The Charlotte News
Tuesday, February 24, 1959
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President was quoted this date as saying that it "certainly is my responsibility" to determine whether Secretary of State Dulles, stricken with cancer, would remain in his position. The statement carried a possible implied rebuke to those in Congress who had publicly suggested that the President ought to name a replacement for the Secretary, with two Senators, Stuart Symington of Missouri and Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, having made that suggestion. Republican Congressional leaders had quoted the President on the matter after their regular weekly conference with him. The Republican Senate Minority Leader, Everett Dirksen of Illinois, said that the President gave a report on the condition of Mr. Dulles, indicating that "things are coming along in good style and that what eventuates in the future is 'certainly my responsibility.'" He and Representative Charles Halleck of Indiana, the House Republican leader, reported that the discussion of the Secretary's condition had been opened by the President. In response to questions, both leaders had made it clear that the President was talking about an ultimate decision on whether Mr. Dulles would be able to continue to serve as Secretary. The President had told his press conference the previous week that he wanted Mr. Dulles to continue in office as long as he felt able to carry on. In specific comment on the suggestion by Senator Symington that Mr. Dulles ought resign, Mr. Halleck had remarked with a touch of sarcasm: "I think we ought to strike a gold medal for some of the boys who are so free with advice." There had also been some Democrats who had voiced opinions that Mr. Dulles ought remain.
In Des Moines, Ia., it was reported by the Des Moines Register this date that Representative Steven Carter of Iowa said that he had made a mistake in judgment in putting his 19-year old college freshman son on his Congressional payroll at $11,873 per year. In a copyrighted story from its Washington Bureau, the newspaper had quoted Mr. Carter as saying, "I'm afraid I didn't have this thing in very good perspective and I'm going to correct it." He said that he had been ill with cancer and that his son had been carrying a lot of the load for him, that his illness and the fact that he was told that he might not live many weeks had probably resulted in his making a misjudgment as to what he should pay his son. The freshman Congressman said previously that his son, a pre-law student at George Washington University, had the best qualifications among applicants as his chief assistant. He told the Register that he had received numerous letters from Iowans and it was about 60-40 against him. The newspaper further quoted him as saying that because of the reaction, he felt that it was time to lay things on the line and tell the people about his physical condition which had influenced his actions. In 1957, he said, he had developed a cancerous condition on the back of his tongue and that doctors believed that the cancer was caught before it spread to other parts of his body. Then, during the election campaign the previous fall, his left arm had begun to cause him pain and he said that he thought it was a pinched nerve in the elbow. He told the newspaper that he had gone to the House physician, who had sent him to Bethesda Naval Hospital, where examination showed that the cancer had spread through his body and that there was a rather large cancerous growth between his seventh and eighth vertebrae. He said that mustard gas and radiation treatments had been successful and that doctors had told him that if the cancer did not attack a vital organ, he probably could keep it under control and live out a normal life. He said that he was now feeling fine again, that the pain had left his arm and that he was ready to settle down and do the work of his district. The newspaper said he wanted to keep his son on the payroll at a reduced salary but that he had not decided yet whether to do so. He said that his family did not need the money.
In Littleton, N.H., it was reported that a faint radio message this date had given searchers hope that two doctors who had been missing on a plane flight were still alive somewhere in the rugged, snow-covered White Mountains area. Ground and air search teams this date had concentrated their hunt for the two doctors in the eight-mile area between Mount Agassiz and Franconia Notch. A doctor, an osteopathic physician and member of the Civil Air Patrol, had reported that he had received fragments of a wireless signal on Monday which read: "Agass" and "Notch". Mt. Agassiz was east of Littleton's abandoned airport near where a 19-year old girl reportedly had heard a low-flying airplane on Saturday. The two missing doctors had disappeared on Saturday while returning to Lebanon from a 70-mile mercy flight to Berlin, where they had gone to treat a heart patient. Both were on staff of the Dartmouth Medical School faculty. They had been flying in the $18,000 Piper Comanche belonging to one of the doctors, fitted with $2,000 worth of radio and electronics equipment. The owner, a veteran Arctic pilot, also was versed in electronics, and authorities said that his mechanical ability would have enabled him to repair the plane's radio with spare parts had it been disabled in the crash.
In Memphis, Tenn., it was reported that a group of mothers had met with Shelby County school officials this date to air their complaints against a school principal who had paddled 11 student strikers. A judge ordered the informal conference after the mothers requested that he issue assault and battery warrants against the principal of Bartlett High School. The principal had admitted firmly applying a maple paddle to 11 boys and said "there are still seven or eight to go." He said that the paddlings had "nipped in the bud" a direct challenge to school authority. The trouble had started, he said, when he carried out his threat to shut down a drink machine if it continued to be jammed with slugs. He estimated that about 20 boys had sought to organize a student boycott of the school lunchroom and when that had failed, had left the school grounds without permission. The principal gave the boycott leaders two choices, either receive seven licks with the paddle or bring their parents to school, and he said that 11 of them had preferred the paddle. He said that they had taken it in "fine spirits". Most of the parents approved of the paddlings, he said, and one father had sat in on his son's paddling. The boys deserved some punishment, he said, and apparently the spanking was effective because the defiance of school authority had stopped. He said that there had to be a showdown and he did not use the paddle except as a last resort. Next time, use a shotgun on the little brats and they won't repeat it.
In Peoria, Ill., it was reported that a two-year old boy about a month earlier had picked up a lighted cigarette and smoked it, had obviously liked it and the following day wanted another, which he got. Now he smoked five cigarettes per day. His mother said that she was worried because she could not seem to break him of the habit, though she had tried. She said he cried until he got his cigarettes. The mother, a divorcee, who worked as a waitress, said that she was going to take her son to a doctor to try to find out why he liked to smoke cigarettes. She said that she did not smoke, believing that he had picked up the habit from the babysitter she had employed for him. The mother tried to substitute candy cigarettes for the real thing, but that had not worked as he had just thrown them aside and screamed until he got real cigarettes. She said that once she had tried giving him raw tobacco, thinking that the taste might break him of the habit, but it had no effect. She said that he did not light the cigarettes he smoked, that either she or the babysitter had to light them for him, as there was a danger from fire if he lit them himself. He was careful with the ashes and even carried an ashtray on his tricycle. Soak each cigarette in gasoline and that will cure the little monster right quick.
In Melbourne, Australia, it was reported that about 22,000 persons had packed evangelist Billy Graham's meeting this night in the Melbourne open-air Music Bowl. The service was televised throughout Victoria State. More than 1,500, mainly teenagers, had responded to his call for "Decisions for Christ". The evangelist had read a letter from a converted Melbourne "bodgie", the Australian term for a juvenile delinquent, and had promised to devote Saturday's service to teenagers. The American Baptist leader was conducting a five-month crusade in Australia and New Zealand.
In Henderson, N.C., it was reported that strikers had stoned incoming workers at two plants of the strike-bound Harriet-Henderson Cotton Mills this date, the demonstrations having followed the beating the previous midnight of a union representative. Two crowds, of about 250 men and women each, had gathered outside the gates of the mills' North Henderson and South Henderson plants, some of whom had been curious spectators. At least 15 cases of stoning of cars had been reported. The milling crowds had been in an ugly mood regarding the strike which had left the textile town a divided community. The Vance County sheriff said that his officers had it somewhat easier with the crowd this date because of Highway Patrol reinforcements who had been sent in the previous night by Governor Luther Hodges at the request of the mayor. The sheriff had said that they would have been "in a hell of a fix" if the 14 patrolmen had not been there, as when the crowd had seen them, they had started to scatter. The beaten union man was from Charlotte, a Carolinas area representative for the Textile Workers Union of America. The previous day, he had described the town as an "armed camp" and was lured to the door of his motel shortly after midnight and struck on the head with a pop bottle. He apparently was not seriously injured and a hospital reported that he had spent a satisfactory night, resting comfortably. One striker had been arrested this date outside the North Henderson plant when about 15 persons had attempted to overturn a car bearing workers, the arrested man having been charged with simple assault. The police chief, in charge of officers at the South Henderson plant, said that there was no violence there this date, that they had some information that some men had been picking up bricks and so they assigned policemen at posts amid the crowd, but he was satisfied they had been able to nip any disorder in the bud. The president of the mill said that he would not give any figures on the number of workers who had returned since the reopening the previous week, but said they had operated the same amount of machinery this date as the previous day and did not expect any increase after the previous day's turmoil or any the following day. The strike had started on November 17 when negotiations had broken down over a new contract. The TWUA said that the main issue was management's desire to eliminate an arbitration clause from the contract, which had been in effect for 14 years. The mills had reopened on February 16 and since that time, there had been three reports of explosions around the homes of returning workers, and other acts of violence, including the stoning of automobiles and tipping over of automobiles.
In Raleigh, a State House Judiciary Committee had given its blessing this date to increased travel allowances for legislators, and the former U.S. Comptroller General had urged creation of the post of state comptroller.
In Charlotte, former Mayor and well-known textile and business executive, Harvey Moore, 74, had died in a local hospital this date. He had been active in state and local civic and business affairs for many years. He had been president and treasurer of the Brown Manufacturing Co. and the Roberta Manufacturing Co., both of Concord, at the time of his death. The mills had become a part of Cannon Mills on March 15, 1956, and he was a director of Cannon Mills. He was a vice-president and director of Highland Park Manufacturing Co. of Charlotte, Park Yarn Mills of Kings Mountain and Eastern Manufacturing Co. of Selma. He was a director of Worth Spinning Co. of Stony Point and Anchor Mills of Charlotte. He had commuted between his home in Charlotte and Concord for many years.
Stephen Klein, president of Barton's Bonbonniere Candy Stores, in this date's edition of "Lenten Guideposts", indicates that the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday evening before sunset and ends on Saturday night after sundown. God created the first six days and rested on the seventh, and the belief was that every seventh day, God's children ought also rest in honor of God. During the Sabbath, he did not drive a car or write, did not answer the telephone, did not turn on the radio or television, walked to synagogue services on Friday evening and twice on Saturday. All bathing, shaving and cooking were done just before the Sabbath started, since all activities were considered work on the Sabbath. The strict law prohibited lighting a fire on the Sabbath or turning on electricity or gas. For him, the Sabbath was a day when he obtained complete physical, mental and spiritual rest, and also refreshment. He had found that when he took extra time and effort in observance of his spiritual traditions, his religion meant a great deal more to him. Closing his stores on the Sabbath not only meant a sacrifice of income, but also had him facing a lawsuit and an interesting involvement with the New York City Board of Transportation. He says he had grown up in Vienna, Austria, part of a Chassidic family and that his trade was candy-making, an art, which in Vienna, took on the style and gaiety of that lovely city. With his younger brothers and the help of his wife, he had opened the colorful little shop and their business had prospered. Then in 1938, the Nazi pestilence had spread to Austria and he had fled to Belgium. Leaving his family there, he had come to New York alone, hoping to find a way to finance his family's flight to freedom. By 1940, he was ready to open his first store in Manhattan, but immediately faced the question of a Sabbath closing. In Vienna, their shop had always closed on Saturday, and it had created no insuperable problem. But in New York, he found out when he saw the Saturday shoppers. By sacrificing a measure of his religious belief and perhaps trying to make up for it in another way, he stood a fair chance of assuring his family of reasonable security. But the more he thought about it, the more certain he became that God had not permitted him to escape the Nazi gas chambers to come to a new land and forsake his faith. Thus, the first shop had opened its doors with the firm policy of closing on Friday, 18 minutes before sundown, and remaining closed until Saturday night. But their Sabbath-closing policy had not succeeded without difficulty. When suppliers and maintenance people learned that they were closed on Saturday, they figured that loss of the day's trade would be a bad risk and so he was refused credit. For the first few months, all purchases and supplies had been on a strictly cash basis, a heavy load to bear with his funds as limited as his hope and faith in America were limitless. The remainder of the piece is on an inside page.
On the editorial page, "Tar Heels Can Defraud the Future by Junking Public School Provision" begins by quoting Article IX, Section II of the State Constitution, providing that the General Assembly would provide, by taxation and otherwise, for a general and uniform system of public schools, which would be free of charge to all children of the state between the ages of six and 21.
It indicates that the defense of the 91-year old constitutional provision by Governor Luther Hodges had been a welcome antidote to the dark counsel of fear. He had said the previous day that it should definitely be retained.
It finds that the guarantee of a general and uniform system of public education had been watered down by an unused but nevertheless unfortunate portion of the Pearsall Plan, adopted in 1956 for pupil assignment. Some degree of respectability remained, but the State Constitutional Commission would complete the destruction of the noble ideal with a proposal that was contrary to the history of the state and the aspirations of the people by throwing out the provision.
The Governor was defending a high purpose well worth preserving.
It finds that the moral effect would be great and it would surrender the very symbol of the state's interest and stake in public education were the provision eliminated.
Although the Governor had backed the local option plan as an emergency safety valve, that is that local school districts, pursuant to local referndum, could close their public schools if conditions became "intolerable" with regard to court-ordered integration, he had never left any doubt as to where he stood on the basic question of preserving the state's public school system. He was speaking for most North Carolinians when he said that the state's public school system was the "pride and the prop of the state and it must be preserved if we want to continue to make progress." He had also said that the abolition of the public schools and their replacement to an uncertain extent by private ones would be a last-ditch and double-edged weapon, which if ever used, would result in appalling poverty and bitterness.
It believes that North Carolinians would never use such a last-ditch double-edged weapon or allow it to be used against them. The deletion of the constitutional provision for a general and uniform system of public schools would do violence to that concept and the best symbolic evidence of the people's love for their schools. The symbolic evidence was part of a deeply embedded tradition, which went beyond any question and above any circumstances. The people, it ventures, should not be asked to surrender it because of vague fears or fleeting emotions, not the way constitutions were written.
Morley had written: "A
principle, if it be sound, represents one of the larger
"Give the Economy Measure a Chance" indicates that defenders of the status quo were still grumbling but Mecklenburg County had finally gotten its purchasing agent the previous day and it was about time. The purchasing problem had long been too big and complicated to be handled by the chairman of the County Commission. Mecklenburg had grown too much for that position to handle it and needed services of an experienced full-time specialist who could organize county purchasing along the most efficient lines possible.
"Life in America" quotes a news item: "In Palm Springs, Calif., after Georgia Mae Love hit her husband on the nose with a claw hammer, stabbed him in the arm with a steak knife and tried to ram his truck with her Hillman Minx, police booked her for disturbing the peace, discovered a three-foot bullwhip in her brassiere."
The piece suggests that there was nothing worse than a grouchy woman.
"Log Jam on Catawba Will Get Worse" finds that with the economy improving and more enthusiasts enjoining every year, weekend boating was going to become a major headache. On the state's waterways in general and the Catawba River in particular, the era of a quiet cruise had long since ended. Local boats jammed the river far out of proportion to the number of waterfront cottages.
While the county had its one-boat navy, it was going to need an expanded program of protection, with perhaps an auxiliary force to be organized for patrolling during the weekend crush. The number of hot-rod types would increase as more boats appeared. The county ought consider, it urges, a program of education to inform the boating public of safety measures and simple courtesy. Leaflets passed by the patrol to individuals and to each docking facility would help.
It also finds that a juvenile program for young sailors to learn the rules would be beneficial. Weekend meetings with individuals furnishing their own craft would be a worthwhile project for a local civic or boating club.
A piece from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, titled "Dresses and Circus Posters", asks why a woman's dress was like a circus poster and says it was because they both could be protected by copyright. That was the gist, at least, of a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court had been considering whether the print on a woman's dress might be copyrighted and the law said that copyrights could be obtained for "works of art, models or designs for works of art" and for "prints and pictorial illustrations, including prints or labels used for articles of merchandise." The court had pointed out that the Supreme Court had ruled in an earlier case that the word "art" in the copyright act did not necessarily impute any idea of merit or high degree of appeal to the better educated classes. The nation's highest tribunal had said that circus posters were a proper subject for copyright.
Because of that decision, the District Court had concluded that the print on a woman's dress was as artistic as a circus poster and thus a fit subject for copyright. Under the ruling, a talented do-it-yourself woman could place a design of her own creation on a piece of material and have it copyrighted, make it into a dress and wear it without fear that she would encounter her double in some public place.
It suggests copyright protection also for the male, asking whether suede shoes and blue gabardine were works of art. "Certainly there are Christmas gift ties which match even the loudest circus posters."
It seems that at the recent State of
the Union address by El Presidente, one of the sycophants in the
chamber, on his way out, had him autograph his loud tie, which must
have been copyrighted because it was so tacky. Even El Presidente
only favors red ones, not printed up with portraiture of himself, at
least not yet. The night, however, is still young. Be careful,
therefore, of where you leave your tie clasps
Drew Pearson indicates that if Senator Warren Magnuson of Washington wanted to get the lowdown on Admiral Lewis Strauss, the Wall Street banker and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, now up for confirmation as Secretary of Commerce, he ought call Congressman Clarence Cannon of Missouri as a witness and subpoena the heavily censored report which Mr. Cannon had once prepared on Admiral Strauss but which had been largely killed at the insistence of Republicans.
The column had obtained a copy of the report and Senators who had to vote on whether the Admiral was qualified to serve as Secretary of Commerce ought read it. It had said: "The approach to the problem which is urged by Commissioners Strauss, Libby and Vance [of the AEC] constitutes nothing but defeat. Logically the vital question before America as a nation is, what are we accomplishing? The answer is inescapable that we are stagnating because of the dogmatic attitude of Chairman Strauss of the Atomic Energy Commission. [The President's] pledge to the world has been effectively thwarted by reason of a philosophy on the part of Mr. Strauss. Prior to the second advent of Mr. Strauss into official position as a member of the AEC, the commission remained singularly aloof from politics. Early in 1953, the President deemed it advisable to permit himself to be counseled by Mr. Strauss as a special advisor on atomic energy matters… Mr. Strauss set out to defeat the whole purpose of the Congress in entrusting this responsibility of sweeping magnitude to a five-man commission. The result has been a development which is contrary to the best interests of the United States."
The censored report had gone on to tell of how Admiral Strauss had worn two hats, one as chairman of the AEC and the other as an advisor to the President, and had thus become a one-man atomic dictator, completely contrary to the law passed by Congress placing atomic energy under five commissioners.
The report had said also that it was not surprising that the commissioners, who were incumbent when Mr. Strauss had assumed his duties as chairman, had not been reappointed.
He indicates that it was part of the suppressed report on the Admiral, who had finally retired as AEC chairman just as his term had expired because it was highly doubtful that the Senate would ever confirm him for a second term. Now he was seeking Senate confirmation to an even more important position as Secretary of Commerce.
Joseph Alsop indicates that public interest was involved with the illness of Secretary of State Dulles, given the stakes in foreign policy at the present time. The President had indicated that he intended to retain Mr. Dulles as Secretary until the latter insisted on resigning. The Secretary had offered his resignation but it was highly unlikely he would insist on it, given his sense of mission and his confidence, from past acts of courage, in his own power to recover through his unyielding will.
He finds that the questions were how long the situation would continue and what kind of situation it actually was. The consensus of specialists regarding the Secretary's cancer did not suggest reassuring answers. Although Mr. Dulles had tolerated the first treatment, the radiation therapy which was being used was almost always quite disabling, at least for awhile, and particularly in abdominal cases. As one specialist had said, "It's the kind of therapy I would never use in a normal case, although I might try it in the case with a very important man who positively demanded some sort of treatment."
He regards the best hope to be the unpredictability of the Secretary's disease, that there was always a chance that it would subside for awhile to allow him to lead an almost normal life for a further period of time of a few or many months. But the specialists had provided bad odds against the kind of remission necessary for that to take place. They indicated that the known symptoms, for instance the severe pain which the Secretary was known to have felt before his most recent journey overseas, had given only about one chance in ten and perhaps only one in twenty that the Secretary could ever again resume his normal public burden. Such appeared to be the realistic prognosis.
The firm policy of the Secretary at Berlin had always been coupled with the calculation of the risks based on the experience of the Quemoy crisis between Communist China and Formosa. Because of that crisis, the Secretary had always confidently predicted that the Soviets would not risk a major war for Berlin, provided the West would stand firm. Premier Nikita Khrushchev's last belligerent speech about Berlin had sent a shock of doubt about that calculation of risks through the whole group of American and Western officials who had much experience with the Soviets. Thus the risks needed to be recalculated.
If the risks were recalculated, certain new measures would be required, possibly including a partial mobilization and an air alert of the Strategic Air Command, presently exposed to a Pearl Harbor-type surprise attack, if the Defense Department had made even a small error in estimating Soviet missile capabilities. But it would be difficult to recalculate effectively the risks when final authority still resided with Mr. Dulles. Thus, the question arose as to how the President could be persuaded to order those highly repugnant and costly measures on the advice of lesser personnel in the State Department, and if Secretary Dulles could not see the need for such measures through the fog of his pain and illness.
He finds that the obvious solution had been suggested by the Genro, the group of men who had founded modern Japan and were still consulted at all times to influence policy deeply long after their retirement from active official responsibility. He indicates that the President had a duty to name a new Secretary with full responsibility without much more delay. At the same time, the President could make Mr. Dulles a one-man Genro. If the President and the new secretary were then to treat Mr. Dulles in that capacity, the great value of Secretary Dulles would not be lost, and meanwhile, the hand on the rudder would also have the final authority to negotiate the curves which might lie ahead.
Doris Fleeson indicates that a Democratic tabulation of the so-called a marginal House districts in 1958 had shown the scope of the Democratic sweep in the midterm elections. But it also advertised the fact that the Republicans had no place to go except up. Marginal districts were those won by 55 percent or less of the total vote. In 1958, there had been 104 such districts, compared to only 85 in 1952, 94 in 1954 and 89 in 1956.
The Democrats now realized that they were so deep in enemy territory in their victories that only historic Republican bastions, many of them fortified by gerrymander, were left to conquer. The main task in 1960 would be to hold onto what they had. Short of a complete Republican collapse, which was not now foreseen, the present House majority could be very little enlarged even with party unity and a strong candidate for the presidency on the Democratic ticket.
The possibilities open to Republicans who could get an attractive candidate and finance him were obvious. The picture was equally cheerful when they surveyed their own 60 marginal seats. Of that total, 40 had either never been held by a Democrat or had not been so captured since the historic FDR 46-state victory of 1936. Of the remaining 20, Democrats had held only 13 at any time since and including 1948. They had 17 in that group between 1946 and 1958. The prospect remained for Democratic control of the House in 1960.
The Senate picture was even plainer, statistically, with only a smashing reversal of the trend, plus deaths or retirements, able to provide the Republicans the majority in 1960.
But RNC chairman Meade Alcorn was demonstrably correct in arguing that good candidates could put the Republicans well along the road back.
A letter writer indicates that the State court reform bill was politically inspired, that it would further deny the rights of Republicans in the state and would place dangerous powers in the hands of the State Supreme Court. The statewide election of Supreme Court judges was designed, he suggests, to prevent the election of any Republican to those positions. He suggests that the concentration of all final power in the hands of the Supreme Court would create a dangerous monster and that legislators, most of whom were attorneys, might be reluctant to challenge the court if it should step out of line. He wants the legislators to look at Washington and consider the fix the country would be in were the U.S. Supreme Court to have the powers which were now being proposed for the North Carolina Supreme Court.
A letter writer from Chapel Hill indicates that he was glad that Charlotte had purchased land for the greater development of its community college, Charlotte College. He was aware that Carver College, for black students, was also slated for expansion. He suggests merging both of the institutions into one large college. He indicates that everyone knew that segregation was doomed and it was highly probable that if the two separate schools were built, regardless of the fact that they were both equal, some black students would want to enroll in Charlotte College because the student might live closer to it or because he felt he could get a better education there. He thinks it time to eliminate unnecessary waste of money, especially on institutions of higher learning, that if consolidated, the funding from the state and the county would go much further.
A letter writer from Syracuse, N.Y., indicates that in the struggle against the spread of communism, other countries throughout the world turned to the U.S. for leadership and guidance, and she believes that as president of the National Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr. Edwin Dahlberg's attitude of appeasement toward Russia and Communists was doing harm to the cause of freedom. She believes that he was not representative of the majority of American Protestants in his views as a pacifist. "We should never take our freedom for granted, and eternal vigilance is the price of freedom."
A letter writer indicates that it appeared that many people in Charlotte wanted a lot of improvements but failed to see that they would be costly. The voters had voted for bonds on which the public paid taxes, the City Council spent the money and the public enjoyed the improvements, with some exceptions. Charlotte was five times the size and population that it had been in 1915 and so, he suggests, somebody must have done a good job.
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