The Charlotte News
Wednesday, March 20, 1946
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Iranian complaint to the U.N. Security Council regarding continued presence of Soviet troops in Northern Iran past the March 2 deadline set by the 1942 treaty between Russia, Iran, and Britain, had not caused any change in the situation. It appeared clear that the necessary seven of eleven votes of the Council were available in support of consideration of the matter. In addition to presence of the troops, Iran complained of Soviet interference in Iranian internal affairs. The Government asserted that the U.N. Charter and Tehran agreement of December, 1943 were also being violated.
In ostensibly an unrelated matter, Iran's military reported that three Iranian garrisons near the Iraq border were engaged in fighting some 3,000 Kurdish tribesmen from Iran and Iraq on the Azerbaijan-Kurdistan border. The fighting had been ongoing for a week.
The Supreme Soviet elected Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik, 58, to be the new chairman of the Presidium, replacing Mikhail Kalinin, 71, who had held the post for 27 years. Shvernik had been vice-chairman since 1944. Josef Stalin was re-elected Chairman of the Council of Ministers by unanimous vote. Moscow radio indicated that he would henceforth be called "Prime Minister". Stalin had held the post since May, 1941.
Senator Claude Pepper of Florida spoke on the Senate floor, proposing a Big Three conference to resolve differences which had arisen and that the United States destroy all of its nuclear weapons and facilities capable of producing any destructive form of nuclear power. He also proposed that all atomic secrets be shared with Russia. He urged that hopes for peace were being undermined by desperate so-called defensive measures and counter-measures. Given the sphere of influence held by the U.S. and Great Britain, he asseverated, it was no wonder that Russia felt compelled to defend itself, especially given its war experience, far more horrific than anything suffered by either Britain or the United States. He also indicated his opposition to a British-U.S. alliance as proposed by Winston Churchill.
A Tokyo newspaper reported that 20,000 Japanese soldiers continued in hiding in the Pacific islands, not realizing that the war was over. Most were in the Solomons, New Guinea, Guadalcanal and in the Philippines
At Nuremberg, Hermann Goering continued testifying under cross-examination by lead U.S. prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson, admitting that he had signed numerous anti-Jewish decrees, but also insisting that Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Julius Streicher, gauleiter for Nuremberg, had been more assiduous in their dedication to anti-Semitic policies. He stated that Reinhard Heydrich, fatally shot in Prague by the underground in May, 1942, took his orders from Himmler. Justice Jackson objected
Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith was confirmed by the Senate as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, replacing Averell Harriman.
G.M. plants remained idle for the 120th consecutive day, despite ratification of the terms of agreement by the national UAW. Many locals had yet to register their assent and G.M. refused to reopen any of its plants until the UAW agreed that all of them could open.
As the slaughter rate in meatpacking plants in Kansas City dropped to 10 percent of normal, OPA began investigating to determine the reasons for the meat shortage. Packing company officials stated that the reasons were price ceilings and the black market, threatening to cut off the supply of meat indefinitely.
Hal Boyle reports again from Cairo of certain Egyptian oddities, such as the lack of even royal assurance of finding a good apartment in the city, as King Zog of Albania and his queen had discovered, forced to reside in a hotel.
Egyptian babies rode side-saddle
Moslem women wore their compulsory veils and black dresses, making whole streets appear as in mourning.
Crockery was scarce. Water was often served in cut-down beer bottles, the edges of which could slice one's lip if not careful.
Cairo was a modern city while villages within a day's drive lived as they had ten centuries earlier. In one tribe, boys were taken from their mothers at age four and never saw them again.
Women were secluded in their homes without male servants and had no company of women except members of their household. Not even male relatives were allowed to see married women.
Three day weekends were the norm because of Fridays being sacred to Moslems, Saturdays to Jews, and Sundays to Christians. Barbers took off Mondays.
When hailing a taxi, unsolicited helpers began running up and down the street to accelerate the process and when one finally drove up, it was expected that the passenger would provide a tip for the service.
Most people hired for services were never satisfied with customary fees and tips and usually asked for more. The only exception found by Mr. Boyle was an extremely religious Moslem guide who told him that his good name was better than money.
"All the time shine like full moon," he declared. Mr. Boyle concludes that this guide must have been very lonely in Egypt.
A photograph shows three young women in shorts escorting baby tigers down Flagler Street in Miami. What can we say? Id est
OPA probably should take advantage of Congressman Wolcott's expertise in the matter and inquire as to the quality of the material and how much the young ladies paid for those shorts, whether a new hike was necessary.
On the editorial page, "Pity the Homeless Progressives" finds the decision by the Progressive Party of Wisconsin to return to the Republican camp after twelve years of independence to be a sign of the national trend. They had departed in 1934 because of the advent of the New Deal and its political vibrancy, ringing true to the will of the people. Wisconsin had not voted Democratic since 1892 and so simply switching parties was not a viable option.
It suggested that the New Deal was dead politically despite the Truman Administration giving lip service to it. Senator Robert La Follette realized that the Democratic Party was now "stalled on dead center", as he recently described it. The pressure from the left nullified the pressure from the right, with the result being inaction or reaction.
Yet, the Republicans stood only for opposition to the Democrats, just as they had in 1934. Now, they were seeking to dismantle the New Deal and return to the land predominating while the GOP was in power in the Twenties, a land which had vanished forever.
The Progressives were faced with the decision of continuing to vote with a party which was disintegrating and losing its old vision or to rejoin a party which had never had a vision.
"It was an obvious act of political wisdom, and a fairly simple task to pick the winner in the national elections of 1948."
While it misses the mark on 1948, it should not be forgotten that Wisconsin placed in the Senate the coming November Joseph McCarthy, who defeated Senator La Follette, and, in that respect, indeed, the change in the Progressives did signal a departure of the Wisconsin electoral majority not only from New Deal trends, but from all reality itself, a road on which the nation would arguably travel, with some, albeit greatly troubled, interruption during the Kennedy-Johnson Administrations, for the next 28 troubling years.
"The Commission Wasn't Set Back" applauds the City Planning Commission for taking a firm stand on a rigid setback scheme for the city, mandating that no buildings be built closer than 25 feet to the center of downtown streets. If implemented, even if 30 years late, the change would provide for future widening of streets to accommodate increased traffic.
"The Glass House We Live In" tells of it becoming routine for visiting judges in Mecklenburg to remark on the crime rate of the county evident from the criminal docket. Judge Luther Hamilton had remarked that especially the homicide rate was in stark contrast to the religiosity otherwise demonstrated in the community.
No one rose from the community to protest the remarks, despite them being printed in the newspapers. The piece wonders whether the community therefore was becoming perversely proud of its lawless reputation and uncaring of what its neighbors perceived. Such an attitude made reform of the causes for the high crime rate impossible.
A piece from the Louisville Courier-Journal, titled "In the Course of Reaction", finds it understandable that DNC chairman Robert Hannegan was out to stamp the coalition of Southern Democrats with Republicans to be a politically illicit relationship. The Southerners were using the coalition to try to block price controls on cotton and to seek a lower minimum wage than the proposed 65 cents. There appeared no principle involved in the coalition, simply an attempt to gain political control on issues which were contrary to the Democratic Party as a whole.
Drew Pearson reports that former Congressman Joseph Casey of Massachusetts, now a TWA executive, had visited Ireland recently to attend memorial services for Cardinal John Glennon of St. Louis, and had met in the process with Prime Minister Eamon De Valera and President Sean O'Kelly of Eire, primarily to discuss the loan to Great Britain which Mr. Casey opposed. He found the two Irish leaders, however, to support the loan because it would encourage continued trade with Britain, its chief trading partner. Ireland, Mr. Pearson notes, shipped large quantities of eggs, butter, ham and other farm products, plus linen to Britain.
He next tells of several Democratic leaders being upset at being charged the usual $100 per head for the Jackson Day Dinner in Washington. The previous year the dinner had been canceled because of the death of President Roosevelt but many members of Congress had already submitted their fees, which were never refunded. They believed the previous year's tickets ought apply to the current year. The DNC had refused the request.
Mr. Pearson next informs of new OPA director Paul Porter having been surprised by tough questioning from liberal Congressmen recently regarding the policy of granting new price ceiling hikes to Ford, Chrysler, and Hudson. The adjustment was based primarily on the pay increases to labor. But the Congressmen asserted that past profits of the automakers were not being properly considered and that granting the hikes would encourage other sectors of the economy, such as farmers, to feel slighted without similar hikes. They also found it suspicious that the new policy came two days after settlement of the G.M. strike, suggesting that G.M., which could also apply for the hikes, waited until being assured of higher prices to settle the dispute.
Marquis Childs reports that the declaration of Prime Minister Clement Attlee to Commons granting independence to India had come just in time, as revolution appeared imminent. But independence would not resolve the problems of the country as starvation was a major issue yet to be solved. Famine would provide political extremists with an opportunity to stir passions toward such alternatives to democracy as communism. To prevent such widespread famine, grain had to be provided through the United States, and within the ensuing three months.
Indian leaders believed the food shortage in India, always a food importer, was the result of the war, food having been shipped to the Middle East in 1942 to prevent loss of the war, and soldiers in India during the war having consumed great quantities of food in the country.
Mr. Childs tells of Winston Churchill's account contained in My Early Years, the first volume of what would become his multi-volume autobiography, regarding his visit to India in his youth and how that account varied remarkably from the India encountered in 1946. The earlier incarnation had been the India of Kipling, a colonial state. Now, it was becoming an independent sovereignty, and the manner in which that transition would occur would affect whether India would be a willing partner in future world cooperation.
Samuel Grafton tells of how Congress was slowly sucking the life out of OPA by delaying a determination of the length of extension of its existence beyond June 30. Officials at OPA were resigning, fearing that they would soon lose their jobs to obsolescence. It was a way of getting rid of the agency without having to take political responsibility for the action and thereby incur the wrath of the American people who understood the need for the agency to keep inflation down.
Another method of limiting its power was through amendments being proposed, such as one whereby controls of prices would be lifted on any industry which was found to reach 75 percent of 1939 production levels. While sounding good, pent-up demand from the war was such that 75 percent of former production would likely only meet about a quarter of current demand. Thus, such a recipe ultimately would likely lead to inflation.
A letter writer asks that a two-year old letter he had sent to another newspaper which did not publish it be published now in The News. He thinks America should not be suckered into playing second fiddle
A letter from the president of the Panhellenic Committee informs that March 25 was Greek Independence Day, the modern Greek state having been founded on that date in 1821. He states that Greece had fought the good fight in 1940-41 against the Axis, delaying the invasion of Russia and saving the Middle East for the Allies. Greece, he believes, thus had a right to have its demands met at the forthcoming peace conference. The Dodecanese Islands, Northern Epirus, and Cyprus, lay outside Greece but were "awaiting to be incorporated within the fold of their mother country."
A letter writer recommends to the author of an article which had wondered why veterans were so bitter the reading of Willard Waller's "Why Veterans Are Bitter" and President Roosevelt's prayer at the time war was declared
Herblock...
The "Side Glances" of September 29, 1945 is now here
And we wish the University of North Carolina basketball team well in the N.C.A.A. quarterfinals game, set to be played tomorrow in New York's Madison Square Garden. We predict that they will win the game against N.Y.U. and face as their second round opponent Ohio State who will beat Harvard. Place your money on them to go all the way to the finals and face Oklahoma A & M next Tuesday who will beat California in the second round after taking care of Baylor in Kansas City. We can instruct you well on how to fill out your brackets. You won't regret it. We have an inside track on this one. Trust us.
Kentucky, by the way, will win the N.I.T.
Framed Edition
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