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America:
The Good Neighbor.
Widespread news coverage was given recently to an
editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a
Canadian television Commentator. This is the full text
of his 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. I was
there. I saw it.
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."
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