A Promise

On principle, the West Germans believe in foreign aid--it rebuilt their economy after World War II. But they have been annoyingly frugal about giving out any, even though their coffers have been filling with gold at the rate of $1 billion a year while U.S. reserves are shrinking. Last week, under heavy pressure from the U.S. to help stanch the drain on U.S. gold, West Germany finally agreed to ante up. After a chat between Kennedy and West German Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano, the West Germans announced a long-range foreign aid program of about $1 billion a year.

West German "aid" in the past has consisted mostly of short-term, high-interest credit to finance purchases of West German goods. The West Germans last November promised a $1 billion program of aid to underdeveloped countries for 1961, but never got around to spelling out exactly how it would be spent. Apart from an aid program, the U.S. proposed that the West Germans ease the pressure on the dollar by paying the cost of the U.S. troops stationed in Germany. The West Germans refused; instead they bundled together a makeshift $1 billion package that consisted chiefly of prepayment of money they owed the U.S. anyway. Kennedy said bluntly that the offer met "neither the problem nor the opportunity."

Just how much real sacrifice for West Germany the new aid program will entail was still unclear. Not until after the elections this fall are the Germans likely to say how much of the $1 billion will be made up of the grants and longterm, low-interest loans that the underdeveloped countries really need. But this time, Kennedy said he was "satisfied."

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