The Charlotte News
Friday, August 24, 1951
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Nate Polowetzky, that only a small chance appeared to remain that the Korean ceasefire talks might be resumed after they had broken down completely the previous day following a claim by the Communists on Thursday that allied planes had dropped bombs within the neutrality zone at Kaesong, a claim denied by the U.N., stating that its investigation showed that no damage had been done to the area around Kaesong and that any attack had to have been by Communist planes as no U.N. planes had been in the area. General James Van Fleet, U.N. ground commander, said that if the talks were to break down, the allied troops would resume fighting "with hate and eagerness".
In Tokyo, the U.N. command had not completely abandoned all hope for the ceasefire talks. A message from the North Korean Premier and supreme commander, Kim Il Sung, and commander of the Chinese troops, General Peng Teh Huai, had said, "It is our hope that the armistice negotiation will proceed smoothly and that a just and reasonable agreement acceptable to both sides will be reached." The U.N. command viewed this message, which also reiterated the protest against alleged violations of the neutrality zone, as providing some hope that the negotiations might be resumed.
The U.S. rejected a renewed demand by the Communist Government in Czechoslovakia that broadcasts of American-operated Radio Free Europe be curbed. The privately operated broadcasts emanated from the American zone of Germany. The Czechs claimed that they were trying to stir up revolt against the Communist regime, with the knowledge and consent of the U.S. Government. The U.S. responded in a diplomatic note that the U.S. was "unalterably committed to the basic principle of freedom of information" and that the radio program was not issuing directives for espionage or inciting Czech citizens to commit criminal acts, as the Czech Government had claimed.
In the farming community of Decoto,
California, a few miles below Oakland, a United Air Lines DC-6B
airliner with 44 passengers and six crew members aboard, crashed
The cost of living reached an all-time high in July, with the index rising .2 percent to 185.5 percent of the 1935-39 average. The old record had been 185.4 reached the previous May. The largest rise was in food and rents, while clothing prices dropped slightly.
Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, following a visit to the White House, said that in his opinion the one billion dollar cut in the Administration's foreign aid bill, recommended by his Committee and the jointly meeting Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator Tom Connally of Texas, was going to stick despite objections by the President.
Senator Walter George of Georgia, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said that he doubted that a new, higher income tax withholding rate could go into effect prior to October 1. His Committee was meeting to try to work out a plan to increase individual income taxes, seeking a formula less harsh than the 12.5 percent increase passed by the House, which would have made the increase effective September 1.
Senator William Jenner of Indiana denounced before the Senate the proposed Japanese peace treaty as "a fraud and a booby trap", saying that it opened the way for eventual Russian control of Asia.
The House Commerce Committee said that it would begin a full investigation of the Securities and Exchange Commission in about three weeks, with an eye toward determining whether or not the purpose of the law creating it had been fulfilled. It would be the first such Congressional inquiry into the SEC since its creation 17 years earlier.
In French Lick, Ind., Price Stabilizer Mike DiSalle, told a 15-state Democratic conference that indirect controls, such as credit curbs and tax increases, would not work to curb inflation, that the recently enacted direct controls were necessary.
In Goshen, Ind., the Amish youth of Elkhart County were planning a "hot rod" race at the county fair, but to avoid Amish disapproval of automobiles, were going to substitute buggies for hot rods.
In San Francisco, the Soviet delegation arriving for the Japanese treaty signing sessions to start September 4, were in search of a house for rent with 35 furnished rooms. The city's tourist and convention bureau set about searching for such a place, but made tentative reservations at one of the downtown hotels in case it could not be found.
Surely there is a Red Rooster around.
In Pasadena, California, a nine-year old boy's pet chicken, presented to him six months earlier, was mixed up after neighbors had complained of hearing crowing in the early morning hours, causing police to discover that the chicken was actually a rooster. The family said that the rooster would be in a stew come the next Sunday.
On the editorial page, "Lost Perspective" tells of Congressman Woodrow W. Jones of the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina having made his first speech in the House a few days earlier, urging that all financial assistance to foreign nations be terminated, that military aid should continue, but not economic aid.
It finds the criticism similar to the initial complaints about the Marshall Plan, that it was "pouring money down foreign rat holes". To date, the Plan had spent 11.2 billion dollars, about two-thirds of the original 17 billion estimated for the four-year program, which had started in the spring of 1948. But of that amount, seven billion dollars had been spent within the U.S. on food, fertilizer, raw materials, machinery, and other such materials. That money therefore had positively impacted the domestic economy and also prevented an economic slump after World War II in the U.S. and averted economic depression abroad, allowing trade with foreign nations to continue. The Plan had also been instrumental in keeping such nations as France and Italy, where there were strong Communist parties, from becoming Communist.
It therefore concludes that the Marshall Plan had been a very good investment, far less than it would have cost to build a larger defense program to prepare for war. While it shares Congressman Jones's concerns, it also believes that it was wise not to lose perspective of the mutual security program which, at base, the Marshall Plan was.
"The Old Aspirin Treatment" finds that the Senate's approach to trying to cure the Post Office deficit of a half billion dollars was all wrong in recommending an increase in postal rates, as discussed further by Marquis Childs this date. It finds it akin to treating a chronic headache with aspirin.
The Hoover Commission had already determined that waste, confusion, outmoded bookkeeping practices, and duplicated services, as well as politics in patronage appointments of postmasters, had been the primary problems within the Post Office Department. The recommendations of the Commission would save about 250 million dollars per year, half the annual deficit. Small increases in the postal rates would then take care of the balance.
The problem with the Senate committee's treatment of the malady was that the law of diminishing returns would take over, as when the airmail rates had been increased from six to eight cents, the volume of airmail had dropped by about one-fifth, meaning that the resulting revenue was about the same. It therefore recommends the Hoover Commission's suggested overhaul of the Department as the better remedy.
"Stranger by the Hour" finds that after Senators Clyde Hoey and Willis Smith had protested the removal of Dr. Ralph Brimley from the educational mission to Japan following his criticism of local school teachers in Forsyth County, where Dr. Brimley was superintendent, for their planning to form a union, it was explained by Secretary of Defense Marshall and Secretary of the Army Frank Pace that Dr. Brimley was dropped because he was involved in a controversy. But now there was a new explanation coming from Assistant Secretary of the Army Earl D. Johnson, who wrote to Senator Smith that the Army decided to drop Dr. Brimley because of information that he would not be favorably received in Japan and that the National Education Association had been consulted and agreed.
The piece finds that this new explanation had raised questions as to where the NEA's information had originated and how such a program could have been prejudiced by Dr. Brimley's presence. It wonders why, if he was not dropped for his anti-union stance, as the Johnson letter had suggested, the original statement had been made that he had been dropped for being involved in a controversy. Moreover, Dr. Brimley had indicated that the Army had told him something different.
It finds the whole affair to be growing stranger by the hour. It hopes that Senators Smith and Hoey would keep trying to penetrate the Pentagon double-talk and find out the truth.
"Dope Peddling in Charlotte" tells of the arrest during the week in Charlotte of an alleged marijuana peddler and his wife and the seizure of a large stock of "reefers". The arrest came as a result of Fort Bragg Military Police having reported soldiers buying the marijuana cigarettes in Charlotte.
It was difficult to catch and arrest
a person selling dope, and the addict, when caught, would rarely
reveal his or her source of supply. It congratulates Police Chief
Frank Littlejohn for moving swiftly when the illegal trade was
brought to his attention. It hopes that the Police Department would
keep the heat on to make it certain that narcotics traffic would not
become a major local problem
Drew Pearson, in Frankfort, Germany, tells of most people across the Continent being incredulous to the idea that Europe might be heading into a war with Russia, as suggested by Secretary of Defense Marshall. Mr. Pearson, himself, did not believe it was likely anytime soon. But many experts believed that the Kremlin was planning to make a move in September on Tito's Yugoslavia and, he adds, they might be correct.
He notes that prediction of war was always a risky business, that on December 5, 1941, he had predicted that the country would be at war with Japan within two weeks. At the time, the Japanese diplomats in the U.S. were going through some phony peace maneuvers, and at present Russia was engaging in the same activity. But he does not believe it preliminary to an immediate attack, for the two facts that unrest was so prevalent in the satellite countries that the Kremlin could not make war without widespread defections and revolution among its own people, and through peace propaganda, the Kremlin might be able to take over the Western world without war.
As to the second point, the Russians knew that in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and even in some parts of Russia, the older generation was not with the Kremlin and would never be with them. That was why they were seeking to woo the younger generation, such as with the recent youth rally in East Berlin. The Russian leaders knew that the U.S. would not indefinitely support the Marshall Plan and the military aid program for Europe, a fact which they could discern from reading newspapers. They also knew that without American aid to Europe, it would have long ago faced a major depression and Western Europe probably would have become Communist, while the U.S. would be suffering from large-scale unemployment, all results prevented by the Marshall Plan.
The fact was that the U.S. had subsidized Europe with pump-priming in one way or another since 1914 and that subsidy had positively affected the prosperity of the U.S. Russia assumed this type of subsidy could not continue indefinitely and judging from reactions in the Senate, it might be correct.
Thus, based on these assumptions, he believes it was unlikely that a war would occur in Europe in the immediate future.
Marquis Childs discusses the pending rise in the postage stamp rate from three cents to four cents, as well as pending increases across the board in other forms of mail, airmail set to go to eight cents from six cents and a two cent postcard replacing the familiar penny postcard, all in an effort to balance the Post Office's budget, a half billion dollars in deficit. The deficit was the result not of operating expenses but various subsidies provided by the Post Office, including bulk mailing rates for magazines and newspapers to the tune of 200 million dollars, airmail subsidies, and mail carried free for Government agencies, members of Congress and some others, amounting to 160 million dollars. The rise in postal rates would bring about 400 million dollars in additional revenue to the Post Office Department, but a pending increase in postal employee salaries, from $2,870 to $3,670 per year, would require yet more revenue to balance the Post Office budget.
The Congress had reduced the budget by 70 million dollars and ordered residential delivery cut to once per day.
The issue appeared to be one ready-made for the Republicans in the 1952 presidential campaign. While they had fought against economic controls, the Truman Administration during the postwar years had made serious blunders which stood out glaringly in the record. The Democrats had used the Depression in 1932 to run against Herbert Hoover, a hard-boiled kind of politics, but not on the level with the smear campaign of the previous 18 months against the Truman Administration.
He concludes that inflationary prices could become the main issue in the 1952 campaign.
Robert C. Ruark discusses taxing of liquor having brought about a new era of bootlegging in the country, which he welcomes.
"And then come all the side-bar
delights of illegal drinking—the delicious uncertainty as you
down the alky-and-ginger ale as to whether you will be able to see
tomorrow, the sporting thrill of the perforated stomach, the exciting
vistas of purple reptiles
A letter writer comments on the "Pitchmen of the Press" series, reprinted from the Providence (R. I.) Journal between August 6 and August 22, anent Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson, Fulton Lewis, Jr., and Westbrook Pegler. He thinks the author of the series would have no trouble securing a position with the Daily Worker. He finds that no matter how much one might disagree with these men, they were "native born, and [were] Christian Caucasians". He finds that after seeing the names of the panel which had voted the Peabody Award for the series, he believed not one of the members could thus qualify. He believes the tone of the articles proved that the Caucasian race was superior and that any attempt to discredit it only exposed the inferior complexes, "like 'hounds' yapping at the heels of a bear (or three bears)."
But
aren't you implying that Messrs. Pegler, Lewis, and Pearson, leaving
out Mr. Winchell whom you omit, were Commies? And since when do
hounds chase bears?
A letter writer finds it unfortunate that the model plane enthusiasts of Charlotte had their field taken from them based on complaints of a few residents regarding the sounds of the planes. She suggests that such children, teenagers or young adults would not likely become juvenile delinquents. She urges the City Council to return Freedom Park for use in the pursuit.
A
letter writer tells of a three-car collision having occurred when a
woman failed to stop at the intersection of Ninth Street
A letter writer finds it shocking that an August 14 editorial in the newspaper had suggested that it might become necessary to consider adoption of General MacArthur's Far Eastern policies in the event the Korean peace talks failed. He suggests that there must have been more than one editorial writer and that the newspaper's "leftist writer" was out sick or temporarily benched.
The editors respond that he should re-read the editorial, that it suggested the need for some intelligent thinking and planning in the event the truce talks broke down, and listed three possible scenarios, one of which was another powerful Communist offensive, which, if it swept U.N. troops from the Korean Peninsula, would result in a tremendous public outcry for bombing China and Manchuria and for other measures favored by General MacArthur. It says that the same editorial writer who had written that editorial had written all of the editorials on General MacArthur.
A letter writer says that serious-minded men could not remain blind to the startling revelations coming out of the Kefauver report on organized crime, that even the bastions of government had become infiltrated with notorious characters and that law enforcement officers and judges had become brokers for protection. He thinks the nation needed urgently a national crusade for the "exaltation of Christ", a crusade in which every citizen should participate, that the country could not survive without "widespread repentance and a turning to God through faith in Christ".
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