The Charlotte News
Thursday, November 17, 1949
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President might wait another day or two before taking action to stop renewal of the coal strike after the end of the current hiatus on November 30. It was believed that he might give a hint of his intentions at a late afternoon press conference, whether to appoint a fact-finding board and ask for a truce between the sides for 60 days or, pursuant to Taft-Hartley, seek an injunction of the strike for 80 days while a fact-finding board deliberated.
In Stockton, California, two Air Force B-29 Superfortresses collided in midair at midnight during foggy weather and crashed. Four of the 22 aboard were saved, seven were known dead and eleven were missing.
The search continued off Bermuda for the missing B-29 which had run out of fuel and crash landed in the sea with twenty airmen aboard, on its way via Bermuda to Britain from March Air Force Base in California.
In New York, the judge in the Federal trial of Judy Coplon for espionage, allegedly intending to give to a Russian agent summary notes of secret documents she obtained via her employment at the Justice Department, ruled that her warrantless arrest was legal and that the papers seized pursuant thereto, contained in her purse, were admissible in the trial. The judge ruled that the FBI agents making the arrest had probable cause at the time to believe that a crime was taking place, the transfer of the notes to the Russian agent, and that she might escape if they first sought a warrant. Ms. Coplon had been convicted in Washington for taking the documents illegally.
Also in New York, the second trial of Alger Hiss for perjury before the grand jury began, with jury selection initiated. The first trial had wound up in a hung jury on the previous July 8.
An Atomic Energy Commission report told of a study conducted of the effects of an atomic bomb on Washington, finding that every building within a half mile radius of the blast would be damaged and rendered unusable. Fires would engulf areas of many square miles.
Vice-President Alben Barkley traveled to St. Louis where he intended to be wed the next day to the widow he had been dating for several months.
In Atlanta, the divorce suit between a judge and his wife began as the judge, during questioning by his wife's attorneys, accused them of being "the dirtiest blackmailers in Atlanta". One of the attorneys then said that the judge was "hallucinating" and was "crazy". The judge had been acquitted of charges of attempted murder after he had shot at one of the attorneys, a former friend and business associate, while they were driving down Peachtree Street in July. He had claimed that he acted because the attorney was trying to steal his wife, money, and good name from him.
On a ranch near Llano, Texas, a four-year old boy, son of the former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, had bagged a four-point buck after breaking the deer's neck with a .22 rifle shot.
In Charlotte, a truck driver was killed when a train hit his stalled tractor-trailer truck at a crossing during the early afternoon. He was attempting to back off of the tracks when Train No. 9 hit the truck.
In Raleigh, the North Carolina Baptist State Convention unanimously adopted a committee recommendation that the church face the issue of racial and minority groups "more squarely and honestly". The recommendation was approved after a strong plea for it was made by Reverend E. McNeill Poteat of Raleigh, who said that they must act from the basis that segregation was "inherently evil", that "Christians are brothers in Christ", that no racial group was superior or inferior, that all racial and minority groups should be recognized as citizens constituting "one state under one government with equal rights", that Christians should protest injustices and discrimination against any group in the community and strive to promote good will and eliminate from their speech degrading terms which showed contempt for other groups, especially in the presence of children. He also suggested joint meetings between local black and white ministerial unions, with occasional exchange of pulpits and utilization of black church choirs in white churches.
In Charlotte, a crowd estimated at
400,000 attended the third annual Carolinas Christmas Festival
Parade, with MGM film star Audrey Totter
On the editorial page, "Problem of the Bomb" finds that there would be no solution to control of atomic weapons until a long and expensive arms race had convinced both nations of the futility of it all. No solution could be drawn without loss of face by one of the two competing powers and neither was prepared for losing face.
Russia wanted abolition of the bomb and freedom of every nation to develop peaceful uses of atomic energy, with periodic international inspections. The U.S. wanted control by an international organization and when control was accomplished, destruction of existing stockpiles.
The Russians refused to acquiesce to the U.S. plan because they claimed that the U.S., through the Western bloc, would dominate an inspection program. The U.S. would not accept the Russian plan because it believed that Russia would continue to make atomic bombs despite agreements to the contrary and that periodic inspections would not be enough to control atomic energy, that they should be continuing.
It had been suggested that neither side truly wanted control at the present time as it might weaken diplomatic efforts by both nations.
The only solace was that both nations had achieved a kind of standoff and that neither was likely to use an atomic bomb for fear of retaliation.
"What Will the Jury Say?" remarks of the case in Oconee County, S.C., in which a 69-year old black farmer had been killed by two white men who took his money after shooting him in the groin. During the night, he had bled to death as the men had warned his 14-year old live-in helper not to leave the house before morning or he would be killed. The boy obeyed and in the morning summoned a neighbor.
The admitted shooter claimed that he had acted in self-defense when the unarmed man supposedly approached him as he held the shotgun on him. The piece wonders whether the two arrested white men would receive deference from the eventual jury in the case because they were white and the victim was black.
"Bull in the China Shop" takes issue with Senator Elmer Thomas of Utah for criticizing Sweden for not greeting his committee during a junket to Europe, saying that Sweden had jeopardized their receipt of any further Marshall Plan aid and that Sweden had helped no one in 135 years. Swedish newspapers were quite insulted.
The piece finds the remarks intemperate and reminds that members of Congress, when traveling abroad, had to tailor their statements to accord diplomacy and not offend, as they represented the entire Congress and the nation when traveling in foreign lands.
A piece from the New York Herald Tribune, titled "Tar Heel Invasion", discusses the North Carolina fans who had arrived in New York for the football game the previous Saturday in Yankee Stadium between UNC and Notre Dame, won by the Irish 42 to 6. It finds that the usual invasion of out-of-towners for a sports contest was hardly noticeable in the city, but that North Carolinians who had invaded in support of the Tar Heels had blocked traffic in Times Square, carrying Confederate battle flags, until reserve police officers had to be called out to clear them. They then fled into various portions of town. But they were all jolly and well-behaved, some being Yankees.
It concludes that it was too bad that they had not had a better outcome to celebrate, but with star halfback Charlie Justice out of the game, Notre Dame was not to be denied. At least UNC had a good first half, going into the locker rooms tied 6 to 6.
Drew Pearson tells of James Roosevelt coming into his own at age 42, having developed excellent political judgment and a great amount of popularity in California. He had a coterie of young, loyal people around him, remindful of the early days of his father's political career. He would win easily, Mr. Pearson predicts, the 1950 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, regardless of the President's support. The President, he notes, was at odds with Mr. Roosevelt both because he had supported General Eisenhower for the Democratic nomination in 1948 and because the President was jealous of all things Rooseveltian.
With Admiral Forrest Sherman as chief of Naval operations, the rebellious West Coast admirals were coming back aboard. His attitude was friendly and firm, as when he nixed Operation 23, which had become a Navy propaganda wing against the Air Force, and disciplined Navy Captain John Crommelin for revealing confidential correspondence between the admirals, causing a Congressional investigation.
Utah Governor J. Bracken Lee had counseled against a subsidy for mines, while Montana Governor John Bonner favored it. Some of the Western governors attending a conference in Salt Lake City did not buy the GOP characterization of the Truman "welfare state", at least when it came to mines in their states.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas had challenged Senator J. William Fulbright to a game of golf for $20 after the latter had criticized his game on the Senate floor at the close of the session, while complimenting Senator Lucas on his leadership. Senator Fulbright then lost the game and had to pay up.
Marquis Childs, in Belgrade, discusses again Yugoslavia's role as Eastern European recalcitrant to the will of the Kremlin. Marshal Tito had necessarily set out after the war to consolidate his power in the country to withstand the will of the Soviet Union, which had sought to weaken his power to make Yugoslavia subservient as the other satellite puppet states. To this end, the Soviets after the war had propagandized that the Partisans of Tito had been of marginal significance during the war effort there, that the Red Army had played the dominant role. But Tito took maximum advantage of his heroic status among the people and refused to respond to Moscow's efforts to goad him and undermine his power.
Because he had led the Partisans, his position was dissimilar to the titular leaders in the other Balkan satellites, which had relied on the Red Army to defeat the Germans. He had built his power structure with him at the top. His Army was comprised almost entirely of Partisans whose loyalty was unwavering, providing internal security against revolt. Most Balkans experts agreed that he had reason to be confident in his ability to withstand both internal revolt and external threat from Russia.
Some believed that the Russian efforts elsewhere, as installing Marshal Rokossovsky as a Cabinet minister and head of the Army in Poland, were more than preventive measures but constituted a full-scale purging in favor of Moscow's personnel. Bulgaria was a prime example.
In the minority view, the Russian effort was designed to lay the foundation for armed force to bring Tito down.
Presently, Yugoslavia was neither at peace nor at war, but the spring, he ventures, after the snows in the mountains melted, might bring something different.
Robert C. Ruark, in Denver, discusses Henry Blackmer, who had recently returned from 25 years in exile in Paris to face long outstanding charges stemming from the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding Administration and his relationship with oil man Harry Sinclair. He had come home to face perjury and fraud charges, but the Federal judge decided to accept his guilty plea and not impose a jail sentence in deference to his advancing age.
Afterward, Mr. Blackmer decided then to return to Europe, baffling onlookers who wondered therefore why he had come home in the first instance if not to spend his remaining years in his native land.
A letter writer supplies the printed Herald Tribune editorial on the page anent the UNC fans in New York and says that he was proud, though not an alumnus of UNC, to have seen the Confederate flag waving in every nightclub and quarter of the city.
A letter writer comments on articles in the newspaper which had reported that a Presbyterian minister had counseled that Communism was the greatest challenge the Christian faith had ever faced, finds it and other such statements to show little faith. He says that a war with Russia would end forever capitalism and asks what then would Americans do for solace.
A letter writer defends landlords, says that she had become a homeowner because a landlord had raised her rent when she was widowed with children during the Depression.
A letter from the president of the Community Chest campaign thanks the newspaper for its assistance in promoting the drive.
A letter from an assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury tells of Savings Bonds being the most popular investment among the people of the nation, and thanks the newspaper for maintaining a Payroll Savings Plan for its employees, thus promoting the Savings Bond program.
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