The Charlotte News
Friday, July 25, 1958
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Beirut that a U.S. Navy spokesman, commenting on an announcement from Damascus the previous day that an unidentified jet fighter plane had been shot down while intruding on the airspace of the United Arab Republic, had said this date that no American planes had been shot down by antiaircraft fire from Syria. A Syrian announcement had claimed that the downed plane had crashed and burned in Lebanese territory. All was quiet with the Marines in Lebanon the previous night, according to a Marine spokesman. On previous nights, U.S. troops had been harassed by rebel sniper fire, but the only fatality reported had been a Marine killed by a Marine sentry when he did not answer a challenge. The Marines reported this date that an unidentified 20-year old Marine had accidentally shot himself in the leg with a pistol. In Cairo, an Egyptian editor who accompanied Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser on his secret flight to Moscow had quoted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as declaring: "We Russians have weapons which could easily turn the U.S. 6th Fleet into coffins of molten steel for its sailors." The article said that Mr. Khrushchev had called the 6th Fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Charles Brown, "an exceedingly stupid and foolish admiral", and had asserted, "if the God Dulles claims to believe in really exists, I would be closer to him than Dulles, who claims he is his priest." The newspaper had also reported that Mr. Khrushchev declared at a luncheon talk that the Western allies "would gladly give up half the years of their lives to get at" and destroy Premier Nasser, "but they will never get that chance—never." At the U.N., Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold announced that he was setting up a seven-person group to advise them on enlarging the U.N. observer group in Lebanon. The observers were working under a Security Council mandate to report any illegal shipments of arms and men into Lebanon from Syria. The Lebanese Government had charged that Premier Nasser's United Arab Republic, comprised of Egypt and Syria, had been helping the rebels via its Syrian province. By sending in more observers, the Secretary-General hoped to make it possible for the Americans to withdraw. All commercial airline flights between the UAR and Jordan had been suspended and Premier Nasser had urged his partisans in Jordan to revolt and oust King Hussein, after earlier in the week Jordan had broken diplomatic relations with the UAR. The new Iraqi Government made a bid for the support of Indian Prime Minister Nehru with a message to the Indian Government announcing that it would "abide by the Bandung Conference principles, honor the country's international obligations and protect foreigners and their property."
The President was expected to inform Mr. Khrushchev this date that the proposed summit meeting on the Middle East crisis had to be conducted entirely within the framework of the U.N. Security Council, reportedly to include having the Council set the time and ground rules for such a meeting and decide which outside nations would be invited. Premier Khrushchev had asked that India be included, along with certain concerned Arab countries. Officials in Washington said that there probably would have to be a few private talks among heads of government during the summit meeting, but the President and Secretary of State Dulles were said to be determined to hold such sessions to a minimum. A note setting forth U.S. Government views had been completed by the President and Mr. Dulles and sent to Paris and London for consultation, with possibly differing views among the Big Three causing some delay, but indications being that the note would be delivered to Moscow this date. Some authorities in Washington reported that the President believed it ought be left to the Security Council through its regular machinery at U.N. headquarters in New York to arrange the proposed extraordinary session of the 11-member nations of the Council and to set the date. Mr. Khrushchev had proposed that the summit begin on Monday, but that was now out of the question. Some question remained whether French Premier Charles de Gaulle would be willing to attend the summit, although dispatches from Paris indicated that he probably would. Secretary Dulles, meanwhile, held to his plan to take off for Bonn, West Germany, this night on a schedule which called for his absence from Washington until the following Tuesday, to confer with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for several hours the following day, and then go to London later the following night for sessions of the Baghdad Pact Council. In London, Mr. Dulles would have the opportunity to discuss summit meeting problems with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd, and try to seek a better understanding. The British leaders had put forth the idea of a gathering devoted primarily to discussion of Middle Eastern problems without necessarily taking any action. State Department officials said privately that such a proposal ran contrary to the views of Mr. Dulles and the President, who were said to be opposed to any kind of agreement among the big powers which would change or limit the functions of the Security Council simply because heads of state rather than ambassadors would be present. The only conditions which Mr. Khrushchev had imposed had been that all three Western heads of state ought attend and that Prime Minister Nehru of India and Arab leaders also take part.
At the U.N. in New York, secret consultations were ongoing to settle the issue of Iraqi representation in advance of the proposed summit. Qualified sources predicted this date that the outcome would be the seating of a representative of the new revolutionary regime on the 11-nation Council. U.N. diplomats were anxious to avoid any East-West conflict at the very outset of a summit meeting, which could take place if the Council became bogged down in an argument over Iraqi representation. The Council thus far had not decided whether the representative of the revolutionary regime would take the place of Iraq's previous Government representative, the latter's credentials having been signed by the former Foreign Minister who was now in jail in Baghdad following the coup. If the revolutionary regime were recognized, the representative at the summit level would be the Premier, Brig. General Abdel Karim Kassem. (The Council consisted of the five permanent members, the U.S., Russia, Britain, France and China, plus six temporary members which rotated every two years.) Meanwhile, other troublesome issues had arisen to plague U.N. diplomats and officials preparing for the summit. One major question was which Arab nations would be invited, with Premier Khrushchev having indicated that "Arab countries concerned" ought be invited but not specifying which ones. Lebanon, Jordan, the UAR and Iraq, the latter as a Council member, had been the only Arab nations which had taken part in previous Council debates on the Middle East crisis. It remained an open question as to whether Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya and the Sudan would be invited to take part. There was also speculation whether Israel would seek an invitation. In addition, President Juscelino Kubitschek of Brazil had informed Dr. Hammarskjold that Latin American countries ought be represented at the summit if it were held outside the U.N. A meeting elsewhere was still possible, as Premier De Gaulle had let it be known that he could spend only two or three days in New York. There was the prospect of only a ceremonial opening Council meeting, with the crisis issues being handled by the major powers in secret sessions. If that procedure were adopted, several countries might decide to send only their foreign ministers or even let their permanent U.N. representatives sit for them at the summit.
In London, it was reported that the Soviet press had demanded this date that the West agree without delay to Premier Khrushchev's plan for the summit meeting.
Also in London, it was reported that the ousted Iraqi minister to Britain had charged this date that the "creation of the synthetic state of Israel by the Western Powers" had been the sole cause of Middle Eastern troubles.
In West Berlin, it was reported by
the tabloid newspaper Nacht Depesche that Premier Nasser had
leaked Russia's secret Middle Eastern plans to President Tito of
Yugoslavia during their Brioni meeting earlier in the month. (More recently, in similar fashion, a yellow sheet, Nachtliche Emissionen, said to emanate from Australia, had charged that Trump once leaked in Moscow, supposedly caught on videotape in a hotel room, although unclear as to whom he had leaked, but a matter said still to be held over him by Pavlov, Boris Pasternak, Ian Fleming and Leo Tolstoi, possibly also members of the Bolshoi
In Havana, Cuban Government troops and Fidel Castro's rebels were reported to have been engaged in eight skirmishes the previous day in eastern Cuba, according to an Army communiqué this date, indicating that casualties had been incurred on both sides.
In Washington, the National Labor
Relations Board had to decide whether an examiner's findings were
correct regarding the case involving complaints by the Endicott
Church Furniture Co. of Warsaw, Ind., that the Carpenters Union had
boycotted installation of Endicott-made pews in churches around
Chicago, Minneapolis, New York and Detroit. The union had lost an
NLRB bargaining rights election held in March, 1956 among the 60
employees of Endicott. The company contended that the union since
then had been trying to stop churches from installing Endicott pews,
as a means of forcing Endicott to capitulate and put its workers
under union contract. An NLRB trial examiner had ruled that there was
insufficient evidence at a series of hearings to support the charges.
But he did find that in the case of the Nassau Baptist Church of East
Williston, N.Y., the union had illegally persuaded union workmen to
go on strike to stop non-union Endicott workers from installing pews.
The pastor of the church in that case had gotten the non-union
Endicott workers to return to Indiana and had his parishioners finish
installation of the pews. The trial examiner recommended requiring
the Carpenters Union
Also in Washington, it was announced that Spencer Olin, a 57-year old Alton, Ill., industrial executive, had been named chairman of the Republican National Finance Committee.
In Spencer, W.Va., the body of a young boy had been recovered and an undetermined number of other members of a rural family were believed to have died when their home had been swept away by a flash flood the previous night.
In Groton, Conn., it was reported that the thread finishing plant of Max Pollack, Co., Inc., located in the town since 1921, would move prior to September 1 to Gastonia, N.C., to consolidate with 17 other plants there owned by Textiles, Inc., which also owned plants in Charlotte and was a subsidiary of Threads, Inc., which purchased Pollack in 1955.
Donald MacDonald of The News reports that embittered Beechwood Acres residents, promised relief within two days by Governor Luther Hodges, had watched carefully the skies this date, fearing that more rain might bring additional flooding to their area. One resident said that two days might be too late. During a mid-afternoon downpour the previous day, the area had flooded again and homeowners tried hard to find humor in their predicament. They blamed the Highway 29 bypass construction for their troubles. Since the construction had begun, a ditch alongside the bypass had brought torrents on them from as far away as Freedom Drive. One resident said that they had started sleeping with one foot out of the bed and on the floor. A couple who had moved out of their home after Sunday's major flood had not had time to get their furniture back into their home prior to the previous day's flooding. A mass meeting had been held in the neighborhood the previous night and residents heard WBT radio personality Grady Cole explain of his conference with the Governor following the latter's press conference the previous day at the Charlotte Press Club. The Governor had said that without blaming anyone or finding out at present who was responsible for the problem, they were going to do something to help them and quickly. He added that engineers from Raleigh would be in Charlotte within the ensuing two days. He said that there was some discussion regarding responsibility but that he was not interested in who was responsible, that they would do the work at present and decide later who should pay. It had been initially believed that the Governor might visit the flood-stricken area, and residents had come home from their jobs to meet him, but the Governor's tight schedule had made it impossible for him to inspect the area. As crowds of curious spectators had driven to the area the previous night, residents had hastily constructed a sign which read: "Parking 50 cents". Another sign read: "Governor Hodges, your highway commission stinks! Beechwood Acres Aquarium."
In Hickory, N.C., it was reported that a man of Valdese had parked his car, gotten out and hailed a cab, shortly afterward being arrested by police on a charge of being drunk, as he had parked his car on the railroad tracks of a crossing causing a freight train to have to be halted in time for police to haul the car from the tracks.
In Naples, an Italian court this date acquitted Lady Norah Docker, the rich and tempestuous British cut-up, of charges that she had insulted an Italian cop. Another charge of being drunk and disorderly had been dismissed.
In Raton, N.M., it was reported that a woman was cutting weeds in her yard and felt something sting her arm, swatting it and then feeling a lump just under her skin. A neighbor had dug out a .22-caliber bullet, which police said had been fired from a considerable distance and was almost spent when it had struck her. The woman had not heard any shot.
In Long Beach, Calif., Miss USA and 14 foreign beauties remained this date in the contest for the title of Miss Universe. The previous night, 35 contestants had maintained hope for the title, but the judges had cut the field, and 20 of the contestants, some weeping bitterly, had been dropped from the pageant. The winners were announced before an audience of 4,000 at the municipal auditorium after the 35 appeared individually before the judges, first in bathing suits and then in formal gowns. Miss Mexico, 19, had fled from the scene still in her bathing suit with tears streaming from her eyes after being eliminated. Miss Uruguay, 18, sat on a bench crying until her chaperone quieted her sobs with cups of cold water and words of comfort. Miss Cuba, 21, previously heavily favored by pageant observers, did not cry at all after being eliminated, posing happily for pictures, while members of her Cuban entourage wept a bitter chorus. Miss Poland, although a winner, was close to tears, having to pause to seek a seat and regain her composure. The 15 semifinalists would be trimmed first to five and then a few minutes later, the new Miss Universe would be crowned this night.
The Associated Press reports that a couple from Louisville had dropped in on a woman and dropped right out again, that as soon as the three stepped onto the latter woman's back porch, they had fallen two stories, with the resident and the woman of the couple then also falling down a flight of basement steps. No one had been hurt.
In another report, a Philadelphia professor's wife was in jail for three days in lieu of paying a $10 traffic fine, after the magistrate had said that she was guilty of making a turn on a red light, a finding which the woman had contested. The professor would not pay the fine either and said that he was proud of his wife's principles.
In a third A.P. report, three months earlier, a couple had set their wedding date in Port Neches, Tex., for this night, but the previous day, the groom had learned that his Babe Ruth League baseball team would play in San Antonio at the same hour and so the wedding was changed to early afternoon and they would fly to San Antonio for the game, with the bride's going-away outfit to include a baseball cap and her first chore as a housewife to be clearing third base. The story is pregnant with much additional baggage.
On the editorial page, "The Show, Unfortunately, Must Go On" finds that the presence of Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the U.N. Security Council would be so incongruous as to be almost laughable, it being inconceivable that his presence could produce anything other than a disruptive and discordant note to the proceedings.
"That the United States should allow itself to be hornswoggled into this hastily arranged get-together is equally inconceivable." It finds that the only thing the U.S. could discuss at the meeting was its own diplomatic surrender. For the Government still did not have a policy regarding the Middle East and had been unable to translate to the Arabs, the world, or even its own people, any clearly defined U.S. interests and aims in that region. It suggests that were there a policy, the U.S. might also have a settlement in mind, but had neither, and so it was hard to see how any settlement could be discussed without inviting another diplomatic disaster.
Without any reasonable basis for negotiation, the U.S. would surrender the initiative to the "canniest propaganda pitchman of the decade", which would surely place the nation on the defensive from the start, with the immediate withdrawal of the Marines from the Middle East being at the top of the Soviet agenda. Such a withdrawal could not be discussed by the U.S. without great embarrassment, unless it was considered within the framework of a larger settlement. But the U.S. had no negotiable terms for a larger settlement to propose to the Soviets or to the inhabitants of the region.
Nevertheless, it appeared that the show had to go on, with Premier Khrushchev as the ringmaster and chief barker, that the country had not only to endure his propaganda spiel but also to shoulder the considerable responsibility of protecting him in an atmosphere of built-in hostility and great risk. The prospect was thus bleak for the West. The President was no longer unchallenged at the head of the Western alliance, and Secretary of State Dulles had become frozen in platitudes and negativistic policies, discredited to a great extent.
The ideals of the nation were as honorable as ever and yet the means to an honorable end had so often been clumsily fabricated and miserably executed. The resultant challenge facing the nation was staggering, but not hopeless. The situation could be saved by a brave assertion of practical wisdom and enlightened leadership, for which the country was still waiting.
"Good Pay Doesn't Grow Good Ethics" indicates that the case of former police Capt. Lloyd Henkel had led to some misunderstanding about the need for adequate salaries in the Police Department, Mr. Henkel having been fired by the Civil Service Commission over his check cashing practices with the City Recorder's Court clerk, also a police officer.
Several people had suggested that money was a magic ingredient in maintaining high ethical and moral standards in a police force and that poor conduct or misconduct was the natural result of low salaries. It finds that the public ought not only to expect high standards but to demand them, regardless of pay. Police officers and all other public servants deserved fair pay for their work and while proper pay was related to efficiency, it could not buy moral or ethical conduct. The suggestion not only was misleading but unfair to numerous civil servants who, along with lean paychecks, had exceedingly stout character.
It urges that the city ought never forget the difficult, sometimes dangerous and often thankless services it received from its police force, and also should not forget the citizens' obligations to provide good working conditions and fair salaries, but likewise should never accept the idea that good pay would beget good ethics.
"Precinct 31? The Questions Remain" indicates that the election of Robert Dellinger as constable of Charlotte Township had been settled by the concession of the incumbent, but that it had not been settled as to whether perjury or fraud had been involved in the preparation of affidavits on the basis of which the County had gone to the trouble and expense of a recount of the votes in the May 31 primary.
It urges that the question had to be explored thoroughly, as the indications were that someone was lying about whether they had voted or not in the primary and that until the matter was settled, the elective process would be regarded with less confidence by residents, and with good reason.
"Hiding Place?" indicates that the scientists and military men doubtless had good and sufficient reason for wanting to find out what the dark side of the moon looked like, but that it would be of some interest and settle some bets if the first explorers could decide definitely the question of whether Hitler was hiding there.
A piece from the Denver Post, titled "Not Just Johnny", indicates that since the Sputniks had first flown the prior fall, Americans had been trying to find out what was wrong with American education and what to do about it, that it often happened when a national problem was attacked that much of the collective effort had degenerated into a search for scapegoats, in the instant case, blaming John Dewey, progressive education, poor school administration, underpaid teachers, crowded classrooms and a raft of other issues, most with some justification.
It suggests that what was often failed to be appreciated was how much the schools reflected the world around them, that the quality of education depended as much on what went on outside the school as what happened inside. The partial answer to what was wrong could be found by a kind of mental look into the mirror. When there was a complaint that Johnny could not read, there was a question posed as to whether any adults around the house demonstrated any enthusiasm for reading by being frequently seen with a book in their hands. When there was a complaint that Johnny was a conformist who did not want to excel or be different from his schoolmates, a question arose as to whether he had been given any reason to believe that his family thought or acted differently from others down the block. When the complaint arose that Johnny was not interested in science and math, a question was posed as to whether there was anybody so interested in the household.
"This kind of mental exercise may improve more people than just Johnny."
We think it appropriate to stop picking on Johnny all the time, as there are plenty of Freddy's, Betty's, Jerry's, Joes, Donny's, Tommy's, Paulies, Petunias, Pamelas and Dotty's who are not pulling their load in class either. What the hell? Johnny be good in the school days.
Drew Pearson indicates that in some parts of the North, flag-waving by blacks had become good politics, and that in some parts of the South, "Negro-hating" had become equally good politics, that in both cases it could sometimes cover up a multitude of sins. He examples the cases of Congressman Adam Clayton Powell of Harlem and of Governor Orval Faubus in Arkansas, both of whom were "alleged Democrats". Both were up for reelection and both were running not on whether they had been good public servants but whether they were either a champion of blacks or a suppressor of blacks, as the case might be. There were other important issues also in the land, but they had been forgotten in those and certain other election races.
Congressman Powell represented a district which had many problems other than the race issue, such as housing, education, and health. But the Congressman had one of the worst attendance records in the Congress, having twice in the middle of Congress simply quit and gone to Europe. In Rome the previous summer he had collected enough counterpart funds from the U.S. Embassy to rent a villa on the Adriatic. Now that he had been indicted for income tax evasion, many prominent black leaders in New York were opposing him simply because he was not a good Congressman. But having wrapped himself in the race issue, Mr. Powell would probably nevertheless be reelected.
Governor Faubus, who had probably done the country more damage in Asia and Africa than any other single American, had been elected on a platform of opposing higher taxes and higher rates for the public utilities, but when the Public Service Commission had refused a rate increase and the Arkansas Supreme Court had also refused an increase, the Governor, despite previous campaign promises, had come to the rescue, such that four days after the State Supreme Court decision, he had rushed a rate increase through the Legislature for Arkansas-Louisiana Gas and signed it into law. Later, it had become known that his executive secretary had recently acquired stock in the gas company, that the new attorney he had appointed for the Public Service Commission had also recently acquired stock in the company, and that his revenue commissioner had done likewise. All three had helped push the rate increase through the Legislature.
Governor Faubus had campaigned as a hillbilly and a moderate on integration, having come from a part of Arkansas which had few black residents. Now, he had wrapped himself in the race issue and as a result, the people of Arkansas, for the most part, would vote not on whether he had been a good Governor, but on whether he had been a vigorous opponent of blacks, just as the voters of Harlem would vote for Congressman Powell, not on the basis of whether he had been a good Congressman, but whether he had been a champion of blacks.
Walter Lippmann finds that the prospect of a summit meeting at the U.N. Security Council in New York was akin to "one of those nightmares in which one feels compelled to do what one desperately does not want to do." A public confrontation between the President and Premier Khrushchev, he suggests, would be a ghastly spectacle, almost certain to poison the air further with charges and counter-charges. There were also great risks that the local police would not be able to maintain law and order during Mr. Khrushchev's visit, with so many embittered enemies within New York City. There also did not appear to exist a basis for negotiation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as both had talked themselves into extreme positions from which it was awkward to make any concession.
Yet the fact remained that the President had been pushed and pulled by the British Government and by widespread public opinion in Germany, Scandinavia, Japan and elsewhere, into a grudging acceptance of the idea of such a meeting on the Middle East.
The U.S. found itself in the position because there was no Middle Eastern policy and the U.S. had lost the diplomatic initiative. He suggests that the correct answer to the Soviet invitation to such a meeting would have been to propose the terms of a settlement which included but extended beyond the withdrawal of the Marines from Lebanon, providing something substantial on which to confer, in lieu of merely discussion of where and when to meet. But, unfortunately, the U.S. did not have negotiable terms of settlement to propose. The Anglo-American intervention in Lebanon and Jordan had been undertaken to prevent the collapse of those countries, a hurried reaction to the unanticipated news from Iraq that a coup there had taken place. It had not been a deliberate act of policy.
The presence of U.S. troops in Lebanon not only did not promise a settlement of the revolutionary condition in Iraq which had caused them to be sent there, but the longer they stayed, the harder it would be to withdraw them without precipitating the disaster which they were there to prevent.
He suggests that there was a school of thought both in the U.S. and in Britain which argued that the only settlement which was acceptable and which would settle anything would be one which followed a restoration of the former government in Iraq and the elimination of Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser in his United Arab Republic. That would accomplish at present what British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and French Premier Guy Mollet had attempted to do in the Suez crisis about two years earlier, that is by force of arms establish an Anglo-American protectorate in the Middle East.
But the Soviet Union was an incomparably stronger power than had been Czarist Russia in the previous century, and the Arab revolution, of which Premier Nasser was the most conspicuous exponent, did not exist at all in the imperial period of the 19th Century. If the day was gone forever when the Middle East could be stabilized by Western military power, the West would have to seek an accommodation with the new powers in the region, with the Soviet Union and Premier Nasser's UAR. He finds that no other policy was conceivable unless it were a policy of doing nothing other than digging in with the troops presently in Lebanon and Jordan.
It would be easier for the Soviets and for Premier Nasser to denounce the intervention than for the U.S. and Britain to defend it. Unless there were a reasonably prompt settlement in Lebanon with the withdrawal of the Marines, their continuing presence would embarrass the U.S. everywhere in the world, as they had been sent to prove to the Turks, the Pakistanis and others that the U.S. military promises would be honored. But if the Marines stayed on and became an army of occupation, there would be some serious second thought not only among the nations guaranteed such protection but also at home as to who had to provide the guarantees.
He thus finds it a vital interest of the U.S. to negotiate an honorable exit for the Marines, which he suggests might be impossible, given the revolutionary character of the Nasser movement. He indicates that it also might not be impossible if it were seriously and thoroughly attempted, given on the one hand the military weakness of the Arab states and on the other their need of the West in the oil business and in their economic development.
Doris Fleeson indicates that there was a stampede on for a Congressional adjournment and that, barring unforeseen developments of extreme gravity, it was possible that both houses would adjourn earlier than their present goal of August 15. In both parties there was weariness as well as wariness regarding the Middle East crisis. The veneer of bipartisanship had never been so thin, with the leaders feeling that an unbecoming fracas could easily develop. Meeting quietly in small groups, Democrats had informally decided that there was no contribution they could make to the situation at present and their intensely critical private feelings had been subordinated to several considerations.
They did not wish to undermine the President, believed that it would be politically unwise with the midterms coming up in the fall to move along lines which could develop into a partisan attack. Many had suggested that the American system at the present time served "the loyal opposition" badly and they looked regretfully toward Britain where it was wholly acceptable for the leaders of the Labor Party to summon the dominant Conservative Party to account publicly for Government policy.
Democrats could only do so in speeches openly critical of the President or by summoning Secretary of State Dulles to a public hearing to explain Government objectives. They would then expect some Republicans to feel obliged to rally to the defense of the President and the end result almost surely would resemble the partisan debate which the Democrats wanted to avoid.
A spontaneous protest had arisen in the country regarding the moves by the President and Secretary of State, unusual in that it had occurred without stimulation from a demagogue or a responsible politician with a wide following or any organization. It was not partisan, for Republicans were doing so along with Democrats. Thoughtful people who cared deeply about how the country appeared before other nations had joined in the protest. At the same time, there was very little support being marshaled for the President's moves and not much flag-waving. The White House would be deceiving itself if it thought that the political silence gave anything more than a temporary consent to the moves it was making.
With increasing openness, people were protesting that they were getting from the President only military solutions for hard problems. After months of drift, he had sent paratroopers with bayonets to Little Rock, Ark., in late September, 1957. When Vice-President Nixon had encountered hostility in Latin America, he had started to send the Marines toward the trouble spot, and had now landed Marines and paratroopers in the Middle East.
She suggests that when such matters were being discussed, the Democrats did not need to make the issue themselves but could ride along with the protest, which was informally what they had agreed to do. The situation was different from one prevailing after the first excitement following troop landings in Korea in the summer of 1950 when the late Senator Robert Taft, with great skill and help from Mr. Dulles, had begun to mount the attack on "Truman's war". But she finds that it was no less significant for the Eisenhower Administration.
A letter writer from Aberdeen comments on the editorial, "How Many Floods Does It Take?" finding it inconceivable that the editors had not heard of the so-called "Small Watershed Law" whereby local citizens could initiate action for flood control. He indicates that, unfortunately, the Legislature had not officially designated any unit, local or state, as the legal unit through which applications could be submitted for watershed assistance. He says that he believed that there were 37 states which had enacted such legislation, with all or nearly all of them designating the local soil conservation district as the agency which was to handle watershed applications. Locally organized soil conservation districts were accepting applications for assistance in the state and the machinery was there and functioning, with it being the responsibility of local citizens, not the Federal Government, to use it. He says that there were government agents of the Soil Conservation Service trying to convince farmers that they would get better crop production if they farmed on the contour, also indicating that farmers had a responsibility to those farther downstream and responsibility vested by God as a steward of the land. He finds that it would take an aroused public and cooperation of all the citizens, not just the farmers, to prevent floods. The Soil Conservation Service and soil conservation districts were set up to work with landowners cooperatively, not by force or coercion, and he wants to keep it that way. He challenges the editors to read a book by Elmer Peterson, Big Dam Foolishness.
A letter writer indicates that the Charlotte Police Department had good points, but the public had been hearing of the bad points lately. He commends an officer during an instance when he had carelessly broken a traffic law recently and was stopped and cited for running a stop sign. The officer was quite courteous and explained the danger involved in such a reckless course. He commends the officer for his courtesy.
A letter from the president of the Pageland, S.C., Chamber of Commerce, sponsors of the annual Watermelon Carnival, expresses gratitude for the excellent coverage given the event by the newspaper, which was a favorite of local residents for many years. He says that the pictures and stories of the Carnival had added significantly to its success. He indicates that they were sorry that Julian Scheer was busy watching a firecracker and Roman candle show in Florida at the time and had missed all of the fun, that maybe the following year he could arrange his schedule more appropriately and put first things first.
He refers to Mr. Scheer's reporting from Cape Canaveral on the launch of the Thor-Able ICBM with Wickie the mouse aboard. It is likely a certainty that Mr. Scheer would have preferred to be at the Watermelon Carnival in Pageland.
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