Evening star., 1955-07-30
TroveI and Trust

Like WneaL IN the held or flowers
and trees in ones garden, international
amiability and mutual trust-especially
in an age of such instruments as "earth
satellite vehicleS"-are not things that
can be depended upon just to grow by
themselves and then thrive without fur
ther attention. They need to be watered.
They need to be nouriShed. They need
to be cultivated. Otherwise, through in
difference or neglect, they may wither
away before they have chance to bios
som and bear good fruit.
So 1t Is encouraging that at their
recent summit" conference-which has
had the effect Of sowing seeds full of
promise for the world-the governing
heads of France, Britain, the Soviet
Union and the United States attached
a great deal of Importance to the idea
of acting affirmatively in an effort to
maintain contact among themselves and
promote and intensity conciliatory and
friendly spirit between East and West.
Certainly, assuming sincerity all around,
this is course that can do much to
put holes in the Iron Curtain, lessen in
of conf1dence-breeding climate that is
essential to decent and enduring peace.
1t is with just such an end in view
that the Eden government has invited
Russian Premier Bulganin and Nikita
KhruShchev-chief of the Communist
Party-to make a trip to Britain next
spring, and the fact that both have
promptly accepted is a heartening augury.
AS for our own country, President Eisen-
hover has plainly indicated that he is
favorably disposed toward similar under
takings between the United States and
the USSR. At any rate, as he has told
his latest news conference, he and the
Kremlin leaders spent considerable time
at Geneva in informally discussing pro-
posals along that line, not only as regards
an exchange of Americans Soviet visitors
on high official level. but also as regards
opportunities for ordinary citizens of each
nation to travel back and forth.
OF course, for number of reasons,
all this can be more easily said than done.
Nevertheless, despite the difficulties and
complications involved, there can be no
doubt that such back-and- travel
official and unofiicial-can make
rather significant contribution to the
cause of peace, and that is why men like
Senators George, Aiken and Sparkman
have been quick to indorse the idea in
principle The current exchange of farm
delegations between the United States
and the Soviet Union offers an excellent
example of what can be achieved thereby.
For 1t seems obvious, Judging from every
report SO far, that the Americans now
visiting Russia and the Russians now
visiting our Midwest are effectively pro-
noting a spirit of reciprocal good will.
True, to cynics who have little or no
faith in the better qualities of human
nature, this sort of thing may seem to
be laughably naive, particularly in view
of the black Communist record. But the
fact remains that there is lot of COM
mon sense in the old cliche about how
travel is broadening. And conceivably.
If there is more and more East-West
visiting, the world may yet see a happy
international fulf1llment of these words
of Emerson: STrust men. and they will
be true to you; treat them greatly, and
they will show themselves great" Any
how, there is no harm III trying.