The Charlotte News
Tuesday, November 23, 1948
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the U.S. reaffirmed its stance that it would do all it could to effect resolution of the Berlin crisis through the Security Council. The statement came in response to a report that the U.S. had stated that it saw no basis for resolution.
The U.S. Army announced in Frankfurt, Germany, that, with the arrest on November 8 of twenty persons, it had smashed a Czech spy ring which had been obtaining information from U.S. soldiers. They had been operating in the U.S. zone of Germany for Czech intelligence. The Army would not disclose the type of information which the spy ring had sought.
The President appointed Dr. Edwin Nourse, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, to be his chief planner for the anti-inflation program of the Administration.
CIO president Philip Murray gave a speech to the labor organization's convention which struck at the Communists within the labor movement, causing supporters of the Communist cause to fight back, though hooted down by Walter Reuther and James Carey.
In London, King George VI was reported to be suffering from an arterial ailment, causing cancellation of all of his public engagements for the ensuing six months. He suffered from a blockage of circulation in the legs, which had recently become acute. It was denied that it involved a blood clot. The King, 52, would live for another three years, until February, 1952, following removal of his left lung four months earlier.
In Durham, B. S. Drane, 67, widely known hydraulic and civil engineer, State Geologist and director of the North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey during the Administration of Governor Cam Morrison in 1921-25, died after a long illness.
In Charlotte, a 22-year old Navy sailor, who was arrested for the shooting murder of one man and wounding another, said that he thought he had killed his estranged wife rather than her brother during a drunken jealous rage the previous night. He also wounded his father-in-law. He admitted that he had been drinking about half a pint of whiskey prior to leaving his mother's home in Wilkesboro. He said that he had found a letter from a Charlotte boy written to his wife, and vowed to get both of them for adultery. His separated wife said that he had always threatened her during their marriage.
In Glidden, Wis., singer Bobby Breen had been found after his disappearance in a single-engine plane during the weekend. The Sheriff described it as a publicity stunt, but Mr. Breen said that there was nothing "fishy" going on, that the plane had run out of gas and his pilot had been able to land it safely, both then coming to town Sunday night. He and the pilot were located the previous night at a hotel in Glidden, after Mr. Breen registered under the name "Benedict". An extensive search for the missing pair, involving hundreds of men, had been launched during the weekend and the Sheriff was displeased. Both Mr. Breen and the pilot claimed not to have been aware of the search for them.
On the editorial page, "Zoning Law Must Be Maintained" tells of a man having leased a residence for the purpose of opening a fashionable restaurant on the site, obtaining a business license for the establishment, and receiving approval for it by the City Health Department. But then the City stepped in and sought and obtained a temporary injunction against the owner based on the zoning ordinance not permitting such a business in a zoned residential area.
The City had a good point in that the ordinance would become meaningless if exceptions were made. The owner had a point in that he had obtained the license from the City and had his inspections from the Health Department. But the City said that the license was premised on following the law, including zoning ordinances.
The City was now going to have applicants for business licenses certify that they were familiar with the zoning ordinance and that their proposed business complied with it.
"Christmas Present for
Humanity" informs that the tuberculosis rate in the country had
been cut 80 percent since 1904, but that the effort had to continue
to eradicate the disease completely. The 42nd annual Christmas Seal
drive was getting underway to sustain that effort, and it urges
buying and using the seals on packages and letters during the holiday
season to remind of the task
"The Kitty Hawk Comes Home" tells of the Wright flier, which first flew at Kitty Hawk, N.C., in December, 1903, coming home the following month to rest in the Smithsonian in Washington. It had been in a museum in England after Orville Wright had shipped it there in protest of the Smithsonian having given credit to Samuel Langley for the first manned flight in a lighter-than-air craft. The Smithsonian had corrected its error and Mr. Wright, before his death the previous year, had given permission for its return to the Institution.
The editorial finds that it was as it should be.
A piece from the Louisville Courier-Journal, titled "Wartime Tragedies Viewed in Hindsight", tells of Admiral Ernest King having come to believe that he was too hard on Admirals Husband Kimmel and Harold Stark for their conduct of operations at Pearl Harbor in advance of the Japanese attack, that their sins were of omission, not commission, the same sins as the mass of the American public in 1941. Admiral King also paid tribute to Admiral Stark's good record in the European theater during the remainder of the war.
Perhaps in time, the piece suggests, the problems at Pearl Harbor would be chiefly attributed to the lack of unification of authority in the armed forces.
That lack had opened the rivalry between Marine General Holland Smith and Army General Ralph Smith, regarding the reasons for the heavy losses on Saipan during the war, General Holland Smith claiming that he had to relieve General Ralph Smith of his command because the latter's division had failed to advance as swiftly as the two flanking Marine divisions. It appeared as a correct strategic decision. But because the Marines had stepped on the toes of the Army in the process, Army hearings into the matter had been called to prove that the decision was improper and, according General Holland Smith, that no Marine was fit for command.
The piece expresses the hope that it would be the last time there would be evidenced branch rivalry as a basis for military argument.
Sumner Welles, former Undersecretary of State until August, 1943, discusses Latin American relations with the U.S., under strain after abandonment since the war by the U.S. of the principles of the Good Neighbor Policy established under FDR. The policy had been premised on higher living standards bringing social progress and political stability, making democracy thrive better in the process.
But when James Byrnes had become Secretary of State in mid-1945, the former pledge of non-intervention in Latin America was broken by interference in Argentina's internal problems. Financial cooperation with Latin America was ended and the countries were ignored in the formation of ERP, with no effort made to help Latin America obtain assistance from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The result had been financial depression, inflation, and high unemployment, fueling incendiary revolts in Colombia, Costa Rica and otherwise in Central America, abortive revolts in Panama, Paraguay and Bolivia, a continuing revolt in Chile, and the installation after a revolution of a military dictatorship in Peru.
Communist agents were apparently busy in Latin America and were having success because of the poor economic conditions.
The new Congress might effect a return to better Latin American relations as Senator Tom Connally, a supporter of the Good Neighbor Policy, would head the Foreign Relations Committee. His predecessor as chairman, Senator Arthur Vandenberg, had also been a supporter of the policy. And many of the other committee chairs in the new Congress would be filled with men who recognized the need for return to the policy.
He warns that unless the President saw to it that the State Department act promptly, there would be developments in Latin America more grave than those which had already taken place.
Drew Pearson tells of Hitler's marching into the Ruhr in March, 1936, taking over its coke, coal, iron, steel, and chemicals industries, enabling Germany then to forge its military machine. That history was the reason for France's concern over the American and British plan to give the Ruhr back to Germany rather than internationalizing it, as favored by France. General De Gaulle had even threatened to refuse Marshall Plan aid if the plan went forward. The French perceived the move as a turning point toward another war, as control of the Ruhr meant control of Europe.
The men who had been responsible for extending loans to Germany in the thirties which enabled it to build its military apparatus were now in charge of U.S. foreign policy. They included James Forrestal, as a former partner in the Wall Street firm Dillon, Read, ERP Ambassador Averell Harriman, a partner in Brown Brothers, Harriman, John Foster Dulles, delegate to the U.N., who advocated loans in the late thirties to Germany and advised Americans to invest in German bonds, even after it became apparent that they were worthless, and Undersecretary of State Robert Lovett, another partner in the Harriman firm. These were the same men now advocating giving the Ruhr back to Germany.
The French believed that having been wrong once in their judgment, these men could make the same mistake again.
Some in Washington were advising that the Ruhr be managed by neutral cooperatives from Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium, countries which were so small that they knew that if war would come, they would lose, thus would be objective in their administration.
Mr. Pearson warns that unless such a cooperative plan were implemented, then later, the U.S. might have to face the prospect of fighting to regain the Ruhr from "Russian-Nazi" cartels.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop discuss the President's intent, stated to Vice-President-elect Barkley and new House Speaker Sam Rayburn, to work hard and long to assure that his domestic program, a so-called second New Deal, would be passed in the new Congress.
He appeared to have delayed until after the holidays the painful decision of how to staff the new Administration with personnel who would command public confidence, and do away with the perception of cronyism within the White House.
The President apparently had determined that if Secretary of State Marshall had to leave the post, then Chief Justice Fred Vinson would be the best replacement. But after Chief Justice Vinson had reportedly expressed reluctance to leave the Court, the President redoubled his efforts to try to convince Secretary Marshall to stay.
The President had already told his two cronies in the Cabinet, Attorney General Tom Clark and Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snyder, that he wanted them to remain. But if the President desired to establish a New Deal-type atmosphere in the new Administration, the presence of conservative Mr. Clark and Mr. Snyder would not lend to it. Neither would the President's friend, Governor Mon Wallgren of Washington, who was slated to join the Cabinet.
Louis Johnson was being touted as the replacement for Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Mr. Johnson's primary claim to the position was his role as chief money-raiser for the Democrats during the campaign. Though in fact an able man, his background suggested that he would not inspire the public confidence which was needed for the position.
Such factors led political observers to wonder whether the President would change his Cabinet so drastically after all.
James Marlow discusses the situation in China and the options for America to stave off Communism, potentially overtaking all of Asia except Japan should China fall. The U.S. could put in an army, but that might trigger war with Russia, which was not providing much direct aid to the Chinese Communists. And such would dilute needed manpower in Europe. It could give more military and general aid to China than the 125 million in military aid and 375 million in other aid presently being given, but the amount provided had not produced good results and so it was questionable whether more aid would effect any better result. Moreover, with the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine, to extend more aid to China would risk dragging the country down financially. The U.S. could pull out entirely from China, insuring its downfall sooner to the Communists.
The choice was one of Hobson and the future in Asia for democracy, he opines, looked bleak.
The Jackson (Miss.) Daily News takes great offense at an anonymous letter from a reader who "bitterly assailed" everyone who had voted for the Dixiecrat ticket of Strom Thurmond and Fielding Wright.
Before tossing it in the wastebasket, it says: "Only a person headed straight for hell who has the mind of a mudcat, the heart of a hyena, the conscience of a coyote and the smell of a polecat could have penned such a diatribe."
We think we know who it was.
The Cheerful Cherub of the Pennington Gap (Va.) Powell Valley News strikes again with a verse, titled "Confidence":
Herblock explains the purpose of the intruder at Jack Wood, Ltd., in Charlotte on Sunday night.
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