The Charlotte News

Friday, June 16, 1950

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that two Americans, Alfred Dean Slack, 44, and David Greenglass, 28, had been arrested for passing military secrets to Harry Gold, previously arrested for passing the secrets to Dr. Klaus Fuchs, convicted British nuclear scientist who admitted to British authorities providing nuclear secrets to the Russians between 1944 and 1947. In addition, the FBI had arrested a California Institute of Technology scientist, Sidney Weinbaum, for allegedly swearing falsely that he had not been a Communist. Mr. Greenglass, according to FBI agents, said that the country's wartime alliance with Russia had prompted his actions while a non-commissioned Army officer. He was the brother of Ethel Rosenberg, later executed in mid-1953 with husband Julius for espionage for their primary roles in the U.S. side of the case, though neither had yet been implicated publicly.

Mr. Slack, a chemist, had been accused of turning over to the Russians samples of the secret substance RDX, 50 percent more powerful than TNT.

Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed, in a speech in Groton, Conn., that Emmanuel Larsen, who had entered a no contest plea in the Amerasia case in 1946 pursuant to a plea bargain and received a $500 fine, had been promised recently by John Peurifoy, Deputy Undersecretary of State, that if he testified to the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee investigating Senator McCarthy's charges and did so to the satisfaction of the Senator, that Senator McCarthy would see to it that the Government would go easy on Mr. Larsen. According to Senator McCarthy, Mr. Larsen told Mr. Peurifoy that he need not worry, that he would not testify against John Service, a State Department employee arrested in the case in 1945 but never prosecuted. Both Mr. Peurifoy and Mr. Larsen, formerly an employee of the State Department, denied the claims.

Lustron Corporation, recipient of Reconstruction Finance Corporation loans for developing prefabricated housing, had paid Senator Joseph McCarthy $10,000 for an 8,900-word pamphlet on the virtues of such housing. He also received a dime per copy royalty from the sale of each pamphlet, which Lustron sold to the public for 35 cents. Many members of Congress had written similar articles. A Government-appointed receiver for the bankrupt company, however, had called the expenditure "unethical". It was not clear whether the ten-cent royalties were against the $10,000 as an advance or were guaranteed in addition to the payment. Senator McCarthy had offered the article to another housing firm but they had only offered 7.5 cents as a royalty. The article contained no information not previously made public.

The President appointed Averell Harriman, roving Ambassador for ERP, to be special assistant to the President with duties in aid of the President's effort on behalf of the nation's international responsibilities. He nominated Milton Katz, Mr. Harriman's assistant in Europe, to succeed Mr. Harriman.

The President signed the revised displaced persons bill admitting an additional 136,000 persons to the country on top of the 205,000 admitted under the previous 1948 measure which was set to expire June 30, and extended the total program for another year. The bill included admission for 5,000 war orphans from free countries adopted by American parents, 54,744 persons of German ancestry, double that of the 1948 act, driven from their homes in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Rumania and other Eastern European countries after the July, 1945 Potsdam Agreement, and up to 15,000 refugees who entered the country prior to April 30, 1949 on temporary visas. It also eliminated the previous provisions which discriminated against Catholics and Jews and the provisions that 30 percent of the admittees had to be farmers and 40 percent from the Baltic States.

The U.S. turned down the Soviet request that Trieste be internationalized and refused to remove U.S. troops. The French and British had similarly declined the request. The Russians had contended in a diplomatic note of April 20 that the U.S., Britain, and France were violating the Italian peace treaty by holding up plans to internationalize the city and its surrounding territory.

The President vetoed the basing point pricing measure which provided for uniform pricing of goods regardless of origin of shipping to market, citing the confusion to the pricing system it would cause. The measure, designed to circumvent the Supreme Court decision which had held the legislation violative of the extant antitrust laws, was opposed as being monopolistic and against the interests of small business and consumers.

The Federal District Court in San Francisco granted the Government's request to revoke the citizenship of Harry Bridges, West Coast leader of the longshoremen's union. The request was made pursuant to the conviction recently of Mr. Bridges for perjury in connection with averring in 1945 for gaining naturalization that he had never been a Communist. Mr. Bridges had appealed his five-year sentence to prison.

In White Plains, N.Y., a special Grand Jury, following an eight-month investigation, reported its findings that the Communist Party had used the riot in Peekskill, N.Y., the prior September 4, surrounding a concert by Paul Robeson, "as a proving ground for the shock troops of a revolutionary force controlled by a foreign power." It said further that the concert organizers used "Communist goon squads" as security guards, but also said that the Communist guards had "conducted themselves in an orderly and peaceful manner", although prepared to use force if necessary. It concluded that the violence was caused by "hoodlums". It also reported that the previous weekend disturbance, which had led to cancellation of a scheduled Robeson concert, had not been the result of organized planning on the part of anyone, but that the September 4 concert was planned by the Communist Party to take full advantage of the events of August 27, to show their power to hold a meeting in a hostile area. The Grand Jury also handed down indictments against two individuals, unnamed pending their arrest, for second-degree assault.

The FTC announced that five big manufacturers of antihistamine drugs, accused of false and misleading advertising, had not conspired to advertise their products as cures or preventatives for the common cold. Under an agreement, the companies could continue to sell the drugs and advertise them as easing or stopping cold symptoms, such as sneezing or running noses, but could not any longer advertise them as treatment for the cold.

In Winston-Salem, N.C., a seventeen-year old girl, daughter of a radio shop owner, was severely beaten with a rifle and smothered with a mattress during the morning while alone in the store in the downtown area. She was in the hospital in extremely critical condition.

Senator Frank Graham, on the campaign trail in advance of the June 24 primary runoff with Willis Smith, responded to questions regarding his alleged recommendation of the appointment of a black student to West Point, as contained in the campaign literature supporting Mr. Smith. In fact, as Mrs. Graham clarified, the student in question had placed third in the blind Civil Service competition, and was therefore, by ordinary course, named as the second alternate by Senator Graham. The student who placed first was white and actually received the appointment. Senator Graham wanted to know why the Smith campaign had not distributed photos of the winner of the appointment, as they had of the black alternate, above a caption saying, "No other Senator or Congressman has ever appointed a Negro to West Point."

Senator Graham was on the streets of downtown Charlotte politicking during the day, shaking hands and stopping to talk to people. One woman said that he had taught her three children and that she was working for him. Senator Graham asked rhetorically whether he had taught them Communism, to which the woman laughed.

Those Commies always laugh with one another. But you cannot hide the house-painting and back yard garage work.

On the editorial page, "The Left, the Right, the Center" tells of labor columnist Victor Riesel writing that a group had been named by the CIO PAC to negotiate a merger with the AFL Labor League, to unite political activity in the lead-up to the 1952 presidential race.