Mendes-France gets minority arms vote PARIS Under intense U.S. pressure and against the wishes of France, the French National Assembly voted for German rearmament last week. Fewer than half of the deputies cast their votes for it. Out of 627 deputies, 287 voted for and 260 against. All the pressure and tricks could not make more than a minority of the assembly vote for German arms. When the Bigger than Britain’s Krupps will control German atomic plant BERLIN The notorious German armament firm of Krupps, which helped to finance Hitler, is now to help in the building of an atomic pile in West Germany. The pile is to have twice the output of the present largest British research reactor—British Experimental Pile. A meeting to discuss the construction plans will be held in West Germany on January ‘10. Forced to back down President Carlos Ibanez of Chile is feeling less exuberant than when this picture was taken. Last week, reacting to wide- spread popular protest, the Chilean parliament forced him to lift the state of seige imposed - three months ago to crush strikes in U.S.-owned copper mines. U.S. war range . in BWI sought WASHINGTON The U.S. government, which Jis developing super V2 rockets with H-bomb warheads, wants to ex- tend its testing range in the South Atlantic to the British territories of Santa Lucia in the Windward Islands and to Ascension Island. Announcing that negotiations with Britain had already started, the U.S. State Department was quick to claim that “effective steps” would be taken to safe- guard the inhabitants, shipping and air traffic in the area. The announcement also reveal- ed that experimental bases have already been set up in six islands of the Bahamas following the 1950 agreement with Britain. Two other ‘bases are being built in the _ Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The atomic pile will be com- pleted in not more than two years time, but is likely to be working before then, E a . Building of the pile is made pos- sible by the Paris agreements which extend to West Germany even greater latitude in atomic research and production than did the European Army plan. There are protestations in West Germany that the pile will be used only for the purposes of produc- ing isotopes and electric power. But in fact the atomic fuel pro- duced will tbe identical with that used in atomic bombs and other weapons. The whole scheme is in the hands of the great German arma- ment firms which, from 1918 to Hitler’s rise to power, secretly de- feated bans on production of arms until the point was reached when secrecy. could be dropped. The actual operation will be by \the “Study Society for Physical Research” set up two months ago in West Germany with the back- ing of the Adenauer government. Participating in the society are a number of leading German firms, mostly arms firms, which have now been joined by Krupps. USSR seeks better homes MOSCOW ’ Speedier, more economical and}. more comfortable building was the keynote of Soviet Communist par- ty secretary Nikita Khrushchev’s address to the recent Moscow con-|, ference of building workers, ; ‘Since the war, the Soviet Union has spent more than $250 million | ‘ on capital building projects, Khrushchev told the. conference, which was attended by. several thousands building workers, archi- tects, engineers and research work- ers from all parts of the Soviet Union. He strongly criticized expendi- ture on unnecessary rebuilding and made a call for more attention to details of finishing houses and apartments to make them more convenient and comfortable for the occupants. A lot remained to be done’ in sound insulation, particularly in flats, and in the laying of flooring and the construction of kitchen fittings, said Khrushchev. Himself a former fitter, Khrush- chev said he was indignant to see badly made joints in the plumbing system of a Sverdlovsk hotel at which he had stayed. result was announced the Chamber sat frigid. There was no applause and even the ministers sat with bowed heads. The vote does not close the battle, not even on a parliamen- tary level. The Paris agreements now go to the Council of the Republic, and the Council can decide to send them back to the Assembly for dis- cussion all over again. : And all over France the struggle will go on. What is of great importance for the future of France and of the French Communist party is that the debate and the votes - have completely unmasked Mendes- France. He now stands exposed to the whole nation as a servant of the U.S. and a ‘champion of a new Wehrmacht. So do the right wing leaders of the French Socialist party. f After the vote people here re- called that three years ago the voting system in France was changed under U.S. pressure. In the 1951 election, though the Communist party maintained its more than five million votes, the number of its deputies was cut by over 70. Had the system of voting which the French people chose for themselves still been in opera- tion in France, even U.S. pres- sure would not have secured the present tiny formal majority for German arms. And it is also being recalled here that on the first vote, when the pressure on deputies was not so in- tense and they were freer to vote as their constituents wished, they turned down a new Wehrmacht by 280 votes to 259. That vote will stand as the opin- ion of France. After the second vote last week, the Assembly met briefly and de- cided to postpone till after Jan- uary 11 a new motion postponing application of the Paris agree- ments. The French Socialist party ex- ecutive meeting after the second vote had been taken, decided to expel Max Lejeune, chairman of the National Defense Commis- sion of the National Assembly, and suspend 16 other deputies who voted against ratification of the Paris agreements. Premier Mendes-France looks glum, as well he might. He won a vote on German rearmament, but less than half the members of the Chamber of Deputies supported him. German rearmament still faces hurdles The Italian Communist party, the largest in Western Europe, called last week for a “mighty mobilization to stay the hands of those preparing new, frightful con- flicts.” . In West Germany the Social Democratic party declared its fight against German rearmament would go on. It noted that only great U.S. and British pressure had forced the French Chamber of Deputies to agree to German rearmament and this, it declared, could not be construed as a good sign for the future of the Paris agreements. It also noted that the agree- ments still had to go through three legislative stages in the West German parliament; that the Saar agreement was a big headache to Germans shun war toys : How the people of West Germany feel about remilitarization of their country is indicated in this dispatch buried on an inside page of the Toronto Telegram. West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and that the earliest time a final vote could be taken was the middle of February. Even Adenauer himself had to admit that “great psychological and political differences” still stood in the way of West European “harmony,” despite the French vote. In New York, James Reston, chief Washington correspondent of the New York Times, de¢lared that the men around US. State Secretary John Foster Dulles are still “sick at heart about the poli- tical instability of France and full of doubts about her reliability as an ally.” Representatives of the Polish, Czech, and East German parlia- ments, meeting in Prague, resolved as the countries “most menaced by West German rearmament,” they “would not look on passively while Germany is rearmed.” Asian premiers to invite China DJAKARTA Five Asian prime ministers, meeting in Indonesia, decided last week to invite People’s China to the conference pf Asian. and Afri- can countries they are-calling in April. The April conference will also be held in Indonesia and the five premiers. — of India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon — agreed that the agenda would be drawn up by the delegates. Its aim will be to promote good- will and cooperation among the nations of Asia and Africa, to ex- — plore and advance their mutual in- terests and to establish and furth- er friendliness and neighborly re- lations. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 7, 1955 — PAGE 3