National Affairs: Back from Peking

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"Vacation in France and Turkey" was the way a fellow-traveling New York engineer and his wife explained their projected trip abroad on their passport applications last summer. A month later, Mr. & Mrs. Henry Willcox turned up in Peking, in direct violation of the stamp which made their passports invalid for travel in Communist nations.

The Willcoxes and a dozen other U.S. citizens got together as delegates to the Communist-sponsored Asian and Pacific Peace Conference in Peking. There they set to work on a resolution calling for an end to the Korean fighting and accusing the U.S. of using germ warfare "on a wide scale" in Korea. The Chinese Communist radio promptly broadcast the Americans' resolution as further ammunition in their propaganda war against the U.S.

Last week, as Mr. & Mrs. Willcox stepped gingerly off a plane in New York, immigration authorities snapped up their passports, and the State Department announced that legal action might be taken against any of the travelers who had violated passport restrictions.