ALGERIA THE HIGH COST OF INDEPENDENCE NOT LONG AGO, THE WEST WAS 
READY TO WRITE OFF ALGERIA'S BRASH, SLOGANEERING PREMIER AHMED BEN BELLA 
AS A MEDITERRANEAN CASTRO RIPE FOR RED DOMINATION . BUT TIMES 
DO CHANGE . AFTER SEVEN MONTHS OF INDEPENDENCE, BEN BELLA NOW 
RELIES ON A TIDE OF AID FROM THE WEST, NOT THE 
EAST, TO KEEP HIS STRUGGLING COUNTRY AFLOAT . ONLY LAST WEEK, 
FINANCE MINISTER AHMED FRANCIS RETURNED FROM PARIS WITH PLEDGES OF $280 
MILLION IN FRENCH AID FOR 1963. AT THE SAME TIME, THE 
U.S . TENTATIVELY AGREED TO LAUNCH A FOOD RELIEF PROGRAM FOR 
HARDHIT ALGERIAN PEASANTS ; BEN BELLA HOPES THIS CAN BE BROADENED 
INTO A SWEEPING PROGRAM OF ECONOMIC AID BEFORE LONG . EMPTIED 
BY WAR . RAVAGED BY 7F YEARS OF WAR WITH FRANCE, 
THE BLOODY S.A.O . TERROR AND A FRATRICIDAL POWER STRUGGLE THAT 
SOURED THE FIRST MONTHS OF INDEPENDENCE, ALGERIA NEEDS EVERY CENTIME IT 
CAN GET . ONLY ONE ALGERIAN IN TEN HAS A STEADY 
JOB . THE ILLITERACY RATE IS 90 PER CENT . OFFICIALS 
FIGURE THAT THE COUNTRY NEEDS AT LEAST $2 BILLION TO REBUILD, 
BUT THE TREASURY IS BARE . SAID BEN BELLA : " 
WE ARE A COUNTRY EMPTIED BY WAR . " TO FILL 
IT UP AGAIN, BEN BELLA NEEDS WESTERN HELP . AT FIRST, 
EMBITTERED BY HIS 5F YEARS IN FRENCH PRISONS, HE BLINKERED HIMSELF 
TO THAT FACT . HE THREATENED TO TURN ALL REMAINING FRENCH-OWNED 
LANDS INTO STATE-RUN FARMS . HE SAUNTERED OFF TO HAVANA TO 
EMBRACE FIDEL CASTRO RIGHT AFTER A MEETING WITH PRESIDENT KENNEDY . 
HE ACCEPTED WHAT LITTLE RED AID HE GOT WITH GREAT FANFARE, 
BUT DELIBERATELY PLAYED DOWN FAR MORE EXTENSIVE HELP FROM THE WEST 
INCLUDING A FLOOD OF FOOD SHIPMENTS FROM PRIVATE U.S . CHARITIES 
THAT HAVE KEPT NEARLY HALF OF HIS 10 MILLION PEOPLE FROM 
STARVING . BUT BENEATH THE BLUSTER BEN BELLA IS MORE PRAGMATIST 
THAN DOGMATIST, AND ALGERIA'S SORRY STATE PERSUADED HIM TO BEGIN TACKING 
WITH THE WESTERN WIND . " HE IS DETERMINED TO FEED, 
CLOTHE AND EMPLOY HIS PEOPLE, " SAID ONE WESTERN DIPLOMAT, " 
AND HE'S GOING TO KICK OVER ANY " ISMS' THAT GET 
IN HIS WAY . " OVER THE PROTESTS OF MILITANT MARXISTS, 
HE BEGAN PROMOTING " HEALTHY COOPERATION " WITH FRANCE, SOUGHT INCREASED 
AID . " THEY ARE DUTY BOUND TO HELP US RECONSTRUCT, 
" HE SAID IN AN INTERVIEW WITH TIME CORRESPONDENT JAMES WILDE 
. " THIS WOULD HELP DISSIPATE ALL THAT WENT BEFORE . 
" FRANCE IS COMMITTED TO GIVE ALGERIA A MINIMUM OF $200 
MILLION A YEAR FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS AND IS SPONSORING 
ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE COMMON MARKET . NEARLY 90 PER CENT 
OF THE 1,200,000 EUROPEANS WHO ONCE TENDED ALGERIA'S VINEYARDS AND RAN 
ITS BUSINESSES HAVE FLED (ALONG WITH SOME 200,000 JOB-SEEKING MOSLEMS), BUT 
OFFICIALS NOW ARE ANXIOUS TO LURE BACK TEACHERS, TECHNICIANS AND ADMINISTRATORS 
TO HELP STRAIGHTEN OUT THE MESS . YEAR OF AUSTERITY . 
TO STRENGTHEN HIS SHAKY POSITION, BEN BELLA IS CLEARING THE FIELD 
OF OPPOSITION BY PERSUASION WHERE POSSIBLE, FORCE WHERE NECESSARY . HE 
HAS BANNED ALL PARTIES EXCEPT HIS NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT (F.L.N.) . 
FORTNIGHT AGO, HE OUSTED EXTREME LEFTIST LEADERS OF THE 300,000-MEMBER GENERAL 
UNION OF ALGERIAN WORKERS BECAUSE THEY WERE RESISTING HIS RAPPROCHEMENT WITH 
FRANCE, REPLACED THEM WITH TRUSTED PRO-GOVERNMENT MEN . THOUGH THE PROBLEMS 
OF REGIONALISM AND MARAUDING GUERRILLAS STILL PLAGUE HIM, HE HAS MANAGED 
TO WIN OVER MOST OF THE HOSTILE TRIBAL CHIEFTAINS IN THE 
HINTERLANDS TO HIS SIDE . BEN BELLA'S BIGGEST PROBLEM BY FAR 
IS THE ECONOMY . THIS YEAR, HE SAID, WILL BE ONE 
" OF AUSTERITY, OF CONVALESCENCE . " TO SHOW THAT HE 
MEANS BUSINESS, HE PUSHED THROUGH A SKIN-AND-BONES BUDGET OF $564 MILLION, 
GIVING SOME MINISTRIES ONE-TENTH OF WHAT THEY HAD DEMANDED . HE 
ALSO PUT A $400-A-MONTH CEILING ON ALL GOVERNMENT SALARIES HIS OWN 
INCLUDED AND SLAPPED A 100 PER PER CENT TAX ON INCOME 
ABOVE $800 A MONTH . TO THE ASCETIC BEN BELLA, WHO 
LIVES IN A DINGY, THREE-ROOM BACHELOR FLAT WITH A NEPHEW WHO 
DOES ALL THE COOKING AND CLEANING, THAT SEEMS PERFECTLY REASONABLE . 
FOR THOSE WHO THINK OTHERWISE, HE HAS A STERN ANSWER . 
" THIS, " SAYS BEN BELLA, " IS THE PRICE OF 
INDEPENDENCE . " 