The Charlotte News

Tuesday, March 11, 1958

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Secretary of Labor James Mitchell had reported this date that unemployment had reached 5.2 million in mid-February, up about 700,000 from January. He indicated that a tax-cut would be the "next big step" toward halting the recession. He had announced the number in a speech to an AFL-CIO economic conference this date, calling for Government action to boost the sagging economy, while cautioning against "ill-advised action". He said that it was too easy to recommend "broad and far-reaching money spending" which would not provide jobs which were needed at present, and that the program had to fit the need and be designed with the need clearly in mind. He said that if the business downturn proved more stubborn than anticipated, an administrative recommendation for a tax-cut would be made, and that it would be a major and substantial cut in personal and business taxes. He said it was ready for immediate use as an additional stimulus to the economy and would be put forward if necessary. He found that preferable to massive new public works spending because it placed the money in the hands of consumers and investors. He echoed comments made the previous day by Vice-President Nixon, preferring tax reduction to massive public works spending. He had followed George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, in speaking to the conference, with Mr. Meany having accused both Republicans and Democrats of playing politics and acting too slowly to counter the business recession. He demanded a quick tax-cut, increased unemployment benefits, more defense spending and more money for public works. Secretary Mitchell had disclosed that the President had been invited to attend the conference but had apparently declined, saying that he assured them that he would continue to propose to Congress "such steps as can contribute effectively to the health of the economy and the welfare of our people."

The President and Republican Congressional leaders this date discussed the possibilities of an anti-recession tax-cut, with there being indications that the Administration was prepared to propose a tax reduction under certain conditions. The willingness to turn to a tax reduction appeared to be conditioned on failure of the nation's economy to respond shortly to less dramatic stimuli.

In New York, negotiators for dress manufacturers and 105,000 striking garment workers had reached an agreement this date on a new three-year contract, following the first major walkout in 25 years starting the prior Wednesday. David Dubinsky, president of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, said that no one would return to work prior to the following morning. Picketing would continue until the union received word of employer ratification, expected this night. Union shop stewards had voted this date on the agreement. Return of the workers in a seven-state area would permit a start on the movement of dresses for the remaining pre-Easter season. Those dresses would bear a union label, according to Mr. Dubinsky, but would cost more because of higher wages, according to the manufacturers. The increased labor cost was estimated at 75 million dollars over the term of the contract. You will not be able to afford any Easter dresses at 75 million.

In Dayton, O., five Air Force men would climb into a permanently grounded aircraft cabin the following morning and would live together for five days under conditions similar to those in a flight through space.

In Havana, it was reported that rebel leader Fidel Castro had rejected this date a church-backed proposal to end his guerrilla war. He instead vowed to fight to the finish to oust El Presidente Fulgencio Batista.

In Manila, it was reported that Pakistan had rocked the opening session of SEATO foreign ministers this date with a sharp demand for more economic aid to counter tantalizing Communist offers.

In Geneva, it was reported that the U.S. this date had flatly rejected a Russian demand regarding the law of the sea to make the prohibition of nuclear weapons tests on the open ocean a principle of international law.

In Cairo, the pro-Western Umma Party had won a large margin over its nearest rivals in the Sudanese parliamentary elections, but had fallen 15 seats short of a majority in the 170-seat chamber.

In Cherry Point, N.C., the Marine Base public information office had announced this date that a search for two pilots missing since March 3 while on a training mission had ended without success.

In Peoria, Ill., the Peoria Journal Star had published morning editions for the first time in more than two months this date after settling a strike by the American Newspaper Guild and four mechanical unions.

In Kansas City, Mo., it was reported that a 17-year old boy was in fair condition in the hospital after six hours of surgery from a deep stab wound in his lower left side inflicted by a 15-year old boy with a knife given to him by his mother for times when he got into a scuffle at his high school. He was currently being held at the county parental home, without charges. One teacher said that he was quarrelsome and acted like a six-year old. He had been transferred from another high school three weeks earlier, primarily to get him away from the crowd with whom he had been running. His old high school had been one of the principal trouble spots in a recent outbreak of rowdyism in the Kansas City schools. His mother said that her son had taken her to a store and shown her knives and said that people who did not have them might get beaten up. So he she had bought one for him for his protection, as he promised he would not pull it out in school. She said he was the only kid they had and hoped that he would try to be something. The knife had a four-inch blade which slipped inside the steel handle, and the user pressed a button and flipped the wrist to get the blade to click into place. It was supposed to have been a German paratrooper's knife and cost six dollars. The boy said that the trouble at his new high school had started the prior Friday when he accidentally had bumped into the boy he eventually had knifed, who was two inches taller than he but was 100 pounds lighter, that the boy had followed him and told him he would whip him if he did not apologize. He had told the other boy that if he wanted to fight, he would not fight him in school. The previous day at noon in a basement corridor, the 15-year old boy had passed by a line of pupils waiting at the cafeteria and on that occasion, the other boy had bumped into him. He had told him to lay off, but the other boy said, "Now you're getting tough, huh?" He then said he could call it that if he wanted to. The other boy then pulled a wrist watch from his arm, handed it to another boy and struck him in the mouth with his fist, hitting him several times and knocking him against the lockers. The boy had then reached in his left front pocket for his knife. He said he did not remember trying to stab the other boy, that he may have gotten stabbed as he attempted to hit him. Police had questioned two other boys in the corridor crowd and they had told substantially the same story. Intelligence tests had rated the 15-year old among the upper quarter of his class at his old school and the vice-principal there said he had not been in any fights. He had been searched twice on the basis of reports that he carried a knife. The boy said he was transferred because he had been talking in classes and did not do his homework, not applying himself. The principal of the new high school said that neither of the boys had been discipline problems.

In Raleigh, it was reported that three guards at Central Prison had been fired for allegedly having been involved in a plot by five prisoners to escape, according to W. F. Bailey, the State Prisons director. The guards had been fired on Monday after the warden had conferred with Mr. Bailey. The latter said that a rumor had been heard sometime earlier of an escape planned before Christmas, an escape which never materialized. There had then been reports that an escape would be tried the prior Sunday, with the men going through a service tunnel and fleeing in a car which was to be parked outside the walls. The guard who was supposed to be on duty in the tower at that time had been taken off duty and Raleigh police called to help guard the reported escape location. The attempt had not been made. Mr. Bailey said that two of the three guards who were fired had admitted being in on the planning for the December escape but had not admitted being aware of the plan for the prior Sunday. The five prisoners were now in segregation cells. One of the guards said that he had been promised $15,000 to arrange an escape and had been driven to Georgia to pick up the money, which had not been forthcoming. One of the five prisoners planning the escape had been imprisoned in 1938 under a death sentence for rape, his sentence having been commuted later to life imprisonment and a second time to between 40 and 50 years. Another of the prisoners had been sentenced in 1956 to between 10 and 15 years for kidnaping, with another having been sentenced for robbery, larceny and auto theft, to between 38 and 47 years, a fourth having been sentenced to between five and eight years for breaking and entering and larceny, and the fifth sentenced in 1956 to between seven and ten years for attempted rape.

Bill Hughes of The News reports from Sanford on the trial of Frank Wetzel for murder of Highway Patrolman J. T. Brown the prior November 5, having already been convicted of the murder the same night of another Highway Patrolman, Wister Reece, indicating that an FBI ballistics expert had testified this date that a .45-caliber bullet had killed Patrolman Brown. He said that he had used the patrolman's clothing to determine the size of the slug. A doctor had previously identified the bloody clothing taken from the patrolman's body shortly after the shooting. The State maintained that Mr. Wetzel had used a .44-caliber Magnum pistol to shoot both patrolmen. The case was expected to go to the jury either late the following day or on Thursday. A cigarette butt and two car bumpers had been introduced as the State attempted to fill gaps left in its case, with those exhibits tending to verify testimony of the hitchhiker who had identified Mr. Wetzel as the slayer of Patrolman Reece about an hour before the murder of Patrolman Brown. He had testified that the killer had backed into the patrol car before leaving the scene of the first shooting. The car bumpers had not been introduced at the first trial. The State was expected to maintain that dents on the bumpers matched. The hitchhiker had also testified that he left a Camel cigarette butt in the killer's car. In the first case, the State had introduced the butt, but it had not been positively identified as a Camel. A research chemist from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. testified this date that the cigarette butt was a Camel. The State also retraced the route which Mr. Wetzel had allegedly taken in fleeing from Sanford to Chattanooga, Tenn. An FBI agent from Chattanooga had finished this date itemizing some 50 pieces of physical evidence taken from a black 1957 Oldsmobile abandoned in Chattanooga on November 6, one of the items having been a a .44-caliber Magnum revolver found in the car with two expended shells. Another witness testified that a man who resembled Mr. Wetzel had registered at a Chattanooga tourist home on the afternoon of November 6.

In Lumberton, N.C., Klan Wizard James Cole had gone on trial this date, accused of inciting a riot by holding a Klan rally the prior January 18, broken up by Lumbee Indians incensed by Klan cross-burnings on or near property belonging to Indians, with the purpose of the rally having been stated in circulated flyers to be a warning to Indians not to intermarry with white people. Among the audience of about 500 spectators in the courtroom had been Lumbee Indians, with scores of people standing in the aisles and doorways. Mr. Cole carried with him a scrapbook of newspaper clippings which told of his recent preaching and Klan activities in the Carolinas. The Robeson County sheriff, aware that feeling had been running high among the Indians, said that he had driven to Marion, S.C., the home of Mr. Cole, 40 miles from the site of the rally near Maxton, and urged Mr. Cole not to conduct the rally. The Indian raid on the rally, although potentially dangerous, had seriously injured no one. Robeson County had 40,000 white residents, 30,000 Indian residents and 25,000 black residents. As the rally time neared, Klansmen had clustered about a loudspeaker blaring "The Old Rugged Cross", at which point the Indians appeared, war-whooping and firing their weapons, some of which dated from the Civil War. Eventually, the Indians had broken up the gathering, had roughed up some of the Klansmen and taken their public address system equipment, telling them to clear out. Police had moved in to supervise the exodus. The Indians had insisted that their raid had not been planned. They had searched diligently for Mr. Cole, but the former carnival barker had managed to leave the site.

J. A. Daly of The News reports that retail trade in Charlotte had expanded briskly in recent days, influenced somewhat by the approach of Easter, that a survey of trade conditions in department stores, specialty shops and clothiers developed that the current phase of business had improved since the end of the hard freeze in mid-February, and that retailers were talking cheerfully about spring prospects. Not with million-dollar dresses in prospect.

On the editorial page, "Dixie's Reach Should Exceed Its Grasp" indicates that columnist Walter Lippmann had taken a long look at the bedraggled South of the 1920's and concluded that "everything that was ever possible for civilized man is possible here." A decade later, a geographer had been quoted in Howard Odum's Southern Regions of the United States as saying that the South was "one of the two regions on this earth and only two which will outdistance all others… Above all the other regions, they are the gardens of the world."