The Charlotte News

Tuesday, September 21, 1954

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that at the U.N. in New York, the ninth annual General Assembly session was slated to get underway this afternoon, with the first anticipated order of business being an attempt by Russia, India and some other Asian countries to have placed on the agenda the proposed admission of Communist China in lieu of Nationalist China, opposition to which would be firmly continued by Britain and the United States, with Secretary of State Dulles to be on hand to lead that opposition. U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., had reminded in a weekend statement that the Chinese Communists had participated in 39 attacks during the previous four years on ships or planes of Britain, Panama, Denmark, Norway, France, Portugal and the U.S. After surpassing that initial obstacle, in which it was anticipated that the matter would be postponed until later in the year, business was expected to proceed smoothly.

In Taipeh, Formosa, Chinese Nationalist guns on Quemoy stepped up the bombardment of the Communist Chinese mainland this date, and Nationalist air-sea strikes along the coast continued for the 19th consecutive day, according to the Defense Ministry.

In Denver, RNC chairman Leonard Hall had told the President this date that the prospects for continued Republican control of Congress were "good", but that the party faced a "hard fight". Mr. Hall addressed the press after meeting for 90 minutes with the President, along with chief of staff Sherman Adams and three Administration Congressional liaison men. When asked about President Truman's statement the previous week that he hoped that the President, for his own sake in obtaining his proper place in history, would have a Democratic Congress in 1955, Mr. Hall said that he hoped that Mr. Truman would take an active part in the campaign as anything that he said helped the Republicans, and that the same went for Adlai Stevenson. The President was scheduled to begin the following day a Western campaign speech-making tour.

Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, a member of the six-Senator special committee investigating the resolution of censure against Senator McCarthy, said in an interview this date that he anticipated the report of the committee would be made public the following Monday, instead of two days hence, as the committee had tentatively planned. He said that a report by that point ought to enable the Senate to reconvene to consider it on October 1 or very soon thereafter. Another member, who declined to be quoted by name, confirmed the new target date. Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, not a member of the committee, said in a separate interview that he believed there was a good possibility the Senate would be called back into session on October 1 or October 3. Senator Arthur Watkins of Utah, the committee chairman, declined to comment on the target date. Senate Majority Leader William Knowland of California said that he did not have a clue as to when the Senate would be summoned back into session, that he had not heard from Senator Watkins about the matter and had not been in contact with Senate Minority Leader Lyndon Johnson. The Senate had authorized Senators Knowland and Johnson, acting jointly, to call the Senators back into session to consider the special committee's findings on the resolution. The committee had finished its hearings a week earlier.

In Milford, Del., the community's two public schools remained closed this date after phoned threats of violence should black children be admitted to attend classes in the previously all-white high school. The schools had been closed the previous day and the superintendent had announced earlier that the schools would open as usual this date, until a change had been made early in the morning, stating that schools would be closed until further notice "in the interest of the safety of all the children," following the telephoned threats. A detail of five police officers had arrived at the school, along with several teachers, with the officers spread around the building to maintain a vigil. The local school board left unanswered whether 11 black pupils would be admitted to the high school. Delaware was one of the four states, along with the District of Columbia, which had been parties to the five cases subsumed under Brown v. Board of Education, holding that continued segregation of public schools was unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, attorney Russell Carter of the NAACP was preparing a petition to be presented before the U.S. District Court to enjoin segregation in the school system in Hillsboro, O., designed as a test case for racial segregation in Northern schools.

In Columbia, S.C., an Associated Press poll of state Democratic executive committee members showed a majority of the committee which had voted on September 3 against calling a primary and had nominated State Senator Edgar Brown to succeed the late Senator Burnet Maybank for the remainder of his term, expiring in January, supported the notion of having Mr. Brown be the party candidate on the general election ballot, with no intervening primary, for the full six-year term. Many of those who resisted calling another meeting, believed they had taken the only legal course open to the committee. One member said that he preferred a primary but had been made aware of no legal avenue by which to have one. The original 31 to 18 committee vote against the primary had provoked protests from some newspapers, groups and individuals, with five county Democratic executive committees having criticized the action. The chairman of the committee had defended it as the only legal course open under the circumstances. Former Governor Strom Thurmond contended that the people were being denied the right to vote for their Senator, and he, along with another man, had announced as write-in candidates against Mr. Brown. Governor James Byrnes had stated the previous week a suggestion that the committee rescind its action and provide the people the right to vote in a primary, that in that event, the nominee of the committee could withdraw his name and become a primary contender.

In Raleigh, State Attorney General Harry McMullan, in a digest of opinions released this date, said, in one such opinion, that a stray dog wandering into a household did not have to undergo a vaccination for rabies, despite pet owners having that duty. In another opinion, he said that a child assigned to a particular school in a school district had no right to ride a school bus to any other school or to attend any other school. He also opined that the Department of Motor Vehicles was required to revoke the driver's license of an operator convicted for a second offense of drunk driving, despite the warrant not alleging that it was a second offense. He also said that a device emitting electric power for the purpose of catching catfish in commercial waters was prohibited, that the use of the words "Army" or "Navy" was forbidden by law in a mercantile establishment, unless the store was actually operated by the Government or an authorized agency thereof, that the provisions of the Powell Bill, providing for State aid to municipalities in street maintenance, made it "very doubtful" that a municipality could use the funds for maintenance of a street outside the corporate limits, even if the street were within a cemetery owned by a municipal unit, and that a municipality could legally require telephone companies and power companies to remove, at their own expense, utility poles when necessary for street widening.

In Lincolnton, N.C., a school bus crashed into a ditch this date and had thrown a girl from the rear window, causing her to break her leg and suffer cuts and bruises, while shaking up her six fellow students, who were nevertheless able to attend classes. The 16-year old driver said that he had lost control of the bus on a sharp curve in rural Lincoln County.

Emery Wister of The News tells of the Charlotte Naval Ammunition Depot having undergone an official inspection this date, with a statement having been made by Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, James Smith, that the former shell-loading plant had all of the assets necessary for an industrial plant. The inspection was made by invitation of Congressman Charles Jonas, who wanted to have the plant put to better usage. Mr. Smith said that his decision on the possibilities for the base would be sent on to the Secretary of the Navy.

In Burlington, N.C., an explosion had occurred in a sporting goods store the previous night which shattered a display window containing, among other things, a stuffed owl with spread wings, the explosion having sent the owl aloft across the street to the Burlington Fire Department, at which point the firemen responded to the fire, promptly quenching the flames, though not before thousands of dollars worth of damage had occurred. Whether the ghost of the owl, angry about being stuffed and displayed, had caused the explosion, is not stated.

For those who cannot read, a picture appears of a student in the new driver education classes in North Carolina, out for his first attempt behind the wheel, not ending well.

On the editorial page, "A Study in Supply and Demand" tells of a 22-page report on the total turnover, loss and mobility of North Carolina teachers, just released by the State Department of Public Instruction, following a comprehensive survey of the state's 1952-53 teaching force.

The report found, among other things, that the rate of turnover was higher among white teachers than among black teachers, higher for men than women, higher for teachers of secondary schools than elementary schools. More teachers had left their jobs to accept other teaching positions than for any other single reason, accounting for about a third, and almost a fourth who left their positions had done so to enter or resume homemaking.

The report tended therefore to dispel the myth that many teachers were leaving the profession for better-paying jobs in other fields. The coordinator of teacher education in the state believed that the total turnover among teachers was not excessive, that a turnover rate of 14 percent could be construed as indicating a significant degree of stability. It finds that conclusion reasonable, especially considering the size of the state's teaching force, the extent of employment opportunities, the diversity of working conditions, differences in salaries and the high percentage of women employed. It finds that there would be a high turnover rate in any predominantly female occupational group and that more than half the total teacher loss was traceable to factors arising from the woman's role as wife, mother and homemaker. Only 1.1 percent of all teachers left the profession to seek other gainful employment, and those were mainly male teachers.

It nevertheless concludes that the hard fact remained that not enough young white college students were choosing education as a career, while there was a surplus among black teachers. One solution would be to utilize the black teachers in white schools following the abandonment of segregation, but neither North Carolina educators nor the people had given the slightest indication that they were prepared to take that step. The need for recruits to the profession was becoming desperate and would become worse as enrollments continued to increase in the ensuing years.

It concludes that the teaching profession in the state needed to be made more attractive to young people, which could hardly become the case as long as the state ranked 33rd in the nation in average teacher salaries, at $3,175 during the previous school year, compared to $4,000 or more in states such as California, New York, Washington, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Michigan. North Carolina teachers the previous school year also had the third largest average student load in the nation at 28.7, while ranking 36th for per capita state and local expenditure, at $29, compared to more than $40 in states such as Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Arizona, California and New Mexico.

"Charlotte's Traffic Cops Are Too Soft" indicates the desire that the traffic cops of the city would be more strict in enforcement of traffic laws, that the traffic captain had said the previous March that they were going to be tough on motorists who turned into pedestrian traffic. But three pedestrians had been injured during the previous month in that manner. It quotes from the City Code regarding the necessity of yielding the right-of-way to other vehicles and to pedestrians when a car enters an intersection where vehicles or pedestrians had preceded it. The City Council had called for sterner enforcement of that ordinance the prior December, and had followed up with hiring of a full-time safety director.

Since the traffic captain's announcement in late March, there had been two pedestrians injured in each of April, May, and June, none in July and three in August. It suggests that the accidents were continuing because motorists continued to violate pedestrian rights and the traffic officers were not enforcing the ordinance. It urges that it be enforced.

"The Proper Spouse" quotes from a letter to Amy Vanderbilt's "Etiquette" column appearing in the newspaper September 14, that the writer's husband believed her difficult because she expected him to wear his coat at the dining table, complaining to her that a man should be able to do as he pleased in his own home and that wearing a coat at the table was not important, to which Ms. Vanderbilt had replied that a considerate man wore his coat and tie, unless in a sport shirt, even to his own table, and in very hot weather, might ask permission to come without a coat, but only after having asked permission.

The piece concludes: "Hey, Maw, gotta wear shoes too?"

A piece from the Washington Post, titled "Office Caste", indicates that it was generally understood that there was a pecking order among those who did desk work in the Government, but that now the Government was trying to clear up any confusion by its recent ruling that only a Grade 15 bureaucrat rated a new rug because rugs were classified as "executive furniture". A Grade 14 official could keep his or her old rug, unless a new appointee pulled it out, but he or she could not have an "executive type" desk, which cost a hundred dollars more than the $194 basic desk, or upholstered leather chairs or "executive type" trays or wastebaskets.

It suggests that the ruling might have wide repercussions both in the business and bureaucratic worlds, as paperwork was rapidly expanding, along with the manufacture of new desk gadgets and office furnishings. It appears to the piece more likely that a complete office caste code would develop to apply up the line from the secretary's flower vases to the business tycoon's contour couch, to define the social status connected with ownership of telephones and buzzers, personalized memo pads and pencils, self-turning calendars and incinerator ashtrays.

Drew Pearson tells of two Congressional labor probes set to get underway, delving into whether union organization welfare funds had been used for racketeering purposes, with Republicans apt to try to show that the welfare funds were being used to finance Democratic campaigns. The House Labor Committee was set to begin such an investigation in Los Angeles, where it had investigators seeking to dig up dirt for some time in advance, working especially hard against the Teamsters. The Senate Labor Committee was also looking into the welfare funds, a more careful and less headline-oriented probe under the chairmanship of Senator Irving Ives of New York, who, given his Republican gubernatorial nomination, would have little time to devote to the investigation. There was also a third investigation ongoing by the State of New York, which was already making headlines.

Mr. Pearson concludes that it appeared to be more than coincidence that those investigations were scheduled right in the middle of an election campaign. He notes that the top labor leaders, including George Meany, Walter Reuther, and Dave Beck, the latter of the Teamsters, were welcoming the investigations of their welfare funds, provided they would be conducted on a fair and nonpolitical basis.

The President looked better than he had in a long time, beginning to feel that he had mastered the difficult job of politics, especially in terms of getting along with Congress. Reports of political unrest within the Republican Party did not disturb him nearly so much as it did his advisers. The President was watching his public relations more carefully during the summer, wishing to avoid the impression that he was spending all of his time playing golf or fishing for trout while in Colorado.

Vice-President Nixon had not gotten fully back into the good graces of the White House. The President realized that the Vice-President was an appeaser of Senator McCarthy and that had the President taken a strong stand on the Senator sometime earlier, he would have been in much better position, rather than listening to Mr. Nixon.

The Vice-President had provided some campaign advice to Republican Senator Henry Dworshak of Idaho, suggesting that he run a "high-level campaign", sticking to the issues, facing a challenge from former Senator Glen Taylor, who, in 1948, had run on the Progressive ticket as the vice-presidential nominee with former Vice-President Henry Wallace. Mr. Nixon suggested that Senator Dworshak form a "Democrats for Dworshak" organization to do the dirty work and smear Mr. Taylor regarding his former association with Mr. Wallace. Senator Dworshak had been skeptical of the advice, believing he could not find enough registered Democrats in Idaho to form such a group, to which Mr. Nixon had assured that he would only need two or three such people, "just enough to give them a name"—not unlike the later White House "plumbers unit".

Mr. Pearson notes that Mr. Nixon had used similar tactics in California when he had run for the Senate in 1950 against Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas, "one of the dirtiest campaigns in California history", in which Congresswoman Douglas was called everything except a Communist, including the famous reference to the "pink lady", "pink right down to her underwear". Mr. Pearson notes that Mr. Nixon had masterminded the whole thing, while keeping himself fairly aloof from the fray, and suggests that it would be interesting whether Senator Dworshak would follow his advice.

Joseph & Stewart Alsop tell of Carmine De Sapio and the other New York Democratic leaders of Tammany Hall, with the controlling majority of Democratic delegates to the state nominating convention, having determined a couple of weeks earlier to back former Ambassador Averell Harriman for the gubernatorial nomination, thus assuring the latter's nomination for all intents and purposes. Yet, in an act of seeming political suicide, Congressman Franklin Roosevelt, Jr., had continued seeking the nomination.

Most of Mr. Roosevelt's advisers had told him to bow out of the race gracefully after the Tammany decision to back Mr. Harriman, and Mr. Roosevelt was inclined to follow the advice, until receiving a series of telephone calls from upstate Democratic leaders who had previously backed him, urging him to remain in the race because if he chickened out, he had better not show his face north of the Bronx ever again. He had succeeded since the early spring in gathering the upstate delegates in his corner, delegates who huddled together in primarily Republican territory. Early on, the big city bosses had also inclined toward support of Mr. Roosevelt, but when it became apparent that the upstate upstarts would claim credit for backing him initially, the big city bosses turned toward Mr. Harriman after Governor Dewey had recently announced his intention not to run for a fourth term, deferring to Senator Irving Ives.

Upstate leaders and labor leaders, feeling that the rug had been pulled out from under them, started making enraged calls to Mr. Roosevelt, urging him to remain in the race. It appeared that the big city bosses' claimed control over their delegates might not be as firm as in the past, and that Mr. Roosevelt might actually have a chance to win the nomination. FDR had also fought Tammany and by the time he had been ready to make peace, he could negotiate from a position of strength. That type of reasoning had apparently led Mr. Roosevelt to stay in the race.

It remained to be seen how it would affect his political career, but it was not the reasoning of a fool. The Alsops conclude that it was too early to write off young Mr. Roosevelt from big time politics.

James Reston, Washington correspondent of the New York Times, writing in Sports Illustrated, tells of having gone to New York to see if New Yorkers were paying attention to Washington politics, finding that they were only interested in the fortunes of the Yankees and manager Casey Stengel, that everything was Yankee-centrist. When asked about the President, they responded that he was an avid golfer.

When he asked one respondent whether he was interested in politics, he had replied: "I time my interest. When things are really bad, and it looks like a war or a depression, I pay attention. Occasionally, when I'm determined to be gloomy, I read Joe Alsop, but most of the time I just try to coexist with Casey."

When he followed up by asking about the Russians, the French, EDC, the British, Senator McCarthy and Senator Watkins, as to when the respondent planned to worry about them, the answer was, "Later."

A letter from the president of the North Carolina Dental Society compliments and thanks the newspaper for support and encouragement of the fluoridation program in Charlotte and other communities across the state. He indicates their complete support and endorsement of the fluoridation program.

A letter writer from Myrtle Beach, S.C., asserts that it was time to separate the Republicans from the Democrats in South Carolina politics. He recounts that when Strom Thurmond had been Governor, he had visited the watchdog of the state Republican Party, the publisher of the Myrtle Beach News, a New Yorker, after which Mr. Thurmond had been defeated when he ran against popular Senator Olin Johnston. Now, the Charleston News & Courier and the Florence newspapers, generally supportive of Republican causes, were saying that the Democratic committee had deprived them of their rights by refusing to hold a primary and instead selecting the Democratic nominee, to which the writer says "nuts", that the editors of those newspapers received the support of the local Democrats while having fidelity to agencies outside the state. He suggests that Mr. Thurmond should have run for the Senate against the late Senator Burnet Maybank, that he had chosen not to do so because he knew he would be beaten, and so now "inspired by Yankee money and Yankee politicians, he is trying to gain by writing in what he could never gain by straight election." The writer says that it was up to straight thinking and straight talking persons of the state to slap down the "carpetbagger influences which persist" in the politics of South Carolina, by voting for the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat, Edgar Brown.

A letter writer from Los Angeles declares that until something could be done about the traffic problems, the solution would lie in keeping more drivers from qualifying for driver's licenses.

A letter writer indicates that while the Georgetown, S.C., High School football team had lost its game with Charlotte Harding on September 10, the Georgetown band had won a host of friends for its musicianship and marching ability, even more impressive because many high school band instructors appeared to believe that marches had no place at football games anymore but had to be replaced by "Ziegfield-type extravaganzas".

A pome appears from the Atlanta Journal, "In Which Is Expressed A Personal View Of The New Fashion Suggestions Of Christian Dior:

"Girls: You'll never be adored
With figures like an ironing board."

But you'll neither be abhorred, for lust
By men, from the envious of MM's low-cut sin.

Framed Edition
[Return to Links
Page by Subject] [Return to Links-Page by Date] [Return to News<i><i><i>—</i></i></i>Framed Edition]
Links-Date Links-Subj.