The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-12-17
By DOUGLAS LARSEN NEA stan Correspondent

Guam, Dec. i7 (NEA)--American control of the Pacific islands, over which the United States wants exs elusive UN trusteeshlp, Is starving. for supplies and equipment ln the midst of tons of surplus war goods.
 Although every US, Navy base in the South and Central Pacific area is piled high with the surplus ii1a- terial. the leftovers of wAr make . poorly equipped Navy.
 A month-long tour of these ls- lands shows communication by air the hlgh-speed lifeline in this domain of vast distances--ls break ing down more seriously than any other one item,
 Air Control Grounded
 Radio navigational aids for airs craft are able to operate only in emergencies, There are no stock- piles of parts for any type of air. craft, and if an engine goes bad on Q supply plane it is grounded for weeks. maybe permanently, on what. ever island the trouble occurred.
 Control towers are out of com- mission most of the time because the radio gear needs repairing.
 Seaplane bases are even worse. At most of them, there is no longer equipment in working condition to haul the flying boats ashore. Qaso- line storage tanks are rusting through. On Majuro Island in the Marshalls, and at many other bases, gas lines from tanker anchorages to shore have rusted through; planes were fueled with salt, water before the break was discovered.
 Mail and supply communications among the islands have dwindled to barely essential minimums be- cause planes aren't available and there are not enough crews to man surface ships.
 Truk, @ once-formidable Japanese bastion now manned by the US. Navy, is linked to. the rest of the world by one plane a week and @ feeble radio station that is mostly out of order. Men stationed there went without bread for six weeks because the ovens broke down and couldn't be repaired; they go hard tack as c substitute.
 Many of the men on Guam haven't been able to get under clothing for months. Two and three men have to share one white uni- form. They have to borrow shoes from the base on Spaipan to keep the men shod.
 Shore transportation on the is- lands threatens to collapse com. pletely. Jeeps are held together with baling wire; trucks for haul. ing supplies are in the hame sad shape: even stan cars are wheezing out their last feeble miles. There are no repair parts for many of them.
 Tropical storms, rust and creep ing vegetation are making the Quonset hut quarters for men un- livable and ruining the larger ware house structures. ReeferS and fee boxers are wearing out; disuse is running the ones in the surplus piles.
 Civilian Work Hampered
 Machinery and materials sent out for war are inadequate for perma- nent construction work, slowing down attempts to build 6 permanent breakwater at Guam.
 About the only bright spot in the picture is the quarters for families coming out from the States to join the men out here. The best of every thing has been taken to make good' quarters for the dependents, which has helped to. boost sagging morale.
 Admiral Robert B. Carney, the Navy's chief of supply, who is now touring the islands himself, study ing the situation, says the Navy's problem in trying to use surplus goods to maintain itself in the Pacific is one of the most serious fcaing US. forces in the area.
 The Navy's problem is no worse than that of the Chinese Central Government, purchaser of $500, ,000,- 900 worth of US. surplus in a com- plicated deal involving the Yuan debt and other credits"
 Quality of Goods
 What they bought turned out to be weather-beaten, broken down trucks and construction equipment, routed clothing and blankets. rusty