At last the World Bank has gotten around to enacting Senator Mike Monroney's excellent proposal for an International Development Association. The new agency will supplement World Bank activities with easier, "softer" loans to underdeveloped nations. Recipients will be able to pay their debts to the IDA in their own local currencies, and they will later receive a second economic boost when this money is used by the agency to buy local products.

American authorities took a deplorably long time in awakening to the possibilities of this scheme, and even with Thursday's World Bank action Monroney's idea is far from realization. Details of the IDA's charter must still be negotiated, and since the United States must put up one-third of the initial funds, the whole plan can fall through if Congress withholds approval or appropriation of funds.

Monroney and others are prepared to fight hard for the measure, but the "What do we have to do with abroad?" mentality of certain Congressmen may make their job a tough one. It would be unfortunate if such latter day isolationism should prevent U.S. participation in the IDA, one of the soundest development ideas ever prepared.