. . , ~~!~-=-gM_=-~RQ~~Qh § ! Cecember 27, 1954 (Charles Col l ingwood substituting) C. C. : GOOD EVENING, EV E RYBODY! The frencb ftational Assembly this e•ening drew one step back froa the abyss over which they had poised the Mendes-France goYernment. By a •ote of 289 to 251, the Asaeably voted to allow West · Ger••~ ~ to becoae a meaber of the lorth Atlantic Treaty Organi~ 1 ation. That's a •iot.ory for Mendes-France. It do•• not mean that be baa . •ob th• whole caapaign tor the plan to rear■ West Geraany, but it do•• ■ •an that he has scored an important initial succtae. In to4a7.•s debate t~• French Premier aadt clear the meaning • f thia IATO vote. It would eienify, said be, wheth-Er or not the French Assembly would reweree itself on the adverse decision of last week, when it Toted against Geraan rearmament. loreov~r, toni g ht's issue was one of confidence. If the French legislative body had rejected the IATO proposal, it would have overthrown the Government. So, Uendes-~rance won - but still ahead are two ■ ore crucial confidence votes. A move tonight to delay the whole ratification process. Mendes - 2 • France wil l fight th a t, of course. Then, tomorrow or ' ednesday the big central question - Ger■ an rearmament itself. , eetern observers think they see in tonight's vote the handwriting on the wall, that Ger ■ an rearaaaent will go through the Paris A1ae ■ bly. Down in Au.usta, Georgia, where the Preeident is vacationing, the winter White Bouse says the Preeident ia pleased, but the White House ie cautioue. lo formal atate ■ ent until final action ia taken by the unpredic6able French A11e■ bly. lot ao caut1oua ie Chair■ an Wiley of the Senate Foreign Relations Co ■mtttee. He says, "lelcoae news for all the free world.• Says Democratic Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana, •Thank God!• It's indicated in lashington that ■ oney saved by cutting ■ ilitary aanpower ■ ay be used in raising the pay of men in unifor■• The chiefs of our national defense want to ■ ate military service more attr a ctive, promote ~nlistmente and encourage men to go in for a militar~ career •. The pay hike would coat about 600 million dollars a year, which is just about the amount laYed by the proposed manpower cut; use the s a vings to promote morale. T - ,, ,..,,, , ~ . . . ~---------- --- - o • H . ·"' ------ - 1 .. T-here • s over t:1e ount i spectacul r i•* ir cr3s to y of C if r n·a - t o ·et fig ters ·n c lli~i n at ~0,1 feet: both 9ilots ~i ~e . ht a in ex o l s iOD of the jets was visib e in an Fr t ncisco, seventy .. fi•e miles aw ay . Fr ga ents of the the lanes came rai ni ng down on a r e sidential area near Sa n Jose. Here's a •i•id eyewitness account, gi•tn by . i llia ■ Albee of an Jose: •I was,• ht relates, •waiting for a bus, watchin~ those high •apo• trails in the sky near lount Ba ■ ilton. I couldn't ••• the planes; they were too high. I juet saw the •apor trails. One trail was going counter--cloetwiae, the other clockwise. I thought, '•Y God, they'r e going to crash'. Then,• eays the eyewitness, •there was a blinding flash.• A tragedy ot jet aviation; the •apor trails and the flash. We have another report from Lor.ell Th ■ as tonight, as he flies on to far nlaces. I'•• don@ a bit_, travellin g ■ y1elt and I know what intere s ting 9eopl@ you can meet on long journeys. Here's an ex a ■ ple in a r ~ cording from Lowell. - 4 - L. T. : Charlie, as you know, there isn't much room to roa ■ around even in the largest ■ odern airplane. And tonight this broadcast piece that I a■ doing for * you is com·ng fro ■ a Boeing Stratocruiser. te are about one-t~ird of the way along on a 2,000- ■ ile nonstop flight• right across Europe and the Mediter- ranean, and already I'• weary. I need a stretch. So, if those of y~u who are tuned in to our Delco progr••• if you'd like to co ■ e with ■ e, let's take a stroll up the aisle and chat with a few of the passengers. Frankly, I'• always curious to know who traYeler1 •7 companions, and where they are going. At this ao ■ ent we are flying at about 20,000 feet. For that matter, we ■ i«ht be somewhere in outer apace, boaDd for another planet, becauae it'• too dart •••n to see the Alp• that, I think, are right below ua. So co ■• along! ! , beg your pardon, sir, I hope you won't ■ ind ■7 asking you who you are, where you're goink an4 •by. IOSELET: Oh, I' ■ a scientiat THOIAS: And your na■ e? I I I MOSELEY: THOMAS: •• IIOSELEY: THOMAS: IIOSEL~T: THOIIAS: MOSELEY: .. ,:. · - ., - Moseley. Allan Mos~ley. \ Where from? Union College, in upstate New York, And ••• Are you an American? " Oh, no. I'm English, with Canadian background.~ ~I see. And where are you going? Ob, I'• going out to Africa Just tor a quiet look at so ■ e of the snail ■• THOMAS: And why are you interested in the snails in Africa? • .. c.,...,&. r. MOSELEY: ~ ,,,,........_ I Ii ,- L-1A.t g. Well, d'you know, I think thai 1naili 4 ·...,...,.. 1 Well, you see, I often talk to school children in A ■erica, in England, perhaps in Africa, and I tell the ■ snails are a ■ ong the ■ oat important animals in Africa. Lions, rhinos, hippos, elephants and ao on - they're all aigh;I you just ha•• to keep out of their way. But snails, the most insidious creatures, the most dangerous animals in Africa. They carry a dieea••• THOMAS: Oh, I see. That's the reason why you're going to study the ■• • ~!.!!._.:_!~ L~ .? L ~it - 6 - i o s EL F, Y: Yes, h av e a look · aroun d . I've b P. en to A fr : c a a g ood many time~ the p ast twenty ye a rs, a nd now I'm ju ~ t g oin g to have a qui c k look. TH O M ..; : .n n d .- ha t di s e as e i s i t, t h at the s n a i 1 carries? And why are you going there this time? MOSELEY: The disease is somet h ing called .1 11J!Uei!s 11 s • ' BUll1'1'1~ 11-•-·---~----■••··••= Ir, more aimply,Aw .-- •• The troops out in Egypt,1ear1 go, the last war, used to call it the Bil~■arrjs,, If tit 1 l Actually bilha'1la111 , an abbreviation or i11prove ■ ent upon"B ~ iit II I Ir, a di1ea1e carried by snails. lo snail•, no disease. W hat I'm concerned with is killing the snails. What sort of a disease is this? THOIIAS: 110S LEY: Oh, not very spectacular. W hen people • get thi s disease, they just feel no ~ood, lethargic, lacking in initiative. THOMA S : How large a part of the earth's surface is troubled b y this difficulty that comes from snails? 11S!LEY: V. any of the woraer countries. 1111t. . to a large part 4s far as popul a tion is concerned, i t a ppl ies~uaxd of the human population of the •orld. Now. t h a t makee it a serious thin g . a really serious t h i n f;? . S o, I'• - 7 - on the job - o ne of the••• acientists on the job. TB OM · S : Thank you ver y much, Professor! Well, Charlie, I thought we coul d at least g et around to three or four, but our first fellow passenger p roved to be so interesting that I g ues~ we'll have to continue this in our next. So, if you're listening tomorrow night, we'll see if there iB anyone on board this plane who can top the professor •ho is flying to Africa to study snails. So long! - 0 - c. c. : Now, that was a bit pf peak in contrast: fast flying ani a etory about 1nail1. Lowell, you certainly ha•e a talent for finding interesting people. 11,11 In Washington todaJ officials of the State and the Defense Departments are conferring on a proposed agreement between an American ■ ilitary mission and the Spani s h Government concerning marri a ges of American military personnel with Spaniards. We're establishin g great air bases in Spain. That sort of thin g i s a l w ays accompanied by wedding bells. Alre a dy, half a dozen GI'• have married pani s h g irl s , a n d th a t • - 8 - . brings up the problem of religion. In S pain m a rriages are regul a ted by the c a non law of the Rom a n C a tholic Church, which p rovides th a t a church dispensation is necessary for the marria g e or · a Catholic with a non- ~ . Catholic, the children to be brou~ht u~ as Catholics. Sev~ral ver s ions of the agreement have been reported. Th•~e•s nothing certain about the terms; neierthel•ss there's already a protest in this country. Yesterda7 the Very Rev. James A. Pike, Dean of the !piscopll Cathedral of st. John the Diviae in lew York, denoumced the move as wa threat• our religious freedom.• ECUADOR -------~ In Ecuador today the Government made arrest ■, alleging a conspiracy to overthro• the regi ■ e ot President Velasco Ibarra. Half a dozen accused leader• were taken into custody, including two Army orftcers and a foraer ■e ■ber of the Ecuadorian Con g res~ a obe- time Ambassador to Guatemala. The story is that these officers an d the politico~ called on President Ibarra and made a demand that the Minister of the Int L rior be disalssed. Tonight they're in prison, charged with being J traitors to the constitution and the laws of the republic. Thet•re to be court merti a led. , - 9 - S outh sian conference is on in Djakarta, the c,ptial of In1onesia, attended by the Premiere of India, Paki s tan, Ceylon, Burma and Indonesia. They're discu1sing ways to reduce the tension af East a~d West in Asia. Djakarta today was in a gala mood, with flags flying eY e rywhere, flags of the five South Asian countries and also the flag of Red China • • The local Chinese Reds are p"'ting on a spectacular de ■ onstration, with a particular political meaning. The five Premiers plan to . call a still bigger confer- ence in the spring. One • question is whether or not • , to invite the Chinese Reds. So the local Co ■aunist1 are expressing their opinion - saying it with flags. FRANCE - IIILI ---,_ _____ _. __ ...,_ We started our ne•• report with M. Mende1- France. Here's another story involving the embattl~d • Premier of Frence.(Premier llendes-Fra . nce is facing • a revolt a g ain s t hi• milt.drinkin g progra■• Today, in the town of Frignan, the loca• ~fficials issued a "' declaration of defiance~ The town is the center of a famoue ~ine-~ro•.:)ng district •. The Government pro ~ ram il! to httve the sch o ol children drJnk · milk - e a eh ~ . ,. h youn g ster to ~ et a g l a ss of mi l k ~very da y - to ~ hie - 10 - town fathers at Frignan retort, •the schools are there to teach reading and writing•; after which the statement goes on, ~ith fine Frencb irony, •since, in high places, reaponeible persona can find money for ■ ilk, let them find it also for wine.• Well, no one can say that Mendes-France lacks courage. Premier of a nation that dete1t1 Ger■ any and lo••• wine, h•'• trying to change bis country'• mind on both at the aa■ e time - and it's bard to say which is ■ ore ingrained, Bugh, in the French character; distru•t of Geraany or confidence in wine.