The Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1948. A CHEAT CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14639, 7 April 1948, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1948. A CHEAT CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE

Just ten months ago, on Juno 5 1947, United States declared war on hunger, poverty and chaos _m Em ope.. 1 U • the words of the foreign ministers of In ’ . ~ i, as iiouncement of the passing oi the Economic vC- i » heartened the free peoples of the world. _ , -i- no . P o«t With ships laden with food from American farms headm e ea. t wards across the Atlantic, the people ot Europe will soon ha e definite proof that the people ot America are prepaid to olfei no e than empty promises in the task ot restoring the standard of In which disappeared from the European scene neai } en ', a ' The measure signed at Washington has been coirect j c e . a signal demonstration of statesmanship. Ee\ei be oie in ‘ tory of the world has any one nation taken a step live } c such far-reaching results. + In spite of all the efforts which have been made and no doubt will be made in the immediate future to prevent the plan originally propounded by Mr Marshall from being put in o e ? it will, without doubt, prove the greatest contribution to u ima peace which has yet been made. You cannot make peace on an empty stomach, anv more than you can make war on one. With the uea 1 and productive power of half a continent at their disposal, the American people are in a position to provide practical help a a ime when it is most needed. By their unanimity they have shown ia they are prepared to do this. . . Ever since the last shot was fired in Europe in 1940 the narrow nationalism which brought about two world wars has been on tie wane. This has been brought about in two ways. International boundaries in Eastern Europe have been gradually crumbling under Communist pressure, just as they had done under the weight o German aggression. (As the effects of the Marshall I lan begin to make themselves felt, the free people of the world the sixteen nations of Western Europe, the British Commonwealth and the tu c* Americas will tend to draw closer together. . If his plan succeeds in welding together this enormous potential for good, the name of George Catlett Marshall will live in histciy as that of the greatest benefactor the world has ever known.