The Charlotte News
Friday, December 9, 1955
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President and his chief advisers this date had begun hammering out a new farm program at Camp David, with Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson and a large staff of his consultants, including Undersecretary True D. Morse, having arrived to attend the meeting. The President's primary speechwriter, Kevin McCann, also attended the meeting, indicative of drafting portions of the President's State of the Union message to Congress for January. The President initially spent more than 30 minutes conferring with Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield and others before going into the Cabinet meeting, presumably to discuss primarily the farm program. The President, still recovering from his September 24 heart attack, walked the 200 yards from his quarters to the lodge where the meeting was held, during a light snowfall. We recommend keeping the Vice-President well away from him during such perambulation, lest there be an accidental tricky slip of the arm. Whoops...
In Chicago, Secretary of State Dulles, in a major foreign policy address at a dinner meeting of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, said that Western countries, to meet Russia's new challenge to their security, had to bolster their alliances and maintain "selective retaliatory power", that the Russians had evidenced no change in purpose but "merely in tactics", that U.S. capacity "to retaliate" had to be "massive in order to deter all forms of aggression", as it was presently. He said that if the U.S. had to use that capacity, it would be "selective and adapted to the occasion." The Secretary had first advanced that policy about two years earlier, at which time it had frightened some Europeans, but the Secretary stressed that it was "a firm foundation for peace."
In Indianapolis, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed convictions and ten-year sentences of two men who had sought to help a woman in distress. One, a disabled World War II veteran, 28, and the other, 19, were ordered to be freed immediately. Both had been free on $5,000 bonds each since the previous February, ten days after they had begun their ten-year sentences. The two men, while driving past the farm of a couple, had been stopped by the wife of the couple, asking them for five dollars for bus fare to visit her sick husband in Indianapolis, saying that they could get their money back by taking two sacks of wheat from their barn and selling them. While obtaining the wheat, the two men and a third companion were wounded by shotgun blasts fired by a tenant of the couple who told the court that he thought the men were thieves. Both men, and the third man with them, had been critically wounded, and the two men ultimately convicted had crawled to a neighbor's home. The third man had not been seen since and it was believed by police that he may have died in the nearby brush country. The wife of the couple testified in the first trial that she had sent the men into the barn. There was no testimony at the trial, according to the Court's opinion, to show that the men planned to use their car to remove stolen property, required for an auto burglary conviction in Indiana, and that even if they had been guilty of theft, their conviction should have been no worse than petty theft, which exposed them to no more than a fine. There are obviously some facts missing from the story's synopsis, probably that the wheat in question belonged to the tenant and not to the couple and so they were technically guilty of theft and using a car to haul it away, but for their lack of knowledge of the ownership and absence of authorized consent.
In Washington, evangelist Billy Graham had opened a new headquarters because Washington was "now a world capital and our organizational work is largely international." He said in an interview that he hoped to bring "spiritual influence on our national leaders", but added that his work would be strictly nonpolitical, indicating that he was a registered Democrat but voted independently. The office was located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street, three blocks from the White House. The Rev. Graham was departing the following month for an eight-week tour of the Far East, indicating that he was hopeful of attracting as many as 75,000 Christian Orientals to each of a series of public meetings. It would be his second trip to the Far East, having visited Korea and Japan during the Korean War. He said that he was not going to seek to convert Hindus and other Orientals, but would speak only to the Christians, of whom there were many in the Far East, with about seven million Christians in India, alone. He said that the Christian Church in India was the oldest in the world, founded by the Apostle Thomas, and had been active continuously for 2,000 years. He said that Washington presented a central location for members of his organization and would be an easy point from which to make frequent trips to his home in western North Carolina. He indicated that the ensuing decade would be the most crucial in the country's history and wanted to bring the influence he could, from a spiritual standpoint, to national leaders. He criticized the position taken by Secretary Dulles and the conflict between India and Portugal regarding Goa, the Portuguese possession on the coast of India, saying that he felt that taking sides in the matter had made the country lose ground rapidly in India, hoping that in the post-colonial era, the country could build some good will during his visit there. An aide to the evangelist said that for the time being, his radio operations would continue in Minneapolis, which also would remain his mailing address.
In Wake Forest, N.C., Wake Forest College president Harold Tribble said this date that he would "cooperate fully" in an investigation of his administration of the College. It followed a statement the previous day by the president of the Board of Trustees, announcing that he was naming a retired school superintendent to head a nine-member Trustee committee to investigate the "overall situation" at the College, including such things as "reported low faculty morale and general discontent among the alumni." Dr. Tribble said that he regretted that the "agitation of recent months should assume such proportions as to hinder and retard our development program in this crucial year of removal," referring to the move of the campus to Winston-Salem the following spring. A member of the Board from Shelby, to become its president in January, said that he had not been advised of the committee or anything about it, except for the Trustees' resolution authorizing it, that he had heard only "rumors" of low faculty morale and general discontent. He said that in his experience, when there was a move of a large number of people and the need for them to find homes in a new location, there would be a good many disappointments and causes for discontent, that the Board members were doing the best they could to help the relocation process. Don't worry, they have plenty of pine forest around that campus in which to hide away bright new homes for all of the faculty and staff. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which donated the land for the campus, will see that everyone is well cared for and that no one will be homeless or starved come next Christmas, even for Tiny Tim. You can bank on it. But, as we have said before, be forewarned: the old, small campus in the middle of the countryside is going to lose its soul in the move to the big city. The new shout will be: "Go to hell, Carolina, go to hell!" Or, maybe that preceded the move. The riot of the prior weekend regarding supposed de-emphasis of athletics at the institution and the burning of Dr. Tribble in effigy for it, would suggest as much, we suppose, but we do not know. Maybe it was just the changing times generally in the atomic age, moving too swiftly in a profusion of confusing, kaleidoscopic images via the cathode ray tube, for most to keep pace.
Julian Scheer of The News reports that there would be plenty of Salk polio vaccine available in 1956, but a jam-up was predicted for the polio season, starting in the spring, if the public did not begin responding at once to the shot program. The president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, Basil O'Connor, had said in Charlotte this date that between 60 and 100 million c.c.'s of the vaccine ought become available and that public acceptance and response appeared good, but without enough people showing interest at present. He stated that if people in the area waited until April and May to become conscious of polio, it could be too late to administer shots to all who wanted them. He was present to address 300 volunteer workers at the Hotel Charlotte this night. He said that a recent 60-day tour of the country had convinced him that the public wanted the shots but that they were not enough conscious of polio at this time of year, when it was laying dormant. Statistics indicated that in the age group of between one and nine years old, there occurred 56 percent of the paralytic cases, and 71 percent, when the age group was extended through 14. The Foundation hoped that each child in that age group would receive the required two shots, with figures thus far indicating an 80 percent response among the 51 million children in the age group. But thus far, only seven million had received both shots. The available vaccine for the following year showed that there would be widespread availability. One shot provided up to 76 percent protection from paralytic polio and both shots provided 95 percent protection. There remained the question of how long one shot retained its effectiveness. The Foundation's goal for raising money in 1956 was 47 million dollars, contrasted with 64 million during the current year, and of that 1956 amount, 26 million would be utilized in the patient aid program for patients already having contracted polio.
Donald MacDonald of The News reports that a 68-year old white woman had burned to death during the morning this date when kerosene from an oil stove ignited in her small upstairs apartment immediately across from the Central Fire Department. Firemen seated in the upstairs lounge of the station had seen smoke coming from the windows of the apartment and dashed across the street to the old frame building which was a former single-family residence, the downstairs presently occupied by a bondsman's office. The fire chief said that the woman had been pouring kerosene into an oil stove in her small kitchen when she apparently had fallen, causing the kerosene can to overturn, spill over the floor and ignite. A large hole was burned in the kitchen floor beside the woman's body. The coroner determined that the death was accidental by burning. The woman lived alone.
Ann Sawyer of The News
reports that the "Swoboda Caravan", which had wound its
way from Poland to Mecklenburg County, was on the move again, going
south for the winter, and perhaps forever, which Mecklenburg
authorities hoped would be the case. Welfare Department
superintendent Wallace Kuralt, father of reporter Charles Kuralt, had
said this date that they knew where the family had been, if not where
they were headed. Mr. Swoboda, his wife and 12 children, had packed
their belongings about ten days earlier and told a welfare worker
that they were going where it was warmer
A story says that everyone in the
state would have a low numbered license plate issued for 1956,
because a new system of numbering would go into effect and that the
highest number issued would be 9999
On the editorial page, "Industrial Waste: An End to Patience" tells of the City having reached the end of its patience on noncompliance with the ordinance restricting waste disposal by industries in heavily polluted Sugar Creek, indicating that the City had been more than generous in allotting time for the eastside firms to comply, with the prior June 1 having been the original date for enforcement of the ordinance, which had been drafted and promulgated five years earlier.
It concludes that the entire citizenry had a stake in the project, as the ordinance had been designed to promote and protect the health and well-being of all, and that it was the clear duty of the City government, representing all of the citizens, to see that the program was carried out and that the law was obeyed by the industrial concerns dumping waste into the creek.
"The UN: Bush Leaguer Goes To Bat" tells of Nationalist China appearing determined to escape temporarily its role as a bush-league power by keeping 18 other nations out of the U.N. with its Security Council unilateral veto. The natural assumption was that Nationalist China was too principled to accept five Communist satellites which were included with 13 free nations in the package membership deal, which the General Assembly had approved following a five-year deadlock which had turned away all applicants for membership. The Nationalist delegate had spoken against a "new type of imperialism" from the Soviets, represented by the governments of the satellites, and it was a correct assessment. But the stubborn stand by the Nationalists on the principle was baffling, as in 1946, they had endorsed the principle of "universality of membership" as paramount to all other considerations.
At that earlier time, they were ready to admit Outer Mongolia, a Communist satellite, which they now specifically denounced. The U.S. also objected to admission of the satellites but had determined to abstain from voting against them rather than block the membership of the 13 free nations, which the Soviets would otherwise veto without the package deal. The Nationalists, however, would not accept that reasoning, despite two reported appeals from the President and multiple appeals from other nations who wanted to assure membership for such countries as Japan, Italy, Spain, Austria and Finland.
It indicates that the Nationalists might achieve some satisfaction by keeping out Outer Mongolia, but their use of the veto would do much to bring them to the same level of influence and isolation had by Outer Mongolia. It would also increase pressure to give the Chinese seat on the Security Council to the Communists and place the Nationalists in the same non-membership status as Outer Mongolia.
"Setback Program Should Be Pushed" finds the efforts to get passed with alacrity the building setback program on Charlotte streets to have been a demonstration of civic team play at its best, as a suitable plan was needed to hold down right-of-way costs in areas where street improvements were most likely to be made in the future.
The Chamber of Commerce had notified the City Council that the matter of promptly establishing setback lines for the uptown areas and the essential arteries leading to the downtown area was of great concern to the merchants, bankers and citizens, and that every effort should be made to bring it about.
City Manager Henry Yancey and the municipal engineering department were presently at work on the project.
It finds the danger being that, without setback lines, buildings would mushroom haphazardly on land which obviously would be needed for street widening later, that progress had been slow in the past because setback lines affected property rights and could not be drawn unless they were based on precise surveys, taking much effort, with the lines having been established thus far on only seven streets. It urges that if the job was worth doing, it was worth the trouble of an adequate survey.
"The Sky Is Fourteen Feet Away" says that from the inception of the Children's Nature Museum eight years earlier, the Junior League of Charlotte had been a friend and supporter of it, having underwritten its first operating expenses to demonstrate the usefulness of the project and qualify it for community support. When the Museum had outgrown its previous quarters, the League had successfully raised funds from the community to build its present building on land donated by the Charlotte Park Association, a Lions Club affiliate. With the support of the community as a whole, the League and other organizations, the Museum had been a major success, a source of instruction and wonderment to Charlotte children.
During the week, the League had enabled the opening of the "Sky Room", with its 14-foot dome and a seating capacity of 30, equipped with a projector identical to the one used to instruct U.S. Naval Academy cadets in astronomy.
It concludes that the League members would receive their thanks from watching the faces of young people turned upward to the galaxies and the planets, but wishes to add its own, even if superfluous.
A piece from the Greensboro Daily News, titled "A Boy's Pockets", says that it had stumbled on a leading cause of juvenile delinquency, that there was little to be found in the pockets of the little boys at present, and just about nothing of interest. It indicates that a survey of automatic laundry establishments in Greensboro had led it to that conclusion, as operators reported finding only a few colorless odds and ends left in the pockets of boys' pants, having found only small stones, a few marbles, an occasional nail, and bits of string. One operator had said that handkerchiefs were often found in the pockets, which it had discarded as an outrageous attempt to impugn the virility of the city's youth.
Not a single snake or worm had been found, nor a toad. "Gone are the wonders of yesteryear." There was no evidence of "tobacco tags, baseball player cards, bird cards from soda boxes, lead-filled soda pop crowns, nails flattened on railroad tracks, tops, rabbit feet, buckeyes, peach seeds, steel marbles, acorn pipes, rabbit tobacco, crawfish claws, chalk, beeswax (for chewing), BB shot, tar (for crewing), sassafras root, baseball (home-made, of string), magnifying glass (for the purpose of arson), monkey cigars (the Catalpa bean), slingshot, pea-shooter, lizards, doodlebugs, junebugs (with thread for leg), toads."
It concludes that it did not
understand how the kids could get by, traveling
Drew Pearson indicates that the wife of Lamar Caudle, the former head of the tax and criminal justice divisions of the Justice Department at separate times, now indicted for defrauding the Government through favorable tax treatment, for alleged financial gain, to a taxpayer, had phoned Mr. Pearson from St. Louis recently, quite upset by the fact that her husband had to testify before a grand jury, she having offered to testify with him, but the U.S. Attorney having told her that it would not be necessary, then telling the Caudles that he wished them luck and that they could return to North Carolina. Then, while riding on the train, she had heard over the radio that her husband had been indicted, and so phoned Mr. Pearson from St. Louis to ask what they should do.
He says that he found it hard to give advice in that situation and probably was not much help, but had later dug through his files and discovered that he had written about the same tax scandal five years before the prosecuting attorney had discovered it, having reported on April 24, 1950 that "one of the biggest income tax cases in the Midwest" was now pending after a White House phone call, and that a shoe store operator in St. Louis, who had fudged on his income tax to the extent of more than $100,000, had been scheduled for prosecution, when a call had come from the White House asking for a special conference with the man's new attorney, resulting in the case being delayed, perhaps, indefinitely, on the ground that the shoe store owner was too ill to stand trial. He says that on the surface, the earlier column would not appear to help Mrs. Caudle much, and might even appear to incriminate her husband, but he could vividly recall that the information for the column had come chiefly from Mr. Caudle, himself, after Mr. Pearson had consulted with him, seeking confirmation for a few facts. Mr. Caudle had gone much further, being completely honest, telling him that he had been worried about the call from Matt Connelly, the White House secretary now indicted along with Mr. Caudle in St. Louis, and had said that he was under considerable political pressure, indicating that there were conflicting opinions of the doctors on whether the alleged tax evader could stand trial.
Mr. Pearson indicates that he had once argued with Mr. Caudle about his idea that sick men could not stand trial, thinking that he was too tender-hearted, with Mr. Caudle arguing that he would not have the blood of any man on his conscience. He asserts that the trouble with Mr. Caudle was that he came from a town where everyone trusted everyone else, that even a hobo could receive hospitality in his native Wadesboro, N.C., with Mr. Caudle never thinking twice about going out to dinner with "queer -looking characters who later turned out to be tax evaders." He said that his father had raised him to think no evil of any man and he had once reproved a friend who had warned him about his dinner associates, saying that they had been kind to his wife and children and he was not afraid to be seen with them. But later he had good reason to regret those associations.
Mr. Pearson says that Mr. Caudle had, nevertheless, pushed prosecutions of many cases where the political odds were against him and powerful wires were being pulled in high places. And so he concludes that he intended to exercise his American right to consider a man innocent until proven guilty.
Mr. Caudle would ultimately be found guilty in 1956 of receiving a bribe, and would serve his prison sentence but would be fully pardoned in August, 1965 by President Johnson. Mr. Connelly, also to be found guilty the following year of receiving a bribe, would have his sentence commuted to time served after six months and receive a full pardon on Christmas Eve, 1962, from President Kennedy. Both men would manage to stay out of jail until 1960, by being released on bond pending appeal. Each would be sentenced to two years.
Walter Lippmann appraises the recent Soviet activity in the Middle East and South Asia, noting that for the second time since the end of World War II, the Soviets had ended what the U.S. had supposed had been a monopoly, the first time having been in 1949 when they had detonated their first nuclear weapon, leading to the arms race which had dominated the politics of the globe, leading to the present stalemate, and now, had pushed its way into a part of the world where, until a few months earlier, the Western powers had, for all practical purposes, been the only suppliers of arms and productive capital.
The Soviets, he posits, were now effectively adapting the U.S. Marshall Plan, President Truman's Point Four program and mutual aid programs for their own purposes. It was convenient to believe that eventually the Russians' rude attitude, as displayed by Nikita Khrushchev, would wear thin with the people in Asia and Africa and that they would come to dislike the Russians. But he views that as wishful thinking derived from a reluctance to appropriate new sums of money in an election year when the desire was to reduce taxes, as well from a reluctance to conduct a reappraisal of U.S. diplomacy and from the incessant declarations which characterized it.
He asserts that it would be a great mistake to assume that the Soviet Union was not rich enough to supply the kinds of capital which their programs might require, as capital could be diverted from domestic use whenever high policy demanded it in a system of planned economy, forcibly directed from Moscow. There were no taxpayers to whom to answer, Congress or presidential elections to be considered. The Soviets could also take payments in kind, such as cotton and rice, which the undeveloped countries were able to export and which the democracies found it hard to match for the impact on their own domestic crops.
U.S. policy had gone to great lengths to tie economic aid to the raising of local military forces in the countries aided, whereas the Soviets could tell those countries that their alliances did not protect them and that they were provoking the Soviets, that if they should become neutral, the Soviets would not attack them. Such talk was having its effect. But he regards the Soviet trump card to be that they had broken the Western monopoly as a supplier of arms and capital.
Egypt, for example, had now two rivals bidding for its favor, and it was so appealing to have both the Russians and the Americans bidding against one another that, where possible, the ultimate aim of the weak countries was likely to be to prevent a return to the old conditions of monopoly, as formerly held by the West, or to a new Soviet monopoly. Mr. Lippmann guesses that a more advanced form of neutralism, of "nonalignment", would develop out of that competition, a policy of no entangling alliances. He posits that if that guess proved correct, then the primary question for the U.S. would be whether to resist the situation or to cultivate and come to terms with such neutralism. The Soviets would have the better of the situation if the highest aim of U.S. policy continued to be the prevention of neutralism, as the Soviets could offer not only competition with the U.S. in the supply of capital, but also not requiring as a result alignment with their military system, whereas the U.S., even if it offered more capital than did the Russians, would cause the Russians to appear to be offering their aid at a lower price politically. Those weaker countries would likely believe that keeping the U.S. bidding against Russia would create a balance of power around them which would protect them.
He concludes that the expedient question in Washington was probably whether to reduce or increase the appropriations for foreign aid, and he regards it as a monumental folly to reduce the appropriations, that the better approach of increasing the aid should also be accompanied by a reappraisal of U.S. policies, both politically and militarily, in Southern Asia, as those policies related to armaments and alliances, and insofar as the neutralism of those countries, the additional money appropriated would not make much difference for the reasons he had set forth.
Robert C. Ruark, still in Port Said, Egypt, indicates that he had just been mesmerized by one of the local Mohammedans, one of those who would try to sell the passerby a watch on the street, while fetching a cobra out of his waistcoat, the particular one he had encountered being a specialist in chickens, little, fluffy baby chicks, which he pulled from "infinity", and found them everywhere. "So much, nothing." He says that he knew a little of professional magic, and such tricks were simple, but the boy in question had thrown in a few extras which appeared beyond the ken of even a wise guy. The boy had also been able to select a card from a deck, which was then tossed in the air, and he was able to catch in mid-flight the correct card, a feat which appeared impossible, except to Arabs.
He indicates that he liked Arabs and had lived with and among them over a period of years, but had found that their thought processes and methods of implementing them did not coincide with those of the Western world, indeed, conflicted with them. He found that they had love of a sort for their family, but complete coldness outside that circle, had charity, but also hatred, even as did Americans. They had charity for the afflicted of Allah, because the Q'ran said for them to have it, and so the beggar filled his basket, but they would also turn a starving relative from their door while contributing to the beggar.
He relates that hatred was not a tenet of the teaching of Mohammed, but that an Arab could nurture a grudge for half a century, and over very minor ancient transgressions, become quite violent. Devoutly religious, the Arab had no feeling of humanity for animals, using the sheep or goat for symbolic slaughter to celebrate feast days and giving no thought to infliction of pain on animals, on enemies, or even on people whom the Arab had not met socially. He was always willing to die happily because he perceived death as his greatest adventure, opening the door to eternal paradise. And the more infidels he could take with him, the "English pigs, American pork-eaters", the more pleasures and diversions would await him in paradise.
He finds that there was no speculative contemplation among the peasant Arabs, nurtured on the Q'ran, going through life like the sheep which they drove, "spellbound, because his biggest design for living is the phrase, spelled variously: 'Insh' Allah' or 'In cha Allah' as God wills." That was his creed from cradle to grave and his life was completely out of his own hands, with everything during life belonging to Allah, with Mohammed being his prophet.
Mr. Ruark says that he was not trying to make much of a point except that he saw an Arab do an impossible thing recently and viewed it as a reminder that "we aren't just mixed up with plain people in this Middle Eastern mess. We have Allahu Akbar, and Mohammed, and Kismet, el Mektub Mektub, to deal with. Which is a way of saying that the sons of Ishmael really couldn't care less. Not about us, anyhow."
Russell Davenport, writing in The Dignity of Man, says that during the exciting centuries when science was in hot pursuit of the mastery of nature, the underlying question of whether its quantitative concepts represented the truth about man and the universe could be disregarded, but that now, with the hydrogen bomb determining the course of civilization, no one could help but ask whether the conquest of nature had gone far enough, wondering what would be done with man's mastery of nature, what goals were to be established and what truths were to be pursued, whether the free world would accept a quantitative view of nature and of man and whether that could be accepted. "And if we do not accept it, what shall we put in its place?"
A letter from a minister indicates that he could not recall who had claimed among the previous letter writers that an atheist was just as good an American as the next person, but finds that it could not be, as both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution recognized "Almighty God"—even though there is no reference to God or any alternative such designation, such as "divine providence", in the Constitution. He also indicates that the National Anthem and "America" gave praise to God, that every President from Washington through Eisenhower had sworn under oath in the name of God when they became President. The coinage and paper currency of the country had on it "In God We Trust". He says that in the previous letter, the writer had listed several persons whom he claimed were atheists, including Thomas Edison, regarding whom the current writer takes exception. He says that Mr. Edison had said that the word "god" had no meaning to him, but that he did believe in a supreme intelligence, which the writer takes to equate with a concept implying a divinity. He says that, nevertheless, even if all persons on the list professed atheism, it would not change the real issues and their meaning, as he had set forth earlier in his letter. "For whether American or some other national, citizen of the world or what have you, no atheist can ever be any real good until he comes out from behind that mask and believes like all really good men do and must."
He does not indicate his point, whether that should mean that atheists are not entitled to rights under the Constitution's First Amendment, though that appears to be the clear implication, which would be anathema to the Founders. After all, Thomas Jefferson saw fit to remove parts of the Bible which he found inapt to daily living. And he was one of the principal Founders, in addition to being the author of the original Declaration. But, that is why we have the First Amendment, so that each person may have their own beliefs and opinions, without restraint from Congress or the states, the only restraint coming when impermissible conduct accompanies speech or when speech is either actionably defamatory or can be said to create a "clear and present danger" of instigating the overthrow of the Government or fomenting of violence.
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