The Charlotte News
Friday, December 17, 1954
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that at the U.N. in New York, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold this date accepted an invitation for face-to-face talks with Communist China's Premier and Foreign Minister Chou En-lai in Peiping, after receiving a cable from the Premier saying that the Secretary-General would be welcome if he wished to discuss questions related to world peace and international tension. Chou did not specifically agree to discuss the 11 American airmen who were being held as alleged espionage agents by China, after being shot down during the Korean War, but Secretary-General Hammarskjold was understood to believe that such talks had also not been ruled out by the communiqué. Thus, he accepted immediately. The exact date of the talks had not yet been set, but the Secretary-General intended to depart as soon as arrangements could be determined. He had also received a second cable at the same time from the Communist leader during the morning which had denounced the General Assembly's action in condemning the holding of the 11 airmen as being violative of the 1953 Korean Armistice, Chou saying that the Assembly's action was illegal.
In Paris, it was reported that leaders of the free world this date had adopted a new defense strategy based on the atomic bomb and agreed on the way new weapons could be used in the event of an attack by the Communist bloc nations, as the 14 NATO powers set the role of atomic weapons during a closed session, promising a communiqué on their decision later this date or the following day. The new defense plans drafted by the chiefs of staff of the NATO members provided nuclear firepower a place in the organization's "new look" arsenal, and in closed session, the leaders took up the question of who would decide on resort to atomic arms, whether military men or their civilian governments. The U.S. Government was known to be strongly opposed to hampering NATO's deterrent effect with a formula which might be unworkable in a major surprise attack against the West, that the ordinarily required consultation with civilian authorities before launching any such attack should not be made an absolute condition such that it would hamper military commanders in the field in the event of an emergency.
Earlier in the NATO Council session, French Premier Pierre Mendes-France told his colleagues that French policy would not be modified by Russia's latest diplomatic note threatening to denounce the 1944 French-Soviet treaty should the French ratify the Paris accords to rearm West Germany.
The Pentagon would unveil this date its new military training and reserve plan and seek to explain why it should be approved by Congress, some members being traditionally wary of anything similar to the European-style conscription program. All previous attempts to establish universal military training in the country had failed in Congress and foes had called UMT "anti-American" and unduly costly, while advocates saw it as a method of building up a trained reserve of manpower which would enable the country to cut its standing military forces. The Pentagon's new plan was known to be accompanied by a request for an extension of the draft law, set to expire the following June 30, and by a request for pay increases to career soldiers. It called for training of some 100,000 youths annually for periods of six months.
In Berlin, an East German brunette
was being held incommunicado this date, accused of charming top
secrets from two American security officials as a Soviet spy. Her
arrest was confirmed by the chief U.S. prosecutor and the charges of
espionage had been filed in the U.S. High Commission court in
Frankfurt, with her arraignment scheduled in Berlin for the following
Tuesday. An authoritative American source said that the woman was
alleged to have carried on espionage for the Soviets for 18 months,
becoming the mistress of a high-ranking U.S. security officer, and
also the occasional sweetheart of a civilian in a key security post.
She was suspected of having penetrated U.S. security in Berlin
further than any other foreign agent. She was said to be not only a
beauty but also an intellectual, dressed fashionably and wore
expensive jewelry, was seen in the best places and made frequent
trips between East and West Berlin. A German employee in another
security office in Berlin had reported her for her attempt to obtain
information from him, that she had said that if he would get it for her, the
Soviets would release her from her job as a spy and they could get
married. A trap
In New York, it was reported that the Coast Guard had abandoned hope this date for locating an American freighter which had been missing off the East Coast with its crew of 24 since December 4. An intensive sea and air search for the vessel was ended the previous night, though Coast Guard ships and planes would still maintain a routine watch for it while on regular patrols and training flights.
In Cleveland, O., the jury in the first-degree murder trial of Dr. Samuel Sheppard, charged with killing his wife, Marilyn, the prior July 4, began their deliberations during the morning, following the instructions of the judge, during which he informed the jury that it was not necessary under Ohio law to prove motive in a murder case, though the presence or absence of such evidence might show intent or lack thereof by the defendant in commission of the alleged crime; that circumstantial evidence had to be considered carefully but was an acceptable basis for finding guilt, that it must be, however, consistent only with a theory of guilt and not equally consistent with a theory of innocence to be used as the basis for a finding of guilt. He also instructed that the jury could find the defendant guilty of two lesser included offenses to first degree murder, provided they found beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty that he was guilty of killing the victim, those being second degree murder, that is killing with deliberate malice but without the element of premeditation—as the jury would find—, or first degree manslaughter—also referred to in the common law as "voluntary manslaughter" to distinguish it from involuntary manslaughter or, under the common law, negligent homicide—defined in Ohio as a killing, whether intentional or unintentional, done without malice but in the "heat of passion" under provocation and with insufficient cooling time. (In Ohio, as the instructions indicated, second degree manslaughter by statute necessarily involved a motor vehicle in the killing, the state not adopting strictly the common law distinction between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. As we have cautioned before, do not confuse the term "malice aforethought", at common law necessary for murder, with "premeditation", meaning considered for some period of time, which can be inferred from the manner of the killing and need not be of prolonged duration. Ohio used only "malice" to eliminate the ambiguity arising from coupling it with "aforethought". The jury, in its eventual finding of guilt on second-degree murder, appears to have split the apple, as the evidence suggests more a heat of passion killing than one with malice but without premeditation, because of death having been inflicted by repeated blows to the victim, normally sufficient to find premeditation in that manner of inflicting death when a jury rejects the heat of passion theory, the jury perhaps, however, because of the nature of the defense case, contending that the defendant did not do the crime at all, finding therefore no evidence of provocation present, necessary as an element of first-degree manslaughter in Ohio, having been left with the second-degree murder verdict, after determining in their minds beyond a reasonable doubt that the doctor killed his wife. The verdict appears to convey some level of doubt by the jury as to what transpired prior to the killing, such that it determined it was sufficient to negate the element of premeditation.) Before the morning session had begun, a greeting card was handed to the defendant by the bailiff, and he had opened it to find between the pages a four-leaf clover, causing the doctor to smile while tears came to his eyes after reading the brief message.
Rowland Evans, Jr., reports that the President would light the Washington community Christmas tree at dusk this date as a beacon heralding throughout the world the holiday message of "Peace on earth, good will toward men." The President planned to make a six-minute address to be carried nationally by major radio and television networks during the late afternoon, to be broadcast overseas by the Voice of America. The ceremonies would mark the beginning of the capital's "Pageant of Peace" which would last three weeks and involve representatives of 30 nations in religious and holiday observances. The observance centered around a 65-foot Michigan fir tree erected on the Ellipse, adjoining the White House grounds. A speaker's stand had been erected for the President, who the previous year had spoken from within the White House on the occasion. Many dignitaries from the Government would be on hand, along with the Marine Band, an 80-voice choir from Washington churches and the St. Phillips Cathedral Bell Choir from Atlanta.
On the editorial page, "Put the Question to the People" tells of the low rate of pay, $15 per day, Sundays excluded, for North Carolina legislators, without expense reimbursement for travel.
It indicates that in New York and Illinois, legislators were paid $10,000 per year plus expenses. In California, the pay was $7,200, and in Wisconsin, $4,800, with both of those states also paying expenses. Some other Southern states paid more than North Carolina. In Louisiana, for example, pay during sessions was $30 per day plus mileage and $150 monthly when the Legislature was not in session. Alabama paid $20 per day plus mileage for one round trip, and Florida paid $17.50 per day plus mileage for four round trips.
It indicates that the public suffered considerably from the inadequate compensation because the majority of citizens could not afford to make the financial sacrifice which legislative service required, let alone foot the campaign costs, leaving the candidate field open only to the wealthy or those who spoke for their financial supporters, plus a few public-spirited citizens who would make the sacrifice.
It says it resented, therefore, the usual statements made by legislators at the end of each session that they would not advocate burdening the taxpayers further with a pay raise for themselves, suggests putting the question to the people in the form of an amendment to the State Constitution, which would provide enough pay to enable anyone to stand for election to the Legislature.
"It's a Dun, but It'll Be Fun" indicates that it wished there were enough money in the community so that service organization needs could be met through charitable solicitation, but that there was additional need for a weekend telethon to support the United Appeal. It indicates it would be more than a televised request for money, that it would be a presentation of top-flight and varied entertainment, with minimal production costs, as the television stars, WBTV, and large numbers of organizations and individuals were, for the most part, donating their services. It expresses confidence that the final community request would be successful, as well as enjoyable.
"How 'The Dixiecrats' Got Their Name" indicates that the previous week, the President had coined his awkward phrase "progressive moderation", which he wanted to be synonymous with the Republican Party. But, as Doris Fleeson had pointed out in a recent column, the voters were not excited over such vague slogans, which needed to be short and clear and susceptible of becoming headlines, where they first had to fit.
During the 1948 campaign, the "States Rights Democrats" had separated from the regular Democrats for the presidential election, and Bill Weisner, The News telegraph editor at the time, had torn a story about them from the printer and decided he could not fit that many letters into a headline and still have room for any other words, and so came up with "Dixiecrats", which, in turn, editor Pete McKnight, then managing editor, called to the attention of the Associated Press, which ran a short story about "Dixiecrats", enabling the term to get around the country, resulting in comment being immediate and not completely complimentary. President Truman said that the Dixiecrats were not good Democrats, while an Alabama States Rights Democratic leader said there was no such animal.
The Charleston News and Courier claimed that the constant application of "Dixiecrats" to the States Rights voters constituted a revival of the hate campaign against the South, started by Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and other "haters" in 1867 when they had succeeded in having the Reconstruction acts passed by Congress.
But the term "Dixiecrat" had stuck because it had immediately caught on.
Even a headline writer would not be able to help the President sell "progressive moderation", as "PM" was too remindful of prime ministers, the defunct left-wing newspaper of Marshall Field, postmortems, provost marshals, postmasters, police magistrates, past masters and pattern makers, as well as post-meridian.
It suggests that the President's intraparty opponents might revive "mugwumps" and apply it derisively to the Eisenhower wing of the party, noting that the original mugwumps of the 1880's were said to have their "mugs" in one party and their "wumps" in another. It also suggests that perhaps the President could alter in some way Theodore Roosevelt's famous line, that he felt "as strong as a bull moose" by saying something to the effect that he was "stout as a trout", but, on second thought, decides to leave the whole matter up to the headline writers.
They could say something like, perhaps, upon the President successfully pushing legislation through the Democratic Congress, bearing in Freud's subsconscious mind his Congressional liaison, at least during the 83rd Congress: "Cold Buns Scores Whole-in-One", or maybe not.
"Quintuplicate" indicates that the Tax Foundation, a private nonprofit organization devoted to "development of more efficient government at less cost to the taxpayer", had just published a book, Facts and Figures on Government Finance, 1954-1955, of which the Foundation had thus far sent the newspaper five separate copies, making the newspaper glad that the organization was private and making it understandable why it was nonprofit.
A piece from the Milwaukee Journal, titled "Alas, Poor Cooky", wonders what had happened to the American cooky, the kind which mother and grandmother had made in a warm kitchen redolent of spice, chocolate and vanilla, and what had happened to the pinwheel cookies, folded in jellyroll fashion, or the quick ginger cookies, rolled on a board and shaped with a round cutter, the gingerbread man cookies, the coconut macaroons, the molasses drop cookies, the tropic ovals, the Dresden delights, orange crescents, coconut jumbles and marmalade triangles of yesteryear.
It finds in the era of the hydrogen
bomb that the substitute was the mass-produced cooky of commercial
bakers, sold in the slickest supermarkets, a cooky without a heart,
untouched by the hand of man or woman and apparently made without
sugar, eggs, shortening, vanilla or chocolate. It suggests that a
kind of tan-colored talcum was probably substituted for the latter,
or possibly ground up old geranium pods. It concludes that the result
from a culinary standpoint was monstrous, that the brittle, ersatz
wafers smelled like cellophane
Drew Pearson indicates that the Civil Defense Administration had now decided that the President's air raid shelter, built for FDR during World War II, was not completely safe, as it was no secret that it was buried on the White House grounds, with the fear being that a hydrogen bomb might scoop the shelter right out of the ground. As a result, the President had been assigned a secret, out-of-town cave, to which he would be hurriedly transported, along with top aides and Cabinet members, in case of an air raid. The cave was equipped with tons of supplies and rations, special electronics and radio gear, air filters and water purifiers, the necessities to run the nation from an emergency headquarters. Its effectiveness would depend on adequate warning and the Air Force hoped that the radar screen in northern Canada would provide Washington four hours of notice of an enemy attack. If the warning were too short, the President would have to take his chances on the existing White House shelter, which would only accommodate 20 to 25 persons. No list had been developed as to who within the White House would go with the President and who would have to take their chances in seeking shelter elsewhere. Civil Defense had conducted several practice runs to determine how long it would take to evacuate the President and the Cabinet to the secret cave, together with 3,000 other top officials to scattered relocation centers. During one such rehearsal, it had been discovered that a master file containing essential data remained in Washington, with the result that copies had been made of all important working files and stored at the emergency headquarters. Oveta Culp Hobby, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, had also discovered that her high heel shoes were not the best fashion for air raid drills, as the cement floors of the President's shelter had scraped up her heels and caused trouble for her feet.
General Marshall, who recently was provided a long-overdue testimonial dinner, had told friends privately how Queen Frederika of Greece came to see him secretly in London some years earlier and had asked him to do something to save Greece, that he had told her she was very naughty to approach him directly, since it was improper for the head of a Government to make a formal request of a U.S. military man. He acted anyway, however, and later sent General James Van Fleet to reorganize the then demoralized Greek Army. The latter had done a fine job and was subsequently placed in charge of the Eighth Army in Korea. More recently, the General had joined the "Ten Million Americans" for Senator McCarthy, but when the latter had openly criticized President Eisenhower, the General had publicly withdrawn his support for the Senator. His old military comrades, however, had noted that the General had said nothing about Senator McCarthy's charge against General Marshall, the man who had promoted General Van Fleet and given him his big opportunity in Greece. Senator McCarthy had said of General Marshall that he was guilty of "a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man."
The Congressional Quarterly indicates that should any issue set off a major foreign policy debate in 1955, it would likely be the question of U.S. relations with Communist China and Nationalist China. For the moment, all sides were awaiting the outcome of the efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold to negotiate the release of the 11 U.S. airmen jailed as espionage agents by the Chinese Communists. Even Senator William Knowland, who had first suggested Congressional review of foreign policy and later called for a blockade of Communist China, was now awaiting developments, according to his friends. But failure of the U.N.'s "moral sanctions" to free the airmen would give fresh meaning to talk of a blockade.
The national commander of the American Legion, Seaborn Collins, had said that he would urge severe economic sanctions and a blockade "if necessary". Other organizations would probably join in such demands to obtain the release of the airmen.
In addition to the 11 airmen, ten other servicemen were known to be in Communist hands, and the Pentagon suspected that about 460 others who were missing and presumed dead might actually be imprisoned. The State Department had records on an additional 28 American civilians who had been imprisoned by the Communists.
As of the present, a majority of Democrats and Eisenhower Republicans appeared to be standing with the President in his opposition to a blockade, which he had ruled out as an act of war. Both Senators Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin, outgoing chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Walter George of Georgia, the incoming chairman, had indicated their support of the President on the issue. Other committee members opposing a blockade included Democratic Senators John Sparkman of Alabama, J. William Fulbright of Arkansas and Mike Mansfield of Montana, with Republican Senators Irving Ives of New York and Alexander Smith of New Jersey also opposed to it.
Although most Democratic Senators polled by the Quarterly were reluctant to take the initiative in backing a full-scale debate on foreign policy, they were fully aware of the potential political fruits of such a debate. As one had said, he would welcome an explanation of the policies of "liberation, massive retaliation, seizing the initiative, and unleashing Chiang Kai-shek," the slogans of the Administration which had been attacked by the Democrats during the midterm Congressional campaign.
The ratification debate on the recently negotiated mutual security pact between the U.S. and Nationalist China might touch on the blockade issue, as Nationalist China was at present the only nation attempting to blockade the Chinese mainland. Chiang Kai-shek's Government had first announced the "temporary closing" of certain mainland ports, in a note to the U.S. on June 20, 1949, with the U.S. replying that it could not "admit the legality" of such a move "unless the Chinese Government declares and maintains an effective blockade" of the ports. Since the Nationalists had never had sufficient ships to maintain an effective blockade, the legality of their port closure policy had never been accepted.
A much more important economic sanction against the Communists had been the embargo on all trade with the U.S., announced December 16, 1950, with the State Department explaining that the action had been forced by the intervention of Chinese Communist military forces in Korea. But the U.S. embargo was still in effect despite the Korean Armistice of a year and a half earlier. Also in effect was a partial embargo on shipments of munitions and strategic materials to China, which had been initiated by most nations of the free world in response to a resolution of the U.N. General Assembly, adopted May 18, 1951. Those two embargoes were reflected in statistics covering free world trade with China since 1947, whereby exports to China had dropped from 672 million dollars worth in 1947 to 284 million in 1953, and, more significantly, had dropped from 452 million in 1950, before the embargo, to 269 million in 1952, after the embargo. Free world imports from China had also dropped during that latter period, from 535 million in 1950 to 363 million in 1952.
What was not known was the percentage of trade with the free world in overall Chinese foreign trade. Six months earlier, the Communists had announced that in 1953, it had amounted to only 25 percent, the balance being trade with the Soviet bloc nations. That announcement added that the pattern was the reverse of what it had formerly been, presumably before the Korean War.
John J. Clarke, writing from Providence, R.I., in the Baltimore Evening Sun, indicates that the private bus company which served metropolitan Providence had come up with an unusual plan for increasing its patronage and easing some of the city's downtown traffic issues, a plan which was thought to be the first of its kind and still in a somewhat experimental stage. It involved the use of numerous gasoline stations in outlying sectors of the city as parking areas for motorists with business downtown, who would then catch a bus, with the stations clearly designated by large aluminum signs, having between five and ten parking spaces each. No subsidies to the oil companies or gasoline stations were involved in the plan, with the benefit to the station operator being solely his opportunity to make sales to patrons and increase customers and his good will. Mr. Clarke indicates that the plan appeared to be receiving approval from Providence residents.
A letter from the president of the United Community Services of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County expresses gratitude and appreciation for the many thousands of people who believed in the United Appeal, to WBT radio and WBTV, and their staff, for the contribution they were making to present the Telethon on the coming Saturday and Sunday to try to complete the goal for the Appeal's funding drive. He says that it would also seek to familiarize citizens of the county with the work and the needs of the United Appeal services and provide them a better idea of how to use the services for their own benefit. He also thanks both of the local newspapers, civic organizations, labor unions and the many hundreds of people who had contributed generously of their time at no expense to the Appeal.
A letter writer finds that the $115,000 deficit in meeting the United Appeal's goal of over $951,000 appeared to be the equivalent of the cancer, polio, cerebral palsy and other dread disease funds, suggesting that citizens had held back on contributions for those diseases so that they could contribute to their separate fund drives. She thinks the Appeal would have been successful in meeting its campaign goal had it left out the Dread Disease Fund.
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