Cesspool Swirls Around Nixon

President Nixon's sinking ship of state sprung a few more leaks this week, and it seems likely that the Chief Executive will ask for mass resignations in a last-ditch effort to plug the holes before the Administration boat hits rock-bottom.

The Watergate affair has made it very unpleasant for Nixonian Washington. As soon as an Administration official lifts his arm to point the finger, he finds an accusing finger poking him sharply in the back.

Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, who previously testified he never heard a conversation about plans to bug Democratic National Headquarters, admitted to a grand jury that on three separate occasions he participated in discussions, but insisted he vetoed the plans each time.

As the entire Nixon staff began to sound like a nest of singing canaries, the long-awaited resignations started to come. Jeb Stuart Magruder, the deputy campaign director, quit his Commerce Department post Thursday night, and L. Patrick Gray, the much-maligned acting director of the FBI, bailed out yesterday morning.

Gray's move came one day after widespread reports appeared which revealed Gray had burned secret files of convicted Watergate defendant E. Howard Hunt, reportedly at the suggestion of Nixon's personal counsel, John W. Dean III and chief domestic adviser John R. Ehrlichman.

Ehrlichman insisted he did not know the contents of the files. Dean, sources said, told Gray the files "should never see the light of day," and Gray placed the documents in an FBI burn bag without reading them.

The sources also disclosed that Ehrlichman reprimanded Dean for approaching Gray. Ehrlichman asked Dean, the sources said, "You drive over the bridge every night, why don't you throw them over?"

Ehrlichman's bizarre suggestion seemed in keeping with the recent developments. Pentagon Papers judge Matt Byrne revealed yesterday that convicted conspirators Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy burglarized the psychiatric files of Daniel Ellsberg '52.

Nixon's own party demanded that the President take drastic action to right the sinking ship. It appears Nixon, the man who has faced so many crises in his political career, now must confront his most difficult crisis yet.

No one has turned up evidence that directly implicates the President in the bugging operation or the alleged attempt to cover up the affair. At the moment, however, Nixon watches helplessly while the cesspool swirls around him.