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TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES
America: The Good Neighbor
Widespread but only partial news coverage was given 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. 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 5,000 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!
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