The Key West Citizen

United States May Aid International Investments

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under increasing pressure from needy nations for a greater flow of American investment dollars, the government has agreed to back a $100 million-dollar international investment agency.

The decision, announced late Thursday, reverses a policy of opposition of years' standing.

The move was expected to get British cooperation, and to raise a round of cheers from capital-hungry nations of the free world whose peoples are demanding a living standard nearer to that of the United States.

Secretary of the Treasury Humphrey cautioned that the venture would be an experiment "subject to review from time to time."

He said the administration would submit the plan to Congress as soon as details have been worked out.

In New York, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. hailed the decision as a "step forward" toward industrializing underdeveloped countries. Lodge, chief U.S. delegate to the United Nations, added in a statement:

"This new approach to international economic development, if it is approved by the Congress, should make possible a new enterprise which would contribute substantially to the industrial progress of the less developed countries of the world."

Humphrey's announcement accepted the name—International Finance Corp. — and most operational details of the institution advocated during the last four years by underdeveloped nations.