to eviscerate the fundamental concep-tion, but he does not reject it.
In this light the recent right- wingattacks upon the welfare state lookmore and more like a concerted at-tempt at public obfuscation. Arthur Krock recently complained of the" superior articulation"( he apparentlymeant the" superior articulateness")of the left. The left may well be morearticulate; but the inarticulate righthas many more magazines, newspapers,and, one may add, columnists at its dis-posal. Certainly the current campaignagainst the welfare state is exceedingthe limits of useful discussion. Onemay grant that there are troubling pos-sibilities discoverable in the idea of thewelfare state; yet even Hoover andKrock , one might expect, would notfind them in the version advocated bySenator Taft.
For better or for worse, the welfarestate is with us. The great issue iswhether it will become a matter ofbread and circuses; and this possibilityimposes a responsibility upon seriouspoliticians of both the right and theleft. This responsibility is not dis-charged by demagogic assaults uponthe welfare state, any more than it isdischarged by promiscuous demandsfor more pensions, more tariffs, morehandouts. It can be discharged onlywhen people settle down in an earnestattempt to meet the requirements ofwelfarism within a society that can re-main free and prosperous. And this canbe done only when each of the impor-tant special groups- and this meansthe business community fully as muchas it means the farm bloc and the tradeunions- recognizes that it cannotblindly pursue its own narrow interestwithout threatening irreparable harmto society as a whole.
Some such theme as this might havebeen fitting for Hoover 's birthday ad--ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, JR.
dress.
A Previous Forecast
" We in America today are nearer to the finaltriumph over poverty than ever before in thehistory of any land. The poorhouse is van-ishing from among us. We have not yetreached the goal, but, given a chance to goforward with the policies of the last eightyears, we shall soon, with the help of God ,be in sight of the day when poverty will bebanished from this nation...." Herbert Hoover , Speech on Accepting the Presiden-tial Nomination, 1928.
Greece- Our
Now that the Greek guerrillas havebeen driven into a few remote moun-tain strongholds, the United States isapproaching the end of the militaryphase of its aid to Greece . The othertwo objectives of the Truman Doctrineare still a long way from accomplish-ment- the economic and the political.
In the message to Congress in whichhe announced the Truman Doctrine,the President said:" It is of the utmostimportance that we supervise the use ofany funds made available to Greece , insuch a manner that each dollar spentwill count toward making Greece self-supporting, and will help to build aneconomy in which a healthy democracycan flourish."
This problem, which the Presidentcould speak of only in general terms inMarch, 1947, can now be seen a gooddeal more concretely; it is the problemof seeing to it that our economic effortsin Greece work for the benefit of theGreek people as a whole, not merely forthat of certain well- connected monop-olistic interests.
Test
Whether these aims will be achieveddepends inevitably on the compositionand attitude of the Greek Parliament,which will have an important say indetermining how our equipment andfunds will be used and distributed. Inthe phase of aid to Greece that has justbegun, economic reconstruction andpolitical reorganization have to go to-gether; our economic aid to Greece may be useless, or even dangerous,unless the conditions that make fordemocracy are created in Greece .
Up to now, the United States hasacted as if it could- as if, indeed, itshould keep out of Greek politics.The fact that we have intervened ac-tively in Greek military and economicmatters, and steered shyly away frompolitics, disturbs quite a few of the ECAofficials who are up against the prob-lem of making Greek aid work. Asone of them puts it," Every detail of
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Greek government procurement is con-trolled by Americans ; so are all Greekexports and imports and all currencypolicies. We deliver vast amounts inmaterials. But the greatest obstacle toeffective aid is political. We intervenein every phase of Greek life except one-we do not tell them how, in theirown interest, they should organize theirpolitics. Why should Washington insiston doing nothing positive to reshapethe political setup over here?"
Observations like these call to mindthe American experience in China , asit was brought to light in the WhitePaper published recently by the State Department . There, too, the United States failed to get effective co- opera-tion from the government. Hundredsof millions of dollars were wasted be-cause of the graft and mismanagementcharacteristic of the Kuomingtang.Democratic reforms were talked about,but postponed, and American aid waswasted because the one- party régimerefused to reform, and was unable towin mass support.
Greece today bears some disturbingresemblances to the China of four yearsago. The Populist Party , led by Tsal-
The Reporter, October 11, 1949
30