Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-02-20
Not Uncle Sucker

President Eisenhower has sent a
persuasive appeal to Congress to appro-
pirate $50 billion to insure vigorous
continuation" of the Mutual Security
Program. His message on the subject
should be required reading for any
American who labors under the delusion
that the program is sort of soft
hearted give-away, or naively altruis-
tic handott, with which the United
States has we'll earned the sobriquet
Of "Uncle Sucker"
Actually, as the President has en-
phaSized, few things could be more
wrong-headed than the notion that in
this great cooperative enterprise we
help others without helping ourselves.
The simple truth is that the Mutual
Security Program is misnamed when 1t
is called foreign aid" For 1t amounts
to something much more than an aim
less, indiscriminate. one sidedly generous
diSpensation of largesse to peoples
abroad. Far from being that, 1t is in
fact a hard-headed American invest
ment calculated to strengthen our own
national safety by extending to like
minded free countries assistance en-
abling them to join effectively with us
In common effort to head off total
war, deter local aggression, and prevent
Communist conquestS with the weapons
of political subversion and economic
penetration.
In that respect, a striking measure
OF the programs immense value to us
hA IT, s. - I. . e
to discontinue it, or sharply reduce it, the
potentially grave consequences would
begin to hit us almost Immediately.
Among other things, in Mr. EiSenhower's
words, these consequences would include
"a severe diSlocation and basic impair
ment of free world power" They would
also include an inevitable "crumbling,
under Sino-Soviet pressureS, of our
strategic overseas positions and forcing
OF these positions progressively back
toward our own shores" And this in
turn, quite obviously, could hardly fail
to create an international situation de-
Perforated enough to require "a massive
increase In our own defense budget" and
"a heavy increase in inductions Of
American youth into our own armed
forces"
1t is for reasons of this sort that the
President has struck an almost urgent
note in calling upon Congress to make
$50 billion available for the Mutual
Security Program in fiscal 1859. OF this
total, $1.8 billion would be for direct
arms assistance, and $685. million would
be for defense support, which is essen
TALLY military In character. The ball
ance-$1 3 billion-would be expended on
various types of nonmilitary aid, includ-
ing technical collaboration, special help
for countries like Morocco, and long
range developmental projects. Certainly
this latter sum seems modest enough
when measured against the fact that
the Kremlin-led Communist bloc has
greatly accelerated its own program of
economic corporation" with the less
developed free nations-an acceleration
aimed at speeding up Moscow's drive
to spread its domination through as
much of the world as possible.
Despite this Soviet threat, however,
1t seems fairly practicable that certain
determined groups in both the Senate
and House, just as they have done in
the past, will once again try to effect
meat-ax Slashes in the funds requested
by the President for mutual security.
Accordingly, what must be hoped for is
that Congress as whole will be Suffi-
GENTLY far-seeing to reject such econo-
MIXING as something altogether IMPROVE
dent in the sense that it would save
dollars only at the expense of the
Nations safety in dangerous world.