The Charlotte News

Friday, May 20, 1949

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in Munich, eight of the eleven West German states had ratified the new West German constitution causing ratification to be complete. Bavaria had voted against ratification but reserved the right to enter the government upon final ratification by the other states.

It was believed that the Big Three allies would enter the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Paris on May 23 in their strongest position since the Yalta Conference of February, 1945, and that the Soviet's position was considerably weaker than in prior Council meetings, at Moscow and London. The economy of West Germany had significantly improved since the previous conferences of 1947 and 1948, and had formed its new government, aligned with democracy and the West. France, emboldened by the NATO agreement, had moved closer to the Anglo-American view of Germany and its need for revitalization economically.

The State Department informed Russia that to have peace, it should stop the Soviet satellites from aiding the Communist guerrillas in Greece, and that until such was done, the U.S. would continue to provide military aid to the Greek Government. The statement was in response to a statement by the Soviet news agency Tass urging Britain and the U.S. to join in an effort to try to end the fighting in Greece. The State Department said that it was willing to engage in such talks, but only at the U.N.

On April 26, Assistant Secretary of State Dean Rusk had met with the British Minister of State and Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in what the State Department characterized as a rambling conversation, including talk of Greece, in which Mr. Rusk indicated the concern of the U.S. to be the northern neighbors of Greece, Bulgaria and Albania, furnishing arms to the guerrillas and that the proper forum for discussions was in the U.N.

Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin—at least a part of whose inspiration for his future foray into witch-hunting may have come from a piece on the editorial page of this date by Marquis Childs—angrily resigned from the Senate probe of the December, 1944 Malmedy massacre, at the start of the Battle of the Bulge, in which American G.I. prisoners-of-war were summarily murdered by German soldiers. The Senator called it an attempt to "whitewash a shameful episode" of history. Senator McCarthy, a World War II Marine veteran, had been at odds with Senator Raymond Baldwin of Connecticut, also a Republican, chairman of the Armed Services subcommittee investigating Malmedy and its aftermath, saying that the subcommittee sought to "avoid the facts". The subcommittee was focused on the allegation that American Army officers used brutality to coerce confessions from the accused German soldiers. Senator McCarthy believed that the evidence had shown the charges to be true, that the coercive treatment was "devised by warped minds." He had wanted one of the accused American officers subjected to a lie detector test, to which Senator Baldwin had objected.

The subcommittee of the Atomic Energy Committee continued to hear testimony of David Lilienthal, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, anent student scholarships provided by AEC. A Boston medical student's name was injected into the hearing by Senator Kenneth Wherry of Nebraska as having "loyalty issues" based on known associations. Mr. Lilienthal stated that the medical student denied being a Communist and that he had not recommended him for the scholarship. He said that he could not divulge more information about the loyalty review but that the student did not have access to secret information. Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan stated that Mr. Lilienthal should release to the subcommittee the information.

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the physician, accused of murdering his wife's paramour on the previous December 14 with a knife, testified that his wife claimed that she was seduced by the man after he plied her with alcohol and that he then engaged in sexual relations with her by force. The doctor obtained the statement from his wife following his overhearing of a locker room conversation in which it was stated that the young man had been out with the doctor's wife and had been bragging of the fact. She had already testified during the trial that she went sailing with the man, but denied that she told someone that it had occurred after the incident of alleged forcible sex or that she had enjoyed the outing.

As indicated, the story would not have a happy ending as the doctor would be convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 70 years in prison, and, after affirmance on appeal in 1951, would commit suicide while released on his appellate bond.

Governor Kerr Scott said that he would recommend future Senator B. Everett Jordan of Saxapahaw to be North Carolina Democratic chairman should Capus Waynick resign the post to become Ambassador to Nicaragua. Mr. Jordan, treasurer of a manufacturing company, had worked in many campaigns in the state. He would be appointed as Senator by Governor Luther Hodges in 1958 following the death in office of Senator Kerr Scott. He would serve until his defeat in the Democratic primary in 1972 by Congressman Nick Galifianakis, eventually defeated in the general election by Jesse Helms.

The North Carolina League of Municipalities announced that it would not support the Governor's 200-million dollar rural roads program because of its adverse impact on the economics of the state, urban and rural populations.

In Charlotte, a man arrested inside Goines Furniture Store at 1:55 a.m. was also being held in connection with a safe-cracking at a nearby barber supply company, getting away with $310.39. Eventually, under police questioning, he admitted that he was complicit in commission of the latter offense. The man was in possession of burglar's tools when arrested and had a cut on his hand, consistent with evidence of a cut of the intruder at the barber supply company, who had broken a window to effect entry.

Also in Charlotte, a blind man and a one-armed man were in court for a preliminary examination regarding charges of possessing and forging a check belonging to another. The blind man had placed an "X" as endorsement of the check while the one-armed man guided his hand. Both men admitted possession of the check but had different stories of how they came to have it. Each claimed that he thought the check belonged to the other. They were held to answer on probable cause that the crime had been committed by the defendants.

Tom Fesperman of The News discusses the much debated authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, purportedly signed on May 20, 1775. But the only official record of it was put down in the 1837 Revised Statutes of North Carolina, based on a narrative published in 1819 by the Raleigh Register. Historians claimed that the original of the document had been destroyed in 1800 during a fire at the home of John McKnitt Alexander.

On 6-B, Mary Worth, having wrapped up her last adventure, undertakes a new one starting this date. Don't miss it as there may never be another chance to read all about it.

On the editorial page, "Badgered from Four Sides" finds that North Carolinians made a big mistake when they assumed that the State could carry more easily a 200-million dollar bond debt for rural roads and 25 million for school construction than when Cameron Morrison was Governor in the 1920's and launched a new road-building program.