The Charlotte News
Friday, April 25, 1958
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that there were signs of possible compromise this date as Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy hoped to complete his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on the Administration's controversial military reorganization plan. Before Mr. McElroy had begun a fourth day of testimony, the President had a breakfast date with members of the Joint Chiefs, and in advance of the meeting, White House press secretary James Hagerty had said that the reorganization plan probably would be discussed along with other matters. Secretary McElroy was expected to present to the Committee written replies to questions posed by Representative Carl Vinson of Georgia, chairman of the Committee, who said that the questions went to the heart of the President's proposals to strengthen the authority of the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Vinson had expressed great reservations about the plan for its concentrating too much authority in the Secretary and centralizing the commands of the Joint Chiefs, away from the three separate services. The questions had already been answered in considerable part during the prior three days of Mr. McElroy's testimony, but the previous day, cautious suggestions appeared on both sides that a compromise might be possible. The Secretary said that he was not agreeing in advance to any concessions but that as long as they jointly agreed on the objectives to be achieved, it would be possible to discuss changing parts of the proposed bill. Mr. Vinson's questions given to Mr. McElroy earlier in the week dealt mainly with the issues of whether the executive branch wanted Congress to turn over to the executive the prerogative of deciding what roles and missions, including what new weapons and fighting responsibilities, would be assigned to the Army, Navy and Air Force, whether the President's proposals amounted to a merger of the services under the equivalent of a "Prussian-style" general staff and chief of staff, and whether the Defense Department was seeking authority to transfer non-fighting components of the various services so that, for example, it might bring all of the medical corps under one command.
In Tokyo, it was reported that North Korea had announced this date that 80,000 Chinese Communist troops had gone home in the first stage of the promised withdrawal of all Communist volunteers.
In Tokyo, it was reported that Premier Nobusuke Kishi this date had dissolved the lower house of the Diet in preparation for Japan's seventh postwar general election on May 22.
In New York, four American students had left by plane this date for London, en route to Moscow in the first official exchange of students between the U.S. and Russia.
In Paris, Undersecretary of State Christian Herter this date pledged American support to the European common market, but urged Western Europe to open up also to greater world trade.
In Taipei, Formosa, Nationalist China and Japan this date reached an agreement in principle for a one-year trade pact. Negotiations had been interrupted by Japan's abortive attempt to expand trade relations with the Chinese Communists.
In London, it was reported that Britain had given formal notice this date that it was ready for a large new hydrogen bomb test in the Christmas Island area of the South Pacific.
In Santiago de Cuba, a fishing boat had sprung a leak and sunk four miles off the Cuban coast this date, with five persons having drowned and three missing, 13 having been rescued.
In St. Louis, it was reported that five small children had burned to death and their mother had been critically burned in a fire which raged through a small frame house this date in North Webster Groves.
In John Day, Ore., an injured woman had been rescued late the previous day after lying helpless beside a wrecked plane for a day and a half, awaiting her husband, who had set out without pants through snow to seek aid on Monday. Doctors said that the woman, of Fresno, Calif., had survived because of her stamina and her husband's courage. The 36-year old orchestra leader had only been clad in undershorts, shoes and a light sport coat, while treading through deep snow until he stumbled onto a deserted cabin on Wednesday where he found a blanket, out of which he fashioned a poncho, and a boy's cowboy hat, then set out again, reaching help early the previous day. His wife had been laying beneath a crude shelter rigged beside the wrecked plane, without food and experiencing pain from a hip fracture, making it virtually impossible for her to move. She had also suffered extensive frostbite. She said that it was "pretty horrible" when her husband had to leave, but she knew he had to do so. She had only two Lifesavers and a half stick of chewing gum, and had eaten pine needles to quiet her hunger pangs. She said she did not remember much, that she laughed, sang, talked to herself, cried and prayed a little, but mostly talked to herself to keep up her spirits. She said that when she heard airplanes the previous day, she knew she had to get out from the shelter which was hidden by the timber, and rolled about 300 feet down a slope into a clearing, the first time she had moved because of her hip pain. She had then waved and screamed at the planes, although she knew they could never see her. But one of the planes which had participated in the intense search of the area had seen the wreckage and directed an Air Force helicopter to the scene, which landed on a frozen lake a quarter mile away, and the four-man crew then hiked to the position of the woman.
In Pantego, N.C., it was reported that a forest fire, discovered around noon the previous day, continued to burn out of control this date, having burned an estimated 4,000 acres of woodland. The State Forester's Office had reported that eight tractors and plows and their crews, directed by two airplanes, were attempting to plow fire lines to bring the fire under control. The State Forester said that the ground was so wet that tractors and plows got stuck frequently, reducing their effectiveness. The fire had burned in the area between Alligator and Pongo Lakes in the tiny village of Ponzer. Meanwhile, a cool front had moved in bringing brisk northerly winds, making firefighting more difficult. Forest Service officials had moved in a field kitchen and food supplies to feed the more than 30 men fighting the fire because it looked like they were going to be there for some time.
In Charlotte, it was reported that a sudden, violent thunderstorm with wind gusts in excess of 50 mph had toppled trees and broken telephone and electrical power lines just north of the business district in the wee hours of the morning this date. The storm had routed at least four persons from their beds after an oak tree had fallen on N. Davidson Street, striking the front porch of a house. The Weather Bureau said that there was no twister, just strong, sudden winds recorded at about 52 mph at the airport weather station. A total of about .13 of an inch of rainfall had been recorded and the temperature had fallen nine degrees in the course of one hour during the storm. Most of the wind damage had been done in about five minutes, according to City police and firemen. Trees were toppled in at least 12 different locations. Wires were reported down on several streets.
A brief fire in a Duke Power Co. transformer on S. Graham Street early in the afternoon had caused a disruption of electrical service to a large downtown area, the transformer having burned out shortly after noon. Firemen responded to the alarm and cooled the overheated equipment with water. The issue had caused a serious delay in production of the newspaper, when the newspaper's hot metal typesetting and stereotyping machinery had cooled. The newspaper's Associated Press teleprompters and Photofax machines were out of service for the period of the power failure. The power to the newspaper's plant was interrupted for about 45 minutes, causing a delay of over an hour in production, resulting in many of the newspapers being delivered late. You are damn lucky to get this newspaper at all, Pilgrim.
In Birmingham, England, a British firm had opened a new style of bacon plant this date, in which pigs were slaughtered in a gas chamber. The company said it eliminated shock so that the pig was less tense and the bacon more tender. You are damn lucky to get bacon at all, Pilgrim.
In Alma, Mich., a persistent thief, who had broken into a golf shop three times, had finally stolen enough golf equipment for himself and his girlfriend. The first time he had broken into the shop, he just looked the situation over, returning the prior week, taking four woods and their covers, this week, taking seven irons to match the woods, a golf bag and some golf balls, plus seven women's irons.
A front-page editorial, titled "Progress, Not Decay", urges people to turn out to vote in the following day's bond election to secure a decent future for Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and all of its 268,000 citizens, indicating that approval of each of the proposed bond issues was essential.
In a separate article, it reports that one of the largest turnouts for a special election was expected, as polls would be open for 12 hours with good weather predicted all day. The anticipated vote was about 11,000, slightly higher than most previous special elections. There were three ballots, with city residents voting on a long ballot which called for issuance of bonds up to 4.8 million dollars for the extension of water, sewer and fire protection facilities into the perimeter area to be annexed at the end of 1959. Included in that amount would be $100,000 for additional funding needed for the construction of a Public Health Center. For city and county residents, there were two short ballots, one calling for 6 million dollars in school building bonds and the other offering the vote for or against a two-cent tax levy for Charlotte and Carver Colleges. The school bond money would be used for both city and county schools, with the City getting 3.1 million and the County receiving 2.9 million. The community college levy was two cents on every $100 of assessed valuation of real and personal property. City residents already had that levy and the vote was a reaffirmation of the present one, but would be the first time there would be a countywide levy. There were more than 90,000 registered voters eligible for the election, registration for which had closed on April 5, but residents who had been registered for previous elections and still resided in the same precincts remained eligible. Local ABC stores would be closed the following day. You cannot get drunk and have as an excuse that you done forgot to vote 'cause you was down, passed out on the couch, while watching the baseball game.
On the editorial page, "The Army's 'Very Successful' Nightmare" indicates that Maj. General William Westmoreland, even as he wrestled with his own wind-whipped parachute following the mass airdrop on Wednesday by the 101st Airborne Division, had quickly sized up the situation, saying that it was a "very successful jump".
He had spoken too soon, as no peacetime airdrop which had wound up in the deaths of five men and injuries to 137 others could be called "successful". It was in fact a tragic foul-up.
General Westmoreland, like many of his officers, did not know the worst of the situation until later, but spectators on the ground had watched in horror as the winds had turned the training of nearly 1,400 men into a tragic disaster, as it carried the parachutes with the men attached along the rough ground after they landed, with the men helpless to do anything to resist it.
It was simple in hindsight to say that the jump at Fort Campbell, Ky., should never have taken place under those conditions, that the maximum safety limits of wind velocity over the drop zones should have been determined with more prudent precision and that the paratroopers should not have been forced to risk their lives in peacetime battling with the elements which they did not understand.
The custodians of the lives of men in uniform might chalk up such incidents to the hazards of modern combat training, in which there inevitably would be certain risks involved, with paratroopers on each jump taking such risks. But it was all the more reason why rigid safety precautions ought be taken to protect them from unnecessary danger. Training schedules and the presence of impatient spectators were not so important that they could not be ignored when potentially dangerous natural conditions prevailed. A combat jump was one thing but a training jump was quite another.
If the Army had no way at present of effectively gauging wind conditions between transport and jump zone in training exercises, then the military establishment needed to develop such a method. It suggests that appropriate instruments surely existed for the purpose and should be made available to troops in training, that unless the Army was more certain in the future than it had been on Wednesday, the second of the mass jumps, scheduled for Saturday, ought be postponed indefinitely until appropriate safeguards became available.
General Westmoreland, incidentally,
would go on to lead U.S. troops in the Vietnam War between 1964 and
1968, after which he became chief of staff of the Army until 1972. Some might suggest that the title to the piece forecast the same complex in the war which he later prosecuted militarily
Such a war, primarily a guerrilla war
"The Presbyterians Have a Problem" indicates that the First Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, site of the 98th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., had a beautiful churchyard during the early spring to provide spiritual refreshment for the busy commissioners who had come to wrestle with the complexities of church business. That included the church's attitude toward segregation and discussion of whether it ought reaffirm or reverse its previously adopted stand in support of the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. The relationship of the races perhaps was not a pleasant topic for any convention, and especially in the South, was a matter that deeply troubled individuals, whether alone or in groups.
Vexing as it was, the concern of the church and others with the South's most sensitive social problem had been the most constant factor in stimulating hope that solutions could be found in reason and wisdom. For years in the South, there had been voices persistently warning churches against "meddling" with the race problem. It finds it an odd attitude. Churches could not compel adherence to any social system, could only ask persons to weigh the whole of their lives in the scales of a great ethic and judge for themselves the worth of their beliefs and actions.
It concludes that race was a problem for the churches and is thankful that it was.
"The Airways Are Freed of Alien 'Aigs'" tells of former Senator Robert Rice Reynolds, out of office since 1945, sitting in his mountain-top home, having surely chuckled had he read newspaper accounts of the international sandwich battle, for when he had been a Senator, he gained a reputation as an isolationist.
That view had done him no harm in some of the more isolated areas of the state as he ranted against any sign of internationalism, including the Russian "fish aigs" eaten by some of the more liberal, and thus more dangerous, Americans.
It indicates that the Red menace had taken an insidious turn of late, but that after a gallant battle, the patriotic set had triumphed. Some foreigners operating low-cost trans-Atlantic airplane flights had been serving complimentary sandwiches which contained caviar, the Russian "fish aigs" of the Reynolds era. Such a sandwich filling was termed "unfair" by the anti-caviar segment.
The previous day, the International Air Transport Association had ruled that the sandwiches served on economy flights could not contain caviar as a filling. It thus concludes that once again, right had triumphed and the air lanes were safe for democracy.
"Higher Education: An 'Appalling' Waste" indicates that the current debate regarding American education was centered on what was happening and not happening to students in the classroom. While there was plenty of content in the curricula, there was a question of what was happening to intelligent youths who were not in the classroom.
The director of admissions at UNC, Roy Armstrong, doubted "that more than two out of three high school valedictorians go to college." Speaking before the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, he deplored "this (appalling) waste of manpower," adding that "we have as many capable students not going to college today as those who are." Commenting on the caliber of students who were able to attend college, he said, "We lose about 25 percent of each freshman class through failures and other reasons."
The piece indicates that there would be some benefit in higher education for almost anyone capable of reading and writing and so it was not misleading to cite with pride the phenomenal spread of college training in the U.S. since the end of World War II. There was a benefit not only for themselves but also for the whole society in the development of intelligent people, such as high school valedictorians. In a situation where there were as many capable students outside colleges as there were inside, the appalling waste of which Mr. Armstrong had complained was not limited to the talents of those who were outside. There was a waste also of the hard-bought capacity of colleges and universities to enlighten those capable of enlightenment.
A piece from the Raleigh News & Observer, titled "Radio Parties", indicates that when radio was still a novelty, there had usually been only three or four sets in the average small town, with only the local rich man having such a a set. As part of his program of public benevolence, he infrequently held a radio "party" to which certain neighbors were invited to hear KDKA in Pittsburgh. But those invitees had been so afraid that they would talk or laugh at the wrong time or have a paroxysm of coughing, they often remained away.
Another man had a set, who was thought to be half-screwball and half-genius, the same type who had first bought an automobile or a telephone without any use for either one. That was the town tinkerer, interested only in radio mechanics. Anti-social and aloof, he would not give anyone the time of day, much less let anyone listen to music from his radio.
There was a radio at the drugstore and people collected after supper to hear it. Somebody always said that the whole thing was fake, that it did not originate from Pittsburgh but that there was a man out back talking through a megaphone and playing Victrola records. A big argument would develop whenever a duet or quartet sang, as two people could not sing through the same microphone simultaneously, wondering, therefore, what the trick was.
Similarly, man never went to the
moon, Joe Biden is a robot, the 2020 election was stolen, and all
news not singing the praises to high heaven of Trump is fake
Drew Pearson indicates that one of the great atomic achievements of the world, accomplished by the U.S., remained undedicated because of personal jealousy, that being the Shippingport atomic reactor near Pittsburgh. Senators and Congressmen on the Joint Congressional Atomic Energy Committee were angry over the Administration's failure to dedicate that project, which some of them pointed out was greater than Sputnik in its achievement, as well as greater than the British atomic reactor at Calder Hall, dedicated by Queen Elizabeth. The prior December at Shippingport, for the first time in U.S. history, atomic energy had been harnessed and put to industrial use. The reactor, however, had not yet been dedicated. When Senators had inquired of the White House as to when the President would go to Pittsburgh for the ceremony, word had come back that he was too busy. The Senators were upset because the President had been able to participate in a ceremony at West Point and had spent various weekends at Augusta and Gettysburg, but had not made time to dedicate the facility at Pittsburgh, of great propaganda value abroad for the country.
Congressman Carl Durham of North Carolina, chairman of the Joint Atomic Committee, had written a letter to Atomic Energy Commission chairman, Admiral Lewis Strauss, the prior October, asking that plans be made for the dedication, suggesting recognition of the work of Admiral Hyman Rickover, who developed the atomic submarine and also the Shippingport reactor. Admiral Strauss had made only a casual reply. In December, when the new reactor had begun operation, Westinghouse had taken out full-page ads in various newspapers, paying tribute to Admiral Strauss. Senators said that they did not blame Westinghouse for playing up to the Admiral. Westinghouse had done a good job in building the reactor, but had to remain close with the Admiral because of other contracts with the AEC.
Admiral Rickover had first taken the atomic submarine plans to Westinghouse and worked with them in developing it. The Shippingport reactor used the same principle as the reactor used in the Nautilus.
One reason for the delay in the dedication, suggests Mr. Pearson, might be the personalities of Admiral Strauss and Admiral Rickover, there having been bitter jealousy toward Admiral Rickover by some old-line Navy officers, and Admiral Strauss, though a reserve officer and now a civilian, sometimes appeared to continue as an Admiral.
Doris Fleeson, in Boston, discusses Senator John F. Kennedy's bid in 1960 for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, indicating that to enhance his prestige, he was aiming for a record-breaking plurality of 600,000 votes in his re-election bid to the Senate in the fall. That would be a third greater than the present high mark of 400,000 achieved by the late Governor Paul Dever in Massachusetts.
That Republicans believed the Senator's chances were good for accomplishing that goal was shown by their difficulty in finding anyone to run against him. At one point, it was believed that Christian Herter, Jr., the son of the Undersecretary of State, would enter the race as a way of becoming better known and placing the party under some obligation to him. But he was now running for the Republican nomination for governor, to run against incumbent Governor Foster Furcolo, whose first two-year term had been troubled.
It was expected that the candidacy of Senator Kennedy would help Governor Furcolo, but Republicans believed that they might make a real contest of the gubernatorial election. George Fingold, the other Republican candidate for governor, had been the only Republican to survive the previous statewide election, having been State Attorney General three times. It was believed that his long experience gave him the edge over Mr. Herter, who was 39 and still had to prove his appeal to voters.
As with most states, Massachusetts had many troubles, including the recession, and Republicans hoped to localize their anti-Furcolo efforts.
The primary political topic in Massachusetts remained Senator Kennedy and his possible national appeal. His home base was indisputably secure, but he was paying the inevitable penalty for so much national attention by having his every legislative act carefully scrutinized. In the Midwest, they were questioning his farm record, while at home, he was under attack by some labor leaders for signing the report of the McClellan Select Committee investigating misconduct of unions and management. Labor had generally condemned the report as "mere sensationalism" and AFL-CIO president George Meany had remarked to Senator Kennedy a few weeks earlier, "Spare us from our friends." According to the "Labor Notebook" of the Boston Globe, the Senator was publicly criticized recently at a meeting of the Boston Central Labor Union for the first time since he had entered public life. Friends and backers of the Senator had sought to squelch the critics, according to the Notebook, but the McClellan report had reopened old wounds.
Now, the same critics were reported to be trying to generate interest in some anti-Kennedy demonstration. It was not believed that they could succeed in that effort, but the Kennedy campaigners were fearful of the impact which such incidents might have on the record-smashing plurality which he would seek in the fall and the consequent impact it could have on the 1960 presidential nomination.
Senator Kennedy was in the labor spotlight on two bases, his membership on the McClellan Committee and on the Senate Labor Committee. The fact that his brother, Robert, was lead counsel for the McClellan Committee was also a matter of some muttering in labor circles.
A letter from a wife of a member of the Charlotte Lifesaving and First Aid Crew indicates that in the previous few days, much had been written in the local newspapers regarding the Crew and their lack of necessary funds and equipment to make it an effective organization. She suggests that the fault lay with the citizens and the governments of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The volunteers could not operate on the basis of manpower alone, and asked nothing for themselves, only that they be provided decent ambulances and other equipment. They had spent much of their own money for the benefit of the Crew, most of whom had elaborate first aid kits which they used to supplement the inadequate kits in the ambulances. She points out that the members of the Fire Department were required to have only a standard first aid course, while quite a few members of the Crew were first aid instructors and all of them held assigned first aid cards. Fire Department rescue and emergency work would be continued for the city, but a large number of the calls to the Crew came from the county or other parts of the state. The Crew took care of a number of charity cases, such as moving a patient to another city, and she wonders whether the Fire Department, in taking over the chores, would do likewise. The Crew also maintained several iron lungs which it transported between hospitals, and again she wonders whether the Fire Department would do that. With only one rescue truck and three men on duty, she wonders how the Fire Department would handle two or more emergency calls at the same time. The rescue truck which the Fire Department was contemplating for purchase was expensive and the men required to man it would be salaried and in need of extensive training, which most of the members of the Crew had already undergone. She argues that a fully equipped Crew would operate just as efficiently and at much less cost to the City and County as the Fire Department performing the same tasks. She also wonders whether the salaried men would be as interested in doing the necessary work as the unpaid volunteers had been. She urges the citizens of the City and County to do something about the matter.
A letter writer indicates that there had been magistrates since the 16th Century, and they would be present for another 1,200 years, long after State Senator Spencer Bell quit criticizing justices of the peace. He says that there were some sorry members of that latter group, but that there were also sorry lawyers, doctors, preachers, men in every walk of life. He says that he was 79 and that as a justice of the peace, he had only established his office to have a place to hang around when he got old.
A letter writer says that he did not believe that Phil Howser or any other baseball manager ought have the right to blackout television baseball games, that there were major league fans and minor league fans and he was certain that if the Charlotte Hornets baseball team produced, they would have their share.
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