The Charlotte News
Saturday, August 23, 1947
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Cabinet of Premier Demetrios Maximos in Greece had fallen, despite being backed up by 300 million dollars of U.S. aid thus far. The coalition Cabinet had served since January and included all factions except the left-wing EAM.
In Rio de Janeiro, at the Pan-American Conference, Argentina maintained its stance of distinguishing between intracontinental and extracontinental aggression, that force should not be employed with regard to the former. The U.S. and most of the other 20 nations at the conference opposed this position, favoring joint employment of force against any attack on an American nation, whether from within
In Bucharest, the Rumanian Chamber of Deputies unanimously ratified the peace treaty with the Allies. Under the treaty, Rumania had to pay 300 million dollars in reparations to Russia. The country was deprived of Bessarabia, which went to Russia. Southern Dobruja was ceded to Bulgaria. Its claim to Transylvania was recognized over that of Hungary. The country was limited to having 138,000 men in its military, 15,000 tons of warships, and 150 planes.
Police in Palestine announced that several persons had been arrested in the kidnaping and hanging of two British sergeants July 30 by the Irgun organization, effected in retaliation for the execution of three Irgun members found guilty of a May 4 bombing and shooting at Acre Prison in which 16 were killed in an effort to free 251 prisoners.
In Boston
Former North Carolina Governor J. Melville Broughton indicated his intention to run for the Senate seat presently occupied by William B. Umstead, appointed to the position after the death the previous December of Josiah W. Bailey.
Mr. Broughton would win the election but would die in March, 1949, two months after the start of his term. Frank Porter Graham, president of the University of North Carolina, would be named by Governor Kerr Scott to succeed Senator Broughton.
Senator Umstead arrived in Charlotte the previous night and would be in town until the following day. He said that his six years in the House had served him well in preparation for the Senate.
Secretary of War Kenneth Royall stated that he had always wanted to be Governor of his native North Carolina but had no idea whether he could become a candidate. Mr. Royall had been appointed two days earlier to become Secretary of the Army under the new unification program, not a Cabinet level position. The Cabinet post of Secretary of War was to be abolished when the bill went into effect. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal had already been named the first Secretary of Defense.
In the seventh week of The News amateur photo contest, a man from Forest City took first prize of $5, with his picture of a woman with a parasol. A man who had previously placed twice and won once took second place with a still life of a winter forest. One more week remained in the contest. Over 2,000 entries had been submitted. Again, the winning entries are on the page.
On the editorial page, "Better Outlook for Labor Code" discusses Taft-Hartley going into full effect the previous day and doing so in a climate considerably less charged with anger toward the bill than when it had first been passed over the President's veto in late June. Labor was remaining mum at this point, with its battle lines drawn on three fronts, to try to limit through negotiated contracts their liability under the act for wildcat strikes, a plan to boycott the revised version of the NLRB, and the intent to contest the constitutionality of parts of the Act in the courts, especially that which restricted political activity by the unions.
The unions had already obtained contract terms exempting them from the provisions for a year regarding wildcat strike penalties. The boycott of the NLRB would cause labor to forgo some of the benefits given them under Taft-Hartley.
It would take some time before the Act was fully tested before the courts and a final verdict on Taft-Hartley would not be in until that period had elapsed. But it had made a good start and was not freighted with the evil thus far that labor leaders had predicted.
"Who Trimmed the Federal Budget?" discusses the failed Republican effort to reduce the budget, finally winding up to be no more than about 2.8 billion off the President's proposed 37.5 billion dollar spending plan. The President's recent announcement that there would be a five billion dollar surplus in the coming fiscal year had prompted Republicans to charge that the country was robbed therefore of the tax cut by the President's two vetoes of the tax cut bill.
Nevertheless, the economy drive had reduced the Federal work force from its peak in 1945 of 3.7 million down to 2.7 million in 1946, and 2.1 million in June, 1947. It was still well above the 926,000 of 1939, but progress was being made on reduction.
There was little hope of relief from the tax burden for some time to come, with the President stressing payment of the debt with the surplus rather than a reduction of taxes. There was also need to determine the cost of foreign aid before undertaking any tax cut.
While there was room for economy in the Government, there had to be more than artificial cuts before tax relief could occur.
"Good Samaritan Comes Calling" tells of the Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte, the oldest private black hospital in the country at 56, launching a campaign to raise $100,000 for an expansion program, its first organized drive for funds in its history. The hospital had an excellent rating and deserved the community's full support in its effort to expand. The hospital was so popular with out of town patients that it was unable to provide full attention to Charlotte' black patients with its existing facilities.
Robert S. Allen provides the week's brass ring in the Merry-Go-Round to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery for his post-operational report of the war in Europe. It was comprised of a series of "misstatements, half truths, innuendos, omissions, and self-glorification." It was wholly in character with General Montgomery. It was remarkable that the British Government permitted the report to be published and to be distributed within the U.S.
The reports of General Eisenhower and General Marshall the previous year suffered from some of the same detriments as the Montgomery report. Hanson Baldwin of the New York Times had criticized General Eisenhower's claim that everything had gone according to plan in the European Theater of Operations. But at least the two reports had been dignified and restrained, were meticulously accurate in relating details. The first person credit-taking was used sparingly.
By contrast, General Montgomery's report was "inaccurate, vainglorious, petty, and mischievous." He took sole credit for developing the plan for the invasion of Normandy. But, to the contrary, the basic outline of the plan had been reached in January, 1944, before General Montgomery arrived at headquarters. General Eisenhower's report had dealt in detail with the development of the plan. It had taken shape through several conferences, with changes being made frequently. It had not been the result of the sole authorship of anyone. General Montgomery had barely mentioned General Eisenhower in his account of the development of the plan.
General Patton's Third Army could have crossed the Rhine and overtaken Germany before winter 1944-45 had it not been halted so that General Montgomery could launch the costly and abortive offensive in the north. The delay had enabled the Germans to collect themselves and launch the Ardennes Offensive.
There was no mention of the role of the Maquis, the French underground, in the liberation of France or of the eleven divisions of French who fought gallantly on the southern flank of the Western Front. General Montgomery claimed that the invasion of Normandy went exactly as planned, ignoring his own crushing defeat at Caen. He also failed to mention the heroic Battle of Bastogne, where the Third Army broke the back of the Ardennes Offensive. There was likewise no mention of the Third and Seventh Armies having broken the back of an entire German Army group during the course of eight days in the Palatinate, breaking the German resistance on the Rhine and shortening the war by three months.
He concludes that there was no reason for General Montgomery to have been so careless with the facts, as there was plenty of credit to go around among the Allied forces.
Mr. Allen had served on General Patton's staff during the war.
Paul W. Ward, in the 18th in his series of articles for the Baltimore Sun, collectively titled "Life in the Soviet Union", discusses the daily economic life of the average Russian. Josef Stalin had recently raised the price of food 180 percent while cutting rations and, in some cases, taking Soviet citizens off rations. Meanwhile, wages were raised 20 percent, but not enough to compensate for the dramatic rise in food prices. The consequence was that the average Russian worker was barely able now to get by, necessitating the wife of the family to enter the work force to offset the higher prices and cuts in rations.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop tell of a pincers movement by the Soviet Union, with one pincer in Iran and the other in Greece, causing speculation that Congress might call a special session to send troops to Greece. The British had been convinced to leave their troops in Greece until the end of the year, at which point, they had warned, they would have no choice but to withdraw them for economic reasons.
Communist General Markos had launched a major assault in northern Greece. Russia had withdrawn its diplomatic personnel from Athens, as had Yugoslavia. It was feared that Russia and its satellites would soon grant recognition to a Markos government which the General had promised to create in northern Greece. Albanian, Yugoslavian, and Bulgarian leaders had consulted among themselves and with Moscow in recent weeks. They were receiving instructions from the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Ambassador had returned to Iran and was putting pressure on Premier Ahmed Qavam to accept a Soviet-prepared oil contract for northern Iran. Within Iran, pressure was being placed on the Premier to resist the Russian contract. The Parliament would vote against the contract, an inherently unfair proposal which would charge the Iranians to take away the oil, just as a similar contract with Russia regarding Iranian fish. The oil contract was designed to give the Soviets a base in Iran.
When the Parliament would refuse to accept the contract, a violent Soviet reaction could ensue. The heat would then be on Iran as it already was in Greece.
Speaking of which, Hal Boyle, as a bonus, tells of the summer heat wave in New York and elsewhere.
A letter writer replies to a letter responding to the author's earlier letter regarding overcrowded buses in Charlotte and the need for additional buses and routes. He accuses the responding writer of dispensing with the facts.
A letter from A. W. Black warns of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, that it was promoting left-wing politics behind a religious stalking horse. He counsels attention to the statement by J. Edgar Hoover that the churches of the country were threatened with Communism, stressing that Communism was not a religion. Mr. Black warns that the constant drip
A letter from the executive secretary of the Gastonia Industrial Diversification Commission thanks the newspaper for its edition on the industrial resources of the Piedmont Carolinas.
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