The Charlotte News

Wednesday, October 10, 1951

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that fifty American tanks had led thousands of American infantrymen in a surprise attack this date which had moved eight miles through Communist Chinese lines in eastern Korea, prompting ground commander General James Van Fleet to express the hope that it would be the end of the "Heartbreak Ridge" fighting. Green Chinese troops had turned and run in the face of the allied armored thrust.

Elsewhere on the front, U.S. troops fought heavy enemy contingents and made small gains in two sectors.

Communist and allied liaison officers agreed on a new site for resumption of the ceasefire talks, six air miles southeast of Kaesong and near Panmunjom. There was no immediate announcement as to when the talks, which had been broken off by the Communists on August 23, would resume.

Secretary of State Acheson told the press that he had supported a February 5, 1949 White House conference proposal that American military aid be suspended from the Chinese Nationalists, a proposal finally vetoed by the President. He said that Philip Jessup, under scrutiny in his confirmation hearings to become a delegate to the U.N., had not attended the meeting. The matter is further explored in an editorial below.

In Cairo, rioters attacked offices and soft drink trucks of Western businesses and tried to burn them down in a demonstration of support for the Egyptian Government's move to oust the British from the Suez Canal and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

Secretary Acheson said that the U.S. believed that new Egyptian defense proposals expected shortly would serve as a basis for settling the British-Egyptian dispute over the two regions.

Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snyder testified to a House Ways & Means subcommittee that he had asked for the resignation of the former St. Louis internal revenue collector, in August, 1950, two months before, according to the collector's testimony, he was asked to remain by the President. He had been fired the previous April after he fell under scrutiny by a St. Louis grand jury and by Congress. The former collector claimed that he had sought to resign as early as 1949. Mr. Snyder said that in seeking the resignation, he had been responding to general rumors around St. Louis regarding the conduct of the collector's office.

The Miami Daily News reported in a story by columnist Bill Baggs—in 1967 and 1968, to accompany former News editor Harry Ashmore in an attempt, under the auspices of the State Department, to arrange a peace conference between the U.S. and North Vietnamese—that Bernard Baruch had been invited to Moscow in 1948 and 1949 to explain his plan for international control of atomic energy and that he wanted to make the trip, as he doubted that the Soviet leadership understood his proposal. Mr. Baruch, when contacted, had confirmed the invitation by the Soviets but declined to say why he did not make the trip upon the second invitation. Mr. Baggs speculated that it was because he had become persona non grata to the Truman Administration. Mr. Baruch had sailed as far as Europe in 1948 but then was struck by an attack of arthritis and notified Andrei Gromyko, then chief Russian delegate to the U.N., that he would have to return to the U.S. Mr. Gromyko then renewed the invitation a few months later, but at that time, Mr. Baruch did not even apply for a visa. The Baruch plan called for establishment of an international body to expand peaceful uses of atomic energy and prevent aggressive uses, free inspection of all countries to assure compliance with non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, no veto on the day-to-day operations of the international body and no veto on punishment of nations which violated the agreement.

Southern railroads were granted authority by the Interstate Commerce Commission to impose a 10 percent boost in passenger fares.

In Laredo, Tex., Gus Hall, one of the four top American Communists who had jumped bail and not surrendered for the start of their sentences after the Supreme Court had the prior June upheld their convictions under the Smith Act, was turned over to the FBI at the international bridge between the U.S. and Mexico, where Mr. Hall was apprehended. The other three remained at large and the remaining seven of the defendants had voluntarily surrendered at the time of revocation of their appellate bond.

In New York, millionaire showman Billy Rose and his wife were reported to be separated, with a divorce in the offing. The couple had not been seen together in the usual Broadway nightspots since the former wife of Milton Berle, Joyce Matthews, had attempted suicide in Mr. Rose's penthouse apartment on July 15.

In Greenville, Miss., Governor Fielding Wright commuted a farmer's death sentence to life in prison after the latter's hometown of Greenville voted at a clemency hearing, 590 to 10, for clemency. The farmer would otherwise have been electrocuted on the following Friday for slaying the town marshal in May, 1950.

Another Gallup poll appears, this one assessing the popularity of Secretary of State Acheson, finding that in the wake of the San Francisco conference to establish a final peace treaty with Japan, his popularity had risen sharply from the previous winter. Of the respondents, 34 percent did not know who he was, and within the remaining 66 percent who did, 29 percent wanted him to remain as Secretary, 25 percent wanted him replaced, and 12 percent expressed no opinion. The previous December, only 21 percent wanted him to remain, 30 percent wanted him replaced, and 15 percent had no opinion.

In New York in the World Series, the Yankees took a 1 to 0 lead over the New York Giants in the first inning, after a single by Jerry Coleman, a double by Yogi Berra, and an outfield sacrifice fly. The Yankees would go on to win the game, 4 to 3, and the Series, four games to two.

On the editorial page, "How Many Zeros Add Up to One?" comments on the investigation by a Senate subcommittee into the fitness of Ambassador-at-Large Philip Jessup to serve as a member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N., based on charges by Senator Joseph McCarthy that Mr. Jessup's association with six organizations added up to an "affinity" for Communism. Yet, it was shown that the YMCA, the Young Democrats, Life and Time publisher Henry Luce, Pan-American Airlines head Juan Trippe, Senator Homer Ferguson, and Richmond Times-Dispatch editor Virginius Dabney had all been as active or even more so than Mr. Jessup in these organizations.

Then, former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen testified about a meeting which he had attended in 1949, at which Owen Lattimore had suggested a ten-point program for U.S. action in the Far East, which included U.S. recognition of Communist China, and at which Mr. Jessup had stated that he saw logic in that proposal, something which Mr. Jessup denied. Mr. Stassen also claimed that the late Senator Arthur Vandenberg had told him in 1949 of a meeting with Secretary of State Acheson and Mr. Jessup at which the latter had advocated cutting off aid to Nationalist China. But according to the State Department, Mr. Jessup was not present, and Senator Vandenberg's diary did not mention his presence, said only that the National Security Council had recommended cutting off all aid but was overruled by the President.

While Mr. Jessup had denied the claims and no proof had been presented to the contrary, the piece ventures that had he urged recognition of China in 1949 and cutting off aid to the Nationalists, it would not have been out of line with good reason. Recognition would have enabled establishment of diplomatic offices in Communist China, which could have served as listening posts for gathering information helpful in the formulation of foreign policy and to try to drive a wedge between China and Russia. Stopping arms shipments to the Nationalists would have been wise, as American arms often wound up in the hands of the Chinese Communists, surrendered by Nationalist generals. Moreover, the Chiang Kai-shek regime was rife with corruption and inefficiency

Mr. Jessup had established a solid record of opposition to Communism while at the U.N. previously and during the Paris meetings the prior spring, earning the solid endorsement of General Eisenhower as well as chief American U.N. delegate, Warren Austin.

It finds, therefore, that there was no reason produced thus far for Mr. Jessup not to be confirmed to the post. Nevertheless, McCarthyism was having its long-term effect by producing further anxiety regarding Communists in the Government, causing rigidity in the State Department in formulation of its policies. McCarthyism had robbed the country of a major asset, "freedom and flexibility of diplomatic action in a fast-changing world." Russia, by contrast, was able to adapt its foreign policy to the needs of the moment.

"Let's 'Investigate' the Present" finds that whatever the result might be in the dispute between Egypt and Britain over control of the Suez Canal and the Sudan, it was clear that Egypt had been emboldened to act by allied fumbling of the Iranian oil nationalization dispute. The U.S. would court disaster if it sat by idly in this latest dispute, as the Suez was a vital link in the Western plan for defense of the Mediterranean and the Near East.

Meanwhile, Congress was investigating matters largely in the past, one even going so far back as the Bonus March of World War I soldiers on Washington in 1931. If there was a plan to keep the Middle East out of Communist hands, it ventures that it was time to bring it forth, and that if the State Department and Pentagon did not have one, then the Middle East might wind up falling to the Communists.

"A Disgusting Exhibition" finds the heavy turnout at the funeral procession and burial of gangland-murdered gambling boss Willie Moretti in Lodi, N.J., to have been without particular significance, as the American people, not unique in the world, were "possessed of a strange streak of morbid curiosity that shows itself in such odd fashions."

It adds, however, that in view of the revelations by the Kefauver crime investigating committee the previous fall and winter, it would have been refreshing had the people of Lodi simply "turned their backs and spat upon the ground" as the funeral procession passed.

A piece from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, titled "Shot Full of Holes", discusses the Hoey subcommittee hearings on DNC chairman William Boyle's alleged exertion of influence on behalf of a St. Louis printing firm to obtain three sizable RFC loans, first brought to light by the Post-Dispatch. It indicates that the testimony had shown that, despite Mr. Boyle's denial, he had discussed the loan with the RFC, at least to the extent of arranging a conference, after which the thrice-rejected loan was quickly granted. The testimony also tended to undermine his claim that he severed all relationship with the printing firm after he became full-time DNC chairman, as his former law partner went on the payroll of the printing firm at that time, and his payments were listed for the account of Mr. Boyle. Moreover, Mr. Boyle's claim that the money he had received, $1,250, from the printing firm was only for legal fees was confuted by the testimony that he did no legal work and that the company listed the payments to him as "commissions".

It suggests that he needed a new defense as the old one was in tatters, and that the new one must be "honest, frank, and complete, and documented with more than his unsupported assertions."

Drew Pearson tells of debate taking place in executive session of the Senate-House conference committee to reconcile the tax bill, between Senator Walter George of Georgia and Congressman Robert Doughton of North Carolina, who differed on taxes. Both were elderly and had served for long periods of time in Congress, 29 years and 40 years, respectively. Both came from rural backgrounds. Mr. Doughton had been Senator George's most stubborn opponent in trying to plug loopholes in the Senate's so-called "millionaires'" tax bill, providing, according to the Congressman, too many cuts for the wealthy. Whereas the President had asked for 16 billion dollars in new taxes to balance the budget, the House had cut it to 10 billion and and then to 7.2 billion, and then the Senate had cut it all the way down to 5.4 billion. Senator George claimed that the latter figure was the maximum the economy could stand without curtailing production and destroying incentive. Congressman John Dingell of Detroit supported Mr. Doughton.

A secret strategy meeting had recently been held in Washington for the supporters of Senator Taft for the presidency in 1952, one of whom, the Senator's cousin, Dave Ingalls, who had been Assistant Secretary of War during the Hoover Administration, claiming that if the convention were held at present, the Senator would poll 500 of the 600 Republican delegates. But others present pegged the number at about 350. Mr. Ingalls said that the only real threat to the Senator's nomination was General Eisenhower, but that party leaders believed the General would not make enough of an aggressive effort to obtain the nomination.

Meanwhile, the anti-Taft forces were preparing to announce soon that Senator James Duff of Pennsylvania would head the committee for nomination of General Eisenhower. They expected that around Christmas, the General would issue a personal statement that he would be available for the Republican nomination if drafted.

Joseph Alsop continues his look from the previous day at the power struggle to control the Federal Power Commission. Former Washington Governor Mon Wallgren had recently vacated the chairmanship and wanted his tradition of turning over power to the big industries continued by Irvin Hoff, who served in the office of Washington Senator, Warren Magnuson. But Senator Robert Kerr, who had spearheaded the campaign to get a pro-business faction onto the FPC, favored William Tarver, an official of the Defense Petroleum Administration, who was sympathetic to the oil and natural gas industries.

The effect of the ruling of the FPC under the chairmanship of Mr. Wallgren had been to permit increased gas prices demanded by Phillips Petroleum, estimated by FPC minority member Thomas Buchanan to be, in only the Michigan-Wisconsin area, a total of five million dollars annually or 125 million dollars for the life of the Phillips contract. For the people of Detroit, the hike would be 1.7 million per year. Former FPC chairman Leland Olds had estimated that the price increases had raised the natural gas reserves of Phillips by about 700 million dollars. Other companies would likewise benefit.

In appreciation of Senator Kerr's efforts on behalf of the natural gas industry, Phillips had transferred 100 sections of proven gas acreage to a subsidiary of Senator Kerr's company, Kerr-McGee.

Meanwhile, other companies were demanding like treatment as that accorded Phillips, that is the ability to charge for gas whatever the traffic would bear. The result would likely be that not only would there be a couple of hundred million dollars of additional cost to the consumers for natural gas but also as much as a billion dollars or more for electricity.

Marquis Childs discusses the presidential campaign of Senator Taft. The men managing it were confident that the same technique which they had used to get him re-elected in Ohio in 1950 would work on the national level. But that race had involved an opponent who was only a state party hack.

During his recent speaking tour through Minnesota and the Dakotas, the Senator had taken aim at the farm vote, praising the cooperatives and the Rural Electrification Administration. Earlier, in the Senate Finance Committee, the Senator had opposed the application of drastic Federal taxation on the cooperatives, causing him to be attacked by the National Tax Equality Association in a letter to its members, claiming that the Senator had sold businessmen and taxpayers down the river. On the floor of the Senate, the Senator had fought against fellow Republican, Senator John Williams of Delaware, to defeat an amendment which the farm cooperatives regarded as "penalty taxation". The farm cooperative tax measure which was finally adopted was accepted by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, a pioneer in the cooperative movement.

In the wake of the Senator's Western trip, some Congressmen from those districts had grumbled that he had not gone far enough and took him to task for attacking farm subsidies and the support program in North Dakota, where wheat farmers believed that their future depended on high support prices. Some of these Congressmen doubted that the Senator could beat the President in 1952 and voiced support either for General MacArthur or Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois as an alternative nominee.

A letter writer from Campobello, S.C., finds that most Democrats wanted the President, despite his poor performance in office, to run for re-election in 1952. He thinks that the South was due to produce the next occupant of the White House, but that Senator Walter George of Georgia, while the ablest, favored too much the rich, as did Senator Harry F. Byrd. He likes Senator Clyde Hoey of North Carolina as the man "for the masses and not the classes".

A letter writer praises an article by Tom Fesperman of the newspaper titled, "Don't Be Shocked: Cigarette Puffing Okay on School Grounds". She says that a great many people would be shocked if they toured such high schools as Myers Park and saw that it was populated with what looked like "dead-end kids, cigarettes drooping casually from their lips, and cigarette butts littering the much-publicized 'beautiful campus'." Mr. Fesperman had explained that the reason why cigarette smoking was permitted on high school grounds, even where seventh and eighth graders were enrolled, was because the School Board had in 1946 been unable to figure out a way to prevent it. She thinks there was no reason to cater to 11th and 12th graders who could not get through a day without a drag on a cigarette. She says that while she had no knowledge that marijuana was also being smoked in the schools, that, too, might yet become a problem if tobacco smoking was so openly tolerated. She warns that if unmarried motherhood became a trend in years to come, then it, likewise, might find positive sanction in the Charlotte schools.

A letter writer says that it was well known that the national sport was baseball, suggests that those objecting to its celebration ought stop and think about a few things, that Russia was always ready to jump at a chance to find problems in America, and that baseball provided a means to bring people together to confute such notions of division. She finds the woman who had written a letter on October 6, objecting to so much attention being paid to baseball at the expense of more important topics, to have missed the mark, that if more people cared about baseball, the world would be a better place in which to live. She thinks that the former letter writer and a few others like her were the reason that baseball was so important to the American people.

Just what is it you are suggesting? A person cannot criticize the worship of a sport without being somehow un-American? Perhaps, you should move to Russia and teach the Commies how to play baseball. You would obviously then be much happier with no dissent to confuse your certain view of the world.

Besides, baseball is clearly a secretly Commie sport. Why else would they have the Cincinnati Reds?

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