WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1953
Floods Threaten
To Up Death Toll
:, AMSTERDAM, Feb. 3 (TP) —North Sea waves pounding through broken Dutch dikes
threatened last night to swell by hundreds the death toll of storms arid floods that already
have claimed more than 1600 lives in Holland, England, and Belgium.
Near zero cold, snow, and hail wrought misery to thousands marooned through four
days as rescuers of six nations fought by sea and air to reach them. Many victims were
Controls on
Wages Start
To Tumble
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (TP) —
Federal wage-price controls be
gan tumbling yesterday amid
high confusion as to when they
would all end. The White House
rapped the . knuckles .of a top
agency official for saying wage
controls would be dropped im
mediately.
But. most controls were already
grinding toward a halt. The Wage
and Salary Stabilization Boards
sent out more than 2000 notices
of dismissal to their employees, ef
fective March 5.
Late in the day, 'the White
House cracked down on assump
tion thfit wage controls might be
lifted before April 30, the date
when , the present wage-control
law expires.
“The question of when wage
controls will be ended is now
under, consideration, White House
Press Secretary James C. Hagerty
told newsmen.
Other qualified informants said
a White House decision on the
subject is expected by tomorrow
or Friday.
The White House was riled be
cause Harry Weiss, executive di
rector of the wage board, put out
information that “although an ex
ecutive order has not been issued,
a decision has been made, to ter
minate wage controls immedi
ately.”
Fast OK Seen
For Ike's Plan
On Agreements
' WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (JP)
Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio yes
terday forecast quick congres
sional approval for President Eis
enhower’s plan to repudiate any
secret agreements wi t h Soviet
Russia.
Taft, the Senate GOP floor
leader,, said he wholeheartedly
endorses the President’s proposal.'
Eisenhower set forth his views
in his first State of the Union
message' to Congress yesterday.
The chief executive asked the
lawmakers for a resolution mak
ing it clear to the world, that
this government recognizes no
kind of commitment contained in
secret understandings of the past
with foreign governments” which
permit “enslavement” of any
peoples.
; Most legislators thought Eisen
hower was referring chiefly to
agreements reached at the Roose
velt-Churchill-Stalih meeting at
Yalta m February, 1945. The
resulted in American and
British, concessions •to Russia to
persuade-her to enter the Pacific
war against Japan.
.Eisenhower’s plan was widely
regarded in Congress as the first
move - toward .carrying out his
Pfr e s i dential campaign promise
that the United States will seek
to., bring about the liberation of
captive peoples behind the Iron
Curtain, by means short of-war.
.Rep. .Kersten (R-Wis.) has al
ready prepared a resolution de
signedjo- nullify the Yalta agree
ment. Kersten said the pact “gave
Sstahn a seemingly legal strangle
hold on his' conquests” and *vio-
Chln the rights of Polan d and
UN Loses 7 America n&
J ! NATIONS, N.Y., Feb.
"J- i —". row over the loyalty
ph?ck of Americans, at the UN
r?' le d seven,. Americans to resign
worn the UN Staff CounciL
numb and suffering from expo
sure.
While the fury eased in Eng
land and Belgium, Holland stayed
fast in the grip of the most ter
rible flood this country has seen
since the 15th'century. She was
the hardest hit of the three coun
tries, with one thousand square
miles of rich crop land inundated
-by deadening salt water and one
million of her people threatened
with ruin. ,
Heavy Losses
A new burst in the dikes was
reported tonight at Bommel on
the north coast of Goree-Over
flakke Island. Seas roared through
a hole 35 yards wide and five
yards deep and swept inland.
Bommel has a population of
2,000.
The losses in homes, land, and
livestock ran into uncounted mil
lions of dollars. With potato land
reduced, Holland embargoed the
export of potatoes. More than 400
square miles were flooded in Eng
land. Arthur Haulet, Belgian tour
ist commissioner, said the dam
age to Belgium’s seaside resorts
alone is ten million .dollars.
The final death toll may ex
ceed 2000. This was. the latest
count from official and reliable
unofficial sources:
' Holland ~
England ..
Belgium
Total
The League of Red Cross So
cieties estimated that more than
100,000 persons in England and
Holland had lost their homes. Red
Cross supplies .valued at more
than $250,000, including bedding
and clothing, are on the way by
rail and air.
1500 Dutch Cut Off
A vast rescue network mobil
ized to • answer frantic pleas for
help from isolated Dutch com
munities! American, German,
British, Canadian, and other for
ces joined the Dutch in the res
cue efforts. Premier Willem Drees
told the Dutch Parliament 50,000
victims of the national catastro
phe are still to be evacuated.
About 1500 men, women, and
children, some near death from
exposure, huddled on a crumbling
dike in southeast Holland pray
ing for rescue as the waves ham
mered past. They were .cut off
early Sunday with the inunda
tion of Oude-Tonge, on the island
of Goree-Overflakke.
The' lives of 3877 in two other
villages, Oosterland and Bruin
isse, were menaced by the freaks
of wind and tide. Their burgo
masters pleaded urgently by ra
dio for amphibious planes or heli
copters to evacuate the villagers,
saying if aid did not come quickly
there will be “a big loss of life.”
Group Starts
Prison Probe
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 3 (A 5 ) —
Gov. John S. Fine’s hand-picked
prison investigating committee
opened its state-wide probe yes
terday at Western State Peniten
tiary.
The five-man committee, head
ed by retired Gen. Jacob L. De
vers, talked to Warden Dr. John
W. Claudy and his deputy, Wil
liam E. Gaffney, behind closed
doors. Newsmen , and photogra
phers were not allowed in the
prison.
PARTY REFRESHMENTS OF ALL KINDS
• Sandwiches © Birthday Cakes
• Homemade Cookies • Coffee Cakes
• Fruit Punch - © Other Cakes
Lj Jrida, Stem
122 E. IRVIN AVE. PHONE 4818
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
HUNSTANTON, Eng., Feb. 3 (JP)
—People in this battered Norfolk
sea resort want the nation to
honor Reis Leming, 6-feet, 3-inch
American hero of the- weekend
flood disaster.
The Town Council sent a letter
to the government y ester day t tell
ing how Leming of Toppenish,
Wash., snatched 27 people from
the wind-whipped tidal wave
which swept in from the North
Sea. Said Council Chairman R. S.
Mudie: “As I told the Queen dur
ing her visit yesterday, we do not
think the George Cross is too
high an award for what -this man
did. He is a stranger among us,
yet time and again he risked his
life to save others. But for him
the death roll must have been
very much higher.”
The George Cross is ‘Britain’s
highest award for bravery off the
battlefield.
. 991
. 536
.: 22
1549
Leming, 22, was careful to keep
his feet firmly on the ground as
he pushed a rubber raft to fetch
survivors across chin-high flood
waters. His explanation: “I just
can’t swim.”
Secretary Eden
Fears Formosa
Blockade Lift ,
LONDON, Feb. 3 (/P) —Foreign
Secretary Anthony Eden said yes
terday Britain fears American de
neutralization of Formosa will
have “unfortunate political re
percussions without compensating
military advantages.”
These fears, he told a tense
House of Commons, had been ex
pressed to the United States gov
ernment three
times before
President Eisen
hower announced
the changed pol
icy in Congress
yesterday.
Eden spoke
shortly after U.S.
Secretary of
State Dulles ar-
for talks in which
Prime Minister Churchill and
Eden are expected to call for as
surances the United States will
take no steps that will explode
the Korean war into an Asia-wide
conflict.
Dulles, who with Mutual Se
curity Director Harold E. Stassen
is on a seven-country, fact-find
ing tour, said he came .to es
tablish personal contact with
British leaders:
Building-, of Western defenses
against Communism and a speed
up of European integration are
Dulles’ maim concern. But he has
to explain the new American for
eign policy, too. He is reported to
have given French government
officials assurances, which won
their agreement on the Formosa
decision. ' v
British Citizens
Wish to Honor
American Hero
rived in London
13 Communists
1- 3 Year Imprisonments
NEW YORK, Feb. 3 (£>)—Thi
munist leaders, who preferred imp]
day were sentenced to terms rang:
plan an appeal.
Seven drew three years in pri
years and $4OOO. One escaped witt
of the defendants came here from
Iron Curtain countries, four are
native Americans, and one is
British.
“There is ample scope in this
country,” Federal Judge Edward
J. Dimock told them, “for those
who wish to improve the coun
try, but no scope whatsoever for
those who advocate its overthrow
by force’ and violence.”
Reds Locked Up
The 13 defendants were held in
bails ranging from $2OOO to $25,-
000 each, pending their appeal—-
which p r e s u m''a b 1 y will take
months. The government, mindful
that other convicted Communists
have jumped bail, - asked that it
be set at. $lOO,OOO each, or pre
ferably denied entirely.
None of the 13. was able to offer
a bond at once and they were
locked up.
The 13 defendants said they had
no remorse for their revolutionary
conspiracy and one of them, Al
bert F. Lannon, rose suddenly
and angrily shouted at Dimock:
“May I make a wish, your hon
or? When- my children cry. for
the father that you take away
from them, I wish you a restful
vacation.”
Verdict Not Historical
The 62-year-old jurist has plan
ned a vacation at the end of the
case, which now has stretched
over 10 months.
“The verdict will not stand in
history,” proclaimed defense law
yer Frank Serri.
Judge Dimock received a sur
prising tribute from Serri in view
of the abuse heaped on him by
Red - publications. The. lawyer
called his conduct of the trial “a
sample of American justice at its
best.”
-The 13 /defendants could have
been sentenced to a maximum of
five years in prison and 'fined
$lO,OOO each for conspiring to
teach; and advocate' the violent
overthrow of the government in
violation of the 13-year-old Smith
Act.'
. This maximum penalty was the
one generally levied against 11
top Red leaders who were con
victed of the same, charge in 1949.
The 13 allegedly stepped into the
shoes of the convicted 11 to run
the party.
Reds Building Fence
HELMSTEDT, Germany, Feb. 3
(A*) —Communist people’s police
are erecting a 10-foot-high barbed
wire fence along the Soviet zone
border ,near here, West German
authorities • announced yesterday.
Given
irteen defiant second-string Com
risonment to life in Russia, yester
ing from one to three years. They
ison and $6OOO fines. Five got two
l one year and a $2OOO fine. Eight
U.S. Takes
2 Red Hills
In Korea
SEOUL, Wednesday, Feb. 4 (/P)
A famed U.S. fighting outfit
with explosives and flamethrow
ers yesterday smashed two hill
positions and killed an estimated
300 Chinese Communists, who
were badly fooled by a feint.
About 200 raiders, who cannot
be identified by division number,
blew up bunkers and killed Chin
ese for three hours .before with
drawing from the Western Front
hills under intense Communist
mortar fire.
Allied tanks and artillery feinted
at a third hill nearby, hammer
ing it so furiously the Commun
ists apparently thought the attack
would strike there. This kept
them from reinforcing the hills
hit by the infantry.
Taylor Replaces Van Fleet
It was the biggest Allied raid
since the ill-fated “Operation
Smash” Jan. 25.
The daylight assault came east
of Kaesong, Communist truce
headquarters, as Lt. Gen. Max
well D. Taylor arrived in Korea
to take over command of the U.S.
Eighth Army from retiring Gen.
James A. Van Fleet. The date of
the change of command was not
announced, but was expected in
a few .days.
As photographer George Sweers,
who witnessed the raid, said, Ma
rine Corsair fighter - bombers
pounded the Reds all day Mon
day preceding the attack. The in
fantry jumped off at 8:18 a.m.
Tuesday. It. was cold but sunny.
Worked 'Just Right*
“To keep the Chinese guessing,
the general unnamed had his ar
tillery pound the hell out of'still
another hill way on the left and
sent a big tank force out -there
to shoot straight into it, about 24
tanks altogether,” Sweers said.
. The idea was to fool the Chin
ese into holding back reinforce
ments until too late and the plan
worked “just right,” Sweers ad
ded.
The attackers sent one rein
forced U.S. platoon about 100
men—swarming up one Red hill
on the left and gained the objec
tive in 14 minutes. A stronger
Red hill position on .the right took
longer but a second • reinforced
nlatoon fought to the top.
PAGE THREE