The Charlotte News
Tuesday, March 25, 1958
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Havana that rebel leader Fidel Castro's threat of "total war" unless El Presidente Fulgencio Batista quit by midnight on April 5, had sent a wave of fear surging through the easternmost province of Oriente this date, with some American families moving out. Twenty to 30 American families had decided to evacuate voluntarily back to the U.S. and the manager of the multi-million-dollar 429-acre Texaco oil installation at Santiago said that U.S. families were left to decide on their own whether to leave. Texaco employed 47 Americans and 275 Cubans. Rebels had recently attempted to attack the installation but had been driven off by heavy police fire. The security guard had been strengthened and floodlights erected atop the 11-foot wire barricade protecting the Texaco property. The Cuban Government had reinforced the Army, Navy and Air Forces in Santiago de Cuba, capital of Oriente Province. Heavily armed patrols of police, Coast Guardsmen and troops had tightened their watch on key Government and communications centers. Brig. General Alberto del Rio Chaviano, commander of Army forces, had alerted troops to crush any uprising, canceling leaves of all federal, provincial and city employees, apparently done in an effort to forestall a general strike which Sr. Castro said would be called coincident with big armed attacks on Government centers. Cubans in Santiago had stocked up on basic commodities of rice, lard and beans, and otherwise, stores had reported trade having dwindled sharply with shoppers disappearing from streets at nightfall. Sr. Castro had moved 600 of his estimated 1,000 guerrilla fighters into an area 50 miles northeast of Santiago. Another column was moving from his mountain hideout easterly toward Santiago. Apparently, he was planning to try to cut all communications and to isolate Santiago rather than to attack the strongly defended city. Government troops were reported to have seized large supplies of rebel arms near the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo. Unconfirmed reports persisted that rebel reinforcements were landing in the westernmost province of Pinar del Rio and Oriente Province.
Secretary of State Dulles said this date that the U.S. would lose its shirt if it agreed to a summit conference at the high price which he said Russia was demanding for such a meeting.
At Cherry Point, N.C., the U.S. Marines 2nd Regiment had prepared to recoup from two "aggressor" counterattacks in war games testing the means of protecting U.S. interests in a friendly country menaced by pro-Communist neighbors. The aggressor had counterattacked with a mock atomic bomb the previous day, hitting amphibious ships off Onslow Beach and including "destruction" of a bridge across the New River.
Republican Congressional leaders reported this date that the President would ask Congress to authorize a 600 million dollar speed-up in Government buying to help combat the recession. The leaders also said that after their regular meeting with the President, he was just about ready to send to Congress his request for a 50 percent extension in the duration of unemployment insurance benefits. A special message on that program might be sent to Congress later this date or the following day. At this date's White House conference, there had also been discussion of a 5.4 billion dollar highway construction bill presently being debated in the Senate. The Republican leaders noted that the highway measure was not in the form of that requested by the Administration. But Senator William Knowland of California, Minority Leader, predicted that Congress would approve some form of highway legislation to help deal with the business slump. He announced that legislation to speed up Government purchasing in all fields, including defense, would go to Congress in the next day or so. The new White House plans were reported as it became known that Secretary of the Treasury Robert Anderson had indicated to leading members of Congress that opposition to a tax cut was increasing within Administration councils. Mr. Anderson was reported to have told influential Democrats and Republicans that the Vice-President did not speak for the Administration when he said the previous week that it would be "good Republican philosophy" to reduce taxes if the business recession continued. Mr. Nixon conceded at the time that no final decision was likely to be made by the President until all of the economic figures for March became available, sometime around mid-April. But he said that if those figures were disappointing, he believed a tax reduction offered the best chance of promoting a quick upturn in the economy. Secretary Anderson, however, was quoted as telling members of Congress in private conferences that he believed a tax reduction would not be nearly as effective as predicted by the Vice-President. He was said to believe that an increase in public works and military spending already was beginning to show some results.
The House Appropriations Committee this date recommended that 2.9 billion dollars in new funds be appropriated for the Labor and Welfare Departments, indicating that more money would be needed soon because of current economic conditions and the outlook for the future. The amount approved by the Committee, subject to House action later in the week, was 11 million dollars less than requested by the President in what the Committee had described as budget estimates "far from reality". The Committee criticized the Budget Bureau for not raising the request prepared the previous fall and submitted by the President in January, called inadequate the Administration's approach to national health problems, and stated that the wage and hour division was not effectively ferreting out wage and hour violations. The Committee's token cut in new appropriations left the two big departments and several related activities with 215.5 million dollars less than they were given during the current year, with much of the cut undoubtedly to be restored. For the fiscal year starting the following July 1, the Committee recommended allotments listed in the report. Heads of both the Labor and Welfare Departments, the Committee added, had indicated they soon would need more money than requested but said that "why both departments refuse to present up-to-date estimates at this time is difficult to understand." The Committee described some of the Budget Bureau's practices as "strange and devious and sometimes rather amusing" in what it called an attempt to "make the budget look better."
Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks appealed anew to Congress this date for extension of the trade agreements acts as "a strong boost to morale and the economy."
The House met an hour early this date to try to obtain a decision on a military pay bill carrying a raise and a 668 million dollar price tag.
Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona this date accused Joseph Rauh, Jr., attorney for the UAW, of "attempting to mislead" the Senate Select Committee investigating misconduct of unions and management.
FCC commissioner Rosel Hyde this date denied any impropriety in his conduct as a Government official, indicating that allegations of misconduct against certain FCC members earlier in the year had been "a matter of grave concern" to him.
In Rabat, Morocco, a Moroccan court the previous night had sentenced to death three French officers in absentia for alleged threats to the security of the state.
In Panama, Finance Minister Gilberto Arias had resigned the previous night as a result of a break between his politically powerful publisher father and President Ernesto de la Guardia, Jr.
In Port of Spain, Trinidad, Britain's new West Indies Federation held its first federal elections this date with about half of its three million people eligible to vote for 45 representatives.
In Funchal, Madeira Islands, seven men had been reported killed this date when rocks and sand had caved in on them in a tunnel for a new highway.
In Castelnuovo di Porto, Italy, a rain-soaked cliff had collapsed early this date, killing a family of four asleep in their nearby farm house.
In Miami, Fla., wreckage of a Panama-bound Braniff Airlines plane, which had carried nine persons to their deaths in a fiery crash shortly after midnight this date, was still smoldering, hours after the disaster. Firemen working with police to rescue the injured and recover the dead had been unable to force their trucks through the dense growth surrounding the swampy scene of the crash. Fifteen persons, many seriously injured, had survived. The four-engine DC-7C had been airborne less than a minute before observers on the ground saw fire coming from an engine. A night watchman on duty at the city dump near the swampy area of the crash saw the plane go down "like a rock", falling 4.5 miles north of Miami International Airport. The plane had been headed to Lima, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro from Panama.
In Rock Hill, S.C., a 16-year old escapee of a North Carolina mental hospital this date was ordered extradited as Governor George Bell Timmerman, Jr., signed the papers ordering the girl to be turned over to the Cabarrus County sheriff in Concord, N.C. She had been picked up near Rock Hill on March 15 after twice escaping from North Carolina officers. She was ordered committed to the mental hospital in Raleigh in 1956 after a Cabarrus County Superior Court had found her mentally incapable of standing trial for the murder of her father with a shotgun while he was watching television. She escaped from the hospital several times, the last of which found her fleeing to Fayetteville in a taxi where she was apprehended but escaped from officers returning her to Raleigh.
In Los Angeles, actor Tim Moore, who played the Kingfish on the "Amos 'n' Andy" television series, received a $100 fine and a suspended sentence for a January 5 incident in which he had fired a shot in his home during an argument with his wife, her son, and her son-in-law and daughter. No one had been hurt. Mr. Moore was charged with assault with a deadly weapon but was found guilty by the judge of a misdemeanor, "drawing, exhibiting or using a firearm."
In Leckhampstead, England, a person thought to be a man, a member of the British Home Guard during World War II, had been unmasked in death as a woman. At 73, she had played the male role since moving into the district 20 years earlier to make a living doing odd jobs. A proprietor of the pub where she was one of the star dart players stated that it was "fantastic news. Everybody liked Chris. He was a grand old boy." Authorities had been unable to trace any relatives and the reason for the masquerade remained a mystery.
The News of this date included, in section C, the second annual prize-winning "Southern Cookbook", edited by Mary Alexander, home service director of Piedmont Natural Gas Co. It contained favorite recipes of housewives in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and prize recipes of award-winning cooks in other parts of the South, all selected from nearly 2,000 recipes submitted by readers of the newspaper. Ms. Alexander and a group of judges, all prominent in home economics, had selected three prize-winning recipes from each of 20 categories, awarding prizes of five dollars, three dollars and two dollars to housewives, and a grand prize of $100 to Mrs. George Wilkinson for submitting the best recipe, that for a corn and oyster casserole.
Julian Scheer of The News reports that State Representative James Vogler, dean of Mecklenburg's General Assembly delegation, had announced this date that he would be a candidate for the State Senate in the May 31 Democratic primary. Already in the race were incumbent J. Spencer Bell and State Representative Jack Love.
On the editorial page, "Let's All Join the 'Game of Politics'" indicates that there was sudden vigor in Mecklenburg County in an activity cursed in the recent past, a welcome sign of life, in that several Democrats had declared for various races, with traditional alignments dissolving at last.
The potential of Republican strength was one reason for it and recent mutinies in the ranks of the Democratic Old Guard was another reason. But more important was the emergence of new faces and new interest on the part of rank amateurs. There was even some possibility that the wheelers and dealers of Mecklenburg politics might emerge from the spring primaries and fall elections with a few tailfeathers missing, a richly satisfying sight to many.
It posits that the healthiest thing for Mecklenburg at present would be the stimulation of more interest in politics among the rank and file. "Politics is not a dirty word. It is not a license to steal. It is not the science of 'who gets what when and how,' in Harold Lasswell's famous phrase. These things may continue to be a part of the 'game of politics' but they fall short of the new decisive dimension which has been given to government, and therefore politics, in our time."
It suggests that the citizen who insisted on thinking of himself as separate and apart from the politician deserved what he got. As Samuel Lubell had been grumbling in print recently, such detachment was one of the more deeply ingrained American habits, saying: "If something goes wrong, the sovereign people are never held at fault. Always it is 'that man in the White House' or some other official who is accused of 'betraying' the 'public trust.' The conscience of the 'public' is left to slumber untroubled. This myth of the 'blameless public' has been indulged in too long. It is time that 'we the people' realized that our politicians are what they are—for better or worse—because of ourselves."
The piece asks whether the residents of Mecklenburg County had learned that lesson. The stirrings in the precincts indicated that some appeared dimly aware of it. The interest in public office among new figures in politics was another healthy sign.
It urges that the interest ought be encouraged to the point of filing and letting the stirrings increase to the intensity of an invigorating political crescendo, at which point sweet little old ladies might be coaxed back to the polls, even if some of them had declared that they did not vote because they did not want to encourage them.
"On Looking Gift Elephants in the Mouth" indicates that it would rather that circus boss Art Concello of Ringling Brothers keep the surplus elephant he was offering to Charlotte at a giveaway price.
It reaches that conclusion because of the girth of an elephant and the high cost of hay, plus the ever-present possibility of having to call out the National Guard to keep it in captivity, recalling the experience of the runaway Vicki from the Airport Zoo in 1955, during the chase for which, a citizen had broken his elbow when he discovered in the midst of a head-high honeysuckle swamp that Vicki was chasing him. There had also been an unpleasant controversy over using bloodhounds to track the elephant, with the Mecklenburg Humane Society having been unable to understand why it was necessary to call in a pack of dogs to locate something as big as an elephant.
"All things considered, we think it best that Vicki's monopoly on the elephant business in Charlotte be maintained or, at least, that the city not engage in competition with the free enterprise that pays her hay bill."
It suggests that perhaps Mr. Consello had a surplus chihuahua or guinea pig which, in the spirit of friendship, the city could accept.
"Anti-Recession Plan" indicates that after picking its way through some of the more outlandish anti-recession schemes offered by well-heeled economists, it could not help recalling a poignant scene reported by the staff cynic, wherein a wealthy man from the depths of his fur-lined topcoat had asked a beggar whether he had been standing there long, to which the beggar replied that he had been standing there for hours. The wealthy man then asked whether he was cold, to which the beggar replied that he was frozen. "Ah now," said the rich man, "what you want to do is jump about a bit."
"Bring on Senator Slushpump—Soon" indicates that a few architects involved in the proposed face-lifting of the national Capitol had alleged that newspaper opposition to the project was based on a desire to boost circulation.
It invites the reader to imagine a world so peaceful, orderly and well-regulated that people would buy newspapers to share vicariously in the excitement of an argument over extending the front of a public building. It offers hypothetical headlines: "SENATOR SLUSHPUMP CHARGES PLUMB LINE CROOKED, PROBE ORDERED INTO OLD BRICK, NEW STANDARDS SOUGHT FOR SAP IN GREEN LUMBER, or BULLDOZER ATTACKS UNDER RESISTING EARTH."
It indicates that the sad truth was that many big headlines had to chronicle events of a quite different sort, wars and rumors of war, hurricanes and tornadoes, reminders of taxes being due, corruption in high places, juvenile and adult delinquency, the cost-of-living increase, etc. "The halcyon days have not come when papers can be peddled by headlining the intricacies of architecture, or disputes over the same."
It says that the reason most newspapers and most architects were opposing the Capitol project was that they did not believe that a great historical landmark ought be altered for the sake of providing office space, at an estimated cost of $200 per square foot.
Weimar Jones, writing in the Franklin Press, in a piece titled "Are Potatoes Potatoes?" finds that the ignorance in the world was incredible, citing the Saturday Evening Post as example, indicating that in a recent issue, it had published an editorial about plans of New Englanders to erect a monument "to the potato". He takes exception to it because there was more than one type of potato.
He says that the Post was published in a city of some little cultural background, Philadelphia, because for generations, it had been enlightened enough to eat "that greatest of all cereals, grits." But it appeared that no one in Philadelphia, including the editor of the Post, had ever heard of sweet potato.
"Think of it! Never to have
eaten sweet potatoes, sliced or fried! Never to have busted open a
baked sweet potato, covered it with ham gravy, and then fallen to
sleep on a plate of sweet potato, fried ham and stewed or fried
apples! Never to have known the palate thrill of creoled
He joins the Post in
acknowledging the value of the lowly spud as a staple, but indicates
that the sweet potato was to the Irish what a luxury liner trip to
Europe was to a trip downtown to the post office. "For imagine,
if you can, creoled Irish potatoes or candied Irish potatoes or Irish
potato pie! Irish potatoes
Drew Pearson indicates that the Catholic Church had a fine obligation practiced by members of its faith which non-Catholics ought follow, especially newspapermen, that being the obligation of confession, which he says he wishes to follow regarding some mistakes he had made.
His first confession pertains to Louis Johnson, former Secretary of Defense, indicating that in reporting some of the reasons why the country had been behind Russia on missiles and satellites, he had stated that Mr. Johnson had curtailed those two programs in the interest of economy while head of the Defense Department. He says it was half way an error, as Mr. Johnson had cut the satellite program started by his predecessor, but had not cut the far more important missile program started in January, 1946, when the Air Corps let a contract to Convair to build the MX-774, a project which had been killed by the then-chief of staff of the Army, General Eisenhower, on July 1, 1947, at a time when the Army was in control of the Air Corps. He adds that in fairness to General Eisenhower, he had acted on the advice of his military experts, but in fairness to Mr. Johnson, he needed to correct the record.
His second confession pertains to Senator Lyndon Johnson. He recently reported that he had acquired television station KTBC in Austin, Tex., under a quickie grant from the FCC right after the freeze was taken off the granting of television licenses. While the grant of the license was included among the so-called "quickie" licenses awarded in the rush of July, 1952, there had been no competition for the channel from any other applicant in Austin, and the license to Senator Johnson had been on file with the FCC since March 14, 1952. The freeze was taken off on July 1, 1952, and the application of the Senator had been granted on July 11. Another applicant in Austin had gotten a UHF station the same day, but that granted to the Senator was on the VHF band.
His third confession pertains to House Speaker Sam Rayburn and his attributed disparaging remarks about Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield when the latter had offered him some new post offices in his district in Texas as an apparent inducement to win the Speaker's support for increased postage rates. Though the Speaker had told the story quite recently, Mr. Pearson had now found that the incident actually happened in the previous session of Congress and therefore applied to the four-cent stamp instead of the five-cent. The point of the story, he adds, remained even more valid because if the Speaker was upset with the Postmaster General regarding his tactics in trying to win support for the four-cent stamp, he would be even more adamant regarding the increase to five cents. He had indicated that recently in telling the story of the offer by Mr. Summerfield.
Mr. Summerfield had offered House Democratic leader John McCormack some new post office buildings in Boston, but was turned down, Mr. McCormack stating that he preferred to see people rent buildings to the Post Office Department so that they would continue to pay taxes to local governments.
His fourth confession pertains to Maj. General Julius Klein of the Illinois National Guard, who complained about certain reports Mr. Pearson had written regarding his lobbying efforts for the return to Germany of alien property seized by the U.S. during the war. He had erroneously reported that General Klein was founder of the Jewish War Veterans, when he was not, rather being the national commander of that organization in 1947-48, and having been chairman of its executive committee since 1952. He says he did not, however, regret reporting of General Klein's lobbying activities, because he believed the public had a right to know about any efforts regarding the return of alien property, lobbying or otherwise, which would result in increasing the tax bill by about 150 million dollars.
Doris Fleeson, in San Francisco, indicates that Senator William Knowland had arrived there during the week to file formally for the gubernatorial race, which would determine whether traditional Republicanism would have a powerful champion from a big state to lead it in the 1960 presidential nominating convention. He was assured of the Republican nomination for governor and if he could win in the fall, the more orthodox Republicans of the nation would offer his name in nomination for the presidency.
A strong opinion in California was that the Senator felt that 1960 was not a Republican year and that he would not work too hard to wrest the nomination from fellow Californian, Vice-President Nixon. Nevertheless, the positions which the party took and its definition of the issues in the platform would be important to him and to the type of Republican thinking which he represented.
As a leader of a delegation from what would soon be, according to population statistics, the largest state, the Senator would be in a position to influence what would be done in 1960 to raise a standard to which conservative Republicans might repair. There was no one else in sight to occupy a comparable position of leadership for that group, which had already been placed on the defensive by Eisenhower Republicans. If the Senator were to lose the gubernatorial race, its appeal to the nation generally would be written off in the political trade, which had always preferred survival to going down with a sinking ship.
The Senator's immediate task was to galvanize a lagging campaign, the impression being that he had chosen a bad issue in a right-to-work law having been fortified by the recession which had substantial impact in California. He was only just getting his fundraising channels organized.
A recent poll in California indicated that State Attorney General Pat Brown, who would be the Democratic nominee, was keeping a strong lead over the Senator, held since popular Governor Goodwin Knight had withdrawn from the race to run for the Senate. The polls said that if the vote were taken at present, Mr. Brown's majority among Democrats, plus his support among Republicans, would ensure his election. (And, indeed, he would win.)
Many politicians, including former President Truman, took no stock in polls. The California poll, however, was respected by political observers in California. Its findings showed both candidates with equal strength in their own parties, suggesting that they had equal strength among non-union voters and that union voters were not unanimous in favor of Mr. Brown. It underlined the strong effect which personalities could have in politics and the importance of good candidates. Senator Knowland's character was unassailable. Mr. Brown, much more liberal and endorsed without reservation by liberals among Democrats, had earned respect for his ability and fairness. In such a race, national trends were less important.
The outcome in California would have national implications for the Democrats, aside from the question of Mr. Brown's personal future, which would be bright if he were to win. A liberal Democratic governor of California would be powerful in that party's presidential nominating convention, the inevitable rallying point for a Western and Mountain state bloc. If he were to win, all aspiring Democratic candidates would need to visit Sacramento in the ensuing two years.
Robert C. Ruark, in Palamos, Spain, indicates that he had just fired his literary agent without his knowledge, and had just hired, also without his knowledge, a Polish Marxist named Adam Schaff as a summer replacement. The latter had come up with an idea to force writers to write. In an article in a Warsaw weekly, he had stated: "We must mobilize 30 to 40 brilliant writers, assign them to various press organs, fix the dates for them to start, and put them to work. Results can be guaranteed!"
Mr. Ruark finds it very good agent material. He was sitting with a mile of white paper, unblemished by type, in front of him, without receiving any stern orders to write, just a begging letter from one of his agent's offspring, wondering when they were going to Africa. He suggests that a good agent, such as Professor Schaff, would assign him to various press organs, fix the dates for him to start and put him to work, while guaranteeing the results, leading to him becoming rich and famous.
He says there was something sad about writing for a living and that only a good hypnotist such as Professor Schaff could "voodoo the two-fingered bard into creating poesy." Other agents only wrote helpful letters, such as "How is the plot coming?" and "Do you think a short ride on the wagon would help?" Then they would go off on their yachts and live it up off the proletariat, like him, Max Shulman and H. Allen Smith.
He says that writers needed help, that they were pathetic wards of the community of words, lonely souls crying in the wilderness of Peyton Places and half-trained movie directors. They lived in the future of who would pay and who would not, needing guaranteed results. He wants Professor Schaff's help in getting him out of his unfinished Chapter Nine and says that he could call him Trilby, because he was his.
A letter from the director of Region 5 of the AFL-CIO responds to the editorial of March 21, "Labor Enters the Era of Nonsense", finding it difficult to understand because, he says, if the editors would check back into the history of labor, they would find it had almost consistently been right about the economic and political problems of the American people. He says that labor's objectives were practically the same at present as they had been when Samuel Gompers had stated that labor's desire was for more of the wealth and goods they produced. He says that the editorial's reference to Philip Murray's ancient anthem about "bread and butter and pictures on the wall and carpets on the floor and music in the home" reminded him that the philosophy coupled with Mr. Murray's and Dave McDonald's leadership had made it possible for the steelworkers and their families to have the things that Mr. Murray eloquently expressed in his "ancient anthem". He says there was no nonsense about Mr. Murray, that he was a man of the people who had little desire to walk with kings and that on the few occasions that he did, he had never forgotten that he represented the workers in the mills and mines of the country. He says that labor, since the times of Peter Zenger, had fought for the rights of all labor, that organized labor was the only force which had an effective voice not only for itself but unorganized workers in the country, that they were proud of the record they had compiled not only for all of labor but for all of the people of the country and the world. He concludes that while labor might not know where it was going, it would certainly not be going back to the conditions which had existed prior to 1933.
The editors respond that the editorial had praised North Carolina labor leaders for their "unusually refreshing tough-talk on the realities of labor's role." They had concluded hopefully: "The popularity of the hairshirt has receded." They ask whether they were wrong.
A letter from J. R. Cherry, Jr., indicates that as a registered Democrat, parenthetically indicating a "Jeffersonian Democrat", he had noted the entry of the two candidates who would compete in the Tenth District Congressional race primary to contest incumbent Republican Representative Charles Jonas. He wonders about the philosophy of government of Marvin Ritch and David Clark, the two candidates, whether they stood for frugality and economy, constitutional government, and a strong and secure America, whether they opposed "the stupid popular practice of sustaining socialist and Communist economies out of the private enterprise pockets of the American people". And he goes on in that vein. He finds that whoever would win the primary would face a worthy and able opponent in Mr. Jonas, who had served the district for six years and whose record he finds to have proved that he was an American before he was a Republican, not hesitating to oppose many of the "sapheaded measures in his party's program." He predicts he would not campaign on the coattails of "a lesser man", President Eisenhower. He says that Mr. Jonas to him had "exemplified the lofty type of qualified, non-partisan statesmanship which the great Washington urged all Americans to admire, respect and cater to."
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