ERP'S TWO YEARS
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
Where the New Ends ERP's Two Years By William Henry Chamberlin IT IS TWO YEARS SINCE former Secretary of State Marshall launched the idea of American aid to Europe. The nations ef Western...
...To be perfectly frank...
...News item...
...jtflaWlaMlppl* Rallying Cry Speaking at an Independent Party rally in Los Angeles, Henry Wallace called for a lifting of the "mental blockade" to "make way for peace...
...And here a problem arises which, demands i decision from Americans as well as from Eu ropeans...
...The nations ef Western Europe promptly responded...
...IF THE STATES HAVE FAILED on the lynching question, it is obvious that on the more political aspects of civil rights—such as a Fair Employment Practices Commission and enforcement of the voting guarantees of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments—they have failed even more miserably...
...Great Britain, se verely impoverished by the war and inclinec to restrict its imports to essentials, is no longea the prewar market it was for Continental luxuries...
...The graves deficiency of all is the gap between Europe...
...But stepl in this direction have been timid and halting] There is hardly any political or economic probj lem confronting free Europe which cannot bi solved on a basis of greater European political and economic unity, or which can be solve...
...In Georgia, the year's first lynching has already occurred...
...ducers the advantages of a vast free market...
...axul the consolidation of...
...At best, Great...
...America was saved from a difficult dilemma by the brusque refusal of Molotov, as Soviet Foreign Commissar, to have anything to do with the idea or permit Czechoslovakia and Russia's satellites to share in its benefits...
...One shivers at the thought of what might have happened had Molotdv pursued a more cunning policy and responded te the United States invitation somewhat as follows: "The plan is admirable, and we shall be most happy to co-operate as we did in unloading your lend-lease supplies during the war...
...BUT ALONG WITH THESE favorable de velopments there are still dark clouds on Eu rope's economic horizon...
...You give us a thrill...
...without this basis...
...At worst, Western Germany, France anl] Italy might have gone the way of Poland, Hurl] gary and Czechoslovakia...
...The Republicans in the past have had the opportunity to become the only united party championing civil rights, but have repeatedly muffed this opportunity...
...Put us down for ten billion dollars worth of machinery and equipment, preferably the types of machine tools that are especially useful for munitions output and for our budding atomic bomb development schemes...
...Advocates of states' rights may well consider that, although there have been 1,796 lynchings in this century, only 83 have resulted in convictions...
...It is clear that a federal antiIynching law is a necessity...
...One cannot say with certainty what would have happened had we not agreed to ship to Western Europe, annually, several billion dollars worth of foodstuffs, raw materials, fuel, machinery and equipment...
...European industrial output, excluding Germany, is thir' teen per cent above the 1938 level, and is clos< to that level if Germany is included...
...Noteworthy progress has been registered ii curbing what three years ago seemed to be ai incurable disease of inflation in France and Italy Since the currency reform of last year, Westeri Germany has emerged from a morass of miser and stagnation and has made strides towan industrial revival, although its foreign trade If still only a fraction of prewar figures...
...But unless Republicans in the Senate begin to act more sincerely than they have done in the past, that measure—if it ever reaches the Upper House—will be killed by the cloture'rule the Dixiegops adopted at the beginning of the present session...
...would be on of the obvious solutions...
...There have been drastic distortions in the normal pattern of trade and it is not yet clear whether necessary re adjustments are possible...
...American help considerably out weighed, in the mind of the European public the Moscow-trained chorus of vilification am hatred...
...Despite some pious state statutes against hooded men, the KKK boys continue to operate frely...
...And throw in a few more billions for our friends, the people's democracies...
...Abolition of customs barriers bel tween European states giving European pro...
...This wai a natural and mutually beneficial exchange o Western industrial products of the West for thi East's agricultural surplus...
...in Alabama, Ku Klux Klanners beat up a Birmingham woman, and also forced a doctor to move out of-his home...
...But a year later, as three new incidents of Southern injustice flare up, not one civil rights bill has been passed...
...ERP has produced great and unmistakable political, economic and social benefits...
...Right now, a House sub-committee has reported favorably a measure for a permanent federal FEPC...
...exports and imports...
...Britain, France, the Benelux countries, Gee1 many and Italy would have remained weal and divided...
...We owe Molotov a vote of thanks for saving us from the embarrasment which would have followed Soviet acceptance of ERP...
...As matters stand, th« U. S. cannot or will not accept from Europe!] nearly the quantity of goods and services Europe wants from us...
...ERP tipped the scales against a possible re petition in Western Europe of the Communis technique of conquest as demonstrated in East era Europe...
...And nine Southern states in the past twenty years show 116 lynchings, and only four convictions...
...We're a was bit afraid That you're only a chip Off the old blockade...
...The chances are overwhelming that there would have been severe political an.fi economic crises...
...1 Dixiegop Justice BOTH NATIONAL PARTIES committed themselves to civil rights legislation when they made their platforms last summer...
...Yet invitations to participate in the project were rashly sent to the Soviet Union and its satellites...
...There is no reason to believe they will not muff it again...
...As of today the balance-sheet seems uneven...
...Chaotic conditions in Asia reduce the dolla earning capacity of colonial countries like Brit ain, France and the Netherlands...
...THIS SECOND ANNIVERSARY of ERP's birth is a good time for taking stock of what this huge, unique peacetime economic blood transfusion has and has not accomplished...
...communism would be vera much stronger west of the iron curtain...
...The iron curtail countries are long on totalitarian plans, shor on wheat, meat, butter and eggs...
...And wa really would like To believe you—but still...
...Simple arithmetic shows that the United States must either reduce its sales t< Europe, buy more European goods or go oi lending (perhaps giving would be a more suit able word) indefinitely...
...The Continent has ai unfavorable balance of trade of about 5,60 million dollars, mostly-with the Western Hem isphere...
...You challenge us...
...ERP will have failed in one of its most im4 portent purposes if it does not help Europe gel out of its unhealthy dependence oh Nortll America...
...Western Europe~-symboH ized By the Atlantic Pact and by the Amencaaj British-French agreement on Germany (iml perfect and unsatisfactory as this is on somfj points)—would not have been possible...
...Meanwhile, it is encouraging to note that four Northeastern states—New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts—that have had favorable experiences with State FEPC laws, are now getting together to co-ordinate their activities...
...Perhaps Governors Thurmond and Wright, who like State action so much, will emulate their example in South Carolina AO...
...Such a maneuver would have put American diplomacy on the spot...
...Trade between Eastern and Western Europe is only 42 per cent of the 1938 figure...
...Rlsherat Armour...
...Congress probably would, have scrapped "the whole idea of ERP rather than allot American resources for the building up of Soviet industrial potential military power...
Vol. 32 • June 1949 • No. 25
