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U.S. Technicians Aiding Indo-China
Tokyo—(U.R.)—The arrival of 105 American aircraft technicians in war-torn Indo-China was reported today by French defenders of the three associated states attacked by the Communists.
French sources said the technicians, who were wearing civilian clothes, went to Indo-China Sunday with Gen. Otto P. Weyland, commander of the Far East Air forces.
The new arrivals are quartered at Haiphong field, 55 miles east of here, a base for the huge American-built C-119 transports that have been airlifting supplies to encircled Dien Bien Phu and beieaguered Luang Prabang.
Communist guerrillas have been active in the area from time to time —last week they blew up a gasoline dump only 12 miles from the airfield and a strong French security guard has been provided for the Americans.
The newly arrived technicians, most of them transferred here from Japan or the Philippines, augment a group of 78 Americans who came last year. French sources said at least 100 more U.S. mechanics are to be sent here eventually.
They form the vanguard of a force of technicians which is to be sent into Indo-China in answer to French requests for help in servicing the increasing number of American-supplied planes.
On the warfronts today, Communist patrols were reported within six miles of Luang Prabang, probing the main defenses of Laos' ancient royal capital for the second time in 10 months, while other Reds rafted down the Mekong river toward the threatened city.
No major ground fighting was reported in the area today, but French pilots in U.S.-made fighter bombers went aloft to bomb and burn Red concentrations north of the city.
In Saigon, French defense minister Rene Pleven conferred with Gen. Weyland and French military leaders on means of meeting the Communist threat.
The main body of the 12,000-odd Reds advancing on Luang Prabang still was some 30 miles north of the city, but strong advance units were reported in the vicinity of the "Cave of 1,000 Buddhas," only 12 miles away, and patrols were probing the outer ring of the city's defenses.
Pilots returning from the day's air strikes said some Reds are floating down the Mekong river on ramshackle rafts. It was not clear how close this "naval" force had come to the city.
Reports of fighting at Xiang Khouang, some 25 miles southeast of Luang Prabang, revived belief in some quarters that the Communist may bypass the royal capital to strike at Vientiane, the real center of government, 112 miles to the south.
The report of the technicians' arrival was one of many developments
in Indo-China affairs. Other Far East news:
Gen. John E. Hull, supreme commander of UN forces in the Far East, left by plane for Washington today with U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo John Allison for top-level conferences on the Far Eastern situation, including the crisis in Indo-China.
Weyland's Tokyo headquarters said the Air Force commander would remain in Indo-China a few days. It was believed he would confer at length with French Defense Minister Rene Pleven, who arrived in Salignon Tuesday with "full power" to deal with any Indo-China issue.
Reports from Hanoi said Communist-led Viet Minh rebels had advanced to within six miles of Luang Prabang, ancient royal capital of Laos, one of Indo-China's three associated states.
A dispatch from Hong Kong said that American pilots of Gen. Claire Chennaul's civil air transport may fly transport planes for the French union forces in Indo-China again.
Reliable sources said Chennault's airline born of his famed "Flying Tigers," had been asked to supply pilots and crews to fly C-119 Flying Boxcars. The airline took on a similar job last spring when the Communists launched an attack on Laos.
In Washington, Sen. Richard B. Russell, (D-Ga.), criticized the administration's decision to send the American mechanics into Indo-China as a "mistake" that might lead to piece-meal involvement in the war.
But U.S. Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson made it clear that American troops would not be dispatched to Indo-China.
The Chinatone News agencya Nationalist Chinese organ, reported from Taipei, Formosa, that Soviet Russia is sending more staff officers to Indo-China to help Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh aggressors.
In Berlin, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav M. Molotov agreed to meet at a restricted session tomorrow with U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, and French Minister Georges Bidault to discuss Far East problems.
At Monday's closed session, Molotov was asked to use his influence to end the tension in Korea and do something about the Indo-Chinese situation. It was certain that Bidault will press the Indo-China issue again.
Rebates Being Paid
Refunds of 10 per cent now are being paid at the Student Union bookstore. Rebates for all periods except the present semester will be refunded.
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Kansas Notes—
Topeka — (U.P.)— Joe E. Rogers,
44. Waverly, paid a $150 filing fee
and became the first official candidate
for governor of Kansas on
the Republican ticket yesterday.
Mr. Rogers, an automobile dealer and farmer and mayor of Waverly, said there was no politics to getting the job.
"It's passed around among businessmen," he said, "and my turn just came up."
Rogers said he doubted reports of wholesale dishonesty in the statehouse. But "a business man knows how to find out. It's what he's had experience in doing," Rogers said.
Waverly Man Files For Governor Race
The filing fee was the largest ever paid by a candidate for state office in Kansas. It represents 1 per cent of the salary of the office, which was raised to $15,000 effective next Jan. 1.
Topeka — (U.P.)— Kansas Democratisc women will form a permanent statewide organization at the annual Washington Day activities here Feb. 20.
Wednesday. Feb. 10, 1954 University Daily Kansam
Mrs. Ruby Harris of Marion, vice chairman of the State Democratic committee, said an organizational meeting would be held at a Topeka hotel.
Topeka —(U.P.)— John Stauffer, son of Oscar S. Stauffer, publisher of the Topeka State Journal and other papers, was named editor of the Newton Kansan yesterday.
Young Stauffer has been on the editorial staff of the Journal the past five years. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas school of journalism.
Larned — (U.P.) Drilling on Cities Service oil's No. 1 rig continued today after a 1-hour test recovered 2,140 feet of oil in the conglomerate at 4,170-87 feet.
The operator was drilling ahead to objective pay in the Arbuckle sand at an estimated depth of 4,400 feet.
The test is in the northwest corner of the county, four miles west and one mile south of the Oro pool production, which produces from the conglomerate. Cities Service has a block of 3,500 acres in the area.
City and town dwellers in the United States are served by more than 76,000 taxi cabs, traveling a total of 5 billion miles a year.
On Capitol Hill—
Democrats Embittered Over GOP Red Smears'
Washington—(U.P.)—Democrats have been kicking up a storm over the way Republicans have been linking them with communism. They also have objected bitterly to a charge Presidential Assistant Sherman Adams made Saturday—that Democrats are "political sadists" trying to promote a "fear deal."
Far East Chiefs Go to Capital
Tokyo —(U.R.)— America's highest ranking military and diplomatic officers in the Far East left today for Washington conferences on pressing Asiatic problems.
2. President Syngman Rhee's latest terms, presented to Hull at Chinhae Friday, for continued observance by South Korea of the armistice agreement.
The Washington talks were expected to cover these matters:
U. N. Commander Gen. John E. Hull and Ambassador to Japan John Allison took off in Hull's Constellation for their 2-week conferences in the nation's capital.
1. South Korea's plans for a greatly expanded ROK Army, Navy, and Air Force—all dependent on release of American guns, planes, and other equipment when American forces withdraw.
3. Japan's plans for gradual rearmament and priorities on arms shipments to Japan under the mutual security aid agreement slated to be signed when Allison returns. A proposal to announce long-range plans for withdrawing U.S. troops from Japan also may be discussed.
5. Future policy on U.S. military assistance to Nationalist China, Hull recently inspected Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek's forces and has told visitors he considered the Nationalist Army larger than needed for Formosa's defense but too small for an invasion of the mainland.
4. Chances of Red Chinese resumption of the Korean war, direct intervention in Indo-China or attack on Formosa. It is known that Hull believes the Peiping regime does not want to be involved in new military adventures for several years because its internal plans were set back for years by the Korean war.
President Eisenhower's administration has given no encouragement to Chiang's ambitions to return to the mainland with U.S. Naval, air, and logistical support.
They hinted broadly that if the President doesn't do something quickly to curb the assaults, his program might run into difficulties in Congress where Democrats hold a near majority.
James C. Hagerty, the President's press secretary, insisted yesterday that the Republicans really aren't "attacking" the Democrats.
"We're just giving the people the facts," he said.
But Senate Democratic Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, (D-Tex.), a leader in his party's moves to cooperate with the administration, saw the situation very differently.
"I agree that there have been a lot of irresponsible statements made . . . by administration and Republican officials," he said, "which are not conducive to the kind of bipartisanship that I should think the 'great crusade' would desire."
The Republicans have been particularly on the offensive this week during their celebration of the party's 100th birthday. In Los Angeles last night, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.) charged that it was under Democratic administrations that communism infiltrated the government.
One of the things irritating the Democrats is the administration statement that it has fired 2,200 "security risks," with an implication that the government was ridden with Communists under the Truman administration.
Sen. Wayne Morse (I-Ore.) fired a broadside at the 2,200 figure yesterday, charging that the President was using "Fascist" and "Big Lie" techniques by giving the impression that most of the 2,200 were Reds.
"I think the American people ought to wake up before it is too late to the fact that communism and fascism have one common technique and that's the big lie 'technique,' he said. "If you take a good many of Eisenhower's statements, you know he is party to the big lie 'technique.'"
Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. said Sunday that it should be made "very clear" that not all of the 2,200 were Communists or spies. But the same day, McCarthy said the "vast majority" were Reds.
Modern Jericho in Jordan is the world's lowest-lying town, 840 feet below sea level.
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