March 31, 1976

productivity remains key issue between NYCTA and TWU as they strive to reach agreement to prevent transit strike; both sides are reptd to have adopted positions that offer no compromise, mgt saying that productivity will be necessary to pay for cost-of-living raise and union saying it cannot give back anything; NYC Mayor Beame, mediators Vincent D McDonnell, Michael I Sovern, Theodore W Kheel and TWU pres Matthew Guinan comment; McDonnell, and Sovern illus (M)

PLO leader Arafat meets for 1st time in more than 1 yr with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader George Habash; 2 leaders address rally in Beirut to mark Palestinian 'land day' in support for Arabs in Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip; Habash voices support for Arafat; Israeli planes reptdly fly over southern Lebanon (S)

Sen Hubert H Humphrey is giving subtle assistance to Repr Morris K Udall in Wis Pres primary in effort to head off victory by Jimmy Carter; Humphrey's friends in organized labor spread word that Udall victory would help Humphrey at conv; Udall himself says Humphrey backers should vote for him, lest Carter gain momentum that would rob delegates of real choice at conv (M)

contest to succeed Harold Wilson as Prime Min is narrowed on Mar 30 to 2 men: Foreign Sec James Callaghan and Employment Sec Michael Foot; Callaghan wins 141 votes cast by Labor MPs, Foot, 133, and Chancellor of Exchequer Denis Healey, 38; Healey is automatically eliminated from next round, which Callaghan is expected to win; pol standings of Callaghan and Foot discussed (M)

Univ of Calif psychology grad student Linnda R Caporael suggests in article in Science pub that Salem witch hunts of 17th century may have been result of convulsive ergotism, common condition in those days resulting from eating grains contaminated by parasitic fungus known as Clavicenps purpura, or ergot; component of ergot is hallucinogen related to LSD (M)

Jimmy Carter int on urban affairs; feels it would be 'inappropriate' for Fed Govt to single out NYC for special favors; stakes out more conservative position on Fed aid for NYC than his major rivals; details his plan to help cities (M)

gen strike by Israel's Arab citizens erupts into violent clashes with security forces in over a dozen villages leaving at least 5 Arabs dead and about 70 wounded; Israeli police opened fire repeatedly to break up demonstrations by Arabs protesting Govt land expropriation plan; map; illus (L)

WASHINGTON, March 30—President Ford replaced Howard H. Callaway today as chairman of the President's campaign organization, naming Rogers C. B. Morton to succeed him.

Repr Bella S Abzug discloses that US Atty Gen Edward H Levi has approved request by syndicated columnist Joseph Kraft for destruction of information complied by FBI about him during '69 Paris trip; late FBI dir J Edgar Hoover reptdly ordered surveillance of Kraft because of Hoover's concern about Kraft's contacts with N Vietnamese and Vietcong reprs who were attending Paris peace talks; Kraft expresses satisfaction (S)

HR and Sen Budget Coms rebuff liberal Dems seeking to cut Pres Ford's fiscal '77 defense budget; Sen Budget Com effects token $200-million reduction in Ford's planned $101.1-billion mil outlays for fiscal '77 and $300-million token reduction in Ford's revised figure of $113.3-billion in new spending authority for mil during yr; HR Budget Com votes $1.3-billion cut in future spending authority and $500-million in outlays for fiscal '77, reducing proposed figure for budget authority to $112-billion and proposed spending to $100.6-billion (L)

Gov Carey, in surprise move, vetoes budget bill to dispense $3-billion in educ assistance to localities, charging bill's complicated aid formula will cost state $40-million more than lawmakers had appropriated; veto means school dists across state will have no way of receiving at least $116-million of $3-billion appropriated for them; Sen Warren M Anderson scores action and vows to override veto (S)

Iraq reptdly told Jumblat and Arafat before their Mar 27 meeting with Assad that it would intervene militarily if Syria exerted heavy pressure on Moslems to restore cease-fire; threat could explain why Syria has been unable to reimpose cease-fire; recent strains in Syrian-Iraqi relations noted; intelligence repts say 3 battalions of Palestine Liberation Army sent by Syria into Lebanon in Jan have more or less disintegrated as many of their members joined Moslem and Palestinian guerrilla fighters; say Syrian leadership can no longer count on their accepting orders from Damascus; there is widespread speculation that Assad might order Syrian soldiers into Lebanon to impose peace; Israel has warned it would react if Syrian Army moved into Lebanon in force; map (M)