The Charlotte News
Friday, December 7, 1951
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Robert B. Tuckman, that the Communists, through a Chinese correspondent outside the truce negotiation tent in Panmunjom, hinted that they held no more than half of the 10,000 Americans listed as missing in Korea, with the journalist indicating that he knew of no war where more than half of the soldiers reported missing were prisoners, and suspected the present war was no different. Other Communist correspondents stated that all allied prisoners of war were in North Korean camps and that none had been taken to China, that all prisoners had been issued warm winter clothing.
Inside the tent, allied negotiators, in a move to try to obtain a truce quickly, agreed to discuss withdrawal of foreign troops after agreement had been reached regarding terms of enforcement of the armistice and exchange of prisoners, but before an armistice was signed.
In the air war, a few allied jets hunted in vain through storm clouds for Communist jets in the hope of extending their record-breaking eleven-day series of victories by another day. None were found. The weather was so bad that only 103 sorties were flown by the U.S. Fifth Air Force.
In the ground war, the Communists launched five small probing attacks shortly after midnight at the center of the 145-mile front and U.N. outposts repulsed four of those attacks, with the fifth unit forced to withdraw from its advanced position. The other sectors remained quiet. South Korean Army forces, who had sought 1,500 guerrillas in the Shiri Mountains, solidified their hold on the mountains but did not find their quarry.
In Paris, the U.N. General Assembly voted, 39 to 7, against a Soviet-bloc proposal to seat Communist China in place of Nationalist China. The Assembly urged the Security Council to approve admission of Italy, considered unlikely as Russia had vetoed applications of membership by Italy three times and voted against the proposal in the Assembly. The Assembly also voted to disband its special on-the-spot commission which had been observingf the explosive Balkan situation and instead delegated the job to a stand-by group which would sit at U.N. headquarters in New York. The Big Four nations continued behind closed doors to try to work out a compromise between the Russian and Western Big Three disarmament proposals, but it was considered unlikely of realization.
Before the House Ways & Means subcommittee investigating the tax prosecutions scandals, Charles Oliphant, chief counsel for the IRB, had failed to appear after demanding to be heard following his name being referenced in hearsay testimony regarding an alleged "shakedown" of a Chicago attorney, who said that witness Frank Nathan, a gambler, had told him he could, for a fee of $500,000, provide the attorney protection from possible "tax troubles", utilizing public officials with whom he had "connections", including Mr. Oliphant. Mr. Oliphant, who said through his attorney that he was not ready to appear and wanted to defer for several days, had resigned after the allegations, denying any connection with the matter but stating that his reputation had been so smeared by the allegation that he could not continue in his position. The subcommittee agreed to the request as Mr. Oliphant was not under subpoena. Attorney General J. Howard McGrath had ordered that the whole matter be placed before a Federal grand jury for investigation.
The nation's capital began a test this date of its civil defense capabilities, focusing on keeping enemy bombers out of its airspace, with less emphasis on civilian defense than in other large cities. No planes or troops were involved in the exercise.
Two U.S. Air Force planes carrying a total of 28 persons were missing and both may have been forced down at sea. Search planes were looking for them. One of the planes, a C-47 transport with ten aboard, had last radioed in only 40 miles from its destination of Marseille, France, during a flight from Tripoli. A B-29 with eighteen aboard also was overdue from the Azores, at its destination in Bermuda.
Another Gallup poll appears, testing response to the position of Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson that economic salvation could only occur through another rigid wage-price freeze, with 53 percent of the respondents approving of such a freeze, while 39 percent found it a poor or only fair idea, and the rest undecided. The greatest opposition was among white-collar workers. The issue was important because of ongoing negotiations in the steel industry regarding wage increases, which many economists feared would, if granted, begin an inflationary spiral. A year earlier, 63 percent had approved of such a freeze while 30 percent thought it a fair or poor idea. The story provides a table of the percentage breakdown by socio-economic group.
On page 9-A, the last of the twelve-part serialization of Senator Taft's recently published A Foreign Policy for Americans appears, regarding his ideas for meeting the Russian menace in the Far East.
In Media, Pa., a prominent sportsman and member of the 1920 U.S. Olympic fencing team, J. Brooks Parker, willed $25,000 for a study by historians, to be completed within two years of the decedent's death, on the influence which Franklin Roosevelt had exerted on the nation while President. The results would be published.
In New York, department store Santa Clauses reported adults seeking their ears, one having said that an older gentleman who must have weighed 200 pounds had sat on his lap, explaining that he wanted pictures to send to his nieces to prove that he and Santa were pals.
He must have been seeking an Uncle Wiggily game for Christmas.
Another Santa reported that a girl in her twenties had sat on his lap, saying that she wanted to send proof to her boyfriend in Japan of the kind of company she was keeping.
She probably wanted the game of Clue, or perhaps, Easy Money.
A third Santa said that one woman had returned to him about seven times, that he guessed she was the lonesome type and wanted him for Christmas.
She must have been seeking a Monopoly game for Christmas or Head of the Class.
In Esbjerg, Denmark, the local police commissioner decreed that Santa Claus would be arrested on sight for violating the law which prevented wearing a disguise in public, as criminals were hiding behind the Santa Claus outfit as a means to commit crimes.
They might need a "Get out of
Jail
In Raleigh, students erected a stone and fire barricade, causing a traffic jam as hundreds of cars were leaving the 12,000-seat Reynolds Coliseum after viewing the touring ice-capades show. The 1,000 students who stood by to cheer and jeer as police restored order, were protesting the fact that since the structure had opened, touted as a new center of campus activity, the price of admission to events had been, for the most part, out of the reach of the average student and, when students had sought to rent the coliseum for a dance during the winter, they had been quoted a price of $1,100.
Well, you bunch of farmers need to
sit down and put your thinking caps on and do what the smart students
at UNC used to do and have a service fraternity sponsor the dance in
the basketball arena for charity, thus having access
On the editorial page, "Hearsay Evidence Should Be Eliminated" finds that in light of the good job being done by the House Ways & Means subcommittee investigating the tax prosecution scandals, it was difficult to understand why the subcommittee allowed a Chicago lawyer, who had represented the Capone interests, to testify regarding the alleged "shakedown" offer as related to him by gambler Frank Nathan, supposedly having the backing of Government officials, the latter statement not bolstered by any evidence. Up to that point, the subcommittee had carefully avoided hearsay statements in public hearings. Realizing the error, Representative Cecil King, the chairman of the subcommittee, issued a special statement in which he said that there was no evidence that government officials were involved in this attempted "shakedown" described by the attorney, as further described on the front page this date.
The allegation had mentioned General Services administrator Jess Larson and the chief counsel of the IRB, Charles Oliphant, both having reacted with strong public denials of any involvement in the scheme.
The piece thinks that neither Mr. Nathan nor the attorney would become subject to a perjury charge for the testimony but that even punishment of witnesses did not repair the damage done by hearsay testimony and recommends to the subcommittee that, henceforth, it avoid such baseless claims on the public record.
"Senator Kefauver's 'Opportunity'" finds that while several Republican presidential aspirants had already entered the race for 1952, Democrats were reluctant, pending the actions of the President. But Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee had given permission for his name to be entered in the California primary, explaining that while he was not a candidate and was not running for any office except the Senate in 1952, he would not evade the opportunity of running for president. That position, remarks the piece, would enable him to retire from the race gracefully should the President announce his candidacy.
As a Southerner who opposed the Fair Employment Practices Commission, favored by the Administration, the Senator could expect support from many anti-Truman Southern Democrats, while his voting record was satisfactory to most of labor and his foreign policy positions were internationalist in orientation. Most importantly, he was on record in televised hearings, as chairman of the crime investigating committee the prior year through the previous spring, as a tough crime-buster opposed to sin and corruption, winning approval from Republicans and Democrats alike while incurring the wrath of some Democrats who had alliances with the underworld. He had also been responsible for overthrowing the machine of Boss Ed Crump in Memphis. It suggests that in the Senator's case, crime might pay in reverse.
"Gen. Manning Clears the Air" tells of General John Hall Manning, State Adjutant General, having stated that local officials had made a serious error in failing to invite representatives of the National Guard to attend one of the public hearings on the proposed runway extension at the local airport. He said that the extension was essential to a plan for national security as it would bolster the Air National Guard. He and other officials of the Guard would be present on December 16 when the County Commissioners reconsidered their action of the previous Monday, which, at the behest of local residents, had opposed the relocation of a section of a roadway required for the extension of the runway. The piece expresses confidence that the Commissioners would listen to the pleas of those responsible for national defense and act accordingly.
"Arts Council?" tells of the conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, James Christian Pfohl, in a letter to the editor this date, having proposed formation of a Charlotte Arts Council, a proposal which the piece thinks merited serious consideration by residents interested in good music, drama and art. An Arts Council could coordinate the several drives necessary to support the arts in the community, similar to the Community Chest vis-à-vis charities. Such a Council could also coordinate program schedules to prevent overlapping. It endorses, therefore, discussions of the proposal by the various organizations it would affect.
A piece of from the Louisville Courier-Journal, titled "What Is Secret of Caudle's Success?" discusses Lamar Caudle's North Carolina background and finds that, in his affable and genial Southern manner, the former head of the Justice Department tax division may have gone too far, with too lenient scruples and a blunted sense of responsibility, while seeking power beyond his capability. His story had become increasingly worse as he testified before the House Ways & Means subcommittee investigating tax fraud prosecutions. He had confessed to profiting in one way or another from several favors received from persons being investigated for tax irregularities or from their agents. Those favors included rebates on automobiles and lingering debt, vacation trips, bargain fur coats for his family and friends, a $5,000 commission on the sale of an airplane, etc.
It suggests that the average citizen as a result had to wonder about the standards of selection for political jobs in the Federal Government. While the FBI performed extensive background checks for loyalty on those hired by the State Department, other departments of the Government appeared to be lax in assessing the personal records and traits of the political appointees. The only criterion for appointment appeared to be a high degree of party loyalty.
Drew Pearson investigates a mink coat being worn by the wife of Harold Baynton, head of the Office of Alien Property, finds that it had been given to her by Harold Horowitz, president of the company which made Leica cameras. Mr. Horowitz maintained his job partly at the pleasure of Mr. Baynton, as the company had been seized from Germany at the end of the war and so was overseen by the Office of Alien Property. When Mr. Horowitz had taken over the firm, it was on the verge of bankruptcy and now was turning a profit. But Mr. Horowitz's expenses had been questioned by Mr. Baynton's predecessor, David Bazelon, since having become a Federal judge. Mr. Pearson notes that the profits from seized companies went to U.S. veterans who had been imprisoned by the Japanese or Germans and so every dollar spent was that much less for them. Mr. Baynton had informed Mr. Pearson, however, that he had examined the expenses of Mr. Horowitz and found them appropriate. Moreover, Mr. Horowitz was paying his old roommate, through whom he had obtained the position, a $1,000 per month legal retainer for advice on the Fair Trade Act, the former roommate having been the former Assistant Attorney General in charge of the anti-trust division.
Mr. Baynton admitted to Mr. Pearson that his wife had received a mink coat the previous Christmas, but said that she had only borrowed it from Mrs. Horowitz and had returned it after two months. Mr. Baynton had told his assistant and the press chief of the Justice Department conflicting stories about the mink, but said that Mr. Pearson's assistant had not pressed him hard enough and that the story he had conveyed to Mr. Pearson was accurate. Mr. Pearson notes that he was not quite sure of the story and so would let the reader decide what was accurate.
Stewart Alsop, in Baghdad, finds, after a tour of Israel and the Arab states, that peace and stability in the region were impossible for the present. The West could only hope to buy time, a necessity lest the whole Middle East might go the way of Communist China, resulting inevitably in a third world war. To buy this time, the Arab states had to be strengthened, else the vacuum which existed would sooner or later be filled by Communism. These states had to be strengthened militarily to provide them with internal authority and cohesion and to ensure cooperation with the West if war were to come.
The region also had to be strengthened economically to prevent its fall into the Communist sphere. Strengthening the Arab states would collaterally provide the U.S. with leverage in the area, presently lacking.
The problem with strengthening the states, however, was complicated by the erosion of power by Britain as a U.S. ally, the universal Middle Eastern Anglo-phobia, and the corrupt and feudal social system in these states, probably resulting in reducing the value of any economic aid to only a fraction of its ostensible worth.
The largest problem to be faced was the prospect that if the Arab states became too strong, they might attack Israel. Arabs at present feared Israel and shared an emotional conviction that Israel would, with the support of the U.S., seek to conquer the Arab world. The U.S. had sought to meet this problem by providing 65 million dollars of aid to Israel and the same amount to the entire Arab world, though the latter possessed the oil, the majority of the population in the region and strategic significance. Such an approach was "worse than useless", confirming the Arabs in their suspicion that the U.S. would, sooner or later, abandon the whole Middle East in favor of Israel.
He concludes that there was no certain way to avoid this dilemma, that only by making it clear to the Arabs and Israelis that any aggression on either side would end in failure could the risk be taken of strengthening the Arab states, with less than certain results. It was the only way to buy the necessary time in the region.
Marquis Childs, in Ankara, suggests that the value obtained from aid for military security might be greater in Turkey than any other place in the world, even in the U.S., itself. The reason for that status was that the Turks maintained a tough-minded devotion to national independence and had stood up to the Russian might previously, even when standing alone. About 700 million dollars had thus far been spent on military and economic aid to Turkey, and it was estimated that by 1954, after the expenditure of 1.2 billion, the Turkish Army would be modernized and ready to meet anything but an all-out attack. The U.S. would have to contribute 50 million dollars per year for an indefinite period to sustain that position.
The immense expense to the U.S. taxpayer was why the Marshall Plan administration was seeking to increase the level of the Turkish economy, particularly in agriculture, which had already increased production by twenty percent since 1947 at the outset of the Truman Doctrine. In addition, the value of Turkey's exports had increased by 54 percent since before World War II. Likewise, the production of vital raw materials had been greatly increased, such as chrome, up 57 percent, and copper, up 118 percent. Just as the Turkish military specialists were being sent to America for training, so, too, were the agricultural specialists. Seven American experts in Turkey were assisting the Ministry of Agriculture in improving agricultural production.
But economic development was slow, compared to the military development, potentially exhausting the patience of American taxpayers before the economy could be brought even to the standards of 50 years earlier. The overriding fact, however, was the U.S. position and that of Turkey in the Middle East, where, for the most part, American policy had been a failure. If the U.S. was to continue its leadership of the free world, it had to sustain and buttress Turkey even if aid had to be at a reduced level for the ensuing decade. To maintain a Turkish division cost a tenth of the amount to maintain an American division. He observes that the cost in dollars did not tell the tale in Turkey, when compared to the will of the people to resist Russian aggression, that no people appeared so unafraid and free from the uncertainty and hysteria which plagued the Western powers.
A letter, as indicated in the above editorial, from James Christian Pfohl, conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, urges the creation of an Arts Council in Charlotte.
A letter writer from Pittsboro comments on the firing of N.C. State head football coach Beattie Feathers and wonders at the worth of a coaching contract, whether it was more than a mere scrap of paper and whether, in dishonoring same, Americans were turning to the same methods as Communists. He favors abandonment of all intercollegiate athletics, as having become distorted out of sensible perspective. He indicates that Mr. Feathers had not contracted to produce a winning team but only to provide his best efforts in developing the material which he had. He had produced good teams and poor teams, just as would be expected. He guesses that Carl Snavely's head, as football coach of UNC, would likewise soon be on the platter—an accurate prediction, as Mr. Snavely would step aside after the following season, a third losing season in a row after considerable prior success.
He thinks such institutions as the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins, in not fielding sports teams, had the better idea. He ventures that if the heads of the institutions did not have the moral stamina to control the system, it was time for the taxpayers, who funded the public institutions, to cut off the appropriations.
It is noteworthy that there was not a single mention of the tenth anniversary of Pearl Harbor on either the front page or the editorial page. They were engaged in nation-building, with a view to the future, rather than re-engaging the dismal past—at least ignoring for the moment the McCarthys and Nixons dredging up the past for purely partisan political motives to question the loyalty of American citizens who happened, for the most, to be nothing more sinister or subversive than liberal Democrats.
Yet, the world cannot simply forget its history, lest it be condemned to repeat it, as long as that history is maintained in the context of historical lessons regarding systemic forms, those proven by history to be conducive to better living for all in contrast with those proven to be dictatorial slave states tending toward war with neighbors for continued sustenance of the dictators, rather than condemnation of peoples and nations as they exist in the aftermath. Some of the Middle Eastern nations, for instance, in retaining too much of their historical animosities in venomously bitter mutual hatreds and suspicions, erupting on occasion in renewed internecine conflict, cannot hope to move forward from war-torn ways until those histories come to be confined to the historical classroom, where objective analysis and civil debate can supplant recrimination for past wrongs, stretching back, in many cases, to time immemorial, even unto the Garden.
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