The Charlotte News

Monday, March 24, 1958

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Senate Select Committee investigating misconduct by unions and management had reported that "some ten million dollars in union funds have been either stolen, embezzled or misused" during the previous 15 years by officials of five labor unions, listing the Teamsters, the Bakery Workers, the United Textile Workers, the Operating Engineers, and the Allied Industrial Workers unions. The report was signed by seven members of the bipartisan Committee, with an eighth member, Senator Patrick McNamara of Michigan, having issued a strong dissent, calling the monetary figures "phony" and assailing what he termed "antilabor bias" by the majority findings. He said, "The colorful language in some of the findings in these chapters are more related to the old Police Gazette than to a supposedly objective congressional report." The majority report had said that its findings were not intended as a "wholesale indictment" of either labor unions or employers, but that they were a "danger signal" to the others in those fields, the vast majority of whom, it said, were undoubtedly honest. The second section of the two-part report would be filed toward the end of the week. The report urged Congress to consider legislation in five areas, regulation and control of pension, health and welfare funds of the unions, regulation and control of union funds generally, ensuring of union democracy, curbing activities of middlemen in labor-management disputes, and allowing states to take over where the NLRB declined to assume jurisdiction. Secretary of Labor James Mitchell said in a statement that the Committee's recommendations had followed generally the proposals of the President made to Congress three months earlier, expressing the hope that the Senate Committee findings would prod Congress to act quickly. The majority charged that former president of the Teamsters, Dave Beck, "had taken, rather than borrowed, $370,000" of the union's funds which he called loans. It accused businesses, both large and small, of profiting from "sweetheart" labor contracts with substandard terms of little or no benefit to the employees covered.

Pressure for a quick tax cut had built up this date with new calls from Republicans and Democrats in Congress for it. But Vice-President Nixon said that the President was withholding any decision on additional anti-recession measures, such as tax cuts or increased public works spending, until the economic statistics for March were available. Official figures on unemployment, production and other economic factors were being compiled at present, but would not be available in final form until sometime in April. The Vice-President said that there were some signs of improvement but that "we can't make any final judgment until the figures for March are all in, and we are not prepared to say at this time what March is going to show." He indicated that the Administration was concerned that ill-timed tax reduction or increased Federal spending might be inflationary. He said that if a tax cut were necessary, he would favor a broadly based reduction aimed at creating jobs, with the cuts encouraging investment as well as increased purchasing power of consumers. He said he was against any action which would only raise personal income tax exemptions. Boosting those exemptions had been advocated by several Senators. There were also proposals for cutting corporate income taxes and excise taxes. Some members of Congress had urged increased spending on public works and slum clearance, as well as Federal aid for emergency school construction. Outside the Government, the Committee for Economic Development had suggested a temporary 20 percent cut in all personal income taxes, provided the economy during the current month and the next month was below that of February. The Committee, a privately supported research organization, said that such a cut, possibly starting around the middle of the year and lasting for nine months, would pump about 7.5 billion dollars into the economy. The organization also recommended short-term public works and accelerated Federal spending. Walter Reuther, president of the UAW and vice-president of the AFL-CIO, reiterated his proposal that income tax withholding be temporarily suspended. He also proposed extending unemployment benefits and speeding up public works projects. In a television interview, he called for fast action and said that the recession was going to become worse unless those steps were taken. Mixed with the demands for quick tax cuts were warnings to proceed slowly, along with expressions of opposition. Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire said that he did not want "to step into a tax cut which would mean a big deficit."

The House this date postponed until the following day consideration of a 668 million dollar bill to raise the pay of servicemen.

Ludwig Erhard, economics minister of West Germany, was scheduled to meet this date in Washington with the President for discussion of political and economic problems.

In Havana, El Presidente Fulgencio Batista announced this date that he was willing to consider granting general amnesty before elections on November 3 to help re-establish peace on the island of Cuba.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, word from North Sumatra this date said that Prapat, one of the last reported rebel holdings in the area, was firmly in Government hands.

In Athens, Greece, a small Greek coastal vessel this date was reported missing and presumably lost with ten crewmen and ten passengers aboard.

In Brest, France, it was reported that all seven crew members of a small French fishing boat were feared dead this date after the craft had sunk off the French Atlantic coast.

In Houston, it was reported that an American tanker and a Norwegian freighter had collided at the five-mile pass in the Houston ship channel early this date, the two ships having been grounded on a sandbar by the impact of the crash, blocking the channel for three hours.

In Woodward, Okla., two young brothers, ages 12 and 10, held for the fatal shooting of a grocer the previous day, had lost some of their toughness this date when the sheriff had questioned them during the morning, indicating for the first time that they had "a little regret" over the shooting. The county attorney said that he was preparing charges of juvenile delinquency against the brothers and indicated it would be up to the court to determine if they were old enough to realize their acts and thus be charged as adults. They had also wounded an employee of the store, in critical condition, and had wounded a customer, who had only suffered a flesh wound. The sheriff said that the boys still could not give a reason for the shootings, having admitted that they went into the store to rob it after Sunday school "and the shooting took place within a minute." The sheriff said that the younger of the two was sick to his stomach for awhile after being jailed. He had tears in his eyes when he was questioned by the sheriff and said that he wished it had not happened, dropping his initial tough act. After the shooting, the sheriff had cornered that brother in an abandoned cotton gin with two loaded guns, walked in and captured him. The sheriff said that he must have been out of his mind to have done it, but that somebody might have been shot if the boy had not been captured, indicating also he did not know if he could have shot the boy and thought that he would rather have been killed, himself. The parents of the boys were out of town the previous day, in Liberal, Kans., where the father was working on a plumbing job. Sometime after the boys had left Sunday school, according to the sheriff, they had broken into a store and stolen four .22-caliber pistols, later entering the market and asking the proprietor, working on a rifle, whether it was a real gun. When he said that it was, the younger boy said that he also had a real gun, drew the pistol and started to fire. The brothers had then shot out store lights and windows and fled, the younger of the two running to the old cotton gin, about six blocks away, and police then moved in on that building. He had shouted to the officers, "I'll shoot the first one I can see." Teargas shells were lobbed into the building and the officers then entered. It does not indicate how the older of the two brothers was apprehended.

In Rock Hill, S.C., a man died of suffocation early this date from a burning bed in his apartment.

In Charlotte, Superior Court Judge Zeb Nettles this date reversed himself and permitted three Klansmen convicted of felony charges to post bonds, two having bonds set at $2,000 and the third, at $4,000. They had been convicted by a jury the prior Thursday in connection with the attempted bombing of the Woodland Elementary School for black students. The judge had sentenced two of the defendants to between two and five years imprisonment for conspiracy to bomb the school, and sentenced the third to between five and ten years for attempted bombing of the school, plus a suspended sentence on the conspiracy charge. The judge originally said he would not allow bonds pending appeal but the three defense counsel had questioned his right to deny bond and cited North Carolina statutes permitting them. Their appeals would not be heard before the following September, as the North Carolina Supreme Court was in recess until that time. (There was no intermediate Court of Appeal in the state at the time.)

Ann Sawyer of The News reports of a Latvian-born resident of Charlotte who had been "saved" by an act of Congress, now awaiting the President's signature on the bill to permit him to remain in the U.S. The bill had moved his name from the bottom to the top of an immigration list. In 1945, he had begun his journey to the U.S. via Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Austria and Argentina, making it to Wooster College in Wooster, O., on a student visa in 1951. After studying architecture for five years and working for the Encyclopedia Britannica during the last of those years, he was transferred to Charlotte in 1956, where his company had opened an office. About a year earlier, he had almost been deported, until his attorney had gone before immigration officials in Norfolk and gotten the deportation delayed because the act in his behalf was still pending in Congress. The bill permitting him to stay had been introduced by Senator Sam J. Ervin during the current session. It stated basically that when an immigrant had unusual promise, special consideration was given to his status. If he were to be returned to Latvia, he would certainly be put to death. His father had worked in the underground for four years against the Russians before they had gained control of the country after the war. On Friday, he had received a telegram from Senator Ervin addressed to his attorney, which said that the House had passed the bill on his behalf and that it was now at the White House for the President's signature.

In Memphis, Tenn., Elvis Presley, sleepy-eyed from an all-night open house at his suburban mansion, had reached draft board headquarters half an hour early this date to begin a two-year hitch in the Army. He was filled with cheerful wisecracks as he mounted a quick but fruitless campaign to attract recruits from among the newsmen gathered. He was accompanied by his parents and carried a pigskin shaving kit case. His normally swept back duck tail haircut with long sideburns "bristled in a modified crew". Fifteen police officers had been detailed to the downtown building where the draft board was located, but the crowd on hand was small, presumably for the early hour and the fact that there was a steady drizzle. Mr. Presley and 11 other inductees answered roll call, a routine complicated by the crowd of reporters and newspaper, newsreel and television photographers. The other inductees watched, blinked at the camera flashes and stood quietly lined against the wall. Mr. Presley would be donning a uniform the following day unless there were an unexpected hitch. As a $78 per month private, he would be forced to take a large salary cut. As indicated, unfortunately, he will never emerge from the Army alive. Only his body-double will eventually be discharged, as clearly to be shown by the types of movies in which he will appear after the Army. The discerning listener will also note that the number and quality of his hit records will dramatically decrease. Obviously, he was killed in that jeep accident somewhere outside West Berlin, one spring day in 1959.

Norman Vincent Peale provides Chapter 1 of his Jesus of Nazareth, presenting a youthful Galilean named Joshua, fictional son of the Apostle Andrew, living at the time of Christ and telling of his first-hand impressions of him.

The sports page reports from Louisville that the University of Kentucky had defeated Seattle University on Saturday night for the NCAA national championship in basketball, 84 to 72, giving coach Adolph Rupp his fourth championship team. It would be his last championship, though the Wildcats would reach the national finals once more, for a sixth time, in 1966, losing in an upset to Texas Western. He would retire in 1972 with a record number of victories, 876, against 190 losses, a record which would stand until broken by UNC coach Dean Smith in 1997, retiring with 879 victories and 254 losses. Coach Rupp had begun coaching at Kentucky in 1932.

On the editorial page, "Shall We Build Schools or Post Offices?" indicates that the Administration apparently had neglected to make any notation at all of the horrors of the classroom shortage of 1957. While it had been viewed with alarm a year earlier, it had not disappeared and had even grown much worse.