> America: The Good Neighbor
> 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 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 abut
> 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!