The Charlotte News
Friday, February 8, 1952
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports, via Robert B. Tuckman, that allied spokesmen had indicated that the Communists apparently planned to base delivery of war prisoners to the allies on a rate of exchange and would apparently no longer adhere to their previous offer of returning all U.N. prisoners of war within the 30-day period after the armistice, indicating that the two-month time limit they proposed would apply equally to both sides. The allies had initially stated that they would need 90 days to return all prisoners, as they held 116,000, but then reduced that time to 60 days and asked the Communists to do likewise, as they only held 11,559 prisoners. The response had been that the Communists could not agree to different time limits for the two sides.
Staff officers were still attempting to reach agreement on the details of the truce supervision and prisoner exchange. Neither group had made noticeable progress this date, with the truce supervision group spending most of its time on troop rotation and ports of entry to be inspected during the armistice, with both sides maintaining their respective positions. The officers working on prisoner exchange haggled over the exact definition of such words as "repatriation", "transfer" and "parole", regarding the parole of released prisoners and a pledge not to fight again in the Korean War.
Negotiators would meet the next day to hear the allied answer to a Communist three-point proposal for a high-level conference three months after the armistice to settle all Asian questions related to the peace in Korea. Some observers indicated that they expected the U.N. reply to include a counter-proposal, which would exclude the third point regarding discussion at such a conference of other subjects, such as Formosa and Indo-China.
In Tokyo, Lt. General Otto Weyland, commander of the Far East Air Forces, said in a press interview the previous day that if allied airstrikes were halted, the Communists could mount a tremendous jet armada from North Korean airfields within 30 days, that they had 15 good airfields, all located near supply points, which could be put into shape without much engineering. That was why the allies were insisting on a ban against rebuilding airfields during an armistice. There had been some compromise by the allied negotiators to allow rebuilding of civilian airfields, but the General warned that civilian airfields could be converted for military use by supplying them with gas, oil and bombs. Repeated allied bombings had destroyed the usefulness of several North Korean fields with 6,000-foot runways suitable for Communist jet operations, all of which could be repaired during a truce. The General said that as long as the allies maintained their current airstrike capability in Korea, they could be ready to knock out any restored airfields in the event the Communists breached a final truce agreement, but that the job would be enormously difficult were allied warplanes removed from the theater.
In the air war, American Shooting Star jets hit a rail and highway junction in western Korea with bombs and napalm, destroying or damaging 30 supply buildings. U.S. Sabre jets spotted ten Communist jets over northwest Korea, but the enemy pilots refused to engage.
On the ground, temperatures warmed to 32 degrees at some points along the front where subzero weather had been the norm for several days.
Communist artillery in three North Korean cities was ordered by Premier Kim Il Sung, broadcast the previous night over North Korean radio, to fire a salute on the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Communist Korean Army.
Former Governor Ellis Arnall of Georgia was nominated by the President to become the new director of the Office of Price Stabilization, replacing Mike DiSalle who was quitting, effective February 15. Senator Burnet Maybank of South Carolina, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, tentatively scheduled hearings for the following Tuesday, indicating that he knew of no opposition to the nomination. Both Georgia Senators, Walter George and Richard Russell, indicated that they would support the former Governor for confirmation to the position, though in the case of Senator Russell, many of Mr. Arnall's policy positions while Governor from 1943 to 1947, considered progressive, had differed from those of the Senator.
South Carolina Governor James Byrnes indicated that the Government's announced plans to award defense contracts to relieve unemployment, regardless of competitive bids, was "indefensible", a practice which he found particularly inappropriate to the textile industry, destroying the incentive of mills to lower production costs and acting as a subsidy to reward imprudent management. Governor Byrnes said that no citizen would, however, object to such a policy implemented only within the automobile industry, where manufacturers had been forced to divert production to military requirements. The policy directive had been handed down recently by Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson. Several members of Congress, including both Senators from South Carolina, Burnet Maybank and Olin Johnston, had attacked the order during a joint Defense Production Committee hearing the prior Wednesday.
A Gallup poll showed that the President's popularity, which had fallen to an all-time low of 23 percent the prior November, had increased slightly to a 25 percent approval rating, versus 62 percent disapproving of his job performance and 13 percent expressing no opinion. The previous November, 58 percent of respondents had expressed disapproval and 19 percent had no opinion. Even among those respondents who had voted for him in 1948, 39 percent said that they now disapproved of the way he was handling his job, while 46 percent approved and 15 percent offered no opinion. George Gallup indicated in the report that it could not be assumed, however, that only 25 percent of the electorate would vote for the President if he were to run again, as party identification was an important factor in determining how people voted, and during an election campaign it was possible for a candidate to improve his rating with the people.
In New York, an
Eisenhower-for-President rally was taking place, with 1,000 Texans
shouting, "We like Ike," and a 46-piece band from Abilene
greeting visitors who waved banners and Confederate flags as they
deboarded from a special train at Pennsylvania Station. According to
one individual from Houston, the flags were a symbol of "the
revolt against Truman in Texas." All of the members wore
ten-gallon hats. One person from Alice, Texas, provided new lyrics to
"Deep in the Heart of Texas", which went: "Deep freeze
and minks and all those pinks; you bet, they're not from Texas. Let's
switch to Ike, the guy they like. From way down there in Texas."
Their rally would be held this night at Madison Square Garden.
Delegations from several other states were also slated to be present.
You won't wish to miss that there gala
In London, the new Queen Elizabeth
II was formally enthroned
A chart, presumably for Missourians, is provided to show the line of royal descent from Queen Victoria to Elizabeth.
In Trenton, Mo., Queenie was busy, 15 hours per day, seven days per week, sniffing out heated journals in the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad yards, also performing air brake inspections, detecting the slightest air leak. She specialized in freight trains and would not have anything to do with passenger trains.
You must think you are royalty or
something
In Cleveland, the building manager of the Federal Reserve Bank, after having the building sandblasted the previous spring and wishing to keep the starlings away, had tried loudspeakers, electric lights, rags and some fake owls, before resorting the previous night to a clapper made of two hinged pieces of board, which made such a loud noise that a guard had responded, saying that one of his assistants had reported gunfire. The effect on the starlings was not yet recorded.
On the editorial page, "Eisenhower's Absence a Handicap" indicates that it would be up to General Eisenhower to take the initiative if he were to leave his post as supreme commander of NATO to return to seek the Republican presidential nomination, as the President had made it clear that he would not relieve the General without his request. It indicates that the General had to be aware that there were many millions of Americans on all points of the political spectrum who were longing for an opportunity to vote for him, as they believed he stood above the bitter partisanship of the postwar era. These Americans considered him better qualified for the presidency than any other person on the scene and believed that his positions had the best chance of attracting majority support within the country.
Yet, the conventions were controlled by politicians, often more interested in their personal welfare than the national welfare or the choice of the people. Only a tidal wave of popular opinion could convince these politicians that it was in their best interests to nominate General Eisenhower. It suggests that the General would not withhold his decision to leave his assignment in Europe once he became fully aware of the depth of feeling for him in the country.
"The Earlier Jimmy Byrnes" tells of the South Carolina Governor having recently said that "big government" was "bad government", but finds that assessment contradictory to many of his pro-New Deal stands while Senator during the middle to late 1930s. It proceeds to list several of his positions supporting the New Deal, as well as some which he had opposed. It concludes that he had a right to oppose "big government" at present, but his earlier days also had to be recalled, as "he was both obstetrician and pediatrician to the lusty infant now grown into a giant."
This sounds like another of those Saturday editorials on Friday. Never mind that a world war had intervened, followed by the Cold War, both of which having been the largest contributors to what was being called "big government".
"By-Product of the One-Party System" tells of only 42 percent of the eligible voters having voted in the 1950 Congressional elections, with the percentages much smaller in the one-party South. It provides a table of the latter percentages, starting with South Carolina, with the smallest percentage, 4 percent, ranging to North Carolina, at 23 percent, and Arkansas, at 27 percent. It notes that Utah had been first in voter participation, at 68 percent, followed by Connecticut, Indiana and South Dakota, each at 62 percent.
It concludes that the one-party system in the South was responsible for depressing the vote, as few bothered to turn out in the general election, with the conclusion foregone that the Democrat would win, and the ultimate result that Southern Democrats had little influence on the national party's positions. That would only change when higher percentages of people began voting in a genuinely contested two-party system.
"How to Lay an Egg" tells of a New Hampshire Red hen which continued to lay green eggs, the result, according to an N.C. State expert, of "genetic reversion", or scrambled genes, a rarity among chickens.
It wonders whether the owner of the hen, a police officer, had exclaimed when told, "What the shell?" Or, "Not being rooster such things, did he think his hen was playing a yolk on him?" And so on, concluding that it suspected he was humming, "Just Capon Doing Whatcha' Doing".
Don't egg the editors on with even a smirk, as their puns are worthy of chickgrin—understood better South of the Border.
A piece from the Wall Street Journal, titled "Honesty and the Shakedown", tells of some former New York officials being on trial for demanding bribe payments to grant permits to install oil burners or other heating equipment. One witness had informed that he was told that his permits would not be provided on several contracts unless he paid off the official. The piece does not fault this person, who would have otherwise had his business ruined.
It observes, by the same token, that in the tax scandals, the fixers should be thrown out of office and reported to the proper authorities, but that the victim of the fix had been led to believe that his refusal to participate in the scheme would lead to more than the withdrawal of favors, subjecting the person to at least large legal expenses and possibly exposure to criminal charges. It finds this person therefore also under duress.
Drew Pearson tells of the President keeping his cards close to his chest in terms of his intentions whether to run for re-election, with his intimates guessing that he was laying the groundwork for a "draft Truman" campaign after the popular movements for the other candidates had subsided.
Senator Herman Welker of Idaho had recently sought to make it clear in a closed meeting of the Rules Committee that he was no stooge of Senator Joseph McCarthy, as he had been named to the subcommittee investigating his old friend and whether he should continue to sit in the Senate. He stated that he was no more sympathetic with the Senator than was Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who, Mr. Pearson reminds, had delivered a "Statement of Conscience" opposing Senator McCarthy's smear tactics and favored the investigation of him from its inception.
Just resigned Ambassador to Russia Alan Kirk had delivered a farewell report recounting the feud in the Politburo anent the successor to Prime Minister Stalin, with the report indicating that V. M. Molotov and Georgi Malenkov were openly vying for power within the Politburo. Stalin was reported to be enjoying the spectacle and so had not intervened or designated a successor.
The U.S. delegation to the U.N. was alarmed at the potential for Communist attack on Burma and so had appealed to the Burmese Government to ask the U.N. to send a watchdog commission to Burma to monitor the situation. Some U.S. delegates believed it was already too late, however, and that by midsummer, Burma would become another Russian satellite.
The Kremlin was so alarmed at military information leaking to the West that it had banned German servants from working for Russians in East Germany, had built high fences around its airfields, added new restrictions on American military attaches behind the Iron Curtain, and cut off non-classified technical magazines to Western sources.
Marquis Childs discusses the nearly unprecedented political and military policy entanglement of the time, applying to the role of General Eisenhower in both areas, as well to the uncertain status of the Korean War, and, more broadly, to the control of the military, through such bodies as the Joint Chiefs, in turn playing an important part in the development of foreign policy.
The forthcoming North Atlantic Council meeting in Lisbon, soon to start, was likely to be the last in which General Eisenhower would have a direct responsibility, as he would likely return to the U.S. prior to the next NATO meeting in mid-June. One of the General's closest friends and advisers had told him that he should return no less than 30 days, and preferably 60 days, prior to the July Republican convention, if he were to have a good chance of being nominated. There was a strong possibility that he would return by May 2 to address West Point on its 150th anniversary, which Prime Minister Churchill had indicated an interest also in doing.
The Lisbon meeting, and its success or failure, would thus have a great impact on the General's future, as well that of Europe. At the Rome meeting the previous November, the confreres had considered a plan for accelerating Western rearmament so that 30 divisions would be available by the end of 1952. There were now doubts, however, as to whether this plan could be put into effect, as being beyond the economic and political capacities of the NATO powers in Europe, that without a pledge of much greater aid in dollars and commodities from the U.S., those powers might contend that they could not accomplish this plan, or even its alternative, which would carry rearmament beyond 1952.
At the same time, the Congress would be considering the 10.5 billion dollar foreign military and economic aid package proposed in the President's budget, with pressure in an election year on economy.
No one would presently contend that Western Europe was safe against Communist aggression. If defenses of Western Europe were certain to enter the politics of 1952, the Korean War and the frustrating efforts to reach an armistice were already in the political arena, with the ultimate outcome having a great impact in the coming months on the U.S. political outlook.
Robert C. Ruark tells of the Cook County grand jury in Chicago investigating a multi-million dollar racket in the substitution of horse meat for beefsteak. Everyone from Governor Adlai Stevenson to Hopalong Cassidy, the public health department, and jockey Eddie Arcaro were being blamed for the problem, the latter only because he rode a horse. The Governor had indicated that he hoped the worst of the problem was behind the city, and sources close to politics claimed that the accusation against the Governor were the result of a Republican attempt to discredit him as a possible Democratic candidate for the presidency. In the meantime, the racketeers continued to make money out of replacing steak with horse meat, causing damage to Chicago's reputation as the cattle butcher to the world.
"In that respect, the city has suffered even more grievously than Houston, which dined happily off Dobbin for several months before the citizens discovered they had made a hearty midnight snack of Old Paint, who in Texas, outvotes the dog as man's best friend."
A letter from Senator William Benton of Connecticut compliments the newspaper for its January 5 editorial, criticizing the Congress for pigeonholing the remaining bills to implement recommendations of the Hoover Commission to eliminate waste and promote efficiency in the executive branch. Senator Benton shares the editorial's disappointment that the Congress had not been more vigorous in taking action on these matters and indicates that only he and Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan had co-sponsored every one of the 20 plans introduced by the President based on the recommendations of the Commission. He indicates that unless Congress were aroused by the people who desired more efficient Government, there was a great danger that the remaining 50 percent of the Commission's plans would fall under the attack of the special interests.
A letter writer from Hiddenite comments on a prior letter, states that the greatest leaders and statesmen of the country had been Republicans, who had never "cut the feet from under the little man" or forced the farmer to kill a third of his livestock, etc. The President could "yank our boys up over the weekend without the knowledge of Congress" and send them to Korea "to fight and die like dogs", but when someone criticized his daughter's singing, he would send out an angry letter. Senator Joseph McCarthy "has courage and he also has brain, but because he uncovered the Democrat skeleton in their dark closets, they ridicule him." He wishes him more power and says that Senator Taft had "brain enough to make a good President", provided he had half the power which FDR and President Truman had, along with a Republican Congress and the help of God. He could then lead the U.S. "right out of the dense forest that the Democrats put us in…"
He should have his own talk radio show.
A letter from the vice-president of the Mecklenburg County Bar Association thanks the newspaper for its editorial, "Judge Bobbitt Fills the Bill", expressing the hope that the effort to draft Superior Court Judge William Bobbitt as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the State Supreme Court would be successful. The writer indicates that the editorial expressed the sentiments of nearly every lawyer in the Charlotte bar.
There is bound to be a connection between Mr. Ruark's Dobbin and Judge Bobbitt's surname, but out of discretion, we shall refrain
A letter writer indicates that the people of the country should know how every member of Congress voted on all appropriations measures as the money they were appropriating belonged to the people.
Framed Edition
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