The Economics of Myopia

Flying in the face of rationality, always an in-season Congressional pastime, is currently being pursued with vigor by the House Appropriations Committee. Falling in with Washington's present tendency to elevate "economy" into an end in itself, the subcommittee has in effect eliminated the broadcasts through which America has been telling the world her side of the postwar struggle for position.

This summary wiping out of the activities of the Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs does in a way possess a curious internal logic. The action "saves" 31-million-odd dollars in OIC outlay; it pleases those congressional minds who feel that the existence of America is, as such, her own best propaganda; and it ends the life of the OIC, the successor of that OWI which so many Congressmen unflinchingly regard as communistic.

The ease of bringing off these limited coups has apparently blinded the Committee members to the bigger facts. Russia, for instance, is now completely free to press the propaganda activity which so recently ran many Congressmen's benzedrine bill sky-high and made them back the projected 400-million dollar "diplomatic offensive." The Committee's implied faith that the 27 nations hitherto reached by the broadcasts and booklets of the OIC will continue to believe in America's aims through a process of visceral induction is one that the Soviet propagandists will greet with bulging squeals of delight.

The Senate can still bypass the Committee's shortsighted action by voting funds sufficient to keep America's views on the air, if only for a few minutes a day. It would mean taking a stand that is unpopular yet necessary, lest the world read more than a casual symbolism into the fact that America's radio voice has had its throat cut.