The Charlotte News
Friday, January 24, 1958
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Army had acknowledged this date that there was no longer any doubt that the Soviets had fired an ICBM, according to Secretary of the Army Wilber Brucker in a statement made public in censored form by the House Armed Services Committee. The Russians had fired at least one and possibly two ICBM's, according to the testimony of Mr. Brucker before the Committee the prior Tuesday. The remainder of his testimony had been censored. He had said that the U.S. is "just about on a par" in the development of long-range missiles and ahead in the general area of shorter range guided missiles. He had said that the Army would "very soon" seek to launch a satellite with a Jupiter-C missile and strongly implied that the Army would try to avoid publicity regarding that attempt. Failure of the Navy's Vanguard rocket in its first attempt to carry a satellite into space in December had caused a tremendous controversy as to whether too much advance publicity aggravated the damage to U.S. prestige. The censored testimony had also carried a strong implication that the new solid propellant missile which the Army had been authorized to develop might approach the 1,500-mile range of intermediate ballistic missiles. The Army had been removed from development of the IRBM in 1956 by a Defense Department order, despite what Secretary Brucker had said were strong objections from the Army at the time. Use of missles of more than 200-mile range had been assigned to the Air Force, though the Army was to continue with development work on such weapons.
The U.S. and Britain reported this date that both had achieved "fruitful and promising results" in experiments aimed at harnessing the hydrogen bomb reaction to produce industrial electric power. The release said that it was years away from attainment of such an objective. At the same time, Lewis Strauss, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, said that the scientific reports released this date by the two countries showed that "certain comparative observations which have been published in recent weeks about British and U.S. progress in this field … have been not only misleading but lacking in any foundation of fact." His statement had apparently referred to some British press reports that Britain had forged ahead of the U.S. in the research several months earlier, but that Admiral Strauss had exerted pressure to delay any announcement of it until the U.S. could catch up, the Admiral having denied exerting any effort to suppress the British report. He said that the two countries were "neck and neck", so close "that there is no difference between them" in the status of their respective research programs. Another member of the AEC, Dr. Willard Libby, said that the progress reported this date constituted a "major step forward", but not a "major breakthrough" in the quest for hydrogen-produced power. Dr. J. L. Tuck of the Los Alamos, N.M, scientific laboratory, said that even if the goal of tapping economical power from the hydrogen reaction never was realized, some of the processes presently being used in the research "give distant hope of helping problems of space navigation." The scientific reports showed that Britain and the U.S. had achieved a certain result which the other had not, with the U.S. having reported achievement of temperatures higher than those reported by the British.
In Caracas, Venezuela, the "Patriotic Junta", the civilian group which had precipitated the fall of El Presidente Marcos Perez Jimenez with a general strike and street fighting initiated the prior Tuesday, leading to El Presidente having departed the country for the Dominican Republic the previous day, had withheld its support this date from the new Government of the military junta. Estimates were that 300 persons had been killed and 1,000 wounded in riots and street battles between noon on Tuesday until the previous day when diehard secret police of the old regime had finally been driven from their headquarters. About 60 of the dead were reported found inside the smoking headquarters, some of them having been the political prisoners of the hated secret police. Former dictator of Argentina Juan Peron had been reported by a reliable informant to have taken refuge in the Dominican Embassy. His friend and protector, El Presidente, had fled with his family and several aides to the Dominican Republic. Sr. Peron had been reported the previous day to have been seeking refuge in Colombia after losing his place of safe exile in Venezuela.
In Hong Kong, it was reported that Premier Chou En-lai of Communist China had turned down this date the plea of three American mothers for the release of their imprisoned sons, held on charges of espionage, but held out the prospect of later clemency. Peiping Radio had said that Chou had told the three mothers, who had flown to China to see their respective sons, that the Government showed leniency to those who were well behaved while in prison, adding that the policy applied to their sons as well. The three mothers were planning to leave Peiping the following day for the U.S. One of the sons was serving a life sentence in Shanghai prison, another was serving 20 years, and the third a life sentence in a Peiping prison. Peiping Radio had broadcast a statement by the assistant director of the international relations department of the Chinese Red Cross, indicating that the Premier fully understood the feelings behind the appeal of the three mothers but that their sons had violated Chinese law and had to be dealt with accordingly.
Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield said this date that if Congress did not raise postal rates soon, it might be necessary to ask for another 5 billion dollar increase in the national debt ceiling, in addition to the 5 billion increase already proposed by the President and which the House had passed the previous day. Mr. Summerfield had told the Senate Post Office Committee that the postal deficit had totaled 6 billion dollars since the end of World War II and was running presently at a 700 million dollar annual rate and soon would be a billion per year if rates were not raised. He urged adoption of the President's recommendation that the postage rate on all mail except local letters be raised from the present three cents to a nickel. It's getting so you can't afford to live.
In New York, it was reported that a wildcat strike of conductors against the New York Central Railroad between New York and Buffalo had been called off during the morning, seven hours after its start. The order ending the strike had been too late, however, to avoid the general confusion caused when trains had failed to run. The general chairman of the men on strike had telegraphed to the union locals that because the Railroad had obtained a Federal court order enjoining the strike, they had to obey it and return to work immediately. Earlier, they had defied orders from national headquarters on the ground that the general chairman was their boss.
In Detroit, a special convention of UAW this date had approved a 50 million dollar strike fund to back up the union's profit-sharing demands in 1958 bargaining talks.
In Little Rock, Ark., the City School superintendent said this date that a firecracker "bomb" had been found in an unused locker at Central High School, where nine black students had been enrolled among the 2,000 white students at the school the prior fall. A school custodian had found six 1.5-inch firecrackers tied in a bundle, and beside the bundle, had been a cigarette which had been lighted but had gone out on its own.
In San Francisco, a propeller had flown off a large Navy plane this date while it was flying at 21,000 feet over the Pacific, 400 miles west of San Francisco. The pilot apparently brought it under control with its three functioning turbo-propeller engines.
In Amsterdam, runaway heiress Tessa Kennedy and the son of an artist had abandoned their efforts to get married in Scotland and headed by plane this date for Curacao, the Dutch island in the Caribbean.
In Seoul, South Korea, a South Korean Army captain had shot and killed six fellow officers and noncoms and then himself the previous night, having just been relieved of his command, his successor having been his first victim.
In Miami, Fla., a policeman had been shot and seriously wounded this date in a gun battle with a robber who terrorized patrons of a bar. The 27-year old man was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to his left leg.
In Marion, S.C., the Klan leader wanted in North Carolina for inciting a riot at Maxton the prior Saturday night, the Rev. James Cole, had been informed by the Robeson County, N.C., solicitor this date that if he came to North Carolina, he would be arrested as a fugitive. He had said that he would not attend a Klan rally scheduled in Alamance County in North Carolina for the following night, near Burlington. In Lumberton, the solicitor said that he had telephoned Mr. Cole during the morning to tell him that he would be arrested if he entered the state. The solicitor said that extradition papers had been filed the previous day and that they would be delivered to Governor George Timmerman, Jr., of South Carolina on Monday or Tuesday. Mr. Cole had posted a $1,000 bond on Wednesday pending the South Carolina extradition hearing and the solicitor said that he was free to go anywhere in South Carolina, but not in North Carolina without being arrested. Mr. Cole said that it would be embarrassing to be arrested in North Carolina and that but for his being a fugitive there, he would attend the meeting at Burlington. The solicitor said that if extradition were approved, Mr. Cole would be tried in Robeson County Superior Court the following Wednesday. The director of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Walter Anderson, had gone to Alamance County the previous day to confer with agents on plans for policing the Klan rally if it were held.
In Los Angeles, the police chief said that "Los Angeles is likely to turn into a second Chicago, crime-wise." He told a City Council committee that the "criminal cartels of the world are positioning for action here." He said they had lost control of the crime problem in Los Angeles, that crime, thus far in 1958, was running 35 percent ahead of the previous year, and that the previous year had been bad.
Well, that is obviously the fault of a bunch of liberals, now isn't it, little Trumpy? That radical Governor Goodwin Knight and that liberal Eisenhower guy, right? You had better write to somebody about it. Call Fox News.
In New Orleans, two Tulane University doctors this date said that their research had demonstrated that it was possible to make a single vaccine providing protection against colds, flu and polio. They had made the announcement at a meeting of the Southern section of the American Federation for Clinical Research, indicating that they had proved that the influenza virus could be grown in monkey kidney tissue cultures as with polio vaccine. They said that they had isolated a new virus which caused colds, calling it the "2060" virus. Another such virus known as "JH" already had been isolated, both of which could be cultivated in monkey kidney tissues. One of the doctors said that both of the viruses produced different antibodies so that both had to be included in a vaccine to protect against cold-like illnesses, with other cold-producing viruses probable though not yet isolated. The other doctors said that eventually scientists would have to face the question of whether there was a limit to the number of viruses which could be added to a vaccine and still produce an antibody response. The two doctors said that a vaccine made from influenza virus would provide the basic vaccine to which other viruses could be added to protect against colds caused by the JH and 2060 viruses, grippe caused by adenovirus, and possibly even polio. Multi-purpose injections would likely save both time and money as well as providing some protection. Armed forces recruits currently were given two influenza shots, one for influenza virus and one for adenovirus. At present, the influenza virus vaccine was made from viruses grown in eggs, and the adenovirus vaccine was made from viruses grown in monkey kidneys, with it having been impossible previously to combine them, the two researchers having said that their research now indicated that they could be combined.
Emery Wister of The News reports that sleet, snow and near-freezing rain had struck the Piedmont Carolinas this date, with more snow predicted for the mountains this night, and accumulation expected to be between three and six inches by the following morning. There was more rain in the forecast for Charlotte and the Piedmont, with the temperature reaching near freezing, with the low forecast of 33 for Charlotte for the following morning. The Atlanta Weather Bureau had forecast at noon this date that a few severe thunderstorms, with a chance of tornadoes, were expected in southeast Georgia and southern portions of South Carolina at any time this date through early evening. The cause of the bad weather was a collision of a polar air mass with rain clouds out of the Gulf of Mexico, (that area now known, by royal decree of King Donald I of the U.S., as Golf de Amerika), resulting in conditions which had caused storm warnings to be issued from Cape Hatteras to the mountains. Beware the stormy weather out of the Golf.
On the editorial page, "The Issue Is Not Race—It Is Education" suggests that thoughtful citizens, both white and black, would dutifully support the proposed six million dollar school bond issue and two-cent County tax levy for Charlotte's two community colleges, Carver and Charlotte Colleges.
It indicates that the citizens would not permit racial issues of dubious validity to sabotage their better instincts, as the lack of adequate facilities affected both races alike, weakening their mutual hopes and dreams, and that to withhold support on the basis of unreasonable fears would be folly.
It finds that if members of the NAACP, or white supremacists, were to oppose community efforts to improve the physical facilities of the public schools simply because they were not satisfied with the progress, or lack thereof, toward integration, they would only be harming themselves and their children.
It suggests that the issue was not race, but rather education, that the quality of education in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County would be placed in serious jeopardy without adequate places to teach and learn, that overcrowded classrooms, double shifts for students and other such inadequacies tended to lower the educational opportunities for all.
It indicates that Charlotte would lose a great opportunity to provide needed post-high school education for citizens of all races if it did not meet requirements for obtaining State funds for its community colleges. Citizens would not be voting for or against segregation when they voted on the school bond issue and the college tax levy. The placement of pupils was presently handled by administrative boards of the two school systems and the colleges. Access to the courts was provided in cases involving alleged discrimination. In compliance with Brown v. Board of Education, the City School Board had begun to admit a few black students to white schools in Charlotte.
It finds that the immediate problem was primarily one of bricks and mortar, with an urgent need for additional facilities, which had to be answered with funding, as well as with the realization that good schools provided the best hope for a healthy community. It concludes that at present, the schools of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County were in danger of falling behind the aspirations and the capabilities of the citizenry, which could not be allowed to happen.
"Parks Plan Deserves High Priority" indicates that when the independent report on Charlotte's recreational needs had been presented two years earlier, there had been considerable huffiness in high quarters over its intimations that the needs were great and pressing. Nevertheless, familiarity with the report appeared to have bred respect for it, as more than one aspect of the Park and Recreation Commission's million dollar blueprint for park and playground development reflected the concepts contained in that report.
It urges that the plan be implemented immediately, that the need for park facilities, particularly in the perimeter areas, was great and constantly growing, finding parks and playgrounds to be necessities, not frills. It finds that the City Council had been correct in its decision not to include funds for recreation in the scheduled 4.8 million dollar bond issue for perimeter facilities, as the most urgent necessities, water and sewage, had to come first.
The Commission's plan regrettably had to be shelved for the present, but deserved high priority in the city's future.
"Lament" quotes from Châteaubriand in 1836: "Nowadays everything grows old in a few hours; reputation fades, a work passes away in a moment. Everybody writes; nobody reads seriously."
It finds that given that the quote might apply to the present times, it wonders whether there were really any "good old days".
Note for little Trumpies who are historically challenged: spend more time reading history and less listening to Fox propaganda and its echo chamber on the internet, while living and dying by everything the dictator tells you. For it is all a bunch of lies. And lies will not get you very far for very long, as the truth inevitably will catch up with you. Keep your eyes on the rearview mirror…
"Neely Couldn't Wear the Soft Gloves" indicates that during his 35 years in Congress, recently deceased Senator Matthew Neely of West Virginia had supported much sound legislation. But when his fellow Senators were providing their tributes for the press services following his death, they had placed emphasis on his oratory.
It suggests that during his latter years, he had seemed to delight in making pronouncements, particularly regarding President Eisenhower. He had said that the President was not only first in war but also "the first of all Presidents on the golf course and the last to leave it." The Administration was "the second (to the Tower of Babel) everlasting monument to confusion." The President was "the confused and floundering one who, at the moment, occupies the Presidential chair."
None of those statements had injured the President and had probably helped to prolong into his second term the "moment" of occupancy which had pained the Senator so much. They had likely been prompted by the Senator's sense of frustration over the fact that it was unfashionable, even among Democrats, to criticize the President. Senator Neely was about the only prominent Democrat who refused to wear kid gloves in dealing with the President in the pre-Sputnik era, while after that point the previous fall, the President had lost his immunity to criticism.
Even so, the Senator's type of "verbal blackjacking" remained out of style, as most of the barbs directed at the President were now designed to encourage him to take a more vigorous role rather than seeking to destroy his prestige.
It concludes that the Senate would miss Senator Neely, but could get along without his purely partisan oratory.
A piece from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, titled "Keep out of the Casbah", indicates that actor Charles Boyer had denied ever having said, "Come with me to the Casbah," saying that it had been made up by a press agent. But the piece suggests that he looked as though he had said it and so it believes people would go on associating the line with him, and romantic young ladies would not cease to sigh for never having visited the Casbah with him as their escort.
It indicates that in the same way, "I want to be alone," had stuck with Greta Garbo because she looked as though she wanted to be alone. Even in some of her most tempestuous love scenes with, for instance, John Gilbert, Ms. Garbo, it posits, had a way of looking as though her mind had wandered off by itself and was exploring "those lone but never lonely purlieus where it ever longed to be."
The line associated with Mae West, "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" had grown up the same way, though she had said it, while also looking as if she had.
In contrast, Humphrey Bogart had introduced the immortal phrase, "Tennis, anyone?" though he did not look like the type of person to be found on the tennis courts and so nobody associated it with him.
It suggests that anyone could deliver a phrase but looking the part made it stick, suggesting that if Humphrey Bogart had in fact delivered the line, "Come with me to the Casbah," virtually everybody would nevertheless associate it with Mr. Boyer.
It is like the line, "I will be
a dictator on day one," both associated with Don Trump and a
line which he in fact said, and one he is working fast to fulfill, at
the expense of every ordinary American citizen, including those
stooges who voted for him, believing that he would somehow bring down
food and gas prices with executive dictates. Come tell us about it in
six or eight months, as well about the peace in Ukraine—that
is, unless he gives half of it away to Russia and thus enables Russia
to take some time out to build up its military again for the next
offensive to try to reestablish the old Soviet Union in Eastern
Europe, after His Highness weakens or dissolves NATO with other
executive dictates
There is a reason why His Highness wants unqualified, toadying Cabinet members around him, and has twisted Republican arms in Congress to get his way, wanting only those who will say to him, "Yassuh, I's step and fetch it for yo, Massa."
By the way, second term occupants of the White House traditionally do not get a "honeymoon", and there is no reason to make exception for this self-proclaimed day-one dictator.
Drew Pearson continues his verbatim quotations from the secret memo which had caused Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and investigating Congressmen to back away from the probe of the FCC. He had begun the quotations the previous day and had summarized the memo earlier in the week.
A letter from Leon Gutmann, owner of Gutmann Galleries in Charlotte, indicates that for the previous 18 years, he had been a caustic observer of the cultural scene in Charlotte and had acquired a reputation for daring to walk out on mediocre performances. But now he was prepared to do an about-face and become "a bit rhapsodic over the magnificent concert" of the Charlotte Symphony and the Oratorio Singers under the direction of Earl Berg the prior Saturday night. He finds that non-professional music in the city had reached its zenith at that concert.
A letter from Atlanta indicates that the writer had been traveling through North and South Carolina the previous week, happened to be in Charlotte during the weekend, and, having Saturday evening free, had attended the Symphony Orchestra. Expecting an amateurish group of local musicians, he had been surprised to find an exceptionally fine musical organization of professional quality under Mr. Berg, and had also been impressed by the program.
A letter from a vice-president of Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co. in Norfolk indicates that on December 18, new automatic signals had been placed in service at the Rama Road crossing, and that on January 6, the installation of signals had been completed at the Sharon Amity Road crossing. He provides updates on the installation of signals presently underway at three additional crossings.
A letter writer tells of a committee having been appointed by the North Carolina Bar Association to study the operation of the courts throughout the state and make recommendations for improvement to the administration of justice. He suggests that it ought begin by improving justice in Mecklenburg County, directing its initial attention to the judges and solicitors of the City, County and the domestic relations court. He suggests that appointment of judges and solicitors was not a good way to fill such offices, that they ought be selected by the citizens, as they would then be more sensitive to the rights and feelings of the individual.
A letter writer from Bladenboro indicates that as moderator of the Pee Dee Association of the Original Free Will Baptists, he wanted to make it clear that the Rev. James Cole, who had led the Klan in their aborted rally near Maxton on January 18, chased away by the Indian population of Robeson County, was not and never had been a minister of that Association. He indicates that their Association was a member of the North Carolina Original Free Will Baptist State Convention and comprised the territory in southeastern North Carolina. Mr. Cole was not associated with any of the Original Free Will Baptists in that or any other conference, and as far as was known, was not connected with the South Carolina Original Free Will Baptists. They wished to make it clear that they wanted no association with Mr. Cole, as their members were law-abiding people.
A letter from J. R. Cherry, Jr., indicates that his wife had told him that he was lazy, and following that tendency toward easy pastimes, one of his favorites was to take issue with the pseudo-intellectuals known as "contemporary liberals" or "eggheads". He particularly takes issue with a letter writer of January 18 and his "inadequate comments" on one of Mr. Cherry's previous letters in which Mr. Cherry had chided the letter writer regarding a previous letter he had written, to the effect that former UNC president Frank Porter Graham and Bernard Baruch would make good peace negotiators for the U.S. in a conference with the Communists. Mr. Cherry had disagreed regarding Mr. Graham because the prior letter writer had "found it convenient to ignore" Mr. Graham's "past Communist-front window-dressing activities," and instead had attacked the Congressional committee, HUAC, which had "exposed the gullibility" of Mr. Graham. He finds that liberals could tolerate Communists, but anti-Communists and exposers of Communists and non-Communist dupes were intolerable to them. He challenges the prior letter writer to name the "innocent" persons which the writer had claimed had been "damaged" by HUAC. He suggests that the prior letter writer thank "his Moses" that the Government had committees probing and exposing the facts about the Communist conspiracy, finds that President Truman had, in 1948, "stupidly yelled 'red herring' while Communist treason reared its hideous head under the very nose of the stupid man who yelled it."
As we have suggested previously, Mr. Cherry arrived before his time. Today, he would probably have his own hour-long show on Fox News every night, or at least on one of the other echo networks.
A letter writer from New York indicates that hundreds of persons between the ages of 16 and 30 had asked her organization, "Letters Abroad", for American pen pals, coming from Africa, Asia, Europe, being students eager to correspond with Americans. She provides the address, in case you are interested.
A letter writer warns taxpayers to beware of more bond issues for education, that there were "too many trimmings around those school buildings—swimming pools, here yonder and elsewhere. We build the pools and they cannot get the ducks into them. Take a look at the one on Statesville Rd. Who pays for it? Not the ones that were to use it."
A letter writer indicates that she had been reading "The Everyday Counselor" by the Reverend Herbert Spaugh in The News recently, and thought how true it was that little things in life meant a lot. "Look around you and see the many people with burdens and consider the little things that might be done to help them—things that would mean more than anyone would ever know. It is a way of responding to God's love."
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