Wednesday, April 11, 1945

The Charlotte News

Wednesday, April 11, 1945

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Dr. Bela Fabian, president of the dissolved Hungarian Independent Democratic Party, informed that approximately five million Jews had been gassed and cremated at Auschwitz in upper Silesia. Dr. Fabian had been taken to Auschwitz ten months earlier, together with a half million other Hungarian Jews of whom at least 400,000 were gassed and cremated during the first two months of his stay, leaving only a thousand alive.

Dr. Fabian, speaking German through an interpreter, identified the Jews who had been murdered at Auschwitz as being from Belgium, Holland, France, Poland, Russia, Hungary, and Greece.

He had spent four months at Auschwitz, was moved on October 26 to Oranienburg, resulting from the Nazis' fear that Auschwitz would be overrun by the Russians. Following two weeks at Oranienburg, he was moved to Ohrdruf, south of the Goths, remaining there until liberated by the American troops on April 4.

All of the Jews in Auschwitz in excess of 50 years of age were automatically consigned to death by gas and then cremated. Dr. Fabian had escaped the fate because the Nazis believed his age to be 45.

The political party to which Dr. Fabian belonged in Hungary had been dissolved three years earlier. He was the author of several books, such as Six Horses and 40 Men.

His was the first eyewitness account of the horrors at Auschwitz, rumors of the camps and eyewitness accounts of the remains of the crematoria found in camps of Eastern Poland by the Russians, having already been circulating during the prior two years, atrocities against Jews being known in the West by those who read since the mid-thirties. This account, however, was the first to place such an extraordinary number on the Holocaust. The official estimate of the number who died at Auschwitz, out of the six million Jews estimated to have been killed during the Holocaust, is 1.1 million.

On the Western Front, the Ninth Army had moved to within 85 miles of Berlin at Wulferstadt, capturing the Krupp munitions capital of Essen, largest city in the Ruhr, cleaning out the remnants of the remaining Nazis still fighting in Brunswick—unconfirmed reports indicating Brunswick had already fallen. The 30th "Old Hickory" Division had fought into southern Brunswick, with the commander issuing an ultimatum for surrender of the city, refusing a reply seeking a day within which to remove German troops; the Second "Hell on Wheels" Armored Division had crossed the Oker River south of the city. The Fifth Armored Division crossed the Oker to the north.

The Second Division moved across the North German plain to within 25 miles of the Elbe River and Magdeburg, 65 miles from Berlin, and the tanks were expected to reach the river, last water barrier to Berlin, by this night—President Roosevelt's last night alive.

A late report indicated that Coburg had been captured this night.

As reported by Don Whitehead, the First Army sped across that the Thuringian plain south of the Hartz Mountains, moving to a point 120 miles from the Russian lines, with the anticipated joinder to occur within the ensuing week.

After a lull of a few days to consolidate positions, the Third Army moved into Erfurt, 63 miles from Leipzig, eliminating resistance in the Steger Woods. The elements of three armored and at least six infantry divisions moved into action on the central Thuringian plain. The Fourth Armored Division advanced at least 12 miles as the Sixth Armored gained 15 miles.

A force of about 2,150 American heavy bombers and fighters struck targets in southern Germany, including airfields, railroad yards, oil and ammunition depots in the Nuernberg-Regensburg-Munich area. Fully 800 Luftwaffe planes had been destroyed within the previous four days. The raids had cost 25 heavy bombers and 15 fighters.

A reliable report had reached the 13th Army Group Headquarters stating that a hundred members of the Luftwaffe, including a general, had been executed by the Germans on March 31 in an effort to arrest an officers' revolt.

A report was being circulated in Britain that Hitler had been assassinated and that Heinrich Himmler had been placed in his stead in charge of the Nazi Party. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden said he had heard nothing of the rumor, but a member of Commons stated that it had originated from the Foreign Office. A correspondent for the British Press Association reported instead that the Nazi Party was " throwing over" Hitler for Himmler and that Hitler was a "dying man".

On the Eastern Front, the Russians had completely encircled Vienna, compressing the German garrison into the eastern tenth of the capital, with a late report out of Paris indicating the forces had completed the occupation.

The Second Ukrainian Army had invaded the central Czech province of Moravia at points less than 35 miles from Bruenn. To the north, Russian forces had, according to German reports, advanced into Richtofen Square within Breslau.

In Italy, British Eighth Army troops had captured Lugo, a mile to the west of the Senio River, as well as Fusignano and Cotignola, following advances of at least seven miles in the eastern Po Valley along the highway from Ravenna to Bologna, 30 miles distant.

In western Italy, the Fifth Army cleared the road hub at Massa and pushed on toward La Spezia, twelve miles away.

On Okinawa, amid a heavy rainstorm, now slackening, for the second time in three days American infantrymen gained a foothold along the ridge near Kakazu on the southern part of the island. Several Japanese counterattacks had been repulsed, causing the enemy severe casualties. American casualties were also mounting, albeit at the rate of one killed or wounded for every two Japanese killed. No figures were yet provided estimating the number of American casualties thus far. One of the reasons progress had been slow was that field commanders were using artillery against the dug-in Japanese pillboxes and caves prior to sending in troops, saving American lives.

The Marines in the north had repulsed two small counter-attacks on the Motubu Peninsula the day before, meeting their first significant opposition, nevertheless advancing 2,500 yards, capturing Unten Bay on the north shore of the island.

The 24th Corps, facing only light opposition, had, during the storm, seized Taugen Islet, ten miles off the east coast of Okinawa at the entrance to Nakagusuku Bay, giving the Americans control of the bay, enabling unloading of supplies and equipment for the airbase on the island.

General MacArthur announced the capture of the Sulu Archipelago between Mindanao and Borneo, and that the 41st Division had on Monday invaded, against light resistance, Jolo Island, quickly capturing its capital and airdromes.

Thousands of starving lepers, without proper food for three years, in the Culton colony on Culton Island, north of Palawan in the west central Philippines, had been liberated.

Organized resistance on southern Luzon had ended.

The Government took over 235 bituminous coal mines, albeit fewer than seven percent of the nation's total, closed by strikes in seven states, as the issue of unionization of mine foremen was resolved by exempting the foremen from classification as mine workers, contrary to the position favored by John L. Lewis. The mine operators had agreed, however, to the demand by the UMW for a basic daily wage of $10 for inside miners, theretofore receiving $8.50, with Mr. Lewis giving up his demand for a 10¢ per ton royalty.

It was the fourth time that Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes had been called upon to become the operator of the nation's coal mines. The ten-day series of wildcat strikes had cut deeply into the country's steel production for the war.

On the editorial page, "Big But Scared" sets forth a list of the considerable paperwork necessary for G.I.'s to obtain a loan under the G.I. Bill of Rights. It appeared to involve a load of unnecessary paperwork, implying lack of trust either of the G.I.'s or of Government agents in charge of administering the loan program.

"One-Man Crusade" discusses the efforts of a Presbyterian layman seeking to place Bibles in the classrooms of the nation, publishing a table of statistics showing correlation between juvenile delinquency and lack of Biblical instruction.

Richmond, where the schools did not teach the Bible, had a delinquency rate of 1.29 percent in 1930 and a rate of .86 percent in 1943. Charlotte, by comparison, where the Bible had been a staple in schools for 17 years, had a rate of delinquency of .76 percent in 1930 and .4 percent in 1943. Fully 78 percent of the city's white children were church members and 82 percent enrolled in Sunday schools.

Over 80 cities and towns across North Carolina employed paid Bible teachers.

The piece recognizes that other variables had to be factored into the equation to determine whether this apparent correlation had any sociological significance, but, at least it presented a prima facie case for the concept.

We note that on this date Drew Pearson, ironically and quite eerily, given it being the eve of President Roosevelt's death the following afternoon at 4:35, comments on Senator Theodore Bilbo sending a stenographer to take notes on a dinner to honor former Senator Hugo Black of Alabama, the Supreme Court Justice who later, in 1963, would join the eight Justice majority opinion of the Court, delivered by Truman appointee, Justice Thomas Clark, striking down, as an unconstitutional establishment of religion, the practice of organized Bible reading in public schools. Justice Black, one of the liberals on the Court, had been Mr. Roosevelt's first appointment, occurring in fall, 1937, the first year of his second term as President. He would appoint nine Justices to eight seats in the ensuing six years, mooting the controversial plan to expand the Court by having associate justices appointed after a certain age of each Justice had been reached, the so-called Court-packing plan of 1937.

Senator Bilbo had sent the stenographer to the dinner because several blacks, in addition to numerous other dignitaries, as indicated below, were present to honor Justice Black for his record on civil rights—that despite the former membership he had held in the Ku Klux Klan when a young lawyer in Alabama.

Those, incidentally, who do not understand that complex from Southern culture do not understand American life very well and wind up rather myopic in their overall view of the culture and its dynamics and history through time, and that embraces members of any race.

In any event, the juxtaposition on this particular date of this editorial and the section of the Pearson column, given our experience, as accurately related in July, 2005, regarding the earlier serendipity of February, 2003, at the Charlotte Library, in tracing down the February, 1963 News articles, over two years before ever reading the piece by W. J. Cash appearing July 23, 1939, continues the strange and rather mystical quality of the entire subject.

The Scotch terrier Fala, called by his Master "The Pup", would present a lonely figure to the world within another 24 hours.

While reading the Bible, we think, is a good thing, as long as one understands the context and constitutional framework of it all, it should not be taught in the public schools, as, indeed, doing so does constitute an establishment of religion and violates the doctrine therefore of separation of church and state, plainly implied by the Establishment Clause, and, if anything, leads to a streak of rebelliousness in youth more than if left to their own home training.

As we have before commented, those who say there is no such thing in the First Amendment as separation of church and state are simply not reading the document and thinking about it, rather simply searching in vain for the words "separation of church and state". But how, pray tell, could the Constitution prevent the establishment of a state religion, as expressly the First Amendment forbids, and not require the separation of church and state? It is simple syllogistic logic, or, more precisely, a statement of the law of identity. If you do not understand it, consult a symbolic logician and perhaps it can be simplified for you.

We shall try: A cannot "establish" B; therefore, A and B are different entities, not capable of being one and the same, thus separate.

"An Exhortation" remarks on the swearing in of the new State Hospital Board by Governor Gregg Cherry, advising its members to maintain close vigilance on every aspect of the hospitals' operations, including making impromptu inspection visits and to inspect thoroughly when such visits were made. It was gratifying to see this new policy being implemented.

"New Competition" supports the Legislature's establishment of a state arbitration board for labor disputes between employers and employees, to become operative July 1. It acted as a state remedy to relieve the NLRB, or War Labor Board during the war, of having to settle disputes in every case.

The excerpt from the Congressional Record has Representative Matthew Neely of West Virginia rising to speak against what he considers the preposterous substitution of "gentlewoman" for "lady" in manner of address of female members of the House. He notes that "gentlewoman" was 175 percent longer than "lady", and so required the expenditure of that much more effort to speak and comprehend as well to transcribe into the record, causing the waste of untold reams of paper plus House stenographic energy and time in so setting forth the longer form of address.

Drew Pearson discusses, as does Marquis Childs, the food production problem in the country, reporting that the House Food Study Committee was holding hearings into the matter. It was expected that OPA would raise the support price for hogs from $12.50 to $13.00 and insure its continuance through September, 1946. The OPA move would likely stimulate production of hogs which had fallen the previous year after the floor on hog prices had been lowered.

As indicated above, he next reports that Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi had dispatched a spy to take notes at the dinner given recently by the Southern Conference for Human Welfare to honor Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Speakers included Mrs. Roosevelt, U.N.C. president Frank Porter Graham, Senator Alben Barkley, and War Mobilizer Fred Vinson, within a bit more than a year to become Chief Justice. In attendance were most of the Supreme Court and many of the Cabinet. But what upset Senator Bilbo most was that several blacks were present to honor Justice Black, which prompted his sending in the stenographer to transcribe the speeches to use the resulting transcription for political fodder.

The stenographer, however, was asked his business and nervously admitted why he was there, was asked to leave, which he then did.

Members of the House Military Affairs Committee were upset about misleading statements on treatment of German prisoners at the Papago Park Camp near Phoenix. A report compiled on the subject had failed to mention the charge leveled by an Arizona Representative that the Army had not sought to separate the Nazis from the non-Nazi prisoners, rendering the report, in the eyes of members of the committee, a whitewash—perhaps a hogwash. Nor did the report mention the fact that the leader of the Nazis in camp, a former participant in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, Gustav Ender, had ordered the hanging or other method of execution of prisoners for making anti-Nazi statements or for failing to report information gleaned as office clerks regarding the United States military.

Mr. Pearson next reports that the Navy was selling off much of its own surplus property, that having a value up to $2,500, as allowed by law, without consigning it to the Surplus Property Board for sale. The Army had instituted its own $100 limit on property it was selling directly.

Finally, he comments that the captured airfields on Iwo Jima, now enabling flights to Japan from 750 miles distant, would enable greater accuracy in bombing missions for the fact that less gasoline had to be carried, lightening the load and increasing the weight of bombs capable of being transported.

Samuel Grafton reports that many of the bankers wanted the world to wait five or six years before setting up the International Monetary Fund, until it could be ascertained what type of world it would be, whether it would be unstable. But that would defeat the purpose of the Fund, to make it a more stable world economically and thus politically. The point of view ignored the ability of the Allied nations to shape the world to come.

Marquis Childs discusses the efforts of the Office of Price Administration to stem the loss of the meat supply via the black market, emanating from the slaughterhouses and meat-packing houses not subject to Federal inspection, being outside the flow of interstate commerce, representing as much as 15 to 20 percent of the volume of available meat.

Now, we bet that you States' Righters, in need of that red meat, had adopted another stance.

Whether it somehow relates to the bombing of Dresden in mid-February, we cannot say. But probably.

Mr. Childs reminds that those resorting to the black market undermined the entire war effort, as well harming the peace for depriving needed meat for civilians abroad in liberated lands.

Some people were complaining that they did not wish to extend the New Deal to Europe, but that, he contends, was an erroneous way of viewing the matter, as winning the war depended on the ability to restore Europe after it concluded.

Some of the shortage had been generated by Government mismanagement, the War Food Administration having for a year labored under the assumption that there was a glut of food, warning the food industry against over-production which would drastically reduce prices. As Drew Pearson also points out, hog production had dropped after hog farmers had accepted lower than Government floor prices at market for their hogs.

These mistakes of the past, however, Mr. Childs urges, could be forgotten and remedied; but the black market had now to be eliminated.

A letter writer writes the following anent an article recently appearing in the newspaper regarding compulsory sterilization of persons deemed by the State to be mentally defective:

A good clinical psychologist could usually talk one of these [mental defectives] into voluntary eugenic sterilization. Give them a short course and otherwise let it go. The legal interpretation for mental aberrations depends on whether or not a person can take care of himself. That usually covers those known as geniuses as well.

The psychologist can only measure "test" intelligence. This point has been raised by some authors. Just because he doesn't talks sense or take care of himself does not prove that the idiot is incapable of thought and may, indeed, be a great philosopher. That stretches it a bit, but I hope you see what I mean.

Well said for 1945. What a pity that the State did not at the time listen.

Former perennial letter writer P. R. McCain, who had not checked in with a missive for some time, reports on his observations at a particularly unsanitary eating establishment within Charlotte, then concludes:

Turning my head I saw an unmistakable sign which read: "DOGS NOT ALLOWED". To this day I've been wondering whether the sanitary inspectors intended to protect the dogs or the people.

We suppose that we are happy that the Charlotte Public Library does not have the same policy. Ditto for Green's Lunch. Unfortunately, however, we have not had the good fortune to have occasion to visit either location for many years now.

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