Wealth and Dictation

Whether President Truman "pressed" Congress to pass the new foreign aid bill, as the New York Times reports, or "flayed" it for its balkiness, as the Boston papers state, it is established that his speeches to Congress and the nation last Thursday night were a vigorous demand for his full program. What is more, the President was completely right in what he said, and little more remains to say on the matter.

However, the roots of the argument that Mr. Truman was opposing go deep, and are well nourished with patriotism. From one quite rational point of view, it is very difficult to see why the United States should pour money into countries all over the world, not only for military defense but for economic aid and development, when many of those countries are actually opposed to basic U.S. policies and often show little determination to keep their internal affairs stable or their foreign policies reliable.

This looks like a most uncertain investment. But so in essence are income taxes for a millionaire. The two situations are surprisingly similar. In both cases, money is being paid to people who are generally unsympathetic and often hostile, with no immediately obvious benefits to the giver. In both cases, the giver--be he the millionaire or Uncle Sam--cases his conscience, helps to create well-being and security throughout the community, thus interesting the entire community in preservation of order and obviating the necessity of hiring a vast army of guards to protect his own pile. In both cases, the giver inevitably exercises a great deal of indirect influence, but when he tries overt dictation he provokes anguished cries from the beneficiaries.

Like all analogies, this one can be carried only so far as the willingness of the rich to pay taxes, which reaches a nadir about this time every year. But it is something for the Congressional axe-brandishers to consider as they chop away at foreign aid while their eyes are fastened on the election stump. While there is no police power to force them to pay the taxes of the free world, the threats of outside conquest and inner deterioration are far more pressing in the international case than in the domestic one.