January 3, 1975

New York City Metropolitan Area: 232 persons are injured and more than 20,000 rush‐hr commuters stranded on Jan 2 when Penn Central commuter train bound for Grand Central Terminal, NYC, apparently ignores warning signal and plows into rear of another train just outside Bronx Botanical Garden station; many suffer facial cuts and broken noses, but most passengers rept no panic; passengers describe incident; Frederick G Wolf, engineer at controls of train, and veteran of 32 yrs' service, is scheduled to retire at end of mo; rr spokesman says he has good record and no previous accidents of this type; MTA chmn David L Yunich calls for investigation of accident, rr's second in 3 days; Bronx Dist Atty Mario Merola is also investigating crash; map of collision site; injured passengers and derailed wheels of rr train illus (L)

Communist forces reptdly on verge of overrunning Phuoc Binh (S Vietnam), 1st prov capital seriously threatened since taking of Quang Tri in '72, 9 mos before signing of Paris peace agreement; Saigon mil command repts intense fighting in streets of Phuoc Binh; N Vietnamese troops and tanks reptdly have been seen less than 1 mile south of city's center; drive for Phuoc Binh City, which is capital of Phuoc Long Prov, seen by experts as culmination of recent regional campaign in which Communists took prov's 4 dist capitals; currently expanding winter‐spring campaign reptdly is aimed at improving Communist supply routes, gaining land and population and inflicting heavy casualties on Govt side in order to tip mil balance enough to force S Vietnamese Pres Nguyen Van Thieu from office or gain pol concessions; some mil experts and foreign diplomats contend Communist attack on Phuoc Binh has exceeded inhibitions Paris peace agreement had placed on attacks of prov capitals and city of Saigon; mil source says vital base camp atop Ba Ra Mt, 2.5 miles south of Saigon, was quickly abandoned by most of Govt defenders, who were local militiamen rather than regular Army forces; Govt is unable to reinforce or resupply troops to Phuoc Binh after Communists cut all roads to city and come within range of city's airfield; Brig Gen Phan Hoa Hiep, head of S Vietnamese delegation to 2‐party Joint Mil Comm, appeals to Vietcong for urgent meeting to arrange evacuation of wounded civilians and shipments of supplies to city; Vietcong press spokesman Maj Phuong Nam rejects appeal, calling it 'false humanitarian trick of Saigon side"; S Vietnamese Govt repts that as assault on Phuoc Binh was beginning, N Vietnamese troops also penetrated dist capital of Hoai Due, 56 miles northeast of Saigon; map (M)

Pres Ford's econ advisers have reptdly reached virtual unanamity on need for tax cut to fight recession, and Ford appears to be moving toward such decision; Adm officials say there is debate about proper size of tax cut and caution that Ford has reached no final decision; stress that just about all of Ford's key advisers on econ policy, including Treas Sec William E Simon, are now agreed on need for tax cut in '75 to stimulate nation's slumping econ; say differences over size of tax cut are reconcilable; say proposals for reduction fall in range of $10‐to $20‐billion; say that if Ford also proposes separate new taxes on imported and domestic crude oil for energy policy purposes, income tax reduction could be much larger than $10‐to $20‐billion; Brookings Institution economist Arthur M Okun proposes that in return for tax relief, workers agree to limit their wage demands to increase of no more than 7%; Adm has decided to ask Cong to give house owners tax credit for 15% of cost of insulation, up to maximum of $200 (M)

NYS Controller Arthur Levitt indicates that, contrary to Gov Carey's expressed concern, he does not expect current state budget to slip into deficit; asserts incoming revenues are running ‘slightly ahead’ of estimates originally predicted; agrees with Carey on major focus of concern—fiscal '75‐76 budget, beginning in Apr, and asserts Carey will have ‘difficult time’ balancing budget; concurs with Carey that deficit of at least $500‐million looms for next yr, even if revenue picture continues to hold up favorably in final 3 mos of current budget (M)

Assemblyman Andrew J Stein asserts that Stanley Steingut should not be elected Assembly Speaker because of his ‘proven involvement with Bergman empire’; Bernard Bergman is head of vast network of nursing homes and central figure in investigations into allegations of abuses, frauds and pol influence in nursing home indus (M)

illus of Walter E Washington being sworn in by Assoc Justice Marshall as 1st elected Mayor of DC since 1871

The stock market began the new year with an upturn in prices that pushed the Dow Jones industrial average ahead 15.80 points to 632.04 on reduced volume. Page 37.

John A Hoffar, foreman of Watergate cover‐up trial jury, briefly discusses panel, explaining that Judge John J Sirica had cautioned jurors not to discuss deliberations; he, like 11 other jury members, is trying to re‐establish life as private citizen after almost 3 mos of being sequestered; activities of some other jurors noted; Hoffar illus (M)

Long‐awaited Vatican statement on ways to improve RC‐Jewish relations is made public Jan 3; guidelines were prepared by ch's Comm on Relations with Judaism to carry out ‘Declaration on the Jews’ issued in '65 by Vatican Council II; reassert ch's condemnation of anti‐Semitism and call for sweeping action to eliminate all forms of discrimination against Jews that might be found in ch's worship and teaching; call for dialogue, affirmation of joint Biblical and theological heritage and emphasis on ‘common elements of liturgical life’ as means for improving relations between Caths and Jews; appeal for Cath respect for Jew's ‘faith and religious convictions,’ warn against comparing Old Testament unfavorably with New Testament, stress that ‘it is the same God’ who speaks through Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and urge common quest for soc justice; Jewish Com on Interreligious Consultations, on behalf of World Jewish Cong, Synagogue Council of Amer and Amer Jewish Com, predicts that guidelines ‘will encourage better understanding’ and applauds their stand on anti‐Semitism; notes regretfully that text fails to include reference to Israel and leaves unanswered question of whether the Jews are to be viewed as needing conversion to Christianity; Amer Jewish Com sec Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum says ‘no self‐respecting Jews’ could live ‘in good conscience’ with portion of the guidelines that ‘imply religious 2d class status in family of faith communities’; Rev Edward Flannery, dir of secretariat on Cath‐Jewish relations for US bishops, denies that guidelines impugn integrity of Judaism; Cardinal John Willebrands, pres of Comm on Relations with Jews, calls guidelines ‘first step’ (L)

price of gold plunges in London on Jan 2 following dearth of interest by US investors and speculators; afternoon price drops $11.50 an ounce to $175 and price later closes at $174.50 an ounce; analysts say sharp decline in prices in London, Paris and Frankfurl resulted from overbuying by speculators who expected Amer ‘gold rush’ when ban on ownership was lifted Dec 31 (M)

Repts from Cairo that Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev postponed his trip to Middle East for reasons of ill health result in widespread skepticism in foreign diplomatic circles in Moscow; foreign diplomats generally continue to believe that trip was put off because of unresolved differences between 2 countries (L)

A well‐dressed young man walked into Nathan's Famous Restaurant in Times Square early this morning, drew a gun and shot a patron and three security guards — two of the four fatally. Moments earlier, the guards had evicted the gunman from a rear door of the restaurant after he harassed a young woman, according to the police.