
to maintain adequate armed strength for as
many years as necessary; 90 that we carry
out our common military build-up at pace
designed to avoid serious disruption OF our
economies; 90 that the United States help like
minded nations eradicate internal conditions
corrosive to freedom; a. that we increase
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order to counter the Communist aggression in
Indo-China, and 80 that the steady growth
of our inter-allied power be sustained and
planned so as to use our joint capabilities with
maximum efficiency and minimum strain"
To that end if Congress appropriates the
$5828 billion requested by the President the
great bulk of the money will be expended on
direct military assistance in the form of weap-
ons-$25 billion to Europe, 81 billion to the
Far East, $425 million to the Near East, and
$40 million to Latin America, or approximately
81 billion all told. In addition 1895 million will
60 out to the European and Asian countries to
help them increase their defense capacity; $3.50
million will be spent on special armaments;
$315 million will be for economic aid; $140 mil
lion for technical cooperation with underde-
veloped lands and $100 million for activities in
world organizations. The total, big as 1t may
seem, represents cut of almost $1.8 billion
in the $76 billion estimated for the same pur-
poses in the budget submitted last January by
the outgoing Truman administration.
In thus sharply reducing his predecessors
figures, President Eisenhower has made clear
that his objective is to achieve at the least
possible cost, maximum results in terms of
increasing the security of the United States and
the entire free world But he has presented
his request as the rock-bottom minimum needed
to press forward with the inter-allied effort.
In Secretary Dulles words, it is a minimum
that may in fact err ION the side of asking
for too little rather than too much" To cut
it further would be to take a gamble most
pleasing to the Kremlin. Congress should gov
ern itself accordingly