The Charlotte News

Thursday, July 4, 1946

NO EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the Senate had worked on July Fourth to fashion a new OPA extension bill which was expected to pass to the floor the following day. It varied only slightly from the bill which the President had vetoed but leaders of both parties voiced confidence that it would be signed this time. The problematic Taft amendment, providing for cost-plus pricing to manufacturers under a complex formula, was being modified by a proposal of Majority Leader Alben Barkley. The Wherry amendment, providing for January 1, 1946 costs to be included in price ceilings, extending vertically down to retailers, was also undergoing modification.

President Truman signed the Hobbs anti-racketeering law, despite heavy opposition from organized labor. Many legislators said that the action would help restore friendly relations between Congress and the White House following the veto of the Case bill in June. The Hobbs bill had been embodied in the Case bill. The bill made it a felony to interfere with the movement of goods in interstate commerce by means of robbery, extortion, or threats of violence.

The British Army stated that 50 of the 2,718 arrested Jews in Palestine during the week had been released and more would follow. Irgun Zvai Leumi, the Jewish underground organization, indicated that it would release the three kidnaped British officers as soon as possible in return for the commutation of the death sentences of the two Jewish youths originally condemned to death for firing on British soldiers. The commutation had been issued by the British the previous day.

Following 48 years under the American flag, save for the three years under Japanese occupation, the Philippines raised its own flag this date in a ceremony marking its independence from the United States. The Philippines had been acquired out of the Spanish-American War in 1898. The Independence Act to provide for its sovereignty had been passed in 1934.

Al Valencia of the Associated Press, born in the Philippines, states in a first-person piece that the flag was lowered amid mixed feelings, many Filipinos being sad to see the Americans go. He states that if he could speak for all 18 million Filipinos, it would be to say that they would never forget the American good will and support through the war.

In Paris, the four-power conference of foreign ministers reached agreement to internationalize Trieste, to be protected by the U.N. It also settled the issue of Italian colonies whereby Italy renounced all claim on them and that their present administration would remain unchanged for a year during which time a final solution would be determined as to their disposition.

Correspondent Don Whitehead reports from Bikini that, according to a radiological safety officer, all 73 ships in the Able test would have been disabled by the blast and resultant radiation. Illness from radiation would have prevented the crew not killed by the blast from continuing to perform their duties. Ninety percent of the test animals survived the blast, but many had begun to show signs of radiation sickness afterward. Close inspection of the target ship Nevada showed that its boilers had been split open and it probably would therefore have been disabled. The Arkansas and Pensacola had similar damage.

Vice Admiral Blandy stated that every ship damaged could be repaired within two to nine months, as none had suffered severe underwater damage. He said that the damage was not as efficient as the bomb dropped over Nagasaki, though similar to Fat Man, the plutonium fission bomb dropped on August 9, 1945.

In Chicago, it was reported that William Heirens remained in custody under high bond for burglary and assault charges, pending his being charged for the kidnap-murder of Suzanne Degnans on January 7. Police had matched his palm print, in addition to his fingerprint already matched, to that of prints on the ransom note.

In Redding, California, Sonny Wisecarver, the 16-year old who had eloped earlier in the year with a 24-year old, had escaped, along with four others, from the California Youth Authority Camp at Whitmore. The five headed into brush country. Sonny had been committed to CYA because the elopement was his second such affair, the first having been in 1944 when he eloped at age 14 with a 22-year old. A camp official said that Ellsworth had been a good boy who had worked hard and gave no trouble.

If you have a 22 to 24-year old female in the house, be on the lookout for Ellsworth and his compadres, or their doppelgangers.

On the editorial page, a Charlotte landlady tells of her feelings on the temporary cessation of rent control in a letter to the editor.

But unfortunately that and the remainder of the editorial page is not available.

Have a safe Fourth of July.

Framed Edition
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