Why 7 Is Not 8

Fool: The reason why the seven stars are no more than seven is a pretty reason.

King Lear: Because they are not eight?

Fool: Yes, indeed. Thou wouldst make a good fool. . . . If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'ld have thee beaten for being old before thy time.

The reason why the Dairen incident was not an incident is also a pretty reason --chiefly that the U.S., engaged with Russia in the battle for Europe, does not want a major test in the Far East.

There are at least three versions of what happened when the U.S. Navy's LC-3 1090 nosed into the Russian-held "free port" last week to bring official dispatches to U.S. Consul General Harry Merrell Benninghoff. Aboard the unarmed naval vessel were a U.S. businessman and two U.S. correspondents, LIFE'S Mark

Kauffman, and Scripps-Howard's William H. Newton. The first report came from Newton. His story: while her captain negotiated to land the businessman, the LC-3 1090 overstayed its 48-hour permit by two hours. Thereupon the Russians gave Commander Edgar Yates, senior naval officer aboard, an ultimatum: "Leave Dairen in 20 minutes or we won't be responsible for the consequences." The LC-3 1090 left.

Tush, tush, said a bland U.S. State Department spokesman next day, there was no ultimatum; the Russians were entirely within their rights. Later, Under Secretary of State Dean Acheson admitted that the State Department had had no official communication from Dairen on which to base these statements.

They certainly were not confirmed by the Navy Department. Two U.S. Navy officers who had been aboard the LC-3 1090 described Russian officers "shrieking" at them Russian orders for the 1090 to leave the dock without her captain. During the excitement, Consul General Benninghoff was rudely kept standing in the street without being admitted to the office of Dairen's Russian commander.

Incident or no incident, Nuncle Sam, old before his time, had been given the mitt. If a similar incident had happened to a Russian ship in a U.S.-controlled port, Soviet indignation would have blown the turrets off the Kremlin.

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