Monday, March 18, 1946

The Charlotte News

Monday, March 18, 1946

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that a series of incidents related to the Iranian problem with Russia had dramatically increased tension with the Soviets. The American vice-consulat at Tabriz, Robert Rossow, had been detained by the Red Army on Friday, three days after the United States sent a condemnatory message to the Russians regarding their violation of the Russo-British-Iranian Treaty of 1942 which required withdrawal of Russian and British troops from Iran within six months after the war, coinciding with March 2. The Soviets had, however, expressed regret for the detention and so the State Department indicated it was attaching no significance to the fact.

It was also reported that the Russian diplomat in Tehran had told the Iranian Premier that presenting to the Security Council of the U.N. Iran's grievance against Russia would be taken as an unfriendly action. The State Department believed that a possibility existed that the Russians would try to stimulate a coup against the Iranian Government.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Byrnes, in a St. Patrick's Day speech in New York on Saturday night, stated that the U.S. would not enter a military alliance with Britain, as Winston Churchill had sought in his speech of March 5 at Fulton, Mo. Nor would the country form any military alliance with Russia. He stated that the United States was going to maintain and strengthen its armed forces and would formulate its foreign policy around the U.N.

White House press secretary Charles G. Ross stated that, contrary to contemporaneous reports, the President had not read Winston Churchill's speech of March 5 in advance and did not know what he would say. The belated correction came in the wake of articles in Moscow newspapers condemning the United States as having been supportive of Mr. Churchill's efforts to undermine world peace with his anti-Soviet remarks.

President Truman appointed Bernard Baruch, chairman of the War Industries Board during World War I, to be the U.S. representative on the U.N. Atomic Energy Commission. He had been instrumental during World War II in resolving the rubber crisis and remained a close friend and confidante of President Roosevelt to the end, advising periodically on economic issues related to the war effort. The report remarks that Mr. Baruch frequently conducted conferences on a park bench in Jackson Square.

The appointment followed the precedent of Britain, which had also appointed a non-scientist to the AEC of the U.N., Sir Alexander Cadogan, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs.

In Nuremberg, Hermann Goering underwent cross-examination by lead U.S. prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson, stating that, contrary to statements in Hitler's last testament, he remained loyal to the end to Hitler and would have taken control of Germany had Hitler been assassinated. He would have, he said, continued the fight had terms of unconditional surrender still been sought by the Allies. Nevertheless, he considered the war hopeless after January, 1945, at the unsuccessful conclusion of the Ardennes offensive and the Russian breakthrough at the Oder in the East. To try to ease the attacks on German cities, the V-2 was used, he said, after the realization of the futility of continuing the war. He stated that Hitler had believed erroneously that Goering had made overtures of surrender to the Western Allies, based on false information relayed to Hitler in his last hours alive.

Goering stood out in his testimony from the other defendants, who sought to distance themselves from Hitler.

While responding to the charges of UMW head John L. Lewis that bituminous coal operators had caused the deaths of 28,000 mine workers in the previous 14 years, a spokesman for the operators denied the claim and asserted that the owners paid between 50 and 62 million dollars per year in Social Security and social welfare taxes.

In Wisconsin, the Progressive Party, founded in 1934, decided to abandon the party label and return to the Republican fold, following the advice of one of the principal founders, Senator Robert La Follette.

Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn stated that it appeared likely there would be a six-week extension of the draft, from the presently scheduled expiration date of May 15 to July 1.

Hal Boyle, still in Cairo, reports on the English theme papers of an Egyptian college student as a reference point for peering into his mind. He found the unnamed student suspicious of Egyptian leaders, distrustful of foreigners, and fiercely patriotic. He was also sympathetic with the oppressed and disillusioned. He wrote of mobs and bloodshed seeking freedom and justice, that which he routinely saw in his midst.

He was pro-Arab, anti-British, and anti-Semitic. He wrote that the only way to stop the Jewish incursion into Palestine was for Arabs to establish a powerful army. He attacked American Congressmen who supported Jewish immigration to Palestine.

He was suspicious of Allied propaganda, as much so as he had been Nazi propaganda, viewing the Allied war crimes trials as an "historical joke" and that the British had committed worse atrocities than the Nazis, that use of the atomic bombs on Japan had been a war crime.

The student defended looting during recent riots on the basis that the rioters had looted shops of proprietors who had sucked their blood for a long time, and found it their only opportunity both to obtain clothing and to express pent-up frustrations.

He protested the giving of a concert by the Egyptian Government to Pan-Arab League representatives as being unduly wasteful of financial resources of the nation.

Mr. Boyle concludes by asking, "How would you like to teach English in Cairo?"

Two more back-to-back earthquakes hit Southern California, this time near the Los Angles aqueduct, causing boulders to tumble down the mountainside.

Newborn John Robert Goodbake got his picture on the front pages for having been born during a voyage of French, Belgian, and Dutch war brides from France to the United States. He was bound with his mother to join his father in Peoria, Ill.

Another photograph appears of nine destroyers in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, scheduled to be scrapped by the Navy and the steel auctioned off.

Why couldn't they tele-transport the steel after making it invisible?

On the editorial page, "It's a Vote of Confidence" favors voter approval on April 23 of the 12.247 million dollar bond measure for Charlotte, for water, street, and sewer improvements, and also for the proposed auditorium, new library, and better parks and recreation facilities, plus improvements to the airport. It hopes the citizens would not succumb to the urge to view the essential services as the only things worth voting for and perceive the remaining items as luxuries.

"On Charity and Efficiency" congratulates the Charlotte Red Cross for nearing its goal of $102,500 for the current annual drive.

"Uncle Sam Is Out-of-State" finds foolhardy the action of the University of North Carolina in charging uniform rates of tuition to veterans, whether in-state or out-of-state, because the tuition would be paid by the Government. It appeared to rest tuition for veterans on ability to pay. When the University was in favor of Federal aid to education, it appeared nonsensical to mark the Government "as a sucker the first time they see the color of his money."

A piece from the Raleigh News & Observer, titled "On How to Use the Money", favors that the textile mill owners of North Carolina, who had suddenly been endowed with great wealth by virtue of sale at premium prices of mills to Northern speculators, invest in new industries which the state needed. It cites a piece from The Savannah News which found that all of the essential ingredients of the newspaper, the newsprint, the typewriter, the printing press, even the bicycle the delivery boy used to deliver it, were manufactured outside the state and region.

A squib at the base of the column, referring to recognition of Jack Dempsey's voice as having earned a radio contestant $13,500 worth of goods, reminds of a short anecdote related in the Collier's piece we referenced March 9 on WBT radio announcer Grady Cole of Charlotte, who, while traveling to Biltmore House with Jack Dempsey driving, was stopped by a Highway Patrolman for speeding. Mr. Dempsey informed the officer who he was, but, unphased, the officer continued to write the ticket. Mr. Cole, in response to the officer's question, identified himself, at which point the officer's demeanor changed completely to ingratiation, providing Mr. Dempsey and Mr. Cole a police escort and tearing up the traffic ticket.

Drew Pearson tells of Senator Joseph O'Mahoney of Wyoming and Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas of California questioning atomic scientists at a recent dinner. Senator O'Mahoney sought the views of Dr. Leo Szilard, one of the key developers of atomic theory, regarding the proposed compromise bill on atomic energy, as discussed by Marquis Childs this date. Dr. Szilard found the situation intolerable, told of how the military during the Manhattan Project had been overly concerned with security. At one point, they had turned his office bookcases to the wall because there was a vial of uranium sitting in them and nothing was to be exposed to view. He believed Army oversight would cripple future research.

Mr. Pearson next relates of a confrontation on the House floor between Representatives Everett Dirksen of Illinois and Earl Michener of Michigan, both becoming testy at one another regarding who was willing to take a firmer stand on legislation pending before the House, the bill in question having been reorganization and Congressman Dirksen having voted "present", thus being chided by Congressman Michener for not taking a stand. Eventually, after verbal exchanges, future Senate Minority Leader Dirksen invited Congressman Michener outside to settle the matter with fists, but was restrained by other Congressmen when he rose from his seat. Eventually, both men calmed down.

Finally, he tells of West Coast steel magnate Henry Kaiser having been largely responsible for resolution of the General Electric strike, involving 100,000 workers, which had been ongoing for two months. Mr. Kaiser had casually mentioned to Charles Wilson of G.E. that he had gotten along well with the CIO and its head Philip Murray, contrary to what Mr. Wilson had found to be the case. Mr. Kaiser invited Mr. Wilson to meet with the CIO general counsel at his office in New York. They did so and Mr. Kaiser was able successfully to mediate the strike.

Marquis Childs tells of a group of Senators, William Fulbright of Arkansas, James Mead of New York, Francis Myers of Pennsylvania, Brien McMahon of Connecticut, and Wayne Morse of Oregon, having gathered to form a strategy regarding passage of the bill on atomic energy, which had just emerged from the Atomic Energy Committee under a compromise agreement sponsored by Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, giving a military liaison group the right to appeal to the President were they to believe that national security was threatened by some action proposed by the civilian commission on atomic energy. The five Senators opposed the Vandenberg compromise, believing it to provide to the military effective dominance over the commission. Raising the issue of national security with the President would make it difficult for him to disregard. Senator Morse, the only Republican of the five, later to become a Democrat, wanted the President to throw his weight behind their hand or he felt their chances were non-existent.

Senator Vandenberg corrected news reports which had stated that his proposal included the right of review by the military of the decisions of the commission. Instead, it would be up to the President finally to determine all issues of disputed national security. Mr. Childs believed, however, that it would place a burden on any President and that there ought be adequate military security with the Navy and War Departments both represented on the commission.

The military would likely be overzealous in its efforts to protect atomic energy, as with the censorship the previous week of the Oak Ridge scientists who merely wanted to read to a group of scientists in Atlantic City a paper they had prepared on the effects of slow neutrons on the human body.

The Senators were also concerned about the number of military men being appointed as diplomats within the State Department. Senator Morse had told an appreciative audience in Baltimore that the military had nothing to fear from civilian control of it but that the country had everything to fear from Army control over any civilian matter. The audience broke into loud applause.

R. M. Boeckel appears on the page for the first time, commenting on an informal bi-partisan House committee meeting to put forth a substitute measure on price control. The committee was compromised of Southern Democrats and Republicans, which was a new development in the coalition, from blocking Administration-backed legislation to putting forth their own proposals. It appeared that the coalition was going henceforth to function as a new majority in the House.

Heretofore, it had been impossible neatly to divide the Democrats who were standing with the coalition from those who continued to vote with the President on matters. Except for ten or twelve anti-New Dealers, the members tended to vary. So he sets forth several issues with the numbers of the votes yea and nay, as divided between Republicans and Democrats.

A letter writer from Lumberton praises Burke Davis for his series of articles on proposed legalized sale of liquor in Mecklenburg, but also wishes that more would be printed on the problems associated with excessive consumption of alcohol. She advocates better economic security and better education on brotherhood as a means to reach the roots of alcoholism. She argues that poverty was a primary source of alcoholism.

She advocates assigning Mr. Davis to do research on the demographics of alcoholics.

A letter criticizes John Daly for his front page piece of March 9 regarding absentee Northern ownership of Southern cotton textile mills, saying that he had editorialized during what was ostensibly a news piece. The writer finds the villain, however, not to be the Northerner but rather the attitude of Southern businessmen, journalists, and politicians which had helped establish the idea that to obtain lower wages and larger profits, Northern businesses should look to the South. The way, therefore, to stop this movement would be to bring Southern wages up to par with the rest of the nation.

A letter, as does the piece in the column, criticizes the University of North Carolina for raising tuition on returning out-of-state veterans. The writer understands that the Government was footing the bill, but still finds the principle to be mercenary.

Herblock, not only today but one day last week also.

And, since we skipped over St. Patrick's Day yesterday, we offer up this radio program, pre-recorded for your entertainment and edification.

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