Bedfellows

In Washington, it was be-kind-to-dictators week.

At long last, Francisco Franco of Spain got the EGA loan he had been seeking. With the air of a man holding his nose and obeying an unpleasant command, ECA announced that it would begin "immediately" to channel to Spanish industries and companies the $62.5 million in ECA funds set aside for Spain by the 81st Congress. Able no longer to ignore the will of Congress, despite its own contempt for the Franco dictatorship, the Administration did its best to make it look as unlike a Marshall Plan project as possible. ECA would send no mission to Madrid, would leave the handling of the money to the Export-Import Bank.

" The timing of the loan to Spain was designed to smooth the way for U.S. aid to another dictator whom the Administration was more eager than Congress to help: Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito. With Spain assured of its pot of gold, President Truman asked congressional leaders for money to Tito to offset a famine which might, said the President, topple Tito from power. President Truman did not deny that Tito was a Communist; he simply did not mention it. "Tito's defection from Kremlin control represents the first setback for Soviet imperialism and as such is an important political symbol," explained Mr. Truman. "Tito controls the largest fighting force in Europe except the Soviet Union and . . . these forces constitute an important element in the defense of Western Europe against Soviet aggression." The President wanted Congress, when it reconvened Nov. 27, to approve emergency funds to feed the drought-stricken Yugoslavs. As a stopgap until Congress took up the matter, ECA had already diverted $11,500,000 worth of flour from its Italian and German stocks. The Export-Import Bank rushed off a quick $6,000,000 for drought relief out of the $55 million in U.S. credits already granted to Tito. The first U.S. relief shipment arrived in Yugoslavia last week.

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