Statement by the President Making Public a Report "European Recovery and American Aid."

LAST JUNE I appointed a committee of 19 distinguished private citizens to determine the facts concerning the kinds and amounts of our resources available for economic assistance to foreign countries, and to advise me on the limits within which, in the opinion of the committee, the United States might safely and wisely 'plan to extend such aid. I asked the Secretary of Commerce to serve as chairman of the committee. The members of the committee were drawn from the ranks of American business, finance, labor, agriculture, and educational and research institutions.

During the intervening months, the members of this committee of private citizens have been diligently studying the many aspects of this complicated problem, particularly as it relates to Western Europe. They have carefully examined the analysis, by a committee of Government officials under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, of the adequacy of our national resources to support a foreign aid program; the analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers of the impact of a substantial aid program upon our national economy; the report of the representatives of the 16 nations who met in Paris, and other data available from various sources.

This committee has now submitted to me its report, "European Recovery and American Aid." The report contains a careful discussion of the problem of European recovery and our interest therein: the requirements of the countries involved; the supplies available; the size of an effective aid program and the feasibility of its being met; the problems of finance and administration; and the effects of a foreign aid program on our own economy. In addition, the committee's report contains detailed discussions of problems presented by specific commodities, food, raw materials, and manufactured goods that are needed.

The members of the committee have fulfilled their task without partisanship, and with no other purpose than to further the best interest of their country, and to aid in securing the peace and well-being of the world. I am deeply grateful to each member of the committee for putting aside so many other pressing duties in order to bring this difficult assignment to completion in so short a period. The committee's report should prove of great help in the prompt formulation of a program of sound assistance to Western Europe. I commend this report to the careful attention of Members of the Congress, officials of the executive branch, and all citizens concerned for our country's welfare.