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Weather Forecast Mostly sunny but increasing cloudiness in afternoon with highest about 58 today. To morrow, cloudy, rain likely and colder by night. (Pull report on page A-2.) Noon_ 59 6 p.m. ... 55 11 p.m. .. 45 2 p.m. ... 60 8 p.m. ... 52 Midnight 43 4 p.m. ... 60 10 p.m. .. 49 1 am. .. 43 Home Delivery The Evening and Sunday Star is delivered by carrier to all subscribers at $1.20 per month when 4 Sundays; $1.30 per month when 5 Sundays. Night Final edition, $1.30 and $1.40 per month. Telephone ST. 5000. An Associoted Press Newspopcr 96th Year. No. 340. WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 5, 1948—204 PAGES. ★ Washintton mi7XT f1TP\TrrRl *>»ewhar« and Buburbi 1 ± £>. 15 CENTS New House Spy Inquiry Opens Tuesday in Hunt for Red Agent Who Gave Secrets to Chambers - A .. - 1 .. Identity May Be Bared By Handwriting on Stolen Documents By Robert K. Walsh The House Committee on Un American Activities yesterday ordered new hearings beginning Tuesday on handwritten notes, microfilm evidence and verbal charges it believes will show who • gave secret Government infor mation to Whittaker Chambers.; avowed former Soviet contact agent here before the war. Mr. Chambers, who declared at committee hearings last August that he renounced communism 10 years ago after operating as an under-' ground worker in Washington, will be one of the first witnesses. Along with his further expected testimony about alleged dealings with Communist spy rings or “in filtration” groups in the Govern ment, the committee plans to dis close microfilm copies of State and Navy Department documents'it says were given to Mr. Chambers in 1938 by a “member of the Communist underground” here. Committee spokesmen said they are “convinced” this and other evi dence will disclose the identity of, the person who turned over the ma terial to Mr. Chambers. They; promised proof also that the Gov-! emment secrets were thus handed along for eventual tranmission to “Russian Communist agents.” Films Hidden in Pumpkin. The microfilms came to light earlier yesterday after committee investigators, armed with a sub poena, visited the Westminster, Md.,! farm of Mr. Chambers last Thurs day. Mr. Chambers, committee spokesman related, gave them the films, in small cans. The films were in a pumpkin where he had hidden them two or three days previously lor safekeeping in his yard. Additional documentary evidence •Iso has been obtained by the com-! mittee. Chief Investigator Robert E. \ Stripling revealed. He indicated some of it came from sources other than Mr. Chambers. Included in! it, according to Mr. Stripling, is; handwriting material bearing di rectly on earlier testimony in the committee's investigation of spy rings in the Government. Mr. Stripling refused to say whose handwriting he believed it yas. He announced later that “handwriting experts" will be among the six or eight witnesses at the hearings this week. His* May Testify. The committee, moreover, has ob tained copies of some of the more than 50 documents and statements given by. Mr. Chambers in a pre trial deposition session in Baltimore two-weeks ago, Mr. Stripling saifl. .—►This was received from Richard Cleveland, attorney for Mr. Cham bers, in a $75,000 damage suit brought against Mr. Chambers by Alger Hiss, former State Department official. Mr. Hiss, president of the Car negie Endowment for International Peace, may testify at the commit tee hearings. Mr. Stripling refused to comment on this, but remarked that Mr. Hiss has "not yet” been subpoenaed. Meanwhile, largely, as a result of documents produced by Mr. Cham bers at the deposition session two weeks ago, there were reports that a special New York Federal grand jury might reconvene to consider new evidence in its investigation of Communist activities. Assistant United States Attorney Irving Saypol said in New York last night he did not know “the slightest f thing” about the possibility of fur- \ ther jury sessions. Investigator in New York. Mr. Saypol. the Associated Press reported, noted, however, that j Thomas J. Donegan, a special as sistant to the House committee, was In New York yesterday. The term of the grand jury ex pires December 15, when the jurors1 will have been in session 18 months. Earlier this year the jury returned indictments against a dozen top Communist leaders in the United States. Mr. Hiss and Mr. Chambers who Is senior editor of Time Magazine, (See CHAMBERS’ Page A-6.> J Plane Crashes After 2-Hour Hop Without a Pilot •y th« Associated Pres* PITMAN, N. J., Dec. 4.—A pilot less plane flew for two hours across New Jersey tonight traveling 45 miles before it crashed into a cornfield near this South Jersey town. Mrs. Florence C. Hesarik, a house wife of nearby Sewell, telephoned State police at 6:45 p.m. that she had heard a plane crash. Police hurried to the scene. They found two puzzled-looking men -searching the wreckage of the de molished 65-horsepower two-seater. "There's nobody here,” one said. "And there isn’t any blood.” "That’s right,” replied a police of ficer. “We had a report about this plane.” The report had come at 4:45 when the small red and yellow plane took off from Pennington airport, near Princeton and headed south toward Philadelphia, about 10 miles from Pitman. It had a two-and-one-half hour supply of gas and flew without lights. All airports were alerted and safety measures were taken at fields in the area. Charles Peyton, deputy inspector for the State Department of Avi ation, said the plane roared away from a ground crew man who spun the propeller on the small plane without knowing that the engine’s accelerator had been left wide open. Wrecking U. S. School System Is Red Aim, New Report Says Communists See Teachers as Easy Converts, Third Thomas Committee Booklet Charges Communists want to wreck the school system of the United States as a step towards overthrow of the Government here, the House Com mittee on Un-American Activities charged last night. The committee attacked the Red “conspiracy" in a 19-page booklet, third of a series on Communist in fluence on religion, education, labor and government. High lights of the report describ ing inroads of Communists into the school system are statements that: 1. Teacher groups are “the easiest touch of all professional classes.” j 2. Girls and women s schools and colleges "contain some of the most j loyal disciples of Russia” because teachers there “are often frustrated females.” 3. Learned men are being at tracted to communism because of ! frustration, greed, love of power or misplaced idealism. 4. If Communists took over schools, “real education would stop. Only training would be allowed.” 5. “We teach children how to think. They teach children what to think.” 6. In too many textbooks success of' the United States is played down. Soviet Russia played up. 7. Several Communist schools, many of which have gone out of business, are listed. 8. A group of 800 American Com munists, trained in the Lenin School at Moscow, serve as high officers of a secret army now being drilled here to overthrow the Government. 9. Communism gained recruits through the campaign of Henry Wallace for President. Text of Report. A partial text of the report fol lows : This is to tell you what the master minds of communism have planned for your child in the name of "edu cation." * They mean to take him from the nursery, put him in uniform with the hammer and sickle flag in one hand and a gun in the other, and send him out to conquer the world. ] If they have their way, he will be 'guided from the kindergarten straight through to college so that he will have anything except a mind of his own. He will be trained but not edu cated^ He w’in be taught to solve Continued on Page~A-77Column7T. Berlin Voting Today Regarded as Test in East-West Struggle Communists Boycotting Election, Turnout Will Indicate Sentiment EUROPE MAKING Gains Under ERP, Committee Says. Page A-2 By the Associated Press BERLIN, Dec. 4.—Nearly 2.000,-' 000 Germans, blockaded 100 miles, behind the iron curtain, were urged tonight to vote for freedom and against commu nism’' in tomorrow’s city elec tion. What ordinarily would be a local contest between rival political parties has been magnified by the East West struggle into a giant st--v in the wind indicating which < queror the Germans prefer. Communists are boycotting the election and are not on the ballot. The result, therefore, will be judged or. the relative size of the vote and the stay-at-home element. If more than 80 per cent of the eligible voters come out. the Western power will hail it as a vindication of’ their fight to stay and prevent the Sovietization of Berlin. Weather Favorable. If voting is relatively light, the Communists will claim German en dorsement pf their efforts to drive out the Western powers. Clear weather favored a heavy vote, and also the airlift which flew in 4,754 tons of food and fuel today.; “Anyone who stays at home to morrow is giving a vote for com munism against freedom,” declared Ferdinand Friedensburg, deputy mayor of the legally elected govern ment which rules two-thirds of the divided city. The Americans and British punc tured a last-minute scare campaign of Communist rumors that the I Western powers are getting ready! to abandon the city in January or: February'. The campaign was cal culated to make timid Germans fear to show their colons tomorrow. Clay Assures People. “The United States will not be forced out of Berlin." said Gen. Lucius D. Clay, American military governor. "The British are not going out by their own will or by any other means,” said a British Foreign Of fice spokesman in London. Backed by these assurances that the Western Allies are not going to desert them, West Berlin’s anti communists wound up the stormy campaign- with fighting words. The three parties on the ballot, Social Democrats, Christian Demo crats (Conservatives) and Liberal Democrats (Rightists), buried their differences in a three-party rally against Communism at the Titania Palast theater tonight. Communist rowdies who tried to break up a series of rallies this week did not put in an appearance. “The Communists will never smash our will, even if they resort to the use of those cannons which (See BERLIN, Page A-81 Mme. Chiang's Plea Based on 3-Year, 3 Billion Aid Plan 4-Point Program Given To Truman by Koo; U. S. Pledge Sought IMPENDING CLASH South of Su chow May Be Showdown in China. Page A-30 By John M. Hightower Associated Prtss Staff Writff Mme. Chiang Kai-shek is here appealing for the United States to rescue China from Commu nism with a program which would cost an estimated $3,000, 000,000 over the next three years. This presentation of China's pro- j "ram comes from top Chinese offl- 1 cials who would not permit direct, quotation. American informants say it is the basis on which the Chinese have suggested negotiation of an aid program. The program covers four points. It has been presented by Chinese Ambassador Wellington Koo to President Truman as well as used by Mme. Chiang for her appeals here. Mme. Chiang has conferred twice now with Secretary of State Mar shall and will call on President and Mrs. Truman early this week. Per sons familiar with her approach to her mission of obtaining American aid report that she is stressing (1) the need for greater understanding here of China's plight, (21 the Chinese belief that it is not yet too late to save the situation, and <3> the contention that the Chinese government of her husband, Gen eralissimo a Chiang Kai-shek, is fighting not only for itself, but for the United States and all other antl-Communist nations. 4-Point Program Outlined. While Mme. Chiang is represented as not primarily concerned with details of how the United States can aid China, her purpose is to obtain, if possible, American action along the four lines of the Chinese pro posed program. This program calls for: 1. An immediate declaration of American support for Chiang Kai shek’s anti-Communist war. The Chinese contend this would rein spire their forces by providing as surance of American backing with the implicit promise of greater American, aid. 2. A tremendous speed-up in the delivery of military supplies before action by Congress on any new pro gram. State Department reports that the $125,000,000 of the pres ent military aid program is now al-; most used up except for about $10, 000,000. Top Chinese offiials here say that, while it is true this money* has been committed for buying sup plies, it is also true that only about $25,000,000 of supplies actually have been, drtivered to China under the current program. 3. Sending to China a military leader of great prominence to run (See MADAME CHIANG, Page A-8.) 100 Clerics Must Tell Court Why Weddings Weren't Listed More than 100 Washington clergy men will be called into Municipal ; Court starting this week, nine of them on Tuesday, to explain re ports they have failed to file notices of 140 marriages they performed between last March and September. Summonses for the first nine were issued by the corporation counsel's office, according to Prosecutor Clark King. They require the clergymen! to appear for a preliminary hearing to determine the facts in each case. Mr. King said the following would be called to court Tuesday: The Revs. Andrew R. Bird, Church of the Pilgrims, Twenty-second and P streets N.W.; E. L. Harrison, Shi loh Baptist .Church, 1223 Irving street N.E.; Charles W. Wood, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Church road N.W.; James H. Miers, Fourth Presbyterian Church, 2715 I Thirteenth atreet N.W.; William L. Turley, Mount Gilead Baptist Church, 1625 Thirteenth street! N.W.; John J. Queally, Church of the Transfiguration, 1419 Gallatin' street N.W.; Harry V. Porter, 817 C street S.W.; Smallwood E. Williams, 1328 Montello avenue N.E., and Ed ward H. Pruden, 3029 Ordway street iN.W., pastor of the First Baptist Church, Sixteenth and O streets N.W., which President Truman at tends. Last May more than 200 clergy men were named in similar com plaints by the cleric of District Court which keeps the marriage records here. The clerk complained that a sizeable portion of Washington clergy were not filing reports within 10 days, as the law provides, on marriages they performed. Many ministers of all denomina (See CLERGY, Page A-4J Rolling Quake Hits Wide Area Of California Shock Is Felt From Santa Barbara South To San Diego By the Associated Press LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4.—A roll ing quake, centering in isolated hills 100 miles east of here and covering a wide area of Southern California, damaged windows and sent hundreds of persons rushing into the streets today. There were no reports of death or serious injuries. In the San Bernardino Mountains north of Banning, the quake, timed at 4 43 p.m., caused landslides and broke chunks of pavement on a road leading to the Morongo Indian reservation. In the winter resort town of Palm Springs, about 20 miles to the south, __ i Irish Tie Trojans, 14-14, in Last 30 Seconds of Game Notre Dame's mighty Irish all but fell off the pedestal in Los Angeles yesterday. The South Benders ran into a red hot Trojan eleven from the University of Southern California and were fortunate to fscape with a 14-14 tie—a deadlock gained in the last 30 seconds of play. The stale mate ended Notre Dame's win ning streak at 21 consecutive games, but extended its string of games without defeat to 28 in a row. The earthquake hit the huge Memorial Coliseum as the crowd filed out. (Details of the game in sports -| section.) police said the rear end of a fur niture store collapsed, plate glass windows were broken, and slate slid off a roof. Prisoners Turned Into Yard. Other cities in the general area— Twenty-Nine Palms and Indio, among them, reported severe shocks and much consternation. In Indio, the police desk sergeant released his prisoners into the jailyard, a liquor store reported heavy damage as .stocks tumbled to the floor and mer chandise bounced off shelves In markets. A bank vault was sprung j in Twenty-Nine Palms. Pavements showed cracks. Seismologists reported the quake about equal in severity to one in April, 1947. which also centered* in a remote desert area northeast of here. Only the isolated nature of the country, said the experts, prevented serious damage and pos sible loss of life. The tremor was felt in a band extending from Santa Barbara and | Fresno on the north to S'an Diego and El Centro on the south, and east to the Colorado River. Windows Are Broken. There were reports of plaster cracks, broken dishes and stopped clocks in Los Angeles. In Arlington, windows were broken and a paint store messed up when stock fell to the floor. Windows were broken in the building of the Ontario Daily Report. A telephone operator fainted in Los Angeles and a shopper fainted in a Riverside department store. Brief power line failure occurred in Victorville. In quake-conscious Long, Beach, where Southern California’s last I quake of disaster status occurred (See QUAKE, Page A-4.) Explosives Truck Bias! Kills Two Men in Texas •y th« Associated Press THROCKMORTON, Tex., Dec. 4. —A truck hauling explosives was, blown to bits 4 miles south of here today, killing the driver andj another man. Still another truck driver was in jured in the blast: The truck ran into a ditch and disintegrated with a great, rumbling roar that was plainly heard 15 miles away. The shock rattled windows in this city, 65 miles northeast of Abilene. The driver of the explosive truck was blown to pieces. Marion Gibson, manager of the Du Pont plant at Stanton, Tex., said the driver was Roger Towery, an employe of the company. He said the truck was en route from Stanton to Bartles ville, Okla. Willis Buchanan, Throckmorton rancher, who was driving nearby in his pickup truck also was killed. A big trailer truck, also in the vicinity, w-as thrown off the highway. Its driver. Jack King of Wichita Palls, Tex., suffered a badly mangled arm. The W. H. Bird home, 200 yards away, was badly damaged. Electric service in Throckmorton was knocked out for a few minutes. U. S. C-54 Airlift Plane Crashes, Killing Three ly th« Associated Press BERLIN, Sunday, Dec. 5.—United States Air Force headquarters an nounced today an American C-54 airlift plane crashed at Fassberg in the British zone of Germany, kill ing all three crewmen. The four - engine Skymaster crashed two miles from the airfield at Fassberg shortly after taking off. The cause of the crash was not immediately established. An inves tigation has been ordered, Air Force headquarters said. ‘ The names of the victims were withheld pending notification of next of kin. The accident brought to 16 the number of Americans killed in the giant British-American airlift op eration which is supplying the west ern sector of Russian-blockaded Berlin. The toll of British lives stands at six That Fish Turns Up in the Strangest Places. Federation Picks R. W. Donnelly To Get Evening Star Trophy Credentials Chairman! Selected for Work to Exclude Subversives Ralph W. Donnelly, 35-year old insurance man and a com parative newcomer among the city’s civic leaders, last night was chosen by the Federation of Citizens’ Associations to receive this year’s award of The Evening Star Trophy for outstanding public service. Mr. Donnelly won the award by a 39-37 vote over a three-member Federation committee which com peted with him for the annual prize. The vote then was recorded officially as unanimous. The young civic leader was cited for his work as chairman of the Federation’* Membership and Cre dential’* Committee in drafting a constitutional amendment designed to exclude from Federation member ship any delegates belnoging to subversive organizations. His selection for the honor was a special victory for Mr. Donnelly, because twice in little more than a RALPH W. DONNELLY. ~Star Staff Photo. year he had been defeated in con tests for the presidency of the Fed eration. His rival. John H. Con naughton, who won by a small margin in both elections was a • See FEDERATION, Page A-5.) __!__ Truman Blasts Report 'Mighty Mo' Will Join Inactive Fleet Ship to Stay in Service, He Stresses at Silver Service Presentation By Joseph A. Fox Star Staff Correspondent NORFOLK, Va.. December 4.— The 45,000-ton Missouri, last of the big battleships to stay on active duty, will' continue to occupy that role—perhaps as long as the White House tenancy remains unchanged. Any idea that tlft “Mighty Mo,” scene Of the Japanese surrender, would join her sisters, the Iowa and New Jersey and lesser craft, in the “mothball fleet-’ was dissipated ef fectually today by President Truman —a Missourian—who stood on the historic “surrender deck” of the Missouri and told reporters: “Some smart aleck who poses as a spokesman for the Navy has stated that the Missouri is to be put out of commission. The Mis souri is not to be put out of com mission. I want to make that as emphatic as possible. I am speak ing as President of the United States.” Asked if he could be quoted di rectly—a departure from custom— Mr. Truman responded: “Yes, you can make it as strong as you want to.” The President did not identify his target, but his statement obviously was prompted by a story in a Wash ington morning paper yesterday that the Missouri was due for retirement. The President’s denunciation of the Missouri story added an unex pected touch of color to the event, which brought Mr. Truman to Nor folk—the presentation of a $10,000, 281-piece silver service to the battle ship by the State of Missouri. Everything had gone strictly ac cording to protocol. Gov. Phil M. Donnelly, of Missouri, made the presentation: Gapt. James H. Thach, jr., accepted the gift for the Mis souri, and the President honored the amenities with a little spe?ch in; which he paid tribute to Gov. Don- | nelly’s efforts to have the State make the gift, and expressed regrets that he himself had never been Governor of Missouri. Then Mr. Truman walked over where reporters were standing, and said he wanted to make a state ment that he had overlooked in his speech to the Missouri’s company. He did. Secretary of the Navy Sullivan, who was at his elbow, hastened to assure the President that he and Admiral Louis E. Denfeld, chief of naval operations, already had issued a statement denying the decommis sioning report, but he added he had not seen it in print yet. After the presentation ceremony, which Mr. Truman climaxed by in (See TRUMAN, Page A-3J Radio Programs, Page C-8 Complete Index, Page A-2 Five Men Surrender In Ambush Slaying Of Georgia Negro State Investigator Says All Are Detained Under 'Suspicion of Murder' By the Associated Press LYONS, Ga., Dec. 4.—Five men surrendered to county officers to day and were held under sus picion of murder in the Novem ber 20 ambush slaying of Robert Mallard, colored. All denied any connection with the killing, which Mr. Mallards’ widow, Amy James Mallard, blamed on a band of robed but unmasked white men. They were detained without war rants. T. Ross Sharp, attorney for two of the men. said all five ap peared voluntarily at the Lyons County courthouse today. They ap peared at the office of Toombs Coun ty Sheriff R. E. Gray, he said, after “rumors had been circulated that Mallard's widow had named some of them as the killers.’* Sheriff Refuses Confirmation. Capt. Delmar Jones of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, reported they were being held “under sus picion of murder.” Sheriff Gray refused to confirm the GBI report, declaring, “We are still investi gating. Asked if Mr. Mallard’s widow would be brought to Lyons to swear out warrants, Sheriff Gray said “Yes, probably Monday.” The rumors were circulated after an Ohio business man produced a statement from Mr. Mallard’s widow naming two men as the killers. This statement was forwarded to Su perior Court ‘Judge Robert H. Humphrey by Gov. Herman Tal rr.adge. The judge then called a special session o£ the Toombs, (See AMBUSH,"Page A-4.) I McCormack Appeals For Delay in Deporting 84 Estonian Refugees Plans Bill to Permit Group That Fled Soviet Rule to Stay in U. S. Representative McCormack, Democrat, of Massachusetts, yes terday appealed to immigration authorities to .hold up deporta tion proceedings against 84 Es tonian refugees from Soviet rule who crossed the Atlantic in two small boats seeking haven in the United States. Mr. McCormack said he planned to introduce in the new Congress a bill permitting the Estonians to remain in this country. He acted after learning that the i State Department officially hgs asked Sweden to take them back and to take measures to halt similar voyages by other refugees from Baltic countries taken over by Rus sia who hope to enter the United States without waiting to be ac cepted in immigration quotas. The Estonians, now detained at Ellis Island, New York, sailed from Sweden after fleeing to that country. More than 30,000 Estonians alone are reported to have taken refuge in Sweden since Russia absorbed the Baltic countries of Estonia, Lat via and Lithuania. “Can’t Go Back,” Leader Says. j In all, 236 men. women and chil dren refugees—Estonians, Latvians, Finns and Russians—have made the [hazardous Atlantic crossing in 11 separate voyages in small boats ‘since the end of the war. Their longing for homes in the United! States was summed up by 63-year old Capt. John Rosenberg, who headed one expedition, when he said: "We want to live in freedom. If we can’t land in the United States, we will have to try Canada. We can’t go back.” Representative McCormack said 1 the refugees who braved the rigors of an Atlantic crossing in small boats to find homes in the United States pose “a broader question" than one of immigration quotas. Sends Message to Miller. He told The Star from his office in Boston that he feels such refugees "should be permitted to stay.” Once before, he had in terested himself in a similar prob lem, and as a result of that interest by himself and Representative Kennedy, Democrat, of Massachu setts, a bill was introduced in Con gress to permit a group of Latvian vovageurs to remain in the United i States. In connection with the present Estonian case, Mr. McCormack sent the following telegram to Com missioner of Immigration Watson Miller: “I am very much interested in the plight of the 80-odd brave per sons from Estonia who fled from Soviet rule to Sweden and from there to the United States, arriv ing at Wilmington, N. C., several months ago. "It is my intention to introduce a bill in the next Congress in their behalf. I understand the State Department has asked Sweden if that country will take them back. I am frank in stating that I do not think they should be compelled to (See REFUGEES, Page A-4.) Autopsy Shows Merchant Died Of Skull Fracture, Not Illness Homicide squad detectives today were investigating the strange case! of a merchant believed to have died of natural causes until an autopsy! disclosed yesterday afternoon that he had suffered a severe fracture, in the upper part of the skull. The coroner’s jury will be sworn in tomorrow in the case of Charles Scheer. 48, of 1413 Saratoga ave nue N.E., owner of a men's clothing store at 1100 North. Capitol street, where he was found in a semicon scious condition last Monday night. Mr. Scheer died in George Wash ington University Hospital early yesterday. Coroner A. Magruder MacDonald said the autopsy dis closed a skull fracture which scarce ly could have resulted from a fall to the floor. Death was due to a broken skull and lacerations of the brain, the coroner reported. Dectives said Mr. Scheer, who had been under treatment for a stomach ailment for the last 15' years, became ill in his store. They said a friend of Mr. Scheer’s, John Griffin. 51, of the first block of New York avenue N.W., was with him at the time. Mr. Griffin telephoned to Mr. Scheer's wife, Edith, who sum moned her husband's nephew, Dr. Manuel Laudman, of 437 Seventh street N.W. and hurried to the store. Meanwhile, an ambulance had been summoned. Police said Dr. Laudman decided to drive Mr. Scheer to the hospital in his automobile. They added there was no evidence of robbery, and Mr. Scheer complained only of being ill and did not mention a head injury. Queried by telephone, Mrs. Scheer would not state an opinion, but a man who identified himself as Mr. Scheer's brother said he believed the dead man had been murdered. He would not elaborate. Water Rate Rise Or Loan Needed, Gen. Young Says New Revenue Vital To Expansion Plans, Engineer Asserts The possibility of another In crease in the District’s water rates was raised yesterday by Engineer Commissioner Gordon R. Young. Gen. Young said he would present to the Board of Commissioners with in 10 days a report on the study made by David V. Auld, superintend ent of the water division, of the first "leg” of a 20-year, $70,000,000 expansion of the city’s water system. This first phase of the long-range program calls for between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000 to be spent in the next five years, Gen. Young said. The city’s water system now is overloaded severely, he declared, adding that in a short time it will reach the danger point. Expansion Funds Necessary. Although self-supporting at pres ent, the water system can “just get through the fiscal year 1950,” Gen. Young said. Then money must be found not only to carry on the op eration, but for expansion that has become a necessity. Obviously, the necessary funds must be raised by another increase in water rates (rates went up 25 per cent last year) by borrowing or by a combination of both, Gen. Young said. The engineer commissioner said he had not decided yet just which way of financing the water expan sion program he would recommend to the commissioners. He also said he would not release the details of the study made by Mr. Auld until after the commissioners had worked on it. “We cannot do it with the pres ent rates,” he declared. He pointed out that the present rates gave only a small margin over operating expenses which could be used for construction. By fiscal 1951 there will not be enough margin left to carry out the work, he added. Favors Federal Payment. “We must add to the water reve nue,” he said. He said he was in favor of the Federal Government paying for the water it actually used. Until last year the Federal Government, which uses one-sixth of all water in the District, paid nothing to the Dis trict. Last year Congress authorized payment of $1,000,000 to the District water fund. Gen. Young said this was about the amount of water used by the Federal Government since the Dis trict used roughly $6,000,000 worth of water now. He said he felt it was omy jusi, and also practicable, for the Federal Government to pay for what water it uses just as it pays for telephone and dight service. With a lump sum appropriation, there is no flexibility for the occasion when the Federal consumption of water goes up. The expansion plan recommended by Mr. Auld is based on an estimate that the Capital’s population will reach 1,090,000 by 1970. At present it is under 900.000. Two years ago, the Army Chief of Engineers and the District Engineering Depart ment estimated that Washington s water consumption would rise to 64, 000,000 gallons daily by 1955. Peak Reached Ahead of Time. This level was reached early tnis vear, six and one-half years before it should have been, Mr. Auld said. The increasing population, but more important, the use of “gad gets,” has driven the water con sumption up in the city, Gen. Young said. More and more air conditioning units, washing machines and trash disposal units are being installed each day, he pointed out. These increase water consumption tre mendously. In turn, it place a strain on the sewage system and the disposal plants which have to handle all these added gallons, he added. Gen. Young only would say that the recommended $15,000,000 to $20, 300,000 worth of improvements meant expansion of the filtration, storage and distribution systems. The Potomac River will be able to furnish enough water to the District indefinitely, Gen. Young said. It is only a question of getting it to the users. Deputies Vote Contidence In De Gasperi Cabinet By Associated Press ROME, Dec. 4—Italy's Chamber of Deputies voted confidence in Premier Alcide de Gasperi's govern ment tonight by a 162-vote majority. Of the 448 deputies present, only 140 voted in favor of a Socialist and Communist sponsored no-confidence motion on foreign policy. Three hundred and two voted against it and six abstained. The vote followed a week-long debate on foreign policy. Mr. De Gasperi wound up the debate with an hour-long speech in which he dealt with Italy’s No. 1 question—the return of her prewar colonies. Turning to the Communist benches, the premier said: "Italy, while keeping clear from hostility toward the East, will seek friendship from North and South America, first of all from the United States, to which we owe so much of our economic recovery, and with tha Latin American countries * * 2,045 War Dead Due In New York Tomorrow By the Associated Press NEW YORK. Dec. 4.—The Army transport Lt. James E. Robinson will arrive here Monday with the bodies of 2,045 American war dead. Shipside memorial services will be held at the Brooklyn Army Base where the vessel will dock. The re turning dead include service per sonnel originally buried in military cemeteries in England, Waies and France.