Chiang's Troops 'A Bargain In World Strategy
Sea Wipes Out Dutch Financial Freedom
jMEÖNEWS
Sparkle Is Theme of Queen's Dressmake
FROM HOLLAND:
dispatches
FROM FORMOSA: that background
headlines on
Eye-witness
Holland
and Formosa.
DAILY
PAGE
By WADE JONES
NEA Staff Correspondent
npHE HAGUE—(NEA)—Tough, tiny, water-soaked Holland
has just fought and lost another battle with her ancient
enemy, the sea. And now she faces another battle, to regain
her financial strength.
Loss from the week-end storm will "run into hundreds
of millions," according to a government spokesman.
"It puts us right back where we were after the war in
1945," he added grimly.
There's real tragedy in that last
statement, for only five days be
fore the storm struck, Holland had
announced that her recovery from
World War II had reached a point
where she would not need any
more United States economic dol
lar aid this year.
Those seven long, lean years
since the war had seen this little
water-bedeviled nation of 10,000,-
000 people fight its way back from
a state of near paralysis to one of
thriving productivity.
And it was done the hard way
no miracle short cuts or "have
your cake and eat it" methods. It
came through hard work, tight
regulations, self denial and brains.
How often can this country,
historically plagued by invasions
of the sea continue to bounce
back?
The answer was to be seen in
the faces and actions of Dutch
men, women and children as they
fought along the country's 1500
miles of dikes to block the attack
of the sea.
I watched that battle in the
Rotterdam and Dordrecht areas.
It was raining and the gale
from the northwest lashed the
rain flat into the grim faces of
the men wrestling sandbags, the
women weeping as they carried
babies and clothing from their en
dangered homes, the evacuees
plodding toward long rows of
busses which would carry them
from the danger area.
There were grimness and a few
tears but no panic. Men in bright
yellow wooden shoes or in knee-
high rubber boots toiled steadily,
as if they'd been at it for years,
filling sandbags, heaving them off
trucks and slapping them into
weak points along the dikes.
In the midst of the swift jum
ble of straining men and grinding
trucks stood a little boy of seven,
bareheaded in the gale and rain,
calmly working a small hand
pump in the street. The modest
trickle he produced emptied into
the gutter and eventually added
itself to the seas of water on all
sides.
Electricity had gone so home
radios weren't working. With
the intuitiveness born of centuries
of fighting the sea, men knew
what to expect but it was only
a guess.
Out on the gray, wind-ripped
dikes in the flatlands the most
dramatic battle was fought.
Here one saw great gaps in the
dikes with water pouring through.
Over there in a clump of trees
was a farmhouse, and a boat was
trying to evacuate a family.
Seven people were drowned there.
The Dutch have three types of
dikes which they call "wakers,
sleepers and dreamers." The
wakers are the first line of de
fense, the sleepers the reserve line
and the dreamers the last strong
hold. The dike where I observed
was a dreamer.
Out toward the sleepers and
wakers, with great gaps in them,
stretched miles of water as far
as the eye could reach. Only back
of us was dry land.
A truck stopped and two sol
diers ran down the back side of
the dreamer and tried to remove
a family from their home.
"Where do you want us to go?"
the woman sobbed. "This is our
home and we stay here."
A grown son stood beside her
and agreed. The soldiers jumped
back in their truck and drove off.
Dutchmen, long used to floods
and their danger, are no different
from people I have seen in Amer
ica's great flood areas along the
Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio
rivers. None wanted to leave his
home. Some just wouldn't.
America's rivermen are a tough
breed and so are the Dutch. That
toughness undoubtedly will again
be the salvation of this stricken
country. If it can recover from
this only seven years after being
knocked to its knees in World
War II, surely it can recover from
anything. 2-2-53
THE FACES OF CHIANG'S MEN: "For a few hundred dollars per
man per year, a first-class fighting force of half a million men."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The author of the following dispatchwho
writes frequently for NEA Service, is an authority on the Far
East, where she has lived for many years. She is a personal
friend of the top Chinese Nationalist personalities.
By GERALDINE FITCH
NEA Special Correspondent
'UAIPEH, Formosa(NEA)The Nationalist troops on For-
mosa are a bargain in strategic world-wide planning, says
General William Chase, head of America's Military Advisory
Aid Group here.
In an exclusive interview with NEA Service, he de
clared
Formosa is a constant threat to the Reds, actually and
psychologically.
It is also a strategic deterrent to any Chinese Communist
move toward Indo-China.
"For a few hundred dollars per
man per year," he explained, "you
can have a first-class fighting force
of half a million men."
o, fZhr TUTJpe would make no
gUebb dS IU WlleiC iiauunuiiov
forces might first be used.in Ko
rea, Indo-China, or for an inva
sion of the Chinese mainland. His
job is to get the 500,000 soldiers
ready, and that's no small task.
But he was relaxed and affable
after five days of strenuous mili
tary conferences with his own
staff officers and those of Gen
eralissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
"The Chinese navy and air
force could lay an effective block
ade along the China coast within
a matter of hours," Gen. Chase
said.
There are strong indications
that something of a "bootleg
blockade" is probably going on
even now. The Chinese National
ist Navy was quick to reach the
sinking merchant ship Avanti off
the Red coast and rescue its per
sonnel not long ago. The Chinese
Air Force was on its toes when
a Chinese Communist tried to hi
jack a Philippine Air Lines plane
this Winter.
"There's a high potential here,"
Gen. Chase told NEA. "How soon
this team is ready to play in the
big league depends on Washing
ton. When the time comes for ac
tion we're going to need a lot of
ammunition soonest."
This seemed to echo his state
ment to 600 Chinese and Ameri
can officers and newsmen last De
cember when he said: "We have
received some hardware this past
year. We're going to receive a
lot more of it this next year
T business will be piclcirty
up this year, and I think you
know what I mean."
Some of that "pick-up in busi
ness" is now indicated in reports
of Nationalist guerrilla forces al
ready operating on or close to the
mainland under direct command
from Formosa.
In his interview, Gen. Chase
said he felt that President Eisen
hower "definitely" felt the stra
tegic importance of Formosa.
When Gen. Chase met the new
President in Korea, he said, he
had "every opportunity to brief
him on all phases of the situation
in Formosa."
Last October Chiang Kai-shek
retired some 131 generals and ad
mirals who were over-age, physi
cally unfit, or had reached maxi
mum term of service. It is the new,
younger officers who will lead the
next move of the Nationalist
troops.
Asked if these new generals had
learned the importance of co
operation, or would be inclined
to fight individual brands of war,
Gen. Chase said "the high com
mand, through our school system,
is getting the modern viewpoint."
As for the younger officers, he
said, "they're tops."
2-2-53
CHIANG'S GUNS ON REVIEW:: "When the time comes for action, we're going to need a lot of am
munition soonest," says General William Chase, head of U. S. Military Advisory Aid in Formosa.
1
New York, February 2, 1953
By ROSETTE HARGROVE
NEA Staff Correspondent
I ONDON (NEA) If the
U Queen's Dressmaker, Norman
Hartnell, has his way, the gowns
which will be worn by the great
at the Court festivities scheduled
for this momentous "Golden
Year" will blaze with shimmering
gold, rhinestone and sequin em
broideries. They'll rival the fab
ulous heirloom diamonds which
have been taken out of strong
boxes for the big doings.
His workaday Spring collection
wound up with a group of 24
"white and gold" creations dic
tated by Coronation dress regu
lations. These were slender
gowns in pure white, pearl
white, off-white and oyster sat
ins, as well as lames and bro
cades, meant to be worn under
peeresses' robes at Westminister
Abbey and, even more important,
taking up almost no room. In
terest was focused on corsage and
hips, so the tunic theme was often
featured.
For formal daytime occasions,
such as garden-parties, races,
regattas and such, Hartnell has
all the answers.
A sensational swinging redin
gote in white silk grosgrain with
bold navy revers to match topped
a slender handtucked navy taf
feta dress. A couple of garden-
party frocks had harem skirts
voluminous panels threaded
through the belt and tucked un
derneath the hem.
He likes the boldest of prints
one in white onion-skin satin
showed a broad swirling band of
black smoke. Another, in taffeta,
had four-inch black and royal
blue checks.
All the colors of the rainbow,
plus flower and jewel tones, were
featured. "Aquarelle" was a
sweeping evening coat in aqua-
FOUR CORONATION IDEAS
marine satin modeled on the lines
of the new Coronation robe,
which Hartnell designed, that
won the Queen's approval.
The deep white collar was
studded with jewels in the place
of ermine tails. This was shown
with a slender, allover embroid
ered white faille number and a
billowing white tulle gown scat
tered with forget-me-nots.
Porridge and oatmeal, with
navy, are Hartnell's 1953 daytime
colors.
Charles Creed (who has aban
doned Paris for London) as a
compliment to Elizabeth II named
his 26 suits and tailored dresses
after Queens of England. There
were Berengaria and Ethelburga,
Norman Hartnell, Queen's Dress:
Elizabeth and Alexandx-a.
"Alexandra" was a knee-length,
fitted redingotestemming back
to 1910in mustard face cloth
topping a slender skii-t. "Eliza
beth" was a youthful ensemble
in navy blue, the simple dress
with pleated skirt and brief
matchbox collarless coatee. Most
of his informal suits were collar-
less and fastening at the waistline.
Contrasting piping was an inter
esting detail.
American buyers in London are
concentrating their purchases on
the glamorous evening gowns,
which will bring on something of
the Coronation atmosphere to the
stores throughout the United
iker, shown from his sketches.
States.
They are also buying suits,
which this season feature the best
the British textile mills have ever
offei'ed. Most striking are paper-
thin worsteds and barratheas,
velours as light as swansdown fox-
topcoats, and tweeds that can be
handled like silks.
Other novelties in the fabric
line are the "slubbed" wools and
silks, the silk brocades (which
ordinarily were all of French ori
gin) and the immense improve
ment in the field of silk prints.
Here bold and dashing colors and
designs have replaced the wishy-
washy pastels, which the English
women once favored.
2-2-53
Reproduction in whole or part prohibited except by permission of NEA Service, Inc.Printed in U.S.A.
