The Charlotte News

Saturday, June 30, 1951

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the U.N. invited the Communists to talk about the Korean armistice but there had been no reply by early Sunday, Tokyo time, sixteen hours after the invitation had been extended through General Matthew Ridgway, supreme commander of the U.N. forces. Neither Chinese nor North Korean radio had made reference to the invitation on their final broadcasts of Saturday night but continued their usual attacks on "American ruling circles". The Moscow press published the invitation without comment, but also continued attacks on the U.S., saying it was whipping up anti-Soviet hysteria.

In Pusan, the South Korean Government listed its five minimum requirements for acceptance of a ceasefire: that the Chinese Communists withdraw into Manchuria, that North Korea disarm, that the U.N. agree to prevent any third power from giving military or economic assistance to North Korea, that a representative of South Korea participate fully in the ceasefire negotiations, and that no agreement interfere with the national sovereignty or territorial integrity of South Korea. It was unclear whether the latter condition referred to the entirety of Korea or only that area below the 38th parallel.

The U.S. Government announced officially that pursuant to arrangements with the Italian Government, American military technical personnel would be stationed in the northern Italian port of Leghorn to facilitate movement of military supplies by rail to U.S. forces in Europe.

The President had until midnight to determine whether he would sign a temporary, watered-down price control extension bill passed by both houses of Congress or let the program, expiring otherwise at midnight, lapse. He was expected to sign the measure.

Both the Senate and House held Saturday sessions to work on an emergency funding bill for the Government.

Britain sent a second warship, the frigate Wild Goose, into the Persian Gulf this date as it opened its case before the World Court at the The Hague against Iran for nationalization of British oil. Iran had boycotted the proceeding, not recognizing the Court's jurisdiction in the matter.

In Bangkok, Navy and Marine forces of Thailand fought what appeared to be a losing battle to set up a new government to replace kidnaped Premier Pibulsonggram. No Americans or other foreigners were reported hurt after a night of street fighting in the city, though U.S. charge d'affaires William Turner reported that a bullet lodged in a wall of his living room over his head as he telephoned the report to the Associated Press. The Thai Army and Air Force had joined to combat the rebel Navy forces.

In Frankfurt, the U.S. High Commission reported that the trial was to start Monday in Prague of Associated Press reporter William Oatis, arrested April 23 for activities hostile to the State and gathering and disseminating secret information though illegal channels.

Eighteen Japanese soldiers from World War II surrendered to a U.S. Navy tug at Anatahan Island in the Marianas, finally convinced that the war was over and the Japanese had lost. Letters from friends and relatives had been dropped by air to the men explaining that the Japanese Imperial Government had surrendered in 1945. The men would be taken to Guam and eventually repatriated.

In northern Colorado, crews searched for a missing United Airlines DC-6 with 49 persons aboard, last heard from at 1:46 a.m. It was one of the first planes to return to service after United pilots had called off their strike the previous day. Local farmers reported hearing a plane in distress near Loveland, followed by a big thump.

Western Union agreed with an independent union, in the face of a threatened strike to start Monday, to raise wages by 16.5 cents per hour in the New York metropolitan area, not affecting other parts of the country.

A man accused of murder, rape and kidnaping had fled north toward Philadelphia, after allegedly kidnaping a 17-year old Washington girl and then forcing his way into the home of his aunt and uncle the previous night and holding them at gunpoint, forcing his uncle to drive him and the girl 30 miles to Philadelphia. He had allegedly held the girl's fiance at gunpoint as he raped her and then fled with her.

Four Canadian companies would raise the price of newsprint, effective the next day, by ten dollars per ton despite objection from the U.S. The four companies produced four million of Canada's 5.5 million tons of newsprint, 90 percent of which was sold to the U.S. market.

On the editorial page, "America's Privileged Millions" finds the "privileged few" concept working to turn the less fortunate against those with wealth and accomplishment in the country and thus a good vote-getter. But the idea, it finds, was largely a myth. During the robber-baron era of the late 1800's, Wall Street bankers and heads of industrial and railroad empires were subject to denunciation. But in 1951, ownership of large corporations was so widely distributed that the "privileged few" was an outmoded notion. It had become the privileged millions, as there were 15 million stockholders in the U.S. So it was these privileged millions, it concludes, who had made America the "land of freedom and abundant promise".

Blah, blah, blah. Most of them probably owned four cents worth of Hudson Motor Company or the like, maybe Brownie soft drinks. They looked good in the machine, but...

"Bigger Things at Stake" tells of the St. Lawrence Seaway project, considered without action in Congress for 19 years, receiving more stress now for its protection of the iron ore supplies vital to the U.S. economy. Soon, the iron ore deposits of the Mesabi Range around Lake Superior would be exhausted, resulting in the Congress finally being persuaded for the first time since the original proposal in 1932 that the Seaway was worth the projected cost of nearly a billion dollars.

"Economic Loss from Highway Accidents" tells of a News reader whose hobby was studying and promoting highway safety, having compiled statistics on the cost of auto accidents in the state, finding that in 1950, the total damage amounted to 63.6 million dollars, enough to supply driver education for every school child in the state for 63.6 years, as well as provide for other listed programs related to highway safety.

The piece thinks the money ought be spent as the reader suggested, to alleviate the death toll on the highways. It finds that in the era of the automobile, the chicken had learned not to cross the road, suggesting that the chickens were smarter than the humans.

A piece from the Baltimore Evening Sun, titled "Time Off", tells of Federal workers receiving 26 days of paid leave each year, in response to which the Senate had decided in a bill just passed to cut the leave time to twenty days. That was in addition to the eight ordinary holidays which Government employees received. The piece thinks the vacation time for bureaucrats sufficient.

Drew Pearson tells of Senators finding it refreshing to have a newspaperman as a colleague, with Senator Blair Moody having been appointed recently to fill the vacancy left by deceased Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan. He had recently gone against "club rules" by exposing Senator Homer Capehart of Indiana as a liar in voting secretly with the meatpackers while pretending publicly to side with the housewives on price control. When Senator Capehart said he had never voted to remove price and wage controls, Senator Moody asked why then he had voted to do just that a few days earlier in the secret session. Senator Capehart became incensed when Senator Moody said that Senator Capehart had held up his hand during the vote on the matter, indicating his assent. Senator Capehart thought it out of order for Senator Moody to refer to his raising his hand.

Jakob Malik had suddenly taken ill after his ceasefire proposal because he did not know what to do next and had to consult Moscow.

The President was cool to the peace proposal because he had received intelligence reports that the Chinese were training a million men for a new offensive and that Mao Tse-Tung had met with the Russians, with Mao complaining that his troops were too lightly equipped, demanding more heavy equipment and planes, resulting in an agreement to send 2,000 more planes to China.

Word of U.N. truce talks among the sixteen allied nations fighting in Korea had leaked via the Egyptian delegation to the Russians, enabling Mr. Malik to scoop the allies in making a ceasefire proposal.

Norwegian students, wanting to express appreciation to Secretary of Defense Marshall for spawning the idea of the Marshall Plan in 1947, decided to send him a Norwegian elkhound puppy. After Secretary Marshall heard of the idea and conferred with his wife, he agreed to accept the gift. A Norwegian student who had won an essay-writing contest would accompany the pup to Washington for the presentation.

Mary Louise Butler, an American history teacher at Charlotte's Harding High School, relates of the speakers at the Carolina Institute of International Relations, which she and two other Charlotte teachers had attended recently in Greensboro.

The first speaker had been Martin Agronsky of ABC radio, at the time a featured Washington news commentator. Mr. Agronsky urged that the time must never occur when the two sides of the conflict between the Soviet sphere and the West would adopt the view that matters had gone too far for negotiation, as it left only the alternative of war, mutually destructive to both sides. He believed that the MacArthur hearings had given the Administration a beneficial opportunity to explain to the American people that its objective was peace, not expansion of the war or imperialism. The Administration, for many months, had been a virtual prisoner of its critics who were charging appeasement whenever there was talk of peace.

He added that Communism would succeed only where the people despaired and were left without hope, but not where there was freedom. He favored implementation of the President's Point 4 program of technical assistance to underdeveloped nations as a means to bring such nations into the democratic fold.

Dr. Wing-Tsit Chan, professor of Chinese culture at Dartmouth, discussed Communism in China, indicating that the Communists were not firmly in control of the mainland. While there was no evidence of a Communist collapse, there was resentment among the people anent the alliance with Russia, intensified by recent mass purges and executions. The intervention in Korea had also increased resentment. He said that through history, the Chinese had been rugged individualists and that the tensions between the Chinese and Russians would ultimately result in the Chinese regaining control of the country, albeit not in the foreseeable future. For the first time in their history, the Chinese were being persecuted and arrested for not taking a stand in favor of the Communist Government. Notwithstanding the fact, tolerance of the Communists persisted because they had brought about land reform and built infrastructure in the country. The economy, however, was run for the benefit of the Russians and much of the food produced was being sent to Russia and Siberia, leading to resentment.

Dr. Douglas Steere, professor of philosophy at Haverford College, discussed Europe, saying that Germany, torn between two ideologies, needed ten years of quiet to repair itself. France, Italy and West Germany did not fear Communist victories from within unless war would come. The workers wanted neither Russian nor American rule. Improving their living standard was the best way to improve their faith in the U.S.

Robert Humber, a Greenville attorney, favored a Federal world government operating under international law to work out the complex issues of peace. No individual nation would surrender sovereignty over its internal governance under such a proposed system.

Dr. Kenneth Boulding, an economist from the University of Michigan, objected, however, saying that the world was not yet sufficiently unified to accept world government, to which Mr. Humber responded in rebuttal that the same could be said of the original American colonies at the time of their confederation, ultimately not stopping them from forming a Federal government.

A letter writer discusses the hot weather. Why not? Nothin' else to do on a hot night but to write a letter to the newspaper about it.

A letter writer from McBee, S.C., tells of Korea having been swept with war since the time of Genghis Khan. Korea had not much history under democracy and he thinks that the whole of Korea ought be left under a democratic government.

A letter writer from Campobello, S.C., wonders why the country's fighting men were in combat against the Chinese, against whom the country bore no ill will, finds that Stalin, who had precipitated the battle, was laughing up his sleeve at the situation. Stalin knew that the next big war would be fought in the U.S. He says that war would begin when the country was well prepared for it.

He also does not like the secret meetings taking place in Washington.

Framed Edition
[Return to Links
Page by Subject] [Return to Links-Page by Date] [Return to News<i><i><i>—</i></i></i>Framed Edition]
Links-Date Links-Subj.