The Charlotte News

Thursday, September 25, 1958

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Lexington, Ky., that the governors attending the annual Southern Governors Conference had discussed at length "off the record" the previous day school integration, but had ended the conference without adopting a formal stand on the issue. One governor, who asked not to be identified, said that after a closed-door executive session: "The feeling behind the scenes was that it would be better not to discuss any of the various resolutions on this. Because of the widely varying views of the governors, we felt it would do more harm than good to have an open fight." Governor Theodore McKeldin of Maryland, who favored integration, proposed a resolution for a formal stand on the issue, but it had been killed by the resolutions committee. Governor Marvin Griffin of Georgia, who favored maintenance of segregation, along with a moderate, Governor Frank Clement of Tennessee, were prepared to introduce separate resolutions, but the two said that they did not put forward the proposals after Governor McKeldin's resolution had lost in committee.

At the U.N. in New York, British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd this date called on both Communist China and Nationalist China to end their military activities in the Formosa Strait immediately.

In Warsaw, Poland, U.S. and Chinese representatives had conferred for an hour and 45 minutes this date on a potential Formosa Strait cease-fire and had agreed to meet again the following Tuesday.

In Dacca, Pakistan, the deputy speaker of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly had died this date of injuries suffered when opposition members had assaulted him in the Assembly.

In Beirut, Lebanon, Rashid Karami, the new pro-Nasser Premier of Lebanon, predicted this date that American troops would completely withdraw from the country by the end of October. The troops were already in the process of withdrawal.

In Algiers, it was reported by official sources this date that 13,700 rebels had been killed or made prisoner by French forces between May 15 and September 20, with no breakdown provided.

In London, British authorities had rejected a bid by convicted atomic spy Klaus Fuchs to do scientific work outside prison during the last months of his term.

In Washington, a Federal grand jury this date had indicted Richard Mack, a former member of the FCC, and Miami lawyer Thurman Whiteside, on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States. The indictment, consisting of three counts, returned after a five-month investigation, alleged that the two men had improper dealings while the FCC was considering a four-way contest for a television channel in Miami. Mr. Whiteside had been backing Public Service Television, Inc., a subsidiary of National Airlines, which had won the channel. Mr. Mack had resigned from the Commission on March 3 after a House investigating committee developed that he had accepted financial favors from Mr. Whiteside while the case of the channel was pending. Mr. Mack said that he had done no wrong. He and Mr. Whiteside both insisted that the financial favors were based entirely on a long friendship. Mr. Mack, a Florida Democrat, had been named to the FCC by President Eisenhower during the summer of 1955. The case of the channel in Miami had been decided in February, 1957. Under a Federal court order, the FCC was currently rehearing the contest to determine whether undue influence had affected the outcome. The FCC vote awarding the channel to Public Service Television had been four to two.

Also in Washington, it was reported that Henry Grunewald, said by witnesses during a 1953 investigation of Federal tax scandals to be a high-priced "fixer", had died this date.

In Berlin, it was reported in the official publication of the Roman Catholic bishop of Berlin that in a small village in East Germany, Kayna, Catholic residents had decided to build a tiny church, and after months of work during off-duty hours, building it with their own hands and using their own materials, the church had opened. Four weeks later, however, local Communist authorities had forbade use of the church on the ground that it was needed for "social purposes".

Also in Berlin, it was reported that six spectators in a courtroom in the suburbs of the city had agreed to have their minds read by the man on trial, when requested to do so by the judge. They had written six questions and handed them to the judge, who turned to the 39-year old defendant, known as "Hanussen II, Germany's No. 1 mind reader", charged with swindling funds in private séances by professing to give news of missing relatives. The judge had asked him what was on the first piece of paper and he had responded: "The lady is asking about her sister. She is an inch taller, blonde, considerably younger, and works in a public building." The spectator who had addressed the question said it was correct, that her sister worked as a medical assistant. The judge then moved on to the second question, and the defendant said that it was from a man who had asked about his son, whether he would "come along well in school". The questioner said that it was correct. On the third question, the defendant had hesitated, saying that the questioner had asked about his mother or grandmother, that he had no contact, and that either the question was phony or she was dead. He added that the man had suffered in a concentration camp. The questioner, a city detective, said that it was correct, that he had asked about his grandmother, who was dead, and he had been in a concentration camp. Three other questions had been asked and the defendant had gotten the answers relatively correct. The judge said that he saw no evidence that the defendant had deliberately cheated people, that the experiments in court, particularly that with the detective, indicated that the accused had "a certain validity to his claims as a mind reader." He dismissed the case. The defendant, embracing his wife, said that he had foreseen that he would be freed. He fared considerably better that his putative namesake, at least, for now.

In Port Huron, Mich., it was reported that a boxer had jumped into a woman's parked car and it had taken several authorities to extricate him, the woman having said that she did not dare to try to throw him out as he was so big. This is what happens in an overly permissive society. They should give him the chair.

On the editorial page, the speech to the Southern Governors Conference on Monday of Governor LeRoy Collins of Florida, chairman of the Conference, is reprinted. He had forecast danger in the current stalemate over integration of public schools in accord with Brown v. Board of Education, the implementing decision of which had been decided in May, 1955.