Evening star., 1951-05-03

accompanied Dy CdpitOA guards
room caught operators Of tn.
loud-speaker system unawares.
Senator Russell asked Gen
Macarthur to be sworn becaust
the committee had voted to ad.
minister the oath to all witnesses
When the oath was recited, Gen
Macarthur and his aide, Maj. Gen
Courtney Whitney nodded theil
assent, and the general added
Thank you"
To Senator Russell's question
about the fighting quality of the
South Korean troops. Gen. Mac.
Arthur replied:
I'm courage and in determine
ton. and in resolution, they are
very fine troops. They lack the
background of long tradition
They lack an officer corps, which
takes years to build up. They lack
in the efficacy Of long periods of
training. They lack in certain in
stances Of materiel and other de-
f1ciencieS are apparent. But
within the physical limitations
that exist, I regard them as very
fine indeed"
In quiet contrast to his tumul-
tuous welcome here April 10, only
a small crowd was on hand to
greet Gen. Macarthur when he
arrived at National Airport at 9:18
am.
Other than the crew of his
plane, the Bataan. and Gen. Whit
ney, Gen. Macarthur was alone
as he stepped from the four
engine Constellation.
To a one-man news pool, the
generals only comment was:
What I have to say I will say
before the committee"
Byrd, Bridges Meet General.
Also in sharp contrast to. his
earlier welcome here, was the lack
Of confusion among newsmen and
photographers trying for vantage
points. Lloyd Norman. of the
Chicago Tribune, had been desig-
mated by the Pentagon press room
as the one-man pool.
The generals informal recep-
tion committee was composed of
Senator Byrd, Democrat, of Vir-
ginia and Senator Bridges, Re-
publican, Of New Hampshire.
There were at least two Secret
Service men on hand.
An honor guard of $50 troops
from Fort Myer formed a Gordon
about the airplane and made an
unneeded path from the aircraft
to the terminal. The crowd, other
than the military, numbered less
than 100.
Start Of Hearing Delayed.
The start of the hearing was
delayed a half hour by the
last-minute decision to let all 96
Senators attend the sessions.
Those who are not on the COM
mittees involved are observers
only. They will not be allowed
to question Gen. Macarthur, but
may send query to a committee
member, who may adopt it as his
own.
Senator Russell said the ques-
ton Of throwing the hearings
wide open to the public did not
come UP at a closed session this
morning. He added it is not en-
tirely eliminated, however.
He said the decision "is not as
immutable as the law of the
Medes and Persians."
Spectators Crowd Corridor.
A throng of curious spectators
crowded the corridor outside of
Senator Byrd's Office while Gen.
Macarthur waited to be called to
the committee room. The crowd
was made up mostly of secretar-
les from Offices of Senators.
They applauded heartily as
Gen. Macarthur strode from the
office and walked down one of
the long corridors to take an ele-
vator to the third floor, where the
committee was waiting. The de-
cision to let all Senators in caused
the committee to move from it's
own small room to the big marble
caucus room in the Senate Office
Building where many spectacular
hearings have been held.
A squad of policemen and
cameramen led the general to the
caucus room. BY his side were
Gen. Whitney and 1t. Col. A. F.
Story. his personal pilot. Inside
the room. he posed for pictures
with virtually each Of the 25
committee members.
He even paused to shake hands
with Senator Kerr of Oklahoma
who has led the Democratic at
tack on the generals plans for
winning the Korean war.
The Senators who are not on the
committees obviously were pleased
over having been admitted. The,
quickly occupied the long table.
usually reserved for the press al
open hearings. After the pho
tographers had used up all their