Humphrey Cites Peace Corps' Value For Mutual Aid Through Cooperation

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30--The Peace Corps is not solely a technical aid program, it is a work program. It is not a charity, it is a cooperative venture in mutual aid, Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn.) said last night.

Speaking to a cheering audience at the National Conference on Youth Service Abroad, Humphrey declared that Peace Corps would be the first opportunity for individuals to take part in national foreign policy. He added that the willingness to share, give, and serve in the world community should be the primary qualification for participation.

The greatest value of the Peace Corps will be what Americans can learn from the people they help, Humphrey said; and there will be mistakes. But "don't be too proud," he declared, claiming that that is the only way to learn. At the same time, foreigners will be seeing Americans as they really are rather than as some people say they are.

Humphrey then commented on a press release distributed during the day. The release listed a number of objections to Peace Corps planning presented by the Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative students movement with a base in Cambridge and a national review office in New York.

"If there were not people opposing our opinions," he said, "very often we wouldn't know why we believe in them." The Peace Corps will be in for some heavy criticism when it is introduced in Congress, and Americans must learn to evaluate criticism and adopt it when valid, Humphrey asserted.

The original sponsor of the Peace Corps legislation in the Senate, Humphrey warned the delegates that this would be a typical United States program--"imperfect." Americans will have to expect mistakes, but for every person who comes back converted to communism there will be a thousand who will do their assignments sucessfully, Humphrey said.

He drew cheers from the audience when he assured it that the Peace Corps would not be wholly a government project. He noted the political mistrust that must accompany an official program, and cited the value that independent volunteer groups can have.

The Peace Corps will not be an ideological militia, and it will not be just another battle in the cold war. The Peace Corps will build, assist, and create--and will be a symbol of the heart of America for the whole world, Humphrey concluded.

Sen. John Sherman Cooper (R-Ken.), a former ambassador to India and Nepal, said that the Peace Corps could have a great effect as a stimulus of a sense of purpose and mission in the country's young people.

Speaking at an afternoon session of the conference, Cooper noted that the key to the success of the program will be its acceptance by people abraad. Thus, food, the essential commodity for these people, should be the first concern of the Peace Corps, he said.