The Charlotte News

Friday, May 13, 1949

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that near Shanghai, the roar of battle could be heard at Woosung Harbor and Lunghwa Airfield, as two Communist forces crept toward the city against strong resistance by Nationalist troops. The airfield and harbor controlled the only remaining arteries from Shanghai to the outside world. The Nationalists claimed that 5,000 Communist troops had died when they were trapped in a minefield. (Previous reports had commented that Nationalist claims of casualties were often exaggerated.)

In Berlin, the Russians, through the official Russian army newspaper in Germany, accused the Western allies of "torpedoing" the agreement to lift the blockade by refusing to lift all of the restrictions imposed by the Western counter-blockade. A Western spokesman labeled the accusation "nonsense". Some observers believed the charge was a Soviet threat to reimpose the blockade.

General Lucius Clay, outgoing military governor of the American occupation zone in Germany, said that the forces of democracy in the country could beat the Communists in a free election in a unified Germany. He said that he was completely satisfied with the lifting of the blockade by the Russians.

The British House of Commons ratified the NATO treaty by a vote of 333 to 6.

The President named Francis Matthews, an Omaha lawyer who was part owner of radio station WOW in Omaha, as the new Secretary of the Navy, replacing resigning John L. Sullivan. Assistant Secretary Dan Kimball was named Undersecretary. Mr. Matthews had been a member of the President's Civil Rights Committee in 1946.

The House Armed Services Committee unanimously approved a bill to increase the pay for members of the armed forces, estimated to cost 406 million dollars per year.

Senator Bourke Hickenlooper of Iowa threatened a change in the law governing the Atomic Energy Commission if it did not deny student aid to Communists and fellow travelers. The matter had become suddenly controversial after Senator Clyde Hoey of North Carolina the previous day told of having received a letter from a G.I. student at UNC telling of his being aware of a "rabid Communist" student who was on an AEC scholarship. Senator Hickenlooper made mention of the student in question, originally from Austria but a naturalized citizen. The student's scholarship was in the field of relativity, not involving secret work. The student said that he was loyal to the country and saw nothing conflicting between that loyalty and being a Communist.

He may have even pulled for South Carolina during football season, dirty Commie.

Senator Hickenlooper also said that he was not yet satisfied with answers by Professor Henry Smyth of Princeton, author of the controversial 1945 Smyth Report, during his confirmation hearings on his appointment by the President to the AEC. He told the Senate-House Atomic Energy Committee that he hoped it would not be necessary to have an FBI investigation into every student who applied for grants-in-aid, as many of the best young scientists would resent such intrusion into their private lives.

In New York, 30 persons were overcome by carbon disuphide fumes when drums of chemicals exploded on a truck in the Holland Tunnel during the morning hours. The fire had spread to ten or twelve other trucks. Damage to the tunnel was so bad that police said it might have to be closed for a month.

On Saipan Island, 45 Filipinos had been stricken after eating a five-foot long eel. Seven were near death and twenty more were unconscious. Twelve had eaten the eel and suffered no ill effects thus far. Doctors theorized that the eel had eaten small shellfish and become poisoned. As a test, remnants of the eel were provided to two dogs, which then died within an hour.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., a 68-year old man shot to death a wealthy woman whom he said had "made a sucker" of him for ten years, and wounded another person. He shot through a window of a casino where a bingo party was concluding. The man said that the woman had refused to recompense him for money and gifts he had given to her.

In Los Angeles, an earthquake struck early this date, causing no damage. The quake appeared to have its epicenter locally. On May 2, an earthquake centered in desert country had also shaken the area without damage.

In Lenoir, N.C., six children were injured when a bus slid down an embankment with 50 schoolchildren aboard, after meeting a truck on a narrow road. As the bus moved toward the shoulder to let the truck pass, it slid slowly down the rain-weakened embankment.

In Whiteville, N.C., a jury convicted a farmer of manslaughter in the knifing death of his brother-in-law. A witness had testified that he acted in self-defense, but a prosecution witness testified that he had slashed the face of the victim as the latter tried to obtain a pair of pliers to fix his car.

In Fayetteville, N.C., a police officer wearing badge number 13 and riding motorcycle number 13 served warrant number 13 on this morning of Friday the 13th. Nothing of bad consequence apparently happened.

Tom Fesperman of The News discusses the 200-million dollar rural roads bond to be submitted on June 4 to the voters as a statewide referendum.

On the editorial page, "For a Better City...." tells of an upcoming election in Charlotte on June 11 on local bond issues, adding up to 4.575 million dollars, for water service improvement, sewage service improvement, streets, off-street parking, police, fire, and recreation, as well as for an increased tax levy for maintenance of the city's enlarged parks and recreation system. The newspaper supports all of these measures and urges the people to vote for them, that the city might continue to grow and progress.

"Talent Needed at Home" urges putting Southerners to work in the New Southern Prosperity, as discussed in the piece below by Bob Sain, rather than allowing its best business, professional and trade talent to move to other regions to earn their livings and make their names.

"Mr. Johnston's Family" tells of the faithful service of Joseph B. Johnston as superintendent of the Barium Springs Presbyterian Orphans' Home for 27 years, until his recent retirement. A former Davidson College football player, he had tried to let all the children at the home participate meaningfully in sports activities, to allay concerns among them of being outcasts. He had efficiently obtained funding for the Home and left it in good fiscal condition. The children who lived there while he was superintendent attested to his efficiency and caring attitude as an administrator, referring to him as "Daddy".

A piece from the Greensboro Daily News, titled "Minority Representation", hopes that no one would speak ill of state Republican chairman Sim DeLapp for declining Governor Kerr Scott's offer of a position as vice-chairman of the bond campaigns for rural roads and school construction. The Governor had appointed appropriately a prominent black educator to the State Board of Education and a woman to the State Board of Health. It wonders therefore whether there was not a place in State Government for a Republican leader in a more meaningful role than as vice-chairman of the bond campaigns.

Bob Sain of The News, as mentioned in the above editorial, writes of the "New South", increasingly industrialized since the Depression. According to the National Planning Association Committee publication "New Industry Comes to the South", first fed by the war and then accelerated since the war, four of the five states which led the nation in industrial production were Southern, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. These states had closed the gap with highly industrialized North Carolina and not exclusively through textile manufacturing. A variety of industries had been established, including automobile assembly plants, farm equipment manufacturers, cheese producers, etc., all new to the South.

The primary reason for the location of these industries in the South was to take advantage of new and growing markets among both consumers and manufacturers, rather than to exploit cheap labor or move closer to raw materials, though the latter were secondary motivations. In addition to these reasons, including the labor market, all of which he discusses at length, were transportation, available credit, an accommodating climate, and lower taxes.

For the future, a balance between agriculture and industry was the most important factor for the South's economy to thrive. The region remained predominantly agrarian. The reason industry had lagged behind historically was that it had been dependent on low-wage, low-skill industry, tobacco, textiles, and forest products. But that dependence was changing and industry was expanding, promising much to the region for the future.

Drew Pearson tells of Secretary of Agriculture Charles Brannan being so magnanimous that he was willing to quit his post to allow Oscar Chapman, also from Denver, to become Secretary of Interior, to avoid the unwritten rule against two members of the Cabinet from the same city. Mr. Brannan was down to earth, worked late, lived modestly, employed no servants, listed his name in the phone book and answered the phone himself.

He had battled with Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer regarding export controls, with Interior Secretary Julius Krugg over jurisdiction, and with ERP administrator Paul Hoffman anent turning grain shipments over to private companies.

The new farm program was worked out because of the Secretary's recollection of what had occurred to produce low farm prices and resulting mass farm foreclosures in the aftermath of World War I.

The program was designed to keep prices of perishable produce low to the consumer while maintaining the farmer's profits. It would prevent having the Government buy up and store surplus perishable goods and inevitably have them rot.

Marquis Childs discusses the upcoming Paris meeting in May 23 of the Council of Foreign Ministers to discuss Germany, set pursuant to the agreement on lifting the Berlin blockade. The Russians were likely to seek unification of Germany and withdrawal of all troops. The U.S. would go along with unification, but only on terms consistent with the new West German constitution.

The Russians could then seek to appeal to a rising tide of German nationalism to try to override the constitution. But any such effort would not likely succeed as the West Germans knew what had taken place with the East Germans under Soviet occupation.

The U.S. would not accept removal of all occupation troops, though it might agree to scale down the presence of troops by all four nations, reduced in scope if not in numbers, limited to certain garrisons. Removal of all forces would revive the fear of renewed German military strength, especially of concern to the French.

The U.S. delegation at the conference would be very strong. Secretary of State Acheson had already demonstrated his negotiating prowess in his nearly four months in the post, and the second person in the delegation, Phillip Jessup, had conducted the negotiations to end the blockade. Charles Boehlen, State Department counsellor, would be a chief adviser, knew German-Soviet policy well. He would serve, beginning in the fall, as U.S. Minister in Paris under newly appointed Ambassador David Bruce.

Stewart Alsop, in Shanghai, tells of life seeming normal despite the approach of the Communist troops. There were, however, signs of siege, such as the wooden fence surrounding the city, one without purpose but thought to have netted a Nationalist general a nice profit. Machine-gun nests were perched about the city to shoot at rioters. Factory workers were being paid in kind for the absence of money.

The feeling of fear in the city was palpable, manifested by nearly empty streets after the hour of curfew.

The city was being kept alive by U.S. aid, dependent on it for its food, cotton and fuel oil supplying the city's industries. But money had no backing and chaos therefore appeared just around the corner. Every day, the Nationalist Army shot a few people in the head to make a point to the population. Even so, flareups had occurred.

Many British and American businessmen, in consequence, believed that the sooner the Communists arrived, the better. U.S. aid would then cease and so would its fuel oil supply for the city. The Communists might find coal in the north to replace it, but in the meantime, the city's water supply, electrical and telephone systems would cease to function. So, it was believed that the Communists would ruin the city and the city would then turn on and ruin the Communists. The Communists were accustomed to ruling the back country, not an urban population.

But ruthlessness could solve the problem. Shanghai was a symbol as the fourth largest city in the world, now passing under Communist rule, along with China's fourth largest population as a nation. No rationalization could spare the fact of this change being a disaster for the U.S. and the whole of the non-Soviet world.

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