Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the French Foreign Office had announced that an invitation had been extended to 22 nations to attend a Paris conference on European economic cooperation to be held on July 12. Spain, Germany, and Russia, the latter having caused the failure of the just concluded Foreign Ministers Conference of Britain, France, and Russia convened to discuss the Marshall Plan, were omitted from the invitation. The goal of the conference would be to obtain information necessary to have a report ready on the needs of European nations by September 1, to provide to the United States in furtherance of the Marshall Plan.

Paris Presse, a left-leaning newspaper, reported the breakup of the conference the previous day as being the most important event in contemporary history, signaling a final break between the West and Russia.

It had a rival, however, in July 2, 1941, not to mention June 28, 1914.

Sir Alexander Cadogan, British delegate to the U.N., told the Security Council that it might as well tear up the Charter if it refused to go along with the proposal of the United States, embodying the recommendation of the Balkans Commission, to set up a commssion to remain in the Balkans to try to smooth relations. The Commission had reported that Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria were aiding the guerrillas in northern Greece, threatening the peace in the region. The Russians had objected to formation of such a border-watch commission as impacting the sovereignty of the three accused countries, each of which had denied the allegations.

John L. Lewis was reported to have won the largest concession ever from bituminous coal producers, including a 44.5-cent per hour increase in the basic rate of pay and a ten cents per ton royalty to be contributed by the companies to the union welfare fund, double that paid under the Government contract in operation for the prior 13 months through June 30. UMW would drop the effort to unionize foremen, provided that the companies did not designate too many personnel as supervisory. It also relinquished the demand for pay for six holidays and for overtime pay on weekends. Presently, the miners were on a paid ten-day vacation, pursuant to the Government contract, and were due back at work on Tuesday.

Ford broke off negotiations with foremen, on strike for six weeks, and refused further recognition of the union. The company had signed the first contract with the Foremen's Association of America three years earlier but declared the experiment a miserable failure.

The Senate Republican leaders approved a new four billion dollar tax cut bill, to be taken up immediately upon passage by the House, which was certain of occurrence, probably on Tuesday. Senator Taft predicted swift action by the following week. It was the same bill which had been vetoed and sustained, but changed the effective date from July 1, 1947 to January 1, 1948. Senate Democrats expressed surprise at the move and the belief that the Senate would again sustain a veto.

In Washington, former Kentucky Congressman Andrew May and the Garsson brothers, accused of graft in connection with war contracts with the Government, were found guilty. Sentence was deferred pending the outcome of a motion for new trial. (The piece says that sentencing was delayed until after the noticed appeal would be concluded, an unlikely scenario as sentencing can become an issue on appeal.) Mr. May was convicted of accepting $50,000 in bribes to obtain 70 million dollars worth of war contracts for the Garsson brothers' combine of companies. The defense contended that Mr. May had funneled the money into a lumber company owned by the brothers. The jury deliberated for less than two hours. The maximum penalty was six years in prison and a $30,000 fine.

It was determined that there was no negligence in the explosion of a tanker in Los Angeles Harbor on June 22 which killed ten men and left two more missing, as well as causing an estimated ten million dollars of property damage.

In Whitten, Iowa, a 14-year old boy accidentally hanged himself on a rope swing while playing a game of tag.

In Miami, the Sheriff was investigating whether a plane crash of a small plane piloted by a 27-year old man was deliberate, seeking to crash into the house occupied by his estranged wife. The plane crashed two blocks from the home, killing the pilot. The Sheriff believed that he was targeting the house of his wife, with divorce proceedings pending. He had attempted by phone to reconcile earlier in the day, ending the conversation by telling her to read the newspapers the next day.

In New York, a 34-year old laborer was being held on an assault charge for throwing hot water on a group of children from his second-floor apartment window as they played in the street below. He said that the noise of the children bothered him. Get some cotton, fruitcake. Now, you're the one in hot water.

A storm advisory was in effect for the coast of North Carolina, the first of the season. Heavy gales were expected off the Middle and North Atlantic Coast during the holiday weekend. Batten the hatches.

Ten persons were recommended to Governor Gregg Cherry as candidates for five positions on the new rent advisory board for the Charlotte rent control area, pursuant to the rent control extension bill. It would hear complaints from landlords and tenants for the the duration of rent control, set to expire February 29, 1948.

The Charlotte Property Management Association voted unanimously to offer the majority of the tenants the available fifteen percent rent increase provided they were willing to sign a lease through 1948. The Association controlled about 70 percent of the rental property in Charlotte.

Tom Lynch of The News reports that the owners of the two liquor stores of Fort Mill, S.C., saw a dismal future in a new law taking effect July 1 which taxed their profits over $5,000 by a graduated amount of 25 to 50 percent. Added to their problems was the wet victory in Charlotte, taking away vital trade. Nevertheless, they planned to stay in business.

In Des Moines, a man who was a steeplejack climbed a flagpole 300 feet off the ground and perched on it for two hours, with the intent to show up a flagpole stander nearby who had promised a four-day stand. The man was lured down by a $500 check promised to him by the Humane Society. When he reached the ground, the police took him into custody and the check was cancelled.

You can't do that. He can sue you for breach of oral contract. The offer was made without coercion and he assented to its terms, fully performed. The offer was made in furtherance of public policy, not contrary to it. The check is written confirmation of the parol agreement. The money is his.

Moreover, what happened to the other guy? What is he, some kind of special character? He probably controls the police department through his uncle, the Mayor. This is wrong.

On the editorial page, "Politics Very Much as Usual" finds no legitimacy in the gripe of members of Congress anent the President's harsh message accompanying his reluctant signing of the rent control extension bill, which contained a provision for allowing 15 percent increases in rent if based on a lease running through 1948. That left the tenant with the option of not signing and then being hit with any kind of rent increase when the bill expired on February 29, 1948.

"'The Proper Education of Youth...'" tells of the Atlanta Journal having uncovered a letter addressed by Robert E. Lee to the board of trustees of Washington College in Lexington, Va., when offered the presidency of that institution. It quotes the letter, expressing his reluctance to take the position for his lack of energy to teach and because of the potential taint of having him head the institution when not covered by the President's amnesty program. He nevertheless accepted if the college was willing to overlook these two issues.

"The Great Holiday Hazard" reminds the public of the dangers attendant the holiday weekend, on the highways as well as around fireworks displays.

A piece from the Asheville Citizen, titled "Covenants over the Grapevine", decries secret diplomacy, contrary to the Wilsonian doctrine of "open covenants, openly arrived at". The State Department was conducting meetings in secret with civic and patriotic organizations with membership numbering 75 million people. The press was barred from the meetings and the representatives were told not to share information on the meetings with the press but to disseminate the information among their members. The State Department wanted input on the direction of foreign policy.

Drew Pearson reports of the apathy of Congressmen to the past of Representative Robert Jones of Ohio, a former member of the racist, violent Black Legion. The Legion had murdered Silas Coleman, a black man, because one of the members wanted to know what it was like "to shoot a Negro". Eleven of the members had been convicted for the murder. The Legion had also murdered two members of the UAW, and threatened to kidnap the daughter of Ohio Governor Davey. Nine members were convicted of threatening to kill a publisher of Highland Park, Mich., Arthur Kingsley. Eight were convicted for the killing of a Detroit WPA worker because neighbors falsely reported that he beat his wife.

An Ohio health commissioner, Dr. William Shepherd, who was a Black Legionnaire, explained that he had been a member of the Klan but wanted to wear a black robe and so was kicked out, formed the Legion in Ohio, and the thing took off. He said that everyone wanted to be a Black. "You have to have mystery in a fraternal thing to keep it alive. The folks eat it up."

During the Depression, joining the Legion was a way to keep a job, as the Legionnaires would simply threaten employers if they tried to lay off members.

Congressman Jones became a member at a time when the organization was branded as particularly intolerant. Now, he was slated to become a member of the FCC, able to grant and withdraw radio station licenses and remove programming from the air. He had been a friend of rabid reactionary Gerald L. K. Smith and had praised and quoted Asheville Silver Shirt reactionary William Dudley Pelley and "Social Justice", the rag printed by anti-Semitic Father Coughlin.

Senators Claude Pepper of Florida, John Sparkman of Alabama, Richard Russell and Walter George of Georgia met with President Truman the previous week to invite him to the Valdosta, Ga., fair. Senator Russell noticed that he was perusing the Congressional Record for June 23, the day his veto of Taft-Hartley was overridden in the Senate. The President, however, denied to Senator Russell that he was studying the votes against him, which included that of Senator Russell, saying that he realized as a former Senator that his fellow Democrats would not be with him on every issue. Mr. Pearson notes, however, that the section the President had said he was reading, containing the speech by Senator Taft, required him to flip through the veto vote tabulation in the Senate.

He next tells of the Farm Bureau president, one of the leading farm lobbyists, testifying before the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, and being challenged by Representative Walter Huber of Ohio, when the Farm Bureau president stated that he wanted a tougher labor bill than Taft-Hartley. Mr. Huber reminded him of the strike of farmers after meat controls went off the previous fall, holding back cattle from market. The Farm Bureau chief denied that it was a strike, but rather the result of operation of supply and demand. After that exchange, Mr. Huber contested with Senator Taft regarding the provision of Taft-Hartley allowing the Government to set wages. Mr. Taft challenged that under the bill such a situation was only temporary for the period of 60 days before a strike could be called in an industry affecting the entire country.

Joseph & Stewart Alsop discuss the problems facing President Truman in 1948 within the Democratic Party, problems which even President Hoover at the nadir of his popularity did not face. The anti-Truman forces were shaping up among Democrats, primarily focusing on Henry Wallace as a third party alternative.

Hal Boyle to the rescue. Stay tuned...

Marquis Childs tells of the end of UNRRA, the U.N. relief organization which had functioned for four years and dispensed three billion dollars worth of supplies to 17 countries, three times the relief after World War I. It had prevented major epidemics, though without funds to prevent the tuberculosis which was now prevalent in Europe.

A letter writer objects to Universal Military Training and opines that the nation would not stand for it. He advocates making compensation of the soldier sufficiently attractive that a peacetime volunteer Army could be maintained.

A letter writer finds it unfair that stores were remaining open on the 5th of July, interrupting the long holiday weekend for thier employees when manufacturers and other businesses were staying closed all three days.

Framed Edition

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