but actually if you look at the trend there was 100,000 against rearma ment. In Western Germany our policy is raising up saints and martyrs against us. These people are the heroes of Germany and the patriots, and they are against us on this policy. I must say that they are friendly to America in a general sense, and they are pro-Western in their orientation, but on this one issue they think we are wrong and they are opposing us. Incidentally, many of them favor the general idea of rearmament in the West, but they don't think Germany should be put in for reasons which are given in this memorandum. I would like to mention a couple of them. I had an opportunity to spend 6 months in Germany last year, and I got to know some of these people. I made it a point to go around and look these people up. There is Gustav Heinemann, former Minister of the Interior, who resigned over this issue. He is a leading Protestant layman and is president of the Evangelical Church Laymen's Association. I would compare him to John Foster Dulles here, except that he is not connected with the administration. Another, a woman, Frau Helene Wessel. Frau Helene Wessel has been chairman of the Catholic Center Party in the German Congress until recently, when that party was merged with the Bavarian Party, of which she is now a member of the executive committee. Another person is Admiral Stummel, former admiral in the German Navy and a Catholic. These three persons that I have mentioned head up an Emergency Committee for the Peace of Europe. They have gotten in 2 months over a million and a quarter signatures to their petition. Nobody accuses these people of being Communist. Drew Middleton, whom I do not know of as being sympathetic with anything that does not fit in with the State Department, says these people are "stanchly anti-Communist." There is another group, called the Women's Peace Congress. Senator, this Women's Peace Congress this Sunday is holding a meeting in Bonn, a mass meeting. Before the meeting begins the Catholic women go to church and attend holy mass; the Protestant women go to their churches and attend divine services. Then they get together. This is not a permanent organization; it is an ad hoc organization, a grouping of women to deal with this present problem of German rearmament. They have had three meetings, and I would like to read a paragraph from their declaration. Senator GREEN. When was that held? Mr. FINUCANE. It was in September of 1951. One paragraph (reading): Men of Germany: The protection which we women and mothers ask of you cannot be rendered by taking weapons in your hands. Your rearming would enormously intensify the danger of war; it would make Germany the battlefield and deliver us all, our whole people, to anguish and destruction. With Germany as center, the conflagration would spread throughout Europe and set the whole world ablaze. This is a one-page statement of theirs. I would like to have it incorporated in the record. Senator GREEN. All right. (The statement is as follows:) DECLARATION UNANIMOUSLY ENDORSED BY SOME 800 DELEGATES AT THE WESTGERMAN WOMEN'S PEACE CONGRESS, VELBERT, 14. x. 1951 To All German Men, Women, Mothers, and Young People: In a grave hour for our people and country, the West German Women's Peace Congress appeals to all of you. Who could be more alarmed than we German women and mothers by the daily growing threat of war; who should be more keenly sensitive to this danger than we, the bearers of life? In face of the anxiety, German women, who still stand silently apart from political affairs, can no longer remain inactive. For the sake of life we must speak out. We appeal to you all. We appeal to our people; to our members of Parliament. We must not take a single further step along the way where no peace is to be found; no further step toward the division of our people, or their remilitarization. Members of the Federal Government: We implore you, by taking counsel together to exhaust every possibility of preventing German people from having to fire on their German brothers. We demand from our representatives that they shall not throw back this responsibility upon the victorious powers, but take it upon themselves to find the way of understanding between German and German. By this means we can prove to the whole world that love of peace and freedom, confirmed by our love to our own nation, is the basis of German policy, which determines our relation to other peoples. Men of Germany: The protection which we women and mothers ask of you cannot be rendered by taking weapons in your hands. Your rearming would enormously intensify the danger of war; it would make Germany the battlefield, and deliver us all, our whole people, to anguish and destruction. With Germany as center, the conflagration would spread throughout Europe and set the whole world ablaze. Sisters, throughout our people: We beg you in this hour of common peril to forget everything that divides us. We beg you to extend a hand to one another, to unite in your efforts to support and strengthen this our appeal to all the elected representatives of our people, which is your German and our Christian duty. The representatives of our people, both East and West, must find the way to mutual understanding. We and our children want to work happily again in a united German fatherland. Peace is our life, therefore our country must be granted six years after the war, a proper peace treaty. Only through peace can the grave moral damage be made good, which has been caused in the main by the two last wars. Preparations for further war can only increase it. The serious social problems with which we and the whole world are struggling, can only be solved as we move into conditions of peace. Such a new ordering of social life is the best contribution we can make to our defense. Let the demilitarization of Germany become the beginning of international understanding and disarmament. We pray for God's help to pursue this path of peace, freedom and justice, from which course no enmity or suspicion shall deter us. Mr. FINUCANE. Another person in this group is Pastor Niemoeller. Pastor Niemoeller is one of the heroes of Germany. You remember Hitler had him in a concentration camp for a number of years. When you mention his name it is like turning on a chandelier. People see a burst of light and they hear choruses of trumpets and angel choirs. We don't even have such authentic heroes in our own country at the present time, because we have never lived through a period of oppression such as the Germans lived through. Here you have these people, and you have them all working against this phase of American policy, and you have them all praying against This is something that I do not think is sufficiently realized here, and I think it ought to be taken into consideration. us. EUROPEAN OPPOSITION TO GERMAN REARMAMENT This opposition to the rearmament of Germany, and in a wider sense the rearmament of Europe, extends beyond the borders of Germany. In a series of articles in a diocesan newspaper in Lyons, France, Monsignor Ancel has written three propositions. He says, "A preventive war is a crime. Treaties leading up to it are null and void. No citizen has the duty to obey his country in carrying out such a war.' He did not tie in these statements of his with NATO or with the European defense community plan, but all the commentators have assumed that, speaking as he does in this context, he has meant the danger of such a preventive war developing out of this trend of ours. Now, I have mentioned who these people are in Germany, and I mentioned one person in France who is against the rearmament of Germany and the rearmament of Europe. But you also have the Parliaments in both countries against it. I make that statement on this basis: The German Parliament laid down several conditions. I would like to mention four of them which they want to have fulfilled before they will raise troops for this proposed army. The French laid down four conditions. Senator GREEN. What do you mean by "the French"? Mr. FINUCANE. The French Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. These four conditions laid down by the Parliament of each country are in direct contradiction to each other. That is to say, the Germans: want, as a condition, the return of the Saar into Germany; the French want, or have proposed-no country that wants territory or has a territorial claim can enter this group. The Germans want equality militarily and economically; the French, without apparent prior collaboration, say that integration must be handled on a preferential basis with regard to France. The Germans want the liberation of war criminals; the French have their counterproposal. Senator GREEN. You have taken longer than any of the other witnesses. Your time is up. You foresaw that possibility by asking that your memorandum be filed. Mr. FINUCANE. I wonder if you would make an allowance, in view of the fact that you questioned me for a minute at the beginning, to conclude my remarks. I will skip to the end. Senator GREEN. I do not think the questioning lasted very long. Mr. FINUCANE. I have attempted to show, Senator, that there is a strong popular resistance in Germany and in France of which we are unaware. Senator GREEN. It occurs to me that you are arguing. You talk about these minority groups against the Government taking the opposite position. Don't you believe in the democratic process whereby there must be some way of determining policy, and that must. be by the majority in a free election? And haven't they had that? Mr. FINUCANE. Senator, yes, they have. It is generally conceded, however, and Walter Lippmann is the latest one to concede, I saw, in yesterday's Washington Post that the majority in Germany is against remilitarization. Senator GREEN. Can't you take the official returns instead of Mr. Lippmann? Mr. FINUCANE. The last official returns from the new southwest state showed a growth of 100,000 votes against remilitarization, and aside from that you have the two majority parties in France and Germany laying conditions which are mutually impossible. In other words, you are authorizing the appropriation of money that can not be spent to any effect, because these countries are not going to play ball. They will take the money, but they won't produce. I am just sorry that in Germany today we are casting ourselves in the roles that the Nazis once had, trying to force an unpopular policy upon them. We are introducing conscription, trying to introduce it, the way Hitler did; we are subsidizing 12 newspapers to the tune of 15 million marks. Senator GREEN. There is nothing in this bill to that effect. Mr. FINUCANE. This bill is to support the incorporation of Germany into the European defense community and to support the raising of these troops by these, I would say in quotes, "Nazi" methods. That, in part, will be paid for under this appropriation. $116,000,000 of the money is set aside by the Administration as Germany's share just for "defense support." I don't know how much is set aside for military equipment. Thank you. Senator GREEN. Thank you very much. Now I have two or three communications here. One is from the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. They have not appeared here, but they are offered this statement to be filed. Is there any objection to putting that in the record? Another statement is from the Americans for Democratic Action. If there is no objection, that statement will be made a part of the record. (The statements referred to are as follows:) Hon. Toм CONNALLY, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES, Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR SENATOR CONNALLY: I attach hereto a statement of the position of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States with reference to foreign-aid spending. In accordance with the telegraphic offer from C. C. O'Day, your committee clerk, I request that this statement be made a part of the record of your hearings. Cordially yours, CLARENCE R. MILES. STATEMENT OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES It is the considered opinion of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States that expenditures on international affairs in fiscal 1953 by the United States Government should not exceed $5 billion. Since nearly $8 billion of unspent funds will be available in fiscal 1953 under existing appropriations, we see no need for Congress to authorize any additional appropriation for foreign aid in fiscal 1953. The chamber has long advocated the active participation of the United States in seeking solutions to the many difficult problems that the free world has had to face since the defeat of the Axis Powers. We subscribed to a program of relief through UNRRA and subsequently through direct contributions to nations devastated by war. We supported economic and military assistance to Greece and Turkey; the British loan, and the Marshall plan. In addition, we favored the action of the United States in entering into the North Atlantic Pact and the other regional pacts, and the principles of the Mutual Security Program. The chamber has continuously reaffirmed its view that the United States should participate vigorously in world affairs. But the chamber has become increasingly concerned about the fact that the achievements of virtually all the various foreign-aid programs have fallen far short of expectations. We feel, therefore, that the time has come to examine carefully the reasons for the successes and failures of foreign aid to date. On the basis of this type of an examination, recommendations can then be made which will insure a more successful policy for the future. The latter part of this statement will attempt this task. The following is a brief statement of the position of the chamber on the subject of foreign policy. The chamber recognizes that a good foreign policy will safeguard the rights of the individual American, preserve his home and the American economy. The consequences of foreign policy affect the heart-beat of every living American in terms of broken homes and lives, shattered careers and emptied pocketbooks.. American foreign policy is every man's business. The chamber's aim is to 1. Help develop a foreign policy which provides for the independence, integrity and security of the United States; 2. Support public and private economic policies that will enable America to have the guns and productive capacity, the strength and prosperity to support its foreign commitments; 3. Encourage the advancement of the cause of world peace through all appropriate channels. The chamber will support the development of the free-enterprise system and a high, balanced level of international trade as essential to world prosperity and world peace. The chamber will support a program to build our military and economic strength, within our capacity and insofar as our interests require, to a reasonable level of readiness; and to help other nations which oppose the aggressive role of militant Russian communism to build their military and economic strength. The chamber will act in cooperation with other private and public groups to promote the recognition of the private enterprise system, based on individual freedoms and incentives, as far superior to the totalitarian planning system in increasing economic strength and in promoting human welfare and happiness. The chamber will support foreign policy designed to develop greater production, increased productivity and wider distribution of goods in free markets among peoples of the world. The chamber will work for the elimination of restrictive and discriminatory trade practices between all nations. The chamber will support the United Nations as an appropriate agency to develop a collective security system in the world, encourage every constructive step to strengthen it and improve its effectiveness, and work to develop public understanding and support of it throughout the United States. The chamber will use its facilities to promote the widest possible understanding of facts essential to the development of United States foreign policy, and to develop an informed public opinion on the course that we should follow. FOREIGN AID AND THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY The chamber is seriously concerned about the effects on the strength of the American economy of the current high level of foreign aid. No one knows how long the cold war may last. Mr. Averell Harriman, Director of the Mutual Security Program, once stated that we may be in for a 4-mile race instead of the 100-yard sprint of World War II. In such a situation it is imperative that the American Nation conserve its strength for the long pull. This is especially important in view of certain changes in the position of the American economy since before World War II. At that time the total tax burden was only slightly over 20 percent of income. Today the tax burden is approaching 35 percent. During the past decade inflation has reduced the value of the American dollar by almost 50 percent. A continuation of heavy military and foreign-aid outlays will strain the American economy even more and lead to further loss of confidence in our national solvency. The present program of military and economic aid and increasing amounts of point 4 aid could, unless effective and realistic limits are put on its amount, continue into the indefinite future. In fact, there are grave dangers that the amounts might increase. A report by a group of experts from several countries, appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations, estimated that to develop the underdeveloped areas of the world would require from $10 to $14 billion of outside capital annually for an indefinite period. Undoubtedly, most of this would have to come from the United States. Also, if past experience is any guide, there would be strong pressures to have the United States Government supply a large part of it. 1 Measures for the Economic Development of Underdeveloped Countries, United Nations, New York,, May 1951. |