I
PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1953
_______________________________________________________ I I
Iron Curtain Riots
And Propaganda
!k ~A A
IN THE RECENT furor caused by upris-
ings in five Communist satellite countries
perhaps one significant factor has been over-
looked. The propaganda appeal of these oc-
curances is immense if one condsiders that
they have been instigated and carried out
by workers-the very people for whom the
basic doctrines of Communism were con-
structed. These people have reacted to the
Communist regime alone, unsparked by the
West.
This fact becomes significant when one
considers that the Communist Party when
it assumed power in all these countries made
a determined and concentrated effort to
appeal to the laboring classes-the industrial
workers and the farmers.
In many of these countries powerful land-
owning groups such as the Church were de-
rived of their vast holdings and this land
was given to the poorer citizens.
Appeals Were also made to the factory
workers to increase production in an ef-
fort to aid their own national economy.
To a war-torn Europe these appeals were
powerful and convincing. The people re-
sponded, but in the years that have passed
since then, these satellite nations have come
to realize that the party of the people is in
reality nothing but a group dedicated to
further the supremacy of the Soviet govern-
ment at their expense. And for this reason
they have revolted.
Political theorists have been examining
these uprisings in an effort to find some sig-
nificant trends and indications. In the mul-
tiplicity of explanations that have been
offered, the proper exploitation of the prop-
aganda furnished by these riots has been
virtually overlooked.
It seems obvious that the people in the
five rioting nations have inadvertantly
produced for the United States the most
powerful propaganda weapon to date-one
which can be used effectively in our re-
lationships with even the most back-
ward of the borderline countries.
The principles of democracy and the dan-
gers of Soviet Communism may be difficult
for the uneducated peoples in the Asiatic
fringe areas of Communism to understand,
but they will have no difficulty in seeing that
countries where this system is already in ef-
fect are dissatisfied to the point of despara-
tion. It will be easy for them to see how the
same thing might happen to them.
The United States has been handed a pow-
erful propaganda weapon which can be em-
ployed with relative ease. Propaganda cir-
culated by word-of-mouth among the peo-
ples in these fringe areas could have im-
measurable effect on them.
In this case there is no need for extensive
and complex programs. An organized talk
campaign initiated by the United States and
then left to itself would prove a most ef-
fective and efficient line of attack.
-Fran Sheldon
C J It MoviE
L ,
AT LYDIA MENDELSSOHN
Knickerbocker Holiday; book, Maxwell An-
derson; music, Kurt Weill
IN LINE WITH the University's Popular
Arts Symposium, it is certainly fitting that
the Speech Department has chosen a mu-
sical comedy as part of their summer fare.
If the musical comedy did not originate as
an entertainment for a mass audience, to-
day it has most emphatically reached this
point. The Broadway influence has been,
in the past two decades, greatly widened by
the advent of the road show, televisio),
movies, radio, and records, enabling it to
reach a mass audience. On the other hand,
economic considerations, the tremendously
high cost of theatrical productions, have
compelled it to reach such an audience.
"Knickerbocker Holiday" is one of Broad-
way's best. Its greatest virtue is its disdain
of the sentimental. Many shows, such as
"South Pacific" rely on too much audience
involvement in a sentimental love story, but
"Knickerbock Holiday" spoofs at love scenes.
Not even the most unsophisticated in the
audience could be taken in by them as a
reality, only as part of the fun.
It is a political and historical satire, full
of good tunes, all bearing Weill's unmis-
takable touch. The plot, dealing with life
in early New Amsterdam, while not basi-
cally too original, is nevertheless amus-
ing in its digs at such things as the wom-
an's role, government, and corruption.
The ,production by the Speech Depart-
ment made for an enjoyable evening. Direc-
tor Halstead has paced it well giving an
easy going though lively flow.
The pacing was hindered somewhat how-
ever in the staging of the numbers in which
the chorus participated. When the stage
was crowded, movement, naturally more
contained, was too much so, and these scenes
lost their life. An example of this was the
number, "Nowhere to Go But Up"; the move-
ments left to hands became amateurish,
whereas movements using the whole body
would have been much livelier.
Real commendation must be given to An-
thony Georgilas who played Pieter Stuy-
vesant, a role made immensely difficult be-
cause of the tradition of show business which
has left the mark of Walter Huston in this
role unmistakably upon us.
Mr. Georgilas was able'to combine con-
vincing theatrical mannerisms with his
healthy stage presence. His singing of Sep-
tember Song" had the husky tenderness of
its tradition, though quite forgiveably
without that extra bit of theatrical flavor
which only an experienced trouper such
as Huston could give.
Elsewhere in the cast, William Taylor,
Roosevelt, and Harold Radford, Tienhoven,
were effectively humorous. William Zaka-
riasen, Washington Irving, had good show-
manship and a pleasing musical comedy
voice. Carlaine Balduf, Tina, had a fine
comedienne stage voice though her singing
voice would not carry nearly enough. James
Umphrey, Brom, unfortunately neither
looked or acted the part of a romantic lead,
and to compensate bordered too much on the
ludicrous and boyish.
As a whole the singing might have been
better, but considering the conditions, prob-
ably no trained voices, it came off pretty well.
The sets were adequate, the use of scrim very
effective in giving a Dutch atmosphere, but
the main set a little bulky. The orchestra, un-
der Paul Miller's direction, was efficient.
-Donald Harris
"Quick, Men - Get That Bible Off The Shelves"
--
C, .
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
ON THE
WASHINGTON
MERRY-GO-ROUND
WITH DREW PEARSON
At the State...
MAN ON A TIGHTROPE, wih Frederic
March
ELOQUENCE about man's-desire to be free
has for years been the staple of Robert
E. Sherwood's dramatic endeavors. Because
he is a practiced rather than an instinctive
craftsman, his work, though always com-
petent, is usually predictable and occasionally
dull. When his talents are combined, how-
ever, with those such as are possessed by
director Elia Kazan, Sherwood's ideas take
on agvigor and spirit which make "Man on
a Tightrope;" starring veteran actor, Fred*
eric March, a sincere and well-done film
about the threat of Communist authoritar-
ianism.
The story of the film is based on an ac-
tual event: the escape of a small circus
from behind the Iron Curtain of Czecho-
slovakia into free Bavaria. The early events
of the screen play are based on typical in-
vasions of the state into the freedom of
one circus owner's enterprise. His early
efforts at. compromise (since he fancies
himself "not a political man") are con-
trasted with his ultimate resolution to
crash the frontier into the Western zone
of Germany. The eventual escape paral-
lels the actual flight of the Circus Cernik
troupe across the fortified border.
Sherwood peoples his drama with a stock
of conventional types, including the slattern-
ly wife, the cowardly lion tamer and the
mysterious horse trainer who falls in love
with the owner's daughter. The conflicts be-
tween these people are made much of at
the start and resolved perhaps too quickly
since the only real menace in the story is
II
the totalitarian state. The focus, as in Sher-
wood's "There Shall Be No Night" is on the
respectable, peace-loving father who learns
that he must fight or lose his self-respect.
The younger characters provide traditional
harmonies of romance and fierce courage to
complement the older man's toadying and
wavering.
But again and again it is not the script,
but Kazan's sense of lyric realism that puts
the film across. The circus' shoddy respecta-
bility mirrored in the face of the joy-thirsty
crowds is almost perfectly drawn. This is
contrasted with the arid countryside loca-
tions, always mutely expressive of the tor-
menting poverty of spirit in the people.
Even one of those swim-in-the-virgin-brook
scenes is employed with fresh rhythm and
striking naturalness.
The acting in the film is very well di-
rected. The performance of March here
is oddly enough identical to what was re-
quired in "Death of A Salesman" and
what he failed to achieve there. Gloria
Grahame, as the wife, easily handles a
role that Sherwood only threatents to do
things with. Terry Moore and Cameron
Mitchell as the romantic pair succeed in
short parts that Kazan does not neglect.
Adolphe Menjou shows well as the imag-
inative Communist, who loses out, per-
haps symbolically, to his more regiment-
ed brethren.
The end of the film alone, although the
suspense is high, sounds chords in succes-
sion which are a little too familiar and not
worthy of men who can do better-or of a
studio (Fox) which seems alone to be hold-
ing the line against infantilism.
-Bill Wiegand
MATTER OF FACT:
Korean Truce Doesn't Mean Solution
To World Problems in Far East
WASHINGTON - Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Benson is accumu-
lating surplus butter at the rate of 12,000,000 pounds a week.
That's a lot of butter to be buying weekly, especially when you
already have a quarter of a billion pounds on hand; so you can't blame
the unenvied Mr. Benson for being one of the most harassed men in
the cabinet. Furthermore, butter won't keep indefinitely. Eventually
it becomes rancid.
I don't like to be repetitious about this butter question, but I still
think we are losing a good bet by not using some of our surplus wheat
and butter to fight our battles behind the Iron Curtain.
True, butter is a luxury. So also is the Voice of America- ,
though necessary to fight the Cold War. So also are the European
posters and other instruments of psychological warfare with
which we try to combat Communist propaganda.
And if we have enough butter, and it's likely to spoil, there's no
reason why we can't make it help fight the Cold War, too.
What I refer to is the idea of sending a million loaves of bread9
and a few thousand pounds of butter to Berlin, preferably to EastI
Berlin, in order to feed the people who have been battling Red tanks
with sticks and stones. If the Russians won't let the bread and but-4
ter enter East Germany, then the American radio station in Berlin,I
RIAS, can put them on the spot by blaring the fact behind the Iron1
Curtain.I
--ELASTIC IRON CURTAIN-
Furthermore,.all we have to do is put the bread and butter down
in West Berlin and let the East Germans come and get it. Several
thousand cross back and forth on the subway every day. I have
crossed back and forth dozens of times. And it is not too difficult for
food, packages, suitcases to be carried across the Iron Curtain, which
in Berlin is largely imaginary. As a matter of fact many East Ber-
liners shop regularly in West Berlin.
The average American feels frustrated as to how he can help in
the Cold War. Europe is a long way off, and there isn't much he can,
do about it. However, if the Department of Agriculture could perhaps
work out a system whereby Mr. John Q. Citizen could contribute about
$2.21-the support price--for a bushel of wheat and about 70 cents
for a pound of butter, and then if the U.S. government would deposit
the equivalent in food in Berlin, a lot of our surplus might be used up.
What's more important, we could, for the first time in history,
begin to get some people-to-people friendship behind the Iron
Curtain-much to the discomfiture of those in the Kremlin who
don't want people-to-people friendship.
Note-If this worked in East Germany, the effect on Poland,;
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, would be electrifying. It might prove the
spark of liberation we have been waiting for.
SUPERCABINET AGENCY-
Most people don't know much about the ultrascret National Secur-
ity Council. However, it operates as a sort of supercabinet dealing
with defense problems, and since President Eisenhower's inauguration,
it has handed down 130 basic decisions, including "striking changes"
in American policy toward the wars in Korea and Indo-China. Be-
fore the end of the year it expects to reach a record 300 decision, that
will lead this nation either to peace or war.
Recently the Senate Appropriations Committee was given an of-
ficial backstage peek at the nation's most powerful agency when
President Eisenhower sent his special assistant on security council
matters, Robert Cutler, to Capitol hill for a confidential briefing.
Within the limits of security, this column can report what he told
them.
Minnesota's GOP Senator Ed Thye started it off by asking:
"What is the nature of the questions that you study?"
"One question that the council has been giving a great deal of
attention to this winter," Cutler replied, "has been the basic over-all
policy of the United States toward the wars in French Indo-China and
Korea, reviewing the basic policy, seeing to what extent it should be
modified. We held a great many hearings, had a great many council
meetings and eventually we recommended to the council, and it was
approved in May, a new basic policy paper which represents striking
changes from what had previously been in effect."
-GOODS TO RUSSIA??
The exact nature of these changes cannot be printed without
tipping off the Russians. However, Cutler also told about an inter-
nal U.S. battle over shipping goods behind the Iron Curtain.
"As a matter of fact," he reported, "at the council meeting (June
25) we brought up a paper which represented a split that has been
going on between two great elements in our government since the
war. They could not agree on what
our policy should be. In this case, ment," he stated. "If we are go-
rather than make some less desir- ing to develop a program with ref-
able compromise at a lower level erence to the security of our har-
which would please nobody, we bors, we must receive at the plan-
brought up to the council the ac- ning board level studies for the
tual split, giving the pros and cons different departments and agen-
of both sides." cies."
The State Department, Cutler "You just could not rely on the
explained, favored shipping non- Coast Guard alone?" asked Sen-
strategic goods behind the Iron ator Carl Hayden, Arizona Dem-
Curtain as long as the West got ocrat.
the best of the trade. But the De- Cutler replied that it required
fense Department objected to the an over-all, integrated program.
loose definition of "strategic." And He went on to say that the Na-
the Navy wanted to go so far as to tional Security Council was call-
sink Polish ships carrying cargo ing in civilian experts for profes-
tn PRd1 China .sinnn l vie .THwever the cost
The Daily Official Bulletin is an
official publication of the University
of Michigan for which the Michigan
Daily assumes no editorial responsi-
bility. Publication in it is construc-
tive notice to all members of the
University. Notices should be sent in
TYPEWRITTEN form to Room 3518
Administration Building before 3 p.m.
the day preceeding publication (be-
fore 11 a.m. on Saturday).
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1953
VOL. LXIII, No. 98
Notices
Seniors: College of L. S. & A., and
Schools of Education, Music, and Pub-
lic Health: Tentative lists of seniors
for August graduation have been posted
on the Registrar's bulletin board in
the first floor corridor, Administration
Building. If your name is misspelled
or the degree expected incorrect, please
notify the Recorder at Registrar's win-
dow number 1, 1513 Administration
Building.
Graduate Record Examination. Candi-
dates taking the Graduate Record Ex-
amination will please report to Room
2446 Mason Hall on Friday, July 10
at 1:45 p.m. to 5:45 and on Saturday,
July 11, fi-om 8:45 to 12:45 and 1:45 to
5:15.
"Earning Opportunities for Mature
Workers," the University of Micigan
Sixth Annual Conference on Aging, will
be held July 8-10, Rackham Building.
Students and facultyamay register for
the conference without fee.
The student sponsored social events
listed below are approved for the com-
ing week-end. Social chairmen are re-
quested to file requests for approval for
social activities in the Office of Stu-
dent Affairs not later than 12 o'clock
noon on the Monday prior to the event.
July 10, 1953
Palmer-Hinsdale Houses
July 11, 1953
Alpha Phi Alpha
Angell-Klenstuck Houses
Michigan Christian Fellowship
Tyler House
Lectures
THURSDAY, JULY 9
Conference on Aging. Rackham Lec-
ture Hall. Job Opportunities Today.
Morning: 9:00 a.m., where Do Jobs
Come From," Millard C. Faught, com-
munity consultant and president,
Faught Company, New York; 9:45 a.m.,
Rackham Amphitheater and Rackham
Assembly Hall, concurrent work groups.
Afternoon: 1:30 p.m., concurrent work-
shops, Rackham Building. Evening: 8:00
p.m., Rackham Lecture Hall. "Making
a Life and Making a Living," Martin
Gumpert, M.D., Editor of Life-Time
Living and New York geriatrician.
Symposium on Astrophysics. 2:00
p.m., "The Origin of the Elements,"
George Gamow, George washington
University: 3:30 p.m., "The Origin of
the Solar System," Gerard P. Kuiper,
University of Chicago. 1400 Chemistry
Building.
Radiation Biology Symposium. "Sched-
ule of Radiosensitivities of the Mam-
malian Fetus," Robert Rugh, Columbia
University. 4:15 p.m., 1300 Chemistry
Building.
Linguistic Forum. "The Interpreta-
tion of Naive Spelling," E. Bagby At-
wood, Associate Professor of English,
University of Texas. 7:30 p.m., Rackham
Amphitheater.
Dr. Martin Gumpert, Editor of "Life-
time Living," will lecture on "Making
a Life and Making a Living" at 8:00
p.m. in the Rackham Lecture Hall.
The public is invited.
Academic Notices
Probability Seminar meets at 1:00
o'clock today in Room 3220 Angell Hall.
Professor A. H. Copeland will speak on
"A Distribution connected with vision."
Geometry Seminar. 7:00 p.m. today.
Room 3001 Angell Hall. Professor K.
Leisenring will speak on "Projective
Metrics."
Seminar in Applied Mathematics will
be held in Room 247 West Engineering
Building, today, at 4 p.m. Topic: "The
partial difference equations of mathe-
matical physics by Courant Friedrichs
and Lewy." Speaker, John Carr,
W.R.R.C.
M.A. Language Examination - Friday,
July 10, 4-5 p.m., 3615 Haven Hall. Sign
list in History Office. Can bring a dic-
tionary.
Make-up Examinations in History -
Saturday. July 11, 9:00-12:00 a.m., 2407
Mason Hall. See your instructor for
permission and then sign list in His-
tory Office.
Doctoral Examination for Walter
Richard Tulecke, Botany; thesis: "Stu-
dies in vitro on the Pollen of Ginkgo
biloba,," Friday, July 10, 1139 Natural
Science Bldg., at 9:00 am. Chairman,
C. D. LaRue.
Doctoral Examination for Louis Poin-
dexter Brown, Education; thesis: "The
Status of Guidance Services in Twenty-
two Accredited Secondary Schools for
Negroes in Virginia," Friday, July 10,
4019 University High School, at 2:00
p.m. Chairman, H. C. Koch.
Concerts
Carillon Concert, 7:15 Thursday eve-
ning, July 9, by Percival Price, Univer-
sity Carillonneur. The program is di-
vided into four groups: transcriptions of
instrumental works, transcriptions of
vocal works, compositions for carillon,
and arrangements of ballads. It will
include music by Chopin, Benjamin
Britten, Handel, Brahms, Mozart, Per-
cival Price, and Stephen Foster.
Special Choral Demonstrations (Sec-
ond Series) by Marlowe Smith, East.
man School of Music, and Director of
Hig School Choirs, Rochester Public
Schools, Friday, July 10, 10:00 a.m., and
3:00 p.m., and Saturday, July 11, 10:00
a.m., Auditorium A, Angell Hall Tech-
nics of Choir Directors; Reaching Chor-
al Literature. Individual conferances
with Mr. Smith may be arranged by
signing for appointments. A listing of
available hours will be posted on the
door of Room 708 Burton Tower, where
appointments will be held.
Exhibitins
Clements Library. The good, the bad
the popular.
Law Library. Elizabeth II and her em-
pire,
Architecture Building. Michigan Chil-
dren's Art Exhibition.
Events Today
Lydia Mendelssohn Box Office is open
from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. today. Tickets
for individual performances of the De-
partment of Speech summer play se-
ries are available: Knickerbocker Holi-
day and The Tales of Hoffman, $1.50-
$1.20-90c; The Country Girl and Pyg-
malion, $1.20-90c-60c.
Knickerbocker Holiday, the hilarious
musical comedy by Maxwell Anderson
and Kurt Weill, plays tonight in the
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre at 8 p.m.
Choreography is created by Miss Es-
ther Scholz of the Detroit public schools
and guest instructor in the Women's
Physical Education Department. Or-
chestra and chorus are under the di-
rection of Paul Miller, Grad., Music.
The entire production is under the di-
rection of Professor. William P. Hal-
stead of the Department of Speech.
University of Michigan Sailing Club
will meet tonight at 7:30 in the Michi-
gan Union, Room 3-R. Plans for Sat-
urday afternoon racing will be dis-
cussed. A shore school for anyone in-
terested will follow the meeting.
Michigan Christian Fellowship: Bi-
ble Study on "The Nature and Person
of Jesus Christ" at 7:30 today, Lane
Hall.
SL CINEMA GUILD, Summer Program.
Showings at 7 and 9 p.m. Architecture
Auditorium. Jeanne Craine-Linda Dar-
nell-Kirk Douglas-Paul Douglas in "A
Letter to Three Wives." Cartoon: "Hen
House Hennery."
Summer Session French Club. Meet.
ing at 8:00 p.m. in the Michigan League.
Professor Benjamin F. Bart, of the Ro-
mance Language Department will
speak on: "Un hiver $n France." French
songs, gamies and a social hour. All
students and Faculty members inter-
ested are cordially invited.
Hillel Foundation: "Music Calling"
at 8 p.m. Classical music on the Hi-Fl
System. Refreshments. All students wel-
come.
There will be a tea in the form of s
garden party at the Madelon Pound
House, 1024 Hill Street, from 4:30 to 5:30
this afternoon.
Thursday Lunch Discussion at Lane
Hall. Dr. Amiya Chakravarty, visiting
professor from U. of Kansas and Cal-
cutta will be resource person, talking
on 'Modern India" 12:15 noon. Call res-
ervations to 3-1511, Ext. 2851. Everyone
welcome.
Overseas Teachers, DA Civilians, peo-
ple interested in government service
overseas are invited to have dinner in
the Michigan League Cafeteria today,
going through the line from 5:30-:00
and meeting at a table marked Overseas
Personnel. Telephone 3-1511 Ext. 360 for
more information.
Classical Studies Coffee Hour. 4:00
p.m., in the Museum of Archaeology.
Students in the. Department and all
others who are interested in the Clas-
sics are cordially invited.
Coming Events
The graduate women at Alice Lloyd
Hall invite graduate menstudents to
an open house at the Hall on Friday,
July 10, from 8 to 12 o'clock p.m. There
will be dancing, games, and refresh-
ments.
The undergraduate women of Alice
Lloyd Hall invite the undergraduate
men students to a party to be held on
Saturday, July 11, at Alice Lloyd Hall,
from 8 until 12 o'clock p.m. There will
be dancing, games, and refreshments.
Department of Astronomy. Visitors'
Night, Friday, July 10, 8:30 p.m. Dr.
Hazel M. Losh will speak on "The
Milky Way." After the illustrated lec-
ture in 2003 Angell Hall, the Students'
Observatory on the fifth floor will be
open for telescopic observation of Sat-
urn and a double star, If the sky is
clear, or for inspection of the telescopes
and planetarium, if the sky is cloudy.
Children are welcomed, but must be
accompanied by adults.
Hillel Foundation. Friday Evening
Services at 7:45 p.m. Saturday Morning
Services at 9 a.m. Everyone welcome,
Lane Hall Punch Hour, Friday 4:45 to
6:00 p.m. Everyone welcome. Lane Hall
Tour. A small group will visit the Art
Institute, Detroit Museum, andoth-
er places of interest in Detroit Satur-
day. Call extension 2851 for details and
reservation.
The third Fresh Air Camp Clinic w1ll
be held Friday, July 10. Dr. Ralph Ra-
binovitch will be the. psychiatrist.
Students with a professional interest
are welcome to attend.-Main Lodge,
University of Michigan Fresh Air Camp,
Patterson Lake, Eight o'clock.
SixtyThird Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Harland Britz. ........ Managing Editor
Dick Lewis ..,...,. .. Sports Editor
Becky Conrad..........,Night Editor
Gayle Greene............. Night Editor
Pat Roelofs ............. Night Editor
Fran Sheldon ............Night Editor
Business Staff
Bob Miller . ...Business Manager
Dick Alstrom..... Circulation Manager
Dick Nyberg.. ......Finance Manager
Jessica Tanner... Advertising Associate
Bob Kovacs......Advertising Associate
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1_
By JOSEPH ALSOP
W ASHINGTON - The theory on which
old Syngman Rhee has been operating
comes in two parts. The first and most ob-
vious is the straight nationalist part--Rhee's
natural longing to unify his war-torn coun-
try. The second part, less obvious but more
important, is Rhee's estimate of the prob-
able character of the Far Eastern situation
after a Korean truce.
In brief, Rhee has warned every Ameri-
can representative from President Eisenhow-
er on his Korean journey down to Assistant
Secretary of State Walter Robertson in
the last few days, that a truce in Korea will
decide nothing. The aged but astute Rhee is
confident that the worst kind of trouble will
soon begin again, if not in Korea then else-
where in the Far East, and he doubts wheth-
er the free world will have the energy or the
will to meet new Far Eastern challenges,
once a Korean truce has been made on the
unsatisfactory basis of the existing status
quo.
In this respect, at least, it must have been
pretty hard for Robertson and the other ne-
gotiators to argue successfully with Rhee
Indo-China, particularly, is now causing
a curious condition of paralyzed alarm in
the inner circles of the Aemrican govern-
ment. The situation has been visibly de-
teriorating, both at Saigon and in Paris.
The half forgotten struggle for this coun-
try which is the real key to Southeast
Asia, can well reach an ugly climax when
the summer rains cease and the Indo-
China fighting begins again in September.
The training of native troops is going for-
ward. On the surface, the position is not un-
hopeful. But Gen. Navarre's forces are still
concentrated in fortified areas in the Indo-
China coastal plains. He does not have the
men to spare to hold the back country-the
kingdoms of Cambodia and mountain-
ous Laos where the Communist enemy at-
tacked at the close of the last fighting sea-
son.
* * *
SUCH RELIABLE observers as Maj. Gen. C.
L. Chennault, whose estimates of the Far
Eastern situation are as worthy listening to
as ever, are convinced that the Communist
Viet Minh will again drive into Laos when
the rainy season ends. The attack, this time,
is to be more powerful and better prepared.
The defenses of Laos are still weak. And in
Cambodia, meanwhile, King Norodom Si-
hanouk is leading what amounts to an open
rebellion against French rule.
In these circumstances, the French forces
in Indo-China are plainly exposed to a severe
set-back in Laos and perhaps in Cambodia
Stewart Alsop has left for Europe to re-
port directly from Berlin, Bonn, London,
Paris and other cities during the next six
weeks. In the meantime, Joseph Alsop will
write from Washington.
as well. Meanwhile, the situation in Paris
equally plainly suggests that another severe
set back may sharply effect French policy
No one in this country paid much at-
tention, except our nervous policy makers.
Yet the thing that stood out of the French
-facts are enough to indicate the trend of
French thinking.
The vital forces to change this trend seem
to be lacking, moreover. The French would
probably have decided to cut their losses in
Indo-China long before this, if the local busi-
ness interests-the Banque de L'Indo-Chine
and the like-had not combined with the im-
mensely rich North African colonists. All the
influence of these powerful colonial groups
has been used to block the men in the French
Chamber who wish to abandon the Indo-
Chinese struggle.
But the development of the situation in
Indo-China is increasingly tending to alie-
nate these friends of the Indo-Chinese War.
There is no end in sight in Indo-China, with-
out the participation of Indo-Chinese troops
on the largest scale. There can be no such
participation unless Indo-Chinese national-
ism is satisfied by a much more generous
grant of independence. A victory that can
only be won by the sacrifice of colonialism
cannot be to the taste of the great French
colonial interests.
In short, this Indo-Chinese problem that
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles se-
lected six months ago as the most urgent and
critical on his agenda has grown a great
deal worse since then. Nor is Indo-China the
only danger spot. In the Middle East, the
Iranian government totters onwards towards
bankruptcy and in Cairo the government
of President Neguib has actually intimated to
Washington that the Egyptian forces may
make a desperate attack on the British base
at Suez, unless the Bermuda meeting pro-
duces a solution of the Anglo-Egyptian dis-
nutel
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