The Charlotte News
Friday, February 4, 1949
TWO EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the U.S. and Britain had tightened their counter-blockade on the Soviet sector of Berlin by banning all motor freight traffic through the British and American zones from Western European nations into Eastern Germany. Passenger vehicles without goods would not be affected.
John Hightower of the Associated Press reports that the next move on how to end the cold war was clearly up to Russia following the State Department's rejection of Josef Stalin's offer to resolve the blockade contingent on delayed institution of the West German government until the Council of Foreign Ministers could again meet to consider the overall German question, its manner of government and economic structure.
In Budapest, Josef Cardinal Mindszenty, on trial, with six others, by the Communist Government in Hungary for alleged acts of treason, repudiated a letter he had sent to bishops stating that any admission of guilt obtained from him could be assumed to be false and gotten through coercion. One of the co-defendants pleaded guilty to engaging in illegal money dealing with the Cardinal's household. All were charged with plotting to overthrow the Government.
President Truman contended that he had inherent authority as Chief Executive to deal with strikes which threatened a national emergency. Senator Robert Taft said that the President did not have such authority absent legislation. The Senate Labor Committee continued to hold hearings on the repeal of Taft-Hartley and substitute legislation.
The Senate Banking Committee approved a 28-month extension of export controls, set to expire at the end of February. It put in a provision to allow decontrol of farm products when deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Agriculture to enable exports of surpluses.
According to the Census Bureau, employment in the country dropped two million to 57.5 million in January, higher by 265,000 than one year earlier.
In Raleigh, the North Carolina Supreme Court, reversing a lower court determination, held that a statute creating a Board of Photographic Examiners was not constitutional under the State Constitution. The 5 to 2 decision was announced by Justice Sam J. Ervin, with Chief Justice Walter Stacy and Justice J. Wallace Winborne dissenting. The majority held that requiring licensing of photographers did not fall with the ambit of constitutional police powers of the State.
Well, why not? They have a lot to do with the health, morals, safety and welfare of the people, don't they? You don't want just any old person taking photos.
In Tabor City, N.C., two undertakers, partners in a funeral home, engaged in combat with with a blackjack and a pistol from within a hearse, with one winding up critically injured by five gunshot wounds. They had gotten into an argument while driving the hearse home from a funeral. One tried to hit the other one with a blackjack, but he ducked and it broke the glass behind the driver's head and he then grabbed a gun and shot the initial assailant. The hearse went into a ditch and the two exited, whereupon the man with the blackjack tried again to strike the other man, who then fired four more shots, hitting his mark each time.
If these two undertakers can get along so well, why cannot the nations?
In New York, a woman had hired two shotgun-packing guards and installed four locks on her apartment to bar her estranged husband, whom she said had initially hired two armed guards to keep her from the apartment the previous fall.
If those two lovebirds can get along so well, why cannot the nations?
In Helena, Ark., a 59-year old nurse gave birth to her sixth child, saying that it was the answer to her prayers as her other five children were dead. She said that she did not know that she was going to give birth until shortly before the baby was born.
In Mason, Mich., a 12-year old girl was found to be three months pregnant, and said that she was grown up and wanted to return from juvenile authorities to her 23-year old husband, a Navy veteran. They were married the previous October 23. So the little one on the way is not a bastard, maybe a Portia.
After more concentration on the
matter, we have discerned that "Mr. X" this week is
probably either Poor Howard
On the editorial page, "The Road Bond Proposal" discusses Governor Scott's proposed 200 million dollar bond issue for rural road development to be paid in part by a one-cent hike in the gasoline tax. Two questions facing the General Assembly would be whether the package should be put forward on a pay-as-you-go basis or by deficit financing, and whether the job could be accomplished over a longer term than the four years proposed by the Governor within the current framework of the highway fund plus the one-cent tax increase. The people could not render an intelligent decision on the referendum until these questions were answered.
It extensively discusses the program and concludes that with a 33 million dollar surplus built up during the war as a contingency fund against increased costs of local government, it would be a mistake to put the State deep in debt to do a job in four years which could be accomplished at much less expense over a longer period.
Shoot, we don't need no paved roads. We get the tractor pull in 'ere and get 'em out when they get in. We just as soon have it the way it is, dirt, mud and all on down the line as far as deep as it goes, you know?
"Lesson in Salesmanship" finds that Eleanor Roosevelt had apparently changed her economic views from pure idealism to pragmatism in recommending that American industry develop in peacetime the same kind of push for "new and untried enterprises" as during wartime. She had asserted that it would be essential to achieve the objectives of rehabilitation of the world and stability and strength at home.
The piece praises the statement and finds it better articulated than the various business associations who had been saying essentially the same thing without much success. Ms. Roosevelt would carry great weight for her prestige and the fact that she had no axe to grind.
Drew Pearson indicates that France, Britain, and the U.S. would begin negotiations with Russia the following Monday on the Austrian treaty, and it was deemed significant by the State Department as a bellwether by which to discern Russia's commitment to cooperation with the U.S. and how the cold war was proceeding. Other observers found Austria not to be such a good barometer, as Russia no longer had reason to be tough about Austria given the separation of Tito and Yugoslavia from the iron curtain. They posited that the only reason why Russia had been tough previously about Austria was to preserve Tito's position.
The President was pleased by the positive response worldwide to his proposal for raising the standard of living in underdeveloped nations through American technical assistance.
The Consul General of the American Embassy at Mukden, China, had cabled that the Americans in Northern China were receiving good treatment from the Communists. One of the leading Communist generals had even visited the Consulate to pay his respects and had been very polite, expressing hope for U.S. trade and peaceful cooperation. He said that he and his fellow Communists believed in freedom of the press and to that end, gave some documents to the Consul General which he hoped would be published in the American free press. The Consul General awaited word from the State Department.
Many Republicans in Washington were upset that Governor Dewey was invited as a key speaker at the GOP Lincoln Day dinner set for the following Tuesday.
The U.S. had begun negotiations with Panama to set up new military bases outside the Canal Zone in return for a loan. The Army and Navy wanted the bases as radar installations to warn of the approach of enemy planes.
James Marlow examines the answers of Josef Stalin to Kingsbury Smith's questions regarding peace, resolution of the Berlin crisis, and meeting with President Truman, finds Stalin's answers to be safe: for peace; for meeting with the President, albeit not in Washington, but at a place within the iron curtain; and for resolving the blockade crisis if the Western allies would agree to delay implementation of the West German government until the Council of Foreign Ministers could again meet to discuss the overall German question. All of the answers merely repeated things said before, were intended for international propaganda.
If Stalin had really wanted to make a statement about peace, suggests Mr. Childs, he could have invited the Western diplomats to the Kremlin to meet with him rather than imparting information through an intermediary, a journalist. Thus it was not surprising that the Western response rejecting the invitation had been cold.
"So the score stands: No hits,
no runs, no errors
Marquis Childs tells of Thomas Dewey getting ready to provide an address the following Tuesday at the Republican Lincoln Day dinner, to be broadcast on television and radio, in which it was anticipated that he intended to lash out at the Republican Party for not providing better support to him during the campaign, blaming him for the loss rather than the coattail drag of third-rate political hacks in state and local elections. Mr. Dewey had commiserated with another Republican politician regarding one instance in which he had to provide a glowing recommendation to a local candidate who reeked of alcohol and "looked like a refugee from Alcoholics Anonymous."
The party organization had refused to change its views from those which predominated when William McKinley had been President at the turn of the century.
Mr. Childs speculates on whether Mr.
Dewey might try a third time for the nomination. Mr. Dewey would
remain true
Mr. Childs concludes by saying that the Republican women sponsoring the Dewey talk had heard that many Republicans from Congress were intending to boycott the talk. He finds that too bad as they might hear something which would be to their advantage and that of their party.
A letter writer says that Eric Brandeis would not cause her to hate the people of Britain for his writing a few unkind or untrue things about America. She thinks that King George, who had never snubbed any prominent man of Britain, was superior to President Truman who had snubbed Governor Thurmond and his wife at the inauguration. Margaret Truman and Princess Elizabeth were both fine young ladies, but Ms. Truman, it had been said, was one of the most overdressed women in the country.
So, she says, Americans should remember their own imperfections before hating others—"even our British cousins across the sea."
But, ma'am, Britain, in all honesty, probably did not have someone like Governor Thurmond.
A letter from a U.S. sergeant stationed on Guam tells of his receiving The News three to four weeks late and thanks the newspaper for the good work, especially regarding its brainchild, WMIT-FM.
A letter writer suggests that the way to put Europe back on its feet by 1953 was to make a political settlement with Russia and set up a system of world government to guarantee the nations against aggression.
A letter from Arthur Jones, the outgoing superintendent of the Park & Recreation Commission, thanks the newspaper for its support during his year in the post.
A Quote of the Day: "If you want to kill your wife with curiosity simply clip a brief item before you hand her the day's newspaper." —Mattoon (Ill.) Journal-Gazette
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