The Charlotte News
Saturday, September 1, 1951
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that allied investigators said that if any plane had bombed the Kaesong area during the morning hours as a new Communist claim alleged, and which the U.N. investigation found to have been a possibility, it was "an aircraft other than a United Nations aircraft". The Communists contended that the bombs had fallen near the residence of North Korean Lt. General Nam Il, chief negotiator for the Communists in the ceasefire talks. The inference to be gleaned from the U.N. statement was that the Communists had staged the bombing for propaganda purposes. Meanwhile, a Communist spokesman accused the U.N. liaison officer of having "ulterior motives" and "lying". The U.N. officer had said that the bomb craters which he had seen could have been caused either by a planted ground blast or by explosives dropped from the air. The U.N. command also denied that allied troops had violated the Kaesong neutrality zone on August 30 or that an allied plane had dropped flares over the city on August 29, additional claims recently made by the Communists. The ceasefire talks continued to be suspended by the Communists since the previous week regarding these various allegations of violation of the neutrality zone.
In ground action in Korea, four new Communist divisions were spotted on the east-central front this date, as bloody fighting continued on the jagged mountain peaks. There were certain indications that the Communists might soon start a major offensive, though allied confidence was high that it could not appreciably dent the allied line. The fighting was the heaviest since the start of the truce talks at Kaesong on July 10, with an all-day battle for "Bloody Ridge" on the east-central front.
In air action, bombers and fighters again attacked Communist supply and communications lines in North Korea and Communist and U.N. jets engaged in a 20-minute dogfight over northwestern Korea. All allied planes returned to base safely and one Russian-type MIG was destroyed.
In San Francisco, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand would sign a mutual defense treaty this date, extending the country's security over a vast new part of the world, a prelude to the Japanese peace treaty conference to start the following Tuesday. The treaty, to be signed at the Presidio, was viewed by its signatories as a warning to Moscow against any aggressive action in the Southwest Pacific, while at the same time placing a barrier against any resurgence of Japanese empire-building. At about the same time, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko was scheduled to arrive in San Francisco with the Russian delegation for the Japanese peace treaty conference. On Thursday in Washington, the U.S. and the Philippines had signed a mutual defense pact, complementary to the other pacts. While Russia could not interfere with these other two agreements, it was expected to seek to wreck the Japanese treaty by threatening the other signatories with a continuation of the war in Korea or other aggressive action, should they sign.
In New Zealand, Prime Minister Sydney Holland and his Labor government were returned to power after a resounding victory in parliamentary elections. The Government had come to power in November, 1949.
The Senate the previous night approved 7.3 billion dollars in foreign aid, all but 1.3 billion being military aid, the total being 1.2 billion dollars less than the 8.5 billion sought by the President and 212 million less than the authorization passed earlier by the House. The bill, which eliminated the provision passed by the House that a new agency would handle distribution of the aid, now would proceed to conference for reconciliation of the differences. The bill only authorized the aid and did not appropriate money for it, to come later, a matter which the five dissenting Republican Senators said would be where the real battle would occur.
The President sent a letter to Senator Homer Capehart of Indiana, one of the no votes on the foreign aid bill, saying that he doubted the Senator understood an amendment he had sponsored when the 1950 economic controls law had been modified a month earlier, saying that the amendment, and two others which the President wanted abolished, were wrong and had no business being in the law. Senator Capehart appeared to relish receipt of a letter from the President, though it came in response to a letter which the Senator had addressed to the President, which the President had brushed off as a political document intended to offset the Capehart amendment.
Meanwhile, the Senate Banking Committee, which was addressing the modification of the law to eliminate these amendments, had recessed until September 10, following two days of hearings, and the House would not return from vacation until September 12, meaning that no action would take place on these amendments until that time.
As the Senate Crime Investigating Committee closed its doors after issuing its report, the duties for investigating crime in the country were taken over by the Commerce Committee, prompting a debate as to what direction that Committee would take. Senator Lester Hunt of Wyoming favored concentrating on corrective legislation rather than continuing investigation, while Senator Capehart ventured the opinion that about all the people were going to get from the crime investigation were "two good television shows and a book", in reference to the nationally televised Kefauver committee hearings and the Senator's subsequent book. Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin said that he thought the investigations should continue, and was critical of shortcomings of the final report, which urged "captive communities" of organized crime and graft to band together in a war on crime. He thought the report should have outlined to the Commerce Committee specific areas still requiring further investigation, specifically into racketeering on the New York waterfront, and the beatings, bombings and murders which had proliferated in Chicago in an effort to muscle in on the teamsters unions.
In Buenos Aires, 29-year old Eva Peron tearfully gave up her chance the previous night to become the first woman vice-president in the Western Hemisphere, as the dictatrix announced that she could not accept the nomination of the Peronista party. She spoke via radio to Argentina, stepping aside in favor of dictator Juan Peron's silent vice-presidential partner since the dictator's election in 1946, Hortensio Quijanon. She had been nominated by the party on August 22 after 250,000 pro-government workers and party followers had demanded that she and her husband "rule Argentina forever".
She sobbed: "I only want history to say of me that beside Peron there was a woman who took to him the people's problems. The people have called me Evita. That is my pride, because I have won the heart of the workers…"
You must sob along with the Bitch and her S.O.B. husband, pobrecito. Cry, cry, cry for poor, fascist Argentina, where all dissent is quashed on pain of death or imprisonment.
In Atlanta, a fire destroyed the Mumford Company insulation manufacturing plant the previous night, with damages estimated by police at a million dollars. The cause of the fire was thought by employees to be an exploding boiler.
Near Borger, Tex., a series of explosions followed by fire took place at a butadiene plant operated by Phillips Chemical Company, injuring seven men. Butadiene was a principal component of synthetic rubber.
The National Safety Council estimated that 390 people would be killed in traffic accidents during the three-day holiday weekend commenced at 6:00 p.m. Friday and to conclude at midnight Monday. Thus far, 23 had died by early Saturday. During the Labor Day weekend the previous year, 383 traffic deaths had occurred, plus 80 drownings and 96 miscellaneous deaths, and in 1949, a record high 410 deaths had occurred in traffic accidents.
Temperatures rose the previous day above 100 degrees across the South and Southwest and were forecast again for this date. In McAlester, Okla., and Presidio, Tex., the mercury had reached 108 the previous day, while at Magnolia, Ark., it was 107. At Birmingham, the officially recorded high was 100, but many private thermometers had it at 113. Mississippi and Louisiana cotton farmers were threatened with an 83 million dollar crop loss, and in Georgia a minister called for divine intervention in a mass prayer to be held on Sunday. The average temperature in Montgomery, Ala., during August had been 97, the highest average on record, the previous having been registered in July, 1881, at 95.9 degrees.
Bob Sain of The News tells of Charlotte not having obtained a good look at the solar annular eclipse occurring during the morning but having at least gotten a good idea of what happened when the moon crossed in front of the sun. Charlotte was just outside the perimeter of the 95-mile radius in which spectators could see the partial eclipse. A similar eclipse was not supposed to occur for another 50 years and no one had seen one before during the previous 50 years. Mr. Sain had ventured to the top of the Liberty Life Building with a photographer at 5:37 a.m. to try to photograph the event, but at 5:45, clouds appeared on the eastern horizon, and by 5:56, the first hint of the eclipse peaked through those clouds, but, in the end, there was not much to see beyond blurs.
On the editorial page, "Auto Inspection Gains Favor" finds that in other states, automobile inspection was gaining ground, as West Virginia and Texas had just joined 12 states and the District of Columbia in passing auto inspection laws. In those states, the rate of traffic deaths was eight percent lower than the national average in 1950 and in the two states with state-owned and operated inspection stations, was 38.7 percent below the national average. While other factors, such as speed limits, the condition of roads, the extent to which enforcement of traffic laws was effected, had an impact on the accident and fatality rates, it appeared that the mechanical condition of automobiles also had a dramatic effect.
It urges the North Carolina General Assembly in 1953 to revisit the issue, after both the 1949 and 1951 Legislatures had abandoned the two-year experimental program in auto inspections inaugurated in 1947.
"Toying with Smoke Control" tells of the City Council allowing violators of the local smoke abatement ordinance to escape enforcement through repeated attempts to induce their voluntary cooperation. While the program had merit in educating businesses to the necessity of smoke abatement, it also did not cure the health hazard and the nuisance generated by the violators. It suggests more courage and forthrightness by the Council than in the past, lest the ordinance become a joke.
"Phantom Air Force" discusses the Order of Malta having its own air force of 81 planes, with probably more on the way, as a dodge to postwar limitations on Italy having no more than 200 fighters and reconnaissance planes, plus 150 transport planes. By reviving the Order, Italy was able to get around these limitations, similar to the way Germany had done twenty years earlier in forming "glider" clubs to train pilots. While the World War I allies had objected to the latter circumvention of the restrictions, the NATO countries were not objecting to Italy's use of the Order as a means of avoiding the limitations. This time, the Italian air force was on the side of the allies and the change in attitude showed that treaties were not worth much if the spirit of the signatories was not on the side of the language contained in them.
It finds the Order to take the cake, that if the allies were going to allow phantoms to be built, then the U.S. might as well vote for assigning the national debt to the Republic of Mars.
"Vodka and Russian Diplomacy" tells of vodka fading as Russia's most favorite drink, being replaced by Crimean champagne and Caucasian cognac. It rejects any suggestion that the WCTU might be having an effect in Russia, as neither women nor Christians had much influence over the Kremlin and Russians generally were not temperate. Rye was also not in shortage, as the Soviet Union grew about half the world supply. Whatever the cause, the change, it suggests, meant that the Russians would be that much harder for the world to get along with, similar to a cartoon which was presented recently showing two girls talking about world politics, wherein one said, "I don't see how those Russians can say 'no' so often, [for] when I drink vodka I say 'yes' to anything." Whereas some Russians were of late showing signs of agreeability, the piece suggests that from now on, the world might expect more frequent "nyets".
A piece from the Louisville Courier-Journal, titled "The Medicine Man and Tax Collectors", tells of "Cousin Dud" Leblanc, the creator of Hadacol, the supposed panacea for the common cold, having sold the rights to his patent-medicine company for 8 million dollars and a 15-year contract which would pay him $100,000 per year, to a medical research firm engaged in cancer research, which would be able to claim the research as a tax exemption for it being a non-profit corporation. But according to the firm's publicity man, the purchasers were actually a group of Eastern financiers and businessmen. It suggests that the IRB might wish to look into this matter as it sounded as a grand tax dodge for both Cousin Dud and the purchasing firm.
Michael V. DiSalle, director of the Office of Price Stabilization, substitutes for Drew Pearson, returning from Europe, tells of writing the column causing him to miss reading it, as he found it generally informative, including its predictions on what his Office would do, though sometimes including criticism of his friends, which he did not enjoy.
He explains that his Office was born from the emergency in Korea and that its work paralleled the emergency mobilization of other agencies created by the Defense Production Act. The primary function of the Office was to control prices during the emergency to prevent undue pressure on inflation, placing it inevitably in conflict with those in the society who wanted to exploit the emergency for their own pocketbooks. While such persons formed only a minority, they had to be regulated to prevent their price-gouging from having a redundant impact through the economy, such that all prices and wages would have to rise to keep pace. It only took a few key price rises, especially in raw materials, to cause a ripple effect through the economy.
The success of the program was shown in the results, that from the start of the Korean War through February 15, 1951, the cost of living had risen eight percent or by 16 billion dollars, whereas between February 15, 1951 and June 15, 1951, it had risen only eight-tenths of one percent or less than 2 billion dollars. During the same latter period, Canada, without price controls, had its cost of living shoot up by 5.3 percent. The program had also brought about stability and had averted the danger of inflation.
Without this check on American prices, the country would stumble into a situation which would be very satisfactory to Russia, as inflation was the worst enemy during time of war, increasing the cost of that war as it went along, while increasing the hardship to the people. He urges common sense and hardheaded realism on the part of the people to cooperate with the program for the national security during the troublesome two years ahead.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop discuss the President's attack of late on Senator Joseph McCarthy, as he exhibited in his speech before the American Legion convention, and the like attack by Secretary of Labor Maurice Tobin before the V.F.W. convention, both indicative of the President's plan to use the issue in the campaign of 1952. Vice-President Alben Barkley had joined that effort in strongly defending Secretary of State Acheson with a sharp attack on his critics in a speech before the Midwest Democratic rally at French Lick.
They view the development as somewhat odd in making Senator McCarthy an issue when there loomed much more important issues for the campaign, though given his effect on the American people, it was understandable and "decidedly admirable". It also meant that in all likelihood Secretary Acheson would remain in the Administration, whereas earlier in the summer, the President appeared to have been so worn down by the constant criticism of the Secretary, that he was willing to allow him to resign in the event of a Korean ceasefire or some other similar major event which would enable him to leave the Administration under honorable circumstances. He could not very well have that happen, however, when making McCarthyism a central focus of the election season, as Secretary of State Acheson had been central to Senator McCarthy's attacks regarding Communists in the State Department.
The fact that he would remain was having an effect on Congress and its approach to foreign policy, such that certain problems, such as Yugoslavia, had been approached gingerly, and certain others, such as the danger of another economic crisis in Britain, had not been dealt with at all.
Marquis Childs tells of Congressman Carl Vinson, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, having returned from vacation in Georgia to find a lot of correspondence on his desk in response to a question he had addressed just before the recess, asking for a response from the Navy and the Air Force as to why they could not combine their test of tactical air support of ground troops in the recent maneuvers near Fort Bragg at Southern Pines. The Navy had declined to take part in the test after it had been informed that the planes, including those of the Marines, would be under the direction of the Air Force, utilizing Air Force methods. Congressman Vinson wanted each of the military chiefs of the services and Joint Chiefs chairman General Omar Bradley to provide an explanation. He had proposed an Air Force with the goal of 163 groups, increased from the present 95.
Motivating his inquiry was the indication that the civilian Secretaries of each branch were not being heard by the Joint Chiefs in the allocation of resources to the branches. Two of the replies to his inquiry from the Secretaries indicated that they had not even been made aware of the decision by the Navy not to participate in the exercise, and that the Joint Chiefs were making decisions which were practically impossible of alteration by the Secretaries.
Secretary of the Air Force, Thomas Finletter, had stated recently in a talk in Los Angeles of the need to integrate new weapons into the war plan as evolved by the generals and admirals, and that the availability soon of greater numbers of atomic weapons would necessitate a complete revision of military thinking.
The fear on the part of the Secretaries and others civilians at the Pentagon was that the Joint Chiefs would make a decision on increasing the Air Force by way of the same type of compromise undertaken in the past, such that the increase would be to about 135 groups, with another 40 coming from the Navy and Marines, while at the same time, the Navy would be made happy through increases not justified objectively based on overall defense needs, and the Army would be increased to a total of 27 divisions, in sum, pleasing to the three branches of the services but not in line with the national interest, given the staggering cost of these increases.
Tom Schlesinger of The News, in his weekly "Capital Roundup", tells of the Senate having to catch up in its work with the House, which had been able to take a 20-day holiday, while the Senators were not able to take a break before October 1, if then. The reasons for the delays in the Senate were two-fold, on the one hand, that there were fewer Senators than Congressmen to populate committees and Senate rules allowed for unlimited debate while there was difficulty in summoning a quorum because of the increased number of afternoon committee meetings. Senator Clyde Hoey of North Carolina complained that the MacArthur hearings by the joint Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees had kept the members from attending other committee meetings and from engaging in activities on the floor, consequently holding up legislation. On the other hand, all tax and appropriations bills, by the Constitution, had to originate in the House, and therefore the Senate had not gotten the tax measure, for instance, until June 17, whereas the House had begun its work on the bill in February.
Senator Willis Smith of North Carolina had departed with Representative Harold Cooley for Istanbul to attend the Interparliamentary Union's annual meeting, which would last through September 12. The departure by Senator Smith came as a surprise even to his staff, and it meant that he would miss action on the foreign aid measures before the Senate during the week. Representatives of 37 nations with parliamentary forms of government would be present at the gathering and the attending members of Congress expected to visit with General Eisenhower in Paris.
Congressman Charles Deane of North Carolina had obtained a great deal of foreign-policy knowledge since 1946 when first entering the Congress, his first strides in that direction probably having come during a tour of the Far East in 1949, conferring with a dozen key figures, including General MacArthur. In a memo to the President at the time, he told of the General having predicted nine months before the start of the Korean War, that the Chinese Communists would be "easily defeated in any major conflict", and that Chiang Kai-Shek "knew nothing about the art of warfare". Recently, he had appeared on a radio program, saying that the nation's foreign policy had been quite effective in three major areas: economically, in stabilizing Greece and Turkey and other areas of Europe through the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; politically, in the results of the Italian elections in 1948 and in such international agreements as NATO and the prospective Japanese treaty; and militarily, in the accomplishments in the 1948-49 Berlin airlift and in the courageous response to the Communist aggression in Korea. But, he had said, the nation had not fully grasped the fact that it was in an ideological war, and in that regard, there was a basic weakness in foreign policy.
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