The Charlotte News
Monday, January 12, 1953
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Jim Becker, that the heaviest Communist assault of the new year had hit lines of a newly activated South Korean division this date, a division placed into service only two months earlier, and that the allied soldiers had held their ground, killing an estimated 213 of the 800 attacking enemy troops, forcing the enemy to retreat after three hours of close-quarter fighting. Battles had flared with renewed bitterness all along the frozen front in Korea, with the enemy hurling nearly 1,500 men into the fight, in futile attempts to make a dent in the U.N. lines during predawn darkness.
In the air war, allied fighter-bombers made follow-up raids on Sinanju, the vital enemy supply center in northwest Korea, with 10 B-29's dropping 100 tons of high explosives on rail yards Sunday night.
Senate Republican leaders said that President-elect Eisenhower fully agreed this date to clear all Federal job appointments in the future with Republican members of Congress, per the traditional practice. Senators William Knowland of California, Eugene Millikin of Colorado, and Senator Taft, had met with the President-elect for 90 minutes this date before making the announcement.
The President-elect met for the first time this date with his entire Cabinet-designate. Vice-President-elect Nixon and other top officials of the new Administration were scheduled to sit in on the conference.
The President-elect appointed Dr. James B. Conant, president of Harvard University, to become the U.S. High Commissioner for West Germany, a post which was currently vacant because of the retirement of Walter Donnelly on December 31.
The President, in a letter to Attorney General James McGranery, ordered that criminal antitrust investigations by a grand jury against five major oil companies be dropped, provided that the companies would stipulate to production of records in conjunction with a civil suit to be filed against them. The President cited as ground for the decision unspecified "factors" which had emerged since the beginning of the grand jury investigation of the companies. There had been reports that the National Security Council had been concerned that the grand jury investigation would jeopardize U.S. global interests. The case had originated from a Federal Trade Commission report which stated that the major U.S. oil companies had worked with foreign companies to divide up the world oil market. A member of the FTC had met with the President a few minutes before the announcement and told reporters afterward that it appeared to him that the oil companies had performed "one of the greatest snow jobs in history" by convincing the State Department and other Federal officials that the grand jury probe should be terminated.
The Southern Railway Company advised the Interstate Commerce Commission that its service would be completely dieselized early in 1953, making it the largest railroad in the country to abandon steam locomotives.
At Vatican City, Pope Pius XII conferred the rank of Cardinal on 24 prelates, including James Francis McIntyre of Los Angeles and the Archbishops of two Communist countries where the Roman Catholic Church was fighting for survival. The appointments brought the College of Cardinals to its full complement of 70 members for the first time in nearly two years. The Pope expressed deep sorrow that Archbishops Stepinac of Yugoslavia and Wyszynski of Poland could not be present for their appointments. Cardinal Stepinac had been freed from prison under conditional release by Marshal Tito's Governmen. Both he and Cardinal Wyszynski said that they could not come to Rome for fear that the Yugoslav and Polish Governments would refuse them readmission to the countries.
In Raleigh, newly inaugurated Governor William B. Umstead was reported ill this date, as the General Assembly prepared to meet for a night session. The Governor's personal physician said that he had suffered a mild heart attack but that his condition had improved since he had been admitted to the hospital the previous morning with what was first described as an aggravated cough. The doctor said that the Governor would have to undergo a period of rest.
The flag in front of the Governor's mansion had dropped to half-staff this date after a knot slipped in the rope, causing a quick flurry of concern from telephone callers in Raleigh, given the Governor's reported illness. The mansion hostess said she sent employees out to correct the position of the flag, as she remained busy answering the phones.
The ghost attending the flag apparently knew more about the new Governor's health than did the people, as he had only 22 months to live.
In Winston-Salem, P. Frank Hanes announced his intention to retire from the board of directors of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., to be succeeded by Kenneth Hoover. Mr. Hanes was vice-president and general counsel of the company and Mr. Hoover was director of research.
In Morganton, a high school boy, lost overnight in the Steel Creek Gorge area, had wandered back into civilization during the morning at approximately the same point where his five companions had the previous afternoon, after they became separated during a snowstorm. The 17-year old appeared all right, except for exposure and cuts and scratches.
Rain and snow hit both seaboards this date, but without the violence of the previous week's storms, which had taken 39 lives and caused millions of dollars in property damage. Southwest Virginia had its heaviest snowstorm of the year, with more than eight inches of accumulation in Lee County. It was snowing again in the Northeast, where as much as 20 inches had fallen the previous week. Precipitation was mainly in the form of rain along the East Coast below New York. There were moderate to heavy rain showers in the Far West, from Northern California to Washington, but without the heavy winds which had caused landslides, blocked railways, highways and blown down power lines the previous weekend. The mayor of Redondo Beach, California, had reported 15 million dollars in damage from waves which had crashed over ocean-front property during the weekend, and had asked Governor Earl Warren to declare the community a disaster area. Similar damage was reported from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Winds of up to 95 mph had been recorded on Saturday at Aberdeen, Washington. Moderate temperatures prevailed over most of the nation, with 68 being recorded in Billings, and 62 in Great Falls, Mont., and 83 in Phoenix and Yuma, Ariz., the warmest January 11 on record there. By contrast, in Havre, Mont, only a short distance north of Great Falls, it was 8 degrees, and in Atlanta, it was 28 on Sunday night, the city's second coldest temperature of the year. Fog shut down La Guardia and Idlewild Airports in New York for several hours on Sunday, and ice, loosened by drizzle and falling from the superstructure, had forced the overnight closure on Saturday of the George Washington Bridge between New York and New Jersey.
In Ratio, Ark., ten men would carry a 565-pound corpse to its final resting place, in a custom-built 545-pound coffin this date. The 66-year old tenant farmer had died of natural causes the previous Monday, but his funeral had to be postponed while the special casket was constructed. It would have to be taken directly to the grave because it was too big to fit through any local church door. It would be transported by truck as it could not fit into a hearse.
A serialized presentation of The Fat Boy's Book, by Elmer
Wheeler
If you are a fat slob
On the editorial page, "Tighter Beer, Wine Laws Needed" indicates that the prohibition forces in the state were supporting the proposed statewide referendum to eliminate local option and the ABC system of controlled alcohol sales within the communities so voting. In Virginia, there was also an ABC system, and prohibition had ceased to be an issue. Chester Davis of the Winston-Salem Journal-Sentinel had gone to Raleigh and Richmond to determine the distinction causing the prohibition movement to flourish in North Carolina and not in Virginia. He had come to the conclusion that failure to control beer and wine sales in North Carolina was the main source of the prohibition argument. In addition, North Carolina had less experienced administrators, too much politics, low salaries and poor training for beer inspectors, and allowed the sale of beer at drive-ins and other places where food was not served, under a confusing set of laws.
The piece hopes that the referendum would not be authorized and that instead the General Assembly would do something about improving the regulation of sales of beer and wine. It indicates that the "beer joint" had no place in the state, was a constant source of disturbance and annoyance. Better regulation and control of beer and wine was not a problem requiring complicated remedy, the solution being to provide a set of rigorous laws, administered by competent and experienced persons who understood their task, to represent the people and not the beer and wine industry.
"Merchants' Stake in Charlotte's Progress" indicates that the 1950 census had shown that the population of the 30 largest cities in the nation had risen by 11 percent in the previous decade, while the population of the suburbs of those cities had risen by 37 percent. Almost 75 percent of the urban population of cities over 50,000 lived outside the city limits. The number of registered motor vehicles during the prior decade had risen by more than 50 percent, from 32 million to just under 50 million. It all added up to the notion that people were moving from the city into the suburbs, where new shopping centers were being built to attract them.
While that was comfortable for the residents, with less crowded city living and fewer traffic jams with which to contend, it was hard on the merchants and those who remained in town. In Washington, for example, the ten leading downtown department stores had recently reported a million dollars less in business during December than two years earlier, primarily, according to the Washington Post, because of rival stores in the suburbs opening the previous fall.
It posits that the alternative to long-range planning and development was decay of the city's heart. Thus, it was important to business that bus services and downtown parking facilities be expanded, that slums be cleared and streets widened, and that city and county government and finances be adjusted to the times.
"Georgia Republicans on the Move" indicates that in a recent editorial, it had noted the contrast of the continued activity by Florida Republicans after the fall election, to take advantage of the strong showing by General Eisenhower in the South, compared to the relative lethargy of North Carolina Republicans in that regard. It now finds that Georgia Republicans were also setting a fast pace for developing their party at the state and local levels.
M. L. St. John, a political reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, had completed checking on Republican activities in Georgia and found that a full-time headquarters had been established in Atlanta, that the office handled arrangements for Georgians going to Washington for the inauguration and was at work on a detailed analysis of the election to enable consolidation of Republican gains in the state, that a former Cordele newspaper publisher had been employed to help improve the Republican Party publication in the state, and that Republicans were making plans for a bid for a Congressional seat left vacant by the death of Democratic Representative Eugene Cox.
It finds that this activity should be another reminder to North Carolina Republicans that a major party had to be built from the grassroots and not from the top down.
"Responsibility for Military Desertions" finds the President's comments on military desertions, blaming the Chicago Tribune, the Scripps-Howard and Hearst newspaper syndicates, and General MacArthur's insubordination to the President for the increased rate, to have been "bitter and irresponsible".
It finds that one of the greatest shortcomings of the Truman Administration had been its inability to sell the public on its international policy, and attributes the desertion rate, in part, to that inability, along with the natural resentment of those drafted to fight in a war which was involving hardship but little glory, as well as the resentment created by the opponents of the Administration. It finds the attribution of responsibility to the right-wing press and General MacArthur to be a form of "buck-passing" which fooled no one. It also finds the spectacle of the President and a great General of the Army brawling in public to be disheartening and disappointing to the American people, who had a right to expect better.
A piece from the Rocky Mount Telegram, titled "Air Conditioning with Trees", tells of John H. Harris of N.C. State having advised, based on the American Association of Nurserymen, planting by homeowners of evergreens on the north, northeast and northwest sides of the lot, with the tree-line curving, to divert cold winter winds away from the house, thereby reducing fuel cost by as much as 22.9 percent by reducing wind from 12 to 3 mph at 30 degrees. He also advised planting deciduous trees on the south and west sides, so that in the winter, when they lost their leaves, the homeowner would get the benefit of the sun, while in the summer, the shade of the trees would serve to lower temperatures by 20 to 40 degrees. He advised not planting evergreens to shade the house, as it made it too dark and cold in the winter. He also indicated that a low hedge to divert the movement of cold air around certain areas could leave the lowest part of the yard open so that cold air could drain out, avoiding early light frosts.
Drew Pearson informs that Italian and Allied authorities believed that they had pieced together part of the facts by which Soviet agents had enticed nuclear physicist Bruno Pontecorvo behind the Iron Curtain, had inveigled two British diplomats, Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean, from London, and had kidnapped Noel Field, a former State Department employee. They believed that all of the incidents related back to a top Soviet agent in Western Europe, known by the name "H. Karl", though with many aliases. He spoke six languages, was supposed to have been born in Austria, had begun his spy work with the Nazis, with Admiral Canaris's spy group in the Middle East and reportedly had been responsible for planting an Albanian valet with the British Ambassador in Istanbul, permitting Hitler to obtain the British secret code and some of the Allies' major war secrets, and was generally the most accomplished spy in Europe. Early in 1944, he had been captured by the Russians or decided to switch sides, and had since become one of Russia's top agents. He had been in Prague when Mr. Field was kidnapped and also was believed to have been instrumental in enticing other members of the Field family behind the Iron Curtain by the hope thereby of effecting his rescue.
He had been given almost sole credit by the Allied authorities for sneaking Mr. Pontecorvo and his secret for the hydrogen bomb out of England and behind the Iron Curtain. Unlike the others, Mr. Pontecorvo had taken his family with him, thus appearing to have made the trip deliberately, with the expectation of financial reward from the Russians.
It was believed that the British diplomats, Messrs. Burgess and MacLean, had been lured to a point near Udine, Italy, through a combination of blackmail and bribery, accomplished through their homosexuality, and from there were flown by private plane to Communist territory in Austria.
Mr. Pearson provides a detailed description of Mr. Karl—should you run into him.
Vice-President-elect Nixon would be allowed to keep his Senate office until the date of the inauguration on January 20, despite the fact that Governor Earl Warren had already appointed his successor in the Senate.
Speaker of the House Joe Martin was being besieged with requests from Republican Congressmen for a position on HUAC, all desirous of trying to emulate former Congressman Nixon and thereby gain passage into the Senate. (Had they been blessed with augury, they would have realized it would eventually land them in the dog pound, with a slated meeting before Congressman Peter Rodino's Judiciary Committee, 21 years hence.)
Friends of Senator Taft had said that his great ambition in life was to be appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as had been his father eight years after his Presidency, appointed by President Warren Harding. The Senator would die in July, just six weeks before the death of Chief Justice Fred Vinson.
Marquis Childs indicates that with the appointment of CIA director Walter Bedell Smith to become Undersecretary of State in the Eisenhower Administration, Allen Dulles, younger brother of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, would become acting director of the CIA, to be appointed permanently to the post later, thus creating a family connection between the foreign policy-making arm of the Government in the State Department and the data-gathering and foreign policy implementation arm of the Government in the CIA. In addition, the CIA initiated "black propaganda", to throw off balance Communism at strategic points, by direct action through secret operations.
Both brothers Dulles tended to be activists in foreign policy and skeptical of the policy of containment of Communism, as practiced by the Truman Administration. During the campaign, President-elect Eisenhower had said the prior September that there was a need to stir resistance in the satellite countries as preparation for throwing off the Soviet yoke. The statement had produced a strong reaction from many who believed it would lead to uprisings doomed to failure and thus would be suicidal. General Eisenhower did not repeat the sentiment again during the campaign. John Foster Dulles told associates that the bad reaction was the result of "hot language" put into the speech by professional speechwriters.
Both brothers had wide experience in foreign policy, their interest deriving from the fact that their grandfather and uncle had both been Secretaries of State. Allen Dulles had been an American foreign service officer in various capacities in Europe until his resignation in 1926, at which point he joined the international law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, of which his older brother eventually became a senior partner. He spent most of World War II in Switzerland working for the OSS, developing extraordinary channels of information directly into the German Chancellery, with intelligence agents all over Europe delivering to him vital information which he provided to Washington. Recently, he had made a ten-day visit to Tokyo, where he visited his only son, a young lieutenant in the Marines in Korea, who was slowly recovering from severe head wounds suffered six weeks earlier during a patrol.
The younger sister of the two brothers, Eleanor Lansing Dulles, had recently been with the National Production Authority as an expert on Germany and Austria, and was presently in the State Department as a special assistant to the director of the German Economic Affairs Office. She had also taken part in international conferences in various parts of the world.
Frederick C. Othman indicates that in the first week of the new Congress, 1,000 bills had been put forward, most of which would wind up in the trash bin. He had spent the day combing through these bills and had found only one, sponsored by New Jersey Republican Congressman James Auchincloss, which could save the taxpayers money, that one proposing to transfer authority for the District of Columbia's dog pound to a private, nonprofit business. (Mr. Auchincloss, incidentally, was the first cousin of Hugh Auchincloss, Jr., second husband to the mother of Jacqueline Bouvier, to be married the following September to Senator John F. Kennedy.)
Mr. Othman had also found a few other bills which he could approve in a negative way, which would not cost anything, such as one proposed by Senators J. Allen Frear, Jr., and John Williams, both of Delaware, to turn Thanksgiving week into National Homemakers Week, to do honor to the nation's housewives.
Another was proposed by Congressman Dean Taylor of New York, to make the speed limit and the left-turn signal uniform throughout the nation.
Congressman Peter Rodino, Jr., of New York—chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in summer, 1974 at the time it voted articles of impeachment against President Nixon, prompting the latter's sensible resignation a few days later—proposed to provide 300,000 visas to German, Italian, Greek and Dutch refugees.
Incidentally, to the morons who were so impressed by the appearance of Trumpety-Dumpety—suddenly, for odd reasons, having become a football fan, especially taking an interest in L.S.U. football, during the past month or so—, at the national championship game between L.S.U. and Clemson last night, it did not do Mr. Nixon any good, in the end, to schmooze with Deep South football fans, already in his corner, for the sake of television appeal to morons, either. It only gave college football a black-eye for a bit, in the view of the majority of the country. It is one thing for a President to attend, in a dignified manner, a sporting event of his choosing, to be announced to the crowd as being in attendance, perhaps to participate in the coin toss
Congressman Kenneth Keating of New York proposed to make five-per centers, that is peddlers of Government influence, sign an official register to let the Government know with whom it was dealing.
Congressman Paul Cunningham of Iowa wanted to make every first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in every even-numbered year a legal holiday for "National Election Day".
Congressman Bernard Kearney of New York wanted to make it a crime to wear phony medals or for phony soldiers to wear real medals.
Congressman George Dondero wanted to prohibit the census taker from asking any citizen how much money he earned.
He finds that those were about the only bills which had been introduced which would not affect the taxpayers' pocketbooks. He then cites a few which would be costly, such as that of Congressman Charles Howell of New Jersey, who wanted to build a "grand opry house"; Congressman Thomas Lane of Massachusetts, who wanted the Government to buy worsted goods; Congressman Emanuel Celler, who wanted salaries of Supreme Court Justices raised from $25,500 to $35,000 per year, while Congressman Cunningham wanted to raise the salaries to $40,000; Congressman Franklin D Roosevelt, Jr., of New York, who wanted to make all former Presidents and Vice-Presidents Senators-at-Large, without the ability to vote, while receiving a salary of $25,000 per year.
A number of members wanted to reduce taxes on such items as movie tickets, cheap cigarettes, ladies' handbags, suitcases and of breadwinners.
A letter writer from Boiling Springs, N.C., responds to a letter of January 7, which had remarked adversely on Billy Graham, saying that it was usually the people who loved to sin who objected to the sermons of "God-called men like Billy Graham". He indicates that any fair-minded person knew that sin led to the downfall of any nation, and he indicates fear that America would be no exception if it continued in "the paths of sin". He thinks that people of the viewpoint of the previous writer could not be told anything and would have to learn by experience at "the final day of judgment". He also urges the writer to investigate Bishop Sheen and Reverend Graham and find out which of the two based their teaching on God's word. He concludes that the writer probably did not believe in the Bible and therefore would not know the difference.
"Judge not that ye be not judged."
A letter from four soldiers from Fort Jackson, S.C., also remarks on the same letter, finding the statements about Billy Graham to "stink". They find the writer's narrow-mindedness to be a "perfect example of how the Communists and others have gotten such a stronghold in our government." They indicate that Rev. Graham had a wonderful crusade going on, and that when they were in Korea five weeks earlier, they had seen the results of his "sin-shouting" to be enough to make hundreds of mothers of soldiers in Korea proud of his efforts to guide their sons in the right way. They think it "pretty cheap" of the "jerk" who had previously written to condemn the work of a man of God.
"Take heed that ye do not your almsgiving before men, to be seen by them; otherwise ye have no reward from your Father who is in Heaven."
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
In other words, don't go around wearing your religion on your sleeve, lest you be judged a royal hypocrite, especially while condemning others for mere expression of an opinion.
A letter from the Secretary of the Charlotte-Piedmont Better Business Bureau responds to the letter from Cyril Clemens, relative of Mark Twain, who, in a January 7 letter, had sought anecdotes from readers for his journal. He indicates that Mr. Clemens solicited authors to accept "honorary" membership in his International Mark Twain Society, and then suggested a donation, which was followed by more requests for donations. He says that direct descendants of Mark Twain had condemned the activity, indicating that Mr. Clemens had no substantial standing.
A letter writer indicates that her home was a Christian home, where parents never uttered an unkind word or cursed, went to church with the children, suggests that if parents would go to church and take their family with them, there would be less crime and more Christian homes.
A letter from the executive secretary of the Mecklenburg County Tuberculosis and Health Association expresses gratitude to the newspaper for its support in the 1952 Christmas Seal campaign, helping to make the campaign a success.
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