Evening star., 1950-12-21
|Sieminski's Remarks
On Sparing Of Dams
Puzzle Military
By Russell Brines

TOKYO. Dec. 21.-Military cir
cles here appeared baff1ed today
by comments on the Korean CAM
paign by Maj. Alfred Sieminski,
New Jerseys new combat Con-
gressman-elect. He dwelt par
ticularly on the fact that Allied
planes had not bombed out the
Communists Yalu River power
dams on the Korean -Manchurian
border and inside North Korea.
The Jersey City Democrat, who
was elected to Congress while
fighting in Korea, arrived in New
York yesterday from Korea en-
route to become Representative
in the new Congress next month.
Mr.. Sieminski told New York
reporters that soldiers at the front
"are saying that a cartel has a
stake" III the Yalu power dams
and the Changjin reservoir district
in Northeast Korea. A cartel in
this sense usually is an interna-
tional combine or pool of business
interests operating an economic
development.
A military spokesman said if
there is such a cartel in Soviet
satellite North Korea "I would
like to know how the cartel con-
verted its (Russian) rubles into
good American dollars" The
Japanese-built power project
along the Yalu has been under
tight Russian control since 1945.
GIs Talking of Cartel.
Mr.. Sieminski was quoted in
New York as saying:
"It seems that the U. N. places
more value on cement and con-
crete than on the blood of those
who gave their lives for the cause.
They (the GIs) want to know
who has a stake in the power
dams and the power install
lations in the reservoir district
where the 10th Corps and Ma
rines fought their way out.
THE japanese, the Chinese,
the North Koreans and the So
Wet Union haven't destroyed
them. and we haven't destroyed
them. They (the GIs) are saying
that a cartel has a stake in those
projects.
eff we are out to defeat Com
munist China, we can do it by
taking their source of power to-
day. If we blow up the installa-
tions, Communist China can't ex-
ist, and you'll have Soviet Russia
with a nation on relief.
you get the argument that it's
not military target, but I cannot
reconcile this with our bombing of
the nitrate plant in Wonsan
North Korea) that turned out 400
to 500 tons daily"
Vulnerable Since War Began.
The military spokesman here
contended the power projects were
saved from destruction because
they were not sufficiently import
ant in the total military situation.
Those dams have been vulner-
able (from the air. since June 25,
when the war began" the spokes-
man said.
The spokesman pointed out that
intervention of Chinese in Korea
created speculation that they
wanted to save the power plants. A,
But. the Chinese certainly didn't
save them by their ground action"
he added.
He asked. "Why didn't Ameri-
can ground forces destroy the
dams when they were there?"
Then he added the projects pro-
vided "a very little amount Of
electricity for Communist China
and a little bit for North Korea.
It was generally believed here
that the major value Of the dams
was to supply electricity for the
Mukden arsenal in Manchuria and
whatever military production is
under way in Russian-occupied
Dairen.
Value to China Minimized.
Mukden and Antung. the near
est manufacturing center supplied
by the dams. were stripped heavily
by the Russians in 1945.
There was little apparent belief
in military-economic circles here
that Red China, essentially an
agrarian country. would collapse if
deprived of the Yalu River power.