SOVIET EXPANSION ALARMS AMERICANS

Grey River Argus, 1 March 1948, Page 5

SOVIET EXPANSION ALARMS AMERICANS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 The Secretary of Commerce, Mr Averell Harriman, has warned Congress that Russian aggression is a greater menace than Hitler, it was revealed to-dav. His disclosure was made bv the House Appropriations Committee as it voted 503,420,263 dollars to run the State, Commerce, and Justice Departments and the Federal courts during the fiscal year starting on July 1. This is a net cut of 35.417,168 dollars from President Truman’s Budget requests. Mr Harriman, ex-Ambassador to Moscow, said at the committee’s hearings that unless Communism was stopped in Western Europe “we will face a situation that we cannot deal with, and the balance of power, which now is predominantly in outfavour, will be against us.” He was one of several top American officials, including the Secretary of State, General Marshall, who criticised the Soviet’s policy during the meetings. General Marshall said the United States was basically friendly . to the Russian people, but that Soviet officials were very slow’ to agree, rather difficult in negotiation and “I would say, generally suspicious of our motives.”