The Charlotte News
Tuesday, September 29, 1953
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in Paris, the Soviet Union had proposed two international conferences, a Big Four meeting regarding Germany, and a five-power meeting, including Communist China, to discuss overall world tensions. The proposals were in reply to invitations put forward by the U.S., Britain and France to meet on October 15 in Switzerland in conference to discuss German and Austrian treaties. There was nothing especially new in the Soviet proposal. It appeared implicitly to reject the Western invitation, tendered on September 2, for a Big Four foreign ministers' conference to discuss the deadlocked Austrian independence treaty at the same time of discussion regarding Germany.
In Panmunjom, the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission said this date that the start of the 90-day period of explanations to the allied and Communist war prisoners who had refused repatriation might be delayed again, this time by dispute regarding facilities. The start of the program of explanation to the prisoners, an effort to get them to return to their homelands, was scheduled to start the prior Saturday but had been postponed until Thursday of the present week regarding a dispute over ground rules. An Indian spokesman for the Commission said that both sides wanted extensive changes in the ground rules, especially regarding the facilities to be used for the interviews, perhaps necessitating further postponement.
Pyongyang radio had said this night that North Korea's Premier Kim Il Sung had returned to the capital this date by train from Russia. The radio broadcast was monitored from Tokyo. He had stayed in Moscow for two weeks, negotiating a 250 million dollar financial aid package for North Korea to aid in its recovery from the war.
In Warsaw, the Communist Government had barred Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, head of Poland's Roman Catholic Church, from exercise of his church lay offices and confined him to a monastery. Almost all of the 24 million people in Poland were Catholic. At the Vatican, official sources said that only the Pope could appoint or remove the leader of the church in any country and that no government could do so, that it would not recognize the act. The announcement on Polish radio indicated that the Cardinal had been charged with breaking provisions of the 1950 agreement between state and church, whereby the Catholic hierarchy accepted allegiance to the Communist regime and the Government promised measures of religious freedom and respect for the Pope's authority. The previous February, however, the Government had announced that it had to approve all church appointments, transfers, releases and creation or abolition of clerical posts. The Cardinal was the third prelate to be restricted by a Communist government. Hungary had sentenced Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty to life imprisonment in February, 1949, for anti-state activities, and Yugoslavia had sentenced Archbishop Alojzijc Stepinac, later made a Cardinal, to 16 years on charges of collaborating with the Nazis, subsequently freeing him in 1951 but confining him to his home village. Czechoslovakia had also banished Archbishop Josef Beran from his Prague diocese for showing an uncooperative attitude.
Supreme Court Justice Harold Burton swore in a new 12-member commission on Government reorganization, again headed by former President Herbert Hoover, as he had headed the 1947 commission appointed by President Truman for the same purpose. The law creating the new commission directed it to submit its final report not later than May 31, 1955. Senator John McClellan of Arkansas, who had been a member of the old commission and was also on the new one, said in an interview that he intended to urge the commission not only to make recommendations for reorganization but to draft legislation or propose executive orders to submit with the report. The Democrats on the commission, other than Senator McClellan, were Representative Chet Holifield of California, Robert Storey, dean of Southern Methodist University Law School in Dallas, James Farley, former Postmaster General and DNC chairman, and Joseph P. Kennedy, former Ambassador to Britain. The Republicans, in addition to Mr. Hoover, included Attorney General Herbert Brownell, defense mobilization director Arthur Flemming, Representative Clarence Brown of Ohio, Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan, Solomon Hollister, dean of the School of Civil Engineering at Cornell, and Sidney Mitchell, a New York investment banker. The President was present at the ceremony.
In Washington, Senator Joseph McCarthy, 43, married Jean Kerr, 29, his former secretary, at St. Matthews Roman Catholic Cathedral, outside of which had gathered thousands of well-wishers. Most of the top figures in Washington had attended the wedding, with nearly every seat among the 900 in the Cathedral filled. The President and Mrs. Eisenhower had sent their regrets, but Vice-President and Mrs. Nixon, along with several Cabinet officers and their wives, had been present. It was the first marriage for each.
In Kansas City, millionaire parents of a six-year old boy, kidnapped by a woman who had prayed before the abduction, said this date that they were willing to go to any lengths to obtain the return of their child. They indicated that no ransom note had yet been received. The boy had been lured from his classroom at a private Catholic school on the ruse that the boy's mother had suffered a heart attack, communicated to a nun by the woman, claiming to be the boy's aunt. The nun had suggested that she pray for the mother of the boy in the school chapel while she waited for the boy to be called from class, and she had walked into the chapel, knelt and apparently prayed. She said upon leaving the school that she was not Catholic but hoped that God had heard her prayers. The father of the boy was a prominent Cadillac dealer in the city. Maybe, she was just praying for a new Cadillac as the ransom. It's okay. Everybody needs a Cadillac.
In Durban, South Africa, police said this date that an eight-year old white girl had been found in a remote native reserve in northern Natal, where white men rarely visited. She spoke only Zulu and answered to the name of "Queenie". Police believed that she had been "boarded out" in the village. She was living with an old woman whose hut was much better supplied than those of her neighbors. A children's court would decide her future if no one claimed her.
Dick Young of The News indicates that during the previous hundred years, 38 men had served as the Mayor of Charlotte, with the title having been "Intendant" prior to 1861. He provides some of the history of the office and its occupants, as told through pictures on the walls of the City Council chamber. A photograph of part of the gallery, with the current Mayor, Philip Van Every, standing by, is included.
In Santa Monica, Shirley Temple, 25, was expecting a baby the following March with her husband, Charles Black. It would be her third child and was expected to be by cesarean section. One of her prior children was by her first husband, John Agar. We shall look forward to that event. You were so cute when you were little. What happened? Grew up and decided to be a Republican politician. Tut-tut.
On the editorial page, "Vote 'Yes' on Bond Issues Saturday" urges voting in the affirmative for the 72 million dollar bond issue the following Saturday, 50 million of which would be for school buildings and 22 million for the improvement of mental institutions. It provides its reasoning.
"At Last, a Deal for Spanish Bases" indicates that in the worldwide struggle between democracy and Russian imperialism, the U.S. had stopped examining closely the credentials of its allies, from Chiang Kai-shek on the right to Marshal Tito on the left, and many in the middle. As long as they were anti-Russian, they were worthy to a degree of alliance.
Thus, it had only been a matter of time before a deal with Spain would be negotiated. After four years of negotiations, delayed by the insistence of Generalissimo Francisco Franco to try to out-maneuver the U.S. in its effort to obtain bases in Spain in exchange for aid, an agreement had been struck under which Spain would receive 226 million dollars in economic and military aid and the U.S. would obtain five Spanish ports and several airfields.
It posits that from the American point of view, the deal appeared advantageous, as Spain could be defended more easily than any other part of Western Europe in the event of a Russian offensive. It would also provide a supply base and staging area for land, naval and air offensive operations if needed. Its airfields, like those of France, were well situated for retaliatory strikes against Russia. There were also disadvantages in that Generalissimo Franco was still anathema to many individuals and groups in the free world because of his totalitarianism, resembling Nazism and Fascism. France and Britain would not like the deal, not only because they disapproved of Franco as a dictator, but also because it implied that the U.S. expected Russia to sweep across Western Europe without much trouble, with the U.S. then forced to retaliate from the bastion within Spain, protected on the north by the Pyrenees and on the east, south and west by ocean. It finds that astute diplomacy could allay both suspicions and fears among the Allies, provided they were told frankly and forcefully that the stakes of the war against Communism dictated the alliance with Franco, just as it had with Tito. It suggests that they ought also be told that neither arrangement meant reduction of the U.S. standard of freedom and justice for all.
Incidentally, speaking of dictators, to you stupes in your stupors, Trumpie-dumpy-do troopers, just so you won't get your hopes up and then have to cry in your beer all through January 'til the Super Bowl, this claim
One thing the Onionized Asinine News moderator said which was accurate was that it is an eighth-grade civics lesson which Mr. Brooks proposes to impart—which implies, sub rosa, the unstated punchline, that which is the specialty of Onionized Asinine News, those characters—wait for it—, only it being the eighth grade in Trumpie-Dumpy-Doville School, where democratic majorities count for nothing and dictatorial rule is the name of the game, claiming "socialism" of the opposition, just as do all dumpy-do fascist dictators who suffer the Great Fall.
"Much Ado about a Simple Matter" indicates that the argument regarding closing of offices in the County Courthouse seemed to be getting nowhere, that the County Commissioners, with one member absent, had split two to two on the issue, and that the final decision had been deferred until the next meeting when all five members would be present.
We hope you work that out.
"Halfway Job" notes that workmen had begun cleaning the exterior of the County Courthouse, a long-overdue job. The inside was even worse, "dirty, smoky, disreputable." It suggests therefore also patching and painting the interior.
A piece from the Richmond News Leader, titled "Mr. Botts Would Be Dismayed", tells of a story on its front page recently which had told of an excursion by 60 salesmen of the Southern States Co-operative, in town for a two-day meeting, given five dollars apiece and sent out to purchase as much as they could from Richmond sales clerks and merchants, finding at the end that of the $300 with which they had started, they had spent only about a third, concluding that salesmanship in Richmond was weak and feeble.
It relates that it was a common experience among the people of Richmond to find personnel in the stores unwilling to make an effort to sell merchandise to customers. Others related of having difficulty getting sales clerks to stop chatting with one another long enough to talk to the customer. "There is the customer, ready to spend his money—and there are other clerks going yakity-yak, with no apparent inclination to abandon their gossip."
It finds that there had been a time
when American salesmanship had been a national characteristic, that
Alexander Botts, master salesman of Earthworm Tractors
A piece from the Congressional Quarterly looks at the voting records of Senators Clyde Hoey and Alton Lennon, as compared to other Senators. Senator Lennon had been appointed in July, in the wake of the death of Senator Willis Smith in June, and so had only served in the Senate for a short period before the August 2 recess until January. Senator Hoey had voted with his party on 69 percent of the 89 roll call votes during the first session, and Senator Lennon had voted with the Democrats 61 percent of the time on the votes in which he had participated. The overall average for party-aligned voting in the Senate was 65.97 percent.
Senator John Sparkman of Alabama had voted most often with Democrats, 82 percent of the time, with Senator Wallace Bennett of Utah, at 93 percent, registering the high among Republicans. The late Senators Charles Tobey and Robert Taft had been among the lower Republicans voting with their party, at 18 and 36 percent, respectively.
On party unity, Senator Hoey scored 50 percent, the same as Senator Lennon, while Senator Hoey's party unity score had been 65 percent in the previous Congress.
Regarding bipartisan support, Senator Hoey had scored 88 percent, compared to the Senate composite score of 78.46 percent, while Senator Lennon had scored 67 percent.
For both of the latter two categories, it also lists other Senators who were high and low in each party.
Drew Pearson indicates that Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, leader of the Southern Democrats, had written a four-page letter to Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, berating him for his softness toward prisoners of war who had been collaborators in Korea, demanding that they be dishonorably discharged if shown to have signed false confessions or become informers on fellow prisoners during their captivity. It was the inside reason why Secretary Wilson had suddenly shifted to a tougher policy toward such prisoners. Previously, he had taken the advice of the Armed Forces Policy Council, which had argued that some prisoners had been tortured and brainwashed beyond endurance and were not mentally responsible for their actions, thus ordering the services to consider each case separately and sympathetically. He quotes from Senator Russell's letter. The Senator had also telephoned Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Arthur Radford and provided him the same view, the Admiral listening sympathetically but passing the buck to Mr. Wilson. Mr. Pearson notes that the U.S. had asked the British to crack down on Alan Whinnington, a correspondent for the London Daily Worker, who had helped torture American fliers into confessing a part in dropping supposed germ warfare bombs.
Senate Labor Committee chairman Alexander Smith of New Jersey had urged the White House not to name a new Secretary of Labor to replace resigned Martin Durkin until Congress returned to session in January. He had argued that a longer period would provide opponents with too much time to dig up ammunition against the appointee.
Roy Cohn, counsel to Senator McCarthy, had been trying to keep quiet the fact that he had almost been fired from the Justice Department until his father, a Democratic politician, had pulled strings to get him appointed to the New York District Attorney's office. He was then threatened with firing from that office until his father again stepped in, prompting Attorney General James McGranery to transfer him out of the jurisdiction, until the latter also became fed up with him and told him bluntly that he had two days to leave. Mr. Cohn then begged to stay on until he could transfer to the McCarthy committee. Mr. Pearson indicates that another McCarthy assistant, Don Surine, had been fired from the FBI for conspiring with a woman in a white slavery case, a matter of sworn testimony in U.S. District Court.
German and Austrian diplomats were urging a new effort to negotiate peace between the West and the Soviet Union, asking both to withdraw their forces from the two countries, and assuring that they would then guarantee strict neutrality in the power struggle. The British appeared to favor the plan and were talking about combining it with a non-aggression pact to form an armistice in the cold war. To promote the plan and make it more attractive to the U.S., the British would be willing to go along with U.S. foreign policy in the Far East. The German and Austrian diplomats argued that Russia was so preoccupied with its domestic troubles that it might be willing to end the cold war. Mr. Pearson indicates that the chief problem with the proposal was that the Red Army only needed to withdraw a few miles into Poland across the border from Germany and a few miles into Hungary and Czechoslovakia across the border from Austria, able then to return to Austria within a few hours, whereas the U.S. Army would have to withdraw either to bases in France, which was not receptive to the idea of having U.S. troops, or retreat across the Atlantic.
Senator William Benton of Connecticut had been caught in France during the recent French strikes, with no way to send dictaphone records of letters and memos back to his Senate office. Adlai Stevenson, during his trip around the world, happened to be passing through and took Senator Benton's dictaphone records home with him.
With the mobilization program reduced, U.S. manufacturers were demanding that the Government spend all of its defense money within the country. Previously, 1.5 billion dollars had been allocated for contracts in overseas plants, but producers were now seeking to have that money spent within the U.S. to maintain production lines in operation. Secretary of Defense Wilson had pointed out, however, that it was cheaper to place the contracts in Europe where production costs were lower.
Stewart Alsop indicates that there was an expectancy in Washington of great decisions coming from the Administration, following a National Security Council meeting the previous Thursday, accompanied by speeches by the President and Secretary of State Dulles, the meeting having concerned defense of the continent against Soviet air-atomic attack. One of the decisions which appeared to have been made was to establish an early warning radar system against airborne attack, along the so-called McGill line across northern Canada, with extra protection afforded by radar-equipped picket ships in the Pacific and Atlantic. That was in accord with the recommendations of Project Lincoln and the other committees which had been formed after it to examine the problem of meeting the air-atomic capability of Russia. It would provide sufficient warning for the target cities so that evacuation could be attempted in the face of such an attack, and it would increase the effectiveness of the inadequate existing air defenses of the continent. It would also be relatively cheap to construct, with the first year of radar installations running only a fraction of a billion dollars.
The second step in the program would
be to provide the country with the means to respond effectively to
such an attack, but that seemed unlikely of coming to fruition. The
Defense Department believed that aside from national mobilization,
little more could be done to increase air defenses than was already
contemplated, that much of the equipment recommended by Project
Lincoln and the other reports was still being developed, and to try to
construct such a system at present would mean purchase of obsolescent
equipment which would only give the country a false sense of
security. Moreover, manpower, rather than cost, was an obstacle, as
the Air Force was reaching the bottom of the post-Korean manpower
reserve. In addition, the proponents of the continental defense
system admitted that it would be useless against the ballistic
missile, which the U.S. hoped to have, capable of delivering atomic
warheads, by 1960. It was likely that the Soviets would not be far
behind in that effort, and one study prepared for the Joint Chiefs
had set 1957-58 as the earliest date for Soviet ballistic missiles to
be in operation. (Sputnik, 1957—bingo
The final decision rested with the President and, suggests Mr. Alsop, as he considered the difficulties of the program of continental defense, he might recall the words of an old friend, Winston Churchill, who had said during the war, "Survival can be an end in itself."
Robert C. Ruark, in Munich, in the second of a series of seven columns in which he provides the results of an interview with Maj. General Kenneth Cramer, commanding general of U.S. occupation forces in Germany, Southern Area Command, exploring the destruction of morale among the officers and men, suggests that Munich was conducive to high morale among the occupation troops, that the housing was permanent, the duties non-dangerous, the hours regular, and the assignment for three years. There was a small PX on the post and a big one in town, with everything available from cars to radios to soap and candy. Every third building in town appeared to be either a cabaret, bar, beer garden, gasthaus or nightclub. "The gay ladies of the evening are as numerous as starlings in the street." No effort had been made by the Army to curb their solicitations.
The men of the Command worked a 48-hour week compressed into five working days, with two afternoons and Sundays off. To ensure that the maximum work was done during the work hours, General Cramer had removed soft drink machines from the corridors of Army office buildings, as he believed there was too much idle time spent during work hours sipping Cokes. He also had denied the right of most personnel to leave the post during working hours and had placed the PX and snack bar off limits except during the lunch hour. There was no more formal coffee hour for most personnel and bus service to town had been curtailed, with taxis forbidden to enter the compound. Uniforms had to be worn at all times in the city, even when off-duty, and only recently had less formal working attire been approved for off-duty officers.
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