March 5, 1983

El Salvador needs better battle leadership, personal motivation and field training as much as it needs ammunition, helicopters and guns, according to American and Salvadoran officials here. The Salvadoran Army, like the military in much of Latin America, has had more political than battlefield experience; it has never fought a sustained military campaign. This army is now fighting a 9-to-5, five-day-a-week war against guerrillas who are active 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An American officer recalled that on a recent visit to a combat unit he was briefed by its commander and executive officer. He then talked to some junior officers. When he returned to his helicopter to leave, he found the commander and his executive officer in civilian clothes waiting for a lift back to the capital. It was Friday evening.

Five distinguished Americans were honored here today, the 50th anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inauguration, for maintaining the spirit and ideals of the Four Freedoms he said were essential to democracy. The presentation took place in St. James Episcopal Church, where Roosevelt worshiped and served as a deacon, and it brought to a close the centennial of his birth. Speaker after speaker drew on Roosevelt's words, with some noting parallels to the nation's current economic difficulties. W. Averell Harriman, a former Governor of New York and a Roosevelt aide, received the Four Freedoms Medal. William J. vanden Heuvel, president of the Four Freedoms Foundation, said Mr. Harriman was ''the finest public servant of our time.''

Governor Kean and Governor Cuomo are near an agreement to increase Hudson River tolls and PATH fares, officials familiar with their discussions said yesterday. The officials also said that under the agreement the possibility of selling the World Trade Center would be explored. New revenues would be used to set up a regional development bank that would provide capital for industrial development and highway, bridge and mass-transit repair projects. The officials said that under the plan, Port Authority Trans-Hudson transit fares, which have not gone up since 1962, would increase from 30 cents to 75 cents, while tolls on four bridges and two tunnels would go from $1.50 to $2 for a round-trip crossing.

President Reagan, warning that other nations in the hemisphere ''would follow'' if El Salvador falls to leftist rebels, said today that he might increase the number of American military advisers in El Salvador, but would not use them in combat. The President said the United States ''may want to go beyond'' the present limit of 55 United States military advisers used for training purposes in that nation. ''In no sense are we speaking of participation in combat by American forces,'' the President said in remarks before the Commonwealth Club. 'No Parallel With Vietnam' ''I can give you assurances and there is no parallel whatsoever with Vietnam,'' he declared in response to a question from the audience. But a moment later he said of the leftist insurgents: ''If they get a foothold, with Nicaragua already there, and El Salvador should fall as a result of this armed violence on the part of the guerrillas, I think Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, all of these would follow.''

An appellate court has unanimously approved the Koch administration's effort to tax a nonprofit Manhattan institution. The head of New York City's Law Department said the decision could mean that most museums and possibly foundations in the city could lose their property-tax exemptions. The case involved the Asia Society, a nonprofit institution at 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street. The court, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, First Department, in Manhattan, ruled that the city was within its rights two years ago when it refused to renew the society's property-tax exemption. The ruling was made public yesterday,