The Charlotte News
Friday, October 17, 1952
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Stan Carter, that nearly 1,000 Communist Chinese troops had assaulted "Sniper Ridge" on the central front in Korea this night, behind a curtain of artillery fire so intense that the South Korean defenders could not measure it. The Chinese and South Korean troops engaged in hand-to-hand combat for "Pinpoint Hill", the center peak on "Sniper Ridge", with late reports indicating that the South Koreans still controlled the hill. To the west, the South Korean Ninth Division pulled back from "Iron Horse Hill" at dark after fighting the Chinese throughout the afternoon.
The Communist dead littered the frost-whitened battlefields, with the U.S. Eighth Army having estimated that in the week ending the prior Tuesday, the Communists had suffered 10,186 casualties, including 5,868 killed, 4,258 wounded and 60 captured. The South Korean Ninth Division reported this date that it had inflicted 11,653 casualties in nine days of fighting for "White Horse Mountain", ending Wednesday. The South Korean troops had searched the hill and reported digging up 7,147 Chinese corpses buried under loose dirt and hidden in bunkers or underbrush. The Ninth Division estimated an additional 3,439 enemy soldiers killed and 1,067 wounded in the battle to control the major invasion route to Seoul guarded by White Horse.
The U.S. charged this date in a note to Moscow that Russian planes had made a "wanton and unjustifiable attack" on the U.S. B-29 missing off Japan since October 7, and demanded compensation. The note said that the plane had been unarmed and that its officers were under explicit orders to remain within Japanese territory at the time of the attack. The Russians claimed that it had violated Soviet frontiers, but the note said that the attack occurred some six miles from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, 32 miles from the closest Soviet territory on Yuri Island. The note demanded that Moscow produce an immediate report on the results of a search operation believed to have been carried out by a Soviet patrol boat, and to provide full information about any crew members of the plane who may have survived.
At the U.N. in New York, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky announced this date that he would address the General Assembly the following day, at which time he was expected to unleash a new Kremlin diplomatic offensive, in the first major international address by a top Soviet official since the recent Communist Party Congress in Moscow. His address would follow by two days that of Secretary of State Acheson, probably indicative of firm preliminary instructions from Prime Minister Stalin to proceed without further instructions from the Kremlin. The U.N. released a report this date from its Korean Unification and Rehabilitation Commission calling on the U.N. forces to remain in Korea long after a military armistice was reached. It warned President Syngman Rhee of South Korea that "strong-handed acts by either executive or legislature undermines the stability of the country … and discourages other countries from giving the economic and other support that will be so badly needed by Korea after the fighting ceases." It indicated that efforts to repel aggression and help the victim recover from the devastation had to continue.
General Eisenhower this date, in Wilmington, Del., said that the "real indictment against the Democratic Administration is that it has become arrogant and indifferent to dishonesty," prompting cheers from a crowd estimated at between 18,000 and 20,000 in Rodney Square. He praised Senator John Williams of Delaware for his part in uncovering corruption in the IRB. He said that the President was "one of the minor figures" in his Democratic opposition, and recalled a statement made by the President, without naming him, referring to Senator Williams as "a good for nothing Senator". The previous day, he had addressed a cheering crowd of 5,000 in Paterson, N.J., criticizing the Administration's record on spending, corruption, Korea and the lack of "a better peace". "We have the record of the loss of China, the emergency action in Greece and in Turkey, and the airlift to save Berlin, and, finally, Korea, which unhappily, still goes on." He acknowledged, however, that there could not be a perfect peace as long as "the godless doctrine of Communism" continued to be strong. The General's next scheduled stops were in Camden, Trenton, New Brunswick, Newark and Jersey City, N.J.
In San Diego, Governor Stevenson said this date that the "best chance for a just and peaceful world" hinged on the results of the election. He said that no one could truly measure up to the awful responsibilities of the presidency, but that he was not uncertain or hesitant in the face of the possibility of being made the occupant of that office. He said that at least his mind was his own and that he was his own man. He assured that the Democrats would supply prosperity and a just and peaceful world, while the Republicans would embrace isolationism, leading to the loss of the free world and the struggle for peace. The Governor's next stops would be in Fort Worth, Grand Prairie and Dallas, Tex., where, in the latter, he would make a major speech this night.
Perhaps, the special welcoming committee will remain home on this trip.
The President, in an address prepared for delivery at Lawrence, Mass., would say this date that General Eisenhower had appeared to be willing to undermine the safety of the nation to get elected. He suggested that the Republicans apparently were urging that the troops be removed from Korea so that the South Koreans could do all of the fighting, and that he had never seen "anything cheaper in politics", saying that the General knew that the country could not do what he suggested without appeasing Communism. The President continued his tour of New England with appearances in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and would make a major speech this night in Boston at Symphony Hall. The previous day, he had drawn a crowd of about 50,000 in Hartford, Conn., 10,000 each in Worcester and Springfield, Mass., and about 25,000 in Manchester, N.H. In Clinton, Mass., hometown of his appointments secretary, Matthew Connelly, he provided a rundown the previous night of members of his Cabinet and other top officers. As pictured, in New Britain, Conn., the President sat down and played the piano, with daughter Margaret providing some musical pointers in his ear.
Another Gallup poll appears, indicating that if New York City voter registration completed the previous week remained the same indicator it had been in past election years, turnout on election day throughout the nation would be about six million higher than in 1948 or 1944, or about 55 million, 56 percent of the entire civilian population of voting age. Though that would make it the highest turnout in U.S. history in terms of absolute numbers, it remained substantially below the 60-million vote figure regarded as normal turnout for the year, based on 1936 and 1940 trends, taking into account increased population since 1940. It provides a table of comparison of the expected 1952 total versus that of the three prior quadrennial elections. The American Heritage Foundation had set a goal of 63 million voters for 1952. Republican leaders were claiming that the increased interest in the election was prompted by a protest vote against the Democrats, and the Democrats believed it foreshadowed a larger turnout of Democratic Party supporters. But even with such a record turnout, the U.S. remained behind the voting records of other major democracies, such as Italy, which had a 92 percent turnout, Great Britain and Sweden, which regularly turned out more than 80 percent of eligible voters, and Canada and France, which usually had above 70 percent participation.
Two persons, Jacob Freidus and Larry Knohl, who had been prominent in the Congressional investigation of former Assistant Attorney General Lamar Caudle, were indicted this date in Washington on charges of making false statements to the RFC. Mr. Knohl had purchased a plane in 1950 while working for Mr. Freidus, on which Mr. Caudle had received a $5,000 commission in connection with the sale. Mr. Freidus was currently serving a four-year prison sentence for tax fraud involving $250,000. The receipt of the commission by Mr. Caudle appeared to have been the final straw which prompted the President to fire him the prior November on the grounds that he had engaged in outside activities incompatible with his official duties.
Near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a coal tipple had collapsed after five days of trying to blast it to the ground. It was the last remaining facility of a million-dollar Milwaukee Railroad installation at nearby Atkins, made obsolete by diesel locomotives. Three dynamite charges and tractor-drawn cables had been used in attempts to topple it, and it was finally brought down when workmen slipped five building jacks under one side and hooked new cables to a winch.
In Scarsdale, N.Y., Evelyn Barkins, wife of Dr. Manuel J. Barkins, had written her fourth book, titled Are These Our Doctors? to be published the following Monday, billed as "an expose and debunkment of the medical profession". The couple said that the medical profession had reacted violently before reading the book, that they had received nasty phone calls. The doctor, fearing censure by the AMA, had written the organization saying that he did not approve of the book and did not wish to be held responsible for it, but did not apologize for his wife's creative effort, saying that no husband had the legal or moral right to censure or suppress his wife's "independent thinking".
In Raleigh, the Duke Power Co. applied this date to the State Utilities Commission for permission to issue 2,778,615 shares of common stock so it could split its common stock on the basis of three shares for one, to reduce par value from $75 to $25 per share, with no change in the total value of the outstanding stock. The company's general counsel stated that it believed the split would facilitate sales of stock and enable raising of additional capital necessary to carry on the company's construction program.
On the editorial page, "Over the (Oil) Barrel" tells of columnist Saul Pett, elsewhere in the newspaper this date, having stated his dreams about that which he had always wanted to do, such as telling his boss that he had just acquired a controlling interest in the company and that the boss would now be working for him, or standing on a large table in Monte Carlo and saying, "Let the million ride."
He had said that he would like to be in the same position as Premier Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran because he routinely told the U.S. and Britain to go to hell, sending diplomats scurrying to try to find ways to bribe him.
The previous day, the Premier had announced that diplomatic relations would be severed with Great Britain following a note sent by the British insisting that they receive full compensation for the expropriated properties of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., accomplished 18 months earlier.
Britain and Iran disagreed on the compensation, the royalties to be paid Iran under old treaties, and the terms under which Iran could begin producing and marketing its nationalized oil. Iran had refused to agree to submit the matter to the International Court of Justice, as recommended by both the U.S. and Britain, which had included a proposal for a ten billion dollar loan from the U.S. to Iran. Iran had countered that Britain had to pay 147 million dollars in royalties which Iran would have received had it accepted a treaty which Britain had proposed two years earlier, and had then said the previous week that if Britain paid part of that money, they could proceed with negotiations, with the remainder to be paid later. It was that proposal which prompted the British reply that compensation for the expropriated oil properties had to be paid by Iran.
In his statement the previous day, the Premier appeared to be implying that if the British did not cooperate with his demands, Iran might wind up in the Communist sphere. In the meantime, he was not improving the Iranian economy, as there had been no refining or selling of Iranian oil since nationalization. Moreover, his fanatically nationalist friends had no desire to join the Communist sphere, but the Premier believed that if Russia moved on Iran to obtain the oil, the West would come to its defense, and he was probably correct. Thus he believed that the West would eventually meet his terms.
It indicates that as with Korea, there was no easy solution to the problem, but that it would be helpful for the presidential candidates to tell where they stood on the issue, as they had avoided the subject as a ticking time bomb, which, it says, it was.
"Action on Parking Upcoming?" tells of a parking survey having been approved for the city by the Parking Authority and submitted to the City Council the previous May, but 20 weeks and six days later, the Council had only during the current week decided to see what was inside, to be accomplished the following Tuesday. It indicates that it was about time and says that the parking problem in the city, where its narrow streets were already jammed with traffic and curb parking had been banned in many places and would have to be eliminated in yet others to alleviate congestion, needed solution, which would not be provided by inaction of the Council.
"John L. Flaunts His Power" finds that John L. Lewis was showing "cavalier disregard" for the law, inflation and coal production as 150,000 miners had walked off the job because the Wage Stabilization Board had not immediately approved the agreed 24-cent wage increase plus additional welfare fund contributions, set after negotiations between the UMW and the coal operators, the law providing that the WSB first had to grant its approval before the agreement became effective.
As pointed out earlier in the week by Drew Pearson, the WSB chairman, Archibald Cox, had become angered at Mr. Lewis for delivering a virtual ultimatum to the WSB to approve the wage hike prior to the previous Wednesday or the UMW would strike, and had been further angered by Mr. Lewis's refusal to attend a WSB meeting to explain his position justifying the wage hike, sending instead his counsel, who stated that he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
It finds that Mr. Lewis had employed bullying tactics vis-à-vis the WSB, and it presented another example of irresponsibility of labor which decreased the ability of industry to pay increased wages and benefits. It finds that a "properly indignant administration" would restrain such irresponsible conduct.
Get Dick to have one of his henchmen employ some Teamsters, you know, some real thugs, to go in there and bust some heads, and that'll teach 'em.
A piece from the San Francisco Chronicle, titled "Those Plastic Bug Deflectors", finds it time to call a halt and issue a warning regarding inventors of gadgets when the tinted plastic bug deflector had hit the market. Designed for attachment to car hoods, once reserved for the elaborate ornaments placed there by the manufacturers, the bug deflector was intended to set up protective currents of air when the car was in motion, to deflect flying insects away from the area of the windshield. It finds its reason acceptable but questions the aerodynamics involved. For there was nothing to prevent the various insects from piling up on the plastic deflectors and thereby altering the wind currents and angles such that the insects might be hurled through the windows of the vehicle onto horrified drivers and passengers.
"A thing like that can upset at one stroke all the streamlining accomplishments of this streamlined era. The obvious answer, of course, is an auxiliary deflector to deflect bugs from the bug-deflector. But this in turn, would call for its own deflector, to be mounted perhaps on an outrigger, which would need, besides a deflector, a chrome-plated guard, which…"
It winds up recommending an old rag,
water and elbow grease to remove bugs from the windshield, but
concedes that it might be arcane information headed for the same fate
as the motoring lore which provided that one's thumb would become
baked in removing the cap from a hot Model T radiator
Drew Pearson indicates that there is an important difference between the release of General Eisenhower's financial statement and the manner in which Governor Stevenson and Senator Sparkman had released their income tax returns for the previous decade. The General had summarized his financial transactions during the decade, whereas the Governor provided the actual tax returns for that period and gave 6,500 copies to the press, revealing every charity to which he had contributed and every company in which he had invested. The General did not list the companies in which he had investments nor his trading in the stock market, nor his tax exemptions, other than the capital gains tax rate he had obtained for the sale to a publisher of his wartime memoirs.
The General had not mentioned his investment in a subsidiary of the Marx Toy Co., (probably because it suggested Communism and might frighten Dick), or provided a year-by-year breakdown of his income. In June, 1948, he had sought and obtained from the Treasury an exemption from taxable income on his home at Columbia University, 12 servants and living expenses provided by the University, on the ground that his job required that he live there. The column provides the verbatim letter. He had received expedited treatment from the Treasury on the capital gains tax treatment of his book, approved in just two days after he initially wrote a letter on the subject. Mr. Pearson notes that Congress had passed an amendment to the law since that time preventing anyone else from obtaining such capital gains tax treatment on a book or other product of artistic endeavor.
Two years after the General received his favorable ruling from the Treasury in late 1948 on the exemptions from income from the University, the Treasury issued a somewhat similar ruling regarding hotel managers forced to live in hotels, receiving free use of rooms and meals. It took several more months, until August, 1951, for the Treasury to decide that nurses required to live in hospitals would receive the same tax treatment.
Marquis Childs indicates that after the two conventions, it was assumed that the presidential campaign would be conducted on a high level, turning out to be wishful thinking, overlooking the intensity of the forces within the Republican Party which would do anything to win and believed that any such attack, no matter how destructive, was justified. Mr. Childs indicates that the tactic might prove correct in terms of victory as the blitz regarding Communism by nearly all Republican candidates for local, state and national offices might cause sufficient fear and doubt to sway uncertain voters. The extremists who called the Democrats "Commiecrats" welcomed this form of attack. It was also being used by those who privately found it an unhappy expedient necessary to win and believed that when the election ended, General Eisenhower would assure his friends that he was the same man who had been the president of Columbia University, defending the right of academic freedom.
The General had been handicapped by his lack of knowledge and experience in politics and it was too much to expect that he would sort out the conflicting elements within the party and enforce his own discipline upon them. Even such an old hand at politics as Governor Dewey had failed to do so in 1948. The General's supporters believed that once he was in the White House, however, he would be able to take control of those to whom he had appeared to yield during the campaign, such as Senators McCarthy and Jenner and their like. But those who had expected a different type of campaign were dubious of that claim. The more important issue was whether he could control those conflicting elements of the party in the interests of the country and the free world.
If he were able to construct a coalition between Southern Democrats and Republicans of his own persuasion, it would be his best hope for governing, in which case he would not need to worry about the Republican extremists who had opposed the Administration's foreign policy. But that hope was dimming, as the General had made promises to those extremists on both domestic and foreign policy, such as his implied promise to remove U.S. troops from Korea and replace them on the front lines with South Korean troops. It remained unclear how that could be done without abandoning Korea to the Communists.
At the same time, Governor Stevenson had been moving closer to the extreme elements of the Democratic Party, as he promised more and qualified less, promises which would also haunt him were he to be elected.
Mr. Childs indicates that the ensuing four years would likely confront the next president with decisions as tough as those taken in the previous twelve years. The economy could take a swift downturn and decisions on foreign policy would also be awaiting. "The present barrage of promise and prevarication, vituperation and vilification is a sorry preparation for the testing time ahead."
The Congressional Quarterly looks at the voting records of the two vice-presidential candidates, Senators John Sparkman and Richard Nixon. They had generally disagreed on civil rights, rent control, housing and tax measures. They had been in general agreement only in the area of defense legislation, voting for expansion of the Air Force and for the 1951 draft bill, providing for the start of universal military training at a later date. They had voted alike on other specific roll calls also, but only in the area of defense was there general agreement.
Senator Sparkman was elected to the Senate in 1946 in a special election and re-elected in 1948, after having served earlier in the House. Senator Nixon had been elected to the Senate in 1950 after four years in the House.
Senator Nixon had voted for nearly all civil rights measures which had come to a roll call vote, whereas Senator Sparkman had opposed most of them, although joining with Senator Nixon to vote for two civil rights measures, Alaskan statehood and home rule for the District of Columbia, during 1952. Senator Sparkman had also been one of the architects of the civil rights plank in the 1952 Democratic platform, calling for "the right of equal opportunity for employment, the right to security of persons, and the right to full and equal participation in the nation's political life, free from arbitrary restraints." He had sponsored a good deal of housing legislation and had favored public housing, slum clearance, and loans to housing cooperatives.
Senator Nixon had opposed a 1949 housing measure to provide for public housing and slum clearance and voted during 1952 to end rent control, whereas Senator Sparkman had opposed abandoning controls on rent.
Both Senators had voted for income tax cuts following World War II, but Senator Sparkman had not favored cutting taxes as soon as had Senator Nixon. Both voted for higher income tax rates after the Korean War. Senator Sparkman had generally favored higher and broader corporate taxes than had Senator Nixon.
Both Senators voted for Taft-Hartley in 1947, but Senator Sparkman had voted against overriding the President's veto of the measure. Senator Nixon had favored using the Taft-Hartley injunction provision to end the 1952 steel strike, but Senator Sparkman had opposed its use. Both voted for an increase in the minimum wage.
Both Senators backed economic and military aid to Western Europe, but they disagreed on U.S. aid programs to the Far East, on tariffs and on Point Four proposals to send technical assistance to underdeveloped nations.
A letter writer wonders where was General Harry Vaughan, the President's military aide, whether he was fighting in Korea or hiding in a deepfreeze until after the election.
He is in the freezer. Is your name Dick, too?
A letter writer from Matthews indicates that he would be glad for General Eisenhower once the campaign was over and those who were telling him what to do would not be able to do so any longer. He bets that the Republicans would not fool him again, that the General had not known them very well, as they had him moving into the White House before the election.
A letter writer from Concord expresses disappointment at the newspaper's endorsement of General Eisenhower, finds that until that point, the editorials had been "very satisfactory to all real Democrats". He indicates that he could not hold it against the newspaper, however, as they were providing the news and letters to the editor in a fair fashion. He informs that some Democrats in Concord, despite having become prosperous during the prior 20 years, were working for the General, but that most were for Governor Stevenson, "the candidate of all the people."
A letter writer from Berea, Ky., finds that the newspaper had made a wise choice in supporting General Eisenhower for the presidency and wishes that more newspapers in the South would be as "open-minded". He adds that North Carolina had the best chance in many years of sending a Republican to Congress, in Charles Jonas, whom he believes would be a good replacement for incumbent Congressman Hamilton Jones, "a fine fellow", but who had done little for the public's good.
A letter writer from Cheraw, S.C., indicates that he had heard that if elected, the General would end the war, wonders how, as there would be no peace until Christ returned, in accordance with Matthew 24:5-8.
A letter writer from Lancaster, S.C., indicates that so many people were thinking of the coming election in terms of material gain or loss, urges looking beyond the ensuing few elections to see what sort of nation was being left to the children if the present trend were not stopped. She states that the nation was founded with God at its head, and as a result, had become the greatest nation on earth, advises choosing the man who would follow God's teachings to keep the country rich morally and spiritually.
A letter writer from Pinehurst indicates at some length his debate with the newspaper over its endorsement of General Eisenhower, taking issue with particular statements in that editorial. You may read that one for yourself, as the editors obliterated the editorial cartoon this date in favor of a solid page of print, and we have to make up time some way.
A letter writer says that he had read recently in the newspaper that one of the men working to get out the vote had called on a family and asked them how much they were willing to pay him, finds him a greater menace to society than the Communists. He equates selling one's vote to selling one's own family into slavery.
A letter from three vice commissioners of the Disabled American Veterans of Charlotte finds misleading an ad in the October 9 issue of the newspaper, attacking Congressman Hamilton Jones by stating that the bills he had introduced during his six years in Congress represented his "complete" record. They indicate that he had joined in sponsoring dozens of bills for the benefit of veterans while a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, the most important in 1952 having been that which extended the G.I. Bill of Rights to Korean War veterans. They also indicate that if elected, he would retain his seniority on that Committee, whereas a Republican freshman would have to start at the bottom. They urge therefore voting for Congressman Jones.
A letter writer comments on a previous letter by a person she regards as a Christian, agreeing with him about liquor and cursing, says that if people would get out and try to clean up such mess, "this world would be better off". She urges that the country needed to go back to God and "old-time religion".
What the hell is that? We thought that was a song.
A letter writer from Norfolk, Va., states that if the Democrats were elected, the people might as well throw up their hands "in surrender to Communism in America."
A letter writer indicates that it was not the high cost of living which kept people behind the eight ball, that the main problem was cars, televisions, whiskey, beer, thick cuts of steak and a multitude of other luxuries which people never before had, that most could withstand adversity far better than prosperity. He indicates that during the depression, he had worked at Newton on a two-man job for $12 per week.
This date establishes a record for
the number of published letters to the editor—and, quite
frankly, it is one which could and should have been pared down, but
will be repeated several times prior to election day, as the
newspaper strives to allow people to have their say on the candidates
and various issues, and then some… We recommend that they
stick to Dick and cut the rest, about the big wringer and the deep freezer, because Dick
is what will be interesting down the road
Framed Edition
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