Burke Scores U. S. Leaders For 'Barnstorming Tours'

George J. Burke, Ann Arbor attorney, today scored the "barnstorming tours" of this nation's leaders and asserted they would "do far better to sit down together to plan a program to regain American prestige and respect in Europe."
Burke, who recently served as a member of an American military tribunal in Nuernberg, Germany, spoke to a University Press Club audience in a four-man panel discussion of "The European Situation | Today” in the Rackham Building this morning.
The panel brought together Burke; Prof. John P. Dawson, who recently returned to the University Law School after a year as foreign trade administrator for the Greek government; Gerd H. Padel, Press Club fellow in journalism from Switzerland; and Prof. Jean Stoelzel of France's University of Bordeaux. Panel conductor was Prof. Arthur W. Bromage. Germans Lack Security
Burke continued his panel remarks by saying that “the rehabilitation and restoration of faith among the common people of Germany is far more important than the trial and punishment of their leaders."
“The German sense of insecurity, their lack of direction and of hope for the future is the most striking aspect of the German people today,” he concluded. | Extremely serious economic problems together with a "dearth of men trained in political affairs” are barring Greece's path to economic recovery, Prof. Dawson asserted.
“While the military situation has improved decidedly and American aid has gone far toward restoring Greek agriculture, the task of building a democratic government in Greece is a very complex one. It will require American assistance for probably five years," he said. Will Remain Poor
At best, Prof. Dawson summarized, Greece will remain a poor country after the American aid program is terminated. Much remains to be done in the restoration of ports, railroads, highways, and industrial plants.
Padel told the club that democracy must be established in Europe if western civilization is to survive. In France, he asserted, the problem of creating a real democracy is particularly acute. A centralized government which controls all of France from Paris prevents the development of democratic leadership in small countries.
"In Britain and in the U. S.," Padel continued, "training in democratic political activities and leadership begins in the community and proceeds through the state and develops leaders for the nations."
This, he said, is the only way in which the real democracy can be achieved. "In western Europe a great effort needs to be made to restore self-government at the local level.”