The Charlotte News
Wednesday, August 3, 1949
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the State Department had protested to Senate leaders that the new foreign aid bill, stripping House amendments, would block the Army from turning over German occupation duties to civilian control, scheduled to occur within a few weeks. The memo contended that the bill would deny authority to the President to transfer any functions of the Army to any other Government agency, including the State Department. The appropriations bill had been sent back to committee for further study on objection by Senator Kenneth McKellar that the House amendments in question were new legislation in violation of rules. Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas was confident that the problem would be resolved.
In Geneva, the British accused the Soviets before the U.N. Economic & Social Council of creating a "new slavery organized on a mass production basis", presenting a manual of rules for labor camps in the U.S.S.R. in which it was estimated that there were more than ten million forced workers. The British asked the Soviets for a yes or no answer as to whether they would permit an investigation of the camps. The British said the camps accounted for the mass exodus of refugees from East Germany and the Eastern satellites within the Soviet sphere.
The Dutch and Indonesian Republicans formally ended their armed conflict this date and issued cease-fire orders to local military commanders in Java and Sumatra. It was expected that the agreement would end the fighting, ongoing sporadically since 1945 and erupting anew the previous December.
A House Armed Services subcommittee, chaired by Congressman Edward Hebert of Louisiana, would hear from Army Secretary Gordon Gray the following day regarding the influence peddling scandal anent Army contracts which had led to suspension of two major generals. The House subcommittee was specifically investigating contracts related to Army uniforms. The primary investigation was being conducted by the Senate Investigating Committee, chaired by Senator Clyde Hoey of North Carolina.
Unemployment rose above four million in July, for the first time since January, 1942. But the number of employed also increased, to 59.72 million, the highest figure in 1949. The discrepancy came from an increase of 417,000 persons seeking employment, most of the new people being of high school and college age. The previous month, the unemployed had numbered 3.78 million and were at 2.23 million the previous July. In June the previous year, the number of employed was at 61.6 million.
In Virginia, John S. Battle won the Democratic gubernatorial primary, again proving the primacy of the political machine of Senator Harry F. Byrd, which had backed him.
In Cannes, France, the Aga Khan's wife said that bandits had robbed her and her husband of jewels and money worth $450,000 as they left their Riviera villa by chauffeur-driven car. They were en route to visit their son, Aly Khan, and new daughter-in-law, Rita Hayworth. The thieves spoke with Spanish or Italian accents and approached the car with guns drawn. The couple offered five million francs as a reward for information on the bandits.
If you hear someone speaking with
either a Spanish
Incidentally, the word, when used as a noun, is "onus", not "onerous", an adjectival form. If you are going to be a campaign spokesperson for a presidential candidate, especially for one who speaks ordinarily to the American people only in Italian gesticulations and thus often needs translation, it helps to speak properly the English language, even more especially when the candidate insists on "English only". But we are certain that you have an explanation for your use of "onerous" as a noun, in lieu of "onus", as the task ahead is quite an onerous one, indeed, and, thus, your onus should be visible for all to see. And, maybe you were not born, officially, in the United States of America and English, therefore, is only your second language, that is to say: ¿Segunda lengua es el Ingles? Or, translated into English, that you understand the full implication: You lost your wallet in El Segundo? Had you received A's in Latin, you would understand the distinct difference between "onus" and "onerous". Think of it this way, as an aid from Mnemosyne: The jackass bears the onus of the load while the load is onerous to the elephant's trunk
In Omaha, Neb., a seven-year old boy who had been near death for 36 hours after swallowing 33.5 grams of a sedative, awakened. He cried when a needle was stuck into his arm. Soon, he complained of being hungry. The boy had told his eleven-year old sister that he could not sleep and so took 23 sleeping pills. He then lapsed into unconsciousness.
In Statesville, N.C., a 41-year old man killed his wife and himself with a shotgun the previous day. It was the third such incident in the family in recent years, involving three brothers. One brother had killed his wife and himself and the other brother had killed his wife and disappeared.
In Winston-Salem, the Forsyth County Board of County Commissioners was investigating charges that a physician on the staff of the Forsyth County Hospital, the assistant to the superintendent, had been drunk while on duty treating patients. A patient bringing the charge had been corroborated by several hospital employees. The doctor and the superintendent denied the charge, said it was made out of spite by dissatisfied employees.
The character of Doc Adams, we believe, was fashioned after this story.
In Charlotte, a preliminary hearing to determine probable cause in the case of the defendant charged with first degree murder in the death of Mrs. E. O. Anderson, killed at her home in the Myers Park neighborhood the previous Monday, was delayed for the reason that the butler who was assaulted had lapsed into poor condition and thus was not ready to give a statement in the matter. The hearing was rescheduled for the following Monday. The defendant's wife was also set to be charged with being an accessory after the fact. The wife was found to have a watch, identified as stolen from the Anderson home, sewn into her dress. The police chief stated that more time was also needed for further questioning of the defendant and his wife.
The police had also recovered a radio stolen from the house on July 17 and a Gladstone traveling bag stolen the same date, which the defendant had been packing when arrested. Mr. Anderson had been on his way Monday morning to swear out a warrant of arrest for the theft of the latter two items.
In Washington, the Interstate Commerce Commission recommended new fares for the ferry running between Weehawken, N.J., and New York City. Among the suggested changes was the raising of elephant fares from $1.40 to $2.80.
That's highway robbery and we won't stand for it. Protest while there is still time. What about donkeys? It's some of that Roosevelt stuff again.
On the editorial page, "Prison Reform Ahead" commends Governor Kerr Scott's swift response to reform of prison discipline following the conviction the previous week in Rockingham of a prison camp superintendent for imposing excessive punishment on a prisoner by handcuffing him to cell bars for 52 hours without food.
The Governor told the Highway Commission chairman, in charge of the prison road gang program, that he would not tolerate such treatment occurring again. He stressed that firmness in imposing discipline for violation of prison rules, in this case talking while on the road gang, did not mean cruelty. The prisoner had expressed a desire for a beer as he saw a beer truck pass on the road.
The new prison director had demonstrated a desire to reform the entire penal system in the state, with greater emphasis on rehabilitation, locating a boys' colony at Camp Butner, establishing training classes for guards, and improving prison diet.
What they had theya was a failure to commun'cate.
"A Bigger Audience" tells of 400 business and industrial leaders gathering to hear three speakers from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Charlotte the previous Monday night. They were informed that implementation of many of the Hoover Commission recommendations faced hard sledding before the Congressional committees. Pressure groups were being successful in favoring special legislation. The President was on the offensive in forwarding his social welfare program. Businessmen were too apathetic about national affairs save those directly affecting their own interests.
They expressed some optimism, however, that there was a realization that business would never win a defensive war against Government encroachment on the private sector, that an offensive attack had to be waged. They suggested that business leaders stop seeking special favors from the Government for themselves and their local communities.
They proposed making it clear to the American people what it meant to swap freedom for security.
"Retirement of 'The Major'" finds regretful the decision of Congressman A. L. Bulwinkle to resign his Congressional seat he had held for 28 years. For many years he had represented a district which embraced Mecklenburg County but redistricting had shifted the district to Gaston County and other counties. It finds that throughout his service, he had represented the district well.
"Excellent Police Work" praises the Police Department for promptly solving the slaying of Mrs. E. O. Anderson, Sr., who had been killed with a shotgun blast on Monday morning in her home in Myers Park. From the outset, the police had suspected the former butler who had been discharged from his job, confirmed by their finding his fingerprints on the shotgun and on a lamp.
The suspect had confessed involvement in the killing but claimed that the actual shooting was accidental in the midst of a struggle after Mrs. Anderson obtained the weapon from an adjoining room and pointed it at the former employee, telling him to leave the premises. He said that he believed she was going to shoot him, sought to grab the weapon and after a few moments, it had gone off, hitting her in the shoulder fatally.
As indicated, he would be found guilty of first degree murder and executed the following December 9.
A piece from the New York Times, titled "First Katydid", tells of the katydids making their first appearance in late July, two weeks earlier than usual. The superstition ran that the first frost was therefore only six weeks away. The truth was that the katydids did not portend weather patterns.
A week after hatching, they were capable of their "song". It urges not being too concerned about the weather as the katydid was concerned about nothing more portentous than finding a mate.
Drew Pearson tells of the President
driving himself
Mr. Pearson notes that Senator Baker, after serving in the House from Illinois, went to the Senate in 1859. He had enlisted in the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteers and was made a brevet major general during the early months of the Civil War before his death six months after it began.
It should also be noted that Abraham and Mary Lincoln's second son, Eddie, who died of consumption just short of his fourth birthday in 1850, was named after Mr. Baker, who had become a friend of Abraham Lincoln in 1844 during their run against one another in the Whig primary for the Congress, a race won by Mr. Baker.
After Senator Curly Brooks of Illinois had been defeated the previous November, the Democrats discovered that he had converted the old Supreme Court chamber in the Capitol into a cocktail lounge for his own private use as chairman of the Rules Committee. His successor as chairman, Senator Carl Hayden of Arizona, revealed the lounge to Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas and turned it over to him.
The President met 75-year old Mamie Karst of Missouri who was the mother of one of the first political leaders to support him in his first run for the Senate in 1934. He remembered her and gave to each of her two grandchildren a ballpoint pencil which he warned them should not be revealed to the FBI or the children would be arrested. They then discretely hid the pencils in their pockets. On them was the inscription: "I swiped this from Harry S. Truman."
James Marlow discusses the latest semi-annual report of the Atomic Energy Commission to Congress, in which it stated that new and more effective atomic weapons were in production after being tested in 1948 at Eniwetok.
The rest of the report primarily dealt with areas of research into atomic energy, such as studying effects of radiation on circulation of blood in a bat's wing, causing the circulation to slow because of broken cells and other debris clogging the capillaries. The effort sought to determine whether animals could build up resistance to radiation.
It reported that radiation which destroyed cancer cells had proved one of the few effective means to control the disease.
Radioisotopes were proving effective as tracers to enable scientists to understand processes and mechanisms in diagnosis and treatment of disease.
These were but a few examples of the information contained in the 200-page report.
Stewart Alsop, in New Delhi, tells of India being the last, best hope of Asia, a miracle having taken place there over the previous three years by virtue of the mere survival of the Indian state.
The subcontinent had been wracked by civil war and beset by refugees after Pakistan had been created as a separate Moslem state. The partition had been disruptive of economic life, and the people were living in a low state with hunger prevalent. Added to this volatile mix was the fact of Communist attempts to take advantage of the desperation and depression.
Yet out of those abject conditions, the Government had remained supreme.
There were problems, one being the prospect of civil war with Pakistan over rights to Kashmir. Another was in Calcutta and the province of Bengal, the entire economy of which had been wrecked by partition. Riots occurred almost daily in Calcutta. In Bengal, chaos bordered on that in Burma. The Communists had seized power in Hyderabad.
Disillusionment among the people had spread, as the ideal state which was expected after the departure of the British had not been realized. Particularly among students and jobless college graduates, resentment ran high against the Delhi Government, nearly as much as against the British during the colonial period.
Mr. Alsop had heard repeatedly that about five years would tell the story and its ending would depend on food. If it could find the food, India could become a vital state poised against Soviet Asiatic imperialism. If that effort were to fail, then so would India and the rest of Asia.
The country, under the leadership of Premier Nehru was making a determined effort to solve the food problem. He urges that with surplus wheat stored in granaries in America, it was foolish to suggest, as some did, that the problem was too vast for America to ameliorate.
A letter writer tells of the Government seeking to unload its egg purchases of the previous year on foreign countries for about half what it had paid for them. Farm support prices raised the cost of living for everyone, forcing up wages, leading to yet higher prices. The support program, he ventures, denied food to millions of people in the country as the Government destroyed it, sold it at a loss or gave it to foreign countries.
Let the farmers rot in hell. What
have they ever done for us? Who needs them? We buy our food at the
supermarket
A letter writer tells of many inspiring lessons being learned in hospitals, even if no sermons were heard there.
A letter writer responds to the July 29 writer who complained of murders being reported as lynchings in the South while in the North, the same type incidents were reported as ordinary murders. He presents two stories, not included, from Northern newspapers in which a mob of white people had murdered one or more black persons. He says that the American press believed in American principles, which included equal rights and justice for all.
A letter writer finds the previous editorial on the Barden bill to demonstrate religious intolerance by finding that private and parochial school children did not have the right to partake of Federal funding for transportation and health services.
He misunderstands the picture.
A
letter writer, presumably in
reference to the criticism of Francis Cardinal Spellman of Eleanor
Roosevelt and Congressman Graham Barden of North Carolina regarding
their views that Federal funding should go only to public schools,
says succinctly, "Cardinal Spellman is the goose that laid the
egg which is not golden
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