tlow To Aid Holland
The response to last week's disaster in the Low
Countries and Britain has been truly heartwarming.
Schoolboys have brought their classmates' pennies
to the Dutch Embassy here to aid the victims of the
flooding from the North Sea. Numerous private aid
groups ha.ve been set up in Washington and other
cities to collect funds to help repair the damage
that in Holland alone runs well over a billion dollars.
Secretary of State Dulles has been named by Presi
dent Eisenhower to head a Cabinet committee to
recommend aid measures for the stricken countries.
The question naturally arises: What kind of aid?
Here no decision has been taken- Most immediate
relief needs for clothing and food have been met by
the governments concerned, with the help of the
United States Army in Germany. H'olland was of
course the worst hit. The long-run choice, as respects
the Netherlands, probably must be between aid for
economic reconstruction and military aid to make up
Dutch NATO commitments. The Dutch government
has shown a commendable desire to do everything
possible to avoid cutting its defense contributions.
This, it seems to us," is a clew to the best kind of
aid. Psychologically it is important for Holland to
meet her defense commitments by herself as far as
possible. Defense is the most basic of national re
sponsibilities, and it would be destructive of this
sense of responsibility if the commitments were post
poned. More productive use no doubt could be made
of the same amount of money or goods by concen
trating on economic reconstruction. The need' is of
course prodigious. Holland's recovery has been set
back two to three years; 90 percent of her onion ex
port crop has been destroyed and her earning capac
ity has suffered many other blows.
Here is a great opportunity for the whole NATO
community. The Netherlands has been a leader, not
only in furthering the European army concept, but
in the much broader field of European unity. Per
haps, with the leadership of the United States, the
disaster could be treated as an attack on all the
NATO countriesan attack by the sea instead of
an army. Aid on that basis, with each NATO country
contributing a share, could be the best kind of evi
dence of a spirit of unity and interdependence in
Europe. This is a chance to introduce in practice the
all-for-one and one-for-all concept which underlies
NATO and which Secretary Dulles is pursuing. It
would be one way to make the calamity yield a' divi
dend of good.
