The Charlotte News

Saturday, May 6, 1950

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee recommended that former American Communist Party head Earl Browder and Frederick Vanderbilt Field be cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions when they testified the previous week before the subcommittee investigating the charges of Senator Joseph McCarthy regarding his claims of Communists in the State Department.

Mr. Browder said that official Washington was going around in "a kind of Alice-in-Wonderland existence" and so was not surprised by the move. Mr. Field was unavailable for comment.

Secretary of State Acheson departed for Europe and urged the West to rally their forces with "utmost vigor" to meet the global challenge of Communism. He was scheduled to arrive in Paris the following day for talks with French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and then go to London on Tuesday for Big Three and NATO meetings aimed at accelerating the "mobilization of the moral and material strength of the free world" and bringing about a "new sense of community" within NATO.

The President's requested 3.1 billion dollar foreign aid bill passed the Senate by a vote of 60 to 8, but could still undergo trimming when the later bill to appropriate the money was considered. His "Point Four" program aid, consisting of 45 million dollars to provide technical assistance to underdeveloped nations, narrowly passed, 37 to 36. A 40 to 40 tie prevented a cut of a half billion dollars from ERP and eventually 250 million was lopped off the program.

The President was set to start his cross-country whistle-stop tour the following day, scheduled to last nine days and course 6,400 miles.

The National Association of Real Estate Boards said that the atom bomb would increase the draw of new industries and dwellings from the nation's cities into the suburbs, boosting demand for small farms near metropolitan areas.

That way they can hide the missile silos on the farms when times get rough in the Fifties, long about 1958, and the farmers need the dough.

Look out for the accidents.

Columnist Bruce Barton tells of having been urged by a businessman to join him in the printing business right out of college based on a small piece on him in a Chicago newspaper, printed upon his graduation. Alfred P. Sloan of G.M. could not find a job with a big firm after graduation from M.I.T., took a job for a skimption with a man having the ambition to make a synthetic billiard ball. Instead, the man developed a process for manufacturing ball bearings. Mr. Sloan had persuaded his father to invest half his life's savings, $100,000, in the business, and it then went sour. But then came the automobile and the invention suddenly was in demand, allowing the business to be sold for 15 million dollars, later merged with G.M., along with Mr. Sloan, all the result of just a series of accidents.

He counsels having a plan but keeping an eye out for the accidents, as they could prove more important than the plan. He advises not to allow the Big Planners in Washington to make the plans as the recipient of those plans would always be at the foot of the table, served the crumbs.

In Nuremberg, Germany, an outbreak of diarrhea had killed three American babies at the American Army hospital, and three others were seriously ill.

In Elkridge, Md., five persons were killed and five seriously injured in a two-vehicle head-on collision in a fog at midnight on a slippery highway.

Look out for the accidents.

New York City was blanketed in fog, cutting visibility in Manhattan to as little as two blocks and obscuring the tops of skyscrapers.

In Winnipeg, Manitoba, three dikes holding back the surging Red River, running to 8.5 feet above flood stage, burst in the city and neighboring St. Boniface, flooding four streets in the residential areas and commercial district.

In the Midwest, winds of hurricane strength caused at least nine deaths and left millions of dollars of damage in its wake in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Texas, and other states, with tornadoes striking two areas of Minnesota.

In London, Princess Elena, wife of the former King Carol of Rumania, was injured slightly in a tumble down a stairway at Grosvenor House, Park Lane Hotel, after her shoe was caught in the carpeting of a circular staircase.

Tucky takes a tumble.

In Tokyo, a woman told police that her husband's lunch was poisoned, leading to a radio broadcast to alert him of the claim, whereupon he returned home to find that she had made up the story because she was concerned that he had deserted her.

Duke Power reported record earnings for the fiscal year ending in the first quarter, at $8.79 per common share of stock, $2.20 higher than the previous year, compared to $8.17 in 1946, the previous record. A chart shows the comparative performance yearly since 1941 and in 1932 and 1935.

The fact-finding board in the Duke Power bus drivers dispute recommended a net raise of 8.5 cents per hour for drivers and mechanics, including elimination of a 1.5 cents per hour bonus for good driving. The recommendation was being considered by Duke executives, mayors of the five North Carolina cities affected, and the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, the union for the drivers.

In Sanford, N.C., in the Eighth Congressional District, W. E. Horner, editor, had hired a hillbilly band in his campaign to defeat incumbent Congressman C. B. Deane. He said that he assumed people were more interested in the music than in long-winded political talks, so limited the latter to a few minutes after 15 to 20 of the band playing.

Good, maybe they will vote for the band.

In Charlotte, the escaped South Carolina convict who had pleaded guilty and turned State's evidence in the armed robbery with two accomplices, including "the man without fingerprints" and a woman, of a Salem Crossroads elderly storekeeper the previous summer, was captured after driving a stolen car from Virginia. He had been on the lam for a week, was serving a ten-year sentence. He had escaped as a prison camp trusty.

In Beverly Hills, Elizabeth Taylor was set to wed hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, Jr., this date, with an elaborate reception afterward, described in detail, to which 200 guests were invited, including Governor and Mrs. Earl Warren, plus a bevy of stars.

Judging by the pictures, they will live as a happy couple for a long, long time.

On the editorial page, "The Role of the Informer" tells of former Communist Freda Utley having testified to the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee investigating the McCarthy charges that Owen Lattimore had influenced General Marshall in formulating Chinese policy, directly contradicting the contrary claim of General Marshall to the subcommittee, finds her claims preposterous. It wonders what had so emboldened such former Communists, concludes that "converts" never could adopt a middle course after their "conversion", merely transforming from one form of authoritarianism to another.

It says that while such informers were not to be ignored, they were to be placed in the same category with police informants, requiring objective investigation of their tales, but not to be taken at face value without proper, credible corroboration.

It might be noted that this crazy bitch, Freda Utley, who also apparently at one point, according to Mr. Lattimore, supported the Nazis, is a heroine today to the far right in this country, a heroine to those crazy bastards and bitches at CPAC. Duly note that.

Duly note, too, that in September, 1941, Ms. Utley wrote in The American Mercury, three months into the German offensive into Russia—a month before the early winter would slog the Panzers to a muddy, snow-bound halt and the Russian peasants, including old men and boys, turning out in defense of their homes with whatever weaponry they could muster, would arch their backs, and stop the onslaught—, that the Russians would not fight for the Kremlin, that they would lay down arms and surrender, unlike the Chinese peasants fighting against the Japanese with their more localized economies.

Her always anti-Russian, pro-German biased thinking in this regard is quite evident: "[I]t is hard to imagine the apathy and skepticism which swept over Russia in recent years transformed into revolutionary ardor." She never stops to apply the same analysis to Nazi Germany and Hitler and question whether the German troops, despite the fact that they were fighting on foreign soil, great distances from home, and the Russians were in their native towns and villages, would fight with less ardor than had been the case in the relatively easy advance into Belgium, the Low Countries, and France the previous year. She finds that Russia was not good ground for nurturing guerrilla movements, that the discipline of the Russian soldiers could not survive long with the loss of Moscow and repeated military failures on the battlefields, as the "terrorism" used to compel the workers to produce the materiel for war and the citizen soldiers to fight would be loosened. Ironically, she describes what would happen after the war, in the civil war in China with respect to the notoriously corrupt and brutal Chiang Kai-Shek regime, to which she consistently gave fawning admiration, not what would occur in Russia, despite its many issues of the same type under Stalin's rule.

She concludes the piece by saying that no matter what would occur in Russia, whether a German victory or a people's victory after deposing Stalin and Communism, it was clear that Stalinist Russia was finished, that his form of socialism had met a "mightier national socialism" in Nazi Germany.

She appears unable to imagine the Wehrmacht proving to be the fighting force ill-prepared for the brutal Russian winter or that the Russians would stand and defend their homes. Her article might have served to bolster Nazi morale at the time and dampen ardor for American support for the Allied cause in Europe, especially that of Russia, though that Nazi offensive, as long as it lasted, took the heat off of Britain, suffering during the first Blitz nearly relentless Luftwaffe bombing from September, 1940 through May, 1941, and made a cross-channel invasion impracticable for the German forces being consumed on the Russian front. But Ms. Utley was also opposed to Britain for her belief that it was an imperialist regime.

In short, she fails to realize the crucial point, exposing her lack of basic understanding of military history: that any group of people fight with more determination for their homes on their own land, especially after the butchering of their friends and families by invading soldiers of a foreign country, than they would on foreign soil in support of an offensive war or in the course of a civil war, as in the later case in China after Japan had been defeated, for a particular government or ideology—as, indeed, the Russians had found out in Finland in 1939-40, the ultimate problems encountered by the Russians there against an army of disorganized Finnish patriots having led to the German hubris that an invasion of Russia would be accomplished with ease, their thought having been that the difficulties lay in the weakness of the Russian army.

If it was not her intent to be supportive of the German cause, that she was really trying to suggest the need for more American lend-lease aid to Russia, then would she not have been guilty of the same Russian-Communist sympathies which she later accused Mr. Lattimore of harboring?—sympathies, of course, which were perfectly appropriate at the time unless one were a dirty little Nazi. Was it not the case, in the end, that she was just a cheap, intellectually dishonest liar, a paid lackey, prostituting herself on behalf of the Chinese Nationalist lobby which paid her bills? Did the Nazis provide her with like support at some point early in the war? Such an article would have been deemed by the Nazis as particularly timely, before the onset of the Russian winter, as the original June predictions by their own general staff of a quick, six-week campaign to be concluded by early August had already proved foolhardy. Or did she come by these sentiments objectively? Was she simply absent sympathies for any side, playing the part of that despicable creature, the neutral fence-sitter, in the midst of world war?

If she was objective in any sense, why was she subsequently so bent on attacking Mr. Lattimore and defending Joseph McCarthy so vigorously regarding his charges that Mr. Lattimore was the top Communist spy in the country, who had shaped Far Eastern policy with respect to China, leading to its loss to the Communists?—an absurd claim in the premises given the fact that the Chinese Nationalist soldiers were routinely surrendering and giving up their American-supplied arms to the Chinese Communists, the reason for not supplying additional American aid as the failing cause of the Nationalists became increasingly apparent from internal corruption in the Kuomintang and disobedient, self-minded provincial warlords in the field, facts discovered by General Marshall during his year as the President's emissary there in 1946.

Why, moreover, in 1954, over five years after the fact, was she so supportive of the Senator's ridiculous claims in 1949 regarding Malmedy and his complaints of the terrible mistreatment in 1945-46 by the American interrogators of the good little Nazi perpetrators of the deed?—a deed accomplished maybe even by accident, according to Ms. Utley—, the earlier of the Senator's attempts to grab headlines for the sake of advance of his political career.

If you want a Fascist country, you are well on your way to victory. Support those crazy people, CPAC and their equivalent, and see what happens.

And, really, how dare these nuts object to the humor of Stephen Colbert, complaining of "obscenity" with regard to a comment he made this past Monday anent the "President" on his knees in obeisance to Vlad, a "President" who believes ardently in grabbing "pussies". You can't be enough disrespectful to this little son-of-a-bitch. You are not going to repeal the First Amendment in deference to this cheap little blowhole who still calls his opponent from last year "crooked Hillary". Impeach the jackass. Get him off the air, along with his blowhole companions, "Fockers and Friends".

Is it patently offensive and appealing to the prurient interest? We certainly would think so, at least to the blowholes on their obeisant knees to Mammon.

You don't dictate what people say in this country, Morons, especially as it relates to political comment, the more offensive, the better. That, after all, has been the mantra for "Fockers and Friends" and their supporters for the past eight years.

What is obscene is this bat-crazy lunatic trying as hard and fast as he can to goad North Korea, led by another bat-crazy lunatic, into a world war, while selling out the country to his corporate pals. Climate change? Who cares? We won't be around in thirty years to worry about it.

"Mission to Moscow" wishes Godspeed to U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie in his trip to Moscow to try to convince the leaders of Russia to meet with the other world leaders in the Security Council to work out a settlement of the cold war issues, even if its confidence in the men of the Kremlin was not great.

"Register! Register! Register!" urges, with one week left, registration for the May 27 primary and explains the offices at issue. Through this date, only 37,000 persons of the 175,000 in the county had registered, with an average expected registration of between 60,000 and 70,000.

A piece from the Atlanta Journal, titled "Backing Words with Action", tells of the City having purchased five police cars capable of speeding at 120 mph to catch hot-rodders. It finds the effort salutary but hopes the police would exercise caution in their pursuit of such speeders to avoid danger to the public. It also proposes that parents who permitted their youngsters to use such machines shared responsibility for their actions. It further expresses the hope that the courts would cooperate in the program and issue proper punishment to the speeders and reckless drivers when apprehended.

Get the little bastards and string them up by their toes.

Drew Pearson tells of the President's advisers having debated whether to promote Government loans to small business through the RFC or to set up new private banks for loans to small business as a means of stimulus to resolve the lack of ability to borrow long-term risk capital. Small businesses were able to obtain plenty of short-term money from commercial banks but not ten to twelve-year loans. It was decided to set up private banks for the express purpose of lending money to small business, with the blessing of the Federal Reserve Board.

Vice-President Barkley told an aide that he would see a visitor in the lobby rather than in his office, reminding him of the story of a loafer down South leaning on a store-front, taking note of a lady and a dog, whereupon a passerby asked him whether he would rather go out with the lady or the dog, to which the loafer answered that he preferred the dog because he could always get away from him.

He provides samples of the damage done by Senator McCarthy to American foreign policy abroad, including the pronunciation in China of his name as "MacArthur", allowing the spread of the rumor that General MacArthur was synonymous with the Wisconsin Senator. The impression in some parts of the Far East was that the U.S. was nearly in a state of revolt. In Albania, the Communist Government, which had been expected to go the way of Tito and rebel against Moscow, had not for the fact of Soviet propaganda that the State Department was full of Communists, as charged by "an American Senator", and that the U.S. would soon come over to the Communist side. The wave of neutrality in France, Belgium, and Italy, already established on the determination to avoid being in the middle of another war, had grown to new heights, on the belief that Communists in the State Department would lead to war with Russia.

Congressman Hugo Sims of South Carolina wore his hair short so that he could be the polar opposite of Congressman Mendel Rivers of that state, who wore his hair long.

Before departing for Europe, Secretary of State Acheson had told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in executive session that the U.S. was prepared to fight rather than retreat from Berlin, that the threat of Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia had calmed, that the British were not getting on well in Communist China after their recognition of that Government, had trouble getting recognition for their diplomats, and that Communist guerrillas in Southeast Asia were obtaining arms from stolen war surplus stockpiles in the Philippines.

Walter Locke, in a piece from the Atlanta Journal, provides a look at Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, his background, and his current position against pork-barrel politics, having introduced amendments to end the practice but having been soundly defeated in each attempt. The Senate passed the natural gas deregulation bill championed by Senator Robert Kerr of Oklahoma, over attempts of Senator Douglas to stop it, but the President then vetoed it anyway.

He concludes: "No 'socialist' here, this easy old shoe of a senator, but just a democrat (little d). No better new blood, the press galleries say—and who has more chance to know? has impinged on the seniority Senate in many years."

Robert C. Ruark predicts that the President would pardon John Maragon, convicted of two counts of perjury for lying about his finances to the Senate Investigating subcommittee the previous summer looking into the five-percenter scheme regarding procurement of Government contracts for a fee. The President had just pardoned James Curley, former Mayor of Boston and Congressman, convicted of mail fraud and impersonating another man in civil service examinations.

He concludes that out of the allegiance to his military aide, Maj. General Harry Vaughan, Mr. Maragon's connection in the White House who gave the juice necessary to obtain his clients, albeit not illegal, and his allegiance to the late Tom Pendergast, Kansas City Boss, the President would grant the pardon. Jailing an errand boy, he finds, would not do any good anyway.

Tom Schlesinger of The News, in his weekly "Capital Roundup", tells of the Senate finally ready to consider the Fair Employment Practices Committee bill, originally set in January to be its number two piece of legislation in the session. Senator Clyde Hoey was one of eighteen Southern Senators prepared to fight the measure and had again renewed his pledge to conduct an "all out fight" to block it.

The Congressional mail had shifted from economy to complaints about the cuts in postal service, eliminating a second daily mail delivery. Even economy-minded Senator Hoey was opposed to the cut. Senator Frank Graham had also found it unnecessary.

Senator Hoey's hearings on influence peddling the previous summer had reduced the practice and assured his re-election. The Senator had said that he believed the light sentence to Mr. Maragon, 8 to 24 months, was justified as he was "a climber with no clear moral perception". The Investigating subcommittee was now holding hearings to determine the extent of kickbacks under ERP.

It was determined at the Barkley-Boone reunion in Salisbury, N.C., visited by the Vice-President, that Senator Graham was a descendant of George Boone, father of Daniel.

Former Senator Robert Rice Reynolds denied rumors that he would quit the Senate race against Senator Graham and turn his votes over to Willis Smith.

The Scripps-Howard news service political experts had picked Congressman George Smathers to defeat Senator Claude Pepper in the Florida primary, as he had, and also predicted Senator Graham to defeat his opponents—as he would, albeit by only a plurality, necessitating a runoff. Senator Hoey expressed his delight at the result in Florida.

Neither North Carolina Senator had been present when the Senate defeated the amendment of Nevada Senator Pat McCarran to ERP to bring Spain under its ambit, but Senator Hoey had long been an advocate of extending recognition and aid to Spain on the rationale that since Russia was recognized, there was no just reason not to recognize Spain. Senator Graham had not weighed in on the subject recently but friends reported that privately he opposed the move on moral grounds, given Franco's leadership and that it would supply fuel to the Communist propaganda which claimed that the U.S. was propping up dictators such as Franco with ERP aid and cared nothing in fact for democracy.

Former Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall of North Carolina, representing Anahist, appeared before the FTC to argue that it had no right to question the safety of antihistamine cold pills, already cleared by the FDA for over-the-counter sales.

A-choo....

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