April 29, 1975

Econ Advisers Council pres Alan Greenspan and Dr Arthur M Okun, sr fellow at Brookings Inst, discuss recession at 8th annual Institutional Investor Conf, NYC; illus; Greenspan says recession has not yet reached bottom, despite dramatic slowing; links continuing drag to massive liquidation of inventories; says rate of liquidation is still increasing; sees recession bottoming out near midyr; says he is more concerned over inflation during next few yrs; warns against excessive Govt spending and urges Cong to avoid large deficits in fiscal '76, '77, and beyond; says spending way out of recession would create more serious problems in yrs ahead; further drop in index of econ indicators, reptd by Commerce Dept Apr 28, seen signalling that recession's end may be mos away; most economists seen unconcerned over timing of econ recovery, which many believe will begin in 2d half of '75; Okun says some kinds of Fed spending could be dangerous way out of recession; urges Pres Ford to veto $5.9-billion public works bill because bulk of funds would not enter spending stream soon enough to help recession; sees econ upturn later this yr; says '77 or '78 will be 'danger zone' for inflation (M)

HR, 335-59, on Apr 28 passes $3-billion school lunch bill, which extends and markedly expands Fed program now providing free or low-cost breakfasts and lunches to more than 10-million schoolchildren; additional 5-million children to be included, as well as funds for maternal and child nutrition programs; bill, although some $1-billion above current spending and containing almost twice as much money as Pres Ford requested, is passed without $1-billion in increases originally sought by Dems; opposing views on bill noted (M)

team of physicists, convened last yr by Amer Physical Soc to assess safety of Amer nuclear reactors, finds no reason for 'substantial short-term concern,' but is critical in terms of long-term prospects; study focuses on water-cooled reactors that are standard energy source in power plants; notes excellent safety record so far; tone contrasts with views of such critics as Union of Concerned Scientists and Sierra Club; team expresses concern over absence of full-scale test of what would happen in case of reactor core melt-down; accepts estimate of former AEC that likelihood of such an accident is very small but holds AEC estimates of cancer deaths and genetic injuries are too low; Dr Wolfgang K H Panofsky comments on projected cancer incidence; presides over Physical Soc meeting, Washington, at which results of study are presented; was chmn of trio which revd findings; other 2 were Drs Hans Bethe and Victor F Weisskopf; team chmn, Dr Harold W Lewis, holds news conf; rept follows suggestion by Environmental Protection Agency that breeder reactor program be delayed; Controller Gen Elmer B Staats submits to Cong Apr 28 rept on breeder effort, suggesting that Energy Research and Development Adm projections for it are Optimistic and possibly unrealistic'; various recommendations of Physical Soc study group noted (L)

New Cambodian Govt, in Phnom Penh radio communique and similar written statement made by 3d Khmer Rouge Natl Cong and apparently aimed at N Vietnamese Govt, says no foreign mil bases will be tolerated in country; 311 delegates attend Cong; traditional hatred between Cambodians and Vietnamese recalled; 1st and 2d Congs, held in '73 and '74, recalled; Western analysts estimate at least 20,000 rearguard N Vietnamese troops are in Cambodia; communique's reference to humanitarian orgns is seen as reaffirmation that new Govt does not want Amer-oriented relief agencies, such as Catholic Relief Services, to re-enter country; status of other humanitarian groups, including UNICEF and Internatl Red Cross, is uncertain; Western analysts view Prince Sihanouk and Penn Nouth as figureheads in new Govt (M)

Over 150 rockets smash into Tan Son Nhut air base, in heaviest rocket attack of war, as N Vietnamese troops assault Saigon's suburbs; 2 US Marines guarding several thousand refugees awaiting evacuation outside US Defense Attache's Office reptd killed; 2 Vietnamese evacuees reptd wounded; US Air Force C-130 cargo plane reptd destroyed during attacks; US airlift is suspended; 24-hr curfew in capital continues; witnesses say 3 S Vietnamese Air Force planes, including 1 C-119, gunship were shot down by Soviet-made SA-7 Strella heat-seeking missiles during Govt attempts to suppress rocket fire; Communist troops attack Hoc Mon, Bin Chanh and Phu Lam; commandos blow up police station near Saigon; rocket and ground assaults follow cease-fire appeal by Pres Minh; 3 A-37 light jet bombers strike mil side of airport, causing devastating damage; Amer officials express concern and mystification over bombings; discount possibility that N Vietnamese forces are responsible for attack, since A-37's are mainstay of S Vietnamese Air Force; officials reptdly believe attack may have been made by renegade Govt pilots; Nguyen Cao Ky says he does not believe raids had been carried out by S Vietnamese Air Force members, phone int; Vietcong spokesman denies that Communist planes had taken part in attack, phone int; mil informants say 3 F-5 jet fighters, 3 C-47 transports, several helicopters and 1 unspecified mil passenger plane were destroyed in airport attacks; pandemonium grips downtown Saigon as antiaircraft guns and soldiers armed with M-16 rifles fire back at planes over city; 2 jet fighters resembling MIG-21's are reptdly sighted flying low over city; Saigon mil Gov Lt Gen Nguyen Van Minh says he does not know where planes came from, Saigon radio statement; all roads to Saigon reptdly remain blocked by Communist troops; N Vietnamese, with estimated 10 divs around city, reptdly are clearly able to overrun city in matter of hrs; shelling reptd in Tay Ninh, Hau Nghai, Bien Hoa and Long An Provs; casualties noted; N Vietnamese troops reptdly abduct 40 Cao Dai monks from Tay Ninh temple; S Vietnamese soldier, missing shot at passing taxicab, turns pistol on CBS-TV newsman; when pistol misfires, soldier hits newsman on head with weapon; confusion surrounding bombing at airport is compounded by severe thunderstorm; differences in mil tactics between S and N Vietnamese soldiers during recent fighting described; illus; maps (L)