The Charlotte News
Thursday, January 31, 1957
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President this date had asked for changes in the immigration laws to make it easier to provide haven to refugees who had fled or in the future would flee from Communist tyranny, in his 2,000-word special message to Congress. He called for general revisions of the law to allow about 65,000 more immigrants to come to the country each year. The present annual quota of 154,857 was based on the 1920 census, and the President asked that the quotas be updated to the 1950 census. He called for redistribution of the immigration quota "in proportion to the actual immigration" from 1924 through July 1, 1955. An effect of such a policy would be to increase the number of southern Europeans and Mediterranean peoples permitted to emigrate, as the number of immigrants from those areas had been greater in recent years than in the earlier period on which quotas were presently based. The President said that Congress ought pool the unused quota numbers for Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific area, making them available on a first-come, first-served basis without regard to where a person was born. That would open the way for admittance of additional southern Europeans because, currently, the unused quotas had been those of northern European countries. The President said that "mortgages" on quotas ought be eliminated, having derived from special cases where immigrants were permitted on the basis of their being counted against their country's quotas of future years. The President also indicated that provisions ought be made for the annual admission of orphans because there were many Americans eager to adopt children from abroad.
The President accepted the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed this date, effective February 25. Justice Reed, 72, had been appointed by FDR in 1938. The successor would be the President's fourth appointment to the Court, the White House indicating that it had nothing to announce regarding who the successor might be. Justice Reed was taking advantage of a provision in the law which allowed him to retire at full pay, being subject to call for occasional service. The President said in a letter to the Justice that he congratulated him on his "long and splendid record in public service." His successor would be Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Charles Whittaker.
In Venice, Italy, in the trial of the jazz piano player, son of a former foreign minister, charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 20-year old woman whose body was found on a beach outside a wealthy playboy's hunting lodge in 1953, a young policeman testified that the young woman had been engaged to him, was "a good girl" and that her death "must have been an accident." When asked whether he had ever become intimate with her, he said that she would not have permitted it and that their love was platonic. He said that he was not aware of her being courted by anyone else. He thus supported the testimony given the previous day by the young woman's parents that their daughter did not lead a double life before her death. Witnesses at a preliminary investigation into the death had stated that she had collapsed at a wild narcotics party and that the jazz pianist had been present, though he had testified in the trial that he was a long distance away in another town, and had witnesses to corroborate his alibi. Some of the witnesses at the original inquest were facing perjury charges in the current trial. The star witness in the case was yet to be called. She had testified originally that the playboy headed a narcotics ring and described herself as the playboy's mistress, that the jazz pianist was the "assassin" for the ring. The playboy had testified, as had the jazz pianist, that he had never met the deceased.
In Chicago, a broken-hearted mother expressed thanks to newspapers this date for their relentless digging for facts to support her claim that her two dead daughters were good and not drinkers on skid row. A skid row vagrant, known as "Bennie the Dishwasher", who was illiterate, had said that he and a friend had dumped the bodies of the two girls into a road after living with them in seamy hotels. Their mother challenged the confession as a pack of lies, and the vagrant had recanted the admissions, saying that he had based the account on what skid row people had told him of the case.
Emergency aid had been rushed into the Appalachian Mountain coal mining region this date, where thousands of persons in four states were homeless and whole towns had been stricken by winter flooding. High waters which had left at least 11 dead in two states, with eight in Kentucky and three in West Virginia, and damage running into the millions of dollars, had raced downstream this date, threatening havoc on yet more communities. The flood, which swept suddenly out of the mountains into southeastern Kentucky, West Virginia, southern Virginia and east Tennessee, had already been recorded as the region's worst flood of the century, if not in history. Governor Cecil Underwood of West Virginia the previous night had joined Kentucky's Governor A. B. Chandler in requesting from the President receipt of emergency aid.
Hazard, Ky., was now a town of slime, death and grimness, with receding waters having revealed five deaths and the coal-mining town left in shambles by the worst flood there since 1927. The flood waters in the downtown area had ranged in depth from one foot to more than ten, persisting for 18 hours. An explosion of the town's power plant had cut off all electrical power in the area. The previous night, the town was without electricity, telephone service, and sufficient water, with many of its homeless residents in need of clothing and bedding. No less than 50 homes had been swept away by the flood waters. The 80-bed hospital was without power and much of its laboratory equipment was feared destroyed. Hospital attendants in the maternity ward were keeping premature babies alive with hot-water bottles. Many residents had been unprepared. The flood had topped by four feet the 1927 flood which had risen 34 feet above normal. One shopkeeper, whose place was a total wreck, laughingly pointed to a theater marquee which read, "Away All Boats". Many stories of heroics were told, such as in the case of an elderly couple who had refused to leave their endangered home when an unidentified black man had gone into the home and bodily carried them to safety. Another heroic rescue had ended in tragedy when a black coal miner had gone to the aid of two stranded white women, the black man's boat then having capsized, sweeping him to his death, as the women clung to debris and were picked up by another boat.
In Charlotte, there was a drizzle, with rain having proceeded for the previous 11 days, as the Weather Bureau indicated that showers and drizzles would continue through the following day, with little hope of real improvement by Saturday. In the 24 hours ending in late morning, .33 of an inch had fallen, bringing the monthly total to 2.02 inches, rendering January a relatively dry month, despite the skies having been cloudy most of the time. The rains had begun on January 20, and for a time had been freezing rain, but quickly turned warmer when balmy air mixed with the cold air.
Ann Sawyer of The News reports that Mecklenburg County's current budget had been miscalculated by $118,755, and County Commission chairman Sid McAden this date said that the tax rate should have been two cents higher, but that the miscalculation could be overcome because of extra revenue expected from increased 1956 property valuations.
Charles Kuralt of The News reports that it appeared likely that when the city limits were extended, citizens in the perimeter area would vote separately on whether they wanted their schools to become City schools. State law so provided and the County School superintendent, J. W. Wilson, wanted that to be the case. The General Assembly representative said that he would go along if the City and County school boards agreed on the procedure.
On the editorial page, "A Bigger & Better Passport to Eternity" comments on a news item reporting that the U.S. had found a way to develop more efficient hydrogen bombs. It finds that while bigger and better bombs had been produced, the attitude of the average rank-and-file citizen had not changed very much since Marjorie Lawrence Street had recorded them for a national magazine after the first bomb had been exploded nearly 12 years earlier. At the time, people were saying variously: "Let's not talk about it… The higher ups will solve it… A defense will be found; it always has… They won't dare use it… The U.S. can stay ahead of all enemies… Anyway, we're keeping it secret… And we've never lost a war… We all have to die sometime… You can't change human nature… I'll be dead by then… We ought to bottle up those scientists."
As late as 1956, when Adlai Stevenson had sought to talk about the matter during the presidential campaign, the polls showed that he had lost votes by the carload.
It posits that sooner or later, an intelligent awareness of the social significance of bigger and better bombs had to come. Technical controls would be needed to protect the people until trustworthy political controls could be devised. There was no reason to blame the scientists, as they were exhibiting the most gratifying terror. The next step was to get the rest of the people as intelligently terrified as were the scientists.
"Inflammatory Fluff Must Be Retracted" indicates that previously Charles E. Wilson's talent for loose talk had been matched by his willingness to make gracious, good-humored retractions, but his reluctance to retract his unjustified slur of the National Guard had been surprising. It suggests that it should be taken back.
His previous gaffes had involved only unpopular political opinion, but a general characterization of members of the National Guard as draft-dodgers was silly. The Secretary might believe it, but could not prove it, as he could not assess the motivations of those who enlisted in the Guard.
It finds that there might be merit in the Secretary's proposal to require six months of active duty for those enlisted in the Guard, to beef up the ready reserve, and the question, it suggests, should be decided in the national interest. But Mr. Wilson appeared to have doomed a studied program with an unstudied insult.
"Buck-Passing Solves Nothing at All" indicates that Administration spokesmen were following up on the President's suggestion that labor and management shared much of the responsibility to fight inflation every time they engaged in bargaining.
It finds that it was true that sudden wage fluctuations impacted inflation, but it was equally true that most of the large unions had contracts which would run through the year and wage increases contained in them were largely automatic, thus concluding that solutions to inflation ought begin elsewhere than by passing the buck to labor.
"Jackie Gleason Never Had it So Made" finds that the electronics age had ushered in the new phenomenon of the singing comedian. Recently, the farewell party given in Washington for the retirement of Leonard Hall as RNC chairman had witnessed Mr. Hall singing his own lyrics to the tune of "I'm Looking over a Four-Leaf Clover", with the piece providing those lyrics.
It concludes that all Mr. Hall needed was a summer replacement.
A piece from Challenge, the Magazine of Economic Affairs, titled "How Chimpanzees React to Money", tells of a study conducted in Florida regarding the reaction of chimpanzees to money. Two chimps had been trained to work for poker chips by pressing a lever, with the chips then being used to buy food by putting them through a slot in a plexiglas window, with the animals paid on a time basis and also on a piecework basis. On the time schedule, they were paid after the first lever push following the end of a five minute shift, but were not permitted to spend the money until the close of the hour. Not much work was accomplished under those circumstances. The chimps would not give even make one lever push during the five minute period unless they were permitted to spend their pay more quickly.
On the piecework schedule, the chimps were paid after each 20th push of the lever and could spend their money immediately, with the result that work proceeded at a fast and stable pace. The researcher refrained from drawing any conclusions from the experiments.
The piece indicates that immediate spending power for humans was not as important as an incentive for work as it was for chimpanzees. But there were some similarities, as most humans expected immediate reward, needed to stay alive. Without quick and substantial rewards, very few people would work as hard as they did. It indicates that it was not a chimpanzee who had said that a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, nor was it an economist, concluding that it was probably a psychologist, at least on the basis of the experiment.
Drew Pearson tells of slavery in Saudi Arabia having been heavily criticized by Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon during a closed-door session of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Ambassador Raymond Hare, the envoy to Egypt, was testifying at the time, seeking to defend U.S. policy toward Middle East dictators. Senator Morse had asked whether the U.S. was not supporting totalitarian monarchies in the region, referring primarily to King Saud of Saudi Arabia. The Ambassador had replied in the negative, prompting Senator Morse to ask what would occur if he were to go into the street and criticize one of those governments, with the Ambassador replying that he would get into trouble, with the Senator indicating that he would go to jail. He also asked what would occur if he were a Baptist minister and sought to convert people in Saudi Arabia, with the Ambassador replying that he would get into trouble. Senator Morse concluded that there was no freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia, and that there was also no freedom of press or any other protection similar to that of the U.S. Bill of Rights. The Ambassador agreed, but added that it was changing, in that even the lowliest person could see the King. Senator Morse indicated there was nothing modern about that, that in feudal days, even the lowliest serf could see his lord and master.
Senator Morse inquired of Ambassador Hare as to what effect the Russians were having in the region, and the Ambassador said that the Russians were flooding it with literature, books and propaganda, as well as selling them lots of arms. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas asked whether the U.S. should also not sell them arms rather than giving them away, to which the Ambassador had no conclusive answer.
The Ambassador said, in response to Senator Morse's question as to whether the Russians were making headway in the region, that it would depend on future developments, indicating that he foresaw no impending threat at the moment, but that a lot of developments could come in the future.
When Senator Morse had asked him about slavery, the Ambassador explained that slavery in Saudi Arabia was not as bad as it sounded, that when a child was born to a nobleman, a slave child was placed with him so the children could grow up together. The Ambassador admitted that human beings were bought and sold in Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Pearson indicates that next door, in Kuwait, a British protectorate, the Sheik received about as much in oil royalties as King Saud, approximately 260 million dollars annually, but instead of spending it primarily on defense and on his royal household as did the King, had used the oil money so that every citizen benefited. Children received free education in air-conditioned schools, compared with the children of Saudi Arabia who were over 90 percent illiterate. Parents were paid $65 per year to send their children to school and the schools even had swimming pools. Every resident received free medical service in modern, air-conditioned hospitals, including free eyeglasses and false teeth. Slavery had been wiped out some time earlier.
Edwin Bergamini, music critic for The News, suggests that Charlotte's cultural development was what the city chose to make it, with the community having considerable cultural assets. During the previous decade, the Symphony had become a semi-professional community orchestra with expanded activities. The Music Club had expanded and the Opera Association, Oratorio Singers, Symphonette, Choral Society, Mint Museum, Drama Guild and other groups had been founded. Ovens Auditorium, opening in September, 1955, had made possible the importation of major events and the enhancement of some of the local ones. Community Concerts had also expanded, with some 20 arts groups filling the season.
He foresaw every reason for the growth to continue, with lay people, having been inspired by the artistic people of the community, to be counted on to carry on that which the creative people had founded and nurtured.
He indicates that the cultural picture in the community needed an imported drama series for the Auditorium, with one major orchestra and one major ballet company appearing each season, in addition to the Community Concerts series, plus initiation of summer activities. A shell was needed for Freedom Park for operettas, band concerts and other programs in warm weather. Another smaller concert hall, seating between 600 and 900, for events which could not afford the Auditorium and which did not anticipate an audience to fill it, was also needed. Enlargement of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra by approximately 20 players and improvements of its overall quality were needed, in addition to other such improvements of the Opera Association, the Oratorio Singers, the Choral Society and other choruses.
He indicates that both the Opera and the Symphony had financial troubles and half of their budgets had to come from public contributions, with the need for quality to attract sold-out houses being of prime importance to their financial success, more so than importation of soloists who were known by name.
He suggests that the arts council movement across the country was significant for Charlotte, with over 70 such organizations at present, the Winston-Salem arts council, founded in 1949, having been the earliest still extant. It had grown into an organization raising funds for its member groups. He indicates that considering the success of the annual United Appeal drive in Charlotte, that type of arts council would make sense within the ensuing decade for Charlotte.
He advocates getting teenagers involved in cultural organizations, as they would be the young adults a decade hence, thus needing more opportunity to hear and become familiar with good music. (Well, don't they already listen to Elvis and other such fine music? What do you want?)
He suggests that the churches deserved increased recognition for their cultural contributions to the city, with at least one offering monthly musical programs and a number sponsoring organ recitals. The city had a chapter of the American Guild of Organists and there were a number of fine organs and organists in the community.
The American Symphony Orchestra League, made up of symphony orchestras and similar groups, had shown interest in arts councils, music criticism, and other fields, and its annual convention might be held in Charlotte in 1958, benefiting the Symphony, the Opera Association, the Symphonette and the Fine Arts Council.
He concludes that if all of the people who enjoyed concerts and arts activities were informed and encouraged and made to feel welcome at such events, the problems would go a long way toward being solved.
Hold a contest to meet Elvis, whereby the person making the best guess as to weight would win, at a dollar per guess, to raise money for the Symphony and Opera.
A pome appears from the Atlanta Journal, "In Which Is Contained An Observation Concerning Military Discipline:
"It is not considered cute
If you fail to give salute."
And you might get the boot, Framed Edition
Dropped
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