  It is shown that, in a theory where the dilaton is coupled to a Yang-Mills
gauge field which enters a confining phase at scale \Lambda, the dilaton may
grow a mass $m_{dilaton}\sim \Lambda^2/m_{Pl}\sim (m_{SUSY}^2 m_{Pl})^{1/3}\sim
10^8\ \mbox{GeV}. $ This allows ample time for decay before the electroweak era
if $m_{SUSY}\simeq 1\ \mbox{TeV},$ and circumvents cosmological problems
normally associated with its existence.
