Cold-War Pioneering

At a Washington dinner on the 51st anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight, Pan American World Airways President Juan Trippe last week called for a national act of bold pioneering that might be as fruitful as Kitty Hawk.

"The cold war," he said, "will largely be fought on economic battlegrounds . . . The uncommitted nations, dissatisfied with their ancient poverty, where half the people go to bed hungry every night, are waiting to see whether we or the Communists offer the best chance of shifting from their present low-level to a high-level economy. The U.S. and our western European allies cannot, in the long run, remain an island of prosperity in a sea of poverty. Nor do we want to do so.

"Obviously, U.S. tax dollars cannot do the job required. Our tax dollars could not buy enough food to feed properly three-quarters of mankind, nor could we, with tax dollars, buy and give them capital goods to raise their living standards without wrecking our own economy.

"It is encouraging to see that the Administration is striving to provide the tools that private industry needs to undertake the job. The Randall Plan, for example, will greatly expand sound, two-way trade between the U.S. and the countries of the free world [and] will be a practical demonstration of our desire and ability to assist other nations in their efforts to help themselves."

Along with expanding trade, Trippe applauded recent Administration moves to encourage private U.S. investment in underdeveloped countries. One field of such development is aviation. "It is simple economics that a country cannot develop unless it has a proper transportation system . . . Today, however, many underdeveloped countries cannot wait for railroad and highway systems to be developed. Geographical or political conditions force them to skip these earlier stages and enter directly into the age of flight . . .

"Expanding and improving the internal transportation systems of present-day underdeveloped countries represents a great opportunity for the American aviation industry to be of service. Its capital and know-how in partnership with local investors . . . can measurably strengthen the countries we wish to be our friends. With the growth of adequate transportation will come agricultural improvement and industrial development. Better education, health services, more advantages for workers will follow."

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