The Aldrich Plan

As chairman of the world trading Chase National Bank, Winthrop W. Aldrich likes to apply his banker's sense to world problems. Last week at the annual meeting of the American Bankers' Association in Atlantic City, he applied it to the Marshall Plan. The great need, said he, was to make sure that the plan was carried out "in a businesslike manner."

To make sure that this is done, he suggested the creation of a "United States Corporation for European Reconstruction." It would be run by a board of directors composed of five "completely nonpartisan" experts, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Under the watchful eye of Congress, these five would exercise "reasonably liberal authority" to 1) determine the type and amount of aid to be allocated to various nations; 2) extend aid in kind as well as in money, and buy needed goods in the world's cheapest markets; 3) decide how much European nations shall contribute to their own reconstruction. Above all, the corporation would check up continuously to make sure that U.S. aid was not being misused. In short, he wanted a sort of super-WPB to run the whole thing. With such a businesslike approach, Aldrich thought that his corporation would also attract direct investment in western Europe by private U.S. corporations, thus speed the job of rebuilding.

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