Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in Indonesia, Cherebon had been captured by the Dutch in a tank attack, but an attack on the capital at Jogjakarta, according to the Indonesians, had been repulsed and the Republicans were advancing on Semarang. The Dutch claimed that Malang had been captured. The Indonesians also claimed to have captured Modjokerto, in an apparent attempt to harass the Dutch forces advancing on Malang, an Indonesian stronghold. The Indonesians claimed that the advance on Malang had been stopped, at least temporarily, as the scorched earth policy was working well. The Dutch also claimed to have overrun the richest rice supply on Java, taking the province of Bondowoso. They denied reports that the Indonesians had recaptured Salatiga. The Dutch commanding general said that the Indonesians were mostly running.

Prior to the start of fighting the previous Sunday, the Republicans controlled most of Java, Sumatra, and Madoera. The Dutch commanding general said that he had orders to conduct a limited operation and did not intend to occupy all of the Republican-controlled areas.

Secretary of State Marshall was contemplating the course of action to take on the Japanese peace treaty conference in light of the Russian note rejecting an eleven-nation Far East Commission meeting and accepting only a meeting of the Big Four. The State Department was said to be considering acceptance of a limited four-nation preliminary meeting with the Russians to discuss why the State Department wanted an eleven-nation conference. The Russians appeared to be amenable to such a preliminary meeting. The piece states that France would be one of the four nations at such a preliminary meeting, but, according to a report of the previous day, the Russians had included China as the fourth nation acceptable for the treaty conference.

The Atomic Energy Commission delivered a message to Congress that further experiments were being undertaken in atomic weaponry in the Pacific because no agreement had been reached on limitation of atomic weapons. Top Army and Navy officers who had expertise in atomic weapons headed a joint military agency to develop all types of atomic weapons.

The Congress agreed to adjourn the 1947 session on Saturday, subject to call of a special session in the fall by Congressional leaders or the President. There were no plans to proceed with the displaced persons bill, the long-term housing bill, universal military training, the increase of the minimum wage, the abolition of the poll tax passed by the House, or other measures considered controversial.

A defendant in a court martial, Harold Hirshberg, charged with mistreating fellow prisoners while captive of the Japanese in the Philippines during the war, had, according to his counsel, received a death threat, aimed at the defendant, his counsel, and his family. The threat contained anti-Semitic and anti-Irish obscenities.

The trial was in its third day. The former Navy signalman, section head in the prison camp, allegedly had informed repeatedly on his fellow prisoners, resulting in beatings by the Japanese. He also allegedly struck some of the prisoners, himself.

Martha Azer of The News reports of a talk in Charlotte at the Kiwanis Club by Dr. Theodore R. Jackman, minister and director of the Palestine Research Institute, in which he stated that there were no Jews in Palestine illegally or trying to enter the country illegally, but rather that the British were operating in direct contravention of international law. He said that he did not believe that there were any terrorists in Palestine. The small number of Jews in the underground who were causing violence were acting in desperation, fighting for the same ideals for which Americans fought in the Revolution. Instead of referring to them as terrorists, he believed they ought be called patriots. He predicted that unless the U.S. took steps to correct the situation in Palestine, the world might have to fight the Crusades all over again.

Interior Secretary J. A. Krug, in an informal meeting with Senators Homer Ferguson of Michigan and Owen Brewster of Maine, had informed that, from what he had understood through hearsay, Henry Kaiser had put "the heat of hell on everybody in Washington" to obtain a war contract to build, along with Howard Hughes, that which became known as the "Spruce Goose". Mr. Krug stated, however, that the contract was let before he became a member of the War Production Board and so he had no direct knowledge of the matter. The Ferguson committee was investigating the contract and any possible connection with Elliott Roosevelt.

The President told a press conference that he was still considering whether to take action on the extension of consumer credit controls in light of the failure by Congress to extend the controls. He did not say what form the action might take, whether he might extend the wartime controls himself or abolish them. He had already stated to Congress that he would take action should the Congress not extend them.

The Soap Box Derby was taking place in Charlotte this date, with at least three streamlined entries as pictured on the page, leaders in the trials. These boys had aerodynamics going for them, probably indicative of use of either the fiberglass or the airplane dope to fill the cracks in the planks. For if they were using plywood, when building materials were scarce, a Congressional investigation might have to take place as to how they came to have this plywood when veterans were unable to have decent housing.

A scandal may be in the offing involving the boys, unless they can prove that they used materials not necessary to the housing industry, i.e., scraps. For with over 200 cars entered in the race, one has to believe that with that much wood being consumed, a whole house might have been built otherwise.

Hey, what gives?

Where is HUAC when you need them to investigate some potentially genuine un-American activity?

On the editorial page, "Communists and a Third Party" tells of the Communists supporting a third party movement headed by Henry Wallace though they knew that he had no chance to win. The ultimate reason for the support was in the hope that the Democrats would lose in 1948. GOP control of the country, the Communists believed, would be the surest method of insuring economic collapse in the country, thus opening the way for a Communist revolution.

"It's Soap Box Derby Day Again" tells of the excitement surrounding the Soap Box Derby race to be held this date in Charlotte, with the winner representing the city in Akron in the national competition. The News was one of the chief sponsors of the event. More than 200 entrants had registered for the race. It congratulates them all for good sportsmanship.

"There's Something about a Soldier..." tells of Lt. Col. John Corbin of the Marines writing in the July edition of The Marine Corps Gazette , in an article titled "The Thin Line of Tradition", that it was the fault of the Marines that the new military merger might render them extinct. They had begun, he said, to act as common soldiers, as Army regulars. The old salt language had given way to standard military lingo, such as "yes, sir" for "aye, aye, sir". Worst of all, Col. Corbin had heard Marines referring to themselves as "G.I.'s".

It concludes: "Strike the colors! Sound taps! The Marines have landed, but the Army has the situation under control."

A piece from the Louisville Courier-Journal, titled "Practical Labor Politics", tells of Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen president A. F. Whitney having changed his position on the President and now offering his full support for him in 1948 because of his veto of Taft-Hartley. In May, 1946, Mr. Whitney vowed to undertake efforts to defeat the President for what Mr. Whitney perceived as coercive strike-breaking tactics, urging the Congress at the time to pass legislation to make it a crime to strike against the Government and to permit drafting of labor. But Taft-Hartley had now become the galvanizing issue for labor in the coming election. And the President, right or wrong, had taken the side which labor approved, diluting any support for a third party effort.

Drew Pearson tells again of House Ways and Means chairman Harold Knutson of Minnesota having appointed, without consultation with the committee members, a tax advisory board comprised of Wall Street lobbyists. Recently, he had apologized to committee members and acknowledged that he exceeded his authority in doing so. The committee, despite criticism of his action, voted 18-4 to underwrite it. Mr. Pearson provides a list of some of the members of the board.

Marquis Childs finds it unlikely that the 80th Congress would pass legislation, as urged by the President, to admit 400,000 displaced persons of Europe during a four-year period. And if it did not so act, the omission would likely stand as the worst sin of the first session of the 80th Congress. It would send a signal that America was no longer a refuge for the persecuted and oppressed peoples of the world, as it had been in the past.

Joseph & Stewart Alsop discuss the Administration's timetable for presenting the Marshall Plan to Congress. By October 1, Secretary of Commerce Averell Harriman would prepare a balance sheet showing America's ability to afford the aid. By that point, it was hoped that the European nations would have prepared a report of their needs. After that time, it was assumed that the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees would begin holding hearings on the Plan so that by early January when the new session would begin, debate could start immediately in both chambers on the bill.

A letter writer who, in a previous letter, had offered $100 to anyone who showed where in the Bible God had ever given anyone an immortal soul, not just promised same, responds to his responses, saying that no one had yet earned the $100. He says he had written numerous letters to the editor and none had ever stirred so much response. He figures that he had hit at the very foundations of false doctrines.

Someone may hit you at your foundations of false doctrine unless you pay up, smart guy. We still await our $100.

A letter from the woman who had cited John 3:16 and Hebrews as passages promising an immortal soul, apologizes for misunderstanding the challenge, as clarified in the follow-up letter from the man. She says that the hour was coming, according to Scripture, in which man would be given the immortal soul for believing in Jesus.

She also states that she had not damned those teachers of theology who drank and smoked, as one writer had suggested. She merely contends that they should not do so. She cites Philippians 4:8 as opposition to smoking.

We cite to the Surgeon General's Report of 1964 and the various health authorities during the course of fifty years since. Smoking is a form of slow suicide, as is drinking.

But it's your life—and death.

A letter from a minister responds to both of the letter writers. He says that man was not given a soul but is a soul. He agrees that there was nothing in the Bible which said that the soul was immortal. But Christ made the promise that he would raise the dead when he returned.

Framed Edition

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