The Charlotte News

Monday, January 22, 1951

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that four allied motorized columns with tanks and mobile artillery had plunged to within less than 25 miles of Seoul during Monday, along a 50-mile front in the western sector of Korea, but the enemy had not responded. One patrol went straight through Osan and prowled north of the town, 28 air miles south of Seoul. The objective had been to perform reconnaissance and capture prisoners for information gathering on Communist troop positions, but the enemy had fled into the hills. The mission returned to the lines after a few hours.

On the central front, allied forces retook Wonju airstrip and nearby Hill 233. Lt. General Matthew Ridgway, commander of the Eighth Army, landed at the airfield a few hours later and said everything was "perfect and getting better all the time" on the central front. He praised the Second Division for its stand at Wonju, which had begun January 8, and especially lauded the French troops fighting with the Eighth, citing their "magnificent bayonet attack" earlier in the month. The stand had apparently stopped a planned Communist thrust through the mountain passes south of Wonju, a major road and rail hub.

Correspondent Elton C. Fay tells of personal reports from two top intelligence officials, CIA director, General Walter Beedle Smith, and chief of Army G-2 intelligence, Maj. General Alexander Bolling, following their return from the Far East, possibly accounting for the confidence regarding the Korean war currently being expressed at the Pentagon. They had accompanied Army chief of staff, General J. Lawton Collins, and Air Force chief of staff, General Hoyt Vandenberg, on the trip.

Joint Chiefs chairman General Omar Bradley told the Senate Defense Preparedness subcommittee, chaired by Senator Lyndon Johnson, that the country would be prepared for any bombing raid which an enemy might make, that some bombers would penetrate, but disaster could be averted with existing defenses. He favored the lowering of the draft age from 19 to 18 and extending the term of service from 21 to 27 months, as proposed by the Administration to meet the quota of a 3.5 million-man armed forces by the end of the year. He also favored establishment of outlying bases in foreign countries to provide for air capability to meet aggression. Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt, of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee, favored hearing from General Eisenhower before a vote was taken on the draft changes, though he believed them necessary.

Senator Brien McMahon of Connecticut, chairman of the joint Atomic Energy Committee, renewed his call for a 50-billion dollar global peace plan and asked that it be linked to a Senate resolution expressing friendship for the Russian people. The plan would spend ten billion dollars per year for five years to supply economic aid to all countries, including Russia, in exchange for effective controls of atomic energy and an agreement that countries earmark two-thirds of their current arms spending for constructive purposes. The plan would also include the right of the U.N. to operate its own radio station within the Soviet Union so that the body's deliberations would be transmitted to the people behind the iron curtain.

A note to Russia from the U.S., Britain, and France regarding the proposed four-power meeting would be delivered in Moscow probably the following day. None of the four governments appeared to believe that such a meeting would ameliorate relations or lessen world tensions, and some believed it might even exacerbate matters. The interest in the meeting appeared to stem from the desire to leave no stone unturned in trying to effect peace and to gain whatever propaganda value such a meeting might produce. The sticking point still was whether Russia would agree to discuss the whole range of world problems, as favored by the three Western powers, and not just the question of demilitarization of Germany, as Russia had originally proposed.

In the Alpine areas of Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, a series of avalanches during the weekend had killed 170 people, with many still missing. Whole villages had been buried. Austria suffered at least 95 dead, Switzerland, 60, with twenty missing, and Italy, 15, with another 50 injured. The unusual number of avalanches, believed to be a record, had resulted from heavy snows the prior week.

In Lesage, W. Va., a huge boulder weighing several tons, plunged down a hillside into a home and crushed an elderly woman's legs. She was rescued after two hours of being pinned beneath the rock and taken to a hospital where the extent of her injuries had not yet been determined. She had remained conscious throughout the ordeal.

Best not to live beneath a hill.

In Charlotte, a seven-month old baby perished in a flash fire at home early in the afternoon, after an oil tank exploded at the rear of the residence.

Also in Charlotte, an explosion early in the afternoon started a fire at the Oil Equipment Service Co. on South Boulevard.

Better steer clear of that area today.

In Raleigh, the General Assembly was preparing to open debate on the State Fairgrounds coliseum which had been allocated 1.2 million dollars by the 1949 Legislature, but was now proposed at 1.3 million, less the heating and lighting systems. There had been question as to whether the coliseum was needed in light of the new William Neal Reynolds Coliseum on the nearby N.C. State campus. It was one of several controversial expenditures to be discussed.

On the editorial page, "People and Progress" tells of 292,000 North Carolinians having left the state during the prior decade and most, according to George H. Lawrence, writing in The State, having been the young, educated population looking for brighter and better opportunities in the North.

Some of the migration was the result of the war and returning servicemen who had seen other parts of the country and the world, and decided to settle elsewhere.

It suggests that there was no cause for alarm as the state was attracting new industry, and it expresses confidence that, in time, younger, educated natives would find enough reason to remain in the state.

"Stream Pollution" tells of the State Stream Sanitation Committee finding that the Catawba River running in the vicinity of Charlotte was the most polluted in the state because of industrial dumping of chemicals and domestic waste. The Committee also found the Yadkin River polluted from the waste of towns above Winston-Salem, as well the Neuse, from the waste of Durham and Goldsboro, the French Broad, from the waste of Asheville, the Haw, from the industrial waste of Greensboro, and the Dan-Smith River, from the waste of the Leaksville-Spray area.

A bill before the General Assembly would create a permanent State Stream Sanitation Commission, with powers to identify polluters and issue fines of between $50 and $500 per week for continued pollution after being ordered to cease and desist.

The piece urges industries in the state to consider the problems caused to the water of the state by continued waste disposal and the harm it did to attracting new industry and therefore to the overall economy. It favors passage of the measure before the Legislature, notwithstanding objection by some of the industries of the state.

"A Matter of Judgment" remarks on the shortcomings of the American press, facing deadlines and the need to attract readers, setting forth deceptive headlines and stories on occasion. It offers three examples. After the inaugural address of Gordon Gray as president of the Consolidated University, wherein he had made a mild remark on Communists on the campuses, a resulting headline read: "Gray Says Commies Won't Be Tolerated at UNC".

The President's budget message to Congress had touched on Fair Deal issues only in passing, but the news coverage made it appear that they were central topics.

After the inaugural address of James Byrnes as Governor of South Carolina, the press claimed that he favored withdrawal from Korea, when he had stated only the contingency that if the U.N. did not authorize bombing of Chinese supply bases and a blockade, then the U.S. should withdraw so that it could concentrate on its primary bulwark against Soviet aggression, Western Europe.

It offers no remedy to such sloppy reporting but cautions readers and radio listeners of the existence of such erroneous reports at times and that care should thus be exercised in accepting everything at face value.

Drew Pearson reveals the substance of discussion between the President, General MacArthur, General Omar Bradley and the other military chieftains present at the October Wake Island meeting, to the extent the scant notes thereon allowed. The President and General MacArthur, in their meeting alone, discussed Formosa primarily, with the President making it clear that there were to be no more private meetings between the General and Chiang Kai-Shek and that U.N. policy would be followed. The rest of the conference dealt primarily with rehabilitation of Korea after the military victory, which appeared at the time assured. General MacArthur had told the President that the few North Korean guerrillas remaining in Korea would be vanquished by the winter weather and that the force was beaten, that U.S. troops could be withdrawn by Christmas.

When the President inquired about the possibility of Chinese intervention, General MacArthur told him that the Chinese could have intervened earlier and had not, that the time for intervention had passed. Despite there being several hundred thousand Chinese on the other side of the Yalu River, he did not expect trouble from them and implied that his men could take care of them even if they did intervene. At the same time, the General recommended complete withdrawal of American troops at the earliest practicable time. No one challenged the General's logic regarding a march to the Yalu River and then quickly withdrawing.

He advised turning Korea over to the Koreans as soon as possible and against occupation. He told General Bradley that he could make a division available for Western Europe in early 1951.

General MacArthur had dominated the meetings regarding discussion of military strategy, and there was virtually no effort to contradict his opinions or warn that the Chinese might intervene.

Marquis Childs discusses international air travel and the competition between Pan Am, TWA, and Air France for the intra-European routes after Pan Am had lobbied successfully to get the route to Paris. The French, already complaining about the competition from TWA, nevertheless eventually went along with the idea. Italy soon followed the French example.

The Civil Aeronautics Board had voted initially to deny a merger between American Overseas Airlines and Pan Am, but the President, after initially supporting the Board ruling, intervened and finally sided with the minority, that which Mr. Childs regards as one of the most disgraceful episodes of the Truman Administration.

The international routes would come up again for allocation in 1952 and political pressure would be placed on the process. The taxpayer meanwhile ultimately foot the bill for Federal subsidies to the airlines.

Joseph & Stewart Alsop tell of the Anglo-American relationship being under review at the State and Defense Departments, both as to the political and military aspects of it. The cause was the drift in U.S. policy such that allies were left to wonder what the policy was.

The U.S. had proposed that the U.N. brand Communist China an aggressor in Korea. The British would likely vote for the proposal. But if it passed, it was unclear what sanctions would be favored by the U.S., and whatever they were, the British would have to join in imposing them.

Most American authorities expected the Chinese to wage an offensive soon in Indo-China. France and Britain were more optimistic about the prospect, but acknowledged it as a possibility. Yet, no contingency plans had been made in Washington for proceeding in the event of such an attack.

Tito in Yugoslavia expected an attack by the Soviets in the spring but again, Washington had not planned for such a possibility, leaving allies at a loss as to U.S. views on the matter.

The tendency toward drift in these areas had led to the review of Anglo-American relations.

The reason for the drift, they posit, was the peculiar structure of authority in the Government, whereby the President waited for ready-made policy to come to his desk from the Defense and State Departments, rather than directing that policy, as most of his predecessors had done. The main burdens for developing the policy to meet each crisis as it arose inevitably fell to subordinates in each department.

They recommend two courses of action, that all politico-strategic issues confronting the country be considered both politically and militarily, with State Department officials sitting in on meetings with the Joint Chiefs, and that the formerly intimate Anglo-American collaboration be revived and strengthened by re-invigorating the combined chiefs of staffs of both countries and adding political representatives to those staffs. In that way, they hope, the drift might end.

A letter writer from Gastonia defends stock car racing against attack by some as promoting fast driving and accidents. As a former race car driver, he says that if every young driver spent some time on the track, they would be less prone to accidents. He defends in particular Red Byron and thinks the "old fogey" who had attacked him should get to know him. Baseball, football, and boxing had their share of injuries, too.

A letter writer expresses intrigue at the financial statements of the Reverend Billy Graham's revivals in Atlanta, saying that he had no idea that the salvation business had been doing so well.

He concludes: "Anyway, get aboard, boys, it's a bull market in souls and while the ushers pass the tubs, the choir will sing 'I'm Glad Salvation's Free'. I can't help remembering an old motto on the wall of Titanic Thompson's old gaming hall in Joplin, Missouri, years ago—'Caveat Emptor Ne In Via Somniat'."

A letter writer, indulging in ironic overstatement, says that he was for everything Robert C. Ruark had favored in a recent editorial insofar as giving the death penalty to draft dodgers, and while about it, thinks the whole system ought return to an "eye for an eye", that conscientious religious belief had no place when compared to the need to defend one's country, that if the State required one to spit on the cross and the image of Christ, one should do so.

A letter writer finds hope in the fact that there had not been a homicide in Charlotte during the prior three months and further comments on the humdrum nature of North Carolina murders compared to other regions of the country, such as Lizzie Borden's "40 whacks" to her parents in Fall River, Mass., Kate Bender of Kansas, whose boys routinely hit guests at her boarding house over the head with a hammer and then robbed them and dismembered their bodies, the "butterfly" murders in New York, the four New York society girls gruesomely murdered in a Chinese restaurant kitchen, giving the section of town its nickname of "Hell's Kitchen", the "rip-saw" murders in Michigan, or the "brace and bit" murders in Illinois.

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