The Charlotte News

Monday, April 21, 1952

TWO EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that U.N. negotiators in Korea indicated that the Communists this date had refused to discuss or even acknowledge the issue of the desired allied ban on construction of military airfields during a truce. The U.N. negotiators also indicated that the issue of neutral nations to inspect the truce had been resolved by the U.N. suggestion that only four nations, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and Czechoslovakia, become the neutral nations, rather than having six, including the Communist-nominated Russia. Staff officers discussing these two truce supervision issues had met for over an hour this date while staff officers discussing the issue of voluntary repatriation of prisoners met for an hour and 47 minutes off the record. Both groups would meet again the following day. Regarding the airfield issue, both sides accused the other of unreasonable positions.

In the air war, U.S. Sabre jets had shot down seven and damaged six enemy MIG-15 jets this date, in three separate air battles, involving 100 enemy planes.

In the ground war, fighting was sporadic and generally light across the 155-mile front.

In New York, a Korean War veteran declared that he was no hero and had hated the Army, but was ready to volunteer for service again, provided his cousin would not be drafted. He said that his uncle and aunt were broken people because they had lost three of their six sons in World War II, and a fourth had been badly injured. Now, the Government was trying to draft their sixth son.

The President, in a letter to Vice-President Alben Barkley as presiding officer of the Senate, said this date that if the Senate restricted use of Government funds for operation of the seized steel mills, it could result in "paralyzing the operations of the government in an emergency." He said that enactment of the Republican-sponsored efforts could lead to a complete shutdown of the steel mills and thereby reduce the ability of American troops in Korea to defend themselves, and that much of the debate on the matter had been of an "extreme and misleading character". He said that Congress should do more than tell him what he should not do and should instead pass constructive legislation regarding the steel dispute. He promised cooperation in developing any legislative proposals to that end.

According to informed officials, Government control over installment buying was expected to end soon.

Supporters of Senator Taft for the Republican presidential nomination were circulating petitions seeking General Eisenhower's views on 21 "vital questions", including his position on the Truman Administration's foreign policy, the firing of General MacArthur the previous year, civil rights legislation and Taft-Hartley. The General, recovering from a cold in Paris, had no comment about the matter.

Primaries in New York and Pennsylvania, ranking respectively number one and three in total delegate strength among the states, would select the following day a tenth of the total Republican delegates to the convention, starting July 7.

Idaho Democrats were choosing their 12 delegates to the convention this date at a state convention, and were expected to be uninstructed, despite efforts by Senators Estes Kefauver and Robert Kerr to obtain their support.

The Missouri River, with heavy rain anticipated in the forecast, continued to pose problems for the areas along its 700-mile flooded course. But in Kansas City, where even an inch of rain would cause the rise of the river to be only about a foot, well below the level of the dikes, it was the Kaw River, rather than the Missouri, which was causing concern, as it had flooded into the Missouri the previous July, though at present it was still at a low level. The Army Corps of Engineers engineer at Omaha stood by his prediction that Kansas City would be safe this time. He said that flood stage extended from Blair, Nebraska, above Omaha, almost to the mouth near St. Charles, 700 miles distant. At Omaha and Council Bluffs, the Missouri was dropping about a tenth of a foot per hour and by mid-week, 39,000 residents, evacuated the previous week, were expected to be able to return to their homes. Below that point, engineers estimated that about 10,000 persons had been evacuated.

In Jackson, Michigan, ten guards had been seized by prisoners and held hostage since the previous night at Southern Michigan Prison, as gunfire erupted for the first time during the prison riot after rioters were said by State police to have threatened guards of a work-party inside the grounds. The shots were fired over the heads of the convicts as warning. The rioting prisoners still held control of a large portion of the large prison and bedlam generally characterized several cell blocks. "Crazy Jack" Hyatt, a robber who had once used a knife to force Governor G. Mennen Williams to become a hostage in a futile escape attempt, had led the original mutiny. The mutineers had charged prison officials with brutality. That group had sent a message saying that they would "work over" their hostages if live ammunition were used against them. The prison was reputed to be the world's largest, with 6,481 inmates, of whom 4,978 were within the walls and the others, trusties or work camp prisoners. About 1,600 prisoners had been involved in the rioting.

The first in a series of articles by Dr. W. C. Alvarez provides advice on how to deal with one's nerves, recommends getting acquainted with them and the ways in which they played tricks, to avoid fear of those tricks. He indicates that the first time one had an attack of palpitations with missing heartbeats, one might think that his days were numbered, only to be told by the doctor that his heart was fine and the episode was the result of worry and fatigue. After that, one might then pay little attention to the spells and make friends with them. The same might be true of blinding headaches. In such cases, he observed that usually other members of the family had significant nervousness and that the condition was hard to cure because it was built into the very nature and temperament of the individual. It did not mean that the situation was hopeless as most such persons were able to live useful and reasonably comfortable lives. While it was not popular to suggest that excitable and worrisome nerves were inherited, that appeared to the doctor to be the case.

In Mecklenburg County, three traffic fatalities occurred during the weekend, bringing to eight the total number since the start of 1952. In one accident, a pick-up truck traveling at about 60 mph failed to stop at a stop sign and collided with an automobile, as pictured, killing both drivers. (The story indicates the damage to the car to have been about $900 worth, but the damage to the 1951 Ford, even at 1952 parts and labor prices, appears likely to be a wee bit more—assuming you want to repair a dead man's car. It might take a little frame-straightening equipment on that baby, plus about six months of labor and mostly new parts. You can give 'er the old college try, though, with a crowbar, a little Bondo and a couple o' spray cans if you want.)

In the other accident, a man died after his arm had been amputated 24 hours earlier as a result of the wreck.

Since the captions on the photos appear reversed, someone may have been drunk after the accidents.

On the editorial page, "'War Isn't Just A-Bombs and Armor'", a by-lined piece by News editor Pete McKnight, writing from Cairo during his tour of the Middle East with the American Christian Palestine Committee study group, tells of interviewing both Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, secretary-general of the Arab League, as such having a large role in shaping joint policy of the Arab nations and in interpreting it to the world, and Mustapha Amin, the publisher of the influential weekly, Akhber El Yom, and an unrelenting critic of the corrupt Wafdist Government presently in power in Egypt and one of the top spokesmen for the nationalism which had caused an upwelling of anti-British sentiment in recent months. Both men agreed completely on one point, that Britain had to remove from the Suez Canal Zone and that Egypt had to have control over Sudan before the internal political pressure would subside. They differed somewhat on the issue of democracy at home, Amin favoring it, while Azzam thought in terms of world politics.

Azzam believed that the U.S. was probably the most popular nation in the world but that Egyptians could not understand why it was continuing to promote colonialism in the Middle East. He said that he had only seen either a French mask or a British mask exhibited by the U.S. in that region. He stated that war was "not simply atomic bombs and armored divisions", that one could not convince people with revolvers, that if they began to think that democracy was morally wrong, they would turn to another form of government. He said that if the U.S. would learn to stand by principles, the people of Egypt would stand behind the U.S.

He further argued that the Sudan had always been an integral part of Egypt, that 90 percent of the Sudanese had immigrated from Egypt and that its dominant race was Egyptian, that it was not therefore a question of Egypt annexing a foreign land. Regarding the issue of the Suez Canal Zone, in which the January 26 riots had been touched off by the killing of Egyptian policemen, he found the British propaganda that the Canal was essential to defeating Russia to have been only historic theory left over from habit, that the Zone had not been used during World War II. He argued that the British had violated the treaty of 1936 by maintaining more than 10,000 troops in the Zone, and had been applying economic pressure to maintain Egypt in a weakened economic status, that Britain was an "exploiter" rather than an ally.

Amin, on the other hand, praised the record of the U.S. oil companies in the Middle East, saying that they did not seek to control internal politics as did the British. He found Americans to be wonderfully pleasant people, stating that Egyptians did not want anything from the U.S. except neutrality in their struggle with Britain. He said that what happened in Egypt depended entirely on the British, that there would have been no Wafd party were it not for the British presence, and that it would disappear if the British were to leave, that the goal and raison d'être of Wafdists was only to force out the British. Amin had been fighting the Wafd for the previous few years, and his plant, as a result, had been bombed five times. He stated that they nevertheless enjoyed the fight, that the last time his plant had been bombed, the workers had killed one of the attackers. He said that his country did not need the Marshall Plan but rather a democratic revolution, as Egypt was "tied up with censorship", with one party dominating completely. In a democracy, any man could be a millionaire, and everything became possible with the evacuation of the British, whereas nothing was possible absent that prospect.

Amin quoted an old Arab proverb: "'He who leads the British away, we shall take his hand and he shall lead us.' That leader will arise," he continued. "You can be sure of it."

"Jonas Speaks Out" tells of having tuned into a local radio program the prior Friday night, "Take Your Choice", hearing Republican Tenth Congressional District candidate Charles R. Jonas making his reply to the Democratic position set forth by Dr. Thomas Burton, who was contesting incumbent Congressman Hamilton Jones for the Democratic nomination.

It finds the courtesy exhibited by both of the candidates to have been a pleasant exception to most political debates. But it feels the need to correct the record on some of Mr. Jonas's statements, though finding it refreshing that he took definite stands, compared to some of the waffling by Dr. Burton, particularly on the steel and textile issues.

Mr. Jonas had claimed that the Republican 80th Congress had done more than any other Congress for rural electrification, whereas the fact was that while that Congress had done a lot for the REA, the body did so in spite of the Republicans and not because of them. It examines the voting record on the subject, as compiled by Congressional Quarterly to prove the point.

He had also touted the record of the 80th Congress in passing the Marshall Plan, the Vandenberg Resolution and the Truman Doctrine of military aid for Greece and Turkey. While the Vandenberg Resolution had only two opponents in the Senate, the other two matters had almost exclusively Republican opposition in both houses.

Mr. Jonas had also criticized Democrats for recognizing Russia after FDR had become President, whereas recognition of a regime did not indicate necessarily approbation of its policies or practices. Recognition of Russia had enabled more Americans to observe it at first hand, which was preferable to enabling it to operate in complete secrecy, as it had in the preceding Republican administrations.

He had also claimed that the country had received nothing in return for the billions spent on lend-lease for the Soviets during World War II, while in fact the military hardware provided in that program had been used effectively by the Soviets against Germany during the period of U.S. mobilization after Pearl Harbor.

It concludes that Mr. Jonas would need to jettison the worn-out Republican rhetoric if he were to obtain Democratic votes in the district.

A piece from the Milwaukee Journal, titled "It Says Here", tells of a bulletin of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce quoting a paragraph from the Government's general salary stabilization regulation No. 3, which all employees were supposed to understand and follow: "Employer includes a corporation owned or controlled by the employing corporation or owning or controlling the employing corporation, and a corporation owned or controlled by the corporation which owns or controls the employing corporation."

Drew Pearson tells of the journalists around Paris appearing to think that the most important story in Europe was General Eisenhower, speculating on when he would leave his post as supreme commander of NATO, where he would speak once he returned to the U.S., and what he had for breakfast. Mr. Pearson disagrees, thinks that the major story was that the peace of Europe might be on the horizon, capable of being made or unmade within the ensuing few months. He finds it therefore unfortunate that the General was leaving his post at such a crucial time. For the prior 80 years, men had been marching into battle on either side of the Rhine, and presently, for the first time in those 80 years, they were planning to organize on both sides of the Rhine under one army wearing the same uniform. The General had not conceived of the idea of a unified European army, but rather the concept had come from European diplomats, primarily Robert Schuman of France. General Eisenhower had, however, given the idea its greatest impetus, and if he could give it the final push within the ensuing few weeks, it would, Mr. Pearson posits, be more important to his grandchildren than his becoming President. He suggests that future historians might write that the General's departure at that particular time would influence the future of Europe for better or worse for a long time subsequently.

The fact that the Soviets were trying so hard to stop the unification of Western Europe demonstrated the strength of the drive toward that end. It explained why peace in Korea, elections in East Germany, the evacuation of the Red Army from East Germany, and the return of East Prussia to Germany were in process, all designed to block the new agreement between France and Germany to permit West German rearmament as a contribution to the Western European army.

He cites four allies of the Soviet effort in that regard, the first being corruption in the United States, limiting the ability and effectiveness of the Administration to provide leadership in foreign policy. Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, who had been the exponent among Republicans of bipartisan foreign policy, had died the prior year, also adversely affecting the ability to bring about European unity. The President, who Mr. Pearson regards as being excellent in his foreign policy goals, had hurt those goals by failing to clean his Administration of corruption. The second such ally of the Soviets was French fear and apathy, that despite most French leaders being for unity with Germany, the average Frenchman remained skeptical about rearming its historic enemy. He was also tired of paying high taxes, was opposed to peacetime military conscription and to having American or other foreign troops in France. The third ally was the German Socialists, opposed to German rearmament of any kind, and though rearmament and the European army were favored by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the majority of the people of West Germany, his margin of votes remained dangerously slim. The fourth such ally was the opposition of French Socialists to the European army, based on their assertion that it would be an arm of the Catholic Church.

Owen J. Roberts, former Supreme Court Justice from 1930-1945 and currently dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and president of the Atlantic Union Committee, provides an article distilled from a speech he had given recently before the annual convention of the Committee. In advocating economic and political union for the 12 NATO nations, he explains that the U.N. and NATO, as the latter was presently constituted, were not organizations able to legislate as single entities, but could only respond with force or economic sanctions to put down force. He asserts that NATO should be able to speak with one voice on foreign policy to be effective.

He counters the argument put forth by some that such an arrangement would mean surrendering individual national sovereignty with the notion that at the time of the Founding, some of the colonists contended the same thing, but the Union had worked well since that time. Some people in the richer states in the Northeast complained that they paid all the taxes for the poorer Southwestern states, but he contends that such an argument was nonsense, because the richer states obtained their wealth from the mines, cattle and other resources of the poorer states.

He also counters the notion that opening up immigration would cause hordes of foreign immigrants to flock to the shores of the U.S., by indicating that despite small quotas, the British, the French, the Dutch, and other nations in Western Europe did not fill their immigration quotas each year, despite those countries suffering economic problems.

The U.N. could not suffice as a legislative organization, because everyone had one vote, with tiny Luxembourg able to offset the vote of the United States.

Such an economic and political union among the NATO nations would enable the British and European countries to thrive, as there would be more confidence by American investors, thus building up the foreign economies, without having to supply so much aid to prop them up. The Marshall Plan and NATO were good things and he had supported both. But the Atlantic Union concept would enable those countries to become self-sustaining economically and strengthen the alliance as a bulwark to Communism.

He concludes that the Atlantic Union would never come to pass unless the U.S. took the lead to bring it about, and that if the people of the United States determined that they did not want it, they were "electing chaos, destruction, the ruination of religion, of freedom, of our way of life … they're inviting slavery."

A letter writer from Pittsboro responds to the April 16 editorial, "The Missouri Mocks Us Again", disagreeing with the notion that a Missouri Valley Authority would be the solution to the flooding problems besetting the Missouri River Valley each year. He regards the TVA as the prime example of "planned economy", believes it to be a "Nazi-Fascist type of governmental operation", working to destroy the free enterprise system. He suggests that flood control in TVA, as well as in other projects, such as the Buggs Island project on the Roanoke River, was only an incidental aspect of such projects' operations, such as the provision of electric power at rates with which private utilities could not compete.

He concludes: "Private enterprise is fighting for its life, which, in this instance, hinders the control of the Mighty Mo and its ravages. That's the answer. When the American people make up their minds as to Nazi-Fascist projects, as above described, or the American free enterprise system, then we can arrange to control the floods in this country."

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