The Charlotte News
Tuesday, January 11, 1949
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in China, official sources stated that the Chinese Communists had taken Tientsin or that terms of surrender of the city had been established. Communist forces were reported mopping up trapped Government armies on the northern approaches to Nanking, with the heaviest fighting of the war being reported by Government airmen. Most of the Government had fled Nanking, moving south, and only a symbolic operation remained in the capital, with fewer than half of Government workers still present. Many Government officials had taken refuge on the big island of Formosa or Taiwan, with as many as 50,000 Chinese per week arriving. Many predicted that Chiang Kai-Shek would turn the island into a fortress for the Government. Whole factories were being transferred to Formosa.
Israel placed blame for its shooting down of five RAF planes the previous Friday on British authorities who had ordered the mission which the Israelis claimed extended over Israeli territory near the border with Egypt. Britain, which claimed the incident took place over Egypt, protested to Israel but decided not to take the matter up with the U.N., as originally announced.
The U.S. anticipated replacing its manganese trade with Russia, reported to be preparing to reduce the export, with manganese from South Africa. Manganese was used to strengthen high grade steel for artillery shells and other equipment.
The President's budget cap on the Air Force which would limit it to 48 groups raised anger among Congressional Republicans and some Democrats, who had authorized increase in the size from 55 to 70 groups in the previous Congress. The President believed that the number and size of the planes were better indicators of air strength than the number of combat groups.
More Congressional reaction is reported regarding the President's proposed four billion dollar tax increase on corporate and high and middle income taxpayers. House Ways & Means Committee chairman Robert Doughton did not comment but said that some tax hike was probable.
Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, after meeting with the President, said that he would submit his resignation shortly as a matter of routine but that he did not anticipate that it would be accepted and that he wanted to remain in the post.
It was believed that 4.5 million dollars would be needed to eliminate structural and fire hazards from the White House—ultimately to have its entire interior ripped out, cataloged timber by timber, and then rebuilt after shoring up the foundations and exterior walls, replacing of sagging floors and the like. The First Family was living in Blair House across the street, where they would reside for most of the second term.
Tom Fesperman of The News reports on an interview conducted with former Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall, visiting Charlotte. He believed that the President's civil rights program needed to be settled by the individual states rather than by the Federal Government. He clarified that he was for "Southern responsibility", not states' rights per se, adherents to the latter philosophy standing for doing nothing to rectify the wrongs and discrimination based on race. He said that he did not believe the Dixiecrats in Washington would find life rough in the ensuing four years, as the President was not angry at anyone and had no vengeance in mind for the defection from the Democratic camp during the campaign to support Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.
The Veterans Administration announced that a site soon would be chosen for a 20 million dollar, 1,000-bed neuropsychiatric hospital in North Carolina, following cancellation of plans for smaller hospitals at Salisbury and Charlotte. The North Carolina House passed a resolution to urge North Carolina's Congressional delegation to restore the two canceled hospitals.
According to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., the population of the country was estimated to have risen by 2.5 million people during 1948, to about 148 million. There were about 3.65 million births, just under the record high established in 1947, and deaths were estimated at 9.9 per thousand, with 300,000 immigrants to the country. Marriages were down from the previous two years of record highs.
In Bland, Va., a man admitted to authorities that he had beheaded his sister-in-law, after which her decapitated body was found by law enforcement in a desolate section of the county. He had shot her to death before cutting off her head and burning it in a stove, then disposed of the body by throwing it over a mountainside. He said that he believed he had done the deed the previous Thursday night but was not certain. The woman had not been reported missing. He said that he had been drinking but was not drunk the night of the murder, shot her because she was driving him "crazy", trying "to take up with" him. The man's brother and husband of the dead woman, according to the Sheriff, had been drunk since prior to Thursday, probably was unaware of his wife's death.
The worst snow
In Birmingham, Ala., the temperature
was a frosty 82. Snow, ice and sleet prevailed across the
Texas-Oklahoma Panhandle. The Midwest and Rockies
Well, we know why these strange weather patterns are occurring, don't we? It's either them Martians or that little girl who stole that boy's shoes and bopped him on the head with them.
On the editorial page, "The Sputtering Fuse" discusses the Israeli action the previous Friday in shooting down five RAF planes, prompting a British protest, claiming that the planes were over Egyptian territory. Britain had a mutual assistance treaty with Egypt. Israel claimed that the planes were over Israeli territory.
A question was posed as to where the U.S. would stand as between these two allies, especially as Israel was a young democracy which had its birth from solid U.S. support.
The piece suggests that it would be bad policy, economically, militarily and diplomatically, to upset Britain at the time. But the U.S. could also not afford to allow Israel to die before it had a chance to be born. The fledgling country was waging the same battle for existence which the U.S. had in its early days.
Yet, Israel was openly flouting U.N. authority regarding the ordered truce and that, too, should not be tolerated.
It suggests that a neutral authority ought intervene to mediate the crisis before it became severe, potentially turning into a war, one, in this case, started by accident. But the U.N. did not appear up to the task as it had not dealt effectively with the Dutch attack on Indonesia.
It concludes that the fuse was lit in Israel and it should not be allowed to sputter its full length before being extinguished by the U.N., the U.S., and the world, lest the future would appear without hope of achieving peace through the U.N. If the U.N. could act with resolve in the matter, then peace might occur for many years to come.
"The fuse burns ... the world is waiting; it has not much confidence but a great amount of hope."
"Congress Lags Behind" opines that the length of a Congressman's or Senator's service and membership of a particular committee did not necessarily mean that he or she was best qualified to be chairman of that committee by virtue of seniority. It only indicated that the member had built a potent political machine in the home state or district, that the constituency was overwhelmingly of the same party affiliation, that the member avoided successfully making enemies, or had found the secret of longevity.
It concludes that Congress needed to catch up with the times and eliminate this outmoded system of selecting committee chairmen.
"Tribute to Judge Parker" commends the selection by the Carolina Israelite of Federal Judge John J. Parker of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for his "outstanding contribution to inter-faith amity and human rights". The award was given annually by a vote of the 4,000 subscribers of the Israelite, published and edited by Harry Golden. Judge Parker, an alternate member of the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal, had worked diligently to foster better relations between Jews and Christians.
"Coal Field Revolution" remarks on a story appearing in the Christian Science Monitor celebrating the invention of the Continuous Miner, a mechanical mining device which promised to limit the need for manual coal mining, reducing the half million miners in the country to about 25,000 while increasing output.
Twenty-five such machines had been produced and another 125 would be available by the fall.
Unexpectedly, it was receiving favor from the UMW, though likely to put many miners out of work. But increasing output, John L. Lewis asserted, would improve the lot of the miner and allow higher wages and shorter hours.
The piece hopes that it would put a dent in the householder's coal bill.
Drew Pearson discusses the Merci Train being sent to the U.S. by France in appreciation for the Friendship Train of November, 1947, sent by the people of the U.S., at the suggestion of Mr. Pearson, loaded with food and clothing for the winter of 1948, before the Marshall Plan had gone into effect that spring. He provides a description by Leon Pearson of NBC radio of the departure of the Merci Train from Paris, with its 49 cars, one for each state and the District of Columbia. The cars carried handiwork of the French, such as fine gowns, hand-painted china and porcelain, and thousands of dolls from the children of France to the children of the U.S.
One doll was without hair and the
poor little girl who contributed it cut off some of her own to endow
it. The doll, however, might be an hour or two
Senator Elbert Thomas of Utah was irritated with the strong-arm tactics of labor in preventing Senator Irving Ives of New York from being on the Labor Committee which Senator Thomas chaired. Senator Ives was a Republican who had ultimately voted for Taft-Hartley but had also helped Mr. Thomas override the bill in committee so that Senator Taft had to take it to the floor. Senator Thomas had believed that Senator Ives would be an effective ally for repeal of Taft-Hartley, to provide bipartisan approach to the move. Labor had dissented and effective pressure had been exerted to prevent Senator Ives from being on the Committee.
The real estate lobby was continuing to court members of Congress, preparing its first social event to educate them on the "evils" of public housing and continued rent control.
Senator Robert Taft had protested loudly to DNC chairman Senator Howard McGrath when the Democrats determined to increase their majority on the Foreign Relations Committee to 8 to 5, removing one minority seat, which was supposed to have gone to liberal Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon. Mr. Pearson says that Senator Taft, however, had an eye on the seat, himself. Senator McGrath simply shrugged off his protest.
Stewart Alsop discusses the appointment of Dean Acheson as Secretary of State, finds it a wise choice for Mr. Acheson's broad experience in the State Department as Assistant Secretary and Undersecretary, as well as his realism with regard to the world picture. He would counsel the President well, against the latter's occasional tendency to try "to pull a rabbit out of the hat" on foreign policy. He would continue the tough policy toward Russia and sustenance of the Marshall Plan for both rebuilding Europe and rearming Europe against Communist aggression, the latter via the North Atlantic Alliance.
The appointment had been a compromise, as the appointment of either Chief Justice Fred Vinson or Justice William O. Douglas, the President's first two choices for the post, would have disrupted the Supreme Court. And Averell Harriman was thought to have too many ties to Wall Street to be effective.
Mr. Acheson could bring strong leadership to the Department and to foreign policy while getting along well with the President and not seeking to trump his will, as the President had determined to take a more active role in deciding on foreign policy during his second term.
A concern among Republicans was whether bipartisanship in foreign policy would continue, as Senate Democrats had reduced the number of GOP members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But the White House had nothing to do with the action and appeared determined to continue the bipartisan foreign policy developed under Secretary Marshall, Undersecretary Robert Lovett, along with GOP Senator Arthur Vandenberg.
James Marlow discusses the new budget presented by the President to Congress for the coming fiscal year, giving a primer on the process by which it had been developed by the Budget Bureau over the course of several months. After consulting with the various agencies and bureaus of the Government as to their budgetary requirements for the coming year, the Bureau then pared down the figures appropriately and a report was then prepared for the President. It remained secret until the President delivered it to Congress.
News had circulated to the news bureaus the previous Friday and Saturday, before the Monday release, so that the press could prepare its stories. But they were not to be released until after the President formally delivered the budget to Congress.
Marquis Childs discusses the two cases decided by the Supreme Court the previous week which had upheld the bans of the closed union shop in North Carolina, Nebraska, and Arizona, the latter two by State Constitutional amendments, the North Carolina restriction by act of the Legislature. The laws had been challenged as violations of the First Amendment, government impairment of private contracts, and violations of due process.
Mr. Childs places emphasis on the concurrence of Justice Felix Frankfurter for his discussion of the individual in relation to the power of mass organization, whether the union or the company, and the consequent impact on society. He raised the question whether, with the great power wielded by the unions, they should be able to compel membership. He quoted liberally from Justice Louis Brandeis, who had loathed the idea of mass organizational power, whether held by the company or the union. Justice Brandeis had determined nearly forty years earlier that absolute power led to excesses and that therefore it was not desirable that every employee be a union member except by choice. The ideal condition for the union was to be "strong and stable", not omnipotent.
Justice Frankfurter had pointed out that in the two countries where industrial democracy was most advanced, Great Britain and Sweden, unions for the most part did not place reliance on laws of compulsory membership, the closed shop and the check-off system on collection of union dues—both of which were utilized by UMW in its contracts with employers.
Historically, the trend toward compulsory membership had developed in reaction to employers seeking to eliminate unions completely. But with the development of the unions in the Thirties, their power was such that compulsory membership had lost its force as a higher moral good and had devolved to mere coercion to build the membership of the unions.
Mr. Childs concludes that no one but the short-sighted should have been surprised by the Court's decision, coming as it did as part of the Court's long tradition of defense of American freedom and individualism.
A letter writer thanks the newspaper for presenting the viewpoint of the United World Federalists the previous week and thanks Dr. Hamilton Holt for his presentation.
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