Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Arab nations had
launched a concerted pincer attack on the Jewish settlements in
Palestine. Syrian and Lebanese forces attacked from the north at
dawn, engaging heavy fighting in Dafne, Dan, and Ramot Naftali, the
former two neighboring settlements being three miles from Syria and
the latter four miles from Lebanon.
From the south, the Egyptian Army entered Palestine at
midnight and it was reported that the Saudi Arabian Army was joining
them.
King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan had reportedly ordered the
attacks of six Arab states simultaneously. Iraqi planes flew above
the troops dropping welcoming leaflets. A courier from Amman in
Trans-Jordan, however, denied the reports that the offensive had
gotten underway, though the war council of five Arab states in
Trans-Jordan was openly known, as reported by A. P. correspondent
Daniel De Luce. King Abdullah had stated, "The time when the
Arabs will be masters in Palestine is near."
A map shows the reported path of the converging armies.
Morale at the U.N. was reported, in consequence of the
situation in Palestine, at its lowest ebb in its young history.
Jewish Agency representative Abba Eban stated to the U.N. political
committee that the U.S. plan for trusteeship would only intensify
the fighting in Palestine. He criticized the body for debating the
trusteeship proposal while Palestine was being partitioned by force
along the line approved by the General Assembly on November 29.
It appeared that no one now claimed the U.N. to be meeting
squarely the crisis in Palestine. The core of the difficulty was
partition and lack of U.N. enforcement machinery to carry it into
effect.
In Athens, Greece, martial law was declared by Premier
Themistokles Sophoulis following the May Day assassination attempt
on Minister of Justice Christos Ladas, hit in the head by three hand
grenade fragments and in serious condition. The assailant threw the
grenade through the back window of the car in which Mr. Ladas was
riding. He threw another grenade which was a dud and killed a
policeman as he fled. The assailant was wounded in the attack. He
admitted being under orders from a Communist execution squad, the
OPLA.
Britain sought compensation from Russia for the eleven British lives lost
aboard the British transport plane which collided with a Russian
fighter over Berlin on April 5. Three others of other nationalities
were also killed aboard the craft.
The 4.8 billion dollar tax cut passed by the Congress over
the President's veto went into effect this date.
A break in the railroad dispute, with a strike deadline of
May 11 looming, appeared possible, according to a Government
mediator.
Some Republicans were preparing strategy to block any early
Stassen stampede in advance of the June convention by asking
delegates in seven states to align with favorite-son candidates
until the strength of the primary contenders for the nomination
could be tested. They hoped thereby to forestall any change in
allegiance to Harold Stassen based on his primary successes thus far
in Wisconsin, Nebraska, and the non-binding write-in uncontested
primary in Pennsylvania. They did not wish a repeat of 1940 when a
stampede developed for Wendell Willkie over the favorites for the
nomination at the time, including Thomas Dewey.
Supporters of former Governor Stassen believed he could
acquire the nomination by the sixth ballot if he obtained a majority
of the Ohio delegates the following Tuesday on Senator Taft's home
turf and won the Oregon primary on May 21 over Governor Dewey. They
contended that neither Connecticut nor California would join the
stop-Stassen movement. California Republicans, however, said that
they expected the state's delegation to vote for Governor Earl
Warren as long as he had any remote chance for the nomination.
Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina offered on behalf
of the State a $500 reward for information regarding the explosion
of a home near Mullins the previous day, which had taken the lives
of a farmer and his daughter, while injuring his wife.
The Sheriff in Horry County had arrested the suitor of the
young girl, but no charge had yet been placed against him. He had
also arrested two black men in relation to the incident without
charges.
Two amateur radio stations 11,000 miles apart were able to
beam broadcasts of messages to and from the wife of a missing Air
Force lieutenant from Charlotte, lost April 20 off Guam, and to and
from his mother and sister in Charlotte. A search for the lieutenant
was underway.
John Daly of The News reports that the J. A. Jones
Construction Company of Charlotte, building a highway in Ecuador,
had its camp attacked by a mob of workers in the town of Chunchi,
and sought assistance by cable from the U.S. Government. Ecuadorean
troops had been ordered to assist the company's employees, including
32 Americans directing operations. One worker had been reported
killed in the attack.
On the editorial page, "U.S. Problem No. 1—Inflation" points out that food prices were a little cheaper than in January,
but the average bill for a household was $25.71 compared to $11.51
in 1941.
The head of General Foods predicted a slight downward trend
in prices during the remainder of the year.
Westinghouse and Lukens Steel had joined a group of
companies, including Chrysler and six steel companies, unwilling to
provide another round of wage hikes. Secretary of Defense Forrestal
had told Congress that increasing the defense budget could have
inflationary impact.
Responsibility for holding down prices rested with all
groups, consumers, capital, labor, farmers, manufacturers and
retailers.
"Ten Million Laughs a Day" tells of that many
laughs having been brought to Americans by Tom Breneman of
Hollywood, who had just died. He had hosted the radio program
"Breakfast in Hollywood". His success had mystified many
entertainers because the program did not seem to have much
substance. He mainly wore women's hats for comic relief as he
strolled among the breakfast guests and presented an orchid to the
oldest woman present.
His real name was Breneman Smith and he had exhibited a rare
gift for comedy growing up in Waynesville, Pa. He got laughs, though
his jokes and tricks were not original for the most part. He had a
close bond with his mother which was later transmitted to his many
female admirers.
His appeal was primarily to women who saw in him a return to
the blithe spirit of an earlier age when adults could act as
children.
"Charlotte's Paving Problem" tells of Dick
Young's report in this date's News regarding the inadequate
available financing for Charlotte sidewalk paving and street
construction. The city was prohibited from issuing a bond on the
construction during fiscal 1948-49, could do so the following year
after approval in a special election. If no other means of
supplying the revenue were found, it suggests, the bond election should become the primary
priority for the coming fiscal year.
Drew Pearson tells of the backstage fight among Democrats
over who should succeed Clinton Anderson as Secretary of
Agriculture, Assistant Secretary Charles Brannan or Representative
John Flannagan of Virginia, previously the longstanding chairman of
the House Agriculture Committee. Mr. Flannagan had the support of 30
prominent House Democrats and Senator Harry F. Byrd, but the
President was not receptive to the idea. Mr. Brannan was supported
by several prominent Democratic Senators.
Mr. Pearson expresses his sorrow over the death of William
Knudsen, former head of G.M. and coordinator of industrial war
production during the war. He had recalled his faithful good work
during the war when reading about the D.A.R. wishing to close off
immigration. Mr. Knudsen was a Danish immigrant to the country as a
boy.
Marquis Childs tells of pictures of a group of new Texas
multi-millionaires appearing in Life—one of whom was H. L. Hunt and another, D. Harold "Dry-Hole" Byrd, cousin to both Senator Harry F. Byrd and Admiral Richard E. Byrd, and owner of the building at 411 Elm Street in Dallas, which then housed the Sexton Foods Company—, posing the question how
such wealth could be newly amassed under the current confiscatory
tax rates. The answer lay in the depletion allowance for natural
resources, namely oil or natural gas, covering
27.5 percent of the annual gross income.
The Senate was considering a bill which would essentially
deregulate the natural gas industry, leading to higher gas bills in
the Northern cities and allowing more rapid exploitation of the
resource. In view of the dwindling oil reserves, it appeared
imprudent to allow for the faster production of natural gas. Unless
protected, the nation could wind up as China, in mass misery, as
suggested in Our Plundered Planet by Fairfield Osborn.
The coming to power of the Republicans had precipitated a
"come and get it" mentality to the large financial
interests in the country. Cattlemen of the West were working to
break down barriers to grazing rights on Federal lands which
preserved the balance between land and water.
Twenty-five large corporations controlled 77 percent of the
total gas acreage in the two largest natural gas fields in the
country, both in Texas. Commissioner Leland Olds of the Federal
Power Commisson testified that if these 25 companies obtained a five
percent rate hike, they could bring in 1.6 billion dollars
additional revenue from their reserves. But the higher profits would
also allow wasteful exploitation of the resource.
Mr. Childs concludes that it was the time to preserve the
regulatory system, not to undermine it.
Samuel Grafton tells of war threatening from small sparks in
Berlin, in Korea, in Greece, regardless of the billions in defense
and foreign aid being spent by the country. It appeared more as a
structure of insecurity than security. To live with such war tension
was hardly a recipe for security.
There was no security either by the test of certainty or by a
determination of how much security would cost. Economist Beardsley
Ruml had predicted defense budgets of 30 billion dollars within two
to three years and 50 to 60 billion a few years hence. Finances of
the country were being set by the actions of foreign countries.
Russia could compel the U.S., without a fight, to spend more each
year on defense.
The secure card player was the one who believed he could do
well with any hand, not merely hoping for a better deal.
The point was that security was not being achieved by
national defense. That could come only by a positive, aggressive
search for peace. To avoid an unending war of arms build-up, edging
the nation toward bankruptcy, the country would have to meet with
the Russians at some point. If an agreement with the Russians was
conceivable at some point in the future, then, he posits, it ought
be conceivable at present.
What was being bought with billions of dollars was expensive
insecurity.
A letter writer responds to the article reprinted from the
Monroe Journal on April 28 by R. F. Beasley anent world
government, finding it unlikely that such a governing body could
prevent world war any more than could the U.N., expressing the
belief that a Pax Americana was the only hope for world peace for
the ensuing hundred years.
Arnold Toynbee, in A Study of History, the writer
informs, cautioned that devotees of national sovereignty would never
accomplish world peace.
The writer believes that the concept of a Pax Americana did
not adequately address the issue of sovereignty and that unless it
were disciplined by higher law, as recommended by Professor Toynbee,
it could not hope to achieve more than an armed truce.
Albert Einstein and the group of six atomic scientists, and
the head of SOHIO favored world government. The writer also favors
it.
Two letter writers thank The News for its cooperation
in helping to make National Negro Health Week, ending April 11, a
success.
A Quote of the Day: "Sale of a Lincoln letter for
$5,800 should be an incentive for ambitious young men, whose mothers
were sure they would be President some day, to write home oftener."
—Louisville Times
Another Quote of the Day: "We'd like to see a United States of Europe. And, for that matter, we'd like to see one of America." —Arkansas Gazette
The Shelby Daily Star, attempting to emulate the pote at the
Atlanta Journal, suggests:
"With all the votes a massin' Everything seems to be Stassen."
