(Special to the CRIMSON)

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 14-This city is tense as participants and marshals, police and federal troops prepare for Saturday's huge march protesting the War. Rain and hail this afternoon and bitter cold tonight have not prevented traffic from slowing almost to a halt as thousands pull into the District by buses, cars, trains, and thumbs.

Three hundred combat-equipped federal paratroopers moved into the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service Building next door at noon before today's demonstration in support of the Chicago Eight. Two dozen marines guarded the Capitol today, and Washington police were especially stationed in front of foreign embassies and ambassadors' homes.

In all, 28,000 troops and 25,000 National Guardsmen have been placed on alert in armories around Washington. Another 3500 city policemen are working 12-hour shifts to guard against possible violence.

Marines were rumored to be taking up positions inside the gates of the White House to protect President Nixon, who returned from Cape Kennedy tonight. The White House will be sealed off at 8 a.m. Saturday. No one without official White House credentials will be allowed within two blocks of the President's home.

Saturday's march begins at 10 a.m. It will proceed down Pennsylvania Avenue to the edge of the blocked-off area around the White House. It will end at the Washington Monument, where marchers will hear speeches by Ozzie Davis, David Dellinger, Sens. George McGovern (D. S. D.) and Charles Goodell (R. N. Y.), Mrs. Coretta King, and George Wald, Higgins Professor of Biology.

The New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, sponsors of the march, issued a position paper today reaffirming the group's intention to keep the march nonviolent. The statement called for an immediate cease-fire followed by removal of all troops and equipment from Vietnam. It expressed solidarity with Black Panther Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, and the Chicago Eight.

Over 400 demonstrators rallied peacefully outside the Justice Department in the afternoon, demanding an immedi-

ate halt to the trial of the Chicago Eight. The principal speaker at the rally was Dr. Benjamin Spock.

Following Spock's speech, the protestors marched to the 10th street entrance of the Justice Department building. A delegation of lawyers who wanted to present a statement to Attorney General John Mitchell, asking him to end the trial, was denied entrance.

Spock and the other speakers questioned the constitutionality of the anti-riot law which the defendants have been indicted for violating. The law forbids crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot. The speakers said the law violates people's right to free speech and free thought.

Police cameramen circulated through the crowd during the rally and march, taking pictures of the protestors. Troops were stationed around the Justice Department building, but there were no incidents of provocation. Organizers with bullhorns cooperated with police in directing the crowd.

Memorial Service

Mrs. King and William Sloan Coffin, Yale chaplin, were the main speakers at the Memorial Service at the Washington National Cathedral this evening.

The single-file "March of Death" from Arlington Cemetery to the Capitol continued today through a hard rain. More than 100 protestors marched solemnly past the White House each hour, each bearing a placard with the name of a soldier who has died in the War. Over 40,000 have marched in the procession, which ends at dawn Saturday.