The Charlotte News
Wednesday, January 1, 1958
ONE EDITORIAL
Site Ed. Note: The front page
reports that Deputy Secretary of Defense Donald Quarles had stated
this date that the results of past weapons research would begin to
show in the nation's defenses in the coming year. In his New Year's
statement, he said, "1958 is a year of promise", adding
that many research projects and many plans the previous year were
becoming realities and would begin to contribute importantly to the
nation's defense posture in the coming year. "In modernizing and
streamlining our armed forces we are adding to our arsenal a number
of important new weapons, such as the intermediate range ballistic
missiles." Pentagon officials had stated that they expected
production of the IRBM's to begin late in the coming year. He said
that the challenge presented by Sputnik and Russia's ballistic
weapons could be a blessing in disguise as they had re-alerted the
free world to the dangers to be faced and directed national defense
back into the first position in the minds of Americans. He said that
until "that happy day
A general spirit of revelry had prevailed across the nation on New Year's Eve, though a somber note was sounded in many quarters, serving to remind mankind that the world was in an uneasy peace. In Colorado Springs, Colo., 23 hardy men, members of the unique Adaman Club, had scaled Pikes Peak and ignited a large fireworks display in a traditional greeting. At Vatican City, as fireworks exploded and a band played, Pope Pius XII the previous night had given his blessing to thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square to celebrate New Year's Eve. In Times Square in New York, the traditional crowd greeted 1958 in their usual spirited fashion, with police estimating that 350,000 celebrants had gathered, less than the crowds of previous years. Russia's leaders assumed their usual peaceful holiday attitude. Special New Year's greetings expressing hope for peace had been sent from the Kremlin to government leaders and chiefs of state.
Traffic deaths during the first hours of the New Year holiday appeared to be running below the heavy Christmas traffic toll, with motorists having apparently heeded warnings by safety experts to use caution when driving, especially in sections of the Midwest where ice and snow had packed highways. At the halfway point of the 30-hour period, which would end at midnight this night, 41 traffic fatalities had been reported. The toll had risen steadily during the morning hours, reaching 25, compared to 36 in the early hours of Christmas morning. One death had been reported in a fire in Ohio, but no other violent deaths had been reported in the miscellaneous accident category. The National Safety Council had estimated that 130 persons would lose their lives in traffic accidents during the 30-hour period, compared to its estimate of 130 for the Christmas holiday, which accounted for 225 fatalities in the end. An Associated Press survey during a non-holiday period of the same duration on a Tuesday and Wednesday earlier in December had shown that 84 traffic deaths, 15 deaths by fire and 27 miscellaneous deaths by accidents had occurred. New Year holiday traffic deaths had been well under the Christmas toll since World War II. Safety experts stated that the chief reason was that motorists made more long trips during the Christmas holiday.
In Las Vegas, 2,000 women received a total of $50,000 in silver dollars moments after midnight this date in the Sands Hotel's annual New Year's gift-giving.
In New York, the Grand Central Terminal waiting room had been evacuated the previous night after an anonymous telephone caller had said that a bomb had been placed in an adjoining baggage room. About 150 persons were routed while police searched the area for an hour, with no bomb having been found.
In Jakarta, President Sukarno had vowed in a New Year's speech this date that Indonesia would continue fighting until it got West New Guinea from the Netherlands.
In Madrid, a Government decree published this date had cut non-working national holidays to 15 per year and abolished all days off for local holidays.
Near New Delhi, 30 persons were killed and at least 100 injured this date in a head-on train collision 48 miles north of the capital. A fast-moving train had collided with a stationary train.
In Denver, although the chainsaw was a relatively recent invention, it was reported that there were nearly 25,000 of them in daily or standby use at present in the country, with chainsaw magazines, schools, clinics, contests and fairs. The demand for chainsaws in the timber country was so great that burglars specialized in stealing them and police issued regular bulletins titled: "Chainsaws—hot." A chainsaw could cut five times as much timber in a day as a manual crosscut saw.
The first marriages of 1958 in Charlotte were recorded within a minute after midnight, as was the first birth of the year, two seconds into the new year.
John Jamison of The News reports that police the previous night had joined the New Year's celebration at the Pyramid Club so that they could stage a planned raid which netted five arrests for violations of the liquor laws. More than 100 patrons had gathered at the Wilkinson Boulevard spot in party spirits, dampened temporarily when the first police whistle had sounded at 10:30. Nevertheless, when midnight came around, the party-minded patrons cheered loudly while 20 police officers continued taking names and statements from witnesses. Ten County police officers, ten ABC officers and two Federal officers had participated in the raid, of which it provides further detail in case you want to get the lowdown and the skinny on it.
A separate article tells of the Federal undercover officer who had obtained evidence leading to the raid by gaining entry on two previous occasions with a card-holding member, having collected a sample of whiskey for evidence during the second visit. But when he tried to leave the club, a man at the door started to search him, whereupon he asked whether the man had a warrant, to which the doorman had said they did not need one, at which point the officer had stepped back, reached toward his .38 revolver and said: "I am a Federal officer. Unlock that door." The door was opened for him and he left.
Three boys had been sentenced in Charlotte to prison and another was bound over to Superior Court, resulting from a gang war which had wrecked a local grill. The County Recorder had sentenced one of the boys to 10 months in jail after he found him guilty of a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, and sentenced the other boy to 14 months for badly cutting another boy. A third boy was sentenced to four months in the first offender's camp after he had been found guilty of aiding and abetting an assault with a deadly weapon. One of the boys had entered a guilty plea the previous day and was bound over to Superior Court after probable cause was found in the case charging him with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Charges against ten other boys, accused of taking part in the gangland-style battle, had been dismissed. A County policeman had testified during the trial that several of the boys had told him that they were afraid to say anything because of what would happen to them when they got home.
John Kilgo of The News reports that two Marines had been killed early during the morning on the Sharon-Amity Road in Charlotte when their car had run into a parked Seaboard freight train on the railroad tracks near Sharon Memorial Park. The two men, both of whom were sergeants, were stationed at Camp Lejeune. Police said that the train had stopped on the double tracks across the road waiting for an eastbound Seaboard train to pass when the car ran into it. The car, a 1953 Oldsmobile, was pinned under the parked train.
In Cherryville, N.C., the New Year was celebrated by an 85-year old man raising his still strong voice to wish the 35 shooters wielding ancient muskets behind him a happy New Year, whereupon they fired a volley into the air. The man had been one of the principal "criers" for more than 70 years in the town and the chief crier for the previous dozen or so. Two criers and two groups of shooters then began the annual ritual a minute after midnight, going house to house in the community, continuing until 5 o'clock in the afternoon. At each home, the crier chanted an ancient New Year's welcome to residents and then the shooters fired a volley. The age-old custom of "criering in" the new year apparently had originated in Germany hundreds of years earlier and had been brought to Gaston County by early settlers. Cherryville, which had upheld the custom for at least 150 years, was the only community in the U.S. which still observed it. There were no fireworks, shouting or singing. There were parties, but when the "criering" and the shooting began, most residents liked to be in their own homes to await the visit of the troupe. The ancient chant was: "Good morning to you, sir. We wish you a happy New Year. Good health, long life. Which God may bestow as long as you stay here below. May He bestow the house you are in where you go out and you go in. Time by moments steals away. First the hour and then the day. Small the lost days may appear but soon they mount up to a year. Thus another year is gone and now is no more of our own. But if it brings good of our promises as the year before the flood. But let none of us forget that it has left us much in doubt. A favor from the Lord received since which our spirits have been grieved. Marked by the unerring hand. Thus in his book our records stand. Who can tell the vast amounts placed to each our accounts?"
A low of 20 was predicted for Charlotte the following day, with a high this date of 50, followed by a "hard freeze" the following day.
In San Bruno, Calif., police had set up a surprise roadblock on Monday night to trap holiday celebrants and in four hours, had stopped 52 northbound vehicles. But the motorists appeared considerably amused, causing a police officer to be mystified, as he found a trace of alcoholic breath on only five drivers. He drove a few blocks south and found out why, that someone had painted a sign in large letters which read: "Roadblock. Lushers turn right."
On the editorial page, "The Minutes of the Last Meeting" provides a report to News readers on the newspaper's goals, achievements and bloopers committed during the prior year.
It mainly deals with state and local issues, but indicates that the newspaper had changed its position on a major political issue, having supported the President's program for emergency Federal aid to education, contingent on it being free from strings. It finds it unfortunate that the President had offered only lukewarm support for his own education program, as had been the case for many in Congress who had supported it, and thus it had died as its supporters looked the other way. By the end of the year, the challenge of the Soviet educational system in mathematics and the sciences, however, had made mandatory a program of Federal aid. But it finds that it remained clear that the schools had to be the primary concern of individuals, communities and states, with the first order of business in the new year being the new concern regarding the lack of opportunities and challenges for gifted students.
During the year, the South's special burden had become the nation's top domestic concern, as Charlotte, Greensboro and Winston-Salem had moved "with courage and common sense" to begin controlled desegregation at the local level. Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas had invited a new whirlwind of violence and a destructive clash of Federal and state power, and the newspaper had condemned the "folly of Governor Faubus in encouraging an ugly situation", but also had condemned the President's "blundering response to it".
The newspaper had urged retention of the filibuster but warned against excessive use of it, having opposed the Administration's civil rights bill, signed into law in September.
It had bid a fond farewell to retiring Attorney General Herbert Brownell and hoped at year's end for a cooling-off period in the field of segregation and race relations. "In increasingly difficult times for moderation on the race issue, we applauded the statesmanlike conduct of Gov. [Luther] Hodges and Florida's Gov. [LeRoy] Collins and wished for them a larger voice in the South and in the nation."
The newspaper had greeted at the start of 1957 the second term of the President with the hope that he would move swiftly to translate personal popularity into the political power that he needed to come to grips with the perilous issues confronting the nation, but the hope had shrunk as the President and Congress began their battles over the budget. Later, in October and November, as the Sputniks had unsettled the national complacency and made strong Presidential leadership the more imperative, the President had suffered his mild stroke. At the end of the year, the newspaper expressed admiration of his courageous efforts to carry on and hoped fervently for the restoration of his health.
By the end of the year, the dominance of Russia with its Sputniks and missiles, led by a "wily dictator", Nikita Khrushchev, with a disciplined group of capable scientists, had "posed nakedly for the U.S. and the world the question of survival. We viewed with alarm U.S. lags in weapons and urged that the military balance be redressed speedily. At the same time we warned against a policy of shaking the big stick and urged an intensified search for some way to the beginnings of peace."
It concludes that its editorial philosophy continued as it always had, with "a deep belief in the importance and the dignity of the individual and his ultimate triumph over any form of tyranny, profound respect for our system of constitutional government, great confidence in the American's resilience, staying power and willingness to sacrifice for national ideals, and the firm belief that mankind eventually will succeed in saving the world and itself from the suicidal follies of its national fears, jealousies, and ambitions for power."
Drew Pearson issues his predictions for the new year, indicating that 1958 might be one of the most crucial years in history as it might see the tide turned toward peace with Russia or start deterioration of relations toward war, finding that Russia, for the first time, was able to call the shots, with American prestige around the world having sunk to a low unequaled since the Civil War. In Europe, there was frustration with American leadership bordering on disgust and even in Latin America, once staunch friends were drifting away.
He suggests that whether 1958 would see an upturn for peace or a downturn for war would depend largely on whether Russia really wanted peace. That it had the upper hand would be shown by the Gaither report, if it were ever published. "American ability to pull in our belts, put missiles ahead of Edsels, will be important, but not as important as our diplomatic skill." (He seems to predict the Kennedy Administration in 1961 and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.)
He indicates that Russia would win a preventive war at present, whereas two years earlier, it could not have. If Russia saw the U.S. going ahead with missile bases in Western Europe, pressure could be heavy within the Presidium to move while it had the upper hand, with no one being able to predict what would happen in that regard in the coming year.
The year would see some radical attempts to control the weather, including a plan to sprinkle oil on the waves in advance of hurricanes, then light the oil to change or modify the hurricane.
There would be an increase in the cost of postage stamps to four cents instead of three.
There would be no tax cut during the year. Congressman Wilbur Mills, the new chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, would try to abolish the $50 tax exemption for stock dividends which he said helped the stock market. He proposed a $600 personal exemption instead.
Veterans would be among the primary sufferers as a result of missile expenditures, as veterans hospitals would be cut as well as pension benefits. The Administration would argue that the U.S. was becoming a nation of veterans and that therefore they did not deserve special treatment.
He predicts that Alaska would become the 49th state.
Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson's plan to end family farming would fail, as would his plan to reduce price supports for wheat, cotton, corn, tobacco, peanuts, and rice. The farm budget would continue at 5 billion dollars and farm surpluses would be about the same.
He indicates that the emptiest Christmas stocking in Washington was that of Vice-President Nixon. Whereas a month earlier it looked as if he might be in the White House or at least given vitally important new powers, the President was now determined to complete his term, despite his mild stroke, and the palace guard had pushed Mr. Nixon off the White House threshold.
Joseph Alsop, in Paris, indicates that the Kremlin had begun a drive for a new type of bilateral East-West discussion between only the U.S. and Russia, with all other nations excluded. Whether to participate had not yet been discussed with the other Western allies by the U.S. and yet some type of decision would have to be made soon, as the Kremlin's drive was well advanced. Little attention had yet been paid to the highly important and novel development, despite the proposal having been made sometime earlier.
Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev had reportedly told Aneurin Bevan of Britain, when the latter had visited Russia, that such a bilateral talk between the two powers would offer the one really hopeful way out of the present impasse. The same statement had been the most striking feature of a letter which Mr. Khrushchev had recently written to the New Statesman and Nation, purportedly in answer to a published plea for nuclear disarmament by Lord Bertrand Russell. In Britain, Mr. Bevan and the New Statesman editors were the people most likely to be alarmed and outraged by such a proposal, and it could only be guessed that Mr. Khrushchev was trying to appeal to their vanity by choosing them as his confidants, in the hope of winning them to his side.
More recently, the informal indications of Mr. Khrushchev had been reinforced by a formal and public statement. At a meeting of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow, in their official comments on the recent NATO conference, both Mr. Khrushchev and Andrei Gromyko had somewhat elaborately downplayed all of the ordinary forms of East-West negotiation, but after remarking that the Soviets had often proposed a meeting between the heads of state of the capitalist and socialist states "to solve the problems of humanity", Mr. Khrushchev had added: "If an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union can be achieved without prejudice to the interests of other countries, good results for peace will be achieved."
If no answer was provided to his invitation, the silence would be taken by the Kremlin as a chillingly negative answer, which in turn could sharply impact Kremlin policy, and so the question ought be at least carefully considered instead of being ignored, which was the present tendency.
Secretary of State Dulles appeared to be of two minds on the question, not having wanted the NATO conference communiqué to include an invitation to renewed East-West negotiations. During the first two days of the NATO conference, he had been quiet and grim while both Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and France's Foreign Minister Christian Pineau had insisted that such an invitation had to be issued. He finally realized that he had to exchange for NATO agreement on military questions, especially regarding the MRBM's, his own agreement to the invitation to the East-West talks.
Yet, when the form of the invitation was being discussed, Mr. Dulles remarked that there really were only two types of East-West talks which could possibly do any good, talks within the framework of the U.N. and exclusive talks between the U.S. and Russia. Thus, even Mr. Dulles was not sure that a dialogue of the two powers would be entirely fruitless.
Whether anything could be achieved through such a dialogue could not be answered until a dialogue had been attempted. The Soviets were issuing two types of signs, on the one hand expressing self-confidence and increased aggressiveness, founded on their belief in their own strength, but on the other, giving signs of quite genuine concern for the future of the world dominated by the new weapons. Thus, there was the possibility at least that the two nations could get together and form some peaceful agreement with so much at stake.
Mr. Alsop indicates, however, that as long as Mr. Dulles remained as Secretary of State, such a dialogue was impossible, for as long as he remained the chief spokesman for the country and the President's chief adviser on foreign policy, such a dialogue would almost assuredly break up the Western Alliance, for the distrust of Mr. Dulles and the lack of confidence in him were too great and too profound among the allies, causing them to expect to be sold down the river and thus hurry to try to form their own bilateral deal with the Soviets, producing great and permanent harm to the alliance.
A news piece from Washington indicates that the White House was being urged to enlist television in the talent hunt for scientists and engineers to overtake the Soviets. A series of television dramas was being proposed which would be underwritten by industry and the actors and writers for it who would be drafted in the name of a national emergency. Nothing of the type had ever been undertaken by the Government except during a shooting war and its appeal rested in the need to surpass the Soviets and in the fact that the Government could be divorced from direct control, cost and content of the program.
Industry people appeared to believe that the project had already been accepted by officials who had the President's ear and that it would be included in his special message on education, but education groups and politicians were not that certain. Educators were showing some concern over the stress on science education, fearing it might come at the expense of other parts of the curriculum. They could be expected to examine closely what amounted to Government favoritism for a single branch of education.
Members of Congress were similarly sensitive to Administration use of television as a propaganda arm. The parties sought equal time with each other, and Congress liked to believe that the executive branch got no favors it could not itself command.
The proposed program was titled "Breakthrough" and its conception was attributed to Red Granik, a veteran radio and television producer who was said to be supported by a business organization called Research Corporation, a private group whose directors included Lewis Strauss, Atomic Energy Commission chairman, and Dr. James Killian, the President's scientific adviser.
As the project represented a competition for existing talent rather than an expansion of education, it did not meet the demands of many who had long worked in the education field. The group had failed to instill in the White House any solid belief, however, that any such expansion was necessary. Early drafts of the President's education proposals did not mention school construction or appropriations for laboratories or any other such extra facilities for testing and research, with apparently the emphasis being on redistribution of effort rather than expansion.
A letter writer from Rock Hill, S.C., provides a series of New Year's resolutions which he hopes others would adopt, among which was that editors resolve to follow the example of Harry Ashmore, formerly associate editor and editor of The News, since 1947 editor of the Arkansas Gazette, for his "articulate championing of the forces of decency", by being a consistent critic of Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus in his resistance to the Federal Court-ordered integration of Central High School in Little Rock. He also wants statesmen to resolve to work with U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold to encourage efforts to seek peace in the Middle East. He urges the managers of television stations to resolve to heighten the awareness in the national systems for quality programming and wants radio stations to resolve to lessen the "jukebox tone" of their stations. He would like teenagers to resolve to read more books and waste less time in front of the television and behind the telephone. He wants civic leaders to resolve to search out the hatemongers and dynamiters. He wishes that all the people would resolve to work for peace on earth and good will to all men.
A letter writer urges voters to support the bond issue for Charlotte and Carver Colleges. She indicates that many students had been able to further their educations through those schools and many had gone on to four-year colleges, and thus wants people to be aware of the part they would play in the future of the two colleges if they voted for the bond issues.
A letter writer says she was sure that many people were happier since Christmas had brought so much love and joy to them, people who cared for others and gave much so that others could have a good Christmas, counseling that it was more blessed to give than to receive.
It's 1958 and 1957 has passed away. Auh. We miss it already. There was so much to do.
Eighth day of Christmas
Framed Edition
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