A Library in Paris

When President Eisenhower asked Congress to reduce his budget, most everyone agreed the request was ironic, if not ridiculous. Sinc then, the inherent dangers of the President's plea have become painfully obvious. With the Presidentially blessed banner of budget-cutting waving before them, financial conservatives and international isolationists (usually the same men) have been campaigning to cut the nation's foreign aid and information services.

The President should have realized that vote-minded Congressmen always turn to the foreign affairs sections of the budget when they consider saving money while also saving votes. After all these years, the President should have realized that conservatives like Knowland and Byrd needed little excuse, not to mention prodding, to start whittling away foreign spending.

Now the President will have to campaign to keep his key international agencies and programs functioning properly. The first to need his aid is the United States Information Agency, which supports Voice of America, distributes movies on life in these United States, releases information to the foreign press, and runs 164 information centers and libraries abroad. And while there are many things wrong in the USIA, they are faults which should encourage correction, rather than decimation.

It is extremely unfortunate, moreover, that the President will have to fight for basic foreign services when the expanded work in foreign aid and propaganda is needed. While NATO is falling apart and the African continent is gaining awareness of the international situation, the President has to fight for American libraries in Paris. There is so much to be done, that President has to fight for American libraries in Paris. There is so much to be done, that President Eisenhower should not encourage right-of-center forces in Congress to have the United States do less.