The Charlotte News

Saturday, January 14, 1950

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Chinese Communists, consisting of police and four civilian officials, invaded the U.S. Consulate at Peiping the previous night and seized U.S. Government property. The State Department denounced the action and stated that the U.S. was departing Communist China.

In Chatham, England, divers crawled inside the H.M.S. Truculent, the submarine which had sunk on the Thames two nights earlier after being rammed by a Swedish tanker, taking the lives of 64 of 79 men aboard. Ten bodies had so far been recovered.

In Fort Benning, Ga., an Air Force glider crashed the previous day, killing thirteen of seventeen aboard. The cause of the crash was unknown. It was the first fatal accident involving a glider since 1946 when one man died, also during a training exercise.

Southern Democrats and Republicans of the House Rules Committee had voted 9 to 2 the previous day for a resolution to restore the Committee's former powers to bottle up legislation, aimed primarily at the FEPC bill now pending before the Committee. The Democrats had managed the previous year to pass a rule which enabled a House vote on any bill pending before the Rules Committee for 21 days, getting around the previous rule requiring a discharge petition, necessitating a majority vote of the House. Rules Committee chairman Adolph Sabath of Illinois, against the rules change, was planning to use a parliamentary procedure to hold up a House vote on the proposed rules change until after the FEPC bill could be submitted to the full House for a vote. That would be up to House Speaker Sam Rayburn, whether to recognize the motion for a vote or to delay it two more weeks while other business was heard on January 23, such as the vote on the President's proposed National Science Foundation, among eight other items set to be heard. Mr. Rayburn was opposed to the FEPC bill.

Columnist Bruce Barton suggests that the Federal Trade Commission undertake to regulate use of the political label "liberal". It once had referred to a person who loved his fellow man enough to sacrifice something of value for him. Socrates had been a liberal, as was Christ, Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, and Eugene Debs. But the word had fallen on "evil times", with men such as Mussolini and Hitler having claimed to be exponents of liberalism. Stalin was the heir to this misshapen notion.

At home, becoming a self-defined liberal meant that one could achieve public office without sacrificing anything.

Once, he knew an Idealist who looked down upon him for earning his living in a trade. But when the Idealist and his wife went to the country for the summer, they left their cat behind to starve, such that Mr. Barton and his wife had to feed it.

So he asks liberals whether, before despising him as a reactionary, they had sacrificed anything for their liberalism. He wonders whether they were instead only "money liberals", planning to carry out liberal policy with other people's money. He concludes by paraphrasing Mirabeau, (actually based on the quote attributed to Madame Roland just before her execution, appearing in Thomas McAulay's review from 1832 of Etienne Dumont's Recollections of Mirabeau, published posthumously the same year), wondering how many crimes had been committed in the name of liberals.

First of all, we are not following where Mr. Barton gets that Hitler and Mussolini ever claimed to be liberals, unless he is confusing National Sozialism with some flea-bitten version of "liberality". Mussolini advocated dictatorial fascism, the corporate state. Mr. Barton's premises being flawed, his conclusions are apt to be weakened to the point of being meaningless. Perhaps he confuses "social revolution" with violent revolution. The more relevant question ought be, today at least, and for the past 52 years since 1964: What is a conservative? Fiscal, social, or merely rhetorical?

Second, we wish that he would get his ascriptions of quotes right so that we do not have to spend additional time chasing them down.

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, a fire in the poor section of town had rendered 1,500 people homeless from some 400 destroyed homes. The fire was started by a kerosene stove in one home.

In Mahanoy City, Pa., 150 rescue workers seeking to reach two brothers trapped in a mine cave-in reported that they had heard a dynamite blast far below the surface, proving that at least one of the men remained alive 24 hours following the cave-in. A second dynamite blast was heard less than an hour later. It was believed that at least one of the men had survived being buried alive in mud by seeking safety on a nearby gangway, from which it was believed clawing sounds heard by rescuers had emanated.

Ralph Gibson of The News provides stories heard by the Charlotte tax assessor's office, starting with the woman who tried repeatedly to remonstrate her son when he repeatedly insisted that they had a dog, in spite of the mother equally insisting that they did not, then changed the story by correcting that the dog was in the pound, until finally being forced to agree that they had a dog. Others either insisted that their property was worth far more than the tax assessment value or that it was worth far less. Some claimed to own "one-door" cars, because the driver's side only had one door.

The worst storm so far of the winter hit the Western and Central areas of the country this date. A windstorm struck Western, Northern and central New York, causing widespread damage as winds exceeded hurricane velocity of 75 mph, gusting to 90 to 95 mph. A sustained wind of 72 mph for five minutes at Rochester was the strongest ever recorded in the city. The previous record was owned by Jack Benny.

On the editorial page, "Ten-Year Platform—X" concludes the ten-part look at the ten-point program for advancement of Charlotte during the ensuing decade, as set forth January 2 by News reporter Tom Fesperman, this date stressing the need to clean up the creeks of the city, polluted with industrial waste and sewage leaking from damaged sewer lines at the worst offender, Sugaw Creek.

It outlines the steps which the City was undertaking, including mandating indoor toilets as part of slum clearance, construction of a new sewer system, and employment of a Chicago engineering firm to study industrial waste.

It favors the effort.

"Taft, the Navy, and Formosa" finds that Senator Robert Taft had been wrong so many times on foreign policy—including opposition to American intervention in the late war, the 1940 draft, the fall, 1940 transfer of destroyers to Great Britain, 1941 Lend-Lease, and the revision of the Neutrality Act which prevented in the lead-up to the war supply of arms to belligerent nations, including France and Britain—, that no one would listen to his recent proposal for military intervention in Formosa. Notwithstanding these isolationist stances, he had contended in 1947 that Republicans had supported every preparatory move for the war regarding arming of the U.S.

Now, he proposed sending the Navy to protect Formosa from incursion by the Chinese Communists. While many might find something good in his domestic policies, no one would listen to him regarding Formosa for the fact of his past foreign policy pronouncements having been so incongruent with reality.

"Aid to Education" finds that the arguments which had been advanced the previous year to pigeon-hole the 300 million dollar Federal aid to education bill still applied: that the budget, already saddled with deficit spending, could not support such a measure; that there had been no resolution of the dispute over expenditure for parochial schools; that the states were in better financial condition to expand education facilities than the Federal Government; and that the growing tendency to forbid discrimination through Federal funding was certain to lead to a required end to segregation in the schools once the districts had become dependent on the Federal money.

But, since public schools are an operation of the state and local governments, the Federal Government could have, at any time, required an end to segregation in the public schools, provided the separate-but-equal doctrine, enunciated in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 as adequate to withstand scrutiny under the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, had not been satisfied. And the Supreme Court had been proceeding on a case by case basis for the previous decade to rule that way, albeit without yet having condemned segregation per se insofar as it passed muster under the Plessy doctrine. By 1954 and Brown v. Board of Education, the Court would condemn the doctrine as not having fulfilled its enunciated function and not capable generally of doing so in practice, thus ruling that segregation in public schools was per se violative of the Constitution.

But a particularly recalcitrant subset of Southerners, sometimes, as well as other reactionaries in the country, have the sufficient plasticity of mind to stretch the obvious meaning of the English language back on itself until it is unrecognizable as anything akin to the obvious original intent of the words "equal protection". Thus, followed two decades of straining and hemming and hawing, fitting square pegs into round holes, involving considerable intellectual dishonesty in trying to circumvent Brown or at least twisting the words of its 1955 implementing decision, "with all deliberate speed", to mean, "on our own sweet time, whenever that might be, whenever we damn well feel like it".

While it is true that receipt of Federal money might be conditioned on refraining from discrimination and segregation, it was not the sine qua non for the right of the Federal Government to abolish segregation. It would have occurred in public schools, regardless of Federal funding, per the holding in Brown.

"Dairy Claim Exploded" provides facts to dispute the dairy lobby's claim that butter could not compete with cheaper margarine without the ten-cent per pound discriminatory tax on margarine. It again advocates elimination of the tax to relieve the consumer of having to pay more for yellow-colored margarine, that the only valid regulation on colored margarine was that it be marked plainly as such.

Drew Pearson again explores the gambling world and its influence on Government, partly accomplished through John Maragon, friend of Presidential aide, Maj. General Harry Vaughan. The gambling kingpin Frank Costello had been reported by Time, Newsweek, and Edward Pollard of the Washington Post to be living a glitzy lifestyle, which seemingly suggested that crime did pay. It was not the sort of picture which the society wanted to portray to youth.

Mr. Costello was subject to deportation by the Government for having lied on his citizenship application in 1925 regarding prior criminal convictions. But he had influence to avoid trouble, unlike West Coast longshoremen organizer Harry Bridges, whom the Government continued to try to deport.

Mr. Pearson is convinced that the President knew nothing of Mr. Costello's influence and would not stand for it if he did. But it appeared that Mr. Costello had contacts within the IRB which enabled him to fix an income tax fraud case involving hidden gambling profits.

Mr. Pearson then provides several facts linking John Maragon and a mysteriously acquired $185,000 bank account in El Paso to Mr. Costello, Phil Castel and Bill Helis, the latter pair also gambling kingpins and partners of Mr. Costello. He posits that through General Vaughan, Mr. Maragon was the conduit for exerting influence in these matters, as he and General Vaughan had paired to override the Housing Expediter's order nixing a permit for expansion of Tanforan horse track in San Bruno, California, at a time when materials were scarce and needed for residential housing for veterans.

He then explains Mr. Costello's business partnership in a whiskey company with Mr. Kastel and Mr. Helis, and Mr. Costello's denials of the partnership's existence, with facts showing the contrary.

Joseph & Stewart Alsop discuss the first test of the new U.S. Asiatic policy to come soon in Indochina, which, along with Burma, was one of the keystones to the strategically vital Southeast Asiatic peninsula.

The French Government had for some time been urging the U.S. to provide aid to the non-Communist elements in the former French colony. The time for action was growing short as the Indochinese Communist guerillas would soon be receiving aid from the Chinese Communists across the border. It was anticipated that full Communist Chinese occupation would occur within a month to six weeks in Yunnan, Kwangsi, and Kwangtung provinces. No one believed the Communists would send armies into Indochina but the presence of Mao Tse-Tung's armies along the border would be enough to supply an opportunity for insurgence by the leader of the Communist guerrilla movement in Indochina, Ho Chi Minh.

Previously, Ho had to buy his supplies from underground agents within China, Hong Kong or the Philippines. His only refuge had been in the jungles and mountains. But with Mao's forces camped along the border, Ho's men could seek refuge and replenishment of supplies there, similar to the provisioning afforded to the Greek Communist guerrillas in Albania and Bulgaria.

The French Government therefore wanted the State Department to build up the strength and prestige of Emperor Bao Dai, Ho's rival for power in the country. The French, having realized they could not defeat Ho's appeal to native patriotism, had granted independence within the French Union to Indochina and established Bao Dai as leader of the new government, charged with the responsibility of luring away the non-Communists who comprised the bulk of Ho's followers. Initially thought too weak by the State Department to be effective, Bao Dai had surprisingly demonstrated the ability to attract loyalty among the populace and was building a native army of 90,000 with French help. The excellent French Army in Indochina had made good progress also against Ho's guerrillas.

The French were asking the U.S. to grant full diplomatic recognition to the Government of Bao Dai and provide aid. Soon, the French Assembly would ratify the independence of the Bao Dai regime.

The Alsops posit that by being "bold and firm", the U.S. could accomplish two results, assuring the Indochinese that Bao Dai was truly independent and not a mere French puppet, and providing Bao Dai with greatly increased prestige. If these desirable results could be accomplished prior to Ho Chi Minh being able to take full advantage of the presence of the Communist Chinese in the southern provinces, "the effect will be very great indeed."

And, indeed, it would ultimately have a great effect, but not in the way the West anticipated or desired, over the ensuing 25 years.

Marquis Childs tells of the smart insiders of the Democratic Party betting on the presidential race of 1952 being between the President and Senator Taft.

Recently, DNC chairman William Boyle had gone to Ohio to persuade farmers, labor and Democrats to unite around a candidate who could defeat Senator Taft in the 1950 Senate election. Labor wanted Murray Lincoln to be the candidate, reluctant though the farm leader had been to enter the race. At the meeting, a question had arisen, however, as to whether the Democrats really wanted Mr. Taft to lose as it would nix him for the presidential nomination in 1952. Mr. Truman's political advisers regarded him as a desirable opponent for his vulnerability to attack for his 1947 co-sponsorship of Taft-Hartley and his more recently renewed isolationism.

Regardless of what the Democrats did, opines Mr. Childs, Senator Taft appeared assured at present of re-election. The Democratic nomination would likely go to the State Auditor, Joseph Ferguson, a loyal party operative, as Mr. Lincoln appeared too radical and forthright to garner the nomination.

Tom Schlesinger of The News, in his weekly "Capital Roundup", tells of former isolationist Senator Robert Rice Reynolds having scheduled an announcement for the current weekend of his intention to run again or not for the Senate. No longer could Mr. Reynolds campaign as a "poor boy", as he had in 1932 when he ran against the wealthy Cameron Morrison, former Governor. For now he was married into the wealth of the late Evalyn Walsh McLean, mother of his late wife of the same name, the latter having committed suicide in 1946.

Facing certain defeat to former Governor Hoey in the primary in 1944, the Senator did not seek re-election. Now at age 65, he would be in his seventies were he to be re-elected to a new six-year term. Mr. Schlesinger suggests that these considerations had, no doubt, delayed the decision of the former Senator on whether to enter the race.

Senator Frank Graham was relieved by the decision of former interim Senator William B. Umstead not to run against him in the special election for the seat. Senator Graham's predecessor in the seat, the late J. Melville Broughton, who had died the previous March, had defeated Senator Umstead in the Democratic primary in spring, 1948.

Senator Graham said that the coal shortage in the country was most critical in North Carolina and Illinois.

Almost as critical was the fact that potash workers were on strike in New Mexico, causing a shortage of fertilizer, necessary to North Carolina tobacco and cotton farmers.

Senator Hoey's Investigating subcommittee was getting ready to renew its investigations into the "five-percenter" scheme of charging fees to grease the rails for procurement of Government contracts.

Higher postal rates were likely during the year.

Consideration of sites for the proposed Air Force Academy included the North Carolina municipalities of Maxton, Southern Pines, Goldsboro, and Charlotte.

Colorado was calling.

There would be more word soon from the House Veterans Committee on revival of Charlotte's proposed veterans hospital, nixed by funding cuts.

A Pome appears from the Atlanta Journal, "In Which A Thought Is Projected Concerning The Approaching Spring:

"A butterfly
Will flutter by."

But why not a caterpillar?
Did butter kill the fatter fiddler?

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