The Charlotte News

Friday, November 7, 1947

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in Moscow, Russians celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Revolution, with Marshal Nikolai Bulganin giving a speech in which he branded America and Britain as "warmongers" and accused them of making plans for an imperialist war.

Following the previous day's statements in London by V. M. Molotov, taking exception to the U.S. continuing its exclusive control of the atomic bomb and alleging that it was attempting to ring Russia with Naval and Air Force bases, American officials were considering a "truth campaign" to counter the Soviet propaganda. To that end, the State Department was planning to seek 1.5 million dollars for the Voice of America and other foreign information programs. The statements of the Russians, the State Department believed, were beginning to have an impact for their repetition.

The Republican leaders in Congress announced intention to abandon plans to pursue a tax reduction during the special session to convene November 17, with its agenda set to consider emergency aid to Europe and control of inflation, and would instead delay the tax proposal until the new session in January. House Ways & Means chairman Harold Knutson, after meeting with the leadership, appeared accepting of this plan of action.

The NLRB issued a ruling that unions which refused to provide the affidavits of non-Communist affiliation by officers, as required by Taft-Hartley, could not be on the ballot for union voting among employees, even if the union already had a contract with the employer. The provision prevented generally the union from obtaining the services of the NLRB in resolving labor disputes.

Retired Major General Bennett E. Myers testified to the Senate War Investigating subcommittee, chaired by Senator Homer Ferguson, that FDR, Secretary of Commerce and RFC chairman at the time, Jesse Jones, and other powerful friends of Howard Hughes had advocated the war contracts made with Hughes Aircraft in 1943 to build the Spruce Goose and the F-11 surveillance plane. He believed at the time that the contract "had an odor".

Secretary of Defense James Forrestal announced the creation of a committee, to be headed by Gordon Gray, Assistant Secretary of the Army, to develop closer ties among the military reserve forces.

The Navy determined that the new Secretary of Defense should receive 19-gun salutes on arrival and departure. The sub-Cabinet posts of Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force would receive 19-gun salutes on arrival but silence on departure, except for the Navy Secretary, who would also continue to receive the 19 on departure. The President would continue to receive 21-gun salutes, coming and going.

Senator Ralph Flanders of Vermont stated that the only way he could see to control the high cost of living was to ration meat. He had chaired the subcommittee which investigated prices in the East. He was against producer price controls.

The former Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, Charles Reid, 49, committed suicide by jumping from his twelfth floor law office in the Candler Building in Atlanta. A law partner said that he had been in poor health for several months. Mr. Reid had been a member of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. He had resigned as Chief Justice to join the Army in 1943. He had succeeded Richard Russell in the post, father of Senator Richard Russell.

Tokyo Rose, Iva Toguri, wanted to return to her native United States, and had sought approval from the Government for re-entry. She had been released from detention in October, 1946 after a determination that there was insufficient evidence for prosecution. Eventually, after further investigation by the FBI, Ms. Toguri would be charged in 1949 with treason and convicted on one count, sentenced to ten years in prison. Just prior to leaving office in 1977, President Gerald Ford, convinced that the evidence against Ms. Rose was procured by coerced perjury, issued a pardon—not the only time he would be so moved, perhaps confusing the dripping petals above the pedal with the peddler.

In Chicago, a woman whose prize pointer had produced seven pups was forced by a court to get rid of five of them to be in compliance with the law that forbade ownership of more than three dogs without obtaining a kennel license. A neighbor had turned her in for disorderly conduct because of the terrible noise and the awful smell which the puppies were causing. The owner's husband replied curtly to the neighbor that his dogs did not "stink".

No, but your feet might need some attention.

Dr. Ralph McDonald, twice defeated Democratic candidate for the gubernatorial nomination in North Carolina, now associated with the National Education Association, stated to a group of teachers in Fayetteville, N.C., that he wished to improve the educational opportunity for North Carolina's schoolchildren. He said that for the previous four years, education in the state had been in decline, as teacher salaries had dropped from 32nd in the nation to 39th, and that the State was spending 1.7 percent of its income on education, compared to three percent prior to 1940. Classes were too overcrowded, equipment inferior, and salaries too low, causing the best teachers to leave the profession. Average teacher pay for a nine-month term was $1,950.

Furman Bisher tells on the sports page of Goo-Goo Gantt of Albemarle being the "young buck of the hour". He would go on, beginning the following season at UNC, to complement Choo-Choo Justice in the backfield, leading to a Kenan Stadium cheer, "Go Choo-Goo".

Joob-Joob has not yet shown.

On the editorial page, "To the Right with Marshall Plan" tells of Governor Thomas Dewey having endorsed the Plan for rebuilding Europe to enable the Continent to act as a bulwark for freedom. But he also proposed that the Plan be overseen by a group of businessmen which would be bipartisan in its constituency. Such a proposal had been presented in the House Foreign Relations Committee. Democrats opposed such an administrative body as it would strengthen the extreme right in the country and make the Plan hard to administer.

The piece finds the warnings of Conservatives abroad to be sound, that attempts to interfere with internal political matters in the countries receiving the aid would finally mean no participation and shift European favor to the Communists, who were promoting that the Plan was a means of advancing American imperialism.

"MacArthur Makes Plans for '48" informs of the Baltimore Sun correspondent in Tokyo having reported that General MacArthur intended to delay his return to the U.S. until late spring, at which point he would make a tour of the country, anticipating a grand reception which would sweep him to the Republican nomination for the presidency.

The piece finds it doubtful that General MacArthur would receive the acclaim nationally that he reportedly anticipated. It was also doubtful that the GOP would seek out anyone other than General Eisenhower who was not a tried and true veteran of political warfare. The victory in the Pacific and the General's efficient job of getting Japan on the path to democracy and prosperity paled beside the new problems facing the country. He had served his country well and to enter a field for which he was ill-suited would only tarnish that image.

"'Cold War' in the Final Stage" tells of Walter Lippmann having stated that the "cold war" was over and that America had been victorious. He had so determined during a tour of Europe, including Germany. America had successfully outflanked the Red Army when it sent the Missouri to the eastern Mediterranean and also pinned down the Soviets on the Stettin-Trieste line. Fearing that they would suffer the same fate in Eastern Europe, the Soviets had initiated a tougher strategy in the Eastern-bloc countries. Mr. Lippmann had found them to be the tactics of defeat and desperation.

The piece finds the opinion to overlook the non-military aspects of the "cold war", and asserts that there was a danger that it would proceed indefinitely for that fact. Mr. Lippmann, foreseeing this possibility, urged that the U.S. initiate settlement which would allow recovery of Europe and of the world while relaxing the tension and panic attending the possibility of a hot war between the powers.

The piece finds that the Communists were losing in Western Europe and that the tide of resistance was rising in Eastern Europe. But it does not agree that the problem with the U.S. was that it could not recognize that it had won the "cold war"; rather it was that Russia was unable to admit that they had lost it. It would, it predicts, grow hotter, until the Russians faced the notion that it was time for retreat.

A piece from the Winston-Salem Journal, titled "Underrated Tar Heel", suggests that the birthday of James K. Polk was little known or regarded in the land. It informs that he had been born in 1800 during this calendar week, in Mecklenburg County. After attending UNC, he moved to Tennessee, where he entered politics, becoming Governor and later Speaker of the House. As a dark horse candidate in 1844, he defeated Henry Clay in the election. His Presidency saw settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain, "54-40 or Fight". The independent treasury system of the Government was established. The Mexican-American War brought the country large amounts of new territory in the Southwest. President Polk also established the Naval Academy.

Traditionally, he had been regarded by historians as a Southern politician of mediocre talent whose chief aim in waging the war with Mexico was to expand the slave-holding territory of the U.S. But more recent historians had been kinder in their assessment, viewing him as honoring the claims of the settlers of the Western territories and being of high ideals and integrity. The piece suggests that President Polk should receive a higher place in the memory and respect of the country.

Drew Pearson provides the message which would be attached to the food from the "Friendship Train", set to roll between Los Angeles and New York, collecting food along the way for Europe. The message informed that Americans had banded together to provide the food.

Ed Eisenhower, one of General Eisenhower's five brothers, was ready to form an anti-Eisenhower club to drive home the point that his brother meant business when he said that he was not interested in the presidency.

Bert Andrews of the New York Herald Tribune had uncovered the exact text of the interrogation used by the State Department to test loyalty of its employees. The firing of ten Department employees had been based on undesirable associations. A few years earlier, the technique to rid the Department of undesirables was to accuse them of clandestine sex charges. At least then, the victim could resign. Now, he was permitted no such luxury but was simply terminated, preventing him from obtaining another job.

In contrast, he points out, the Department had done nothing when former employees of Standard Oil and Texaco worked temporarily as Government officials when the Arabian oil deals were formed, earning ultimately the American companies 100 million dollars. They had arranged to sell oil through ARAMCO, formed by Standard and Texaco, to the Navy for $1.05 per barrel when it was available elsewhere for 40 cents.

The President had recently implied that he would run in 1948. He had told the Amvets commander that the Marshall Plan was an insurance policy for peace and if so much could be spent on war, certainly 20 billion dollars could be spared to insure peace. The Amvets commander assured the President that the members of the veterans organization supported him and the Marshall Plan, and would accept price control and rationing if it became necessary.

The President made clear that he was not asking for any consumer price control or rationing, but rather for controls at the production level.

Howard Hughes had invited the members of the Senate War Investigating Committee to take a ride with him aboard the test flight of the Spruce Goose. So far, none had accepted.

Adolphe Menjou had repeated at Romanoff's, a Hollywood restaurant, his charges branding certain people in Hollywood as probable Communists, as he had asserted two weeks earlier before HUAC. No longer, however, protected by immunity, he now faced two slander suits.

Presidential military aide, General Harry Vaughn, was pushing for unification of the National Guard and the Army Reserve.

Joseph Alsop, in Prague, tells of the ordinary reaction among the non-Communist citizens of Prague being that they stood helpless before the Communists, though there were no Soviet troops in the country. It foretold the probable death of freedom in Czechoslovakia. Despite there being a real terror present, freedom still existed as the press was uncontrolled and political parties operated freely, save for the threat of arrest of Slovak Democrats. The elections of the following spring, if they took place, would be hard to fix, as Czechoslovakia was the only European country which used the secret ballot.

But the Communists also had their strongest base in Europe, with about 40 percent of the Czech voters supporting the party, as the Communists had been allowed to take credit for beneficial nationalization, planning and social welfare programs. They had also commanded the Socialist vote in Parliament, providing a 51 percent coalition against otherwise splintered parties.

Aging President Benes remained courageous and commanded great respect in the country. He had recently told Dr. Fierlinger, the leader of the Socialists, that his compliance with the Soviet directive to merge with the Communists made him no longer a loyal Czech. If President Benes remained reasonably healthy, he would fight against a dictatorship by the coalition.

Dr. Fierlinger was losing respect among Socialists and had been challenged previously, during the war, for lack of loyalty. The upcoming Socialist Congress might replace him as their leader.

If that were to occur and if the President and the non-Communist parties were able to unite their efforts, there might yet be hope for survival of liberty in the country. But the odds appeared at present against it.

Samuel Grafton suggests that the President issue an informal message to Congress at the start of the special session, in the manner that one would talk to business associates or family. He should remind them that while they were in Europe touring the lay of the land, he had remained, for the most part, in Washington stopping Stalin. He should urge price controls on wheat, blame the Congress for his program to encourage voluntary conservation of food, because of their reluctance to go along with controls. His meatless Tuesdays and poultryless Thursdays had only caused more grain to be consumed and, again, he should put the blame on Congress for the failure. He also ought instruct them that controls had nothing to do with socialism and that he was not going to be branded a Communist while fighting Communism.

Mr. Grafton advocates plain speaking.

A letter from the secretary of the Southeastern Area of the American Friends Service Committee thanks the newspaper for its recent editorial, actually reprinted from the Winston-Salem Journal, commending the selection of the London and Philadelphia Quakers as recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1947.

A letter writer asks whether the million dollars spent on liquor each month in Charlotte could not be better distributed to home merchants.

A letter from a group of "girls" from Hendersonville expresses eagerness to hear a reply from the man who wanted Senator Clyde Hoey to be Vice-President, to the man who had urged that Mr. Hoey should be President. They had heard the first writer speak in Atlanta to the Georgia Legislature earlier in the year during the contested gubernatorial succession between Herman Talmadge and M. E. Thompson and thought he had done a whale of a job.

A letter writer provides a poem about America sharing with the world for the purpose of peace.

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