“Other Soviet States Should Be Heard”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 11

“Other Soviet States Should Be Heard”

(Rec. 9 p.m.) WASHINGTON, May 14. The “Washington Post” today expressed opposition to any enlargement of the Geneva Foreign Ministers’ conference but said some means should be found to hear the views of other Communist countries.

“The squabble over seats for Poland and Czechoslovakia is rather silly,” the “Post” said in a leading article. “Obviously, if there is to be any chance of fruitful work at Geneva, the sessions cannot be converted into a lodge convention. “Still, there is a great deal to be said for some device to show that the West does not consider the Soviet Union to be the only voice and interpreter of the wishes of Eastern Europe. “Perhaps the current Geneva meeting is not the place to do it. but the West ought to find some means, we think, of encouraging and listening to other points oi view within the Communist orbit,” it said. The New York “HeraldTribune” said: “ ... If constructive proposals are to be prepared for the consideration of a summit meeting, Mr Gromyko will soon have to cease talking for the benefit of listeners at home and in the satellite world, and address himself to the business at hand. “It would be too much to expect him to announce anything but opposition to the Western plan.” The New York “Mirror” said: “The Russians obviously want the Geneva conference to fail, but maybe it is a little too early for us to let them get away with it . . . “We make a suggestion, and not lightly, that Secretary of State Christian Herter would be smart to call to our side some cf the top-notch labour experts of America who are experienced in dealing with Communist chicanery and who finally beat the Reds at the conference tables by exposing them for what they are, liars and criminals.” President Eisenhower expressed hope yesterday that the Russians would stop using the Geneva Foreign Ministers’ conference as a propaganda platform so the meeting could start producing fruitful results. The President told a press conference he had hoped the Russians would avoid using the meeting for propaganda because he was very anxious to have the negotiations as successful as possible. Instead, he said, the Geneva meeting, now in its third day, seemed to have been used so far by the Russians for the purpose

of propaganda. Mr Eisenhower said it is up to the Foreign Ministers to decide where and when a possible summit meeting might be held. He has expressed hope that* the Geneva meeting would lead to a summit meeting. The President said the Soviet proposal for a limited number ot on-site inspections of possible underground nuclear explosions had been studied, but more information was needed before he could say how it would affect the United States position on a test ban. His ability to make an estimate of what was going to be agreeo to or not agreed to at the nuclear talks was just nil, he said.