By Their Fruits

Congressmen could not go home for Christmas with easy minds. Before they left Washington, they would get Harry Truman's message on the long-range European Recovery Program. That would need much mulling over. In the new year, it would generate long and bitter debate.

But most Congressmen could at least go home feeling well satisfied with the fruits of their extra-session labors. They had made a jerky start toward tackling the fractious problem of U.S. inflation (see The Nation). Most important of all, they had completed the emergency task of providing U.S. dollars to fight hunger, cold and Communism abroad.

In its final form, the interim aid bill authorized the Administration to spend up to $597 million this winter. This week, it was approved by both the Senate (by voice vote) and the House (313 to 82). Pending actual appropriations, aid could be started immediately with a loan of $150 million from the RFC.

The Banging Gavel. But before its final passage, interim aid had rough going. In the House, Republican isolationists had worked furiously to slash or hamstring the bill. Majority Leader Charlie Halleck of Indiana led the attack.

But it was Missouri's rabble-rousing Dewey Short who created the biggest commotion. Republican Short, who as late as Nov. 25 had hailed the Truman foreign-aid program as "a glorious opportunity," suddenly reverted to his old America-Firstism. One day he rose up cherry-red with anger and cried: "There are times when one must be cruel to be kind. . . . The more you give people, the more they will curse you for not giving them more. Instead of bleeding ourselves white, we had better keep ourselves strong."

Such oratory did no more than fray congressional tempers. When Michigan's Bartel J. Jonkman proposed that the amount of aid be cut to $290 million, he was routed by a vote of 171 to 78. When Wisconsin's Lawrence Smith, with the backing of Charlie Halleck, proposed a $90 million cut, he could muster only 47 ayes to 147 noes. When Oklahoma's Glen D. Johnson, a heretical Democrat, moved to recommit (and thus kill) the bill, he was howled down. Finally, late one afternoon, Speaker Joe Martin took the entire House by surprise to do some howling down himself. Joe Martin banged his gavel, barked out: "All in favor of passage of the bill say aye, the opposed no; the ayes have it, the bill is passed."

The Opened Door. Next day, a conference of five Senators and five Representatives sat down to work out a compromise acceptable to both houses. After ten hours of wrangling, Conference Chairman Arthur Vandenberg reported that an agreement had been reached.

It provided for the full $597 million originally asked for by the Administration, but now China, as well as France, Italy and Austria, was included among the countries specifically named as aid recipients. However, no specific amounts were allocated to any country, and it was possible that the entire $597 million would go to Europe--provided several other means of helping China could be used (e.g., $18 million under the post-UNRRA authorization bill).

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