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C§ress ciomments
Bvrnes ProIDosal een As
I     i     d      p'a HE GIRISTIAN SCIENCE ONIfR
Jurning point in~merican~oreign~olicy
The New York Times berms Secre-
tary of State James F. Byrnes' proposal
for a four-power treaty guaranteeing de-
militarization of Germany "a turning
point in American foreign policy." "It
is not only a far cry
from 'no entangling
-=alliances"', the edit-
-                orial comments, "it
also  goes  beyond
any treaty ever pro-
posed by the United States before ...
goes beyond the Charter of the United
Nations . .. means that the American
government is prepared to intervene
even in times 'of peace both in Europe
and the Far East, whenever peace is
threatened anew by -our late enemies.
"Yet such an alliance is the obvious,
necessary and perhaps ionly means of re-
moving many misapprehensions and ambi-
tions which are now delaying peace and
world recovery. As such it deserves the
full support of the American people ...
it is in keeping with the United Nations
Charter, which explicitly provides for
special security arrangements during the
transitional period and against our late
'enemies.
"On the plea that the German menace
continues, and that in the absence of
any definite American commitments they
might have to face this threat alone,
both Russia and France have insisted
on unprecedented extension of their se-
curity frontiers ... the offer of alliance
must now disclose whether these coun-
tries are primarily in search 'of security
'or of territory. For Britain it means
definite abandonment of any balance-of-
power politcy in Europe in which Ger-
many could serve as pawn. And for the
United States is means final and irre-
vocable abandonment of isolation in
favor of that active participation in world
affairs is not only in keeping with our
military and economic power but whic1}
must also be the key to world peace and
prosperity."'
TERMED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Secretary Byrnes' 'offer of a 25-year
guarantee 'of demilitarization of Ger-
many is 'evidence -of the administration's
"fresh disposition to take affirmative
action in behalf of world tranquility,"
according to the Washington Post.
"Many voices pointed the way to the
assumption of American responsibility.
One 'of them belonged to Senator Van-
denberg, who as far back as January 10,
1945, suggested a hard and fast treaty
guarantee 'of enemy demilitarization...
"All history tells us that immediately
after every great war victors are spoils-
minded. This war has been no exception.
Our own world policy, purposed against
the background of an atomic arms race,
has been heavely weighted with 'security
imperalism', though much less so than
Russia's, which has been cruder and
more successful because it has not been
handicapped by our own incoherence
"Byrnes, move is not enough in itself.
World relations have deteriorated so ra-
pidly that, having gotten the initiative
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