The Charlotte News

Wednesday, September 19, 1951

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the U.N. command stated this night that it had agreed to the Communist request to send the allied liaison team the next day to Panmunjon in the Kaesong neutrality zone to discuss the latest complaint of the Communists, that four South Korean soldiers the previous day had entered the neutrality zone, a charge which the U.N. command said was correct, but that the unarmed soldiers in question carried nothing more lethal than DDT, that they had entered the zone by mistake and that no one was injured. It remained unclear whether the Communist negotiators were prepared to resume the ceasefire talks, suspended since August 23 based on Communist claims of allied incursion of the neutrality zone, following these talks between liaison officers. Exchanges back and forth had become more moderate in tone during the previous few days.

In ground action, fighting continued in the eastern sector north of Yanggu and Communist troops forced allied defenders from a commanding height in the "Heartbreak Ridge" sector. The allied forces had won the hill after hard fighting late on Tuesday night but were later pushed back by two Communist charges. Other allied troops defended a second peak northeast of Yanggu for the second straight day, against an estimated enemy regiment of about 3,000 troops.

In air action, allied jets shut down one Russian-type MIG-15 jet and damaged five others in three air battles over northwest Korea. At least 112 jets had engaged in the fights.

The State Department said that U.S. forces in Korea had top priority for all U.S. arms shipments, with the French and Vietnamese forces fighting Communists in Indo-China coming in a close second.

The Defense Department announced that U.S. battle casualties in Korea had reached 83,257, an increase of 895 since the previous week, including 12,392 killed, 58,527 wounded, and 12,328 missing.

In Ottawa, in the NATO Council meeting, Denmark agreed to vote for the admission of Greece and Turkey to NATO, removing the last obstacle from the required unanimous vote. A Middle East command, separate from NATO, was being planned, for the specific purpose of designing a common strategy for all anti-Communist forces throughout that region, while centering on Turkey. Denmark previously had threatened to veto the membership unless a separate Mediterranean group were formed.

Lt. General Albert C. Wedemeyer, wartime commander of American forces in China after September, 1944, testified before the Senate's Internal Security subcommittee that American policy during World War II, as he interpreted it, was to keep China in the war and to support the Nationalist Government, but also to give more support to the Communist forces than the Nationalist forces. He said that he could not state categorically, however, that the policies advocated by the political advisers were "pro-Communist" and that there was much to be criticized in the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek. He said that State Department career men, John Service, John Davies, John Emerson and Raymond Ludden, had been assigned to him as political advisers, as they had to his predecessor, General Joseph Stilwell, and that they had served under him for only a few months.

A former RFC director testified that high White House aides and DNC chairman William Boyle had contacted him regarding RFC loans, but that he did not consider it to be influence, and that Mr. Boyle had not talked to him about the loan to the St. Louis printing firm, from which Mr. Boyle had received a fee, which he claimed was a fee for legal services having nothing to do with the loan. The former director said that he received at least 100 calls from representatives of the DNC on behalf of persons doing business with the agency. Another former RFC director testified that in five years, he had received only one such call, and that had come from Guy Gabrielson, RNC chairman. The subcommittee counsel said that he had evidence that Mr. Gabrielson had contacted the RFC regarding a loan for a firm after becoming chairman of the RNC.

In Washington, a 30-year-old physicist, an electronics expert, who had worked on secret Defense Department projects, was reported missing since Monday and the object of a search by the FBI and police of most East Coast cities.

Edward J. Flynn, Democratic national committeeman from New York, stated to the press, after a White House visit this date, that he believed the President could beat anybody in 1952, including General Eisenhower. He told the President that New York State would support him in anything he wanted to do, to which the President had smiled and said nothing. Former DNC chairman, James Farley, had also just paid a visit to the President and said that people rarely voted an Administration out of power if the country was prosperous and the people working. He said he did not know whether the President would seek re-election.

In London, a correspondent for the British Press Association announced that a general election would be held on October 25, though nothing yet had been announced officially by the Labor Government. It was believed that the willingness of the Government to risk an election so soon indicated that Labor was reasonably hopeful of success, despite resentment, as reflected in public opinion polls which showed that the Conservatives would win far more seats in Parliament than Labor in a national election.

In New York, convicted gambler Harry Gross, the key prosecution witness in a trial of 18 police officers for graft, accused of receiving money from Mr. Gross to protect his gambling enterprise, was angry and defiant and declared in court that he would not testify because he did not wish to endanger his family. Threats by the judge to send him to prison for a thousand years did not alter his position. The district attorney said that he had nothing with which to compel Mr. Gross to testify and he saw little hope in getting convictions without him. He scoffed at the claims of the witness regarding his family and said that his office had reports that he had been paid substantial sums to keep quiet. The judge, however, said that letters produced by Mr. Gross had shown that he and his family had been threatened, but assured him that the district attorney's office would provide adequate protection.

In Washington, the newest alphabet agency was the National Committee for the Katherine F. Lenroot Dinner, the NCKFLD, set up to honor the retiring head of the U.S. children's bureau at a $1,000 per plate dinner at the Mayflower Hotel.

On page 11-A, the third part of the 12-part serialization of Dr. Evelyn Millis Duvall's Facts of Life and Love appears, with advice for teenagers. Presumably, based on the subjects presented the previous Saturday, this installment would concern "Giving and Receiving".

On the editorial page, "Further Delay Inexcusable" tells of it having become apparent that the City Council was not going to ban curb parking on Graham Street and so recommends that the Council go ahead and adopt the rest of the truck regulation plan put forward by the City Engineer. It explains its reasoning, and, again, if you have an abiding interest in Graham Street, you may read it.

"Rule by Law and Religious Freedom" tells of irate parents in Hall, Indiana, having forcibly prevented an educator, with 12 years of experience, from returning to the school because he had joined the Jehovah's Witnesses a year earlier and refused to salute the U.S. flag for religious reasons. He had not sought to proselytize the children but taught them that they could salute the flag if they wished. Nevertheless, 87 parents had signed a petition that he be ousted as principal and teacher of 40 students in the fourth and fifth grades. He had responded that Indiana law forbade discrimination on religious grounds in hiring teachers and had gained the support of one member of the local school board.

It posits that there was no room on the American landscape for mob violence and that if the parents deemed the teacher undesirable, they should pursue legal channels for obtaining a replacement. As to the religious issue, it finds it not so clear-cut, quoting Judge John J. Parker of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals as having stated in the Clarendon County, South Carolina, segregation test case—later to become part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case of 1954—, that the parents had a stake in the upbringing of their children during the formative period of childhood and adolescence and that equal protection of the laws did not mean that the child had to be treated as the property of the State, with the wishes of his or her parents disregarded.

It urges, however, that such an interest did not necessarily justify the action of the parents in this episode and that the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the right of Jehovah's Witnesses not to salute the U.S. flag. It concludes that as long as the teacher did not try to mandate that the pupils refrain from saluting the flag or indoctrinate any other religious dogma, his personal beliefs should not disqualify him from the employment.

"The End of a Century" tells of the circulation of the New York Times being modest when compared to that of its tabloid competitor, the Daily News, and the advertising volume of the Times having been outranked by three other American newspapers the previous year. But its reputation, influence, and ethical standards were without peer. It finds, therefore, that the end of a century of publication was a major event in world history. It asserts that the Times had, more than any other newspaper, fulfilled the expectations of the Founders when they wrote into the Constitution freedom of the press. It was therefore pleased to join many thousands of others who had wished a happy 100th birthday to the newspaper and its 4,000 employees.

"It Comes Clear" tells of being amused by a story out of Waynesville in Western North Carolina, as local Democratic leaders welcomed National Committeeman Jonathan Daniels and endorsed unanimously the President for re-election. It was humorous because it was Western North Carolina which the Republicans had touted as challenging one-party rule in the state.

It tells of having thumbed through V. O. Key's Southern Politics, finding that he had stated anent North Carolina politics: "The Republican contribution to Democratic discipline is plain. In those counties in which Democrats are in a minority, or must fight desperately to win local offices, leaders look to the state for aid and succor. Faced by a common threat they appreciate the necessity for concerted action under strong state leadership, and the result is a relatively cohesive state organization…" He went on to tell of their reliance on the party leaders from Raleigh coming in to help their campaigns, while the state committee sent money to the county committees for general election campaigns.

It finds that the passage explained well why the Western North Carolina Democrats had provided such a hearty welcome for Mr. Daniels and were supporting the national party with the endorsement of the President.

A piece from the Lexington (Ky.) Leader, "Municipal Off-Street Parking", tells of the newspaper having urged the City Administration to develop and maintain reasonably priced, off-street parking facilities in downtown Lexington. Other municipalities had operated such facilities for years, and the International City Managers Association had determined in 1947 that a total of 345 cities out of 875 reporting had one or more such municipal lots or garages, 63 percent more than in 1942. The citizens of California, for instance, voted the previous year two-to-one to enable a plan to permit local governing bodies to pledge future parking-meter revenues to retire bonds used to finance off-street parking facilities. Five other states, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, plus the District of Columbia, had done likewise.

Drew Pearson tells of Mike DiSalle, the Price Administrator, having gone to the White House recently and broken the news to the President that he wanted to retire from his job on December 1. The President told him that he had to stay on and said he would discuss the matter further in November. He told the President that if Governor Frank Lausche of Ohio did not run for the Senate against Senator John W. Bricker in 1952, he might run, himself. The President responded that if they were going to have a Democratic Senator from Ohio, they should have a "real Democrat", not a "counterfeit" like Governor Lausche. (Mr. DiSalle would eventually become Governor of Ohio, from 1959 until 1963.)

Mr. Pearson returns to the topic of the previous day, regarding the Harvey Machine Company of Los Angeles and its 46 million dollar RFC loan to produce aluminum, held up at the last minute by Secretary of Interior Oscar Chapman based on Mr. Pearson's revelations regarding the Navy having recommended the company for prosecution for sabotage during World War II, based on the company making oversized gauges allegedly for the purpose of passing faulty naval shells, likely to jam guns, travel in erratic courses or explode prematurely. He tells of how the company nearly obtained one of the largest Government loans during the post-war period.

Marquis Childs discusses the effort of Congressman Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, who had just returned from a visit with General Eisenhower in Europe, to convince the General to accept the Republican nomination in 1952. He had returned, telling Senator James Duff of Pennsylvania, one of the General's other primary supporters, that the General appeared to have given him the green light to begin organizing the effort to draft him for the nomination. General Eisenhower had made it clear that he would have to be drafted, as he would not campaign for the nomination.

Not since 1916, when Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, to become Chief Justice in 1930, had been drafted by the Republicans as the nominee to contest and ultimately narrowly lose to incumbent President Woodrow Wilson, had there been a draft of a major party nominee. Mr. Childs makes it clear that there were distinctions between the Hughes draft and drafting General Eisenhower, the primary one being that Justice Hughes had been Governor of New York and known most of the prominent members of the Republican Party, whereas General Eisenhower had not served in public office or been active in party politics. Thus, a whole grassroots organization would have to be developed in the course of a few months to bring about the draft at the Republican convention the following summer.

While many Republicans were hopeful that the General would be the nominee, they were possessed of a great deal of doubt as to whether the second-hand effort by Congressman Scott, Senator Duff, former Senator Harry Darby of Kansas and Governor Dewey, all strong supporters of the General, would be enough.

Robert C. Ruark discusses the Sugar Ray Robinson middleweight championship fight on September 12 against Randy Turpin, won by Mr. Robinson after he had lost the title in July to Mr. Turpin in London, and the refusal of radio and television to broadcast the fight. Instead, the fight was provided via theaters, where the audience paid a fee to see it. Some had questioned this restriction to public access, but Mr. Ruark points out that until recent times, no one had public access to any sporting events via television. By taking television money from advertisers, sporting events had been cutting their own throats, as the stadiums and gyms had lost attendance. So he concludes that some arrangement had to be made with television for the prospective viewer to pay for the right to see these events and if television could not compete with theaters, that was television's problem. But at no time should the "free loader" have the right to complain merely because he had bought a television set, when the television broadcasters did not provide him programming free of charge.

A letter from the chairman of the aviation committee of the Jaycees of Charlotte tells of being pleased to have received a letter from Dr. J. S. Dorton offering to Mayor Victor Shaw of Charlotte use of the Southern States Fairground for model plane flying. A committee had been appointed by the Park and Recreation Commission to study all possible sites and it hopes that such would be done within the ensuing two weeks.

Seems like that will be an awfully long way to drive just to fly a model airplane. Need to find a farmer with a big cornfield.

A letter writer finds amusing the editorial of September 14 regarding parking on Graham Street, as it made recommendations which would have the effect of wiping out the property owners along the street. He thinks that the newspaper, rather than condemning the City Council for wanting to take more time to consider all the facts, should instead commend it for its thorough job.

A letter writer urges that Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia should be elected President and Senator Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts, Vice-President. He finds them to be men of ability, integrity and experience.

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