The Charlotte News
Friday, January 26, 1951
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that two strong elements of two American corps surged northward to within fifteen miles of Seoul, meeting only spotty enemy resistance in the western sector of Korea this date. It was described by headquarters as a "limited objective" attack, seeking contact with the enemy. The force overran virtually deserted and ruined Suwon and Kumyangjang in the process, gaining twelve miles since the advance had begun Thursday morning. Some bayonet and hand-to-hand combat against small units of the enemy was reported in the vicinity of Suwon.
In Tokyo, General MacArthur celebrated his 71st birthday this date with work as usual, accepting an ivory letter-opener, hand-made by his twelve-year old son, and reviewing his honor guard. He promised a "bloody nose" to the Chinese Communists if they pressed further into South Korea, that the point would be reached where the Chinese could not introduce any more equipped troops than the U.N. had at the front.
At the U.N., Canada offered a six-point compromise peace plan for Korea, altering some of the 12-nation Arab-Asian proposal of the prior day. It called for a peace conference to be held in New Delhi within a week to discuss a ceasefire as a preliminary step to other discussions. The ceasefire would eventually include a withdrawal of all non-Korean troops from Korea. The Arab-Asian plan had not mentioned a ceasefire but only charted a conference to discuss Far Eastern problems. Prime Minister Lester Pearson of Canada recommended that the U.N. political committee provide Communist China only 48 hours to respond to the Canadian proposal. He also said that Canada would support the U.S.-sponsored resolution to condemn China as an aggressor.
In Paris, the French Government proposed a plan for NATO whereby a single European defense minister would be appointed to handle recruitment, training and equipage of the single European army comprised of soldiers of the twelve member nations, with a single general staff of officers. Nations with overseas territories would retain their overseas staffs and forces. Internal security police would control riots and enforce domestic laws.
The China Union Press in Formosa reported that Chinese Nationalist guerrillas had raided the Chinese mainland town of Kientiao on January 9 and killed more than twenty Communists, withdrawing with 60 prisoners.
The House Armed Services Committee explored whether to allow drafting of married men who had married since the start of the Korean war, before deciding whether to lower the draft age from 19 to 18, as requested by the Department of Defense. Committee chairman Carl Vinson had predicted that the Committee would approve the request if it was convinced there were no alternative methods to meet the manpower needs for the emergency, to reach the goal of 3.5 million men in the armed forces by June 30.
Wage and price control officials said that early Saturday afternoon was the most likely time for issuance of the orders freezing prices and wages. Rollbacks in prices were being considered to the highest levels reached between mid-December and mid-January. The delay in implementation had been caused by the Economic Stabilization Board failing to achieve an unanimous vote.
Senator Estes Kefauver's committee
investigating organized crime and gambling across the country heard
testimony in New Orleans directed at the Louisiana Supreme Court. New
Orleans attorney James I. McCain told the committee that the Court
had reversed itself on padlock suits against two gambling casinos in
nearby Jefferson Parish, utilizing the same briefs by the same
attorneys in the same cases. Parenthetically, Mr. McCain testified that the designated agent for service of process for one of the casinos, the Beverly Club, was initially Carlos Marcello—a tomato salesman
In Vatican City, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said that Roman Catholic bishops had to decide locally whether to encourage Catholic laity to withdraw from the Rotary Club and other such civic organizations. The Supreme Congregation of the Holy Office, which was said to have approved the article, had issued a decree on January 11 discouraging priests from joining such worldly civic organizations.
In Chicago, a little girl, five years old, as pictured, wanted to see her grandmother so badly that she took her two suitcases in hand and headed on her own across town, from the South Side to the North Side. She was found by police and held at the station until her parents picked her up.
The eastern two-thirds of the nation, from the Rockies to the Eastern seaboard, extending as far south as northern Florida, suffered cold, while the Southwest and Southern California enjoyed summertime weather, with 96 recorded in both Los Angeles and Yuma, Ariz. Denver recorded a relatively mild 60 degrees and Ely, Nev., 69.
The "Our Weather" box tells of "zerp-zerp" being Weather Bureau and aircraft argot for "zero ceiling and visibility", originating from a mistyped "p" for an "o" in early transmissions of the code. Flier acronyms included "cavu" for "ceiling and visibility unlimited" and "ebaw" for fog being so thick in the Aleutians that "even birds are walking".
What would "fola fhalotwa"
mean to the flier? Or "Iaw
On page 15-A, radio and television critic John Crosby tells of the first television soap opera appearing on December 4, 1950, worthy, he believes, of memorialization.
On the editorial page, "Power of the Farm Bloc" finds Herblock's cartoon of the prior day and the Dowling cartoon of this date on the same subject, the power of the farm bloc to lobby Congress for the protection of foods from price control, to be apt.
Reporter John W. Ball of the Washington Post had found that while the Army Quartermaster was purchasing five million dollars worth of potatoes to feed the Army, the Government was buying more than 23 million dollars worth of potatoes and destroying more 22 million dollars worth to keep the prices high, mandated by Congress. Congress the prior August, when it passed legislation to enable the President to control prices and wages, had provided an exception for food selling below parity prices.
It concludes that the public could blame the President for wanting to spend money on the Fair Deal during the national emergency but that Congress deserved the blame for actually spending money in an even more ridiculous fashion on farm price supports.
"Indo-China: Another Korea" finds a parallel between the Korean war and the ongoing war between the French and the Ho Chi Minh guerrillas in Indo-China, in that the Chinese had not intervened in Korea until the North Koreans had been decimated, while in Indo-China, Ho had been doing well against the French until recently, when a new French commander, General Jean de Lattre de Tasigny, had taken over and strengthened the Army with new equipment and improved morale. Early in January, he had launched a counter-offensive which set Ho's forces back. Thus, the stage was set for another Chinese intervention to bolster the faltering Communist guerrillas.
One correspondent had reported that some Chinese units had already crossed into Indo-China, and some observers claimed that the Chinese Third Army had been transferred from Korea to the area of southern China just north of Indo-China.
If the Chinese did intervene in Indo-China, they would likely destroy the French forces in short order. Indo-China would provide a ready supply of rice for China's widespread conquests.
It concludes that the prospect of the dual action meant that any sanctions imposed against Communist China by the U.N. should not commit large ground forces when the troops were so badly needed elsewhere.
"The Natural Gas Decision" tells of the Federal Power Commission approval of Piedmont Natural Gas Corp. as distributor of gas service to eight cities in the Carolinas, including Charlotte, having been criticized by several newspapers, prompting Governor Kerr Scott to examine the decision. The principal criticism was that it would provide cheaper gas for the eight cities than for other parts of the state because the gas line connections to the main Transcontinental pipeline were relatively shorter for the eight cities.
It finds that to attack the gas service for its inequality of rates, as had the Raleigh News & Observer, was an over-simplification. Coal and oil were not generally uniform in price and so there was no reason why gas service should be. Moreover, it would not be profitable to provide gas service in areas of the state remote from the main pipeline as it would not be cost effective in relation to coal or oil.
It finds it unlikely that the criticism would impact the FPC ruling and, as The News had pointed out earlier, natural gas distribution to the eight cities impacted the whole region positively, drawing industry and jobs.
Drew Pearson tells of the Wednesday morning Senate prayer breakfast during which, recently, Virginia Senator A. Willis Robertson, father of later evangelist Pat Robertson, spoke of the Old Testament having been described by a cynic as "a history of wars wrapped up in a prayer for peace". He then outlined the wars which had proceeded over the territory within Palestine through history and said that history taught and science confirmed that "human nature in all races and in all ages has been very much the same, with a percentage of good people and a percentage of evil ones," and that no nation had ever achieved lasting peace through superiority of arms. He cautioned that while the democratic nations might be able in the present crisis to defeat the Communists on the battlefield, such a victory would not settle the conflict between truth and error or good and evil, that peace would not come to the world until it found a home in men's hearts.
Former Secretary of State James Byrnes, recently inaugurated as Governor of South Carolina, had assured Secretary of State Acheson that he would support the effort to send six divisions of American troops to Western Europe in 1951, passing the information via Undersecretary James Webb of North Carolina. Mr. Webb told Governor Byrnes that he would be welcome to consult with Secretary Acheson on foreign policy.
Chief of staff of the Air Force, General Hoyt Vandenberg, was disturbed over the maneuverability of the Russian-built planes being used in limited numbers in Korea, the MIG-15 and the LA-17 fighters. Word was that the Russians were mass producing an even faster jet, the TU-10.
We must therefore build the TU-11
Secretary of Defense Marshall complained that enlisted men were being spoiled with too much recreation, transportation and costly coddling. Mr. Pearson suggests that the Army's austerity program begin with the brass hats, including their use of private airplanes and limousines at Government expense.
Maj. General Van Horn Moseley had appealed to the Georgia Parole Board for the release from prison of Emory Burke, leader of the Columbians, an off-shoot of the Klan. In contrast, Governor Byrnes had taken a forthright stand against the Klan in South Carolina and the Legislature had banned wearing hoods and disguises in public.
Assistant Secretary of the Army Archie Alexander was unable to find a Bible in the Pentagon from which to cull a quote for a speech. The Army chaplain was out of his office and had taken his Bible with him. Mr. Alexander resorted finally to Shakespeare for a quote.
Mobilization Director Charles E. Wilson was calling Price administrator Mike DiSalle incompetent behind his back, wanted him to leave rather than Alan Valentine, who had resigned after three weeks as head of the Office of Economic Stabilization. Mr. DiSalle was in too good with the President for ouster, but Mr. Wilson still wanted him out.
An important high-level economic meeting had taken place with the blessing of the President and out of it had come the decisions soon to implement tough wage and price controls, favored by Mr. Wilson, with the price freeze coming first, followed by specific price orders and price rollbacks in primary cost-of-living and defense items. Then would come a wage freeze to forestall wage hikes in the spring.
He notes that since voluntary production enhancement was not working, there would be need for controls of scarce materials and technical manpower. Non-essential production of electronics and motor vehicles, as well as construction, would be curtailed.
Marquis Childs discusses the Truman penchant for appointment of ambassadors and ministers on the basis of political connections, with about a fourth of them having been so appointed. Some of the amateurs, as Stanton Griffis, who had just been transferred from Argentina to become Ambassador to Spain, were quite competent. But that appeared to be the exception to prove the rule.
He uses as example Richard G. Patterson, Jr., former Ambassador to Yugoslavia and subsequently to Guatemala. He had left both positions under a cloud, with both governments having reportedly asked for his withdrawal. After he had left the post in Yugoslavia, he took the unusual course of going around the country in 1947 on a paid speaking tour, telling of the dictatorship of Marshal Tito, before the latter's separation from Moscow. Then-Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson took a strong stand against this practice.
Yet, because of his political connections, Mr. Patterson was probably going to be appointed to become Minister to Switzerland, considered to be the most important listening post in Europe. The U.S. was trying to cultivate Switzerland, to move it toward the West from its neutral stance and thus it was a sensitive diplomatic position. The current Minister, John Carter Vincent, because of his controversial Far East policy stances, was going to be moved to a relatively mild post as Ambassador to Costa Rica.
Mr. Childs concludes that in such times of crisis, ambassadors and ministers were more important than in the old days when their appointments were largely ceremonial. Their competence thus mattered a great deal.
Robert C. Ruark tells of the Mardi Gras clubs of Rex, Momus, Comus, and Proteus canceling their festivities for this year's celebration because of the national crisis. There would be a parade and celebration but it might be more muted than the norm.
He finds it not in keeping with the national trend, which was to carry on as usual, and thinks it an overreaction to the Korean war. When there would come a gasoline crunch and rationing, as during World War II, then such cancellations might be reasonable. As it was, there had been no cancellation of the bowl games or Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations, and so he sees no reason for the curtailment of Mardi Gras.
It reminds him of the Government's approach to the war and mobilization, half in, half out. The U.N. forces fought the Chinese but could not bomb their supply bases in China because the war was limited to Korea. The Government advocated economy and tightening of the belt, spoke of expanding the draft, but the common pursuits of daily business and daily politics continued as usual.
He concludes that he admired the nobility of the gesture by the New Orleans Mardi Gras clubs but doubts it would affect the outcome of the "stylized conflict" with the Communist Chinese, "against whom we are definitely not at war, except for killing."
A letter writer finds that the Legislature should never have banned the union shop in the state, a worse law than Taft-Hartley, which permitted the union shop where both the employer and the employees agreed to permit it. The State law had served to prevent settlement of many labor disputes. He supports therefore the bill before the current Legislature to repeal the ban.
A letter writer takes exception to the letter writer who on January 22 had criticized the Reverend Billy Graham for the amount of money his revival had collected in Atlanta, which this writer informs was $7,000. He regards Reverend Graham as the greatest preacher since "Cyclone Mack" McClendon. People contributed money for the cure of various physical ailments and so he sees no problem with contribution to the remedy of spiritual ailments.
Likewise, the fact that the music director of the revival had collected over $5,000 in Atlanta, which he admits was more than composers as Schubert, Beethoven and Brahms had ever made in their lifetimes, was not an issue as those composers had produced their music for the pleasure of their audiences while the revival had produced music to save souls.
He urges Reverend Graham, "God's Own Ball of Fire", to keep up the good work.
Goodness gracious...
A letter from perennial Congressional candidate P. C. Burkholder and several others opposes any law which would compel people to sit in a line and wait for the State to inspect their vehicle for safety. They feel that the owner of the vehicle had the responsibility to determine its safety on the spot and failing to do so would always be problematic, regardless of passing a safety inspection earlier. They believe that most cars involved in accidents were mechanically sound. They favor instead every driver being given a short course on vehicle maintenance, and that "all cars not safely operated regardless of mechanical or mental defect should be ordered off the road and our present highway laws enforced."
If you have a car with a mental defect, you have a major problem on your hands for sure. Get a mule.
Framed Edition
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