The Charlotte News
Wednesday, November 26, 1952
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that allied fighter-bombers had dropped high explosives and napalm on a large enemy troop and supply concentration near Wonson on the east coast of Korea this date. U.S. Sabre jets and enemy MIG-15s clashed over North Korea, but no claims were made by allied pilots of damage or destruction.
Along the battlefront, U.N. infantrymen repulsed an assault by about 120 screaming Chinese troops, who had stormed the central front positions on the southern slopes of "Jackson Heights", with the close-quarters fighting having continued for four hours, beginning shortly after midnight with an artillery barrage prior to and during the attack. It was the only action along the front, other than small skirmishes and patrol clashes.
At the U.N. in New York, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky announced this date to the Political Committee that Communist China had turned down India's compromise plan for resolving the prisoner of war deadlock, the last roadblock to a truce in Korea. He made the announcement shortly after the 60-nation Committee voted to provide debate priority to the Indian proposal, which Russia had already rejected. He said that the Committee would be wasting its time therefore to pursue debate on the Indian plan. He offered a series of amendments to the proposal, which called for an immediate and complete ceasefire on the basis of the armistice points agreed already at Panmunjom, with the addition of a provision for full repatriation of prisoners, regardless of their stated desires, a point completely rejected by the allies.
Near Chalons Sur Marne, France, three carloads of ammunition bound for U.S. forces in Germany exploded in a railway switching yard this date, with no one reported injured. U.S. Army officers could not comment on the possibility of sabotage until ordnance investigators made a report.
Former Price administrator Mike DiSalle was summoned to Washington for high-level discussions on what to do about the controls program, as there were sharp differences of opinion among the Administration's top planners, some of whom wanted wage and price controls strengthened and extended beyond their current expiration date of April 30, while others wanted all controls lifted. The President had the power to end the controls if he so desired. Mr. DiSalle had quit his post the previous spring to undertake what turned out to be an unsuccessful campaign for the Senate seat from Ohio, lost to incumbent Senator John W. Bricker. His successor, former Governor of Georgia Ellis Arnall, had resigned on August 6, and the successor to Mr. Arnall, Tighe Woods, had announced two days earlier that he was quitting as of the end of November. Economic Stabilizer Roger Putnam favored a 14-month extension of controls and made public a letter to Mr. DiSalle, which indicated that the latter agreed on the need for keeping anti-inflation controls.
William P. Rogers would be Deputy Attorney General in the new Administration, according to an announcement made by President-elect Eisenhower's press secretary, James Hagerty, this date. The selection was made after a conference between the President-elect and Attorney General-designate Herbert Brownell. Mr. Rogers had been the chief counsel of the Senate War Investigating Committee in 1947 and during the ensuing two years, had served as chief counsel for the Senate Permanent Investigating Committee. Those committees had developed evidence of influence peddling, corruption and disloyalty in the Government, according to the office of President-elect Eisenhower. Mr. Rogers would subsequently serve as Attorney General under the second Eisenhower term and would be Secretary of State during the first term of President Nixon. He would also advise Vice-President Nixon not to contest the close 1960 election, on the basis that contesting precincts in Illinois and Texas would prompt a dispute of the results in Southern California precincts, where voting was equally suspect.
The President-elect named Oveta Culp Hobby to become the head of the Federal Security Agency and Ivy Baker Priest as Treasurer of the United States. His office promised more high-level appointments of women.
According to a report made by a New England governors' committee this date, the major cause of migration of New England textile plants to the South was the prospect of lower wages and larger workloads in the region. Harvard economist Seymour E. Harris chaired the committee and disclosed the contents of the report at a State House news conference in Boston. The committee had studied the Massachusetts towns of Lawrence, Lowell, Fall River and New Bedford, Manchester and Nashua, N.H., and Woonsocket on Long Island in New York. They found that to some degree the South was aided by Federally financed power projects and tax benefits and amortization of the cost of new plants and machinery. Professor Harris indicated that though he was a Democrat and a New Dealer, one of the best things about the Republican victory would be that the Southern Democrats would no longer head committees which passed legislation favorable to the South. Most of the new chairmen would come from the North and the report urged stronger organization of New England Congressmen to support New England interests.
Six deaths were attributed to snowstorm conditions in Kansas and Nebraska, where blizzards prevailed in some areas the previous day, while parts of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas also received heavy snow, easing off in most of the states during the night. Winds piled up drifts which hampered city traffic and virtually halted highway travel in some places. More than 150 persons had to be rescued during the night from snowbound traffic around Wichita, Kansas. Some of the marooned travelers sought shelter from the storm in farmhouses. Almost a foot of snow fell in western and central Kansas. Near Liberal, a busload of Kansas University band musicians were reported marooned in a snowdrift. In Iowa, the storm caused cancellation of many high school basketball games and other community events. In Lincoln, Neb., home of the University of Nebraska, the hopes of many students to go home for Thanksgiving had faded. Electric power to several towns in both Kansas and Nebraska had been knocked out.
In Charlotte, the chairman of the Board of Elections announced that at least a dozen automatic voting machines would be available for use in Mecklenburg County's special bond election on December 13. It was hoped that the Board would be authorized to lease the machines for one year at $150 apiece, so that the modern system of vote tabulation could be given a thorough test.
The United Appeal fund drive had ended this date, having been extended from the previous Thursday when reports showed that it was $55,000 short of its $738,000 goal. The chairman of the campaign stated this morning that he was confident that the Appeal would reach its goal.
In Blackbushe, England, it was reported that top priority haggis pudding and a proper Scots guard piper were being sped by air to Italy this date with cooperation from U.S. Navy planes, for the Allied forces headquarters in Naples and their St. Andrews Eve party to be held the following Saturday night. Haggis, the piece explains, was the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, minced with suet, onions and oatmeal, seasoned and boiled in a sheep's stomach. The haggis would be held high by a chef as he marched around the hall behind the skirling piper, after which a high-sounding address would be delivered to the pudding, at which point a knife would be plunged into the honored food and each person served a portion over which Scotch whiskey would be poured.
In Worcester, Mass., the local draft board was convinced that a Worcester woman, whose name they did not divulge, thought her husband was a bum, after they had asked her for help in locating him and received the reply: "The bum disappeared. But don't quit looking for the bum. The bum is a great fighter, so good he won his last bout with his 90-pound wife. The bum will be terrific against the Koreans. I hope you catch up with the bum."
On the editorial page, "The Courts Served up a Legal Sizzler" indicates that if the people of the state were not thoroughly confused about the legal status of municipal parking facilities, it was not a reflection on their basic intelligence. The North Carolina League of Municipalities, which specialized in such things, was also confused, and so was The News. It proceeds to explain why, and if you are particularly interested, you may read it. We shall wait until they figure it out.
"There's Room for Both Bibles" explains briefly about the history of the translation of the Bible through time, the first English translation having been by Wycliffe, followed by Tyndale, who translated the New Testament into English, encountering powerful opposition, escaping to Worms to continue the task, eventually completing it in prison. The version had been prohibited by the British Parliament, with the decree that "no woman (unless she be noble or gentle woman), no artificers, apprentices, journeymen, servingmen, under the degree of yeomen … husbandman or labourers" could read or use any part of the translation, under pains of fines and imprisonment. Some translators had been burned at the stake, while others had been banished.
The King James Version of the Bible had drawn upon the research of such men as Tyndale and Coverdale, plus several exiled scholars who had gathered in Geneva. The present King James Version was not an exact reprint of the original authorized by King James in 1611, having been corrected for many typographical errors, as well as spelling and punctuation having been modernized. The Revised Version of the previous century had drawn upon the research of many Christian scholars and profited from advances which their scholarship had provided to the study of ancient Hebrew. Despite that, they had been bitterly attacked, with a literature of criticism and apology having developed around it. Eventually, however, the critics largely died away and were replaced by a calmer and more just appreciation.
It remarks that the general acceptance of the new Revised Standard Version was a tribute to those Christian scholars who devoted years to their task and to the majority of Christians, unlike their forebears, who believed that Biblical scholars and their works should be encouraged and not burned.
It indicates that the Temple Baptists of Rocky Mount, N.C., were preparing the following Sunday to burn publicly the new Revised Standard Version, suggests that they were under no obligation to accept the new Bible, but that book-burning was "a practice of dictators and bigots, reminiscent of the spoiled child who doesn't get his way." The piece concludes that it would keep both the King James and Revised Standard Versions and hopes to profit from both, recommends that course to all Christians, including the Temple Baptists.
Not gonna accept no Commonisms up in there.
"Southern Service" indicates that the Southern Railway had another good year of earnings, the second highest in its history. It hopes that it would use some of its profits to provide Charlotte with a 20th century depot.
"A Co-operator and a Co-ordinator" praises the selection by President-elect Eisenhower of Ezra Taft Benson as the Secretary of Agriculture in the new Administration, as well as that of Governor Sherman Adams as the new chief of staff to the President. Both showed that he was emphasizing reliance on able executives to take over administrative detail. Presumably, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., would be the trouble-shooter in the Administration, while Governor Adams would be the coordinator and liaison man with Congress, overseeing the White House staff.
The Farm Bureau and the Republican Senators from farm states had expressed approbation for the appointment of Mr. Benson, though Democrats and the Farmers Union had not yet commented on the appointment. The new Secretary was a friend and student of farm co-operatives. Some Republican Congressmen suggested in non-election years that co-ops were just short of being collectives, but the co-ops had contributed much to U.S. agriculture and would continue to prosper under Mr. Benson.
In his first press conference, he had not stated with particularity his positions on farm policy, but that was not necessary at this stage. There would be problems in the existing strife between the Agriculture Department's Soil Conservation Service and the Production and Marketing Administration, with North Carolina's Dr. Hugh Bennett, former head of the SCS, having complained that the PMA was stripping the SCS of its essential functions and thereby endangering the whole soil conservation program. Mr. Benson would also have considerable responsibility in recommending tariff changes on agricultural imports. There would also be the need to develop a system of insurance or supports for perishable products, accounting for about three-quarters of farm income, as favored during the campaign by General Eisenhower. Mr. Benson had opposed some of the farm policies of both Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, but both Administrations had nevertheless continued to solicit his advice, as had many Congressmen.
Bill Sharpe, writing in The State Magazine, tells of bear hunting on Bill Adams Creek in Yancey County, popular with the male population of Celo Mountain country in the western part of the state.
If you have a hankering to go out and hunt for bears, perhaps you can pick up a few pointers by reading through the piece and its explanation of the proper dogs to take along on the hunt. And if you do not wish to hunt bears, perhaps you will wish to hunt quail, as explained by Mr. Ruark on the page this date.
Drew Pearson indicates that Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon, who had recently declared himself to be an independent, had called on the IRB recently to meet with officials running the Bureau, asking them to make a careful audit of his income tax returns. The tax officials could not believe their ears, as the Bureau made it an unwritten rule not to look too closely at the tax returns of members of Congress. The Senator explained that when he was elected to the Senate in 1945, he had a campaign deficit of about $16,000 which had been partially paid by him and partially by contributions from friends, that recently, Oregon politicians had been charging that the handling of the deficit had violated tax laws. He said that since the money had not been paid to him, he was certain that the tax laws had not been violated by not reporting it as income. The assistant commissioner said that the IRB could not audit returns prior to 1949 because the statute of limitations had expired, to which the Senator stated that he would waive the statute. The assistant commissioner said that the Bureau would need written authorization to proceed, and the Senator said that it would have it, whereupon he wrote a letter to the acting commissioner requesting the audit.
Mr. Pearson notes that in 1946 when he had suggested to Senator Morse that members of Congress and all top Government officials file a statement of outside income received and stocks and commodities purchased, the Senator had immediately introduced a bill to that effect. He notes that had it passed, the secret fund established by a group of California millionaires for Vice-President-elect Nixon, having come to light in mid-September, would have been required to be registered so that the public could have known about it before the nomination of Senator Nixon the previous July.
Lame duck Senator Ernest McFarland of Arizona was making arrangements for a round-the-world trip during his last month as Senator, at taxpayer expense.
Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan was so anxious to take over the Senate Appropriations Committee that he had been pestering Senator Styles Bridges's office to find out whether Senator Bridges was going to give up his seniority rights to the chairmanship in favor of becoming Majority Leader.
Secretary of Defense Robert Lovett had invited his successor, Charles E. Wilson, to attend the NATO conference in Paris on December 15.
President-elect Eisenhower had invited Army chief of staff General J. Lawton Collins to fly to Korea with him.
The President was pleading with Defense Mobilizer Fowler not to quit until after the inauguration, as he wanted the mobilization program going full steam when the new President took over.
The President-elect would appoint a special commission, headed by Dr. Vannevar Bush, to study reorganization of the Defense Department.
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., of Massachusetts had told friends that he would not be in the Cabinet but would probably serve as an "assistant President" and trouble-shooter.
Two of the investigators for Republican John Taber, to become the new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, had gone on a spending spree in Europe and Africa, which would be much to the consternation of the fiscally conservative Mr. Taber. The two investigators were supposed to be investigating airbase scandals in North Africa, but, according to reports, they were gallivanting around Switzerland, where there were no airbases to investigate, and had gone through $2,500 in expense money in less than a month, according to a report by the Pentagon. It turned out that one of the investigators had been convicted previously of forgery, had jumped parole, and spent another 60 days in jail for drunk driving, though having reported on his application that he had never been convicted of a crime. Upon discovery of that information, the Defense Department had revoked his temporary clearance.
Marquis Childs tells of General Eisenhower, both as supreme commander of NATO and of the Allied forces during World War II having preferred to have problems presented to him in a concise manner, with straightforward solutions offered, typed out in a single page. But the economic prospectus for the months ahead was so complicated that it could hardly be reduced to such simple terms.
The American Farm Bureau and the National Grange had begun a propaganda campaign to persuade the new Administration to eliminate trade barriers so that farmers could sell their surplus produce abroad to avoid steeply declining prices, which would bring an immediate outcry for more subsidies with tighter Government controls. In 1939, 11 percent of the nation's wheat production was exported to foreign countries, and in 1949, that figure was 38 percent, in 1950, 26 percent, and in 1951, 35 percent. The postwar percentages included shipments under the Marshall Plan and the Mutual Defense aid program. For raw cotton, the figures were 28 percent exported in 1939, 32 percent in 1949, 36 percent in 1950 and 41 percent in 1951. That cotton was not produced only by the Deep South but also by irrigated land in California and Arizona. Tobacco exports were less than those before the war, but about one-fourth of the tobacco crop, on which much of the South depended, went overseas.
In addition to agricultural commodities, tractors and farm implements also constituted large imports, with more than 20 percent of the tractors produced in the country having been exported in 1950 and 1951, and more than 10 percent of the agricultural machinery. More than 15 percent of all motor trucks and coaches manufactured in the country were exported.
With the great increase in agricultural and industrial production stimulated by World War II, dependence on foreign markets had increased. At the same time, important segments of both agriculture and industry had demanded that tariff barriers be raised to protect the home markets. Thus, the tariffs on cheese, on tuna fish, and on pottery, as examples, had been raised to keep out foreign competition, but so doing also prompted the foreign countries to reciprocate with their own barriers to U.S. exports.
A trade war would fulfill the fondest hopes of Russia, forecasting the downfall of the West through its own internal conflicts. Thus, President-elect Eisenhower faced a major task, along with Secretary of Treasury-designate George Humphrey, in trying to work out the riddle of balancing tariffs against the need for exports, as well as permitting dollar-starved countries in Europe and elsewhere to import goods to the U.S., thus alleviating the need for foreign aid to prop up faltering economies.
Robert C. Ruark tells of wishing it was the following Thursday, when he would be in Kingstree, S.C., going quail hunting with Bernard Baruch, whose name he claims consistently not to be able to remember. He explains in detail the process of the hunt and the training of the dogs for the purpose, concluding that just being there every year made a temporary gentleman out of him.
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