The Charlotte News

Thursday, October 26, 1950

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that South Korean patrols reached the south bank of the Yalu River at the Manchurian border, without opposition. Other elements of the same Sixth Division, however, were reported, without confirmation, to be under attack by Chinese Communist forces 50 miles to the south. A South Korean spokesman said that the field commander near Onjong, 75 miles north of Pyongyang, reported that his unit was almost surrounded by enemy troops, not designated, however, as Chinese.

An Eighth Army spokesman said that there was no evidence of overt support of North Korea by the Chinese. One Chinese prisoner claimed that 20,000 Chinese troops had crossed into North Korea, while a second said that the Chinese were attacking.

On the east coast, the U.S. Marine First Division spearheaded a 50,000-man landing force of the Seventh Infantry Division at captured Wonsan. Correspondent Stan Swinson reports that the lightning advance of the South Korean troops to take Wonsan on October 9 probably saved the American landing force from a death trap, as the U.S. troops had been scheduled to make the landing on October 20. The landing troops found that the Communists had set up Wonsan as a death trap for them, with 3,000 floating mines guarding the sea approaches and a system of trenches set up on the beaches, in front of which were barbed wire fields. The commanders now conceded that the landing place was chosen based on inadequate intelligence, and by the time it was in South Korean hands, it was too late to turn back as there was no other place in the northeast sector to land.

Correspondent Bem Price tells of the Marines ambling ashore at Wonsan in what they called "Operation What-the-Hell", finding the unopposed mopping up chore to be more the task of the Army. During the six-day interim from the planned landing, while the task force sailed up and down the coast, pools were taken as to whether they would turn around and abandon the mission. They regarded it as a huge joke. Their initial objective had been to seize an airfield, but that was already being operated by the allies. Buoys marked the presence of the mines in the harbor. Out of boredom, the Marines hurled insults at the previously grounded U.S.S. Missouri: "Hey Mudbank, how'd you get out here? That's deep water."

The Far East Air Forces bombing line was extended to the Manchurian border, previously placed twelves miles to the south.

The President said in a White House news conference that he might call Congress back in session before its scheduled return on November 27, after the elections. He had not yet made the decision. He had not made up his mind whether he would deliver any campaign speeches for the midterm elections. In response to a question, he said that he did not expect trouble in Western Europe during the winter. He also said that he understood that the South Korean forces would occupy the entire Korean side of the Manchurian border, without participation of American troops in that duty.

The Russians announced that the Communist "liberation" army had invaded Tibet to annex it to Communist China. A correspondent for a Calcutta newspaper said that the Tibetans were shocked by the incursion and were determined to fight. There was a possibility that the 15-year old Dalai Lama and other high officials would flee Lhasa should resistance crumble. The Communists were reported about a day's march from Neiwutsi, reinforced with 10,000 Tibetan troops, 500 miles northwest of Lhasa.

The National Production Authority banned the construction of any new structures devoted to amusement, recreational or entertainment purposes, including theaters and amusement parks, night clubs and golf courses. It applied to governmental and private facilities.

The U.S. and Canada agreed to a six-point plan for production for defense.

The FBI announced that a man had been taken into custody in El Paso, admitting to the bombing on September 17 of a Voice of America radio transmitter at Mason, O. The man was said to be a former soldier who had been a patient in a mental institution.

Well, they were broadcasting that globalonious globalism of the globalists. What was he supposed to do?

The Board of the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development approved establishment of a Piedmont-area technical training facility to teach metalworking, electrical work and woodworking. The Board also approved construction of a 30 million dollar dam at Roanoke Rapids by the Virginia Electric & Power Co. and requested that the Department of Interior withdraw its opposition to the project. The resolution echoed the request of Governor Kerr Scott the previous day for more development of hydroelectric resources.

On the editorial page, "Dealing with a Stacked Deck" tells of the movement to the suburbs from the cities resulting in the suburbanite joining forces with rural dwellers to resist legislative attempts to alleviate the plight of the cities by taxing county residents for services paid for by urban dwellers but used by both sets of residents. In North Carolina, the League of Municipalities had sought to give towns and cities a greater voice in the General Assembly. But equality of representation would never be attained until urban dwellers realized that the legislatures dealt with a stacked deck against the cities and for the rural areas, and added their own individual voices in support of reforms.

"We Can Do Better Yet" tells of North Carolina leading the South in number of teachers, according to a New York Times survey, and having the lowest number of substandard teachers. Yet, it ranked third in average teacher salaries, at $2,550. It had by far the largest operating expenditures for primary and secondary schools.

The state was 44th in average per capita income in 1949 and so had made a generous relative outlay for education. But, it suggests, the state still needed to do more in the way of financing teachers, buildings, libraries and other school facilities.

"Decision in Tibet" finds that if Communist China was in fact invading Tibet, then it was no different from the invasion of South Korea by North Korea. The cry might be raised as to why there should be a fight for Tibet, as it had little to offer the West.

The U.S. could not afford to defer completely to the U.N. on the matter as the reputation of the U.S. in Asia was at stake. If such an invasion, if it was occurring, were allowed to take place with impunity, then the Kremlin would have won a major propaganda battle, claiming inevitably that the U.S. only responded when there was something in the fight for itself.

It suggests that the U.S. would aid the French if Communist Chinese troops invaded Indo-China.

There were problems of topography in Tibet's mountainous terrain to be sure and if the Communists had achieved a foothold, it would be difficult to extricate them. It appeared an unlikely prospect that American troops would be fighting in Tibet, but the test, it ventures, ought be whether the U.S. opposed Communist aggression wherever it came to pass.

A piece from the Raleigh News & Observer, titled "Hero's Heir", tells of a young boy who followed the midway when the State Fair left town. The circus runaway had once been a hero and was drawn up in books and stories. But as cars became faster and roads multiplied, circuses became commonplace and the hero runaway vanished. Every now and then, however, he resurfaced.

Bill Sharpe, in his weekly "Turpentine Drippings", snippets from newspapers across the state, provides one from Holt McPherson of the Shelby Star, in which he tells of a small newspaper having discovered one morning that someone had stolen all of its "S's" from the type cases. The newspaper nevertheless published on time, with an apology to readers which began: "Thome thneaking thoundrel hath thtolen into our compothing room and thkedaddled with all our etheth..." (We resist the rest as it contains errors, viz., "thethe premithith" ith incorrect Englithh, being proper only ath "thith premithe" or "thethe premitheth"; Thwithth hath not one but rather two eththeth, as doeth grathth and, eththeth; to "thoot" thomeone maketh no thenthe, unlethth they are in the thmokethtack; and "thwo" ith a word only in Brooklyn and perhapth partth of New Jerthey. Thuffering thuccotathh.)thethith

The Durham Sun tells of a car traveling along the Durham-Chapel Hill road when suddenly the driver had a firecracker explode between his legs, causing him to have to be treated for tetanus at the hospital. A passing motorist, probably a young person, had decided to play a practical joke on the driver of the car. It cautions against such warped behavior.

The Zebulon Record tells of having heard that putting an alarm clock in the bed with a young puppy would make it sleep soundly at night, but when tried, the puppy howled the louder until it had to be returned to the original owner.

The Twin City Sentinel of Winston-Salem says: "It's a grand country, and in spite of everything there's a pretty good chance some of us will get out of it alive."

And on more and on more, more on.

Drew Pearson, in Los Angeles, tells of the campaign literature in California, for instance that of Congressional candidate Jack Hardy, a Republican, who showed a picture of himself with his three children, not disclosing that they were children of his new wife by a former marriage. His only child was with actress Fay Helm, who had divorced him five years earlier. He had defaulted on his $35 per month support payments to the child and now was allowed to pay nothing. He nevertheless promoted himself as a great family man.

He next imparts the story behind Hubert Howard being forced out as head of the Munitions Board, central to establishing the country's industrial needs and stockpiling necessary materials. The Board had not properly planned such stockpiles for an emergency such as Korea. In consequence, the Air Force nearly ran out of aviation fuel in early September on the eve of the Inchon landings. A shipment arrived just in time, but supply again dropped low during the subsequent storming of Seoul.

The wool supply had also dropped so low that the Army was short of wool for the winter, causing the Army to have to bid for wool on the Australian market.

One reason for the inefficiency was that the Board did not have top military men as personnel. But chairman Howard had not been a model of efficiency, which was why the President turned over mobilization to Stuart Symington, head of the National Security Resources Board, and demanded Mr. Howard's resignation. The President had told aides that right after he had appointed Mr. Howard, he had gone to Europe for four months.

Stewart Alsop, in Middletown, O., tells of Ohioans cautioning not to write off Senator Taft's opponent, Joseph Ferguson, the State auditor. Mr. Alsop had seen Mr. Ferguson in Middletown sharing a platform with a gifted elocutionist, Governor Frank Lausche, and found the comparison "cruel". His nervous recitation of words written for him attacking Senator Taft was stiff and boring.

But, as he, himself, pointed out, he signed all the checks for the State of Ohio and "that don't hurt me none." He also said that he did not know much about the Brannan farm plan but that if the farmers wanted it, he was for it, and vice versa. These were the two pillars of his strength. He also was likable and friendly, that which Mr. Taft lacked.

Mr. Ferguson was the epitome of the "little guy". The labor leaders directing his campaign were aware of how well that role had worked for the President in 1948. Moreover, he had labor behind him.

Marquis Childs, in New Delhi, asks whether the U.S. and India could work together to raise the standard of living there and set an example for the rest of Asia. There was no clear answer. But both sides, he ventures, needed to work harder toward achieving that goal. Prime Minister Nehru had been reluctant to indicate how, when and where American aid could be used most effectively. The Indians complained that they were not consulted on issues relating to Asia.

When Nehru visited the United States a year earlier, the newspapers in India suggested that he would be able to obtain as a gift or buy at a reduced price a million tons of wheat. When that deal did not materialize, there was a feeling that India had been let down.

Drought, flood and a severe earthquake had impacted life adversely during the prior year. The wholesale price index was more than four times that prior to the war.

The long-term hydroelectric projects had not progressed far enough to contribute to current supply. Nearly half of the capital necessary to carry out an approved six-year plan would have to come from foreign sources.

Some Americans doubted that Marshall Plan aid would work in India because of the vastness of the needs. If aid were not forthcoming, however, the question remained whether the country would become Communist. Indian Communists, who until recently had undertaken sabotage and violence, had been dealt with harshly, some detained for up to a year without a charge, ostensibly permissible under the Indian constitution but being contested in the courts.

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