The Charlotte News
Monday, December 1, 1958
TWO EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Soviet magazine Aviation Week claimed that the Soviet Union already had and was flying a nuclear-powered bomber and that the U.S. was at least four years behind the Soviets in that regard. Officials of the U.S. Air Force and Defense Department had withheld comment on the report. The magazine said that the Soviet bomber had been completed six months earlier and had been flying in the Moscow area for at least two months, that its test flights had been observed in both Communist and non-Communist countries. It indicated that it was a military prototype, not just a conventional plane fitted with an experimental nuclear power plant for test purposes. The power plant was described as the simplest kind of an atomic engine, a direct air-cycle design, similar to that being developed by the U.S., like the ordinary turbojet engine except that a nuclear reactor replaced the combustion chamber to provide the heat which furnished the power. Nearly three years earlier, in January, 1956, the U.S. had first used a nuclear reactor to provide the heat for a turbojet engine. The Atomic Energy Commission had said that tests of the laboratory model at its eastern Idaho testing facility had demonstrated the feasibility of the engine, designed by the General Electric Co. at Evendale, O. No airplane had yet been built, however, to go with the engine, but work on design studies had been underway for several years at Convair's Fort Worth, Tex., plant and at Lockheed's facilities in Marietta, Ga. The Idaho test station expected completion by the ensuing fall of facilities to test the engine in conjunction with an airframe on the ground. No date for flight-testing of a nuclear-powered plane had been announced. Aviation Week said that the Soviet plane was powered with two nuclear engines and two conventional jet engines, and speeds were estimated at just above or below the speed of sound. The magazine said that the plane weighed 300,000 pounds, was 195 feet long and had a wingspan of 78 feet. The U.S. B-52 bomber, with eight jet engines, weighed about 400,000 pounds and was 156.5 feet long. A major advantage of a nuclear-powered plane was that it could be flown for days or weeks without refueling. Among the major obstacles to its development were the need for special models able to withstand the intense heat of an atomic reactor and the weight of the shielding presently considered necessary to protect the crew from radiation. The Rooskies aren't worried about those considerations, and so you had better get somebody up there to go shoot that sucker down right quick while it's flying over Moscow. We do not want that thing flying over us.
In Augusta, Ga., the President, who had been at the National Golf Club in Augusta since November 20, was scheduled to return to Washington late the following day and reportedly had called meetings for Wednesday on vital defense and space age problems, scheduling a meeting with the National Aeronautics and Space Council and the National Security Council, to preside also over a second meeting of the latter group on Thursday. The meetings were announced in the wake of a new pledge by the President to Communist-threatened West Berlin that its freedom would be safeguarded by the U.S., which had come jointly with Britain and France after the President and Secretary of State Dulles had discussed the Berlin situation in an hour-long meeting in Augusta the previous day. White House press secretary James Hagerty announced this date that the Wednesday Space Council meeting at the White House would concern the issue raised by a proposal by the new NASA, a civilian agency, that it take over the Army's ballistic missile agency, which would mean transfer of about 2,000 scientists to NASA. The proposal had caused a storm of Army protest when it had been first made a few weeks earlier. But there were now reports in Augusta that the controversy had been resolved and that a decision satisfactory to both NASA and the Army would be announced soon. The President told a Washington press conference recently that he personally would make the decision after the Space Council, which he headed, had completed its study. The NASA plan was for it to take over the Army Redstone Arsenal staff of scientists at Huntsville, Ala., a team headed by German-born Dr. Wernher von Braun. On the agenda at the Security Council meetings for Wednesday and Thursday would be the big question of how much to earmark for defense spending in the coming 1959-60 fiscal year. The Council would also study overall foreign aid plans, particularly whether military assistance ought be curtailed in favor of greater economic aid. After a conference with the President the prior Friday, Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy had left open the possibility that defense spending for the following fiscal year would run about a billion dollars more than the 40.8 billion estimated for the current fiscal year. The President, once he returned to Washington, would also face the task of completing his legislative program and Federal budget, which he would send to the new 86th Congress in January. The President and Mr. Dulles in their weekend conference had almost certainly discussed countermeasures which the Western allies planned to take to prevent the Soviets from dominating West Berlin, but they had remained silent after the meeting. The Soviet note on its plan had given the Western powers six months to enter into negotiations for establishment of a "free city" for West Berlin only. The Russians had added that failure to do so would put the plan into effect automatically at the end of that time, inevitably meaning some kind of restrictions to be imposed on Western access between West Germany and Berlin, a distance of 110 miles within East Germany.
In Amman, Jordan, martial law had been lifted this date and Jordan's citizens had resumed almost normal living after 19 months under the military restrictions.
In Montgomery, Ala., it was reported that agents of the Federal Civil Rights Commission, which had been created by the 1957 Civil Rights Act, were in the city this date, reportedly with subpoenas to serve on witnesses for the following Monday's hearing regarding black voting rights.
The Associated Press reports that more than 600 Americans had been killed in accidents during the four-day, 102-hour Thanksgiving extended weekend, of whom nearly 450 had lost their lives in traffic accidents. The toll of traffic deaths was higher than that which had been counted in a non-holiday period of like duration by the A.P. two weeks earlier, but was not as high as the 470 estimated by the National Safety Council for a 102-hour non-holiday weekend at the current time of year. The NSC had not made an estimate prior to the holiday period of the number of deaths likely to occur. The season's first major snowstorm was regarded as a major factor in the number of deaths on the highways, and the cold weather also was attributed as a factor in the number of violent deaths as a series of destructive fires had taken the lives of several persons, including several children. At least four states, New York, Alabama, California and Illinois, had each reported 20 or more highway fatalities, with New York having led all states in total violent deaths with 36 and Rhode Island having been the only state not reporting any violent deaths.
In Buffalo, N.Y., state troopers reported that it was typical of about 200 questioners the previous day to have asked them whether the patrol had towed their car out yet as it was stuck somewhere. They had found about 200 cars and trucks abandoned on the thruway between Batavia and the Pennsylvania Turnpike in a snowstorm. About 600 travelers had spent Saturday night on floors in five Thruway restaurants, in interchange buildings, schools, state police barracks, homes and even in the armory at Batavia. All the travelers were on their way again by the previous night, but about 20 cars remained unclaimed. Troopers assumed that the drivers had gone on by bus, train or plane and would return for their cars in a few days. One motorist who had been stranded said that visibility on the Thruway had been zero, that the snow was blowing and she could not see and could not turn around, that she could not tell where she was going, that it was like driving into the North Pole region with no sign of a track. (It must have been an experience akin to that of an average Trump supporter.) She wondered why they had let her onto the Thruway. She had found refuge in a service area and said that the place was packed with people, with children lying around everywhere on the floor, that they had been brought a few blankets but they had then taken them away again and she did not know why. They could buy food and coffee, which was warm, but that was all.
The season's coldest weather had blanketed the Northeast and sent an icy chill deep into the South this date, with the Midwest having received a brief respite from the near-zero temperatures and snow. The Northeast was hit by the frigid blasts in the wake of the heavy snowstorm which swept the region during the weekend after leaving near record early-season snowfall in the Rockies and the Midwest. Temperatures had dropped below zero in northern New England and near zero in parts of New York State. The mercury was close to zero in areas southward across western Pennsylvania into West Virginia, and freezing temperatures extended southward toward the mid-Gulf Coast, including northwestern Florida. Sub-zero temperatures were in prospect from the eastern Great Lakes to the mountain regions of eastern West Virginia and through the interior sections of New England. Bundle up and roast some chestnuts on the open fire, but be sure and tend that fire lest it get out of control and burn you to a crisp.
The low in Charlotte had been 25 and the forecast low for the following day was 32, though a high of 54 was predicted, nine degrees higher than the 45 forecast for this date in the afternoon. Skies were forecast to be cloudy through the following day but no rain or snow was predicted. The morning low of 25 had been the lowest reading since the 21 of the previous February 17, but still five degrees over the predicted low of 20, with clouds drifting in during the night keeping the mercury from dropping further.
The Associated Press reports that air travelers had cause for optimism this date as a quick settlement of a ten-day old machinists' strike against TWA, one of the two major airlines immobilized by labor disputes, was anticipated. Whether the optimism would increase or take a negative turn depended on developments in Kansas City and New York City. At a dinner hour recess of negotiations in Kansas City on Sunday night, the chairman of a district local of the International Association of Machinists had said: "It's not a question of 'if' in getting this thing settled any more. It's a question of how soon." The bargaining session had ended at midnight and was scheduled to resume this date. The IAM had struck TWA on November 21. Meanwhile, Eastern Air Lines, struck by the machinists and the Flight Engineers International Association the prior Monday, offered to submit many of its differences with the engineers to arbitration, but the proposal had been rejected. The proposal had been made by Eddie Rickenbacker, chairman of the board at Eastern, in a telegram to Jack Robertson, president of the Flight Engineers. Mr. Rickenbacker had said that in view of a recent court decision clarifying the issues which could be negotiated, Eastern proposed that all remaining lawful issues in dispute be submitted to arbitration by a neutral referee. But in reply, Mr. Robertson had said that they were not going to enter into any arbitration, as they had tried it previously without success. He added that the union would be ready to negotiate at any time regarding any new company offer. The union also refused a request from a member of the National Mediation Board who had flown to Miami, asking Mr. Robertson and a vice-president of Eastern to meet with him. A U.S. District Court judge had ruled in Miami that Eastern had a right to require its engineers on jet planes to take basic pilot training, the so-called "third man" issue. In Kansas City, the National Mediation Board chairman said that a major share of contract terms had been agreed in writing by representatives of TWA and the IAM.
In Detroit, with a strike deadline only 2.5 hours away, the UAW and Electric Auto-Lite Corp. had begun last-ditch efforts at bargaining for a new contract this date.
In Washington, union and industry committees stood by this date, awaiting ratification of a new labor contract for the soft coal industry as soon as final details could be worked out.
In Framingham, Mass., Sir Hubert Wilkins, famed explorer of the North and South Poles, had been found dead this date in his hotel room at the age of 70.
John Kilgo of The News reports that an epidemic of fires, at least some of which involved arson, most of which had been apparently the work of juveniles, had City and County police gravely concerned this date, as teams of officers were working around the clock on the cases. The previous day, a vacant house had been set on fire but was extinguished quickly by firemen. A deputy fire chief said that the fire had been started under the back porch and appeared to be the work of children. City police had arrested a ten-year old boy after a fire had been set in a new classroom at Lincoln Heights Elementary School in the northwest section of the city, with police officers indicating that the offenders in both of those cases probably did not realize that the law did not look on arson as simply a prank. Under state law, a person convicted of first-degree arson, which embraced the setting of a fire deliberately in a place where persons were asleep, could be executed. For other than first-degree arson, the maximum penalty was ten years in prison, with a minimum of four months. The boy who had set the fire at the elementary school had been arrested by Youth Bureau detectives after he was observed watching the fire by a janitor at the school. The officer said that the boy admitted setting the fire in the new classroom. Firemen estimated damage to the room to be several hundred dollars worth. Police said that the youth said that he had gone into the school building, knocked a hole in a gasoline can and poured the gas on the floor. He had then poured motor oil on the cabinets and cleaning wax on the window sill, then started the fire with matches he had found in a wheelbarrow. The janitor had spotted the fire on his way to church and called the fire department. The prior Wednesday, a crude attempt had been made to burn down the auditorium at East Mecklenburg High School, but the fire had gone out on its own before much damage had occurred because the ignited auditorium stage curtain was flameproof. On the same night, a $40,000 fire had raged through the Oakhurst Sales Co. near the same school.
Bob Slough of The News reports that one of the city's leading ministers had appealed to the conscience of the community regarding the recent arson and bomb scares. Dr. Lawrence Stell of the Trinity Presbyterian Church had said the previous day in a sermon, titled "The Utter Shamelessness": "The time has come for us to draw the line between the destroyers and the builders. When anyone sets fire to a school building, a house, or anything else, as has been suspected around here, … he's destroying something out of my pocketbook and my bank account and out of yours." He went on to say that the business of telling on anyone who did so took on a different hue when it was one's own money impacted, adding: "I think the devil has sold us a false bill of goods in saying we ought not to bear tales out of school. 'Oh, God, if nobody else cares, make me care' must be the cry of every God-fearing man, and woman, and young person here today." He told his congregation that he would rather not preach the sermon, but felt that he had to do so as the recent bomb scares were acts of "utter shamelessness" which would cost the taxpayers money as well as robbing some young people of their education for a day. He said that all such things could be termed childish pranks, and that "Fun is fun and being a boy is wonderful, but threatening the life or property of another person is not my idea of clean fun."
In Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a man, who
had been in jail for most of the time since his 20 million dollar per
year bookmaking ring in Brooklyn had been broken up in 1950, was
called into county court this date regarding a Los Angeles larceny
case. The question probably uppermost in everyone's mind was whether
he had been for the previous eight years picking his feet on the edge
of his bed. A secondary question
As we have fallen behind, there will be no further notes on the front page or editorial page of this date, as the notes will be sporadic until we catch up.
If you have a question as to what happened last night with Alfred, the answer is that he was preempted, along with a few other programs, by this presentation, which you may adjudge as to whether it was worth the candle. If, for any reason, you don't care for that fare, you can watch this one
Framed Edition
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