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TRIBUTE
TO THE UNITED STATES
America: The Good Neighbor.
Widespread but only partial news coverage was
given recently to a remarkable editorial
broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a
Canadian television commentator. What follows is the
full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in
the Congressional
Record:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak
up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly
the least appreciated people on all the earth.
Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain
and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war
by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars
and forgave other billions in debts. None of these
countries is today paying even the interest on its
remaining debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956,
it was the Americans who propped it up, and their
reward was to be insulted and swindled on the
streets of Paris.
When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the
United States that hurries in to help. This spring,
59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes.
Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped
billions of dollars into discouraged countries.
Now newspapers in those countries are writing
about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
I'd like to see just one of those countries that
is gloating over the erosion of the United
States dollar build its own airplane. Does any
other country in the world have a plane to equal
the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or
the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly
them? Why do all the International lines except
Russia fly American Planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider
putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about
Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk
about German
technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk
about American technocracy, and you find men on
the moon - not once, but several times - and
safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put
theirs right in the store window for everybody
to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not
pursued and hounded. They are here on our
streets, and most of them, unless they are
breaking Canadian laws, are getting American
dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
When
the railways of France, Germany and India were
breaking down through age, it was the Americans
who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad
and the New York Central went broke, nobody
loaned them an old caboose. Both are still
broke.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans
raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name me even one time when someone else
raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't
think there was outside help even during the San
Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one
Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get
kicked around. They will come out of this thing
with their flag high. And when they do, they are
entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that
are gloating over their present troubles. I hope
Canada is not one of those."
Stand proud, America!
Wear it proudly!!!
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