The Hardin Tribune Herald

In view of the existing physical and ideological rift which has divided the world into two opposing battalions, it has come to seem almost inevitable that the western bloc sooner or later would devise some kind of formal military treaty for the mutual protection of the nations concerned.

And a few days before the election word began to creep out from among "high American sources" that a military treaty was on the way.

The report was that drafting was scheduled to begin soon of an agreement pledging full aid to the five-nation Brussels alliance of western Europe. Results of the U. S. election were in no way supposed to affect the plan, since both major parties had committed themselves in principle to backing the Brussels alliance.

Such an alliance supposedly will link the United States and Canada in formal treaty relationships with Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

From a behind-the-scenes standpoint, this will not be a new move. It is highly probable, indeed, that the broad outlines of a north Atlantic pact - with some details sketched in - has been in existence for some time.

The alliance is expected to commit the U. S. and Canada to:

1. Build up air, land and sea forces of the Brussels powers.

2. Standardize equipment and training.

3. Create a seven-nation unified military strategic command under an American commander-in-chief.

4. Pledge a guarantee of each nation's territorial integrity in case of war.

5. Give the North American powers the right to establish air, land or sea bases in any of the five other countries.

U. S. officials expect that the treaty will be ready for ratification by the middle of 1949, barring extraordinary events. How congress will react to such a treaty is, for the time being, a debatable question.