The Charlotte News
Friday, December 28, 1951
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the U.N. command in Korea had stated that it appeared that at least 450 American soldiers had died in North Korean prison camps out of the 571 Americans which the Communists said had either died of disease or were killed by allied air raids or artillery fire, those prisoners not having been included in the list released by the Communists the previous week, containing the names of 11,559 prisoners. The conclusion was based on an analysis of the release on Wednesday of a Communist report regarding the 585 Americans who were known to have reached the rear prison camps by the fact of their later broadcasts and letters to their families, as well as announcements in Communist publications and through Geneva. The Communists had still not accounted for 357 American soldiers, at least 135 of whom were known to have reached the rear prison camps. There was still no further accounting regarding approximately 50,000 missing and presumed captured U.N. soldiers who were not on the Communist list, the bulk of whom were South Koreans.
In air action, U.S. Sabre jets shot down an enemy jet over Korea and escaped without loss in a 20-minute dogfight between 24 Sabres and more than 70 MIG-15s.
Ground action continued to be limited, with the only significant fighting being that for Christmas Hill, the fiercest fight during the previous 31 days since the provisional agreement on the ceasefire buffer zone had been reached. The action took place near Heartbreak Ridge and the hill had changed hands repeatedly since Christmas Day, having been captured twice the previous day and then lost once, with U.N. infantrymen counter-attacking on Friday.
The four American airmen who had been jailed in Hungary and tried and found guilty of aiding spies after they had been downed in their transport plane over Hungary on November 19, had been freed after the U.S. Government paid the $120,000 in imposed fines. The four were flown into Austria and from there to Erding, Germany. They appeared tired but said they were okay. They drank coffee and ate sandwiches provided by the welcoming party in Austria. They were then taken into a room for debriefing. The C-47 transport plane in which they had flown remained confiscated by the Hungarian Government.
In Glens Falls, N.Y., a wife of one of the released four fliers expressed glee at the news. She poured herself a cup of coffee, took her young daughter in her arms, settled into a chair and cried softly.
Two other wives, in Erding, Germany, also expressed relief at the good news.
In Kingsland, Ark., the mother of another of the fliers thanked God that he was safe.
In Pittsburgh, the United Steelworkers Union wage-policy committee voted to defer a scheduled strike from midnight on December 31, when the current contract expired, until January 3, to allow the Steelworkers convention in Atlantic City to have the final say on the strike. The President had promised to use every means at his disposal to prevent a steel strike for the sake of the national defense effort. Meanwhile, the Wage Stabilization Board, to which the matter had been referred by the President, was studying the situation to make its recommendations. Following the meeting of the wage-policy committee, United Steelworkers president Philip Murray invited U.S. Steel president Benjamin Fairless to address the delegates to the United Steelworkers convention.
The London Daily Express reported that the boss of a Russian uranium mine in East Germany may have been taken to Washington after fleeing to West Germany six weeks earlier. The man had been a key scientist in the Soviet atomic program and had once won the Stalin prize for his achievements. The story linked him with a recent trip to Germany by four leading American atomic scientists, including Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the primary scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb during the war. It was believed that the four scientists had been called in to assess the intelligence provided by the defecting Russian scientist.
House payroll records showed that in
70 members' offices at least one employee had the same last name as
the Congressman, in most cases a relative. Senate payroll records
were confidential. Most of the relatives of the Congressmen put in a
full day's work for a day's pay, but some few were suspected of
dropping into the office only periodically to open a letter or two
and thereby qualify as an employee. The story adds parenthetically that among the
North Carolina delegation, only House Ways & Means chairman
Robert Doughton had an apparently related employee, who had received
a salary of $444
Former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen formally declared as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1952, his second of many subsequent attempts at the nomination in nearly every election cycle through the year 2000. Eventually, by about 1964, he would become a standing joke in the press and among those who followed politics, though once considered quite seriously a young up and coming Republican challenger.
Supporters of General Eisenhower for the nomination stated that Mr. Stassen's entry to the race would not change its dynamic. Democratic Senator Blair Moody of Michigan, however, contended that the announcement meant that the General would not run as a Republican. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., stated that nothing would justify such a conclusion and that no agreement had previously been reached between the General and Mr. Stassen. Governor Stassen had previously been a supporter of the General's nomination and had consulted with him in Paris recently. He said that he was in the race, however, without any commitment to any other person, meaning, presumably, that he was not intending to turn over any committed delegates to General Eisenhower or any other candidate. Senator Taft, the primary announced candidate, stated only that every American had the right to run for the presidency and believed it was good for Republicans to have a wide choice. Governor Earl Warren of California had also announced for the Republican nomination and also welcomed Mr. Stassen to the race.
In San Francisco at Letterman V.A. Hospital, an Army private, who had been burned badly on his legs when a cook inadvertently hurled an exploding lamp in his direction, was surprised to find that he was receiving a transfusion of blood which he had earlier donated. A medical assistant had just happened to pick up the bottle from the blood supply for the transfusion.
On the editorial page, "Coal Mining Can Be Made Safe" tells of UMW head John L. Lewis, in the wake of the recent mining disaster in Frankfort, Ill., which claimed 119 lives, having forcefully called attention to the fact that, despite legislation having been introduced in Congress in 1947 after the Centralia, Ill., mining disaster where 111 men were killed, nothing had been done when Republicans controlled Congress between 1947 and 1949, or by the Democrats since 1949. Even so, Mr. Lewis could not avoid his share of the blame, as he had failed to throw the weight of the UMW leadership behind the Congressional proposals and had also failed to support Governor Adlai Stevenson in Illinois in his attempts to pass modern mine safety regulations.
Thus, aside from officialdom, blame could be placed on Mr. Lewis and the UMW, as well as on the coal company and the Illinois Department of Mines. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the company had been aware of the presence of methane gas in the mine, presumed to be the cause of the explosion. The Department of Mines had inspected the Frankfort mine as recently as the previous December 11 and found nothing problematic.
It also finds that the American people could bear some of the blame for their apathy on the issue of mine safety. Individual states had the power to fix safety standards and inspect mines, and there was a lack of uniformity among state laws. In many instances, state regulatory bodies were controlled by the coal companies, who did not want to make the expenditures for safety precautions. States had the duty, once laws were enacted, to see that they were enforced, and if the states could not do the job, it was incumbent upon the Federal Government to step in. It suggests that perhaps state laws and Federal laws could work together to afford a uniform system of safety regulations and places the onus on the Congress to enact that regulatory system.
"International Ransom" finds that it had been typical for the American people to brand the Hungarian Communists as "international blackmailers" while also trying to raise the $120,000 in fines to free the four American fliers who had been forced down in Hungary on November 19, then tried and found guilty of aiding spies, fined in lieu of 90-day jail sentences.
It had also been in character for the Government to reject the offers of private assistance and instead pay the fines, itself, determining that the main objective was to free the fliers, regardless of the methods of blackmail being used by the Hungarian Government and the consequent embarrassment to the U.S. in acceding to their demands. Hungary could have imposed a much higher fine and the fact that they did not suggested that they were not so bold as they had been before the U.S. had strengthened its moral and military might in the wake of the start of the Korean War.
"Mr. Truman Plays a Trump Card" compliments the selection by the President of former chief foreign policy planner for the State Department George Kennan as Ambassador to Russia. He had been a career diplomat and his appointment would likely improve the morale of the State Department, badly shaken by Congressional allegations of Communist sympathies and by the appointment of such ambassadors as former Mayor James O'Dwyer of New York, Ambassador to Mexico. Moreover, Mr. Kennan spoke fluent Russian and was a long-time student of Russian affairs, had been given credit for outlining the policy of containment which had characterized U.S. foreign policy since 1947.
The Russians were displeased with his appointment, but the President and Secretary of State Acheson had blunted this criticism by promising to ask for the recall of the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. should Russia refuse to recognize Mr. Kennan.
It concludes that the appointment was a new high mark for U.S. foreign policy.
"Man's Best Friend Betrayed" remarks on a letter in the letters column, in which two twin brothers told of their beloved dog Peewee having disappeared during the Christmas holiday. It goes on to indicate that the letter had arrived amid news of a second recent dog "atrocity" in the area, whereby a family dog had died shortly after being found partially skinned with several stab wounds, following by a few weeks the discovery of another dog with its tongue cut out.
It finds that the willful mutilation of dogs was almost inconceivable, that dogs became part of the families to which they belonged, and that the two correspondents regarding Peewee had voiced the concern which most youngsters and many adults felt with respect to their dogs. It suggests that people who mutilated dogs had sadistic tendencies which could be extremely dangerous to humans as well. It hopes that whoever mutilated the two dogs would be found.
We feel certain that this editorial, in the best of taste, must have made the two boys who lost Peewee feel very good.
Don't worry, boys; if Peewee is found skinned or with her tongue cut out, we feel that everything should be done to apprehend the culprit.
As you will see from the letter, the boys simply state that Peewee escaped from the family car when they left her alone for a few minutes and had not been seen since that time, ask for any help the community could give in finding her.
A piece from the Milwaukee Journal, titled "Busy Blarney Stone", tells of the famous stone, kissing of which promised the gift of gab, having raised its price per kiss from 14 cents to 21 cents. Supposedly, it was based on inflation, but the piece believes it was rather simply a matter of supply and demand, as, no doubt, the coming election year would prompt many politicians to kiss it for the sake of their campaigns.
That sounds like a load of blarney to us.
Drew Pearson again regards chief behind-the-scenes influence-peddler Henry Grunewald and the way in which he was able to ingratiate himself to those in high places in the Government. He was able to see Vice-President Alben Barkley, had received a note of thanks from the President for a campaign contribution, easily dropped in to see Republican Senator Owen Brewster of Maine, who called him by his first name, and was able to obtain the help of Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire to pull wires on a tax fraud case. Mr. Grunewald had three limousines, a winter house in Miami Beach, a summer house at Spring Lake, N.J., and used the Washington Hotel apartment of former Secretary of War Harry Woodring. His strongest connection had been with former Office of Alien Property custodian Leo Crowley, despite Mr. Crowley's denial of their relationship. Mr. Grunewald had been authorized to speak for Mr. Crowley at a stockholders' meeting of the big alien corporations seized during wartime. When Mr. Grunewald had been hired by the office in 1942, Mr. Crowley had stopped an investigation of his past, probably seeking to cover up Mr. Grunewald's record as a Government prohibition agent, wherein it was indicated that he had been demoted in 1922 and then fired later the same year after being indicted by a New York grand jury in connection with the "illegal removal and disposition of liquor", though the case was later dismissed by the court on directed verdict. Mr. Grunewald claimed at the time that the indictment had been politically motivated by his activity as a prohibition agent.
Mr. Pearson provides further biographical data on Mr. Grunewald, including the fact that he was an immigrant from South Africa who had never become naturalized as an American citizen until early 1942, despite having previously been in numerous Government positions.
He notes that Mr. Grunewald did not provide the source of large amounts of his income on his tax returns, and had, during his time in Government employment, earned only modest salaries, causing a mystery to arise as to how he could afford the trappings of wealth.
Because of the scandals in the Government, at the IRB and the RFC, regarding influence peddling, gifts from business friends had been scrutinized as never before during the Christmas season, prompting some officials to return anything which looked like a gift appearing to seek influence. The wife of a Navy Department employee could not resist the temptation of opening a large, ornately wrapped box received through the mail, only to find a year's supply of Boy Scout calendars for her husband, who was a scoutmaster.
Henry Lesesne, writing in the New York Herald Tribune from Columbia, S.C., discusses the primary system in South Carolina, where laws had substantially changed in the previous two years, having abandoned the poll tax and allowing for the first time a semblance of the secret ballot, whereby voters received one uniform ballot with both parties' candidates listed, whereas previously voters in the primary had to announce whether they were voting Democratic or Republican before receiving individual party ballots. Recently, Governor James Byrnes had called on Americans to disregard the party labels in the coming presidential contest of 1952.
South Carolina also was trying to move away from a rule under which voters who voted in the Democratic primary took an oath to vote for the Democratic candidates in the general election. The rule, at this point, however, was largely academic as the Democratic primary winner won the general election, with little or no opposition from Republicans, causing most Democrats not to vote in the general election. The South Carolina State Chamber of Commerce and several newspapers in the state had come out against the rule. The rule had been amended to apply only to state nominees in the primary and not to national party nominees.
He concludes that, while these changes had made some headway toward a genuine two-party system, until the Republicans became an independent party which could put forth strong candidates, no two-party system could ever develop.
Robert C. Ruark tells of overhearing two women riding on a train with him indicating firmly that they favored dropping the atom bomb in Korea, as well as shooting any captured prisoners. They took a no-nonsense stand against any unnecessary risks by the allies which would put American soldiers in harm's way. He had mentioned to them shyly that this bloodthirstiness did not become the Yule spirit or the qualities of "gentleness and tenderness" normally associated with the ladies of song and story. The two had sounded a lot more like Admiral Bull Halsey discussing Japanese during the war than "dewy flowers to be protected and shielded from an unpleasantness."
One of the women mocked the "silly little boys, rushing off to your wars to fight by the book and obey all the articles and mind all the rules." She had asked rhetorically whether he had ever seen women fighting, noting that they clawed, scratched, screamed, pulled hair, bit, and threw things, did not stand on points or Marquis of Queensbury rules. The object in their mind was to win.
Mr. Ruark was inclined to attribute these stands to "vaporous excitability" because of too much last-minute Christmas shopping, but he noticed also that the same view was shared by most women he met, and especially, of late, by Senator Margaret Chase Smith from Maine. He suspected that most women, including Senator Smith, deplored war generally and especially war which threatened their personal security, but that once committed to the strife, held little regard for "sloppy sentimentality" regarding the enemy's welfare.
He concludes that, insofar as war was concerned, he tended to agree with them.
Yeah, but like you apparently, Mr. Big Game Hunter, and most of the Nazis and Commies, they never played tackle football and so never realized firsthand the value of respecting one's opponent to avoid retaliation in kind, if not in the current game, somewhere down the line, from remembrance of the assault outside the bounds of play.
A letter from young twins, as indicated in the editorial above, tells of losing their pet dog Peewee, when she had jumped out of their car a few days earlier. They had posted notices on radio programs and in both local newspapers, and appealed to the public for any help in locating the dog, of which they provide a description.
We only hope that Peewee is found
safe and sound, neither skinned, scalped nor having had its tongue cut
out or, gee whiz, maybe something even worse
A letter from Quanah, Tex., tells of cotton production, in exceeding that required for domestic use, having resulted in a reduction in the price worldwide, a trend for the previous 150 years. He recaps the history of cotton production and concludes that the South had never put its able and willing labor force to its most profitable use while having the most incompetent ruling caste to be found anywhere.
A letter writer from Marshall tells
of the recently released report from the National Education
Association regarding school conditions at Mars Hill in Madison
County, having confirmed that which residents of the county had known
for a long time but which they had been unable to correct, that the
school system was "up to its neck in the most debased and sordid
type of machine politics." He says that for the previous 20
years, the Democratic leadership in the state had looked the other
way when residents of the county had sought relief. The County Board
of Education had been appointed by the Democratically controlled
Legislature and were not responsible to the parents, producing the
results at Mars Hill. He favors election of the Board by the
residents of the county.
Framed Edition
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