Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-07
For Our Own Safety

1t must be hoped that the House as
a whole, with the Senate following suit,
will ignore it's Foreign Affairs Committees
decision to slash Sill billion (nearly all
of 1t for military uses) from the $40
billion requested by the administration
for overseas aid in the coming fiscal year.
The cut is much too drastic to be defen-
Sible. If Congress does not restore it, or
at least very large part of it, then
Congress will be taking gamble that our
country can i'll afford to take
This has been made clear by Presi-
dent Eisenhower both at his news
conference yesterday and at his earlier
meeting with Democratic and Republican
leaders of the House. Along with all his
uniquely well-informed advisers, includ-
ing the Secretary of State and the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, he has warned that such
a reduction in our mutual security pro-
gram would endanger our own national
safety. No matter what its advocates say
and some of their statements may
seem to be specifically persuasive-the
simple fact is that a slash of these
dimensions would have a lamentable
our friends and allies abroad, including
particularly the members of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Let us not be naive about this matter.
Let none of us be beguiled or bamboozled
by those who say that the United States
is just playing the role of Santa Claus"
or Uncle Sap" when 1t extends economic
and military assistance to nations over
SEAS Actually, as the President has in
dicated, this aid-even when it goes to
"neutralist" countries like India and
Yugoslavia-iS not mere altruiSm for
altruism's sake. It is thing that helps
us just as it helps the recipients. And that
is why it rightly comes under the official
heading of mutual security" 1t is not a
starry-eyed or one-sided program of soft
hearted or Soft-headed handouts. It is a
down to-earth business proposition-a
sort of cooperative insurance policy that
makes it easier, more effective and less
costly for us, as well as for our allies, to
cope with the Still-formidable menace of
Communist subversion and aggression.
AS a matter of fact, as the President
has emphasized, I'VE are going to spend
many more billions" on our own Sepa-
rate defense unless we support mutual
security earnestly, sincerely, and with a
clear realization that we are serving
Americas best interests in so doing" And
he has gone on from there to add-with
that moving eloquence that often
characterizeS his informal remarks to
the preSS-that our foreign aid, which is
as good for us as for others, is of incalcu-
liable peace promoting value in an age
when we must understand this: CAS- long
as we are not shooting, we are not spend
ing one-tenth as much as we would if we
were shooting, and, remember, there is no
destruction that we saw in World War II
-. that would even give hint of what
another war would bring"
So it is understandable that Mr.
Eisenhower has hit hard against those
who would be parSimoniouS in the field
Of war-deterring mutual defense and
mutual security. In effect, appealing to
the reason of all of us, he has left no
room for doubt that niggardliness or false
economizing in such vital matter could
gravely imperil the United States Con-
greSS, in the circumstances, will be
skating on thin ice and risking much too
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