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
countriesis
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."
Stand proud, America!
This is one of the best editorials that I have ever read
regarding
the United States. It is nice that one man realizes it. I only
wish that
the rest of the world would realize it. We are always
blamed for
everything, and never even get a thank you for the things
we do.
I would hope that each of you would send this to as many
people as
you can and emphasize that they should send it to as many of
their
friends until this letter is sent to every person on the web, I
am just a
single American that has read this.
