Evening star., 1955-11-19

Is 81 -
BACK FROM GENEVA
Foster Dulles poses at a
television and radio last !
eign Ministers talk at G'
Jour agenda was the development
Iof contacts between the East and
lthe West. The Western powers
,lput forward II proposals Of o
concrete nature. Many Of these
would have involved the freel
Exchange Of ideas. information
and news. All such proposals
1.-THE Soviet delegation rejected
lit was willing to have contacts
which would enable 1t to garner
technical know-how from other
countries. 1t was willing to send
land receive persons under condi-
Itions which 1t could closely con-
1trol.
But 1t reacted violently against
Anything that smacked Of the
illumination Of barriers to a freer
Exchange Of ideas. It abhorred
1.-THE introduction into the Soviet
bloc Of thoughts which might be
contrary to the official doctrine
lof the Soviet Communist Party
/ So we reached no agreement
lon this topic.
The reason again is clear. We
believe that human contacts are
designed, not to serve govern
mental purposes. but to enable
the members Of the human fam
lily to have the understanding
land knowledge OF each other
which is a foundation for dur
liable peace. But after a genera
ltion Of fanatic indoctrination,
THE Soviet rulers can hardly
bring themselves to loosen their
existing thought controls to per-
INIT of freer contacts with the
| free world.
Sought Agreements
On all these matters dealt with
lat Geneva we tried to negotiate
seriously with the Soviet Union.
we wanted to reach constructive
agreements II that could be done.
But we were not prepared to
reach agreements at the expense
lof the interests or security OF
1.-THE United States or its partners.
Neither were we willing to make
Iso-called agreements" which
lwere really meaningless. So when
1.-THE Soviet Union showed itself
unwilling to negotiate seriously
ION this basis we came away with
Iout agreement.
It would have been easy tc
make some apparent agreements
with the Soviet Union--but they
would have been without real
content. They would have given
Ian Illusion Of a meeting Of minds,
where none In fact existed. The
three Western powers stood
lsteadfastly against that kind oi
10 performance.
In doing 80. they showed their
lconfidence in their own strength
land In the steadfastness Of their
Iown people. Thereby. this con-
ference may have improved the
prospects for real agreements in
1.-THE future,
I now turn to the answers tc
1.-THE questions which / put at the
beginning:
does this second Geneva
conference end the so-called
Esprit Of Geneva?
The answer to that question
depends upon what Is meant by
1.-THE spirit Of Geneva" Some
lfelt that the spirit Of Geneva
twas some magic elixir which
would Of itself solve all Of the
lgreat problems of the world. OBJ
lviously, 1t was not that. Any
such view was doomed TO disil-
liusionment.
That was never the view Of the
president nor myself. We con-
lstantly warned against that
view. President Eisenhower, be-
lfore he went to Geneva. said
THAT that conference would be
Ia beginning and not an end.
At Geneva he said that the
value Of the conference could
fonly be judged by what hap
lpened afterwards. And after he
returned he told the American
people that the acid test Of the
summit conference would begin
when the foreign ministers met
Effect Of the Test
/ That testing, so far as 1t has
Igone, has shown that the Soviet
leaders would like to have al
least the appearance Of coop
lerative relations with the West
lern nations. But 1t has shown
THAT they are not vet willing tc
create the indispensable condi-
Itions for a secure peace.
i Also they have seriously sci
'lback the growth Of any conf
Idence the free world can JUS
ltifiably place in Soviet promises
They did this by refusing Il
negotiate for the reunification Of
Germany. to which they had
lagreed in July.
4 However. they seem not tc
Ilwant to revert to the earlier
reliance on threats and invec-
'ltive. In that respect the spirit
iIof Geneva still survives.
i 2-Has the outcome Of thu
'Isecond conference at Geneva In
decreased the risk Of general wari
i President Eisenhower said that
he believed that the summit