March 17, 1973

Fed Reserve Bd repts on Mar 16 that indus production rose 0.8% in Feb, up from Jan rise of 0.6%, to level 9.8% higher than that of '72 period; says gains were mainly in consumer goods and business equipment; graph

Vincent F. Albano, the Republican leader in Manhattan, has joined in the opposition to former Mayor Robert F. Wagner as the Republican‐Liberal nominee for Mayor. Mr. Albino declared that he would fight for a Republican rather than for Mr. Wagner as the candidate. Page 15.

Nixon Adm on Mar 16 urges Cong to authorize $300-million in new Fed loan guarantees to finance rehabilitation of Amtrak through 78; recommends 14% reduction in 26,300-mi rail network served by corp; proposed cutback, if approved by ICC, would leave number of small communities, as well as cities of Louisville, Ky, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, Nashville, Tenn, and Montgomery, Ala, without passenger service; Transportation Dept, in rept to Cong accompanying its recommendations, asserts that Amtrak has reversed historic decline in passenger service on some routes but says it is too early to determine future of such service in US; threatened routes listed

Mayor Lindsay on Mar 16 announces that NYC will undertake intensive lobbying effort in Legis and across NYS to fight Delafield Comm's proposal that NYS take over city's offtrack betting operations, news conf; says lobbying drive, headed by R A Brown, will focus on cities and communities throughout NYS that have or want to have their own OTB operations, as well as NYS Legis; J H Krumpe, pres of NY Racing Assn, deplores 'pol controversy' over comm's recommendations; says he thinks offtrack betting will generate more revenue for govt under statewide setup proposed by comm; E Jacobs, pres of NY Division of Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Assn, hails comm's finding that purses in NY must now be 'adequate, reasonable and competitive'; Lindsay says that 'charge that OTB is hurting race tracks is nonsense'; figures made available by Thoroughbred Racing Assns for '72 seasons indicate daily attendance at tracks outside NY down 3.3% and daily avg betting handle down 0.2%; Samuels and Lindsay illus

Allied officials rept Communist forces are building up supplies and mil equipment in critical border prov of Tay Ninh NW of Saigon; say they introduced advanced weapons never before seen in area, including USSR-made 130-mm artillery with range of nearly 17 mi; S Vietnamese Col Le Van Thien says that in wartime, such a build-up would indicate preparations for an attack; S Vietnamese Brig Gen Le Van Tu estimates that as many as 100 USSR-made T-54 tanks arrived in Tay Ninh in the last month; thinks Communists could be ready for a division-size attack early in Apr; thinks cease-fire creates a much more difficult situation for S Vietnamese than the truce of '54 did; details on other mil equipment involved in build-up; map

S Chapo and M Huback, unfrocked Byzantine priests, are indicted in New Haven Fed Dist Ct on Apr 16, charged with systematically smuggling ancient atlases with hand-painted maps and other rare books from collections at univ libraries at Yale, Dartmouth, Indiana, Notre Dame, Manhattan, Washington, Harvard, Fordham and Chicago over period of yrs and reselling them to rare book dealers or dismantling them for sale as individual maps; Asst US Atty T F Maxwell Jr repts 3-count indictment of transporting books to Chicago and NY; Yale Univ Sterling Memorial Library staff remains baffled at how largest atlases were successfully secreted beneath priestly robes and taken past security checks; thefts were discovered at Yale when Chicago rare book dealer Hamill & Barker offered univ La Atlas del Mundo o el Aquado, (published in Amsterdam in 1665) and univ library replied it had 1 of 3 copies in existence but could not locate it; FBI subsequently unearthed hundreds of rare vols at St Stephen's Monastery, Queens, that served as base for 2; Yale authorities say full extent of theft will not be realized until thorough examination is made of library's holdings

AID employe M D Benge tells of his 5 yrs as a captive of the N Vietnamese, int and news conf, Washington; calls them yrs of disease, malnutrition and 'extensive coercion'; says captors' refusal to provide med care for 2 of his fellow civilian prisoners, B A Olsen and H Blood, led to their deaths; says US has 'humanitarian obligation and a Christian responsibility' to aid the people of Vietnam; urges that any US aid to the North be put into health programs and into rebldg of houses, not into indus reconstruction; Benge por

US, EEC, Japan, Switzerland and Canada agree on Mar 16 on loosely formulated package of measures designed to ease problem of excess dollars abroad and to assure reopening of official currency dealings under orderly conditions on Mar 19; issue communique indicating more controls on short-term capital flows, more action to bring dollars back to US and intervention by US and other nations if necessary to try to hold pressent exch rates; communique notes pledge by US and each of other countries to be prepared to intervene at their initiative in their own mkt, when neccesary and desirable, acting in flexible manner to support their own currency; communique stresses need for success of natl efforts to contain inflation and says 14 nations are resolved to pursue fully appropriate policies to this end; holds any future intervention will be financed, when necessary, through use of mutual credit facilities (swaps), noting they could be enlarged to insure fully adequate resources; notes US authorities are revg actions to facilitate inflow of capital into US and that US has agreed to consider encouraging flow of Eurocurrency funds back to US; says 14 nations have decided to reduce amt of official reserves placed in Eurodollar mkt and makes note of studies looking forward to getting all IMF members to limit their placements in Eurodollar mkt; Sec Shultz keeps US options open in agreement; indicates US is prepared to act to restore orderly mkt conditions; predicts 'reasonable conditions' in mkt, news conf in US Embassy where he is accompanied by Fed Reserve Bd Chmn A F Burns, Under Sec Volcker and Fed Reserve Bd member J D Daane; illus; Burns denies rumors in NY that US as concession to Eurs has agreed to raise Fed Reserve Bd's discount rate to bring excess dollars home; notes US has $11.5-billion of outstanding short-term swap credit lines; authorities are reptd hoping that new defense, together with action taken by EEC in linking currencies of 6 members in joint float, will buy time for what is now considered to be 'urgently' needed reform of monetary system to curb magnitude of any future disruptions of exch mkt; Min Giscard d'Estaing describes conf results as 'very positive' while Min Schmidt notes 'amazing degree of cooperation' displayed by US and EEC countries; Giscard d'Estaing notes France, Belgium and Netherlands are already tightening their exch controls; says France is following W Ger's example by barring interest payments on non-resident bank accts and making it so expensive for banks to service such accts that they will probably have to charge their foreign client for taking his money; Sweden and Norway announce they will also join float of 6 EEC currencies; best assessment of mkt specialists is that arrangements might produce period of calm and reflection and even temporary strength in dollar, but that inevitably the defense weapons will be tested by speculators; communique reptdly shows that US wants to call truce to so-called policy of benign neglect while meeting shows new spirit of cooperation

US Interior Dept disapproves proposed routes by NY MTA for 6.1-mi bridge from Rye, NY, to Oyster Bay, LI, on grounds that it would traverse Oyster Bay Natl Wildlife Refuge; Interior Dept spokesman W W Lyons, in lr to MTA chmn Dr W J Ronan, says dept's decision is based on terms under which town of Oyster Bay turned refuge over to dept several yrs ago; says terms include specific language prohibiting dept from bldg anything 'over, under or through refuge'; map of area

Labor Sec Brennan on Mar 16 hails recently-negotiated 18-mo natl rr labor pact, saying its 10.7% increase in wages and benefits for over 500,000 workers will fall within reasonable guidelines, news conf; Brennan is 1st Adm official to comment on pact; several unions representing workers in rr shops say wage increase in pact of 4% over 18 mos is too small and indicate they may not sign agreement; Ry Clerks union pres C L Dennis asserts contract is final agreement and predicts that all member unions will ratify it; says rrs' takeover of part of employes' contribution to rr retirement fund, in addition to wage increase, will mean workers will actually be taking home 10-13% more money by end of 18 mos; asserts settlement will cost rrs $1-billion per yr, which will be recovered by obtaining excise tax on shippers or rate increase authorization; unions reptd balking at package are Ry Carmen, Sheet Metal Workers and Machinists; Brennan illus

US sources rept a team of US drs in Jan '71 examined 116 S Vietnamese pol prisoners who said they were paralyzed because of maltreatment and concluded that all of them were either faking or were victims of hysteria; details of the examinations come to light following news accounts concerning 124 pol prisoners released by Saigon in Mar who said their legs were paralyzed from malnutrition and long confinement in the so-called Tiger Cages of Con Son prison

Biog article on Sec M W Sharp; his full name is Mitchell William Sharp