The Charlotte News
Thursday, January 11, 1951
TWO EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that U.S. Second Division troops, supported by French and Dutch troops, clung stubbornly to a salient 1.5 miles south of Wonju on Thursday night, while two North Korean divisions, comprised of about 20,000 men, were attempting to flank them from the north and east. Censorship prevented release of further details of the action. Another enemy force had been beaten back five miles to the southeast. Otherwise, the front had been stabilized Thursday, with only some small-arms fire south of Wonju. The enemy had lost an estimated 2,100 troops in an earlier fight lasting seven hours.
To the south, on the road to Chongju, the tank-led, company-sized patrol which had punched back into Wonju on Wednesday and, finding no enemy, had withdrawn toward the overlooking hills to the south, had been jumped by more than 7,000 North Koreans. After other allied forces reinforced them, the enemy broke off the engagement, which had forced fixed bayonets to be used by the allied patrol.
Enemy forces were estimated to be 285,000 in the area between Chongju and enemy-held Osan in the western sector, with the apparent aim of cutting off the main forces of the Eighth Army on the road from abandoned Seoul and forcing them to do battle in the rough, mountainous country, enabling night-fighting by swarms of enemy infantrymen.
A report explains that the official U.S. military attitude toward Korea remained unchanged, that the American forces would continue to fight as long as possible without "voluntary withdrawal". The previous day, the Defense Department had denied a report by Keyes Beech of the Chicago Daily Tribune that General MacArthur had recommended to the Pentagon a general withdrawal from Korea. Mr. Beech stood by his story, developed, he said, from "authoritative sources", despite the public information officer for General MacArthur having termed it a "figment of the writer's imagination". Washington officials believed that the U.N. forces would shortly pull up and make a stand, after establishing shortened supply and communications lines against increasingly extended Chinese supply lines. The Pentagon policy was based on the notions that to abandon the effort in Korea would weaken confidence elsewhere in U.N. determination to fight Communism, that the fight in Korea was occupying Communist Chinese forces, preventing them from moving elsewhere, such as Indo-China, that the continued presence of the U.N. force constituted a defense of Japan, that it was not certain that a Communist victory in Korea was inevitable as the enemy might back down with increasing losses, and that a victory would have dividends later in encouraging allies to fight against Communism elsewhere.
Informed sources in London reported that Britain had proposed a high-level meeting, to be under U.N. auspices, between the U.S. and Communist China to produce a settlement in Korea. Neither the U.S. nor China had reacted to the proposal. Few details of the proposal were known but it would seek to defer U.N. action branding China an aggressor, as sought by the U.S., an action which might make it more difficult to effect a resolution. Whether the proposal also included recognition of Communist China in the U.N., a timetable for withdrawal for all foreign troops from Korea, and a seat for Communist China on any U.N. commission set up to restore Korea politically and economically, as being considered by British Commonwealth prime ministers since the prior Friday, was not made known.
Senator Tom Connally, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that he was assured that the Administration would consult with the Congress before sending troops to Western Europe, but he disagreed with Senator Taft that the President lacked authority to do so without new Congressional authorization, following the prior ratification of the NATO treaty.
The Senate Armed Services Committee was considering action on twin motions by Senators Harry Cain and Wayne Morse, both Republicans, urging that perjury charges possibly be brought against the accusers of Anna Rosenberg, recently confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Defense, anent the claims brought against her during confirmation hearings that she had been a Communist sympathizer years earlier, subsequently proved false. Senator Morse said that there was the possibility that the accusations stemmed from an honest mistake in identity or the like and that the accusation did not amount to deliberate false testimony, but that the Justice Department would need make that determination. The accusation stemmed from a claim made by Ralph De Sola, a former Communist, who claimed that Ms. Rosenberg had attended meetings of a Communist organization some fifteen years earlier. His former wife and other associates disputed his testimony and an FBI check found the claim bogus.
Assistant Secretary Rosenberg said at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the President planned to issue a new national manpower mobilization policy within the ensuing few days. She did not elaborate on the statement before the committee and declined to give details to reporters after the hearing.
The Army reactivated this date two World War II corps, VI and VII Corps, and named two top combat generals, Maj. General Withers Burress and Maj. General Brant Moore, respectively, to command them.
The Economic Stabilization Agency said that it would not presently put into effect a temporary 30-day price freeze, overriding a plan by Price director Mike DiSalle to do so, with the determining factor being the inadequacy at present of a staff to enforce the freeze. Supporters of the freeze were planning to make their case with the President. Some Government analysts predicted food prices might rise by as much as 8 to 10 percent in the coming 60 days, causing the cost of living to rise three to four percent.
The Senate Republican conference rejected, 29 to 10, a proposal by Senator Joseph McCarthy to give new GOP Senators a larger voice in Senate affairs. It specifically had proposed that once a senior Senator had a major committee assignment, all Senators would be considered for subsequent assignments before a second assignment was made. The proposal was backed by Senator Taft who said that there was no point in assigning freshman Senators to minor committees when veteran Senators were overworked. It was opposed by Senator Hugh Butler of Nebraska. The GOP Senate policy committee had taken no stand.
AFL and CIO leaders, plus railroad brotherhood leaders and representatives of the machinists, argued before the wage stabilization board, chaired by Cyrus Ching, that a wage-price policy ought be adopted which could last for a decade into the future. John L. Lewis, on behalf of UMW, had argued the previous day against any controls.
The wreckage of a missing B-50 bomber with eight persons aboard was spotted about 15 miles southeast of Muroc, California. The fate of the occupants was not yet known.
In Raleigh, the State House Elections Committee voted in favor of the Madison County Democratic legislator in a Republican contest over the seat and would recommend to the House that the challenge be dismissed. The State Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill creating a commission to study local and state governmental efficiency. A bill to outlaw fortune telling, palmistry, and clairvoyance was referred to a subcommittee which would work out an amendment to exempt amateur fortune-telling at civic and social events.
Caveat legislator: Weather forecasters and sports prognosticators are not amateurs, though a few of them in jail might a point make.
On the editorial page, "Balancing the State's Budget" finds that despite Governor Kerr Scott and the Advisory Budget Commission being 38 million dollars apart in their spending recommendations, it would not be too hard to close the gap. It proceeds to show how that could be accomplished.
If you are possessed of a consuming need to find out, you can read it in detail.
"The Legislature's Obligation" finds that it would be interesting to see what the General Assembly would do to investigate the 1.3 million dollar contract to build the State Fairgrounds coliseum, sans lights and heating, for which the 1949 Assembly had appropriated 1.2 million. Bids had run to 1.65 million, but with the subsequently omitted lighting, heating and plastering. It urges the Legislature to find out and report to the people what led to this strange transaction in violation of all the rules of budgetary compliance.
Well, first off, you don't need no
lights 'cause they gotta lotta winders gonna get in 'ere; and the
cows 'n' bulls 'll provide the heat and plaster. Any questions?
A piece from the Greensboro Daily News, titled "Could Be Shot in Arm", tells of reduction of the number of Senate committees by Lt. Governor Taylor serving likely to expedite lawmaking in the state. The lieutenant governor's one contribution to a legislative session of the General Assembly was to appoint committees, with chairmanships often provided two years in advance, making Mr. Taylor's approach the more commendable.
It adds that government needed more dedication to purpose by its members than, so much, reorganization.
Bill Sharpe, in his "Turpentine
Drippings", snippets from newspapers around the state, provides
one from the Rocky Mount Telegram, which reported a profusion
of dead bunnies being seen along the roadside in Chatham County,
rabbit country, during any busy weekend with abundant vehicular
traffic. It viewed it as fortunate that the skunk did not abound in
those parts
The Waynesville Mountaineer tells of guest towels being among the most useless things ever created, as they were only hung on the towel bar for show. Someone, whom the piece assumes was a man, had now developed a paper guest towel which could actually be used.
The Sanford Herald tells of a church congregation debating how to cover some long, high windows on either side of the pulpit, with half favoring draperies and the other half, removal and boarding them up. Finally, a man stood in the back and said, "Reverend, I move we leave them windows just like they damn are."
He actually said "winders" and you know it.
The Camden Chronicle relates of a ditty:
"Many things may discourage proposal;
Sometimes even a shiny nose'll."
The Sanford Herald relates of an Army draftee saying that if a man was warm, he was in, and he was warm.
The Roxboro Courier-Times tells of a group of elderly hunters going out early in the morning to hunt geese in freezing weather, only wanting to know whether they could take it, then giving the geese to persons they hated most.
The Zebulon Record tells of having ordered a ten-pound turkey from the market and having delivered a twelve-pounder, and upon inquiry, being told by the market that all the ten-pound turkeys weighed twelve pounds this year.
Why was that? Sounds spooky.
The Western Carolina Tribune suggests adding to the three things, cheese, wine and violins, which became better with age, the 1951 high school and college graduates.
Why would that be?
The Asheville Citizen thinks that the reported development of the computer, which would replace number-crunching clerks and even translate foreign language at a rate of ten words per second, might be "The Thing" of "monotonous quest". But many might ask what the difference would be, as man had ceased using his brain long before.
And so, so, so, more so.
Drew Pearson tells of the U.N. retreat in Korea having gone through two unique and separate stages, the first being the initial retreat 120 miles from the Manchurian border to around the 38th parallel in the western sector and to Hungnam in the northeastern sector, and the second being the most recent one, withdrawal from the 38th parallel and Seoul. The current withdrawal appeared to be following the calculated plan to evacuate most of the peninsula. Both retreats had produced an extremely bad reaction in other parts of the world, with reports in the European press as to the reasons for the retreats being different from those in the U.S.
British newsmen had, for instance, at one time referred to "Mao's ghost army" and claimed that the British troops had not encountered the enemy for more than a week during the first retreat in the western sector, a claim to which General MacArthur's dispatches to the Pentagon gave credence. During one dispatch to the late Lt. General Walton Walker, then field commander of the Eighth Army, sent just before Christmas, General MacArthur ordered him to make contact with the enemy and give high priority to capturing prisoners, an unusually direct order to make contact. The General's dispatches also conveyed the fact that U.N. forces, during the evacuation of Hungnam, had never been attacked by any Chinese unit stronger than a company, while press dispatches had made it sound as though the Chinese were hurling masses of troops to the Hungnam perimeter. No American casualties were suffered during that evacuation.
General MacArthur had failed to provide for direct communication between the commanders of the Eighth Army in the west and the Tenth Corps in the east, requiring that they communicate through Tokyo headquarters, resulting in movements which permitted the Chinese to strike in between the two forces. Had the U.N. forces been advancing in a compact front rather than fanned out, the result might have been different. On top of that, the Second Division of the Eighth Army in the west panicked after being left behind as a rearguard with South Korean units on its flank. Friction developed between the South Koreans and Americans, including fistfights, in consequence of which the Americans were eventually ordered to keep away from the South Koreans, leading to loss of contact between the two forces, resulting in the Americans not realizing when the South Koreans had dropped back leaving their flank exposed, giving the Chinese a chance to infiltrate. At that point, the Second Division broke and ran, during which retreat they suffered most of their casualties, amounting to more than 50 percent. General MacArthur then cabled Washington that the Second Division was unfit for further duty, which may have included as a cause bad morale.
He notes that U.S. Army estimates numbered the Chinese at 96,000, facing a contingent of about 100,000 U.N. troops during the December retreat from the Manchurian border to the 38th parallel.
William Paley, head of CBS, was in line to head the psychological warfare bureau.
Secretary of Agriculture Charles Brannan was trying to develop new export markets for American honey.
Senator Robert Kerr of Oklahoma escorted an eight-year old boy to an exit in the Capitol after the child had lost his way. The Senator said that he sometimes lost his way around the Capitol, himself.
Marquis Childs tells of the President ignoring in his State of the Union message Senator Taft's challenge to Presidential powers to send troops to Western Europe without the consent of Congress. The commitment had long been made under the NATO treaty ratified by two-thirds of the Senate and plans were proceeding on schedule. The wisdom of ignoring Senator Taft, however, was subject to question as the debate would continue and might be prolonged by ignoring it.
Senator Taft's remarks, on the heels of the isolationist speech by former President Hoover, had caused doubt among Western European allies regarding continuity of the commitment. Those doubts had been answered in part by the appointment of General Eisenhower as supreme commander of NATO, together with his expressed confidence and resolution upon his arrival in Europe.
There were also doubts raised in the U.S., which would be compounded by keeping the issue alive, having a harmful effect on preparations for defense of the West, exacerbating distrust abroad.
General Eisenhower would return at the end of the month to report to Congress on his findings in Europe. He would likely also address the American people. In the wake of that address should come a test vote in the Senate on the Presidential authority to commit troops to Western Europe. Mr. Childs predicts solid Democratic support, and with some Republican support, finds little doubt of the outcome.
Senator Taft had suggested that General Eisenhower was not committed to the position, that he could back out after his return. While technically true should he find such an impracticable task that he felt it imprudent to undertake, that would be uncharacteristic of the General.
If Belgium were to fall to the Soviets, as the President had pointed out, the chief source of uranium in the Belgian Congo would be seriously jeopardized. A whole range of strategic materials had to come from overseas in an exchange process which, if interrupted, would compromise the ability to prepare the nation's own defenses.
The President had invited continued debate on foreign policy so that wise decisions could be made, but also warned that constructive criticism was different from harmful criticism, urging unity out of responsible debate.
Robert C. Ruark looks at Paul Robeson, former Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford, convicted, admitted draft dodger Alfred Bergdoll, and pro football player and former lieutenant, Glenn Davis.
He finds Mr. Robeson, with his expressions sympathetic to Russia and Communism and against the racism he found in the U.S., was as worthy of internment as any Japanese prisoner of war during World War II. He was seeking through a lawsuit restoration by the State Department of his passport so that he could travel abroad, enabling him effectively to continue to malign his native country.
Whitey Ford had broken into the majors in 1950 and pitched in nine straight to lead the Yankees to the pennant and then clinched the World Series for them with a good effort. That would normally have guaranteed him a half million to a million dollars for the ensuing 10 to 15 years. But Mr. Ford was drafted and that prospect had, very possibly, he ventures, blown his professional baseball career.
Alfred Bergdoll, son of the number one draft resister from World War I, Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, had dodged the draft on the ideological ground of opposition to war. He was sentenced to the maximum of five years in prison after pleading guilty. Mr. Ruark cheers Judge Sylvester Ryan for the stiff sentence.
Glenn Davis had played well for Army during World War II. He then worked for the Army after the war for two years, quit his commission and was now playing pro football after romancing Elizabeth Taylor. Several of his former Army teammates had died in Korea. Mr. Ruark suggests that it must seem odd to him to have beaten one war by virtue of his skill in athletics and likely to beat another by the same skill set.
He takes Whitey Ford and Judge Ryan, but leaves Mr. Robeson and Mr. Davis to the archives as the archives might know what to do with them.
While sounding very "American", Mr. Ruark, in questioning, not for the first time, Paul Robeson's right, with impunity, to relate of his own experience in America as a black man and to speak his mind as he saw it, is about as totalitarian and un-American as it can get.
It is not unlike questioning the
right of NFL players to kneel, as a means of passive expression,
during the national anthem. It is a far better thing for them to
kneel now than for young kids in the ghetto to be burning police cars
next summer. But the dummy in the White House does not think beyond
the next tweet-tweet, and the next hosannah arising in chorus from
his racist core of helmet-head supporters, and so...
A Pome appears from the Atlanta Journal, "In Which Is Revealed One Of The Contributory Causes Of The Nervous Condition Of Authors:
"They live in terror
Of the typographical error."
And so we have surers,
Who point out the tourer.
Framed Edition
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