Evening star. [volume], June 28, 1953, Page A-25, Image 25

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Review of The Week: Korean War Enters 4th Year
r-pHE SHOOTING phase of the
X Korean war went Into its
fourth year at. dawn on Thursday
—and in the minds of mqst people
there was no reason why it should
have.
The first year was one of move
ment; great marches arid counter
marches, drives and retreats from
the gates of Pusan to the banks
of the Yalu.
The second year was one of
stalemate as truce talks got under
way; interminable conversations
over peace tables first at Kaesong
and then at Panmunjom, inter
minable artillery duels along a
battle line not far from Parallel
38—and little definite progress in
elthef word-war or gun-war.
The third year saw a continu
ation of the stalemate i h hostili
ties, but saw also slow progress
toward a cease-fire; a maddening
game of give-and-take at the con
ference table, making both sides
confident for a time that the war’s
third anniversary would mark the
end of the fighting.
And then came the fourth year
—and Syngman Rhee. Almost on
the eve of a truce he menaced
armistice hopes by staging a mass
"jail delivery” and announcing he
would not accept a truce. That
was 10 days ago. This week end
the outcome still was in doubt as
the West went about picking up
the pieces and the Communists
maintained a surprising attitude
of forbearance.
A German general once said
that a course of action decided on
by his government was “worse
than a crime; it is a folly.” The
prevailing body of opinion in the
Western world was coming to feel
that way about Syngman Rhee’s
attitude toward a truce.
*
The Big Issue
By his own lights, and those of
his people, Syngman Rhee was
absolutely right. The only man in
Korea with nerve enough to dis
pute him—a leader of the opposi
tion Democratic National Party
named Pyung Ok Chough—said
he believed Dr. Rhee would finally,
"see the light” and go along with
the tT. N. on a truce. On the way
home from the office, he was set'
upon by plug uglies and roundly
beaten. The next day the National
Assembly branded Chough a
"traitor” and demanded his exile.
He has now been placed in "pro
tective custody.”
Letter to Clark
On Wednesday, the Korean
government released the text of a
letter Dr. Rhee had sent to the
U. N. commander, Gen. Mark
Clark, outlining his views on a
truce. Though it rambled, though
its facts were sometimes less than
factual, though its logic was not
without holes, it was a forthright
enough letter. It ended:
"We have no choice but to say
no. We say no now with deep hu
mility, not out of defiance.”
One of the basic points in Dr.
Rhee’s argument is that the
United Nations, by making a truce
now, would be abandoning its
stated aim of unifying Korea.
There is wide disagreement in the
West with Dr. Rhee’s interpreta
tion of U. N. aims. As usual, both
sides have grounds for their state
ments.!
Here are the four pertinent
actions taken by the U. N. in the
Korean affair, on which both
arguments are based:
• June 25, 1950. The Security
Council called for the end of hos
tilities and the withdrawal of
North Korean forces beyond the
38th Parallel.
• July 7, 1950. The Security
* Council set up the United Na
tions Command under United
States leadership for the stated
purpose of repelling the armed
attack and restoring international
peace in the area.
• October 7, 1950. The General
Assembly voted, 47-5, to unify and
rebuild Korea; to set up a 7-na
tion commission on the unifica
tion and rehabilitation of the
country, and to hold elections
under U. N. auspices throughout
the country.
• October 12, 1950. The U. N. In
terim Committee on Korea ap
proved an Australian resolution
that the Syngman Rhee govern
ment has authority only south of
the 38th Parallel, and that the
Republic of Korea government
is the legal regime only in areas
that were under its effective con
trol when the war began.
Proof for All
, To support his side of the argu
ment, Dr. Rhee points to the Octo
ber 7 resolution calling for unifi
cation. To support the other side
of the question, U. N. spokesmen
advert to the June and July
resolutions calling for the repul
sion of aggression.
All right, says Dr. Rhee, you
‘ came here to Unify Korea; don’t
desert your posts with the job still
undone. v
All right, says the U. N., we came
to Korea to repel aggression; we
have done so; now we can have a
truce and talk over unification.
, What Is happening behind the
Editorials and Features
scenes from the White House to
Seoul can only be guessed at. But
something significant must be
happening. Certainly nothing of
last week’s play-acting on stage
showed a mettle to cope with Dr,
Rhee|s theatrical intransigence.
The consistent official optimism
seemed to have little more backing
than Mr. Micawber’s attitude that
"something will turn up.” A lot
of it appeared to be based on the
knowledge that, without the U. N.,
Dr. Rhee’s goose is cooked—and
Dr. Rhee knows it.
U. S. Moves
The highlight of last week’s de
velopments on the political front
was the visit of Assistant Secre
tary of State Walter T. Robertson
to Seoul. There, in talks with Dr.
Rhee, Mr. Robertson tried to bring
the South Korean President
around to the point of accepting
a truce. If he did not succeed,
no one could be sure that Mr
Robertson had failed. Dr. Rhee,
for his part, said he was "very
happy.” On the strength of this,
a new wave of optimism rolled in.
Last Friday, Secretary of State
Dulles revealed a plan ascribed to
President Elsenhower. After a
truce, there would be a top-level
conference between United States
and Korean leaders. It probably
would not be a presidential meet
ing, but the United States emissary
would be of higher rank than Mr.
Robertson.
The key word in the President’s
offer was* “after.” To date, every
American gesture to Dr. Rhee .has
been conditioned on South Korean
acceptance of a truce. The United
States and its U. N. allies feel that
if a firm commitment can be ob
tained from Dr. Rhee, the truce
will not be long in coming.
U. N r Reaction
It was easy, in the furore in
s£oul and Washington, to forget
that New York is the de jure focal
point of the whole problem. The
Korean war is a United Nations
enterprise, and U. N. headquarters
is on Manhattan Island.
There, last week, a flurry of
activity made it look for a While
as if the General Assembly might
be called back into special session.
Nehru Acts
Jawaharlal Nehru’s India thought
the recent break significant. The
Indian U. N. delegate last week
asked Secretary General Dag Ham
marskjold to call the Assembly.
Mr. Hammarskjold went to Ottawa
to talk it over with Assembly
President Lester Pearson. The
verdict seemed to be against a
special session, however, because
many nations thought public dis
cussion would hinder the United
States’ behind-the-scenes maneu
vers.
Why Mr. Nehru chose this time
to call for a special session is a fit
matter for conjecture. Certainly
such a meeting would do.more
harm than good. But a few cir
cumstances fit together neatly into
a possible reason—that Mr. Nehru
is completely fed up with Dr. Rhee.
It was India’s proposal on
prisoners of war that broke a
truce deadlock and made a POW
agreement possible. India was
offered, and accepted, the job of
heading the Korean POW com
mission. Dr. Rhee denounced
India as “pro-Communist” and
said his forces would repel a land
ing by Indian troops. And in re
cent days, Dr. Rhee’s fulminations
against the Indians have become
increasingly explosive.
Widespread Indignation
Also fed up with the Korean
President are some of his staunch
est allies. Lester Pearson, as head
of the Assembly (but also as head
of Canada’s foreign affairs) de
plored Dr. Rhee’s attitude. The
Australians lambasted him for
sabotaging the peace. Britain’s
Sir Winston Chutrchill flatly la
beled as’"treacherous” his action
in releasing POWs. And Ameri
can authorities, from Gen. Eisen
hower on down, kept up a running
fire of criticism, cajolery and
pressure.
Three years ago, the world came
to the rescue of Syngman Rhee.
Now the world was looking around
for away to be rescued from him.
Cold War
ON THE OTHtR side of%the
world in partitioned Europe,
it was Russia that was having
trouble. The Kremlin was still
shaken by the 17th of June—a
date that was becoming a symbol
of the Instability of the satellite
empire.
Last week was a time for re
prisals and for concessions. 'There
were reprisals against persons
accused by the Communists of
inciting and leading the demon
strations in East Germany and
Czechoslovakia, and there were
concessions to the masses of sub
ject peoples who rose up against
the Reds. Russian tanks and guns
still kept the peace.
In East Berlin a new |ppera-
pr ' ' | /v /'a
mm Wp -s|§i
■mmm SBBjSfcyJ ..w*.
mb * upF v - Ufa
H BBF ■KjlpH
Jfw ' |||| Ip - ~
H* w 1 ; llßk if
llMfi » t ,|p
itk y m
m MgP * .. mßm
HP 4,., w K
m I
Hili Mm - JKv ’’ iff s .
Cm K* W m 1M w l
| ■ii M Wk
9 : 4j|% MBBm
u mm
' m W
9 R'- iH Ir ■
WLeC. W
■Em mF
, Jm Wwk
mk Mk
I Jk k ' m irii,
-If v
.‘flk
V SYNGMAN RHEE: Without him the Korean War might not now be in its fourth year.
tive commission” was set up to
carry out the reforms promised
the Germans. The group an
nounced it would:
• Increase substantially the
amount of consumer goods avail
able in retail stores.
• Increase housing, health and
welfare benefits lor all persons.
• Lower production quotas for
both farmers and city workers,
raise wages and abolish speedups.
The effect of the appeasement
program would be to reverse, with
a smile, much of the postwar com
munication program. The East
German Five-Year Plan was vir
tually scrapped.
At the same time, Communist
officials announced that 19 dem
onstrators, four “peoples’ police
men” and two bystanders were
killed in the riots. Scores of exe
cutions all over East Germany
were reported. There was a con
spicuous absence, however, of at
tempts at mass punishment of the
millions of Germans who rioted or
refused to work during the near
revolution. 1716 Gefman phase of
the Russian peace offensive was
still on.
West Germany
President Eisenhower and We3t
German Chancellor Adenauer
moved last week to profit from
Russia’s troubles. The President
sent a message to Chancellor
Adenauer expressing the hope
that free, all-German elections
could be held and chat Germany
could be reunited. He promised
American support lor Adenauer’s
campaign for unification.
Chancellor Adenauer solemnly
pledged that Germany would not
rest until freedom and unification
were attained. East Berlin moved
to keepvthe flame of revolt burn
ing by renaming a large, statue
lined street "The Street of the
Seventeenth of June.”
Czechoslovakia
In Czechoslovakia, however,
there were reprisals only—no con
cessions— for the demonstrations
against currency reform which
preceded the German uprising.
The Communist government in
Prague announced that workers
who demonstrated would be barred
from trade unions, and their holi
days, pensions, unemployment pay
and family bonuses cancelled or
reduced. Wages, it was announced,
would remain- at existing levels
unless production increased.
Hungary
Again the picture was different
in another satellite: Hungary. An
official Communist publication an
nounced that the state had been
too concerned with production and
not enough concerned with the
welfare of the workers.
The guess was Hungarian
M)C Sunday itaf
WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 28, 1953
Reds feared outbreaks similar to
those in other Iron Curtain coun
tries and were moving to forestall
troubles. The workers in Hungary
probably could look forward to
an easing of their burdens.
Russia
In Russia itself there were
changes. Travel restrictions for
foreigners were modified. It was
announced that many Russian
cities hitherto closed to visitors
would be taken off the restricted
list.
Foreigners would be able to
travel through most of European
Russia and even ride down the
Volga or take a train across Siberia
to Vladivostok. The boundaries of
the Soviet empire, however, were
still as firmly closed as ever.
In another significant shift last
week, the official Russian journal,
"Communist,” published a tirade
against “chauvinism and national
ism”—the exact two forms that
patriotism was required to take
under Stalin. Now, however, Rus
sians were to be declared sub
versive if they “fenced themselves
off from the culture of other
lands.”
Federal Reserve
THE FEDERAL RESERVE Board
made a drastic move last
week which the board hoped would
add up exactly to zero on the
business-cycle charts.
Aim of the board was to make
it possible for the Government
and private borrowers to find ex
cessively large amounts of money
in the next few months without
further tightening of the already
taut money market. Here are the
transactions:
Government receipts from tax
ation are always lower in the last
six months of a year; while ex
penditures are always higher.
During the last half of this year
expenditures are expected to ex
ceed receipts by about SB.B billion.
In order to meet that deficit the
Government will have to borrow.
Most of the money will be bor
rowed from banks, and when the
banks turn SB.B billion over to the
Treasury there will be just that
much leas money available for the
economy xs a whole—not a desir
able thing to happen in view of
the existing tight money supply.
The effect would definitely be de
flationary.
Board Stops In
To avoid a shortage of money,
the Federal Reserve stepped in
last week. It reduced the amount
of reserves member banks must
keep on deposit with the Federal
Reserve by about $1.16 billion.
Member banks will doubtless
leave this aqney in the Fodeeal
Reserve and use it to back up new
bank credit. Member banks are
allowed to loan about five times
as much money as they have in
reserve. The new loans thus, in
effect, "create” money and will
permit the country’s money supply
to increase by r about $6 ~billion.
•Hie new money would have an in
flationary pressure on the econ
omy.
The Treasury will tjien step in
and borrow the $6 billion and
apply it to the expected deficit.
That will keep the Government
going for about three months.
After that it will look around for
the remaining $2.2 billion—perhaps
getting it in the same way or per
haps finding a looser money
market by that time.
Private Demand
Also during the comiiig weeks a
seasonal high private demand for
money is expected. That extra
demand would take about $3 bil
lion out of the banks and would
be deflationary in effect. To
meet the demand without tighten
ing the money supply, the Federal
Reserve over the past six weeks
has bought $525 million worth
of Government securities from the
banks. This gives the banks cash
which can be deposited with the
Federal Reserve and then used to
back up about five times as much
in loans. The needed $3 billion
is “created” in this way and the
deflationary tendency is counter
acted by an inflationary pressure.
Net effect of these transactions
will be neither inflationary nor
deflationary—the Federal Reserve
hope's. The moves should cancel
each other, and the Nation neitft
fall should be just about where it
is today. If inflation or deflation
occurs, however, the Federal Re
serve can quickly revise the reserve
requirements or otherwise manipu
late the money market and
straighten out the curve.
In the meantime the national
debt will have gone up SB.B billion
by the end of the year. On Janu
ary 1, 1954, according to Treasury
estimates, the debt will be $274.6
billion—a mere S4OO million shy of
the legal limit. If he wants to play
it safe, Secretary of the Treasury
Humphrey will have to ask Con
gress to raise the debt limit before
the lawmakers adjourn at the end
of July. That will be a bitter pill
lor the new Republican admin
istration.
Congress
High on the list of most
powerful individuals in Wash
ington are the 34 men who head
the House and Senate standing
committees. And among the most
powerful no! these chairmen la
General News—Obituary
I Daniel A. Reed of New York, head
I of the House Ways and Means
I Committee.
Representative Reed and his col-
I leagues gained their positions of
I power solely by being re-elected
I regularly by the party in power.
| They need have no other qualiflca-
I tion than the consistent support
I of their constituents.
When Mr. Reed, an upstate Re-
I publican, took over as chairman of
I the Ways and Means Committee
I this year, he automatically was
I given almost unlimited power to
I block all legislation on tax matters
| —including such related things
| as customs regulation, reciprocal
I trade agreements and social secu-
I rity—all of which he does not like.
I This negative power carries with
it great positive power to send to
the House floor bills he does like.
Burst of Power
Last week, however, it was dem
| onstrated that Mr. Reed’s power
i had its limits. The combined
; strength of the White House and
I the Republican leadership in the
House was turned on full force,
1 and "Syngman” Reed—as wags
were calling him—was beaten.
Mr. Reed believes the Republi
\ cans are pledged to lowfer taxes,
| and he insists they be lowered—
j now. The President, on the other
\ hand, wants taxes to stay where
| they are until a balanced budget
| is in sight.
1 Early this year Chairman Reed
i shoved through his committee a
bill to cut Income taxes by about
10 per cent at the end of this
\ month—the same date when the
l excess-profits tax on corporations
is due to expire. But the Presi
dent asked approval of a bill to
extend the excess-profits tax until
l December 31, when both corporate
: and individual taxes could be cut
back.
Mr. Reed sent his tax-cut bill
on to the House Rules Committee
to be cleared for floor action. He
refused even to consider the Presi
dent’s tax-increase bill. Despite
pleas and threats from the House
leadership and two talks with the
President, Mr. Reed held fast.
I Down Goes the Boom
Then last week the boom was
lowered. In a move almost never
used on a major bill and never
before used on a tax measure, the
Rules Committee, under pressure
| of Republican leaders, voted to by
pass Ways and Means and send
the tax-increaee bill directly to
the House floor.
There were many misgivings in
the House over the action. A com
mittee chairman is only a little
short of sacred in his own field of
authority. To strip one of preroga
tives held by chairmen since the
First Congress ran contrary to the
body of tradition built up in 82
subsequent Congresses. And fur
thermore, member Os Con
gress hopes some day to be a com
mittee chairman, and most want
all rights and privileges of chair
manship to remain intact.
So there is a question of how the
tax bill will be treated on the
1 floor. First the action of the Rules
Committee will be put to vote.
That will be the crucial test.-
Democrats and some Republicans
claim they support the President’s
tax bill but will vote against the
Rules Committee’s deviation from
‘ the usual order of business.
If the Rul& Committee action is
approved, however, the bill should
have relatively clesr sailing, both
through the House and Senate.
Summer Tourist
A former First Citizen of the
District dropped back for a visit
last week, was welcomed enthusi
astically by old friends—and some
old enemies—and then gave a few
words of serious advice to the cur
rent First Citizen.
The Visitor, of course, was Harry
S. Truman. And his advice was
on defense spending. "I wam’you
soberly and plainly,” he said: "Do
not be misled by the desire for
lower taxes into cutting corners on
our national security. Increasing
the risk of World War 111 means
increasing the risk of atom bombs
on our own homes.” President
Eisenhower’s recommended cut of
$5 billion in Air Force funds was
particularly serious, he said.
Mr. Truman’s influence with the
83d Republican Congress appeared
to be about as great as it was with
/ the 80th. As he spoke the House
Appropriations Committee was
pruning another sl3 billion off the
Pentagon budget.
; Mines ,
When the American Mining
Congress, a national organization
of mine operators, recommended
early this year that Tom Lyon of
Salt Lake City be appointed di
rector of the Federal Bureau of
Mines, "Senator Watkins, Repub
lican, of Utah agreed it would be
a pretty good idea. Mr. Lyon is a
mining engineer and a division
chief in the Federal Defense Ma
terials Procurement Agency.
When the Utah Senator recom
mended Mr. Lyon to Secretary of
the Interior McKay, the Secretary
agreed it would be a fine idea,
i And when the Secretary recoup
mended Mr. Lyon to Sherman
Adams, the President’s patronage
adviser, Mr. Adams thought the
idea was swell.
So Mr. Lyon was nominated and
his name sent to the Senate for
approval.
Startling Views
But when he testified before the
Interior Committee last week, Mr.
Lyon flabbergasted the Senators
by declaring that the mine safety
law, which the Bureau of Mines
must administer, was “a phony”
and impossible to administer; that
“life appears to be becoming very
cheap on the globe”; and that he
was receiving a $5,000-a-year "re
vocable” pension from the Ana
conda Copper Co.
Committee members immedi
ately pointed out that no Federal
mine chief should be dependent
on the good will of a mining com
pany for an annual income or
should have such a negative atti
tude toward a law he must en
force.
Senator Watkins suggested Mr.
Lyon withdraw his name. He did
so, and Secretary McKay and
Presidential Assistant Adams
sighed in relief. An angry Presi
dent, however, set out to deter
mine who had slipped up by not
finding out about Mr. Lyon in
the first place.
The only happy person was John
L. Lewis, head of the United Mina
Workers of America.
Exit Mr. Kaiser
For more than a year Congress
men have demanded to £now why
airplanes built by Kaiser Motors
Corp. cost the Air Force about $1.3
million each while substantially
the same aircraft purchased from
the Fairchild Corp. costs only
$265,000. Senator Bridges, Repub
lican, of New Hampshire has
charged Henry J. Kaiser with being
inefficient and with landing his
contract through political pull.
The Air Force and Mr. Kaiser have
spent long hours explaining the
high cost of Kaiser planes.
Last week Mr. Kaiser took his
explanations to the Senate Armed
Services Committee. He told the
Senators it was ridiculous to com
pare his price with Fairchild’s
because the circumstances were
totally dissimilar. Fairchild, he
said, was producing more planes
in a smaller plant, had less plant
conversion to pay for and had
lower labor costs. If Fairchild
had been producing planes under
Willow Run conditions, he said,
the Government couldn’t have
bought them from Fairchild for
the Kaiser price.
Cancellation
Before Mr. Kaiser eould finish
his testimony, the Air Force sud
denly made the whole controversy
moot. It cancelled all contracts
with Kaiser.
After planes on the assembly
lines are completed, Kaiser will
have to stop about 80 planes short
of his 159-plane contract for 0-118 y
troop carriers and will not be per
mitted to deliver more than about
10 of the 244 C-123s ordered.
The Air Force said its action was
taken independently of the earn
mltee’s investigation. But the
cancellation got the Air Force off
a very uncomfortable hook and
also enabled it to carry through on
its announced cutback in troop
carrier production—a part of the
Wilson economy program for the
Air Force.
France
P'RANCB last week worked at
•T putting together her 18th ,
government since World War 11.
Joseph Lanlel, a politician so ob
scure he has never before been a
premier, broke the 87-day dead
lock and received National As
sembly approval for the premier
ship.
M. Lanlel is a wealthy textile
manufacturer, a conservative and
an Independent. His platform is
vague; deliberately vague. The
eight persons to precede him in
attempts to form a cabinet had
failed because their programs of
fended too many of the splinter
parties that make up France’s
parliament.
Desperately in need of a premier
to represent France at the Ber
muda conference, now postponed
for at least a month because of
Mr. Churchill’s illness, a majority
of the deputies were willing to take
M. Lanlel merely on hope. He re
ceived 889 votes, with a majority
of 814 necessary for confirmation.
His support came from all parties
but the Communists and Socialists.
M. Lanlel said he would strive to
solve France’s fundamental do
mestic problem—too little tax re
ceipts and too much spending—
and said he would not push for
ratification of the European De
fense Community treaties until
after the Saar dispute had been
settled and protocols to the trea
ties had been approved by the six
nations concerned. *
In effect, he has postponed
France’s major problems. HU gov
ernment probably will be good for
the duration of the Bermuda con
ference, but his chances for a long
regime are slight. i
A-25