Daily News from New York, New York • 232

NEWS, 4C STTQJIFE Ml Pimkei IBMms isi 1 By JERRY GREENE Washington, April 15 Maj. Gen. Alexander Haig's quickie survey trip to Vietnam won't alter President Nixon's plans for announcing within two weeks a further i troop cutback, barring a catastrophe not yet indicated by the North Vietnamese invasion. It would be possible, if the President wants to keep on gambling as he has been since the start of his disengagement program, that he i could state that no more draftees will be sent to Vietnam after July 1. Haig, deputy presidential assistant Nixon's Oool fr national security affairs, is to 1 spend a week assessing the military QX "Toro DmW situat'on in and out of Saigon.

The ACrO 1ruTT Nixon program for continued reduction I 'n American forces beyond the HaiigS in BalanCC man target to be reached by May 1 will not depend directly on the Haig report. But Nixon wants fresh estimates from the field before he speaks to the people. His withdrawal schedule has reached a critical point. A decision must be made on the size of the interim force and the rate of cutback. He has spoken of leaving no more than 25,000 to 1 30,000 troops in Vietnam pending a political settlement with the I Communists.

It was hoped that guards would offer to supply their habit for a price. In some instances, this strategy worked. But the guards were leery of making deals with inmates they did not know. The probers also discovered that the jail's security system was not as tight as it was supposed to be. Visitors rn ---rd m-rr time they enter the institution.

But a pretty private eye, posing as the wife of an inmate, was allowed to go unsearched after the third visit. She entered the jail on seven occasions without so much as a peek at her pocketbook, wh'ch "ght hr.v? -1 with guns, drugs or bombs. Some of the prison probers had $1,000 or more on them when admitted as inmates. The money was deposited among their personal effects, and the probers intended to use it to bribe crooked guards, but the guards did not take the bait. A major problem for the investigators was how to get infor-ri: 'f the jail.

They pventually user c-' i--r- vho was able to make almost daily visits to the prison, talk tt one or nvv r' ri-ratives and pass on their verbal reports. One investigator lost 30 pounds in jail, but did not mind because he was overweight. During the rash of prison probes that followed last year's Attica uprising, the special privileges for fpvore'' in the Long Island lockup were suddenly stopped. But as soon as the heat was off, the amenities were resumed, the undercover prober found. By NAT KANTER She was an undercover con for Nassau District Attorney William Cahn and her bottom was pinched by fellow females in the Nassau County clink.

This was only one of the trials and tribrla-tions suffered by a team of private eyes four women and 11 men employed by Crh i to find out what was going on in the county's supposedly model lockup. Anion" other things, the investigators that underworld biggies could get booze, broads, steaks, drugs, just about anything they wanted, while the lesser inmates had to amuse themselves as best they could. Cahn refused to let reporters question the probers, all of whom work for a California detective agency, for fear tat their lives won1' be in danger if their identities became known. However, The News arranged to submit questions to the investigators through an intermediary. The undercover operatives, who were placed in the jail on misdemeanor charges, said they found some homosexuality, but not as much as they expected.

Surprisingly, they reported more homosexual acts on the women's side of the jail than among male inmates. The female sharauses, two of whom are married, complained of being pinched, patted and kissed by women inmates. The girl gumshoes went in on phony prostitution, shoplifting and narcotics charges and their cell sisters assumed they were criminals. Most of the men went in on drug charges. Nixon could fix the no-more- I draftees date by pulling out one of the two combat brigades (three i battalions each) now left in Viet- nam.

There are estimates at the Pentagon that one brigade could be maintained using only volun-I teers as replacements for troops who have served their tours of duty. I Any movement toward use of I volunteers is high on the Nixon priority list, for, along with De- fense Secretary Melvin Laird, the I President continues to press hard Xpji Chiefs Play Arson in Skyscraper By VINCENT LEE toward the objective of a zero draft" and the concept of an all-volunteer armed force. The Vietnam withdrawal program has enabled Nixon and Laird to make substantial progress toward a reduction in the size of the armed forces the total in uniform for the June 30 end of the fiscal year is to be 2,396,500, compared to the nearly 3.6 million in 1968-69. Two city fire chiefs set fire to an office in a skyscraper yesterday, then watched the blaze rage for half an hour before ordering it extinguished Unorthodox, indeed. But the Gen.

Alexander Haig Vietnam fact-finder But progress toward Nixon's dream of the all-volunteer Army. which he first advanced during the 1968 presidential campaign, has been agonizing and this pet project appears headed for deep trouble. Pentagon officials, going along with the commander in chief in working for the volunteer concept despite personal skepticism, say the summer of 1972 will tell decisively whether the scheme will That will be the time when the recruiters have a crack at new high-school graduates who have no great interest in going to college, or who can't find jobs, or both. We haven't found any of the experienced people who think the volunteer deal has a chance, unless the threat of the draft hangs over the head of the nation's youth. There is a chance, but only a chance, that the armed services might be able to dredge up sufficient recruits with all of the new pay scales and fringe benefits that have been provided to attract, and keep, both officers and enlisted men.

Strength of Reserves Is Crucial But the weakness in the all-volunteer idea rests in the reserves. Military planners, presidential" commissions and advisers all have stressed the point that if the U.S. is to maintain adequate security forces with a comparatively small number of volunteer regulars, then there must be substantial, effective reserves. Traditionally, in the years since World War II when conscription has been a way of life in this country, the reserves have been filled principally by men who wished to escape the draft. And, to a considerable degree, the reservists gnerally haven't been worth much as combat ready effectives.

And with the threat of the draft decreasing, the reservists have been lagging in their surge toward filling a patriotic obligation. Draft calls totaled 98,000 in 1971; there were no inductions in the first quarter of 1972 and only 15,000 men were called for the second quarter of this year. The total number of troops drafted this year will be well under 50,000. Now let's look at the reserves: in June 30, 1971, there were 402,175 men in the National Guard, which was about level with the average strength planned for this fiscal year. By Feb.

29, 1972, the total had dropped to 378,338. Strength of Organized Units Slips The Army's organized reserves, units where the men draw drill pay, had an authorized strength of 260,000 for 1971. On June 30, 1971, the rolls carried 263.229. By Feb. 29, 1972, the organized re arson was committed lor science's sake to learn if pressuri-zation of skyscraper stairwells would result in air flowing out of them, leaving them free of smoke, fire and gas so that people could escape safely from fires.

Hudson Terminal Building The experiment was conducted by the Fire Department and researchers of Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn on the vacant Hudson Terminal Building, 30 Church St. Battalion Chief John Rooney and Chief of Department John T. O'Hagan torched a seventh-floor office in the 22-story building to get the experiment under way. Pressurization of the stairwells was accomplished by high-powered fans. A handful of onlookers watched in astonishment at 5 a.m.

as six fire companies stood by, following orders to let the fire spread sufficiently to permit Polytechnic researchers, headed by Prof. Robert Cresci, to gather data. Rooney walked up and down the stairwell opening doors so that Cresci and his staff could measure the heat, smoke and pressure conditions with meters. Reading "The tests prove the pressurization does keep out smoke," Creci said. Within minutes after the blaze was set, the office was a degree inferno.

"This shows how little time people have to get out of a burning building-," O'Hagan commented. He added that the data col ao SOX I serves had slipped to 243.528. Laird has said the slippage came as no surprise, that the armed NEWS photo by Vincent Riehl Smoke billows from 30 Church St. during Fire Dept. experiment.

forces need badly the enactment of a pending package of reserve legislation that would increase substantially the incentives for reserve service: The incentives mean money, one way or another, sponse to appeals by the Fire pay, medical care, housing and education. Department and the Uniformed 1 The administration generally, Nixon and Laird particularly, Firefighters Association. have set the date of Jan. 1, 1973, as "zero draft" day, when the mili tary forces will no longer need conscripts to fill the ranks. But, already, Laird has been floating trial balloons about the idea of a "Our knowledge of how to fight skyscraper fires is limited," eaid Michael Maye, UFA president lected would influence proposed legislation on fire safety in skyscrapers.

A new set of fire safety requirements, recommended by a mayoral committee, is now before the City Council. Blaze Is Extinguished After burning fiercely for about 50 minutes, the blaze was doused by heavy streams of water from nozzles which firemen had mounted in advance. The size nd location of the fire were unprecedented in the history of the department. Test fires are ordinarily set only at isolated places such as Welfare Island, but the Polytechnic researchers required an actual high-rise building in sound condition to obtain valid data about the movement of smoke and gas. The City Council provided 170,000 for the experiment in re- draft for the National Guard and the reserves, a dubious gimmick view of the conmlexitv of state and federal iurisdirtinn of th "This test will lift the department "militia." out of the prehistoric ages and But what's needed perhaps more than anything else, more so into the 20th century in knowl- 'because of the bitter dissention resulting from the Vietnam war, is edge of how to combat high-rir; the restoration of respect 'for, and 'recognition of, military service as building blazes." 1 an honorable career.

This can come only from the people..