Site Ed. Note: The
front page reports that Secretary of State Marshall told the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee that if aid were stopped to Greece, the
consequences would be "swift and tragic". The consequences
to Turkey would not be as "active" but were also serious.
He was testifying in favor of the Administration's recommended
additional aid of 275 million dollars for Greece and Turkey, to
supplement the 400 million provided the previous spring.
In Paris, British
Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin urged the 16-nation conference to
include Western Germany in the Marshall Plan. Portugal appeared
ready to propose that Spain be included in ERP.
The President
instructed Federal agencies to turn down requests from Congress and
the courts for secret papers regarding loyalty investigations of
Government employees. He directed that all agency heads submit such
requests directly to him for determination. Secretary of Commerce
Averell Harriman had already refused to provide HUAC with documents
on the investigation of Dr. Edward Condon, head of the Bureau of
Standards and object of HUAC scrutiny of late for supposedly being
the top security risk anent the atomic secret. The loyalty
investigations had been taking place pursuant to executive order
since July, 1947, but were maintained as top secret.
Nearly half of the
bituminous coal miners of the nation stopped work in response to the
call by UMW leader John L. Lewis for miner pensions. About sixty
percent of the miners in West Virginia walked off the job. In all,
about 200,000 went on strike. No direct call had been made for the
walkout. Anthracite miners in Pennsylvania continued on the job. Mr.
Lewis was demanding $100 per month in pensions for miners over 60
with twenty or more years of service. The operators claimed the
proposal to be too expensive. The present contract continued through
the end of June.
A Federal judge in
Washington held the provision of Taft-Hartley banning union
political activities to be an unconstitutional impingement on free
speech and dismissed indictments against CIO president Philip Murray
for engaging in such activity, an advertisement in the CIO
publication in support of a candidate for election in Baltimore
County. The case had been intentionally brought to test the validity
of the provision.
Two of three major
packing houses turned down an offer to arbitrate their wage dispute
with the CIO United Packinghouse Workers, set to strike nationwide
at midnight the following night. The union had sought a 29-cent per
hour wage increase but was prepared to settle for 20 cents.
Two-thirds of the union membership received less than $1.10 per
hour. Armour had not replied to the proposal but Swift and Cudahy
had rejected it.
Senator Robert Taft was
aboard an airplane which crash-landed on ice-covered Kennebec River
in Maine, but was unhurt. Also aboard were Senator Owen Brewster and
the pilot, likewise uninjured. The engine suddenly cut out when the
crankshaft broke. Senator Taft said that it was a nice, soft
landing.
A former New York City
advertising executive, Torrey Stearns, formed a "People for
Eisenhower" organization, inviting citizens to mail postcards
stating their support for the General, in the hope that it might
convince him to change his mind about not running for the
presidency.
In San Jose, Costa
Rica, the Government was under siege by a revolutionary force
virtually isolating the capital city. The Government had asked
General Anastasio Samoza, strongman of Nicaragua, to send help to
stem the revolt. Jose Figueres, leader of the revolutionary forces,
trained by the U.S., claimed to have wiped out half of the force
sent to extricate him from his mountain fortress.
In Chicago, 44
spectators and handlers involved in a cock fight had been arrested
under a rarely invoked statute banning the sport.
In Louisville, six
workmen were killed and at least 26 others injured in an explosion
at the International Harvester Farm Equipment Company building. More
persons would have been present but for the fact of a changing shift
at the time.
On Mount Sanford in
Alaska, storms threatened to bury the wreckage of a Northwest Orient
Airlines DC-4 which had crashed on its way from Shanghai to St.
Paul, Minn., carrying 30 seamen back home after delivery of a
tanker. There appeared to be no survivors.
Police Chief Frank
Littlejohn of Charlotte advocated the imposition of a citywide
curfew after 11:00 p.m. for teenagers to curb incidents of recent
vandalism. The police had caught the alleged culprits responsible
for draining most of the water from the lake in Freedom Park,
killing most of its stock of fish on Thursday evening. They were two
boys, ages 14 and 13, arrested on Sunday following investigation by
six members of the Police Department. They had used a hammer and
chisel from home to cut the chain which secured the valve.
Originally, the police had speculated that two older persons had
done the deed for the fact that it normally took two workmen to open
the valve.
"Cinderella"
would be performed by the Girl Scouts of Troop 1 at the Lions' Club
Building this night at 7:30 in Mt. Holly. Don't miss it.
Refreshments will be served by members of Troop 2.
Former News
writer Burke Davis, now with the Baltimore Evening Sun,
reports on page 16-A regarding there being plenty of nickels in
Baltimore.
As no doubt imparted on
the sports page, on Saturday night, DePaul had defeated N.C. State,
Southern Conference champions and considered one of the nation's top
teams, in the opening quarterfinals of the N.I.T. in Madison Square
Garden in New York. The Wolfpack lost 75 to 64, albeit without the
services of their leading scorer at 15.6 points per game,
All-American Dick Dickey, down with the mumps. Whether some
enterprising sports reporter had the audacity to suggest a headline
such as, "Pack Mumped Out of N.I.T. by Blue Demons", we
don't know. Perhaps, it would have been too cheeky.
State finished the
season 29-3, its only other losses coming in close games to West
Virginia and defending NCAA champion Holy Cross, with All-American
Bob Cousy.
The semifinals of the
eight-team N.I.T. would take place this night and conclude on
Wednesday night. The N.C.A.A. Tournament, also with an eight-team
field, would begin Thursday, with Kentucky meeting Columbia and Holy
Cross playing Michigan in the Garden in the semifinals for the
Eastern championship, while on Friday in Kansas City, Kansas State
would contest Wyoming and Washington would vie with Baylor for the
Western title. The overall semifinals would take place in each
separate locale on Saturday and the finals, on Tuesday, March 23, in
the Garden—obviously giving the Eastern champion the advantage by
acclimation to the city, arena and court, not having to travel on
the two days off, plus having only to play two games in three days
in the Eastern championship round rather than on back to back days
as the Western champion, the latter ultimately forced to play three
games in five days. This lopsided format obviously needs revision.
On the editorial page,
"U.S. Needs ERP and Draft" finds wisdom in the call by
former Secretary of State James Byrnes to reinstitute the draft, as
universal military training had been delayed by the Congress for so
long that it was now too late to implement it. The draft also would
take several months to meet manpower needs in a confrontation with
Russia. Quick passage of the Marshall Plan to assure security thus
took on added importance, to hold Italy, France, and the other
Western European nations solidly on the side of the U.S.
The same members of
Congress responsible for delaying the Marshall Plan were also
delaying UMT, and would likely oppose a draft. Yet, they were crying
the loudest for getting tough with Russia. The sloth and
inconsistent stance were the result of election year politics and
isolationism, as well the delusion that the
atom bomb was sufficient to provide security.
"How to Stop the
Vandals" finds Police Chief Littlejohn's Saturday statement
that parental negligence was the source of growing vandalism in
Charlotte to extend not only to the parents of the perpetrators but also
to all who were indifferent to the acts of vandalism. It urges
formation of an organization of parents to deal with the growing
problem. More money was needed for recreational facilities and
programs to funnel the energies of youth into more creative and
responsible outlets.
You build a basketball
court; they will come. No more vandalism, as thefts on the court are
acceptable and you can shoot the eyes out of your adversary with
impunity.
"Shrieking in
Stalin's Ear" comments on the Alsops' column of Saturday in
which they stated that Secretary Marshall needed to shriek in
Premier Stalin's ear to be heard beyond the tightly controlled walls
of the Kremlin, alerting him to the concern felt by Americans
regarding the takeover by the Communists in Czechoslovakia, that such Soviet moves could precipitate war.
The piece questions
whether the shrieking would have any impact and whether indeed it
might trigger the opposite result, that is increasing the Russian campaign
of expansion. It thinks the main result of the Marshall and Truman
statements might be only to alarm the American people, not Stalin.
A piece from the
Memphis Commercial Appeal, titled "They Look 'Darling'",
tells of two young females on the bus being ecstatic over an
athletic hero having peroxided his forelock, which they thought made
him look "perfectly darling".
The writer found the
specimen more novel than darling. Whatever the case, it finds the
fad harmless enough, if inexplicable. But, as the song went
regarding the turkey trot, everybody was doing it.
Drew Pearson tells of
Secretary of State Marshall asking the Senate Armed Services
Committee to meet with him at the State Department, and when they
arrived, imparting to them that war could erupt with Russia over the
Balkans or Italy and that the uncontrollable Yugoslavs might
transgress the borders into Italy at any time. He stated that he did
not want to send an ultimatum to Russia for fear it might provoke
war.
The Red Army had 1.7
million men in Russia plus 25 artillery divisions and 50 NKVD
divisions for internal security, a total of about 2.45 million men.
In Germany, the Red
Army was concentrating its forces, appearing to be ready to force
the British and Americans out.
Sweden was concerned
about being caught between Russia and the West and so refused to
have anything to do with the West.
The Russians were
rumored to have 100,000 guided missiles, more accurate than the V-2.
They had also stockpiled about three years' worth of wheat.
Diplomatic intelligence
suggested that Russia intended to engage in terrorism in Europe to
coerce Italians to vote for the Communists in the coming April 18
elections. They also wanted to scare Western European nations away
from joining the new Western European Union and to act before the
Marshall Plan was implemented. The fact of the U.S. election also
made the timing good for Russia.
Italians, living for so
long under Fascism, were susceptible to scare tactics employed by
the Communists against the peasants to get them to vote Communist.
The Italians were also concerned about the Communist takeover in
Czechoslovakia and so wanted to join the right side. A truly free
election would disfavor the Communists, but it did not appear headed
in that direction.
He next imparts of the
tension between Congressmen George Bender and Clare Hoffman, both
Republicans, regarding the witnesses to be called in hearings over
the Administration's alleged proposal to hold back embarrassing
news.
Marquis Childs tells of
Virginia being under the control of a few persons prepared to tell
the people for whom they would vote in November, based on the
legislative proposal of Governor William Tuck to place only party
names on the ballot, freeing the electors to vote for their choice
of candidate. That person inevitably would be Senator Harry F. Byrd,
the boss of Virginia politics.
The proposal was not
well received by the state's newspapers and a compromise had been
put forth whereby the Truman Democrats could gather a thousand
signatures and qualify for the ballot under their own label. The
name of the Republican candidate would, as always, be on the ballot.
As a result, Virginia
would likely go into the Republican column, an extraordinary result.
Many Democrats were resentful of the tactics of the Byrd machine and
would thus not vote for the party label with assurance of it being a
vote for Senator Byrd. But they would also not vote for the
President based on his promulgated civil rights program.
In fact, come November,
Virginia would wind up voting for the President by 47 to 41 percent.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop tell of the exchanges of heated words
between Andrei Gromyko and Warren Austin on the U.N. Security
Council regarding Palestine not being suggestive of a positive
result in the offing.
There appeared to be no American policy on Palestine. President
Truman had decided not to send troops to the troubled Holy Land to
enforce the partition plan. But such negation was not a policy.
It was hoped that the British could be persuaded to stay an
additional six months beyond the evacuation date of May 15.
President Truman had sent letters to the Arab leaders urging
compliance in exchange for promises of U.S. and U.N. guarantees of the borders of
the Arab and Jewish states. But King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia
responded that political leaders in America could change and such
guarantees thus could be altered or eliminated. Transjordan's King
Abdullah had refused to participate in the enforcement out of fear
of being assassinated by the Mufti's men. Western European nations
and South American nations had also refused participation.
A trusteeship had been considered, but if it involved only the
U.S. as trustee, that would mean a commitment of American troops. If
not, it would lead to Russian troops in Palestine, as Mr. Gromyko
appeared to hint. In that event, Palestine would quickly be made a
satrapy of the Soviets.
It was likely that the U.S. would press for a General Assembly
meeting to reconsider partition. If that were to happen, it would
mean abandonment of partition and failure to deal effectively with
the problem.
A letter from former News reporter Reed Sarratt, now in
Baltimore, responds to a letter of March 5, which had unfairly
attacked UNC president Frank Graham, branding him a Communist in an
open letter to Senator Clyde Hoey, and urging that he be dismissed
as UNC president.
The writer had accused Dr. Graham of being a member of an
"un-American" organization, namely the Southern Conference
of Human Welfare. HUAC had so labeled the organization the previous
June for its sponsorship of an address by Henry Wallace in
Washington. The accusation was without foundation. Mr. Sarratt urges reading
of an article on the subject by law professor Walter Gellhorn in the
previous October issue of The Harvard Law Review, titled "Report on a Report of the House Committee on Un-American Activities". HUAC's
accusation resembled that made recently by the Committee against Dr.
Edward Condon, director of the Bureau of Standards, for supposed
association with a Communist espionage agent, based on guilt by
association.
Neither the FBI nor the Attorney General had ever listed the
Conference as "subversive", as the previous letter writer
contended.
Senator Hoey had recently attested on the Senate floor to the
patriotism of Dr. Graham and needed no instruction on the topic.
Dr. Graham had served the country well during and since the war
on various boards of the Federal Government and his loyalty was
above reproach.
The following March, at the death of newly elected Senator J.
Melville Broughton, new Governor Kerr Scott would appoint Dr. Graham
to the Senate seat, which he would lose in the 1950 election to
Raleigh attorney Willis Smith, whose race-baiting campaign would be
managed by Jesse Helms.
A letter from the president of the Mecklenburg County Council of
the Boy Scouts of America thanks the newspaper for a series of three
articles published on Cub Scouting.
They must have been one each for Wolf, Bear, and Lion. The Bobcat
maybe got left out in the cold again.