The Charlotte News

Wednesday, July 30, 1947

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that at the U.N., the Russians had vetoed the U.S. Balkans proposal for a border-watch commission to make observations and report to the Security Council on the Greek borders with Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria, prompting U.S. delegate Herschel Johnson to return from New York to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Marshall and others at the State Department to determine the next step. The Security Council was scheduled to meet the following afternoon to consider the Soviet proposal that all foreign troops evacuate Greece and that a commission be established to supervise the American aid.

It had been hoped that Russia might abstain from the vote on the border commission.

The United States formally protested to Russia its removal of assets from Hungary, Bulgaria, and Rumania, allegedly based on claims of reparations. The note focused on American assets in the country, which could not be treated as German property for reparations. Only removal in accord with the peace treaties could be recognized as legal.

India demanded that the Security Council address and resolve the situation between Dutch and Indonesian forces. Australia also was said to be ready to file a complaint on the matter.

Meanwhile, fighting continued between the Dutch Army forces and the Indonesian Republicans.

The Irgun underground organization in Palestine had stated it had hanged the two kidnaped British Army sergeants who were being held in exchange for release of three condemned Irgun members, who were executed. The organization held court on the two sergeants and found them guilty of belonging to the British occupation force responsible for suppressing Jewish rights in Palestine. Police in Tel Aviv reported that they had found the bodies of the two sergeants, but it was not confirmed whether they had been slain. The three Irgun members who were executed were convicted of the May 4 shooting and bombing at the Acre Prison, in which 251 convicts were freed and sixteen persons were killed.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed when the sergeants were kidnaped two weeks earlier was lifted in Haifa. A search the previous night through the Herzeliya Jewish quarter had resulted in the detention of nine persons.

In Jerusalem, two British soldiers were killed and three were injured by an electrically-detonated mine near the Hedewra railway station this date.

Former Secretary of Commerce Jesse Jones testified before the Senate War Investigating Committee that FDR had ordered work to continue on the 20-million dollar "Spruce Goose" project of Howard Hughes and Henry Kaiser. He had talked to the President in early 1944 and was told that the 13.5 million already spent on the project should not be wasted. He claimed to have signed the contract based on the War Production Board recommendation without realizing that both the Army and Navy opposed it. He also stated that, to his knowledge, the President had nothing to do with making the contract.

Howard Hughes stated that Senator Owen Brewster, chair of the committee, had offered privately to call off the investigation if he would merge TWA with Pan American Airways. Mr. Hughes found the attempt to be coercive and intimidating.

Senator Brewster referred to the book of Nehemiah in the Bible anyone who believed that his motive in conducting the hearings was to force such a merger. It was believed that he referred to the verse which says: "Sanballat practiseth by craft, by rumors, by hired prophecies, to terrify Nehemiah. The work is finished to the terror of the enemies..." Nehemiah was building a wall and his enemies were trying to divert him from his work.

Thus, it could be fairly concluded that Senator Brewster meant to suggest that he was busy building a wall for the American people and that terrorists, such as Mr. Hughes, were trying to divert him from his purpose.

In London, a source indicated that Prime Minister Clement Attlee had told the Labor Members of Parliament in a closed session that the country would cut almost immediately its military commitments in Germany, Italy, and Greece, to allow release of manpower for the nationalized coal mines and steel production at home. The Prime Minister had not responded to questions about Palestine, according to the source.

In Boston, Douglas Chandler, former Baltimore writer, had been convicted of treason for his role as Nazi propagandist during the war, delivering radio broadcasts under the pseudonym "Paul Revere". The Government prosecutor urged that the death penalty be imposed.

Senator Clyde Hoey was said to be pleased with the special edition of The News the previous day, setting forth the industrial potential for the Piedmont Carolinas region based on an inventory of its resources.

Tom Watkins reports that the Chief of the Mecklenburg County Police Department had issued a warning for the public to take extra care while swimming. The warning resulted from the fact that six persons had drowned in the county thus far during the summer. The Catawba River, with sudden drops and tricky currents, posed special risks. He also added that river water and liquor did not mix.

You're liable to hit a drop and spill the whole thing.

On the editorial page, "The Answer to the Armory Issue" finds apparent the solution to the problem of accommodating the teen club which used the Armory while also enabling the National Guard to have a proper facility, in light of the merger of the armed forces, by transferring the Guard to the Navy Armory which the Navy was building. The Mayor's plans for a new auditorium and civic center also would alleviate the problem of the inadequate facility at the Armory, built hurriedly in 1929.

"Dewey Needs Something Else" reports that the latest Gallup poll had President Truman leading Governor Dewey 51 to 49, an encouraging sign to Governor Dewey and his backers. The poll showed that the candidate retained good popularity in the country and might beat the President in a showdown.

The piece thinks, however, that the Republicans might be miscalculating the Governor's popularity, that he would have a hard time dissociating himself from the record of the 80th Congress, even if he had sought to remain aloof from it, without comment on the major issues. For the first time since 1932, the 1948 campaign appeared to be shaping up as one involving issues rather than personalities. Taft-Hartley would not attract independent voters. And the prospect of Republicans using the 1948 session of Congress to address social legislation would not likely fool most voters. If they failed in their efforts at social legislation, then only a liberal of the stature of Harold Stassen would attract independents. But the Old Guard Republicans would never accept former Governor Stassen.

If the Republicans did not undertake liberal legislation and then nominated Governor Dewey, it would pass up its best chance for victory since 1928. The 1944 nominee, despite his popularity, promised no certainty of becoming President in 1949.

"War and the Man in the Street" finds that while, according to Merril Meigs, formerly of the War Production Board, the average citizen caused the WPB to approve the "Spruce Goose" plan of Henry Kaiser because of his threat to go to the people on the idea and the idea's inevitable appeal, the average citizen had been wise enough to win the war. Perhaps, he was an uninformed dolt in the eyes of the WPB on the one project, but it was at least comforting that he retained sufficient power to trump all expert advice on the matter and push through the contract.

A piece from the Atlanta Journal, titled "Straws in the Wind", tells of farm debt having reached in 1945 the lowest point in three decades. Farm debt after World War I had played a major role leading to the Depression, as speculation in farm land set in on the premise that 40-cent cotton and $2 wheat were fixtures. The resulting debt bankrupted many farmers.

But eighteen months earlier, at the start of 1946, borrowing began anew, with the same speculation as followed World War I. What it portended was not clear, but it was clear what had transpired during the Twenties and early Thirties.

Drew Pearson, as had Marquis Childs the previous day, favors a broader investigation by the War Investigating Committee of Senator Brewster than just the Howard Hughes-Henry Kaiser "Spruce Goose" war contract and the lavish Hollywood-type parties given to cultivate it. He provides some of the other examples during the war of lavish entertaining to obtain favor in war contracts, and suggests that the airline investigation ought include Pan American Airways and its lobbying efforts, noting that Senator Brewster was a friend of Pan Am and so probably would not so extend the investigation.

He next tells of the Congress having adjourned without addressing flood control, a vital need. Congressman Al Elliott of California had talked to the President recently about the critical need for dams on four rivers in Tulare County, the Kern, the King, the Tule, and the Kaweh, each of which had no outlet and caused the flooding each year of a half million acres of rich farmland. Dams had been authorized on the first two rivers, but little money had been appropriated. Mr. Elliott wanted money for all four. He pointed out that the rich oilfields near Bakersfield were at risk from the flooding and some of the highest grade oil had been lost from flooding of the Kern. The President agreed with his assessment.

The column relates of a debate between Senator Taft, Senator Joseph O'Mahoney of Wyoming, and former OPA head Leon Henderson in the closing days of the session, in which they discussed the rent control measure. Senator Taft contended that the 15 percent increase would allow landlords to make repairs and thus redound to the benefit of the tenant. Mr. Henderson stated that a stenographer figured out that with the tax decrease, she could barely afford to pay the new, higher rent for one week. Thinking of the sustained veto of the tax bill, Senator Taft replied that the tax break of thirty percent of nothing left nothing.

Marquis Childs discusses Secretary of State Marshall's record after six months in the post, finding him to have lived up to the reputation which he had achieved as chief of staff of the Army during the war and the praise which he had received when he first became Secretary the previous January. He had returned from his China mission in the fall ready to retire at 66, but was talked into accepting the appointment by the President.

The Marshall Plan might fail because of East-West competition devolving into an arms race, or it might fail because of the partisan bickering at home over the terms of its implementation. But if it failed, it would not be the result of its author's failure. While Secretary Marshall's chief planner George Kennan was responsible for much of the details of the Plan, it had been Secretary Marshall who appointed him to the position.

The Russians had responded to the Plan by competing to provide aid of their own, finalizing a deal with the British to provide a million tons of wheat. So its impact had gone beyond the immediate course of positively rebuilding Europe economically and socially.

Secretary Marshall endeavored to keep politics out of the plan but with an election year forthcoming, it was bound to creep in. The best way for the Republicans to take it off the table during the election would be to assure that Secretary Marshall would continue in the post in a Republican Administration.

Stewart Alsop asks how conservative was the Republican Party. It had been said that some of the fringe of the party, along with many Southern Democrats, would gladly shoot the poor. But that was not the average view.

After passage of Taft-Hartley in the first session and the passage twice of the twice vetoed tax bill, the next session promised to have a broader appeal to the country, such as with the Taft long-term housing bill, and the education and welfare bills. But many elements of business did not want these bills and their prospects appeared therefore none too good. The powerful lobbies would likely see to it.

In housing, the Taft bill had been weakened in the Senate and blocked in the House. The program of former housing czar Wilson Wyatt had been wrecked. Even the provision in the rent control extension bill for 15 percent increases in rents on leases through 1948 did not appease the housing lobby; they wanted all controls removed, as attempted without success by Senator John Bricker.

The railroad lobby had likewise pushed the Bulwinkle-Reed bill to exempt railroads from anti-trust regulation on the premise that the I.C.C. regulated them.

Such powerful groups had exerted control over the Congress, and Senator Taft would have to overcome the housing lobby to obtain passage of his bill.

It raised the question whether the conservatism of the Republicans would conserve what was good without fear of favor or simply yield to the major lobbyists for special interests.

Samuel Grafton suggests that the 21-year old set to vote for the first time would not likely find much exciting in the candidates on the ballot. Thomas Dewey, while relatively young, had been Governor of New York since 1943 and had been involved in racket busting as District Attorney of Manhattan before that, likely too far back for the average 21-year old in 1948 to recall clearly.

Arthur Vandenberg had led an interesting Senate career, changing from pre-war isolationist to post-war champion of the U.N. But that change would likely not excite a young voter.

President Truman might inspire in the middle-aged a hope for continuity of the FDR spirit, but among young people, he would be hard-pressed to convey such an image, as they would likely not recall too vividly the entire scope of the Roosevelt era.

He concludes that unless the parties came up with some method of conveying a one world policy in which a better world would result, the average young voter would recall 1948 as the year of the first convertible and in which the father either made or lost money. "That will be a petty way to fix in memory the year of the first Presidential election after the biggest of wars."

A letter thanks The News on behalf of the advisory board of Mercy Hospital for its support of their first annual drive for funds.

A letter writer responds to the letter from the sergeant at Pope Field who had commented that he had changed favorably his former opinion of the South as a barbaric region, largely based on reading The News and its commentary on the Greenville acquittal of the 28 defendants in the Willie Earle lynching. This writer says that she was born in Philadelphia, had married a Southern man, and lived in the South for thirty years, would not wish to leave. She believes the sergeant had been visiting the wrong side of the tracks. She suggests that many Northern soldiers found the South disappointing because they drank too much and couldn't appreciate the scenery.

She wonders if the sergeant was aware that his "Negro friends" came to North Carolina to be educated.

She concludes by telling him to go back where he came from and to leave the South for those who love it.

It is also possible that you completely misread the soldier's letter, not to mention being rude, obnoxious, and presumptuous, obviously thoroughly inculcated in your 30 years of residence with redneckedness, a fair amount of which you obviously had already acquired in Philadelphia in your youth. It is rather you and people like you who would benefit the state and the South by going back from whence you derived, you obnoxious Copperhead carpetbagger.

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