AMERICAN SOURCE OF SUPPLY FOR VIETNAMESE GUERRILLAS
Do, Following a three-week visit to South : Vietnam;. ‘Mel Barisic, vice-president of the National Maritime Union, the largest of.the , U.S. organizations covering merchant seamen, reported: that. forty. per cent of all the PX supplies [consumer goods intended for the armed forces and their families] wind up in the hands: of. the guerrilla fighters. = aa ie
Barisic, according to the February 1? New York Times, made : clear that these figures did not apply to military cargo such as ammunition. This is handled by the American military authorities at installations operated oy the armed forces. Much: of the PX supplies, in contrast, are stored in sheds or in the open.
“The. union. official ‘suggested. that: tamper-proof steed contain~ ers -should dé. used. to. cut down on the pilferage.
°. The sympathies of ‘this typical ‘American ‘union ‘oureauorat clearly lie on the side of Johrison's war policy. In-fact.-he appears, -lLike so many of his kind, to be trying to outdo ‘the most reactionary business circles | in patriotic fervor.” oe Bo :
“It is also. clear from’ his ‘report’; “however, that. in: Saigon. and the other ports used by the U.S.-in°south Vietnam the ‘sympathies of the population are.so strongly on the side of the freedom fighters that they are. willing to. risk a great deal’ ‘to help send them supplies.: .
; HEAVIWEIOHN SEAMEN HAS, NO. | WARREL ges Vim ;