The Charlotte News
Saturday, November 12, 1949
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that with the final acceptance of terms of settlement of the steel dispute by U.S. Steel, steel production would resume at 90 percent on Monday, according to Philip Murray, head of the United Steelworkers. The settlement placed pressure on John L. Lewis and UMW and the coal operators to resolve the coal dispute, arising also on pension and welfare fund benefits.
But nothing appeared to be happening to effect a coal settlement since the blow-up of the meeting arranged by Government head mediator Cyrus Ching Thursday, not attended by Mr. Lewis, who said instead he would attend Monday, an invitation declined by Mr. Ching for being too busy at that time.
At the U.N., Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky denied that Russia had refused inspection of its atomic energy program, as contended by the U.S. He said that Russia was prepared to accept control of atomic energy as long as their sovereignty was assured. In another episode, one Soviet delegate walked out rather than answer questions from the Social Committee anent whether Russia was moving troops along Yugoslavia's borders.
In Prague, Czech Catholic priests were ordered to swear an oath of loyalty to the Communist-controlled Government, as required by a new law, and ignore reservations demanded by the Church bishops, which prescribed that the oath was acceptable only as long as it did not contradict the laws of God and the Church, and the rights of man. The Government also warned that any priest who sought to implement the decree of Pope Pius VII, ordering excommunication of militant Communists, would be arrested.
In Belgrade, the Yugoslav Government of Marshal Tito scrapped its treaty with Albania and charged that the satellite country had acted with hostility toward Yugoslavia, provoked by the Soviets. It was the first such break by Yugoslavia with a satellite nation.
Marquis Childs, appearing on the front page, reports from Belgrade that Marshal Tito had assured him that those seeking refuge from the Soviets could find asylum and a job in Yugoslavia. He said that thousands of exiles from Albania, Bulgaria, and Hungary had taken refuge in the country. He assured that Yugoslavia did not interfere, however, with the internal affairs of other countries and that there was no such thing as "Titoism" in the satellites, as the Russians claimed. He insisted that resistance in the other countries arose from the fact that Soviet Communism was not true to the principles of Marx and Lenin.
Rumania was a special case, he said, as it had first entered the war on the side of Germany and then was invaded by Russia, such that its regime now was completely subservient to Russia. Thus, it was not considered worthwhile by the Russians to have a trial of "traitors" as in the other satellites, to discredit Yugoslavia.
He repeated hints, made in several recent statements, that there was a possible break within the Politburo, but would not call it a split. Some persons, however, had disappeared. The people of Russia were not approving of the actions of their Government, he said. The present policy of that Government had to change.
Throughout the interview, Mr. Childs remarks, Tito was careful not to say anything which would be offensive to the governments of the satellites. He did say, however, that an action such as that of the Polish Government making Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky marshal of the Polish armies and minister of defense could never happen in Yugoslavia.
He appeared as a supremely confident man who showed no fear for the future, was easy and informal, smiled often.
(The remainder of the piece, continued for one paragraph on an inside page of The News, may be read here.)
In Columbus, O., an Ohio State University student was shot to death by a fraternity brother this date after a homecoming party at the fraternity house. The victim was the managing editor of the student newspaper. The student who did the shooting admitted the act, said he was drunk and whenever he got drunk, he became "trigger-happy". The victim had tried to disarm the other student and was shot once with a .45-caliber automatic pistol. The assailant had fled the scene, then called police and asked them to bring tommy-guns as he would run and wanted to get it over with. He surrendered, however, without further incident. He had been honorably discharged from the Marines in 1948.
A narcotics ring, which transported and sold morphine and heroin in all sections of the state, was smashed with the arrests of fourteen persons in Charlotte, Fayetteville, St. Pauls, Lowell, and Asheville, coordinated by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
In Urach, Germany, near Stuttgart, the town fathers had not heard of either Albert Einstein, Max Planck or Thomas Mann, had thus decided to change the names of the streets named for them.
Tom Fesperman of The News reports of the celebratory mood of students and alumni who had traveled to New York for the game with Notre Dame this date in Yankee Stadium. As the Tar Heels, a five touchdown underdog, would lose by exactly that margin, 42 to 6, the mood, no doubt, would turn somewhat somber by day's end. UNC had scored first, during the opening three minutes of the game, as Dick Bunting, substituting for injured star halfback Charlie Justice, scored from four yards out, following a blocked punt by the Irish, recovered at the nine-yard line by UNC. The game was tied 6 to 6 at halftime, but UNC never scored again.
Furman Bisher, News sports editor, tells of hobbled Charlie Justice, suffering from a sprained ankle, bringing to mind Joe DiMaggio who had also been hobbled in Yankee Stadium during the summer. The Tar Heel star had tried to use the ankle but could get no power from it, had to sit out the dream contest.
In York, England, York Cathedral was falling down, four tons of masonry having come loose during the summer. It would require $700,000 to restore it, but it remained in use.
Make no mistake, high and mighty Trumpy Republicans, London Bridge still stands. You better enjoy your short ride of electoral college glory while you can. For it is you, come January, just as Mr. Nixon in 1973, who will be falling down, Falling Down...
You want to make a bet?
Those who steal hearts, minds, and votes to "win", win nothing.
And don't start threatening people for exercising free speech founded on fact, you little creep. Yeah, he is a Bigot and a Liar, of monumental proportions, such as has never been "elected" to the presidency in U.S. history. Of course, his only competition in this form of "election", losing the popular vote, more substantially on this occasion than any other such "winner", is limited to four prior instances in our history, in each, the Democrat winning the popular vote.
You Trumpies, in your unmitigated gall, had better shut up and climb back into your holes, before you all land in jail for your many crimes and slanders and frauds and bribes during this election cycle and before it, including the Stupid, Lying candidate.
Your Bullying days are over. For now you are constrained, for once, by the laws of the land. You had better figure that out very quickly, lest impeachment be right around the bend. We, the people, govern you, Stupid. The dummies you command have never understood that simple truth, are too stupid to understand how our democracy works, thus feel threatened by it and so threaten others who live by it. You should have simply lost with dignity, rather than persisting in this ruthless, divisive game of Lies and Bigotry to win the minority vote of the gullible and the perpetually hating—as you are going to find out.
On the editorial page, "Stop and Go Business" tells of the city finally having a traffic engineer to regulate traffic control. There were, however, as an article recently by Dick Young had chronicled, still critics of him, though he appeared to be doing a good job. At a recent City Council meeting, the Mayor had suggested that a traffic signal be moved to an intersection from another, to satisfy local residents, though the engineer had advised against it. The piece finds it to be false economy to move a traffic signal from a busy intersection to one with not so much traffic, just to satisfy residents. It was better to put one in both places.
There were other such incidents, too, which showed that Charlotte was still reluctant to accept scientific methods of traffic control in its preference for ad hoc responses to the citizenry. The City Council, it ventures, ought be above such petty interference.
"Flouting State Laws" finds few situations in which both a State beer license and a Federal liquor license should be required. But many beer dealers in the state nevertheless did have a Federal liquor license. The chairman of the State ABC malt beverage division, however, had decided to prohibit the practice as it was now illegal under state law to have both licenses, so had given the dealers until December 10 to turn in the Federal licenses under threat of loss of their beer licenses. The intent was to keep beer dealers from peddling tax-paid liquor on the side, probably a frequent practice in dry areas of the state.
It was against state law to sell tax-paid whiskey or to operate a slot machine, but not against Federal law as long as the vendor had a license. So the average bootlegger and slot machine operator paid for the Federal license and then thumbed his nose at the State. The piece finds the practice disturbing, especially when done with impunity for lack of enforcement of the state laws.
"Vet Insurance Dividends" tells of the dividends to be paid veterans from National Service Life Insurance and the reasons why veterans received preferential treatment under the Government-subsidized program, providing for the entire population sharing in underwriting the cost of the program of paying the life insurance benefits to the beneficiaries of those who had died from war injuries. Dr. Dan McGill of UNC had discussed the issue in the Journal of the American Society of Life Underwriters, favored re-examination of the intent of Congress in the matter, insofar as the dividends were concerned.
The piece suggests that the public had an interest in the present interpretation of the law which enabled a payment of large dividends on these policies. There was no objection to an ordinary insurance dividend after the insured had paid in premiums over time, but where the taxpayer was subsidizing the policy, it was the taxpayer who was paying the premium. It finds Dr. McGill's advice therefore worthy of consideration by Congress.
"Thanksgiving Proclamation" provides the text of the President's proclamation of November 24 as Thanksgiving Day.
Drew Pearson, touring the Midwest, tells of having relaxed at Hays, Kansas, the previous day, writing his column regarding the Merci and Friendship trains. He now supplies a second column on the way in which the American people had become their own ambassadors. He views the two most positive developments in world relations to be the increasingly restless movements in Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and that the American people were working to woo friends abroad on a people-to-people basis.
The Chamber of Commerce of Charleston, W. Va., was one example, bringing twenty young men from Europe for a year of employment and study. The national Jaycees had proposed to the State Department that they finance a trip of 100 young Russians to study in the U.S. The State Department had been evasive, however, in its response.
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers had established a factory in Italy to demonstrate American mechanized methods to Italian workers. Henry Ford II, without commercial advertising for Ford, was televising U.N. sessions every day. Other companies as well were helping the process.
American towns were adopting towns in foreign countries, as Butler County, Kans., had adopted Beugency, France. The Worthington (Minn.) News was sometimes published in the papers of Crailsheim, Germany, Worthington's sister city. In all, about 200 towns and cities were cooperating with those abroad through letter-writing campaigns, exchange of students, books, magazines, and relief supplies.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop examine the situation in the Navy, the civilian command and the military command structure and their interrelationship, in light of the forced departure of chief of Naval operations Admiral Louis Denfeld and his replacement by Admiral Forrest Sherman, following the hearings before the House Armed Services Committee airing the grievances of the Navy against the Air Force regarding the air arm of the Navy having been diminished after unification of the three branches.
The rebellious admirals, led by Admiral Arthur Radford, had been ruthless in their determination to resist unification and seek to continue the aircraft carrier role of the Navy, so prominent in World War II, rather than acquiesce in the shift to the strategic long-range bomber of the Air Force.
In the middle of it all was Secretary of the Navy Francis Matthews. He and Admiral Denfeld had met with the Committee members and decided to end the hearings after looking into the false charges of corruption in procurement of the B-36 contract with Consolidated Vultee, implicating Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson and Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington, as well as General Marshall.
But then the following day, the Navy's Operation 23 group, through one of the pro-Radford group at this meeting, received the correspondence showing low morale in the Navy, then turned it over to the press.
Secretary Matthews continued to resist further public hearings, as did Admiral Denfeld. So chairman Carl Vinson of the Committee decided to end the hearings until at least January, until the press got wind, through Navy Captain John Crommelin, of the brass correspondence, prepared in advance for this eventuality. The letters showed Admiral Denfeld in sympathy recently with the rebellious admirals, contrary to his position taken with Secretary Matthews. Secretary Matthews and Secretary Johnson then went to the President and sought authority to replace him and use strong measures to bring the resistant admirals into line. The President urged them to wait and see what would transpire.
The Crommelin letters, however, caused the Committee to vote to hold further public hearings on this aspect of the controversy. Eventually, Admiral Denfeld openly sided during the hearings with the rebellious admirals and his ouster thus was finalized.
His replacement by Admiral Sherman had not ended the matter, as Secretary Matthews was determined to reassert civilian control over the Navy, a supremely difficult task which all of his recent predecessors had found impossible to accomplish. He had, however, dissolved Operation 23, which had become only an internal propaganda machine against unification. He had also disciplined Captain Crommelin for releasing to the public confidential communications among the admirals. Still, Secretary Matthews and Admiral Sherman were intensely disliked by the Radford group of admirals.
The Alsops conclude that since the Navy had still not resolved its basic problem of controlling the seas in light of the Soviet high speed submarine, the situation was quite unhealthy for defense.
Robert C. Ruark, in Masters, Colo.,
tells of a cattle rancher who was probably the happiest man in the
world, owner of a medium-sized ranch. He, along with his brother, had
been on the property for 39 years, since they had both been cowhands
in Wyoming. He could cuss as fluently in French as in English for the
fact that he had been to Europe several times to participate in
gun-shooting contests. He and his brother, known, respectively, as
the "Onion", for his bald head, and the "Baron",
had loved to sing a song, "Lord Randall, My Son"
The Baron had died a short time earlier and been cremated. When the Onion followed him, he was to be cremated and their ashes comingled on the ranch's duck pond so that anytime a duck shooter missed, they could arise in unison and say, "Boo".
The Onion called Mr. Ruark "Rawhide", told him that until that time, he, his wife and their dog would continue to work, drink, eat and shoot birds when they felt like it. He added that the dog's ashes, too, had to be added to a haunted duck pond when the time came, as a duck pond was no good without the spook of the best retriever in the world. Onion could not wait to see the expressions on the duck hunters' faces when they encountered the ghosts of the pond.
Tom Schlesinger of The News provides his weekly "Capital Roundup", tells of Congressman Robert Doughton of North Carolina, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee off and on during the previous 16 years, having just celebrated his 86th birthday. He had served for 20 consecutive terms in Congress and during that time, had written more tax legislation than anyone in the world. His reluctance to go forward with the proposed tax increases of the President spelled their death. In light of the deficit, he would be on the spot in the next session if the President asked for a tax increase.
He arrived at work usually by 5:30 a.m. and had routine matters accomplished by 8:00. He often ate six fried eggs and eight slices of bacon at breakfast. He often took a long stroll at 7:00 p.m. before heading home.
During the New Deal, he had sponsored reciprocal trade legislation, the Social Security Act, plus steering through the House the heavy taxes of the war. He had recently been given credit for piloting the Social Security expansion bill through the House, a bill expected to pass the Senate the following year.
The Washington Post had criticized him recently, along with other aging chairmen of committees, for still clinging to seniority to be chairman of the most powerful committee in Congress.
Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray rescinded an order which had contradicted the Army's policy, allowing persons to have equal opportunities when vacancies existed in their specialties, regardless of race or color.
UNC alumni, preparing to attend the Notre Dame game in New York, held a smoker at the Willard Hotel in Washington on Thursday night, at which movies of the 1949 Georgia and LSU games against UNC were shown. Gordon Gray had presided.
Connie B. Gay
Framed Edition
Links-Date — Links-Subj.