U.S. HELP FOR NATIONS STILL FREE— Marshall Urges Arms Aid “Without Delay”

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 August 1949, Page 5

U.S. HELP FOR NATIONS STILL FREE— Marshall Urges Arms Aid “Without Delay”

WASHINGTON, August 1 (Rec 2 p.m.).—General George Marshall told Congress today that the North Atlantic Pact nations should he given American arms aid without delay. General Marshall, former Secretary of State and war-time Chief of Staff, was addressing the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is examining President Truman’s 1,450,000,000 dollars arms aid programme for the North Atlantic Pact signatories and other free nations. General Marshall said that hesitation in approving the programme would “be most unfortunate and have wide ramifications.’’

General Marshall said that if in 1939 the United States armed services requests for appropriations could have been met,” even to a modest degree, we could have whittled away at least six months of the duration of the war, saved about.j 50,000,000,000 dollars and prevented hundreds of thousands of casualties.” i He did not think the adoption of '

President Truman’s arms programme would start a world armament race. “Such a race, if started in the future, could only be between ourselves and Soviet Russia,” he said. “What we have got to get is the respect of Russia, rather than give any idea of aggression against her.”