Grants from government to government. while essential. sometimes lend themselves to abuse. and the identity of the benefactor country is frequently forgotten or lost in the shuffle. Assistance rendered through international agencies suffers from the weakness that it lacks national identity. But the program which would be made possible by my amendment would be directed. on the spot. by representatives of the American Government and by the dedicated representatives of the American voluntary agencies working in the refugee field. who have been among our most effective ambassadors of goodwill. It would. in short. be a peopletopeople program. and. precisely because of this. I can think of no more effective way of communicating our friendship to the people of Algeria. Mr. President. the need of the Algerian refugees is great. The sum called for by my amendment is exceedingly modest compared with the scope of the project and compared with the vast sums which we appropriate for military assistance and other forms of foreign aid. The good that can be accomplished by this modest sum in povertystricken Algeria is enormous. Conversely. in the fluid and marginal political situation which exists today in Algeria. the penalty for showing ourselves completely indifferent to the needs of the Algerian refugees might exceed even the most pessimistic warnings. Mr. President.
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refugee refugees