The Charlotte News

Thursday, July 24, 1958

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President this date had written a new message to Premier Nikita Khrushchev insisting that the ground rules be spelled out clearly in advance of any U.N. summit conference. U.S. officials had said that it appeared certain that the meeting would be held, but that the view in Washington and in other Western nations was that the opening day suggested by Mr. Khrushchev, the following Monday, was too soon. Diplomats estimated that it would take two or three weeks of negotiations to determine exactly what countries ought be included in the meeting and what procedures ought govern the discussions. Nothing quite like the proposed historic conference had ever been held at the U.N. Security Council in New York, with recognition of that precedent reflected in a statement at a press conference by Senate Republican minority leader William Knowland of California, that the free nations ought not accept any conditions by Mr. Khrushchev which would weaken the U.N.

The Government had started planning the extraordinary security measures to be taken to protect Mr. Khrushchev's life if and when he arrived in New York. State Department security agents would cooperate with the New York City Police Department in handling what was considered the most challenging security task ever faced in modern history in connection with the visit of a foreign dignitary. New York Police commissioner Stephen P. Kennedy had assured the State Department that the 22,000 New York City policemen were capable of coping with the task. Those planning the security measures believed that their biggest problem might be from an insane fanatic rather than any of the anti-Russian political and refugee groups. As an initial step, the head of the State Department security field office in New York had met the previous day with New York police authorities. The chief of the Department's division of physical security would direct the Federal Government's role in the security network. At present, there were no plans for calling out Army troops or Marines to bolster the security forces which would guard Mr. Khrushchev. White House press secretary James Hagerty said that he knew nothing about a published report that 5,000 Marine Reserves would be called up for guard duty. Some military forces might help at the Soviet leader's arrival, depending on whether his jet plane landed at Idlewild Airport or nearby Maguire Air Force Base in New Jersey. Authorities said, however, that troops already at Maguire and those who guarded a special section at Idlewild undoubtedly would be sufficient to handle the arrival of Mr. Khrushchev. The only reinforcements presently envisaged were six U.S. Marines who would help guard the headquarters of the U.S. delegation at the U.N., that detail, however, being normally assigned for such international conferences. Secret Service agents would also be brought in on the security planning to make sure that it meshed with their assignment of protecting the President, but the main task would be borne by the New York police force.

The House had swiftly passed and sent to the Senate this date a compromise defense reorganization bill containing most of the provisions requested by the President. Prompt Senate passage was expected to send the measure to the President for his signature. The House had acted by voice vote and without opposition after a short debate, with only 50 members on hand at the time. Representative Carl Vinson of Georgia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, had told the House that Senate and House confreres who had worked out the compromise bill were in unanimous agreement. Representative Leslie Arends of Illinois, the senior minority member of the Committee, said that the bill was "in complete accord with the wishes of those who sponsored the legislation originally." The bill had been approved the previous day by Senate-House confreres, embodying much, but not all, of the President's sought authority to reorganize the Pentagon. In a statement issued shortly after the confreres had approved the bill, the President said: "Except in relatively minor respects, the bill adequately meets every recommendation I submitted to the Congress on this subject. It is my conviction that the armed services committees of both houses have done a praiseworthy job … and that the result for America will be a more efficient and more economical national defense." The bill accomplished what the President had advocated to clarify the command of the President through the Secretary of Defense, over Army-Navy-Air Force-Marine task forces in the field. But Congress, traditionally insisting on preserving the identity of the separate services, did not provide the Secretary of Defense all of the peacetime power which the President had sought to tighten organizational control over the services. The Congress had also written in some provisions which it described as safeguards but which the President had criticized as being possibly obstructive. The measure had reduced the powers of the service secretaries and the individual military chiefs, providing a clear-cut command system for the type of forces most often used in modern warfare, teams composed of selected elements of one, two or more services.

In Amman, Jordan, official sources said this date that they had heard that Foreign Minister Khalusi Khairy, one of the Arab Union ministers who had been reported slain during the Iraqi revolt of the prior week, was alive in a Baghdad hospital.

In Tehran, Iran's royal court minister this date denied London newspaper reports that the Shah might marry the daughter of an Iranian oil official.

In London, it was reported that Britain this date had rejected a request that Turkish troops be sent to Cyprus to help maintain order, the request having been made in a cable from the leader of the Turkish minority.

In Beirut, Lebanon was reported to be asking the U.S. for 90 million pounds, the equivalent of approximately 30 million dollars, to meet its budget deficit, according to Arabic newspapers.

In Tokyo, it was reported that a new typhoon had arisen this date as the Philippines, Formosa and Japan counted at least 74 dead and heavy damage from two prior storms. The new typhoon was located 290 miles northeast of Guam, with 138 mph winds in its eye.

In Cape Canaveral, Fla., it was reported that the Air Force had said this date that initial attempts to locate a Thor-Able rocket nosecone and its mouse passenger had been stymied, but that the search continued. More than a dozen specially equipped telemetry ships and planes had pressed the search for the nosecone near Ascension Island, 1,000 miles off the African coast. The research report on the search progress had come some 50 hours after the mouse, Wickie, had been launched in an air-conditioned chamber inside the nosecone of the rocket. The mouse could provide a great deal of information about the perils of travel by man in outer space. The Air Force said that the rocket had performed satisfactorily, which meant that it climbed 600 miles above the earth, then angled over into a horizontal flight which reached 6,000 miles to the vicinity of Ascension Island. If the rocket's nosecone could be found, it could solve many secrets. Military men wanted to know if the cone could withstand the enormous friction it had encountered in reentry to the earth's atmosphere, and if so, whether it could be depended on to shield a hydrogen bomb in intercontinental flight in case of a war.

The Navy had awarded a 3.7 million dollar contract this date to Western Electric Co. in Winston-Salem, N.C., for weapons direction equipment. Senator Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina said that the equipment would be used in aircraft carriers presently under construction.

The cost of living had gone up 105 percent during the 20 years since 1938, such that on average, a person would pay $2.05 at present for something which could be bought for a dollar in 1938. When the cost of living index had been released the previous day by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a request had been made by the press for the cost of living for the prior 20 years, which was provided, broken down into five-year segments. The data showed that from 1938 to 1943, consumer costs had risen by 23 percent, from 1943 to 1948, by 39 percent, from 1948 to 1953, by 11 percent, and during the previous five years, by 8 percent. But while the overall cost of living had gone up 105 percent in the 20-year period, some individual family budget items had not gone up that much while others had risen much more. For example, whereas the cost of gas and electricity had risen only a little over 11 percent, coal and fuel oil had risen by 129 percent. The cost of a pair of baby shoes had risen 171 percent, a new car, 125 percent, rent, 60 percent, and food, 151 percent. Hospital costs had risen nearly 300 percent, with doctor fees increasing by 84 percent, men's haircuts by 206 percent, gasoline by 69 percent, household appliances by 33 percent, newspapers by 124 percent, and movie admissions by 120 percent.

In Indianapolis, a family argument flared into motorized warfare the previous day, with the result that four persons, three of whom had been innocent bystanders, were in the hospital, and three automobiles were badly damaged. One man was in jail. A patrolman related that a 33-year old man was driving along the bank of White River when he suddenly stopped his car and began beating and stabbing his wife, already cut in the chest and one hand. She leaped from the car and ran screaming down the road with her husband driving in hot pursuit. Another motorist came along in his car and saw what was happening, opened his door to let the woman inside. The enraged husband swung his car against the other man's car, injuring the driver, his wife and daughter. The enraged husband's car then bounced against a third car driven by a 40-year old man. Meanwhile, the wife who was the stabbing victim took off on foot while her husband chased her and the man in the third car chased the husband, tackling him. About that time, the police came on the scene and the husband was taken to jail on preliminary charges of assault and battery with a motor vehicle, assault and battery with intent to kill, and failure to have an operator's license. All three members of the second man's family were in fair condition in the hospital and the wife of the enraged husband was in similar condition at another hospital.

In Gastonia, N.C., it was reported that a grieving woman, blamed by her husband for the drowning death of their 15-year old son, was held without bond in jail this date, charged with shooting her husband to death while he slept. The woman told officers that her husband had threatened her after telling her that she was responsible for their son's death. The son had drowned while swimming the previous day in Robinson Lake, west of Dallas, N.C. The woman said that her husband had come home from work and began berating her for allowing their son to go swimming, cursing her and threatening her by saying, "There's going to be more than one body in this house when Maurice's body comes home." The argument had continued most of the afternoon and into the early evening until the husband had gone to bed for the night, at which point the woman had obtained her husband's shotgun and fired once, killing him instantly. She would be allowed to leave jail in the company of officers to attend the double funeral services for her husband and son the following day. She told police that she had not known that her son had left the home to go swimming until she was awakened about noon and given the news of his death. The boy was believed to have been a good swimmer. He and several companions had slipped unnoticed into the far end of the lake, which was restricted for use by whites only, the boy and his companions having been black. The coroner said that no autopsy on the boy's body was planned and he was expected to rule the death accidental.

John Kilgo of The News reports that the mysterious George White case would definitely go to the county grand jury on Monday morning. Walter Anderson, chief of the State Bureau of Investigation, had told the newspaper this date that his agents had investigated the case and would present the circumstances which they had found to the grand jury. The case is further described in the first editorial of this date. When a reporter had asked Judge Basil Boyd of the City Recorder's Court about the case, he had not replied and continued walking. When he had been questioned by a reporter on Monday, he had said he had not taken any action in the case and was not sure he was going to take any.

In Kings Mountain, N.C., the postmaster indicated that his friends were mailing their Christmas cards at present, seeking to beat the August 1 deadline for higher postage rates.

In Long Beach, Calif., a newsman had sought the beauty secrets of women from foreign lands, with Miss Paraguay stating: "I don't use nothin'."

In Paterson, N.J., the switchboard operator at a hospital was startled to hear a man scream: "My baby! My baby!" An ambulance was dispatched, but later was called back, as the operator learned that "Baby" referred to his dog with an injured paw.

In Indianapolis, a man told police that a burglar had stole his pistol, but that what had made him really sore was that the thief tested the gun first by firing through a couple of expensive French doors.

In Philadelphia, a woman turned the 1957 telephone directory over to a phone company employee when he came to her home with the new edition. A few minutes later, bills in $10, $20, $50 and $100 denominations were fluttering along the sidewalk. At least $320 had been accounted for when the man of the house returned home and told his wife that he kept his $880 savings in the book.

On the editorial page, "Who Is Interested in George White?" indicates that the question had arisen—as shown by the front page photo of the pair of boxing gloves and a sign posted outside the solicitor's office following the altercation the previous day between reporter John Kilgo and a lawyer—as to who was really interested in the case of Mr. White, a black laborer who had gotten in trouble with the law and yet could not recall that he had ever gone to court or employed an attorney to represent him, despite his plea of guilty having been entered in the three cases charged against him.