Knowland Asks Firmer U. S. Policy for Quemoy

Senator William F. Knowland reaffirmed his position Friday that Quemoy and the Matsu Islands should not be allowed to fall into Communist hands. The loss of these islands, he said, would be considered as a great Communist victory in Asia by the free Asiatics, undermining the security of the Western world.

Speaking in an overcrowded Harkness Common to 500 people, Knowland said it is important for the United States "to demonstrate to the Communist world that there will be no further retreats or the abandonment of free people into Communist hands."

Knowland, senior Senator from California and minority floor leader in the Senate, arrived at Harkness Commons about 2:00 in the afternoon, and was greeted by a very large crowd which could not all be seated in the assembly hall. Almost one quarter of the bipartisan spectators had either to stand outside on the Common' patio, or outside the exit.

Dressed in a dignified gray suit, the white-haired Knowland spoke without notes, but reiterated points made earlier in the day at a luncheon with Mayor John B. Hynes of Boston and later at night before a Robert A. Taft Memorial Dinner. His afternoon talk was sponsored by the Young Republican Club.

Islands Have Psychological Value

He called any grant of concessions to Communists equal to the yielding of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in the Munich Conference of 1938. "The loss of Quemoy and Matsu have both a military and a psychological

Urging the United States to take a firm stand in the Formosa Straits, Knowland compared the present situation to that of Western Berlin. "The reason that Western Berlin has not passed behind the Iron Curtain is that any attempt to take over the area by force would immediately involve the Western allies in military action, he said.