IIRJA ~ Today la BritiaA declaration~ independence wt A A India, ■ a1 well be one of the turning points ot hiator7. f1 aettlement of the long and vexing Indian pr would . ~ be of the greatest iaportance in traaqu one of the tr.anafor ■ ation of that i• ao closely relat d, which our owa country !apire) Few thiaga could•• aore definite thaa the 1tate■ent ■ade ;~Pri■e liaiater Attlee in Parlia■eat today. loaaona that the British Cabinet Comaiasion, aoon to atart for India, will go with full authorization to establiah ax■ the complete iadepeadeac f th a t Yast aub-continent. The ~oaaission ie to preside over negotiations for a kind of conatitution to tit the complex and bedeviling eocial and religious proble ■ s of India. Attlee reco ■ mended the formation of an int e ri ■ go•ernment to t ake charge while the constitution is being X7 J 111216 - 2 drawn up - a caretaker government that would have the grehtest poeeible public support in India. Then, independence, of any sort that the Indian people aay decide upon! The Priae liniater aaid he hoped that India would chose to have it• freedoa within the fraaework of the British l■pire. If not - that's okay too. ~~1•• I have been talking with British friend• who are aware of recent trends in India, and they tell•• that the aajor problea i• that•••• old story - the feud between the Hindus and th• Moalems. W~at the British no• want is tor India to call a constitutional ~ I ••end ■••~ to work out a acheae for the government of the country. The leaders of ,a Hindu nationaliaa ~gree !Bil - 3 to that. The Moaleas are opposed. They want two . conventions, one for the Bindua, one for the loha■- aedane. Thie in line with the Mosle ■ ~mand for - Pakistan, which aeans a seperate and independent lobaaaedan state in India. Inforaanta to whoa I talked today eay that there 11 10•• po11ibility of a co■pro■ i•• on thia point between the Bundus and the Mo1lea1.They tell •• that Ghandi,ri&ht now, is in a cooperati•• aoo4, and he ■ aJ turn out to be a power for aoderation and co ■ ro■ iae. BoweTer - 1uppoae that the Bindua ad Ioele■• can't get together on the question of a con1titution? Here'• one answer auggeated by British opinion that I baTe consulted: If the Indian• theasel••• cannot get together on a constitution for an in'ependent India, why then the British will draw one up.- a• fairly as they can, balancin , things betweon the two group1. And then they'll impose this consti- tution on India - teaporary aaybe. The Indiana IIDIQ - 4 - - - to work out their salvations as well aa they can under the British arran ed scheae of goTernaent. lhat are the prospect• of a free India re ■ aining in the fraaework of the British !apir of ita own volition? The Britiah hope ia that Indian leaderahip will perceive the wisdon of such an a11ociation- while their country is developing a free political ayatea. India, they point out, will need a tie-up - for purposes of defenae eape- cially. The British concede that in the face of antagoniaa and agitation, : the Indian•••••• would probably cry - away with everything British. But, with Britian itself ia1i1tin1 that India ■ ake ita • own coice, a ■ ore aoderate prudence ■ ig t pe~v~il. Of course, it is one thing to proclai ■ Indian independence int e Parliaaent in London, and it will be Wll - 5 another when a Cabinet Commission gets out there into the tangle of perplexities th t ia India - but it would see ■ that the independence of India i1 on the schedule !Ji ' ,. ' ,~-~ ~ of the • A..* •• •••~flitire--- Pf,...,f J/,b"d_, ,?-1HJ~ ~ ~J~ to~ ~ tf:.w, 0""""1, ~~~ - ~1 • IRA• Hews of the Iranian crisis merely increases the tenseness of t~ssue -- a ~ e ia- a wave of I\ \M,.'JJ 0 ... ~lara and wild rumor ■ throughout t h ~ ~ a s t . The Iranian Mini s ter of War today pledget his country to a last-ditch battle against the Red Ar ■1, if the Soviets ••••i• make any · move t T . ~ e Iranian capital. The ar Minister declared that the Soviets were threatening the securit7 of his country. Be said that Red Army troops in Iran bad been *z*••• tripled in the past month, and that they were~ein& heavily reinforced at a point only twenty ailes fro ■ Teheran. Also, said he, Soviet aotorized coluana are moving toward the frontier of Turkey. e have been hearing right along about these Ru ■ aian military mo es. The new angle toda7 is a declaration/that the ancient Persian n tin will resist - It " f fight to the last man, said the Iranian Minister o ar. He adde th t ev e n boys &n girls wo · ld join in the battle, i the Red Army should move to ~ ard Te he ran. J IRAI - 2 . --- One of the most alarming -- and plausible -- of the rumors that is circulating in the Middle East is that an uprising may occur among the Iurds -- wild tribesmen who inhabit~ ■ountain section• in ~ I ~-•~ Turke7,Aand Iran.JJI~f-they ahould revolt and declare their independence -- - ~ i g h t well mean another of ,.. those Soviet-sponsored regimes, a number ot which now flourish under the wing of Moscow. A Iurdish state, under trick Soviet auspices, would indeed c.Je,l to against~ +a Iran and ,JI\. be a dangerous Turkey. j IIIIIAI..Al§!~!L There was a neat bit of anti-climax i . Washington today - the kind of dra ■ a in which lofty suspense turn• into a bo••• laugh in the last act. The world situation being what it ia, there waa i ■■ ediate intereat whea the Soviet Charge d'Affair•• went to the State Depart ■ ent to deliv~r a diplomatic com■ ~nication. lhen he emerged fro ■ the office of Secretary Byrne• the newsaea asked ~i ■ - what kind of diploaatic co ■aunication? lbat ••• l\ all about . ? TheSoviet Charge d'Affai r ea replied that he had banded to the Secretary of State lo cow'• answer to an A■ erican note. That raised the tense interest aeveral degree• higher. Washington bad sent several notes to lo•cow, tbeee concerning aajor topics of world dispute, ~ nd not one of the ■ had been answered. A newsman asked: •was it in answer to the not ~ on Iran?" lllllAL!l§!IB - 2 To which the Charge 4 1 Aftairea reeponded in a breezy off-band way: •ob, there are so any other probleae, Manchuria, etcetra.• And, witb that, he hastened ou his way. That produced a newe flaeb atating tbat Moscow had aent a reply to one of t~e Aaerican note, - and that the Soviet Charge d'Affaira ~ad declined to re~eal whether the anewer pertained to Iran or lan- cburia. lbich of the three notes ot protest wae get- ting a reply? That was the auapenee. •~ waited for the newa wire• to bring t~e answer - hoping that the State Departaent would not delay in revealing the secret. The hope wae not in vain. Shortly afterward, &n announceaent was aade - and here'• the way the bulletin flaahed, hot fro■ the wire: •Tbe Soviet govern ■ ent,• it stated, •today delivered a reply to an A ■ erican note about Russia's reouest for a billion dollsr loan.• §IALIN. Stalin b as resign e d -- but don't g et excit e d. It's a mere formality. Th e ne w ly elected Su p reme Soviet is meeting, and it is the custom for the Soviet Premier to offer his resignation. Stalin did, and w as i ■mediately asked to t ake of f ice again and fora a new ■ in is try. So, everything remains as before, Stalin ~ running Soviet Russia. Eut here is something - states thaj;,he Supreae Soviet today voted to abolish - - the naae of Commissar a s applied to aeabers of the govern m ent. Bereafter the ordinar1 European title ia to be used, Cabine( aeabers being called -- Ministers. All of which is something of a revolutton ~~ w ith the oustin g of a revolutionary n~me. The old tiae - Bolsheviks of the Lenin ..t Trotsky era doted on that ~, proletarian expression -- Commisar. It wa s~ sort of label for the Marxist revolution -- Foreign Coamisar, ~ An d , b1 comp a ris o n, the titl~ of Mini s ter A ,.,_ eema p ainful l y bour g eois•. C!!QRC HILL in st on Chu rc hill ot hi le Y rk today -- the tr di ti nal elcome th · t the Big Town giv s to re t eople. It as raining, drizzling, but large crowds turned out to s e e Britain's · ,~ ar leader -- who has stepped anew into the spotlight~ ~ ...... ef tJh9'-.Aew& a-s- ,American frat rnal associati n. Tickertape showered down through the moist atmosphe r e, a .,9:1;;as..-:• Churchill rode along in high th style to City Hall -- where he made an address A.. speaking again in favor of a closer tie between bis country and ours. There w a s a flur . ry of disturbance when the police had to deal with Coamunist pickets denouncin& Brit &Al's wartime Chieftain. They represented themselves as Communist war veterans -- · the Reds availing themselves of 111! glory of soldiers of America. The scrap was brief, and twenty Communists were taken to the police station and c•arged with disorderly conduct. Qfil!}!C§,!LL_=_2 Ample precautions are being t ken against Left ing disturbanc s a t the aldorf, where Churchill is to speak tonight. CIO Onions in Ne\i York, some of which have a Reddish tinge, called for five thousand pickets to protest ag ainst Churchi~l's address.~o ■ igh~ • ..,The police are prepared.Hi'~"TAll indications are that Britain's Princeof public speakers will have dramatic things to say -- a reply, perhaps, to the furious blast that Stalin hurled at Churchill t■i•J da7 before yesterday. There is no a vanoe notice of hat Winaton Churchill will say. It usually is customary to give to the press and ra io a dvance z ■ ii• releases of important address s but not this t i e . We'll h d ve to will be bro · dca t by N.B.C. SPY --- The new spy arr sts in Can d a mi ht be dramatized with a tone of detective story mystery - if the hole thing were bot so serious as pl in reality. Four Canadian s ientists and the only Communist member of the Parliament - arrested for doing spy work at the behest of Sovi.:,_t Russia. ~he documents revealing the secret disclosed that mysterious code names were used - and not \,11y •elected, if detective story twists had beea • - the idea. The spy buaine•• was run by Colonel Zabodin, foraer ■ ilitary a tacbe' at th~oviet E■baasy at Ottawa. In undercover communication•, he was referred to as - •the Director•. One of the scientist• arrested today was referred to as - •the Professor.• And another bad the classical espionage pauedony ■ of •Prometheus•. However, the tone of detective romance goes poorly in the case of the four Canadian technicians who are charged SPY - 2 --- with having tran mitted secret inf o rmation to Soviet espionage. All four w re McGill University gradu a tes, e ployed by the Canadi n government on armaaent research during the war. among tha • Dr. Bayaond Boyer, Assista Professor of Chemistry at llcGillF•N~ lie h eaid to have adaited that he gave Soviet espionage full information concerning a secret •xplosive known aa R.D.X. - information eo complete that R.D.X could have beea aaaufactured in quantity fro• the inetructioaa be gave. Of the other technicians, one was a squadron 0 leader in the Royal Canadian Air lorce, and another ia Roaanian born, who is said to have eaployed relatives of hie wife in Romania for the transmission of secret 'ff? for information. l'ReportsAIIAthe Soviet spy ring were made munition on~•••**•i manufacture, on projectiles, communication secrets, and anti-submarine §f.l - 3 The ca e of Canada's lone tommunist me ■ber of Parliament is leas explicit. de is being held under spy _.._.,.,_~, charges}- eet, j•et Hat M e3 lage:d -egai ■■► lri ■ eta nai. Arraigned in Ottawa today, the Red 1.P. stood silent before the court - not a word out of hia.aei ■ I= i I don't kno w wh a t thin g s are comin to, when a aistake can happ e n like that one in ehica o - a stupeadou faux pas. l ■ •Biae...,. pelitieiaa, ••p ~ eially • ~i~ ti ■ er na■ ea lelly, falliae, ~• eeeh •~r••al er•••· In Chicago, Mayor Ielly presented a proposal to the City Council - , and there was no debate. •~••~ ,~. Bia Honor presented a resolution proclai ■ in1 - •Hungarian Day.• lell, there'• a coneiderable Bungariaa l•c•riaa pairtot lorrath, Buga11'• figh~er fer fr•••••• aearly a ~aadre4 7eere .,.._ The May o r 1uggested that Sunday be naaed Hungarian Day, and the C!tY father• applauded - eYery pol~tician aaong the ■, ■ any ~f the ■ Irish. The resolution was passed, and the horrible realization ca ■ e onlJ when a clerk, •bocked and ¾ aatonished, whispered to Bia Honor that Sunday, which he had naaed as Hungarian Day, was Uarch Seventeenth, St. Patrick's Day - and how in the name of [elly could you do a thing like that? You can iaagine the confusion of the Mayor and the City Council. In doing right by the Hungarian •ote, they were enacting a measure that would infuriate the • • " . -,. t ,1o . . . la ea7 ease, they aaae ~-•~e to rectify th• ~oae11w layor [elly and the City Council, especially the Irish ■ e ■bers, hid their red faces as they hastened to proclai ■ larch Seventeenth to~• St.Patrick'• Day - aa if it weren't St.Patrick'• Day already, •••r since the snakes were driY , en fro■ Irelan~