The Charlotte News
Tuesday, February 13, 1951
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Chinese Communist forces shifted the direction of their mass attack in central Korea and headed down the mountain corridors in an effort to split the allied lines between Wonju and Yoju, sweeping the allies from Hoengsong and advancing as much as 18 miles. Leading edges of at least seven Chinese columns had massed in the area west of Hoengsong and north of Chipyong, striking south, passing Chipyong toward the Wonju-Yoju road. Other enemy forces, moving in bands of up to a thousand men each, surrounded Chipyong and began an attack this night. Allied air missions struck these units in low-level attacks.
General MacArthur visited the western front and, upon return to Tokyo, warned that the enemy still had plenty of manpower and supplies. He also said that talk of a drive north of the 38th parallel was "purely academic", that the main objective was to reduce the numerical superiority of the Chinese land forces before seriously considering major operations north of the parallel.
An unnamed French Government official reported that the Big Four representatives would meet in Paris between March 10 and 15 to arrange a subsequent meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries, including Russia. The preliminary meeting would work out an agenda of the regular meeting.
Selective Service told local draft boards this date that they could cancel induction orders for college and high school students who intended to enlist and who applied in writing for the cancellation before school was out. Students in high school or college were given postponement of induction until the end of the term.
The Office of Price Stabilization prepared to place a ceiling on raw cotton, which would be high enough to appease Southern Senators but low enough to keep clothing prices reasonable. Price administrator Mike DiSalle believed that 45 cents per pound would be an appropriate ceiling. The Government was seeking a 60 percent increase in production of cotton to relieve the shortage and provide for defense needs. An order issued the prior day had placed a ceiling on the price of cottonseed oil, soybean oil, and corn oil, to prevent price increases on margarine, salad oil and dressings and vegetable shortenings.
Just throw a little salt on it and eat it.
In and around Canza in Val Formazza, Italy, near the Italian-Swiss frontier, seven persons were believed killed and 27 others injured in an avalanche the previous night or in accidents resulting from the weather.
The FBI announced in a late bulletin that the third person in the armed robbery the previous day of $44,000 from the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Granite Quarry had been arrested by two agents on Highway 29, north of Kannapolis.
You didn't tell us yet about the arrests of the first two. What kind of a newspaper is this?
The temperature fell to 37 below zero in Bemidji in Northern Minnesota as cold weather continued to plague the South and East.
In Asheville, Governor Kerr Scott, speaking before the annual convention of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, blasted his critics in the General Assembly who favored bringing the "march of progress" in the state to a stop and urged that the uncertainties of the future should not sap the courage to move forward. He cited as the primary failure, the refusal of the Legislature to bring teacher salaries up to the $2,200-$3,100 annual scale accomplished in 1949 contingent on there being enough funding to support it. The Governor wanted the contingency removed, to assure the educational progress of the state's children.
A piece says that a leading local eye specialist had contended that many more readers would be able to keep up with the news thanks to the new 8-point Corona type being used by the newspaper, discarding the old Ionic type. The fact that the newspaper used regular newsprint, unlike some dailies which had turned to the use of glossy paper producing glare, was also conducive to ease on the eyes.
Surely he jested about the new typeface. What's the difference? Maybe it got lost in the microfilm transfer.
On the editorial page, "More About Cotton" tells of its editorial the prior Friday regarding the cotton bloc members of Congress seeking to keep raw cotton from price control to have been interpreted by many as a criticism of the longstanding practices in buying and selling of cotton on the exchanges. It denies that such was the case, that it recognized that cotton trading was complex.
It, however, reiterates its basic points of the prior editorial, that the farmer would not benefit from a price increase on cotton in the ensuing six months as most of the raw cotton to be sold in that period had already gone to market, that cotton prices were certain to rise when price controls were lifted, and that the price of the finished product would increase faster than the price of the raw material. Moreover, shortages of such things as labor, fertilizer, insecticides and machinery would be more determinative in discouraging the farmer from production than the price.
There was evidence that the cotton bloc Congressmen were knuckling under to the demands of the growers. But some method had to be worked out to keep the price of raw cotton within reasonable bounds while at the same time leaving the market free to operate in the traditional manner but within reasonable limits. The price controls had to apply to every segment of the economy without preference to one over another. But there were too many who were interested only in protecting their own interests.
"A Gift—Without Strings" urges passage by Congress of the resolution to provide India with two million tons of wheat to stem its famine conditions. The Congress had been reluctant because Prime Minister Nehru had refused to condemn Communist China for its aggression in Korea, but, posits the piece, the matter of humanitarian concerns was beyond politics. The country had an excess of wheat five times that being requested and while it would cost 180 million dollars, it was little compared to the billions provided already in aid to other nations.
"Newspapers and Advertising" tells of the editor of the Hamlet News-Messenger having been visited recently by a railroad worker who complained that the newspaper was not being fair in printing "false and misleading" advertising paid for by a group handling publicity for the railroad companies during the recent strike of "sick" switchmen.
It agrees with the editor, who said that the newspaper had a right to carry advertising from any source, as long as it was not anti-American or subversive and did not violate the moral code or the law. The reading public had to understand, the piece advises, that advertisements in newspapers did not necessarily reflect the views of the editors, that it was designed to sell a viewpoint.
It concludes that the railroad worker who visited the newspaper office in Hamlet was probably not un-American, wanting to censor ideas, but rather was an impulsive person for whom was meant the sign displayed in many newspaper offices: "Please Do Not Shoot The Editor. He is Doing the Best He Can."
A piece from the Baltimore Sun, titled "Logic", finds logic in the courting by Major League baseball of Chief Justice Fred Vinson to become its commissioner. One judge, Kennesaw Mountain Landis, had been a good commissioner, and one former Senator, Happy Chandler of Kentucky, had also done a good job. Chief Justice Vinson had passed the initial process qualifying him to become commissioner and, it suggests, that ought be pleasing to him. But it was doubtful, despite the salary of the commissioner exceeding by $40,000 per year that of Chief Justice and the prestige which the commissioner enjoyed, that he would give up his present post as it promised lifetime tenure.
Drew Pearson tells of Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson, rather than the President, dominating Cabinet meetings of late. He usually got what he wanted for mobilization, regardless of the views of the Cabinet secretaries in charge of specific areas in which he sought expansion. The chief gripe within the Cabinet was that he listened primarily to industry rather than colleagues in the Government. Generally, he was regarded as doing a good job thus far, and trying, despite having been head of G.E., to obtain Government orders for small business.
Mr. Pearson notes that 21 Senators had signed a resolution urging friendly relations with the Russian people, four years after then-Secretary of State Marshall had stated in an interview with Mr. Pearson that he favored giving a speech to the U.N. urging the Russians to end the iron curtain and permit free intercourse between the people of Russia and the rest of the world, then dropping copies of that speech behind the iron curtain, a speech never made. He thinks the resolution in the Senate ought be dropped behind the iron curtain.
Senator Kenneth Wherry of Nebraska, one of the advocates of reducing or eliminating aid to Europe, recently had warmed up to France during a private Senate dinner honoring the visiting Premier of France, Rene Pleven. The two exchanged stories and got along well. At the end, when other Senators were toasting the Premier, Senator Wherry declared that he was in favor of helping France. Colleagues wondered whether, given his general stance on aid to Europe, he would make good on the pledge.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop tell of the Chinese, as they were losing the equivalent of a division per day during the new limited allied offensive and being stopped in their offensive to the south, having reached another impasse in Korea, necessitating a conference between Josef Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung in Moscow, reportedly having taken place during the previous two weeks.
French military observers had determined that since August, the Chinese program of industrialization and internal reconstruction had been abandoned, with all effort concentrated on military preparation, and further conquests in Asia now being the aim, with consequent danger to both Formosa and Southeast Asia. Chinese units had appeared in the remote tribal country of North Burma and the Burmese ambassador at Peking had advised his government to yield the territory or be prepared to fight for it. There were signs of a coup imminent in Siam against the pro-Western government in favor of a China-backed regime. In Indo-China, the guerrilla forces of Ho Chi Minh were said to have been placed under Chinese command.
It was anticipated that in Indo-China, Ho's guerrillas would be allowed one more chance to defeat the French before there would be Chinese intervention. It was possible that in Moscow, Mao was negotiating either for a settlement in Korea, an unlikely prospect, withdrawal enough to shorten supply lines, in which case an attack on Indo-China could be expected, or commission of larger Chinese forces in Korea, with attacks in Indo-China, Burma and possibly on Hong Kong. These offensive possibilities would be face-saving, to compensate for the bad venture in Korea. It was likely that such an arrangement would be made with Moscow, with a general offensive also as a possibility.
The result, the Alsops suggest, would determine the future in Asia and the development of related Soviet policy in Europe.
Robert C. Ruark looks at the medium
of television, finds that blue shirts had replaced white ones because
of the glare resulting from white shirts, that Arthur Godfrey was
acceptable fare, that the celebrity shows, for the most part, were
passable, that there were girl singers of all types, quiz shows of
all variety, husbands and wives having nothing to say to one another
and badly executed dramas
But he wants them to abandon the
idea that television was such a novelty that the camera
A letter writer from Lincolnton supports Senator McCarthy's motives as justifying his means, even if extreme, criticizes the recent News editorial, "A New Low in McCarthyism". He thinks the Senator's efforts in ridding Government of the people who had led the country to disaster was worthy.
The editors note that they had received a longer critical letter regarding the same editorial, but under an apparent pseudonym and with no address provided, indicate that they would like to publish it if the writer would identify himself.
It was probably Joe McCarthy.
A letter writer quotes at length from Montesquieu, tells of him being used for reference during the pre-revolutionary period by the Founders, appears to be making a point about high taxes and defense. "So it is."
A letter from the Charlotte Fire Chief says that in an atomic attack, fire and not radiation was the danger of most concern, as demonstrated in the aftermath of the bombs which fell in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He urges preparation for such a calamity, checking of fire extinguishers, the adequacy of the general water supply, and emergency firefighting equipment.
Fire extinguishers at the ready, men. If them Rooskies come over here and drop an A-bomb, we shall put out the fire double-quick.
Framed Edition
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