The Charlotte News

Monday, December 1, 1952

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Robert B. Tuckman, that ground fighting in Korea was relatively light, as a driving snow fell across the battlefront. A small force of Chinese troops probed the allied lines on "Sniper Ridge" just after dark, but the effort was repulsed by U.N. artillery fire. Earlier in the day, South Korean defenders on "Sniper" had fought off a series of enemy attacks in brief but savage close-quarter encounters. Only occasional patrol clashes were reported elsewhere.

Clouds and rain over most of North Korea curtailed allied air activity this date.

U.S. Sabre jets, according to the Fifth Air Force, had scored 23 MIG-15 kills to only four lost jets during November. The Sabres also probably destroyed four other MIGs and damaged 15. Three U.S. airmen had shot down their fifth MIG for the war, making them ace pilots, now numbering 23. Other allied warplanes had knocked out 3,035 enemy trucks laden with supplies for the front. In all, the allies had lost 16 planes during the month, only four of which occurred in air combat, with nine shot down by enemy ground fire and three lost to other causes, probably mechanical failure.

At the U.N. in New York, the 60-nation Political Committee of the General Assembly moved closer to a decision on adoption of the Indian compromise plan for settling the prisoner of war issue, the last roadblock to a Korean War armistice. Communist China, not a member of the U.N. at this point, provided official notice that it supported Russia's plan for full and forcible repatriation of all war prisoners and an immediate cease-fire, but the Indian delegation was still attempting to change the position of the Chinese.

President-elect Eisenhower turned his attention this date to international affairs after a weekend during which he had named two top foreign staff officers, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., as head of the U.N. delegation, and Winthrop Aldrich, as the new Ambassador to Great Britain, after the President-elect had accepted, with "reluctance", the resignation of Ambassador Walter Gifford. Following a meeting with Nelson Rockefeller and two college presidents, Dr. Arthur Flemming, president of Ohio Wesleyan University, and Dr. Milton Eisenhower, the President-elect's brother and president of Penn State, he appointed the three to form a committee to represent the President-elect in a privately conducted study of governmental organization.

Mamie Eisenhower visited Bess Truman at the White House this date. Mrs. Truman stepped outside to greet the incoming First Lady. Both smiled for photographers despite the sub-freezing temperatures.

House investigators this date summoned leaders of both political parties for a first-hand account of what some were calling the "alarming cost" of campaigns in the modern television age. The first scheduled witness would be Representative Clarence Brown, an Ohio newspaper publisher and a veteran Republican political strategist. During the coming week, according to chairman Hale Boggs of Louisiana, the special committee would hear from other experts on the high costs of campaigns, including RNC Chairman Arthur Summerfield, DNC chairman Stephen Mitchell, and Attorney General James McGranery. Mr. Boggs said that the laws which were passed in 1925 and 1939 limiting campaign expenditures could not have foreseen the changes which had taken place requiring the spending of much larger sums of money to compete. The committee was reviewing the adequacy of existing election laws, with a view toward recommending possible changes in the new Congress. Present law limited expenditure by a national political organization to three million dollars in a year. There was no limit on the number of campaign committees which could be established, and those could finance television appearances or other campaign activities. There were separate rules for spending in Senate and House campaigns. Mr. Boggs said that in the 1952 campaign, spending had ranged between 50 and 100 million dollars, and the number of special committees had been in the thousands.

In Atlantic City, N.J., Secretary of Labor Maurice Tobin this date urged, in a speech to the CIO annual convention, that the labor organization negotiate a quick merger with the AFL to present the incoming Republican Administration with a solid union front. He said that organized labor was in danger of having its gains of the previous 20 years undermined by the new Administration. The CIO remained split over selecting a successor to recently deceased president Philip Murray. Walter Reuther, head of the UAW, was regarded as having the best chance of becoming president, but forces backing CIO executive vice-president Allan Haywood were not conceding defeat, his principal support coming from the United Steelworkers Union. George Meany, who had recently been selected as the new president of the AFL following the recent death of its president, William Green, urged the CIO to renew previously failed talks aimed at merger of the two organizations. The CIO reply was expected at the convention.

In New York, some 160 members of the AFL Flight Engineers International Association struck this date against Eastern Air Lines, grounding the company's fleet of Constellations east of the Mississippi River. The strike came after weeks of failed contract negotiations regarding increased wages. The Constellations were the only planes which carried flight engineers and so were the only aircraft affected by the strike. A spokesman for the company indicated, however, that the smaller DC-4 and Martin 404 planes, while running on schedule, could likely not absorb the additional passenger load from the Constellations. The strike impacted service in Charlotte, as two morning flights of Constellations had to be canceled.

In Johannesburg, South Africa, a tornado flattened a mud and brick settlement at the edge of the city, killing 21 persons and injuring 318 others. Though all residents of the settlement were black, whites in the city rushed in to help in the rescue effort, switching on their car lights to enable search of the wreckage, in which they participated.

In Rome, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, the last survivor of the Big Four heads of state who had drafted the Versailles Treaty, was near death at 92 from a heart attack which he suffered a week earlier, followed by a cerebral hemorrhage and paralysis. He had been Premier during World War I.

In Mexico City, Ambassador to Mexico William O'Dwyer said this date that he and his wife planned to take a holiday in Acapulco after his resignation as Ambassador would become effective the following Saturday. He refused to discuss rumors that he had filed a divorce action at the time he had submitted his resignation three weeks earlier. He said that he had seen the columnist who made the report the previous day at a bullfight, but did not have a chance to discuss it with him.

In Tokyo, a woman who was founder and president of the Women's Livelihood Cooperative Association, said that the group was so far in the red that it would have to hire a male business manager.

Ann Sawyer of The News tells of the first meeting of the new County Commissioners this date, in which harmony unexpectedly had prevailed, as the new Commissioners took their oaths of office.

In Charlotte, a man complained to police during the morning that someone had painted his car the previous night without using a brush while it was parked on the street in front of his residence. Someone had poured red and white paint all over the car and the owner had found two paint containers on the ground. Two of his tires had also been punctured by the unknown vandals.

Sounds, perhaps, like some young Wolfpack fans up to no good.

On the editorial page, "We Need Industrial Balance, Too" indicates that Governor-elect William B. Umstead had said that he hoped to encourage greater industrialization in North Carolina, and it hopes that he would give some thought to a better geographical distribution of industries. It cites statistics provided from the News Letter published by the Institute for Research and Social Sciences at UNC, which showed that of the top ten counties in the state in terms of median cash income per family, all except Mecklenburg had large numbers of people engaged in manufacturing and were low in the percentage of families with incomes of less than $2,000. Mecklenburg obtained a large portion of its wealth from being a wholesale and retail trade center. In contrast, the lowest ten counties in the state in terms of median family income had a small percentage of persons engaged in manufacturing and a very large percentage of families with incomes under $2,000 per year. Thus, family income increased in direct proportion to the number of persons engaged in manufacturing.

It cites the example of Kannapolis, location of Cannon Mills, with 70.2 percent of its employed people engaged in manufacturing, and also having the highest median family income in the state and the lowest number of families with an income below $2,000.

The presence of industry was the result of a number of factors, including the accessibility to raw materials, the adequacy and stability of the labor supply, the availability of power, transportation, education and recreation facilities, plus climate and the tax structure. Some or all of those factors explained why industry originally had concentrated in the Piedmont. But in recent years, the trend toward steam power and truck transportation had opened up new areas of the state to industry. The paving of secondary roads under Governor Kerr Scott had also contributed to the expansion of industry across the state.

It indicates that the State could encourage local leaders in underdeveloped counties and could encourage businesses seeking new sites to consider certain areas of the state previously neglected by industry. It ventures, based on the statistics provided, that a better balance of industry across the state would spread the wealth and eliminate some of the poverty, while establishing a more equitable revenue structure for State and local governments.

"Pennies for Peace" tells of Dr. Jaime Torres Bodet of Mexico having resigned his post as Director-General of UNESCO because the budget was cut from 20.4 million dollars to 18 million, and he felt that the 65 member nations should have at least furnished the modest budget requested if they expected him to fulfill his duties in fighting illiteracy, bringing scientists and other scholars together, encouraging the arts and removing barriers to the flow of information. It finds that UNESCO had lost a man who was capable in the field of elimination of illiteracy, the major goal of UNESCO.

It indicates that the U.S. spent on defense 3,000 times the amount of the entire UNESCO budget, and bemoans the fact that the 65 member nations were investing so little in work which went to the heart of international problems. Illiteracy was a partial contributor to war, and yet the lion's share of the U.S. budget went to feeding the war machine while peace went begging. It thus finds it no wonder that peace was so remote.

"Five Busy Months on Capitol Hill" indicates that the new Congress would do little business between convening on January 3 and the start of February, as the members would need to look at the new budget and hear from President-elect Eisenhower as to the policy direction. During the first five months between February and July, numerous laws would terminate because of previous sunset dates set by Congress, including the Reorganization Act of 1949, expiring March 30, the President's authority to order precedence for transportation of troops and war matériel over all other traffic in time of emergency, set to expire April 1, dependency for enlisted personnel for quarters and payments of allowances to dependents, expiring April 30, housing for veterans, both rent and construction provisions, on the same date, the Defense Production Act wage controls and salary stabilization and all rent controls, on the same date, the President's authority to make reciprocal trade agreements, on June 12, the excess profits tax on corporations, on June 30, the remainder of the Defense Production Act, on that same date, the Export Controls Act, on the same date, that part of the War Powers Act authorizing negotiation of contracts, on the same date, the Mutual Security Act, providing for military and economic aid, on the same date, G.I. loans for homes and farms, also on June 30, and the Presidential authority to order reserves into active military service for a maximum of 24 months, expiring July 1.

It indicates that if those bills were given their proper consideration, there would not be much time left for "monkeyshines or dawdling" in the interim.

"Profit from Loss" expresses delight in the fact that Ambassador to Mexico William O'Dwyer, former mayor of New York City, would be departing his post at the end of the current week. It posits that he had been appointed Ambassador because the 1950 Senatorial election between former Governor Herbert Lehman and John Foster Dulles, interim Senator, appointed by Governor Dewey, needed a big turnout for the Democrats in New York City, and so the President obliged by creating a vacancy in the Mayor's office, promising a large turnout. It suggests that in consequence, Mr. Lehman had won. At the same time, some of the investigation into the big city rackets was getting close to Mr. O'Dwyer and so his assignment in Mexico served the additional purpose of getting him out of the country and away from the probes. Mr. O'Dwyer had indicated that he would remain in Mexico after his time as Ambassador. The piece indicates that it likes that idea also.

A piece from the New York World-Telegram, titled "Another Lindbergh", tells of the son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, Jon, having made the front pages recently as a member of the Columbia University oceanographic crew which discovered a great canyon at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. It ventures that it took toughness and courage to spend 87 days on an oceangoing tug, and that the young Mr. Lindbergh had inherited those qualities, along with modesty, from his famous father. It indicates that it was fashionable during World War II to denounce the elder Lindbergh because of his having swallowed the myth of Nazi invincibility and embraced the America First movement, dedicated to isolationism. But, it finds, Mr. Lindbergh had done more for aviation and for his country than his critics, many of whom had made greater errors of political judgment. It ventures that history would give Mr. Lindbergh the place he deserved.

He flew across the Atlantic. Then, a decade or so later, became a Nazi sympathizer, along with his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, proponents of the "wave of the future", the "dynamic" change, as they believed was manifested in the Nazi Reich. We are not so sure that history should have ever been so forgiving to such a purblind idiot, merely because he flew across the ocean. Being a daredevil does not suddenly imbue an individual with wisdom and judgment, such that he can suddenly be transformed from a barnstorming airmail pilot to a leader of mankind. Had he been truly humble, he would have had sense enough to realize that and stayed home, rather than allowing himself to be used as a spokesperson for the America Firsters in his speech at Madison Square Garden and for the Nazi propaganda effort in receiving a medal from Herr Hitler.

An editorial in the Christian Science Monitor, on its 44th anniversary, reviews the situation in the free world, with the totalitarian states planning a "divide and conquer" strategy, indicating that the obvious answer was unity and liberation. It finds that after the heat of the campaign, the American people had forged a new unity, with the election proving that party lines could be overridden and sectional differences erased, selfish interests submerged in pursuit of a patriotic purpose. The success of the new Administration would largely depend on whether national aims could be so defined as to enlist bipartisan support.

Drew Pearson tells of one of the biggest and most brazen influence-peddling schemes having involved the former Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Griffith, former commander of the American Legion, who, with his partner, had made a profit of $210,000 on a Government contract arranging the sale of cobalt to the Government. Their total profit was to be $835,000, but Jess Larson, head of General Services, had put a halt to the contract, with $625,000 still to be paid. The contract was between the Government and a Canadian company, of which Mr. Griffith and his associate were agents. They had been paid $210,000 as their fee for being middlemen in the deal. Mr. Griffith was a Republican, appointed to his position as Assistant Secretary of Defense by former Secretary Louis Johnson.

When the Canadian company refused to pay the remaining $625,000 to Mr. Griffith and his associate, the two men called on Mr. Johnson for help, who tried to get the company to pay the remaining amount for their work in obtaining the Government contract for the company. The response was that a month of negotiation did not entitle them to $835,000. Eventually, Mr. Johnson agreed, though it was also agreed that they could keep the $210,000. The Justice Department, however, was demanding that all the money be returned to the company before a new Government contract would be signed. Mr. Pearson notes that with the company having been overhauled, a new contract probably would be signed, as the Defense Department needed the cobalt.

Rita Hayworth's attorney, Bartley Crum, had been in Paris recently trying to arrange a divorce settlement with her estranged husband, Ali Khan. It appeared that Ms. Hayworth was going through with the divorce this time.

Presidential assistant John Steelman was trying hard to abolish price and wage controls, as he wanted to get off the hook regarding the wage boost to the UMW, which had been cut by 40 cents per day by the Wage Stabilization Board from the agreed wage increase of $1.90 per day. The WSB, chaired by Archibald Cox, would be abolished if wage controls were eliminated. Mr. Pearson notes that Mr. Steelman intended to go into labor-management relations and private industry.

There would be three Chevrolet men in the Cabinet, the largest Chevrolet dealer in the world, RNC chairman Arthur Summerfield, as Postmaster General, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, head of G.M., and Governor Douglas McKay, a Chevrolet dealer in Salem, Ore., as Secretary of the Interior.

Old Ike's a-mobilizin' 'ere, at home and abroad, and in the U.S. mail. See the U.S.A., down the Route 66, in your Chevy—until it meets the proverbial levee, down 'ere on the sho'es of the Potomac in June, 1972, sho'tly afta Mista Hoova's de-ath, thanks to the approval in 1970 by the Presi-dent of the Huston plan, so's all them de-monic lib'rals won't have no chance to demonize him 'fore he gets elected, and then, after'ard, they's be so tore apart by the landslide that they cain't do nothin' 'bout it.

The Voice of America played no favorites in the election, setting up the largest global network in history to broadcast election returns in 46 languages and dialects. It had also delivered effective propaganda, contrasting the U.S. two-party, free electoral system with the single-party, non-secret balloting in Communist countries. It said that the Kremlin was correct in saying there was no difference between the two candidates, insofar as their "belief in the freedom of all men everywhere."

Joseph Alsop, in London, tells of new hope in England, as in France, with life appearing on the surface again to be returning to normal for the first time since the war. But the normality, he indicates, was deceptive because even the pattern of Britain's domestic politics could depend on President-elect Eisenhower, according to leaders of all political groupings in Britain.

Aneurin Bevan and his leftist followers were depending on American policy faltering with respect to Britain, and then being able to take advantage of it to seize control of the Labor Party, currently controlled by the moderates. The Conservatives and the moderate Labor members were counting on American wisdom to permit a healthy, continuing British recovery, which would cause the Bevanite movement to falter.

If the Anglo-American partnership were to winnow, so would the Western alliance against Soviet aggression. Prime Minister Churchill's Conservative Government had gained considerable strength by stabilizing the British economy. But the Chancellor of the Exchequer, R. A. Butler, admitted that his economic handiwork was quite precarious in the face of any upset caused by U.S. politics or an economic downturn. If Americans stopped buying Jaguar automobiles, for instance, during a U.S. recession, the British would have to stop buying breakfast. The slight U.S. recession of 1949 had brought Britain to the edge of bankruptcy. Withdrawal of American defense aid would force radical reconsideration of the entire British rearmament program.

Meanwhile, the Churchill Government's margin in Commons was very slim and even a minor setback could sap the new strength and self-confidence of the Conservatives. That gave special importance to the battle ongoing within Labor between the moderates, led by former Prime Minister Clement Attlee, and the left, led by Mr. Bevan. In recent weeks the break between the Attlee and Bevan factions had become final. In Parliament, about two-thirds of the Labor members followed Mr. Attlee, who was sternly disciplining the Bevanites. Mr. Bevan, meanwhile, was relying on the next major crisis to propel his branch of Labor into power. He relied on anti-Americanism and expected a crisis caused by a failure of American world policy.

Mr. Alsop concludes that one could not be sure whether another foreign or economic crisis would produce the results which Mr. Bevan expected and which his opponents feared. But there would be trouble in Britain in result of any change in American policy which caused a renewal of Britain's economic difficulties, or if a new version of General MacArthur's policy was produced in the Far East, or if President-elect Eisenhower made any missteps.

Marquis Childs, at Camp Pendleton, California, tells of the Marine Base being a way station on the deployment to Korea, where the Marines received their final six weeks of training stateside before departure. Thus, no one present could afford to ignore the far away, "half-forgotten" war. Everywhere one looked, Marines were engaged in their final process of training.

The Marines squirmed under live machine-gun fire, crawled under barbed wire while TNT charges detonated nearby, as the instructor urged the men to move along. They engaged in simulated patrols, which were attacked by other Marines posing as aggressors, armed with burp guns. The mock aggressors had even been trained to shout Chinese cries, shake rattles and blow bugles to imitate the noises made by the Chinese Communists when attacking. The rough terrain in the area was said to resemble Korea. More than half of the instructors were veterans of the war. In the last phase of the training, the replacements took a 12-hour bus journey to Pickel Meadows in the High Sierras of Northern California, where there was deep snow on the mountains and they could learn survival in temperatures of 20 and 30 degrees below zero. One had to know how to unfreeze rations, to prevent frostbite under a blanket of snow, and how to meet aggressors when they charged out of the night in white camouflaged suits.

Upon return to Pendleton, the training process was nearly at an end, with only the details remaining, issuance of dog tags, identification cards, Geneva Convention cards, and signing of notarized wills. The commanding general made a short speech about duty, dedication and pride in the Corps through this and other wars. Then the last lines were cast off, the ship moved away from the dock, and the Marines were on their way to Korea. "They are gone and the blunders of the diplomats, the politicians, the military, the quarrel over who is to blame and why—all this is academic as these young men go out into a war."

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