The Charlotte News
Monday, February 22, 1954
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that in Seoul, U.S. troops, using their bayonets, had chased off 200 to 300 South Koreans early this date who had tried to halt a train carrying homebound Indian troops, with no apparent injuries having occurred. The South Koreans had been cleared from the tracks after some minor jabbing and shoving and the train continued to the port of Inchon without incident, according to an 8th Army spokesman. The vice-chief of South Korea's national police said that U.S. tanks had been called to the scene, and he denounced what he called the 8th Army's "heavy countermeasures" against "a righteous move by indignant men"—the demonstrators having responded to the South Korean provost marshal's call the previous week to prevent any more of the 3,000 remaining Indian troops from departing Korea until assurances were given by the Indian command that the desires would be honored of the 76 Korean prisoners, who had resisted repatriation to North Korea, to be sent to a neutral country. About a thousand Indian troops were still in the neutral zone scheduled to move out soon to board an Indian ship at Inchon, sailing the next day for India.
A report from Tokyo indicated that Peiping radio in China had stated approval of the Big Four foreign ministers' decision the prior week to hold an Asian peace conference starting on April 26 in Geneva, to try to effect the final peace in Korea and to discuss the war in Indo-China, with Communist China welcomed as an observer though not a principal participant. Peiping radio described the conference as being the result of the "untiring effort" of the Soviet Government.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Nehru called this date for a cease-fire in Indo-China pending the outcome of the April Geneva conference.
In London, the British Government announced this date that atom bombs were being delivered to Britain's rapidly expanding Royal Air Force. An Air Ministry budget memorandum also disclosed that British jet fighters were being equipped with guided rockets to strengthen defenses against enemy atomic attacks. Parliament would be asked to approve an appropriation for air expenditures equivalent to 1.37 billion dollars for the ensuing year starting April 1, the equivalent of 19.6 million dollars less than the previous year's budget.
Secretary of State Dulles met this date with 15 Congressional leaders of both parties to discuss the just completed Big Four foreign ministers conference in Berlin, with the leaders departing the conference saying that the comments had been "interesting" and "informative", but otherwise being noncommittal. Senate Majority Leader William Knowland of California said that he had no comment, and House Speaker Joe Martin said that he found the conference "very interesting" but would not discuss it further, while House Democratic Minority Leader Sam Rayburn agreed with that assessment. The Secretary would report the following day to the full House Foreign Affairs Committee in an executive session, and on Wednesday would give a similar account to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after which he would provide a half-hour nationwide radio and television report to the nation.
Senator Joseph McCarthy, after clashing with Army officers the previous week, had summoned Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens to testify before his Investigations subcommittee the following day, which would be broadcast by NBC to a nationwide audience. Secretary Stevens said that he had received no official notification of the request but would appear. He had ordered two generals not to comply with requests for appearances before the subcommittee on the basis that Senator McCarthy the previous week had badgered "loyal officers", and was afraid that the "prestige and morale" of the military would be weakened by "unfair tactics on our officer corps". The Army, on Friday, had let pass a deadline which Senator McCarthy had set for it to produce the names of all personnel connected with the promotion and honorable discharge of a reserve officer who had declined to say whether he had ever been a Communist, during interrogation before the subcommittee, functioning as a one-man show at this point. Senator McCarthy claimed in New York the previous day that the reserve major in question, a New York dentist, had been commissioned, promoted, and saved from overseas orders, plus awarded an honorable discharge, despite "an open record of active membership in the Communist conspiracy". The Senator had summoned to a closed hearing in New York Brig. General Ralph Zwicker, commanding officer of Camp Kilmer, N.J., where the dentist was stationed. After the subcommittee hearing, conducted solely by the Senator, he stated that the General had testified to having knowledge about the subcommittee's purported evidence against the dentist. But the General had told reporters that the Senator had given "a colored and slanted version" of his testimony, "twisting everything he could". The Senator had summoned General Zwicker to testify again, along with Maj. General William Bergin, at which point Secretary Stevens intervened, ordering them not to appear.
In Philadelphia, a special police guard was planned this date for Senator McCarthy when he arrived to accept the Philadelphia chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution's Good Citizenship Medal at a Washington Day luncheon, after a person had sent an anonymous letter saying, "We think McCarthy ought to be bumped off and this is a good time to do it." The chief inspector of the Philadelphia police said that they believed the letter was from a "crackpot". (If so, it was a crackpot threatening a crackpot.)
Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin this date denounced as a "hodgepodge" the White House-approved changes to the proposed constitutional amendment sponsored by Senator John W. Bricker to curb the treaty-making power. The Senate, the previous week, had approved narrowly, by a vote of 44 to 43, an amendment to the bill which would make all past and future treaties subject to court review for their constitutionality. It had been combined with proposals to require Senate roll call votes on treaties and a requirement that treaties and other international agreements conform to the Constitution, forming in combination what was now being referred to as the Administration's proposal. Senator Wiley had opposed any change to the Constitution and said that he hoped that the substitute measure or any others of the type could be defeated in the Senate, which required a two-thirds majority vote by that body, as well as the House, for any amendment to be submitted to the states for ratification by three-fourths of them.
DNC chairman Stephen Mitchell was expected to advise Democratic Senators and members of the House from nine Western states the following day that their best chances for re-election in the fall would be to attack the Eisenhower Administration's farm and power policies. Mr. Mitchell had just completed a tour of the nine Western states and had been sending back to DNC headquarters in Washington optimistic reports, and would meet with the Democrats from those states to provide his findings.
Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, running for re-election, had sent a letter to the President asking him to reconsider his tax proposals to prevent a recession from deepening into a depression, urging the President to support a proposal of Senator Walter George of Georgia to raise the personal income tax exemption by $200 as a measure of increasing purchasing power among low income earners.
Senator Albert Gore of Tennessee
said in a speech before the Kansas Democratic Club in Topeka the
previous day that the Republicans had adopted the "trickle down
theory"
In a weekend interview, Republican Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire said that he favored some downward adjustment of taxes but believed reductions had to be limited in nature, as the Republicans wanted to cut appropriations to the bone while also cutting taxes, destroying any hope of balancing the budget.
In London, evangelist Billy Graham and his associates apologized profusely this date for offending Britons with a comment printed on a calendar put out by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, in advance of the evangelist's three-month religious crusade in Britain, stating: "When the war ended, a sense of frustration and disillusionment gripped England, and what Hitler's bombs couldn't do, socialism with its accompanying evils shortly accomplished. England's historic faith faltered. The churches still standing gradually emptied." The Graham organization said that they had intended to excise from the statement the word "socialism" and substitute "secularism" to avoid offense to Britons. The pro-Labor London Daily Herald had printed Rev. Graham's apology on its front page, but also commented that "unwittingly or not" he had "slandered" the 13.9 million Britons who had voted for socialist candidates in the general elections of 1951. Rev. Graham was set to arrive in London to begin the crusade on Tuesday, and cabled the Herald from aboard ship, saying that he "deeply regretted" the incident and that if they felt an apology to the Labor Party was needed, they had that. That sounds like a defensively prideful non-apology apology.
In Sapulpa, Okla., a 58-year old woman dodged a brick thrown at her by her 60-year old husband the previous day, but in the process had stepped into the path of an oncoming car driven by a 19-year old who was driving to the couple's home to meet their daughter. The woman suffered a broken leg, internal injuries and shock, which the State Highway Patrol described as serious.
There is also a mis-photographed
space in the page on the microfilm, where a part of another page
On the editorial page, "A Fine Phrase, but a Faulty Issue" expresses disappointment in former Governor Kerr Scott having stated before the Laurinburg American Legion post recently his criticism of the Republican "cozenwhacking" of the veterans medical care program through the policy which now required the Veterans Administration to have veterans first list their assets and general financial condition before becoming entitled to free care in veterans hospitals.
In practice, what had been occurring was that veterans, who were capable of affording medical care and would show up with minor issues which were non-service-connected, would then receive free medical care. The piece finds the practice essentially the equivalent of a health and accident insurance policy free of charge and finds the new Government policy quite appropriate, especially given the fact that the director of the VFW's national rehabilitation service had emphasized in the January issue of Foreign Service that under the program, no veterans would be denied hospitalization or emergency care based on their financial condition.
Former Governor Scott had also said that he deplored socialized medicine, and the piece finds that he should favor therefore the new Veterans Administration policy rather than decrying it, that in fact he had been simply cozying up to the veterans lobby. It finds that there were too many members of Congress already willing to mollycoddle the veterans lobby and it hopes that Mr. Scott would take another look at the issue.
"Langer Strikes below the Belt" finds it reprehensible that Senator William Langer of North Dakota had, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee, placed in the public record unchecked charges and accusations against Chief Justice Earl Warren, not yet confirmed on his recess appointment of the previous October, most of the charges having come from crackpots and political enemies. Other members of the subcommittee had rightfully expressed outrage at the insertion by Senator Langer of those charges into the public record.
The piece indicates that the American people would expect the full Senate Judiciary Committee to act favorably on the nomination during the week so that it could finally be voted on by the full Senate, finding the behavior of Senator Langer to be an extension of the "guilt by accusation" technique, and agrees with Senate Majority Leader William Knowland that the dignity and responsibility of the Senate would greatly suffer if proceedings of the kind continued. The piece reminds that the technique had originated and been perfected by a member of the Republican Party, referring to Senator McCarthy.
"Beer and Ham, and Open Churches" discusses Brotherhood Week and its various manifestations, with the father of Secretary of Labor James Mitchell having become outraged by a bartender refusing to serve his black companion and then loudly objecting and banging the counter with his walking stick, at which time the beer was served.
The editors of the Smithfield and Sanford Heralds and the Carolina Israelite had engaged in jovial banter regarding the exchange of ham for kosher frankfurters, with lox and onion rolls.
Actor Lew Ayers had gone on a two-year trip around the world, recording the ritual liturgy and philosophy of the world's major religions.
In Charlotte, the black congregation of St. Paul's Baptist Church and the white congregation of the Unitarian Church had practiced brotherhood by exchanging pastors on Sunday.
Throughout most of the nation, Roman Catholics practiced the Christian concept of brotherhood by opening their doors to all persons, regardless of color.
Finally, it quotes from author James Michener regarding his concept of brotherhood.
A piece from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, titled "Femme Fatale", indicates that the National Geographic Society had informed that Cleopatra had not been an outstanding beauty, based on a piece of sculpture of her found in North Africa, which a French scientist said was an accurate representation of her.
But the piece suggests that any Egyptian woman who could cause Julius Caesar and Mark Antony to go overboard in rapid succession for her must have had something, if not beauty, "a powerful personality", as had hypothesized the Geographic Society.
Caesar, at the height of his fame, when Cleopatra was in her late teens, had been completely bowled over by her, erecting a statue of her next to that of Venus in Rome's Temple of Venus. And then following Caesar's assassination, Mark Antony had dallied with her for years, leaving his wife and nearly forgetting that he was fighting a war with Octavius, before finally killing himself because of her.
It concludes that anyone of such charms had to have been the femme fatale of all time, notwithstanding the conclusions of the French scientist and the Geographic Society.
Drew Pearson provides a condensation of the inside story of what the U.S. was doing or not doing in Indo-China, a story of French suspicion and American indecision, with the net result being the likely loss of the richest tin and rubber area in the world to Communism.
With the message that South Korean President Syngman Rhee was threatening to renew, unilaterally, the war in Korea if the Korean peace conference did not result in unity of the country, General John Hull, commander in the Far East, informed the President that South Korea wanted to resume the war to divert the Chinese military from the Indo-China border, with President Rhee proposing that South Korean troops do all of the ground fighting in such renewed warfare, with assistance from the U.S. Air Force and Navy, arguing that with seven Chinese divisions removed from Korea, the South Koreans could easily break through the cement and steel Communist defense line. President Eisenhower had not been enthusiastic about the proposal, as he did not wish the Korean War to start again, despite the end of the war having enabled the Chinese to divert tremendous amounts of supplies to Indo-China.
One problem with the U.S. policy regarding Indo-China was the lack of coordination, with one branch of the Government not knowing what the others were doing. Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Arthur Radford had gone to see the President by himself, arranging for the sending of 250 aircraft mechanics to aid the French in the war effort, with neither the Cabinet, the National Security Council nor the other Joint Chiefs, nor even Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, knowing of it. It had even been a surprise to General Nathan Twining, chief of staff of the Air Force, who had to supply the 250 mechanics.
When Congress learned of the decision, Senator Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, phoned the White House and talked to General Wilton Persons, the White House Congressional liaison, stating that there should be a cut-off date for sending those mechanics back home so that he could assure the other Senators that they would be returning on a fixed date, suggesting June, to which General Persons agreed that June 15 would be the cut-off date. Thus, along with the original decision to send the mechanics, the decision to have them return home by mid-June had been determined in an informal manner, without consultation with the Air Force, the Cabinet or other responsible officials.
Mr. Pearson indicates that part of the Administration's troubles in Indo-China came from French suspicion and reluctance, worried that too much American cooperation would give the Chinese a pretext for introducing troops into Indo-China by the hundreds of thousands, as they had in Korea when, in November, 1950, General MacArthur had sent U.N. troops to the Yalu River. Thus far, Communist intervention had been limited primarily to munitions and supplies. Thus, until the previous week, the French had refused American participation in training native troops, despite offers to participate in that regard, as the U.S. had done an excellent job in training troops in Greece and then in South Korea.
Joseph & Stewart Alsop discuss increasing use of the polygraph, explaining the physical process of the machine and how it worked, measuring heart, pulse rate and galvanic skin response, sweat, as questions were propounded to the subject, with control questions, of which the answers were known, at the start of the test to measure ordinary responses of the subject, all recorded on a graph and then analyzed by the polygrapher. A tape recorder was also concealed in the testing room to preserve the questions and responses.
They indicate that the CIA had first started using the lie-detector five years earlier on a limited basis, first to detect any internal penetration of the Agency by elements of the Soviet MVD. The highest officials within the Agency had comprehensive knowledge of its operations, but below them, such information was compartmentalized so that subordinate officials knew no more than the average citizen about the work of the operations branch. The polygraph was therefore used with respect to the highest officials to determine loyalty and lack of infiltration. It was then employed with respect to lower employees who might be exposed to sensitive information, initially proposed as a voluntary measure, with the caveat that anyone who refused to take the test became the object of suspicion and was soon terminated.
They relate that the State Department was the next agency to implement use of the lie-detector, also on a "voluntary" basis, until it had become increasingly accepted as a general practice. Then followed the Defense Department, and more recently, other departments with less sensitive information, such as Commerce, adopting its use.
Many private firms with Government contracts had also begun use of the lie detector on a "voluntary" basis. The Alsops find therefore that, increasingly, the right to personal privacy was being eroded and the U.S. was beginning to "imitate the system we fear".
Marquis Childs, in Berlin, indicates that Secretary of State Dulles was already working on the report which he would make to the American people covering the outcome of the Big Four foreign ministers conference held in Berlin for 25 days. He would claim two achievements from the conference, indicating that the West had gotten definite advantages from the seemingly endless debate and bickering which had gone on, first that the intransigence of Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov had brought France nearer to ratification of the European Defense Community, the unified army concept between France, West Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries. Secretary Dulles had based the policy of alliance with Western Europe on EDC, having warned in December at the NATO Council meeting in Paris that if EDC were not ratified by the six participating countries, especially France, an "agonizing reappraisal" of U.S. foreign policy would have to be undertaken, implying withdrawal of U.S. aid and troops from Western Europe. During the previous week, the Secretary had received dispatches from top U.S. diplomats in Paris, leading him to believe that the French National Assembly would move to consider the EDC treaty shortly after the end of the Berlin conference, those assurances coming from Premier Joseph Laniel through the U.S. Charge d'Affairs in Paris, Theodore Achilles. The Premier had not said definitely that EDC would be ratified, as no French politician could so state with any confidence, but the messages indicated that the treaty would not be indefinitely delayed, a possibility which earlier had threatened permanent stalling to avoid ratification or rejection. There was also concern that any French ratification would carry with it so many amendments and reservations that it would not be acceptable to West Germany, a concern which had not yet been dispelled.
Mr. Dulles would also claim in his report that the conference had solidified the West, ending the doubts and uncertainties about Russia's intentions, which had plagued the alliance for the previous year. The three Western foreign ministers, in addition to Secretary Dulles, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault, had maintained a solid front at the conference, especially important to confront the intransigent attitude of Mr. Molotov. But how much that uniformity would be reflected in the peoples and parties of France and Britain was still open to question, as M. Bidault, when he returned home to Paris, would likely become a lonely figure amid the turmoil of French politics and the ever-growing pressure from the people and politicians to end the unpopular war in Indo-China.
Robert C. Ruark, still in Sydney, Australia, tells of females within that country, about a dozen years after World War II experiences by the American men of the armed forces, looking nicer at present than earlier, and that there were more of them, with each crop coming along each year looking better than the previous one, or so they told him. They still had naturally colored hair, did not "wear strained looks of discontent, nor the broad stamp of fashion, and on a sunny Sunday at the beach the flora and fauna resemble a Moslem's dream of heaven."
He goes on explaining other differences from American women, and generally characteristics of Aussies, including their speech, in which steak was still pronounced "styke", eggs still "aigs", albeit with a whisper of an American accent.
In other particulars, Sydney horses
still ran backward and generally out of the money
He concludes that it was a rough summation of how things now looked, compared to the earlier days during the war.
A piece from the Savannah News states that despite advances in science, no one had yet been able to
understand the nature of the migration of birds, fish and mammals,
all of the claims anent which thus far having been theoretical rather
than based on any fact. It poses several such questions yet to be
answered, such as how a swallow annually flew thousands of miles back
to a particular chimney or what caused young eels, hatched in the
Sargasso Sea, to divide into two bodies
The latter is simple to understand,
the one going to America turning left
Framed Edition
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