The Charlotte News
Tuesday, September 13, 1949
TWO EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President was gratified by the apparent approach of resolution of the steel dispute after both the United Steelworkers Union and some of the major steel companies had accepted the fact-finding board's recommendations for a ten-cent average boost in pension and other benefits rather than a 30-cent package wage and benefit boost as sought by the union. Both Republic Steel and Jones & Laughlin, second and fourth largest steel producers, respectively, had accepted the recommendations, at least in principle, as a basis for collective bargaining, but the top steel producer, U.S. Steel, was still considering the report. All had accepted the President's proposal for an additional ten-day extension of the strike moratorium to afford time to consider the report.
In response to the news, the stock market advanced, with prices up between a few cents and a dollar per share among leading issues. Shares of U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Youngstown Sheet & Tube, General Motors, Chrysler, Standard Oil of New Jersey, and various railroad issues all advanced.
The International Monetary Fund advised dollar-short countries to devalue their currencies, if necessary, to boost their dollar-earning exports. It did not mention Britain but the effect was to highlight the British problem.
The report came in the wake of a report issued by the tripartite conference of the U.S., Canada, and Britain, recommending that Britain receive more choice in deciding where to spend its ERP aid dollars, implementation of easier customs regulations for import of British goods to the U.S. and Canada, that larger purchases of tin and rubber be made by the U.S. and Canada from British colonies, and acceptance of the premise that Britain might have to discriminate against U.S. and Canadian goods in making purchases with ERP aid to conserve its dollars. Agreement was also reached on long-range measures, including speeding of overseas investment, a U.S. promise to seek further tariff cuts, a study of burdensome British war debts, an attempt to improve British earnings from oil and shipping, and continuing three-power review of Britain's economy.
A Senate subcommittee was investigating in executive session the Polish-owned Gdynia-American Line for its role in the escape from U.S. jurisdiction by Gerhardt Eisler, once considered America's top Communist, when he successfully stowed away on one of the Line's ships, eventually avoiding extradition on pending criminal charges in the U.S. when discovered in England, making his way finally to East Germany. The investigation pertained also to illegal transportation of espionage agents.
Senator Guy Gillette of the Senate Agriculture subcommittee said that it would investigate the "unconscionable spread" between the cost of farm products and what the consumer was paying at the market.
In Pennsylvania, the mother of deceased Democratic Congressman, Robert L. Coffey, Jr., a veteran killed in a jet plane crash during an Air Force reserve training flight, was pitted against Republican John Saylor in a special election which was considered an early test of reaction to the Fair Deal. Mr. Saylor would win.
In Chicago, a Federal District Court judge issued a temporary restraining order against enforcement of the FCC ruling which would ban giveaway radio and television programs as prohibited lotteries when they relied on phone calls to home participants not in the studio audience. As indicated, the FCC decision would be invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1954 as exceeding the intended ambit of the Federal lottery statute, misinterpreting the required consideration of payment by participants, instead equating consideration with enhanced advertising revenues by virtue of audience members tuning in to the broadcasts on the hope they would be called.
In Atlantic City, N.J., a fire caused $200,000 worth of damage to the Million Dollar Pier, a well-known landmark extending 1,900 feet into the ocean off the Boardwalk. No one was injured in the blaze which began at 4:30 a.m.
In Peoria, Ill., an explosion took place in the Hiram Walker & Sons still, causing an estimated half million dollars worth of damage and critically injuring two still workers. The explosion was felt several miles away from the scene.
In New York, actress Faye Emerson
stated that she was planning to divorce Elliott Roosevelt, that they
had been separated for some time, though only announcing their
separation the previous day. She said that they parted on friendly
terms. She had been treated for a razor slash to her wrist the
previous December 26. She was presently in New York making the movie
"Guilty Bystander"
In Greenwood, S.C., Circuit Judge J. Henry Johnson said in an address to the Greenwood County Grand Jury, hearing the case against a black man charged with rape, that he believed that no one had any rights anymore unless they were members of a minority group. He claimed that the four dissenting Supreme Court justices in the 1947 Louisiana case in which Willie Francis was ordered to be executed, notwithstanding that his first execution attempt had failed, had dissented, not because resubmitting the defendant to the anticipation of execution was cruel and unusual punishment as the Justices, led by Harold Burton and including recently deceased Frank Murphy and Wiley Rutledge, argued, but because the petitioner was black. He said that law enforcement in South Carolina was breaking down because of courts turning defendants loose on "technicalities". The judge warned the courtroom, as the rape case got underway before the petit jury, that he would jail anyone for contempt for any insulting remarks issued against any member of the court.
How about that you are a racist pig, an ignorant slime taking bribes from white supremacists, who has no respect for the Constitution or the U.S. Supreme Court, ought be removed from the bench, forcibly if necessary, and disbarred? Does that qualify, Klan scumbag?
In Raleigh, it was reported that the largest corn crop in the state's history was forecast for the year.
In Columbus, O., two water mains broke, leaving most of the community without water.
I. W. Williams retired as advertising manager of The News and was succeeded by R. J. Alander, formerly director of advertising for the Miami Daily News.
On the editorial page, "Report of the Steel Board" tells of the report having opposed any wage increase and instead recommending an average ten-cent increase in benefits, about eight cents over the current benefits paid the workers. The United Steelworkers Union had sought a combination 30-cent wage and benefits increase. The board's formula had been accepted by the workers and the steel industry was still studying it.
The board believed that a fourth-round postwar wage increase would set off a new round of demands for wage increases and consequent price increases across the economy, as 40 percent of manufacturing industry depended on steel. The board placed greater value on social insurance and pensions as stabilizing the economy.
The "Little Steel" formula had set the wage pattern for most of the war and the Big Steel strike of 1946 led off the first round of postwar wage boosts. The piece praises the President's fact-finding board therefore for capably discharging their responsibilities.
"County Fire Protection" praises the effort of the local Jaycees to try to get better fire protection for rural areas of the county. The only effective remedy appeared to be a special tax assessment for the County to provide for the protection.
Thomas L. Robinson, publisher of The News, relates of his experiences attending the 1949 Miss America pageant, just concluded the previous Saturday night in Atlantic City with the crowning of Miss Arizona, Jacque Mercer, 18. He describes the various perquisites associated with the title, including a $5,000 college scholarship, which Ms. Mercer intended to use to transfer from Phoenix Junior College to Stanford in a year.
He tells of the event having been well organized and publicized, that the press was treated with utmost cordiality. Atlantic City also had been quite hospitable. He provides thanks to numerous individuals who personally helped him.
He hopes to incorporate some of the procedures for the annual Carolinas Christmas Festival with which he was closely associated.
Drew Pearson tells of the President not usually nursing grudges against political enemies but having developed one for Bernard Baruch for refusing the previous year to serve on a special committee to support his re-election. He was so upset that he decided to replace Mr. Baruch's brother, Herman, as Ambassador to Holland. He had offered the position to Admiral William Leahy but he had declined. He wound up appointing Seldin Chapin on Bernard Baruch's birthday and issued the announcement from the White House, rather than via the usual course through the State Department.
The Senate, in its sloth in getting to legislation addressed by the House because of delays in committee and filibuster, might, he suggests, wind up getting more done than the House, which had adjourned prior to Labor Day. The absence of the House was hampering conclusion of the Marshall Plan appropriations, the 75-cent minimum wage, Federal aid to prevent forest fires, and the basing-point system legislation. Each of the four measures had been passed by the Senate but were awaiting action by the House. The Senate had also moved ahead of the House on Federal aid to education, health services for school children, expansion of hospital construction, and the establishment of the national science foundation to encourage scientific research. There remained, however, several passed House bills awaiting action by the Senate.
He next provides three upcoming or underway
Congressional junket
During Senate debate, Senator Tom Connally of Texas literally had barked at Senator Kenneth Wherry of Nebraska for repeatedly interrupting him when he had the floor, to which Senator Wherry had barked in response. Senator Connally had related a story of a lawyer who countered his opponent under similar conditions when it came his turn to address the jury: "If Your Honor please, bow-wow-wow-wow." Senator Wherry then blurted out, "Bow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow." He added that Senator Connally's answers to his questions were as clear as his "bow-wow" statement. After listening to Senator Connally for a few more minutes, Senator Wherry interrupted again, saying that it sounded like more "bow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow".
Marquis Childs discusses the fine print of the report by the President's fact-finding board on the steel dispute. A footnote regarding Keynsian economics was especially instructive. John Maynard Keynes, deceased since 1946, was regarded as having been a major influence on the New Deal, as his theory, when boiled down, was to engage in deficit spending to produce public works jobs to provide a cure for economic depression.
The United Steelworkers had argued to the board that a wage increase would avoid turning the recession into a depression, consistent with the Keynsian approach. The board rejected the argument as inflationary while also referring to Lord Keynes as "the master" and not rejecting outright his theory but allowing for interpretation of it such that the chairman of the board, Carroll Daugherty, stated that Lord Keynes had never approved of wage increases to offset the threat of depression. Rather, the businessman thought in terms of wages as being part of his costs rather than as a function of regulating consumer demand for his product, as the union had advocated giving the worker more money in wages to spend in the economy. But the companies had counter-argued that a boost in wages would only raise prices and thus nullify any increase in purchasing power.
Mr. Daugherty stated that no one could be certain which outcome might transpire, that the long-term need was for steady economic expansion and that the best way to achieve it was not to tamper with the wage-price formula.
But the board also stated that its approach was based on the current economic conditions only and if cost of production of steel were to decline through improved technology, then the companies would either have to lower the price of steel or raise wages. Increases instead in social insurance and pension benefits were deemed by the board to contribute to economic stability at a high level of employment.
Mr. Childs points out that Lord Keynes had visited Washington for the last time in late 1945 to help negotiate the British loan from the U.S., which he asserted had to be at least five billion dollars to do any good. When it was approved for only 3.75 billion with added stipulations, he became depressed and returned home in a pessimistic mood, was dead a few months later. His gloomy prophecies at the time regarding the economy of England appeared to have come true.
Robert C. Ruark discusses the report of the five junketing Congressmen who had peeked on Tokyo Rose while she was taking a bath at a prison in Tokyo in 1945, as entree to the subject generally of Congressional junkets. Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson, when he issued his order that no further military planes would be used by the Congress except on showing of need for military business, should have gone further and eliminated junkets completely as a waste of taxpayer money.
Nothing constructive usually came out of such trips. The members of Congress usually engaged in a lot of drinking and seeing sights which were constructed especially for their consumption by the sponsors of the trip. He provides examples.
The only time anything constructive had happened during a junket was the previous year in Venezuela when a riot happened to coincide with the Congressional visit.
So he finds no great indignation in the five Congressmen taking a look at Tokyo Rose taking a bath as it was at least a "concrete achievement, and that is more than you can say of most of the expensive picnics."
A letter from the president of the Charlotte Jaycees and a consultant of conservation of the Department of North Carolina Garden Clubs tell of the effort of the organizations to eliminate and prevent pollution of streams, seek to enlist both The News and the Charlotte Observer in the project of informing the public.
The editors note that the newspaper was planning a series of articles on the subject.
Framed Edition
Links-Date — Links-Subj.