The Charlotte News

Thursday, September 18, 1958

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Taipei, Formosa, that Nationalist Air Force headquarters claimed this date that its Sabrejets had shot down five Communist MIG-17's and possibly a sixth in air battles over Quemoy, a communique having stated that all Nationalist planes had returned to base safely. It reported that two aerial engagements had taken place in the late afternoon in which four Sabrejets took part against more than 30 MIG's, the Sabres having been providing cover for Nationalist supply convoys when they became engaged in the dogfight. Air Force headquarters also claimed that its Sabres had sunk three Communist torpedo boats and damaged a fourth in the area of Quemoy. The last previous encounter with MIG's had occurred on September 8, when the Nationalists claimed that their jets had shot down seven Communist planes and damaged two others near the Chinese mainland seaport of Swatow. The U.S. command on Formosa had indicated that U.S. jets would join the fighting against any Communist warplanes seeking to prevent supplies from reaching the offshore islands.

At the U.N. in New York, Secretary of State Dulles stated this date that the Chinese Communist campaign against Formosa "poses a grave threat, with ominous implications." He called for a prompt cease-fire.

Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy would depart the following week on a round-the-world inspection tour which would include a visit to Formosa. He planned to be gone for about five weeks, according to the Pentagon.

In Amman, Jordan, Lebanese intelligence officers reportedly had broken up a plot hatched in Army circles to prevent General Fuad Shehab from taking office as President on September 24.

In Cairo, it was reported by the newspaper Al Shaab that formation of an Algerian government-in-exile would be announced on the Moslem Sabbath the following day.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, the Information Minister had warned this date that the Government would take firm measures against foreign oil companies if they could not explain the reasons for the fuel shortage in the oil-producing nation.

In Washington, an Interstate Commerce Commission examiner this date predicted the disappearance of intercity railroad passenger train service within the ensuing 12 years unless there were a reversal in travel trends.

In Little Rock, Ark., the four closed high schools were a step closer to a test of the Arkansas private school plan this date, as three more Virginia schools faced possible closing orders. Six citizens had formed the "Little Rock Private School Corporation" the previous day in a move taken with the prior knowledge of Governor Orval Faubus, who had closed the schools following the Supreme Court's decision of September 12 to proceed again during the current school year with integration at Central High School. The group's purpose was to operate private schools by lease or other means, according to the papers of incorporation signed by a circuit court judge. A law passed by the Arkansas Legislature the previous month during a special session called by the Governor had authorized the state to provide funding for the tuition of a pupil who entered a private school in a district where the public schools had been closed. There was no immediate indication when an attempt would be made to try out the private school plan, presumably on a segregated basis. Legal authorities said that in all probability such a move would be challenged in the courts. Governor Faubus had scheduled a special city referendum on the integration issue for September 27, required by state law when schools were closed, to determine whether the voters wanted to reopen them on an integrated basis or whether they would remain closed. Neither the Justice Department nor Governor Faubus had any comment on the private school plan. Mrs. L. C. Bates, the Arkansas president of the NAACP, said that "when the schools open, be it under public or private guidance, Negro children will be there."

In Norfolk, Va., a Federal District Court judge said that he would rule shortly on a request that he set aside a state court injunction barring the city's school board from assigning pupils. Two schools in Charlottesville probably would not open on schedule on Monday, as Chief Judge Simon Sobeloff of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Baltimore had refused to interfere with a District Court order to admit black students to the two schools.

Racial incidents had been reported at the New Orleans branch of LSU. The dean said that a black student had been the object of jeers and catcalls and that there had been incidents of bottle-throwing and name-calling. The branch of LSU had opened on Friday with 60 black students enrolling among the student body of about 1,500.

In Detroit, the UAW, which had reached a contract agreement with Ford Motor Co. the previous day, turned their attention to General Motors this date with a warning that "the time has come for them to quit playing games." G.M., the largest of the automakers, stood out as the primary target of the UAW's unfinished contract negotiations. The UAW resumed talks with Chrysler also, but union officials made it plain that they would concentrate on G.M. G.M. officials declined comment on the agreement made between Ford and the UAW, which included the first severance pay plan worked out by any of the Big Three automakers. In 1955, the last year of negotiations, Ford had become the first automaker to grant a supplemental unemployment pay plan, under which the company granted unemployed workers payments in addition to the unemployment compensation paid them by the states. G.M. and the other automakers had followed suit in subsequent contracts. Leonard Woodcock, the national director of UAW's G.M. department, was asked whether the Ford contract would provide a satisfactory basis for a similar contract with G.M., and he said: "We have some very special problems at G.M. that have been ignored by the company. These include local demands, specifically the short work week. Our problem at G.M. is the three- and four-day week." Ford and the UAW had announced a settlement of their differences the previous day several hours after some 98,000 workers had walked off the job in Ford plants across the country. The strike remained in effect at some plants, pending agreement on local issues. Terms of the Ford agreement, which still had to be ratified and approved by UAW locals, had entailed approximately a ten-cent hourly pay increase for all workers, plus extra fringe benefits, bringing the new average hourly rate to an estimated $2.52. A note of optimism had come also from G.M. vice-president Louis Seaton, who commented on the Ford settlement, saying: "I would like to congratulate both parties for arriving at an accord. I know it took a lot of hard work. I see no reason why, with hard work and sincerity of purpose around the bargaining table, that at G.M., too, our people cannot look forward to a long period of labor peace and stability." Ford vice-president John Bugas, who had directed negotiations for the company, said that he believed G.M. would be delighted with the settlement and added: "It is a solid contract. Our settlement with the UAW is not an excessive package." In the package had been included an eight-cent basic hourly wage increase for some skilled workers, separation pay of up to $3,000, increased retirement benefits, improvements in hospitalization, surgical and group insurance coverage, provisions for night-shift differential, Saturday overtime and jury duty pay. Mr. Bugas said that it was up to the Ford board to decide whether the settlement would be reflected in higher car prices. The settlement had come after 30 hours of round-the-clock bargaining and after 93 days of contract talks between UAW and the Big Three.

In Palo Alto, Calif., it was reported that Stanford University, making some land available to professors as home sites, had demanded that they obtain the school's approval of architectural and landscaping plans. One professor had put in his bid and the school had promptly approved the plans, including a list of plants listed by their Latin names. Approved had in fact been a border of poison ivy, opium poppies on the patio and a front yard of marijuana.

On the editorial page, Drew Pearson's column this date is written by his assistant, Jack Anderson, who indicates that the country's bold stand in the Formosa Strait might be the last time it dared to call the Communist bluff, at least according to two members of the Joint Chiefs who were not only alarmed but frightened over the missile outlook. Contrary to official reassurances, the U.S. was not gaining but was losing ground in the desperate race to overtake Russia's missile lead. Yet the President, more concerned about a threatened 12 billion dollar budget deficit the following year, had ordered drastic cutbacks in defense spending.