April 24, 1972

largely indifferent French electorate approves Apr 23 referendum admitting GB, Norway, Denmark and Ireland to EEC; referendum draws only 60.6% of eligible voters to polls; 68% of voters vote 'yes' while 32% oppose it; abstention rate of over 39% is one of highest in history of French voting, and unusually high rate of 7% blank ballots is reptd; in terms of eligible voters, 36.4% vote in favor of treaty while 17% vote against it; result seen as highly clouded success for Pompidou, who was seeking strong popular backing to exert his personal leadership in future negotiations to transform widened EEC into more ambitious grouping with coordinated policies in pol, monetary and defense fields; Premier Chaban-Delmas and other leaders profess satisfaction with vote, but more voters obviously stayed away from polls than leaders would have liked; much of abstaining and blank and negative voting is linked to domestic questions involving Pompidou and his policies; factors playing important role in unusually high number of abstentions and blank votes detailed; computer estimates indicate that perhaps as much as qr of electorate that usually supports majority parties abstained while 1/5 of Communist voters did same; 1/2 of Socialist voters abstained while other 1/2 divided equally between 'yes' and 'no'; illus of Pres and Mrs Pompidou voting

Article on United Fruit Co, founded in 1899, finds that co's stigma as the corporate personification of the 'Ugly American' has changed for the better, but that it remains chronicled as a symbol of the 'mendacious, aggressive Yankee trader at his ruthless worst'; says co seems to have learned from history since it has won considerable acceptance and even a measure of goodwill from more than 12,000 Hondurans on its payroll in a region filled with the incipient change of rising nationalism and anti-Americanism; notes co is probably the largest landowner in Honduras, controlling or leasing more than 200,000 acres, and that it pays $22-million per yr in salaries and $4.7-million in taxes, but that it still has numerous critics in Latin Amer who consider its aims incompatible with their ultimate goal of providing rural residents with an equitable share of land; cos plant at La Lima and benefits provided for its employes discussed; illus of plantation in Honduras in early 1900s and of worker packing bananas at La Lima plant; map details real estate holdings of co in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia and Nicaragua

New York sports fans enjoyed a golden day yesterday as the Rangers and Knicks reached the championship rounds of their respective hockey and basketball playoffs.

Deputy Asst Sec Hickman on Apr 20 presents slides Nixon Adm has prepared to support its contention that tax laws are reasonably fair as they stand and that tax reform is unnecessary and undesirable, Bar Assn of NYC; purpose is to counter growing cry for tax reform that has become major issue for Dem Pres aspirants; Adm case against tax reform rests mainly on assertions that individual income taxes do not add up to many billions of dollars of income that is escaping tax and that corps are taxed quite heavily compared with individuals; Hickman produces some figures to back up assertions

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