The Charlotte News

Friday, March 17, 1950

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that South Dakota Senator Karl Mundt criticized the State Department for defending John Service before waiting for the new investigation of his loyalty. He had been ordered home while en route to his new assignment as consul at Calcutta, based on a recommendation of the Civil Service loyalty review board. The previous day, Deputy Undersecretary of State John Peurifoy had said that Senator Joseph McCarthy had revived "dead, discredited, disproven" accusations against Mr. Service and that he had been cleared three times in the previous five years, that he should not be having to undergo yet another embarrassing public investigation against his background of loyal service to the country. He said that one reason Mr. Service was being recalled was to afford him the opportunity to respond to the charges. Senator McCarthy then claimed that Mr. Peurifoy was seeking to "cover up and confuse the issue."

The Justice Department denounced a Congressional proposal, already approved by the House, to have the FBI pass judgment on the loyalty of some Government employees. The plan was incorporated into the National Science Foundation bill, presently in conference to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions. The Justice Department said that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and Defense Secretary Louis Johnson agreed with its assessment that the Bureau was not established to be an adjudicatory body, that it only investigated matters and presented the information collected. Mr. Hoover had said that the proposed amendments to the bill would make the Bureau into a state police organization.

House Republicans sought to trim the President's 43 billion dollar budget by another three billion dollars, in addition to the 1.2 billion already trimmed by the House Appropriations Committee, the latter reducing the predicted deficit to about four billion dollars. The proposed GOP cuts did not impact the 12 billion for foreign aid or the permanent and indefinite appropriations and trust funds.

In Hyde Park, N.Y., the FDR Library made available to the public 85 percent of the late President's five million letters, which had taken two and a half years to index. The remaining 15 percent would be withheld for 25 years as they might be embarrassing to living persons or affect relations with other nations.

Air and sea searchers were trying to locate a missing net tender with 40 crewmen aboard in the Pacific, 400 miles north of Kwajalein. The craft had been scheduled to arrive at the Eniwetok atomic proving grounds the previous Monday.

In Frankfurt, West Germany, the military tribunal trial of a woman accused of murdering her Air Force husband the previous October went to the three-man court for verdict. The defense and prosecution waived final arguments. The verdict would be presented the following afternoon. The defendant had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Testimony had been given during the trial that shortly before the killing she had argued with a guest at a party regarding his teasing her for her Brooklyn accent after she had teased the witness about his Southern accent. She had then left the party, waited at home in the dark for her husband to return, and then fatally shot him as he entered the door.

In Canton, Ill., a deposed head of a UMW local made a complaint to the NLRB claiming that he had been removed from his post and fined $50,000 for trying to return to work on February 24. He claimed that John L. Lewis, while publicly directing miners on February 11 to comply with the Federal court order to end the strike, had sent secret signals to the miners to stay off the job. The replacement president of the local said that he knew nothing of secret signals and John L. Lewis had described the claim as "nonsense" in an interview with Arthur Krock of The New York Times.

In Spray, N.C., a fire at 2:30 a.m. at the jail killed five men and one woman, all prisoners at the facility, charged with public drunkenness. Police said that there was a possibility that one of the six had started the fire deliberately. They said that they always searched prisoners for matches but that sometimes they were concealed.

In New York, the annual St. Patrick Day's parade down Fifth Avenue was expected to attract 100,000 marchers, the largest number ever. There were more Irish in New York City than in Dublin. Two reviewing stands were set up, one on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral for religious observance, and the other at 64th Street for civil authorities.

In London, a cat saved nine lives by scratching at the bedroom door of its owner until she awakened with the house ablaze and rousted her husband and children from their beds to safety.

A part of chapter thirty-nine of The Greatest Story Ever Told by Fulton Oursler appears on the page as part of the abridged serialization of the book.

On the editorial page, "Asking for Trouble" addresses the below piece by Ralph Gibson regarding the County Commissioners' decision not to undertake that which a 1949 law authorized them to do, to limit the number of justices of the peace, and discontinue the case-by-case fee collection by the magistrates. A case in 1948 had revealed that the five magistrates of Mecklenburg County were abusing the system, running "kangaroo courts", having people hauled in late at night by the Sheriff on questionable grounds and then collecting costs and fines to dispose of the cases.

Mr. Gibson explained why the County had refused to follow the new law, as it would cost too much money to oversee the magistrates with a new department, that salaries for them would be a heavy drain on the budget, and that the Commissioners already had control over them.

The piece registers objections to each point, especially regarding collection of fees per case, that practice running counter to the County exerting control over the magistrates' conduct.

"Another 'Study' Is Launched" says that it would await the results of the agreed study by Duke Power Co. and the City Government anent better bus service. It finds it doubtful that the City Government would be able to provide a plan for a more efficient bus system, as it required specialized knowledge and the City had not hired the requisite specialists for the purpose.

"Use Both Barrels, Senator" tells of Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia speaking in Raleigh, urging, as he usually did, that the country was proceeding toward socialism and that unless deficit spending were stopped, economic disaster would occur, speeding the transition to socialism. But he did not say that Congress had responsibility to stand up to the efforts of the Administration and balk at such spending and such programs. The piece urges him to use the "other barrel".

"Crime and Saucers" tells of the chairman of the FCC, speaking in Norman, Okla., having told an audience that radio and television had to "clean house" regarding crime programs and "livery stable humor". In Greensboro, a radio announcer claimed to have seen a flying saucer land in the street adjacent to the station, when in fact there was a hole made by workmen which had been present for two weeks, into which a desk had fallen, which the radio man claimed was from the craft. Some 1,200 persons then gathered quickly to see the landing spot and debris while hundreds more called the station. He then revealed that it was a gag.

The piece finds that the latter incident showed that the FCC Commissioner was correct and that radio and television would have to show more responsibility, that if it did not grow up, then Government control would have to be exerted despite the protests of the press regarding censorship and free speech.

What was the gag?

Ralph Gibson of The News, as indicated above, explains the new law passed by the 1949 General Assembly affecting 26 of North Carolina's 100 counties, including Mecklenburg, enabling the County Commissioners to abolish the former fee system whereby justices of the peace collected fees per case, restricting the number of magistrates who could operate in the County, extending their jurisdiction to the entire county rather the township where they sat, and having them appointed by the Superior Court's resident judge rather than appointed by the Governor or the Legislature, freighted in that event with political favoritism. The Mecklenburg Commissioners, however, elected to continue the old fee system

The reason for the change in the law was because, as in Mecklenburg, the fee system had been abused by justices of the peace. The new law required regular reports by the magistrates regarding the fees they collected and that the fees be turned over to the County Treasurer.

The Commissioners now could not make the new law applicable to Mecklenburg until March, 1951.

A piece from the Christian Science Monitor, titled "Not for Lesser Men", nominates Dr. Robert Millikan for the "Turning Worm" award for having stood to address a dinner audience, saying that he feared at the late hour that the guests were too weary to hear his address on his book, The Road to Peace, then suggested instead that they read it, and sat down. It was what thousands of such dinner guests had longed to hear, but a sentiment which few "Average Worms" had the courage to accommodate.

Drew Pearson tells of the President's deep commitment to insuring a permanent peace, lest the world destroy itself with atomic weapons. Yet, he refused to meet with Josef Stalin except in the United States. Privately, he expressed the belief that the two leaders could work out most of the worst problems of the world in a joint meeting. To that end, he had arranged for Chief Justice Fred Vinson to go to Moscow to meet with Stalin, but when word leaked, the State Department, then under the direction of George C. Marshall, objected, believing that Western allies would perceive such a bilateral meeting as undercutting Western unity.

Recently, the President had again expressed the desire for a peace conference. But, to the consternation of many of his top advisers, he then sent out a press release indicating that the Atomic Energy Commission would continue to push forward in research on the hydrogen bomb. The State Department objected to the erratic and unexpected nature of his foreign policy pronouncements, as when he gave an exclusive interview to Arthur Krock of The New York Times. In contrast, Russia had a fixed, firm foreign policy, to break the democratic systems of the free world. The State Department believed, based on past performance at the U.N. and at the treaty conferences, that the Politburo would not alter that policy during a peace conference.

But all was not well within Russia or the satellite countries, with a virtual revolt in Bulgaria and unrest in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. They were fearful that the U.S. would exploit this unrest with propaganda campaigns, but did not realize how unimaginative U.S. policy had become in this regard. Such could be done, he ventures, but only through skillful diplomatic planning of the type not presently being done.

Marquis Childs tells of the effort to get Secretary of State Acheson to leave his post because of his support of his old friend Alger Hiss following his conviction in his retrial for perjury. Even allies within the Administration were not readily coming to Mr. Acheson's aid.

Meanwhile, Republicans were attacking him from all sides. Former Illinois Congressman Everett Dirksen, running for the Senate against Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas and expected to be a formidable challenger, had taken up an isolationist line after previously being a leading Republican for the Marshall Plan. He had repeatedly attacked Mr. Acheson for his continued friendship with Mr. Hiss and claimed the State Department was conducting a pro-Communist foreign policy.

Secretary Acheson was carrying on as if he was secure in his post, acting as a scholar and a gentleman. Mr. Childs suggests that his brilliance and high-mindedness might see him through the crisis despite not receiving support from sources which normally ought be in his corner.

A letter writer thanks the newspaper for its three front page articles during the week by Editor Pete McKnight on Senator Frank Graham and finds both him and former Senator Robert Rice Reynolds "grand".

A letter writer thanks the newspaper for its editorial, "The New Church", appearing March 13, thinks it the best statement in the press on the Church which he had seen in a long time.

A letter writer compliments the newspaper for "A School Problem" and Bob Sain's summary of the magazine article, "Quackery in the Schools" by Albert Lynd, both pieces appearing March 14.

A letter writer thanks writer Clare Leighton for her efforts in organizing "Culture and Collards", a benefit for the North Carolina State Symphony. He tells of her background, born in England and familiar with both Old World culture and that of the United States.

A letter writer finds the fishing good in Titusville and was glad to be receiving The News each morning.

It's an afternoon newspaper. What time do you go to bed?

A letter writer compliments the Mint Museum for sponsoring its Ensemble, which would play its fifteenth free concert on March 19. That the events were well attended showed that Charlotte was growing musically as well as numerically.

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