The Charlotte News

Thursday, November 27, 1958

TWO EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Moscow that the Soviet Union this date had declared void the four-power occupation agreement for Berlin and offered in its place the creation of a demilitarized "free city"of West Berlin. Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko had handed U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Llewellyn Thompson a 24-page note proposing a six-month period for negotiations to arrange the new status for Berlin. The Russians suggested that the U.N. act as watchdog of West Berlin's freedom, saying "the Soviet government does not object to the United Nations participating in observing the status of the free city of West Berlin." The Foreign Ministry had announced that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev would hold a press conference in the Kremlin during the afternoon to discuss the new proposal. The note indicated that during the six-month period of negotiations there would be no change in control of the existing transport links over which the Western allied garrisons in West Berlin were supplied from West Germany, 110 miles away from the city. But if no agreement were reached between Russia and the West during that time, according to the Kremlin, it would go ahead with liquidation of the occupation controls, thus transferring control of Western allied traffic to the East Germans. The Soviet announcement, provided by the official news agency Tass, said that the Kremlin had notified the U.S. Government that it "regards as invalid the Allied agreements on Germany." A companion note delivered to the East German government in East Berlin said that the Soviet Government was determined to end its occupation of Berlin and considered it unfeasible to take any further part in the upholding of the occupation regime in Berlin. The proposal for creation of a "free city" applied only to West Berlin. The East German government already had sovereignty over East Berlin, its capital, and Russian troops were there by a 1957 agreement between Moscow and the East German regime, which the West did not recognize. The Russians made it clear that even if West Berlin were to become a "free city", they intended for East Germany, which surrounded Berlin completely, to control traffic to and from West Germany. In a companion note, the Kremlin informed the East German regime of its proposal and said that it planned the measures to be taken in the six-month time frame "so that the Western powers can adjust themselves correspondingly to the change in the situation."

In Geneva, deepening East-West differences this date had virtually killed all hope of practical accomplishment by the ten-nation conference regarding ways to prevent surprise attacks.

In Hong Kong, Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung, Premier Chou En-lai and other top leaders of that nation had met in central China with a North Korean political-military delegation headed by Premier Kim il Sung.

In Lake Charles, La., an Air Force investigation board studied a charred B-47 medium jet bomber in the search for clues of what had caused a rocket-booster, designed to aid takeoff, to explode and set the plane on fire. The commander of the plane, which had been carrying a nuclear weapon, had been killed and his navigator critically injured.

The Administration had tentatively added about a billion dollars to its new foreign aid budget, despite a White House directive to cut Federal spending. Government agencies had put together a package calling for between 4.2 billion and 4.3 billion dollars in economic, technical and military aid to more than 40 friendly governments in the fiscal year beginning the following July 1. Congress during the current year had voted about 3.3 billion dollars in foreign aid funding after cutting 600 million from the amount requested by the Administration. The higher figure proposed for the following fiscal year was still subject to change. Responsible informants who reported the higher figure said that the President and Secretary of State Dulles had considered a vigorous foreign aid program to be particularly important at the current time to offset Soviet moves in the area of foreign aid. The proposed spending would cut down military aid and provide added emphasis to economic and technical aid. The President outlined a five-point aid program to the Colombo Plan countries in Seattle on November 10, which had called for added emphasis on the Administration's development loan fund, which extended low-interest credits with easy repayment terms.

Thanksgiving holiday travel this date had emphasized the effects of a continuing strike against two of the nation's largest airlines which had grounded nearly 400 commercial aircraft and threatened to snarl other forms of transportation. A walkout by members of the Flight Engineers International Association had halted Eastern Air Lines flights since the previous Monday. The International Association of Machinists had struck TWA the previous Friday, with flight operations of that airline having been halted on Monday. A total of about 35,000 employees had been idled. Non-striking airlines had put every available plane into service, but block bookings, passengers who had reserved space on a number of non-struck airlines in the hope of getting aboard one of them, had ironically left empty seats on some airline flights. Bus and rail lines had been doing a rush business, with all available facilities pressed into service. Confronted by crowding and delays, thousands of persons traveled by car or stayed at home. Wages and working conditions figured in the contract disputes. The "third man" issue was proving a stumbling block in the strike by the flight engineers against Eastern. The company contended that the engineers needed pilot training so that they could coordinate with captains and copilots of jet equipment which the line expected to put into service in 1960. The union claimed that the offered pilot training amounted to little more than training on light planes, and wages and working conditions were also in contention. In Miami, Fla., a Federal District Court judge had reserved decision on the "third man" issue in considering a petition by Eastern for an injunction against the striking engineers. The judge, although stating that "management has the right to require reasonable qualifications," noted that any ruling for the company could not halt the walkout. The union still could continue to strike regarding wage demands, an "economic issue". In Kansas City, TWA and the IAM recessed their talks after a five-hour negotiating session, and a mediator indicated that no progress had been made.

John Kilgo of The News reports that there was a strong possibility that a firebug was working in Mecklenburg County, and that the County Police were in consequence concentrating heavily on that angle this date as they sought to find the reason for the sudden rash of fires in the eastern part of the county. Early the previous day, fire had caused about $40,000 damage to the Oakhurst Sales Co. on Old Monroe Road, with the cause of that fire not yet determined. Also the previous day, there had been an attempt to burn down the auditorium at East Mecklenburg High School, though that fire had gone out on its own without much damage. A month earlier, fire had destroyed the main structure of Oakhurst Elementary School on Old Monroe Road. The County fire marshal said that the latter fire had started near the auditorium stage, the same place where the attempt had been made at setting fire at East Mecklenburg. He said that the fires might not be connected, but that if someone wanted to set the two schools on fire, they had picked the best place to do it. That seems to entice the nefarious perhaps to try a third time—much as with the failed repeated indictment attempts against the New York Attorney General, sought by El Presidente in his vindictive attempts for his just civil action alleging fraud in New York, which had found him liable for hundreds of millions of dollars. But Sr. Rico has given orders to his Especiales, the legal midgets, and his orders must be carried out or else.

In Annapolis, Md., it was reported that a 17-year old high school girl had upset Navy discipline by donning a uniform and spending several hours inside the Naval Academy. Navy brass had taken the stripes from three cadets and ordered two others to face disciplinary action for allowing the unauthorized presence of a female in the hall at an unauthorized time, describing it as "an immature prank." The Academy, in a statement, said that the incident had occurred "about two weeks ago." The girl was a senior at Annapolis High School and was the daughter of a well-known Baltimore surgeon. She had stood evening meal formation in a cadet's uniform, then had marched into the dining room and had eaten with the 3,500-man brigade. Her mother said that the incident was "just a prank". But the Navy had taken a sterner view of the matter. The Academy's public information officer said that the three demoted midshipmen officers were not directly involved but "had positive knowledge of proper corrective action." It sounds a bit, perhaps, out of the Nutcracker.

In Chicago, a gunman had robbed a man of his truck, his keys and $25, also taking his pants to prevent pursuit. But the robbed man was not embarrassed for long, as he was driving for a dry-cleaning establishment and so had borrowed a pair of soiled trousers to notify police.

On the editorial page, "Let Us Give Thanks" quotes from President George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789, the first year of the nation.