The Charlotte News

Thursday, April 24, 1952

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that truce negotiators in Korea dealing with the prisoner-exchange issue in secret meetings twice recessed during the day, indicating that they were studying a new proposal to break the deadlock, not disclosed to the press. The limited information provided was from Communist journalists. In all, the meeting lasted 67 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Eighth Army reported that at least 15,000 prisoners and internees had been transferred from Koje Island to six new camps on the Korean mainland, those camps ultimately to house 60,000 prisoners.

The second group of staff officers working on the two issues regarding truce supervision, whether Russia would be included in the neutral nations inspecting the truce and whether there would be a ban on repairing airfields in North Korea during the armistice, reported no progress.

The steel industry sought in Federal court this date to deny the President the right to seize the steel mills, an attorney for U.S. Steel arguing that the Government was trying to "foist on management" wage increases for the steelworkers rather than trying to preserve production of steel. The plaintiffs were seeking a temporary injunction to forbid Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer from taking further steps to carry out the President's seizure order. A Federal judge had previously refused the first industry attempt at an injunction, indicating that there had been no showing of "irreparable damage", required for issuance of such an injunction. This date, the plaintiffs argued that there had been a significant change in the situation because of the imminent wage increases to be implemented by Mr. Sawyer upon the President's approval.

Meanwhile, three Senate committees were studying the seizure situation and an impeachment move in the House was underway.

The President, at his weekly press conference, said that he had once forced Premier Joseph Stalin to withdraw Soviet troops from Iran by sending him an "ultimatum", and that when Yugoslavia had decided to take Trieste, he had ordered the Mediterranean Fleet into the area which stopped it. The subjects came up in the context of the executive's inherent powers with respect to the seizure of the steel industry, the President citing these as examples of his great inherent power. He had replied the previous week to a question addressed to him regarding whether he could also, under similar circumstances, justify seizing newspapers and radio stations, by saying that the President could always do what he viewed as being best for the country. This date, he said, apparently humorously, that the thought of seizing the press and radio had never occurred to him.

Three hours after the press conference, the assistant press secretary clarified that the President had meant to use the term "ultimatum" in its "non-technical, layman sense". He said that the President had drafted a note in March, 1946 from the U.S. Government to the Soviet Government, the note having been published the following day, which made the U.S. position plain, following which the Russians withdrew from Iran in May. The reason for the clarification was that in State Department terms, "ultimatum" usually meant the final word before war.

The President also criticized Congressman James Richards of South Carolina, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, for suggesting that Averell Harriman should resign as Mutual Security Administration director on the basis that he was running for the presidency. The President quipped that he wondered if Mr. Richards ought resign from his position as chairman.

Senator Taft said this date that he believed he could win the majority of the 60 Republican delegates at stake during the ensuing week. Presently he had 239 delegates to 220 for General Eisenhower. During the week, there would be primaries or conventions selecting delegates in Colorado, Utah, Delaware, Arizona and Arkansas. The General's campaign managers were also optimistic, predicting that he would be nominated on the first ballot at the July convention. It appeared, after the Tuesday New York primary, that 81 delegates were committed to General Eisenhower and nine for Senator Taft, though the Senator claimed 17. Six more delegates would be selected at large in the state committee convention, all of whom were expected to commit to the General based on the support of Governor Dewey.

On the Democratic side, it was said that Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota was becoming more receptive to the suggestions of friends that he seek the Democratic nomination, but was said not to have made up his mind.

In Berlin, 10,000 young Communists entered the French sector of the city and began distributing leaflets and making speeches in support of German unity and withdrawal of all occupation troops. The West Berlin police descended on the group and dispersed them with fire hoses, arresting in the process twenty of the young men.

In Madras, India, the Indian Express reported that Chinese Communists had completed work on strategic roads and military positions in the mountain kingdom of Tibet, on India's northern border. The newspaper reported that worried officials in the neighboring Indian province were seeking military aid from the central government in New Delhi, but officials had indicated that they could not raise or equip the force necessary for such a hazardous job as policing the Tibetan border.

In Karachi, Pakistan, police reported that a physician had killed his nine-year old son with a butcher knife while operating under the delusion that God had given him the same command given to the prophet Abraham. The father said in his confession that the boy had readily agreed to die in God's name. The father bathed his son, dressed him in his best clothes and made him lie on the floor and close his eyes, whereupon the father cut off the son's head with four strokes of the knife. The resulting carnage brought him to his senses and he then tried, without success, to commit suicide. In the Old Testament story, after God had ordered Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a test of his love for God, God stayed the knife just as Abraham prepared to kill Isaac.

Guess this time the order was not actually from God. Don't know who.

At Raritan Township, N.J., a car and a bus carrying about 28 soldiers to Camp Kilmer collided head-on early this date, killing one person and injuring two others, though the latter not seriously.

In Oklahoma City, a section of bleachers being used by 300 junior high school students for a class picture collapsed this date, sending at least ten of the students to the hospital for treatment, with dozens of others being treated at the scene. The school principal speculated that the bleachers may have been weakened by soft earth beneath them caused by the recent rains.

In Jackson, Michigan, at the Southern Michigan Prison, inmates involved in the five-day revolt agreed to end it, but several hours later were reported still to be battling among themselves, with fistfights and kicking incidents occurring among the nearly 200 inmates still inside the barricaded wing. There was a conflict, according to a young inmate who had fled the cell block as a guard hostage had been released, between the two inmates who were supposed to be leading the effort, Earl Ward or "Crazy Jack" Hyatt. Another guard was said to be ill with a gall bladder condition, but the inmates had refused to release him, asking for medicine to be sent for him. Earlier in the day, Governor G. Mennen Williams and the prison officials had given in to the inmates' demands and even agreed to allow them a steak dinner. It was anticipated that the end of the revolt would occur within a few hours.

Promise them an electric shave.

In Joliet, Ill., at the Stateville Prison, an inmate serving a one-year sentence for armed robbery climbed on all fours through an iron bar fence in the prison yard during the morning and then climbed to the top of an 80-foot water tower, where he continued to sit. But the warden was not concerned, saying that he would come down when he got hungry enough and that since he had gotten up there by himself, he could also get down by himself.

In Washington, a Fifth Avenue tailor contended that American men had become a nation of "bums and slobs because of slovenly dress". He was upset especially because of the soft-collared shirts worn by so many officials and diplomats. He said that when the country took the starch out of its collars, it had taken the starch out of its backbones. He further indicated his belief that "morals, manners and etiquette" had disappeared, as men went without hats and ties and women "rushed to work wearing babushkas, looking like Russian peasants," to which he added, "Ugh!" He said that in a nation of capitalists, one should look like capitalists, as he dressed, in a double-breasted waistcoat, striped sack suit and black homburg, with a starched collar, though rejecting a cane to accompany his habit as being "too stuffy".

In Los Angeles, actress Ida Lupino gave birth prematurely to a four-pound, three-ounce baby girl, named Bridget, who was then placed in an incubator. Ms. Lupino had been married to actor Howard Duff the previous October and it was their first child.

Almost every American community had begun building a civil defense organization, but, according to Millard Caldwell, Federal Civil Defense Administration director providing his first annual report, none were sufficiently well-organized to meet the impact of an enemy attack. He reported that by contrast, Russia was well along in developing its civil defense administration, with 22 million workers trained and organized. He stated that it was necessary to have a well-informed public on what to do and how to do it when a disaster struck, a trained civil defense corps of 17.5 million volunteers, adequate tools, including shelter, supplies and equipment, and a high state of readiness for maximum use of all existing resources and personnel.

But, most of all, be calm. For why worry when the next thing you may see is oblivion?

On page 12-A, the fourth of a six-article series by Dr. W. C. Alvarez, "How To Live with Your Nerves", appears.

On the editorial page, "The Holy Land and Refugees", the fourth by-lined entry on the editorial page from News editor Pete McKnight, writing from Jerusalem as part of his tour of the Middle East, tells of the Jordanian side of Jerusalem following the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war. He indicates that his first view of the city was from the roof of the main building of Schmidt College, a short distance from the historic Damascus Gate and only a few hundred yards from the barbed wire encompassing "no man's land", which divided the Holy City into its two constituent parts, one Arab and one Jewish. He had not yet crossed into the Israeli section of Jerusalem and so delays his discussion of the division of the city until he had a chance to talk to those on the other side.

He and the group first went to the Mount of Olives, site of the Church of the Ascension, to obtain a look at the city, and on the way back, stopped to inspect a small pottery shop run by Armenian and Arab refugees from Palestine. They then toured the Souks, an array of small shops, some of which were underground in the caverns of the Great Wall and some out in the open. They emerged at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, recognized by many faiths as the site of Golgotha and the holy tomb. The Church had been severely damaged by earthquakes and was held together by wooden and steel bracing. As they stepped from the Church, they were descended upon by vendors and shopkeepers of every description, spoiling the mood of the pilgrimage.

After dinner, the group interviewed Halim Bey Saba, a young U.N. Relief & Works Agency representative, regarding the problems posed by the influx of Arab refugees from Israel. He gave them insight into the economic and social problems resulting from the million refugees presently camped around the Israeli border, awaiting the improbable chance of return to their homeland.

The following day, they went to pay their respects to Hassan Bey el Ktaia, the Governor-General of the Jerusalem District of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He delivered a pro-Arab line, which they had heard from all sides since arriving in Cairo, and then wished them a pleasant stay in the city. They then went to a refugee camp, one of three near Jericho, but got from it only some statistics and an interview with one refugee, plus a ride through the camp. No pictures or other interviews were permitted, or close examination of the interiors of the mud huts. Mr. McKnight came away from the experience believing that the refugees were better off than many of the natives he had seen in small villages and in hillside caves along the way.

The Dead Sea was nearby and they stopped to take pictures and taste of its briny, mineral-filled water. He found it lovely, ringed by the pastel mountains of Jordan and close to an irrigated tract of flatland, lush with semi-tropical foliage. The group returned to Jerusalem for lunch and then proceeded to Bethlehem to view a second refugee camp and to visit the Church of the Nativity.

On Wednesday evening, Father Eugene Hoad, Franciscan in charge of the Gethsemane Garden, provided the group a personalized version of the history of the Jewish claim to a national homeland. The theologians in their group disagreed with some of the facts he imparted and his interpretation of them, but his talk helped them to understand better the chronological order of the events in that "unhappy" part of the world.

Their next stop the following day would be Amman, the capital of Jordan.

"Our Congressmen Are Getting Shy" tells of the North Carolina Congressional delegation, according to Congressional Quarterly, becoming reticent about putting themselves on the record. Senator Clyde Hoey had voted, paired or announced his stand in 16 out of 24 possible votes, whereas at the same juncture the previous year, he and Senator Willis Smith had declared themselves on each of the 20 issues considered, with Senator Hoey having declared himself on 98 percent of the votes during the entirety of 1951, and Senator Smith declaring his stand 83 percent of the time.

The Senate average was 89.8 percent, the same as recorded by Senator Kefauver, who had been criss-crossing the country campaigning for the presidency. Senator Richard Russell of Georgia was the only presidential candidate who had voted on every one of the 24 roll call issues. Senator Taft had voted on the record 79 percent of the time and Senator Robert Kerr, only 32 percent.

Even local Congressman Hamilton Jones, who prided himself on being present for all votes, had slipped from between 92 and 94 percent of the time in the previous three years to 86 percent in the first quarter of 1952. That was still higher than the House average of 85 percent for the Republicans and 80 percent for the Democrats.

Congressman Woodrow Jones of the state's delegation had voted on all of the 22 issues and had also scored 100 percent during the first quarter of 1951 and 98 percent for the entire year. It remarks that such a voting record was the kind it liked.

"Cash Combats Cancer" tells of the American Cancer Society campaign having derived from local neighborhood solicitations less than a third of the $36,000 goal which it had set for the community. It finds that it was as if the citizens of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County had forgotten its 212 cancer patients who had died the previous year. The 800 volunteers would continue to solicit contributions and leave information bulletins, and it urges contribution to the worthy cause so that cancer research could continue.

"Posture Poor" finds that the Atlantic planners' definition of "infrastructure" as "static items of capital expended to or required to provide material backing for operations and plans necessary to enable the higher command to function and the various forces to operate with efficiency", to be as vague as the military definition of "posture", and to have almost enough to it to justify seizure of the steel mills and transfer of the Army Corps of Engineers back to the executive branch. "Infrastructure" communicated a "compound internal fracture". And General Alfred Gruenther, speaking to the publishers in New York during the week, had said, in speaking of NATO defenses, that the West would have "increased posture" as a result. It concludes that there was enough posture around and wants to straighten up what they had.

Drew Pearson, in Paris, tells of the biggest guessing game in Europe, after General Eisenhower had announced the date of his departure as supreme commander of NATO, being who would replace him. General Eisenhower favored his close friend and deputy, General Gruenther, but Joint Chiefs chairman, General Omar Bradley, wanted General Matthew Ridgway, currently supreme commander of the U.N. forces in Korea. General Bradley had been displeased with General Eisenhower for not attending personally the Lisbon conference, instead sending General Gruenther, stating, "Ike ain't no kingmaker."

The Europeans liked General Gruenther, believing that he understood their problems, and considered General Ridgway to be too much of a fighting man, with his name linked to an unpopular war. The Joint Chiefs, however, considered General Gruenther to be too young and lacking in combat experience, whereas General Ridgway had shown great leadership both in battle and in handling the Japanese political problems. A compromise being discussed was to appoint Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery as General Eisenhower's successor, thereby pleasing the British, and then after the end of the Korean War, appointing General Ridgway to replace General Montgomery.

Former Presidential adviser and counsel, Clark Clifford, presently counsel for Phillips Petroleum, and Federal Security Administrator Oscar Ewing accompanied the President on his trip down the Potomac aboard the Presidential yacht during the weekend. The purpose was to groom Mr. Ewing as the Democratic nominee, with either Senator Robert Kerr or Senator Richard Russell as his running mate. Mr. Pearson notes that Mr. Ewing was hated by the medical profession for his crusade for compulsory medical insurance, but adored by labor and minority groups. He had also been counsel for the conservative, pro-Republican Alcoa and had been the law partner of Charles Evans Hughes, Jr., son of the late Chief Justice.

The French were almost as interested as Americans in the U.S. elections, in part because of General Eisenhower being a candidate, and in another part because the future defense and peace of Europe depended on the outcome of the elections. They believed that if Senator Taft were elected, they might as well forget about NATO.

There was also a lot of sympathy evident in France for the flood victims along the Missouri River.

Mr. Pearson tells of having had an appointment with General De Gaulle for an interview but had not kept it because one of his aides wanted it to be off the record. After he had declined on that basis, the General's headquarters had phoned that he was 15 minutes late for the interview, to which he replied that the interview was canceled. He remarks that FDR had observed that General De Gaulle fancied himself a "cross between Joan of Arc and Clemenceau." An Associated Press correspondent, Bob Parker, had told the story of how General De Gaulle came to power, that in spring, 1940, Mr. Parker had been in the lobby of a hotel at Bordeaux while the British, American and top French brass were trying to evacuate ahead of the onrushing German Army, when the U.S. military attaché to France asked a group of gathered newsmen where they might find a good French military man to rally the French forces in exile, to which Mr. Parker had responded that General De Gaulle was a pretty good tank commander, thus launching his career.

The announced retirement of Senator Tom Connally of Texas had been greeted with great enthusiasm by the French, but not by the British, as the French did not like Senator Connally's criticism of them for not holding up their end of the contribution to NATO. But they had not realized that the statement had been essentially forced on him by his campaigning at the time against his opponent, Price Daniels—the Texas Attorney General who would become the next Senator. The London Times, however, paid tribute to Senator Connally's long career and his battle for European cooperation, bemoaning in the process the passing from the scene of all except one U.S. Senator who still wore a frock coat, that being Senator Clyde Hoey of North Carolina.

The reaction in Europe to the President's seizure of the steel industry had been that it had cut the ground from under Communist propaganda.

Lathan Mims, Associated Press correspondent, in the third and final article of a series on the "Southern Textile Revolution", tells of Louis W. Bishop's efforts to obtain migration of Northern industry to his native South Carolina, and the general migration of industry to the South during the previous 25 years.

A letter writer from Huntersville regards the controversies surrounding the rebuilding of the Oakdale school and the questions he believes that it raised. He thinks that more information, if available, ought be provided by the County Board of Education for public consumption, and if not, that the decision on consolidation of the elementary schools ought be delayed, pending the collection of more information.

A letter writer from Pittsboro regards other writers who had been criticizing him for his opposition to General Eisenhower. He says that he was an old-line Democrat who had never been seduced by the transfer of the Democratic label to the "Norman Thomas Socialist platform of 1932" and the added Social Security program "almost in its entirety from Bismarck's police state's security program employed when he was consolidating the Germanic states after the Franco-Prussian war". He says that he was an independent voter and was not against General Eisenhower, but simply did not know enough at present about his economic and political views to have an opinion. It was that about which he was arguing, the fact that the General had only stated his positions in vague and generalized terms.

He says that if the ship of state were to continue to be navigated by the New and Fair Dealers, he did not want them to be Republicans and would rather take his chances with its "legitimate operators".

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