The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and
British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in
West Germany
It has declined there by 41 since 1971, and this Canadian
Thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and
Possibly the least appreciated people in all the world
As long as sixty
Years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on
The Yellow River and the Yangtze
Well, who rushed in with men and money
To help?
The Americans did, that's who
They have helped control floods
On the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger
Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is underwater, and no foreign land has sent
A dollar to help
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 those countries is today paying even the interest on it's remaining debts to the
United States
When the franc 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--and I was there, I saw that
When distant cities are hit by earthquake, it's the United States that hurries
In to help; Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples
So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by
Tornadoes--nobody has helped
The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy--all
Pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries, and
Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, war-mongering Americans Now, I'd like to see just one of those countries
That is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build it's own airplanes
Come on, now you--lets hear it!
Does any country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing jumbo jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas Ten
If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all
International lines except Russia fly American planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a 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 the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded
They're right here on our streets in Toronto Most of them, unless they're breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend up here
When the Americans get out of this bind, as they will, who could blame
Them if they said to hell with the rest of the world
Let somebody else buy the bonds
Let somebody else build or repair foreign dams, or design foreign buildings that wont shake apart in earthquakes
When the railways of France and 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 of them are still broke
I can name to you five thousand times when the
Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble
Can you name to me even one time when someone raced to the help of 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 kicked around
They'll come out of this thing with their flag high, and when they do, they're entitled
To thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present trouble
I hope Canada is not one of these
But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians
And finally, the American Red Cross was told at
It's 48th annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke
This years disasters, with the year less than half over, have taken it
All, and nobody, but nobody, has helped --