The Charlotte News
Thursday, July 19, 1951
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Robert Eunson, that the ceasefire negotiations had neared a crisis point in a two-hour meeting this date, with "no progress" made, according to a U.N. representative speaking with approval of U.N. supreme commander General Matthew Ridgway. The next day, said the representative, would tell the tale, either in final and permanent disagreement or rapprochement on the remaining point at issue in finalizing the agenda. Though the issue remained undisclosed, it was believed, based on Pyongyang radio reports, to be consideration of the demand by the Communists that foreign troops be withdrawn from Korea, considered a political and not a military matter by the U.N. representatives, to be resolved only after an armistice had been concluded.
In ground fighting, Communist troops moved through a drizzle in four light, early morning probing attacks, all of which were concluded before dawn. Otherwise, the only activity consisted of patrols by both sides sent across no-man's land. The air war continued without interruption, with Fifth Air Force planes flying 106 night sorties, the third successive night of more than 100 missions, hitting targets by the light of flares and a full moon. Land-based planes flew 300 sorties before rain and low-hanging clouds prevented further flights. Three U.N. planes, a jet, a conventional fighter and a Marine fighter, had been lost to ground fire on the prior day.
Pyongyang radio claimed that a U.N. destroyer had been sunk at Wonsan, but the U.N. naval command said that while there had been enemy shelling which came near three ships, none were hit.
A priest of the Greek Catholic Church in New York told a Senate investigations subcommittee that he and two of his colleagues turned over between $150,000 and $200,000 to a man, described by Senators Clyde Hoey and Joseph McCarthy of the subcommittee as a "professional confidence man with a long criminal record". The priest said that the man told them that he could arrange to obtain bargain leases on surplus Government buildings in various parts of the country as an investment. The church was in need of a new building, a school and a camp for poor children and so agreed. The man said that he would use the money to pay off Army officers to clear the way for obtaining the leases. Senator Hoey said that there was no evidence that any Army personnel were involved in the transaction. Three other witnesses said that they had also paid the same man large amounts money for obtaining either such leases or Government contracts, never provided.
In response to a question at a press conference, the President said that the attack on Secretary of Defense Marshall for supposedly selling the country out to Communism was irresponsible and silly. He did not mention by name Senator McCarthy, who had made the charge on June 15.
The President, in response to another question, said that there had been no evidence of any further atomic detonations by the Soviets since the one reported in September, 1949—which had occurred that August.
The President also said that the country had changed its policy somewhat with regard to Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain because of military reasons, to enlist Spain in the common defense against possible aggression. Influential Senators, adds the report, generally agreed with the move and thought that Turkey and Greece also ought be brought into closer association with NATO, although some lawmakers wanted to move more slowly with regard to the latter two nations.
He declined to comment on the progress, if any, of Averell Harriman in Tehran, seeking to mediate the British-Iranian oil nationalization dispute.
The President also said that General Eisenhower had told him, during a discussion of NATO in December, 1949, that he did not intend to run for the presidency, but the President said that he did not know whether the General still so intended. He declined to say whether the General would need the President's consent to leave the position of supreme commander of NATO to run in 1952, that his advice on that point would await the General's request to be relieved.
In a letter to the House Banking Committee, Price Director Mike DiSalle said that the cost-plus guaranteed profit control passed by the House would destroy the entire price-control program, cause prices immediately to rise and cost consumers billions of dollars, making all ceilings virtually impossible to administer.
In Missouri, the highest flood waters in more than a century rushed down the Missouri River Valley toward St. Louis, flowing from the flooded areas of Kansas and eastern Missouri. The Mississippi River had already damaged riverfront industry in St. Louis. In Jefferson City, 30 blocks were submerged and other blocks had some water. The death toll had risen to 26 from the Midwestern floods. The worst was yet to come as a 40.5-foot flood stage was predicted for Saturday, highest since the 41.39 feet of June 27, 1844 and topping the 40.3 feet of 1947, the latter causing nine million dollars of damage in St. Louis.
In Detroit, a strike by a UAW local at a Chrysler Corp. Dodge plant was called off a few hours after it began, following a statement by the international UAW that the strike was unauthorized. The strike concerned disciplining of workers in an alleged speed-up dispute. Other production standards disputes caused 4,600 workers to walk off the job at two De Soto plants.
At Hudson, 10,000 workers were idle for the 28th straight day regarding a dispute over production rates.
In Canon City, Colo., the warden of the State prison said that five convicts who, armed with pistols and knives, had attempted to shoot their way out on Monday, wounding two guards, had been whipped with a leather strap six inches wide and two and a half feet long. After a Denver Post reporter described the corporal punishment as "savage", the warden denied the claim. The reporter had said that he observed the prisoners after the beating and that their buttocks were one "painful purple bruise" and their faces cut and swollen. The warden claimed that they were hit only on the fat part of their buttocks, and hit between eight and twelve times. He said that he knew of no other way to handle such "characters". None of the inmates beaten showed any resentment for the beatings, said they had it coming.
At Camp Mackall, N.C., two Fort Bragg Army Airborne Infantry officers, one of whom had recently been recalled to active duty, were killed when lightning struck a tree near the tent they were occupying.
On the editorial page, "The Helms Verdict" finds it difficult to understand the jury verdict of "excusable homicide" in the shooting death of Hazel Beckham the prior April 30, committed by Amelia Helms. Ms. Beckham had been the suspected paramour of Ms. Helms's husband and so the jury had apparently resorted to the "unwritten law" to render its verdict that the defendant was temporarily insane at the time of the shooting, a rationale, it finds, unsupported by the evidence. Ms. Helms had suddenly flared into anger when she learned of the supposed affair and then slowly increased that anger through time, in the face of Ms. Beckham's taunting phone calls containing lurid descriptions of the affair, until finally she shot Ms. Beckham.
The burden had been on the defense to prove the defense of temporary insanity. Two non-expert witnesses who had only intermittently seen Ms. Helms during the previous 18 months testified that she did not have the capacity to know right from wrong. But no expert testified for the defense.
It concludes that while the jury had the final say, jury service entailed grave responsibility to uphold the laws and mores of the community, which, in this case, appeared to have been ignored in favor of the dangerous concept of the "unwritten law", opening the door potentially to other such homicides.
"'Peace' Offensive Gains Momentum" tells of Russia's peace offensive now being in full bloom, the most important phase of it being the Korean peace talks. Russia had also lifted trade restrictions with West Berlin and resumed four-power talks on commerce. The previous week, Russia had announced its intention to participate in the European Economic Commission talks in Geneva on improvement of East-West trade. It had also produced a new English-only magazine, The News, designed to promote "closer understanding between" the Soviets and Anglo-Americans. It does not include the suggestion earlier in the year for a four-power foreign ministers' conference, which had never yet managed to construct an agenda acceptable to both Russia and the Western powers.
It suggests that the U.S. ought readily agree to exchange scientists, as well as other groups and individuals as part of this attempt at better understanding, likely to be resisted by the Soviets, and thus show The News and other such efforts at "mutual understanding" to be merely propaganda out of the Kremlin.
Senator Brien McMahon recently had advocated allowing Russians to visit in American homes and have Americans visit in Russian homes, as well as similar exchange visits to factories in both countries.
It concludes that the Russian efforts merely were attempts to lull the American people into a false sense of security.
"Walter Anderson's New Job" tells of the former SBI head accepting the job as director of State Prisons, a surprising acceptance as the position had been a political football in recent times. John Gold had resigned the position to become City Manager of Winston-Salem. Mr. Anderson would likely be replaced a year and a half hence, when Governor Kerr Scott's single term ended. Mr. Anderson was, however, a supporter of former State Treasurer Charles Johnson, foremost opponent in 1948 to Governor Scott, and thus might be able to hold onto the position in a subsequent gubernatorial administration.
Mr. Anderson, it finds, was not the most competent prison administrator in the nation, as he had no experience for the job, having only been in law enforcement. But he was probably the best person available. He was deeply religious and would bring a sense of humanity and compassion to the post, emphasizing both correction and rehabilitation.
It concludes, however, that until the prison system was divorced from the Highway Commission and placed on a career civil service track, politics would continue to be a primary factor, preventing a model prison system in the state.
Look, look, look, look. You cain't do that. This is Nor' Ca'lina, where good ol' boys from out in the rural areas have to have some'in' to do besides farmin'. How you gonna earn a livin' at that year in and year out without political pull somewhere?
"Red China and the U.N." tells of a faithful reader having asked what the proper course was for the U.N. vis à vis Communist China's recognition by the organization over Nationalist China. The Charter provided that any "peace-loving states" which accepted the obligations of the Charter and were "able and willing" to carry them out, were eligible for membership. Membership was to be determined by a vote of the General Assembly after a recommendation of the Security Council. Eight new members had been admitted since ratification of the Charter. Other applicants had been refused either by veto or Western abstention in the Security Council, preventing a majority vote.
China was already a permanent member of the Security Council and so the issue was not admission per se but recognition of a new Government in China. Recognition of new governments in the past had been handled routinely, as after the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia and after a military junta seized control of Venezuela.
Secretary of State Acheson had favored non-recognition of Communist China, though he said the U.S. would not use the veto to block it as it considered the matter procedural. More recently, he had said that the U.S. would ask the International Court of Justice at The Hague to determine whether the matter was within the scope of the veto.
So the question remained, if Nationalist China would still be a member, whether Communist China would need seek new membership or merely recognition. A corollary question was whether Nationalist China would be permitted to vote on Communist China's membership and to veto it within the Security Council, and then if both were members, which one would occupy the permanent seat for China on the Council.
The piece says it could not answer these questions but believed the U.S. should exercise its veto if available to keep out Communist China until it satisfied the requirements of the Charter. If the veto was determined not to be available, then the U.S. should exercise its influence in the Council and in the Assembly to sway the vote against recognition or membership.
Borrowing a line from the President, it concludes, "No nation should be permitted to shoot its way into the United Nations."
Bill Sharpe, in his weekly "Turpentine Drippings", snippets from newspapers across the state, (which, candidly, we wish would stop dripping), provides one from Sam Ragan of the Raleigh News & Observer, which says, "Old teachers never die, they just grade away./ Old bridge players never die, they just pass."
And old newspaper men never die, they just keep on writing and writing and writing...
The Smithfield Herald tells of the climate in summer not being conducive to the concentration necessary for chess.
The Twin City Sentinel in Winston-Salem advocates the U.S. keeping its secrets from the French and British until they proved they were no longer susceptible to betrayal by domestic Communists.
Ron Amundsen of the Morganton News-Herald says that there were about seven in 60 chances of encountering one of seven species of poisonous snakes in North Carolina out of the 60 species of snakes present generally.
Wait a minute. That assumes that each species is evenly distributed across the state and in roughly equal populations. Someone did not do well in statistics and at least the herpetological segment of zoology.
There were canebrake rattlers, which sometimes reached a length of eight feet and a diameter of ten inches, within the coastal marshes and swamps, and diamondback rattlers even bigger, both capable of killing a small cow or horse. Timber rattlers populated the western mountains of the state. Pygmy rattlers were small by comparison but still were quite venomous. Rattlers did not always announce their presence with their rattles.
Coral snakes paralyzed their prey. Two moccasins, the cottonmouth water and upland or copperhead, were usually found in the areas designated by their names. Cottonmouths were "evil-tempered" and many fishermen swore that they had tried to leap into their fishing boats.
Just watch where you're stepping out
your door down there next to the swamp. As we have recounted before,
one such copperhead, but for the grace of a slothful summer's day and
a cautious mother who followed us and pulled us back from its coil after we had
petted the strange thing and then re-entered the house by an unusual
route, circumventing the thing luxuriating on the warm porch before the front door, might have
done us in at a ripe, young age. It could have been a sea serpent
The Sandhill Citizen
of Aberdeen—where, at the time, Tom Wicker
The Sanford Herald tells of a farmer's wife telling a city reporter, upon inquiry of whether they had poultry, that they didn't but that if they did, the chickens would probably eat it up.
The Greensboro Daily News relates of the Richmond County Journal quoting English as "she-is-spoke" in Winston-Salem: "If I'd a saw you when I rid by I'd a flanged out my arm and wove to you." The piece is reminded of an old toast: "Here's lookin' to you and tords you; if I hadn't a seed you I wouldn't a knowed you."
Listen her', boy. You better cut that out right now, 'fore we done come o'er 'ere to Greensbur' and gi' ye a taste o' ar bicycle chain right upside yer whopper-bangle sittin' on yer ol' stumpy neck—down in 'ere in yer smarty pants.
Besides, ever'bod' knows it ain't "wove". It's weaved. And you'd a throwed out your arm, not "flanged" it. Nobody in Winsen-Salem flangs anything. That's down 'ere in Mississippi o' somewhar'.
And
so forth
Drew Pearson tells of an incident recently taking place within the Federal Power Commission which almost certainly would prevent re-election of the President even should he decide to run again. It involved his crony, former Senator Mon Wallgren, chairman of the FPC, after the President had vetoed the Kerr natural gas deregulation bill, having effectively overruled the veto, by a vote of four to one, by refusing FPC jurisdiction to regulate the price of natural gas flowing in interstate pipelines from Phillips Petroleum, one of the nation's biggest producers, that jurisdiction having been upheld by the veto. The action would result in raising the price of natural gas in the North, Midwest and Southwest. Oklahoma Senator Robert Kerr, who had sponsored the original bill, was also one of the biggest suppliers of natural gas to Phillips, as owner of several leases in partnership with Phillips. Senator Kerr's interest in Kerr-McGee Oil Co. netted him twelve million dollars per year, making him the wealthiest man in the Senate.
Mr. Wallgren had nearly come to blows with one of the lawyers defending the public interest in hearings on the matter before the FPC, cutting off the lawyers' arguments and stating that he wanted to hear the viewpoint of Congress on the matter. He asked the lawyers so many questions that they did not have time in the two hours allotted properly to sum up their positions.
Commissioner Draper of the FPC, whose nomination for reappointment had been held up the previous year by the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, made a motion the following day to rule in favor of Phillips, despite his having in 1950 been a prime opponent of the Kerr bill. Mr. Draper had little to sustain himself were his confirmation defeated, as he was 76 and without independent means. Members of his own staff claimed that his nomination had been held up pending his vote on the Phillips matter. He had been reconfirmed finally on June 21, a day after the end of his prior term. One of the other commissioners voting for Phillips, Harrington Wimberly, was a friend of Senator Kerr. Only Thomas Buchanan had voted against Phillips and thus for the consumer.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop inform that the British soon would be ready to detonate their first atomic bomb, probably to be done in Australia within a year. It would suggest a partial failure of the Anglo-American alliance as it would be extremely costly to accomplish technologically, at a time when the British were strangling the Treasury to bring about rearmament. Testing an atomic bomb would be only a costly psychological gesture to Britons, showing them that they were independent of America, not merely America's airstrip, as many Britons had come to suggest. It would also remind the Soviets that Britain was still a great power and should likewise impress the U.S. Congress.
British and French bases stood as the sine qua non for U.S. capability of delivering an atomic bomb against the Soviet Union, and should Britain or France deny such use, that capability would end. It was why the Anglo-American atomic partnership had such centrality to American foreign policy, making desirable a revision to the McMahon Act, creating the Atomic Energy Commission, to accommodate such a partnership. But scandals in Great Britain, including the revelation of British and American atomic secrets having been handed to Russia by Dr. Klaus Fuchs and the recent apparent defection behind the iron curtain of the two British diplomats possessed of American and British secrets, had inhibited such action by Congress. After Britain would conduct its own atomic test, however, Congress presumably would be far less reluctant on the point, especially if British security were shown to be tightened.
The Alsops suggest that it was time that the U.S. recognized that the Anglo-American alliance was not a one-way street, and such a test detonation might serve to establish that realization.
Robert C. Ruark, in Tanganyika, provides a catalog of the equipment he and his wife had to purchase for their safari, which included seven different guns, ammunition, four cameras for his wife, who was acting as official photographer for the expedition, plus medicines, vitamins, quinine, insect repellents, a manual typewriter and a portable phonograph, though the latter, being electric, was of no use to them. They also had to have an array of special clothing and spare parts for "Annie Lorry" and "Jessica", in case either had nervous breakdowns. They employed the white hunter, a head boy, a cook's assistant, a lorry driver, two porters and two personal boys.
"I tell you, the going price of lions comes high. If we don't find gold on this trip I may be taking another safari soon. Only this time I'll be working my way home."
Framed Edition
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