QUID PRO QUO

With both the Greek-Turkish Aid and the foreign relief bills passed by both houses of Congress, Massachusetts' Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., grandson of a famed statesman, an artillery officer in World War II, and a junior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, rose in the Senate last week to suggest a realistic way of using the funds. Excerpts from his speech:

We would do well to make it clear immediately that we shall not aid governments which have failed to carry out their commitments to the United States.

We must not "pour money down a rat hole." There is never any use in pledging financial outlays abroad until we are satisfied that it is not a mere hold-up game or a last minute rescue party, and until we are sure that fundamental steps have actually been taken which will change the situation permanently for the better. No nation--and certainly not the United States--is rich enough to be strong everywhere at once. No nation is rich enough ever to splurge money recklessly. There is a limit; we must pick the place where we can properly influence the situation for the better.

Hand-to-Mouth. The nations of Western Europe are not making a real recovery from the damage done by the war. They are staggering along on a hand-to-mouth basis. We in America certainly have a great stake in getting these nations back on their feet and on a self-supporting basis, if for no other reason than that we can then stop our own expenditures for foreign relief. To re-establish these nations will, however, cost money. But it is worth doing, if in exchange for our aid, the nations of Western Europe agree, for example, to integrate themselves, not in a military or a linguistic sense, but into an economic arrangement which has the possibility of life and growth.

It is sickening after each war to reconstruct the same old European crazy quilt. Of course this European unity must be entirely voluntary. Although its present divisions are killing it, Europe, the birthplace of Western civilization, does not wish to be--and must not be--"united" under any foreign ruler.

Another example of getting something in return would be to work out our entire raw materials program as a part of our foreign policy. It is well known that we are short of many very important commodities. In formulating our new foreign policy we should seek to obtain the raw materials which we need and do not possess ourselves. This would be helpful to us and to the world and would be a self-respecting solution of several serious problems at one and the same time.

Sound Risk. We and those nations with whom we have relations must deal in realities in terms of human freedom. In exchange for our help the military and political pressures which now cause fear and worry as to the future must be removed. Once political and military conditions are stable, much of Europe can again become a sound economic risk. If positive steps are not taken, we shall go from tensions to hatred to civil war and finally to world catastrophe.

It is distressing to hear an increasing number of Americans say: "Here we go granting millions of dollars to foreign governments while we do nothing to ease the high cost of living and the housing shortage for the poor American people." As long as they think that we are getting nothing out of this foreign program they will go on talking. But if they are convinced that they will get new markets for their products and vital raw materials which they need and a real chance for peace for their children as a result of these expenses, then this talk will stop. But to convince them, we must have a real, far-sighted plan. We must be ready to undertake this non-brutal, non-imperialistic, non-compulsory, nonviolent, non-selfish and nondestructive assistance program, not because it is "anti" something we don't like, but because it will build that solid individual prosperity which is a man's best hope of being rescued from his misery.

Revolutionary Force. We must make American democracy an article of export. Actually the Christian concept of the dignity of man is the strongest revolutionary force in the world. But we have allowed the materialistic and brutal verbiage of communism to gain a greater export currency than our own belief. We must export our way of looking at our fellowman. This does not mean that we try to force anything down any man's throat. It does not mean that we uphold any regime, no matter how corrupt, provided it is antiCommunist. But it does mean an outlay of time, intelligence, energy and money to present our view and to give compelling demonstration of its worth. It is the essential first step that we believe in ourselves. Without such belief nothing can be done. Without such belief all expenditures are mere waste.

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