National Affairs: GUIDE TO GIVING

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Five tests of foreign aid laid down by State Department Counselor George ("X") Kennan in a speech before the Academy of Political Science: 1) Foreign aid should be designed primarily to serve the best interests of the U.S.

2) It should only help others to help themselves: "We must always reckon that our aid can be only relative, and relative only in a marginal sense; to the efforts they themselves must make ... If their efforts are perfunctory or inefficient or fainthearted, our aid to them can scarcely be otherwise. Above all, our will cannot replace their will . . . We must be careful [not to become] their debauchers rather than their helpers."

3) The U.S. must be able to afford it: "It is imperative ... that we economize with our limited resources and that we apply them where we feel that they will do the most good. This means a system of priorities ... a policy of a wise economy in the use of our own strength . . ."

4) What works one place won't necessarily work elsewhere: "Foreign aid . .. is not some sort of patent remedy. It is not an independent and foolproof device, guaranteed to have universal validity and to produce certain calculable results ... To attempt to standardize its application would not be consistency—it would be applied fallacy."

5) It should not be regarded as "an act of charity," or as "an unlimited letter of credit, to be held by us, on the future policies of other governments ... In the success of these undertakings lies our reward; we should seek no other. If we do not consider this reward sufficient the aid should not be extended, or it should not be considered as aid."