The Charlotte News
Thursday, January 12, 1956
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page
reports that the President had asked Congress this date to provide
1.25 billion dollars in Federal grants over the ensuing five years
for school construction and also sought authority for Federal
purchase of up to 750 million dollars worth of local school bonds, in
the event school districts could not sell them in private markets at
reasonable interest rates, plus an additional 20 million dollars for
grants to the states for school planning. The result would be about
two billion in Federal spending on schools during the ensuing five
years, with 750 million of it returned through eventual payment of
the bonds. The states would be required to match the Federal grants
for construction, under a formula whereby the wealthiest states would
match two dollars for each dollar of Federal money, while the poorer
states would match only one dollar for each two dollars received. The
President said that the overriding principle of the program would be
that the Federal grants could not reduce the incentive for state and
local efforts, rather stimulating an increase in those efforts. He
made no mention of whether states would receive Federal aid only if
adhering to the Supreme Court's ruling barring continued racial
segregation. There had been a split over that issue in the previous
session of Congress, holding up the Federal aid bill. The President
said that it should be regarded as an emergency measure only and once
the shortage was overcome, the Federal grant program would terminate
and the states would then go forward without Federal funding for
their future needs. A fact sheet issued by HEW in connection with the
message estimated that school construction needs during the ensuing
five years would be about 470,000 classrooms. The summary said that
state and local governments would build 67,000 classrooms during the
current year at a cost of 2.5 billion dollars. The President said
that hundreds of thousands of children were studying in overcrowded
conditions, in half-day or doubled-up school sessions, or in
makeshift buildings not designed as schools. (Yes, how dare they, how dare they make us watch the first manned suborbital space shot from a bloody trailer, inducing wonder as to why some held forth in permanent class, bricked and brightly plastered, while others had to suffice with dim aluminum and diminutive blackboards, suffusing within the thus subjected and oppressed the green-eyed demon, even if enduing thereby subtle unintended empathy for the man emerging from a trailer to enter the spacecraft, after the previous year forcing us to attend class from 8:00 to 12:00 during half and from 12:15 to 4:15 the other half, walking home the while nearly in the dark the part of it, exposed to all manner thus of marauders of the forest, with their galling guile, whips and chains in tow to harass the little ones seeking only respite from their labors of the mind. Damn the bastards unkind for their insistence on bombs and planes before buildings for young brains which might sow the seeds of future quips re space trips
In Washington, the American Legion informed the House Veterans Affairs Committee this date that the Legion's top legislative goal for the year was a half-billion dollar increase in veterans' pensions and making more veterans eligible for the payments. The national commander said that passage of the bill would make the difference between existing and living, between despair and hope, for thousands of veterans. The chairman of the Committee, Congressman Olin Teague of Texas, had stated in advance of the commander's prepared statement that the plan would have a cool reception in the Committee and that he had turned down the Legion's request that he introduce the bill, saying that the Committee would not take up the plan before it had disposed of other items, such as hospital repair, scholarships for veterans' orphans and equalization of various benefits. The Veterans Administration had estimated that the Legion bill would cost 528 million dollars during the first year, increasing by 18 percent per year for some years thereafter. It was understood that the Veterans of Foreign Wars was abandoning a similar measure as its top priority for the year.
In Concord, N.H., supporters of the President would formally enter his name the following week in the primary in that state, set to occur in early March, and the President, according to the Associated Press, would inform them that he had no objections.
Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson had said this date that if Congress enacted the Administration soil bank plan swiftly, payments would go to farmers by late spring or early summer.
In Washington, it was reported that the 1.2 million dollar Boston robbery in January, 1950 of Brinks had been solved, with the arrest by the FBI of six members of a gang for bank robbery and theft of government property, with two more of the robbers already in custody in connection with other offenses, and one of the participants having since died. The announcement by the Justice Department followed six years of one of the most intensive investigations ever by the FBI regarding a single case. The loot had been carried away by men wearing Halloween masks and included, in addition to the cash, 1.5 million dollars in checks, money orders and other securities, including some government cash and money orders. None of the robbery proceeds had been recovered. A number of unexplained deaths had occurred in the underworld in the Eastern part of the country following the robbery, leading to speculation that criminals had also been engaged in the manhunt, with some officials expressing the belief that the gang of robbers had become embroiled in a dispute over the split of the loot, resulting in the killings. All of the men named in the case, save one, had been among a long string of witnesses appearing before a Boston Federal grand jury which had investigated the robbery between November 25, 1952 and January 9, 1953. The FBI said in a report that the gang had spent more than a year in planning the robbery and that the members had known each other from prior criminal associations, that they had performed a systematic study of the Brinks organization after it had moved to its location in Boston, with each of the participants being aware of the layout of the premises by the time of the robbery, each having surreptitiously entered the building on several occasions after Brinks employees had left for the day, and also making a study of the schedules and shipments.
In New York, two men had admitted that they had dismembered the body of a blonde fashion artist, 20, presumably after a fatal abortion the prior Christmas Eve, according to police. The body of the young woman had not yet been found and the men told of having disposed of it in different places.
In Cambridge, Mass., Boston's great "tar baby" of the boxing ring, Sam Langford, died this date in a nursing home at age 76. During his boxing career, he was reputed to have fought 642 bouts between 1902 and 1923, many against men who greatly outweighed him.
In Newark, N.J., it was reported that violence had erupted on two fronts of the Westinghouse strike this date, as cars sought to pass through picket lines into plants at Bloomfield and Edison, with ten persons injured in the incidents, including a seriously injured police captain and a union local president.
In Detroit, the newspaper Publishers Association and three striking unions had reached a tentative agreement on contract terms this date, opening up the possibility of an early end to the city's 43-day old newspaper strike.
In Camp Friedland, Germany, a member of Hitler's personal bodyguard, who had been released by the Russians, said this date that he had helped burn the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun on April 30, 1945, but that only their legs had been completely destroyed because of a gasoline shortage. He said that the upper part of their bodies were quite recognizable and that they had been buried in a garden near the air raid shelter in which they had committed suicide. He said that after the Russians had captured him, they had taken him back to the burial spot to identify the grave, and he found the grave empty, with the Russians apparently only wanting to confirm its location. The account supported earlier prison reports that the Russians had recovered the bodies or parts of them. Hitler's dentist, upon his release from Russia the previous October, had stated that he had flown to Moscow in 1945 to identify Hitler's jawbone, indicating that the Russians had previously exhumed the remains. Hitler's valet, upon his release from Russia, had said that he had carried Hitler's body from the bunker and, in conjunction with others, had doused it with gasoline and watched it burn for five minutes. The latest arrival of former German prisoners from Russia raised the total to 8,400 since the prior September, when they had promised to release 9,626.
In London, Britain began speeding about 2,000 crack paratroops towards Cyprus this date in a show of strength in the Middle East, coming amid reports that the Government was considering slowing down troop evacuations from the Suez Canal Zone because of the tense situation. Britain already had an estimated garrison on Cyprus of 100,000 men, many of whom were dealing with disorders arising from demands for union of the island with Greece.
In Seoul, South Korea, 66 passengers, trapped in a third-class cabin, had been burned to death this date and 18 others had been injured out of 127 aboard a small coastal ship, according to the Korean National Police, after a cabin boy had dropped a kerosene lamp. He was arrested on a charge of negligence.
In London, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill had left the city this date for Nice, where he would spend a month-long holiday on the Riviera, with Lady Churchill, in a London hospital for a checkup, expected to join him later in the month.
In Atlanta, an attempted jailbreak by four prisoners had been stopped amid gunfire at the Fulton County Jail this date after one man had been slightly wounded by a knife-wielding prisoner. None of the four had gotten outside the building. A deputy sheriff had spotted them and opened fire with a revolver, ordering them to surrender and they did so.
Edwin Pate, a farmer-banker-businessman from Laurinburg, N.C., had told the newspaper during the morning that he was considering entering the race for lieutenant governor in the spring, but had not made a definite decision. Alonzo Edwards of Hookerton, a prominent farm leader, had announced the previous Saturday that he would run for the position. Kidd Brewer, a Raleigh businessman, had not officially announced for the race, but had been considered actively in it for some time. Thus far, however, there were still no entrants to the gubernatorial race to contest incumbent Governor Luther Hodges, able to run in succession of himself, normally barred, because of having acceded to the office from the position of Lt. Governor by the death of Governor William B. Umstead in November, 1954.
Dick Young of The News reports that stricter laws governing the ownership of firearms had been suggested this date as a deterrent to homicide in Charlotte. City Council member and former Mayor Herbert Baxter, lamenting the two recent killings—the prosecution for at least one of which to have the surprise ending—, proposed the tighter regulations at the previous afternoon session, asking for review of the local ordinances by the City Attorney. A state statute required a permit for the purchase of pistols. Mr. Baxter was interested in strengthening the local ordinances, suggesting the requirement that registration occur for all firearms presently in the possession of local citizens and that stiffer fines be authorized for violations of the ordinances. He favored strict enforcement of the law regarding the necessity of a permit for purchase of a pistol, shotgun or other firearm and that the purpose for purchasing the firearm be clearly and accurately stated in the permit application—presumably "to kill all you milk-faced bastards" not being an acceptable reason. He said that a person with a reputation for being a sportsman and hunter would have no difficulty in observing the law and securing a permit. He also indicated that Charlotte had, for some time, a bad reputation for murders, but had improved some in recent years, and encouraged the citizenry to help improve it the more.
Charles Kuralt of The News
reports again of a local family's home having burned down the
previous week, with the parents and their two children having been
saved by their collie, Missy, which had awakened them in time to
escape. Now, they were living in a furnished apartment amid a stack
of gifts from people who had read of their plight in the newspaper.
They said they had received hundreds of things, including dishes,
silverware, clothing, furniture and toys, that the gifts, they said,
had given them a new opinion of the human race. Missy, however, being
boarded in an animal hospital, was not very happy, and had not been
eating very well, grieving over not being with the family. Once they
rebuilt their home, Missy would return to them. The mother of the
family said that they could not use all of the gifts they had
received and they would likely give many of them to another family in
similar circumstances. She said that she only hoped that they could
pay people back someday for their generosity. Missy ought to be on
the tv, with her own show, called "Fire Dog". Watch out,
though, for Dr. Richard Kimble might show up at your door
unexpectedly any moment, anticipating an exculpatory witness
On the editorial page, "Parking, Politics & Providence Road: A Way Out of the Traffic Squeeze" tells of the City Council having taken up the controversy over the parking ban on Providence Road, with the City having made a feeble temporary effort to solve a major problem with small tools. It goes into detail, suggests that what needed to be done was to assign clearly the responsibility of the urban congestion problem to City engineer Herman Hoose and his experts, with little political meddling in the process, to allow them to study fully the problem of traffic congestion, to produce a sound program of street construction, and to provide them therefore the ability to acquaint the public with the nature of the problem and its solution.
It suggests that other cities had tried that formula and it had worked, but without a master plan, Charlotte would forever be as a troubled giant, stumbling over its own feet.
"Footnote" finds that the unhappiest aspect of the previous day's City Council session dealing with Providence Road had been the merciless treatment of traffic engineer Mr. Hoose, by a member of the Council, something which it believes Mr. Hoose had not deserved, as he was an honorable employee of the City and a conscientious public servant. "Respect—not public embarrassment—is his due."
"Sterilization Is a Wrong Answer" disagrees with the suggestion made the previous day by U.S. District Court Judge Wilson Warlick, favoring a policy whereby if a woman sought aid from the Welfare Department for an illegitimate child, she would, to obtain the aid, have to sign a contract which would enable her sterilization at the time of the birth.
It wonders, as a first objection, whether sterilization would actually impact substantially the number of illegitimate children. A North Carolina House Welfare subcommittee had reported that there was no relationship between the number of illegitimate children and the aid to dependent children program, that few children were born out of wedlock after a mother began receiving aid under the program. In Mecklenburg County, about 95 percent of the illegitimate children being aided by tax money had been born before the mother had applied for the aid, and advocates for sterilization had not shown how it would prevent such pregnancies in the first place.
Aside from the practical considerations, it suggests that legislators who would draft the laws and the doctors who would perform the sterilizations had to be concerned about the ethics of the matter. It suggests that Judge Warlick's proposal appeared to enable the woman to have a fair choice between taking the aid and being required to submit to sterilization to obtain it. But it finds that it was a serious matter to tamper with the procreative process and to penalize an innocent child for the mistakes of its parents. It also suggests that, to be fair, the father should be sterilized also.
It finds that the judge's concern for the social problem was commendable and that his additional recommendation that fathers be forced to support illegitimate children was just and might be workable. It finds that all reasonable efforts ought be made to discourage illegitimacy and protect the public assistance programs from waste. But despite the fact that more illegitimate children were being born at present than in the past, there was still no evidence that illegitimate birth as a percentage of the population had increased, and it was not a legal problem. "It is a moral problem and any semblance of a competent answer to it must come from the sources of community morality—the home, church, school and other organizations concerned with the moral training of citizens."
The public had become concerned over the number of illegitimate children, which had probably prompted the judge's remarks. But there was a chance of waste in all charity, just as in giving aid for the support of illegitimate children, the chance of which could not be eliminated through sterilization of the mother, finding it no cure either on a practical or moral level.
A piece from the Chapel Hill News Leader, titled "Thoughts of Spring", suggests that as soon as January 1 was over, a man began to think of spring as the days gradually became longer. "The green chickweed is spreading under the old weeds of the garden and in warm corners the green spikes of jonquils are already breaking the ground. Spells of snow and ice may intervene, but the fact remains that in another month, plus a couple of weeks, the winter jessamine, lonicera, and spirea will be in flower and the first daffodils will be nodding in the breeze. The frogs in the marshes will be piping down at sundown and the college boys will be out for baseball practice."
It concludes that, recalling those things, a man had to wonder why so many people did not abandon life north of the Potomac River.
Drew Pearson tells of Congressman Hugh Scott of Philadelphia the previous week having held a meeting in his office to discuss protection of blacks in the Deep South and civil rights generally. Present were Congressmen James Roosevelt of Los Angeles, Richard Bolling of Kansas City, Adam Clayton Powell of Harlem, and Charles Diggs of Detroit, the latter being two of the three black members of Congress. Mr. Scott was the only Republican present. Another meeting which two other Republicans wanted to attend would be held this date. At the first meeting, the main strategy decided was to abandon any attempt to pass a fair employment practices act and rather concentrate on an omnibus bill guaranteeing the rights of blacks to vote and to physical protection. It would abolish the poll tax, prevent terrorism at the polls and provide the Justice Department with broad powers to investigate any attempt to deprive blacks of voting rights in either Federal or local elections. A general anti-lynching law, which would apply to drowning or any other type of violence based on race, creed, or color, regardless of state lines, would also be in the package.
The meeting had taken place immediately after a group of Georgia Congressmen, including Henderson Lanham, James Davis and Tic Forrester, had spent an hour on the floor of the House excoriating "'niggers'", though the Congressional Record had been cleaned up afterward and some of their most vitriolic language stricken. (The case, by the way, to which these ol' boys, heya, were referrin' was this one right heya, unanimously delivered by Justice Tom Clark of Texas, anathema to everything righteous and puya, strikin' at the very ho't of Southe'n womanhood. As the Hono'able Gentleman, Mista Flynt, said, the Geo'gia statute provided as follows with rega'd to qualifications of gran' juraws: "59-201. (811 P. C.) Qualifications of grand jurors; incompetency of certain public officers to serve: All citizens of this State, above the age of 21 years, being neither idiots, lunatics, nor insane, who have resided in the county for six months preceding the time of serving, and who are the most experienced, intelligent, and upright persons, are qualified and liable to serve as grand jurors, unless exempted by law: Provided, however, That county commissioners, tax receivers, tax collectors, members of the county board of education, county school commissioners, ordinaries, and county treasurers shall be incompetent to serve as grand jurors during their respective terms of office." Now, you know as well as you ah breathin' that "the most experienced, intelligent, and upright persons" in the county ah always going to be white, and, ipso facto, the constituency of the gran' jury could not have been challenged prope'ly without challenge to the very system unde' which all good Geo'gians were given sustenance, and so justice was suhved, the insistence of the Su-preme Cou't to make up the law to the cawntrary, notwithstanding. And what's more, what was third Olney doin' down 'eya?)
But at the meeting in Mr. Scott's office, Mr. Roosevelt had expressed concern that those speeches would make headlines the following day and thereby harm bipartisan attempts at legislation on civil rights. Congressman Diggs had brought with him an 18-page legal memorandum proposing that the Congressional delegation from Mississippi, scene of the murder of Emmett Till the prior August 28, should be unseated on the basis that they had not been elected by all of the voters of Mississippi. The memo had been prepared by Frank Pohlhaus, appointed by former President Truman to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department, subsequently becoming counsel for the NAACP in Washington. It was an exhaustive document going as far back as Thaddeus Stevens during the Civil War, showing that a move to unseat a member of Congress did not have to be made at the opening of the session. Mr. Pearson indicates that at a previous meeting, Mr. Diggs had wanted to try to unseat the delegation from Mississippi, but both Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bolling were against it, with Mr. Roosevelt concerned that it would only arouse passions among Southerners in Congress. Mr. Diggs agreed and for the time being relented on introducing his resolution.
As we have pointed out previously, it would be Mr. Scott, later as Senator, who would lead the delegation of Republican Congressional leaders, including Senator Barry Goldwater, delivering the bad news on August 7, 1974 to President Nixon that he could only expect a handful of votes in the Senate against his conviction on the articles of impeachment to be approved overwhelmingly by the full House, and so...
Walter Lippmann tells of the Senate Internal Security subcommittee, chaired by Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, which had been investigating possible Communist infiltration of the press, focusing on the New York Times, having announced the previous week that the current phase of its hearings had concluded for the present. The subcommittee had shown that during the previous 20 years there had been employed on the Times some 30 men who had, at one time or another, been Communists. But there were currently 4,000 employees of that newspaper, and thousands more during the course of the prior 20 years. More significantly, those who had been identified had held subordinate positions, without the editorial authority to exercise any discernible influence on news or opinions.
Thus, there had been no discernible impact on the presentation of news or the suppression of news. The hearings, however, had raised the question of freedom of the press and the rights and duties of newspapermen, whether the Congress had the power to investigate the press, and if so, what, if any, were the limits of that power. Mr. Lippmann finds that there was no clear or authoritative answer to that question, as it was a radically new issue, never having been raised before in the country, or at least not in several generations. The law on the subject had not been tested and was not clear.
Judicial opinions ranged from the Barsky case, allowing Congress to investigate whatever it suspected was a public danger, to Quinn v. U.S., wherein Chief Justice Earl Warren had delivered the opinion of the Court, stating that "the power to investigate, broad as it may be, is also subject to recognized limitations." But it had never been determined what those limitations were.
He finds that the crucial question posed by the subcommittee was whether Congress had the power to censor individual employees of a newspaper, and if it could do so with respect to those identified as Communists, questions what would stop future Congressional committees from censoring newspaper employment on other grounds, whether committees could inquire into the financial interests of publishers, editors and reporters, for instance. He finds that once Congress had the power to set standards of newspaper employment, the "inner spirit and the practical meaning" of the First Amendment would be substantially impaired. He indicates that Congress had no power to pass laws dealing with the standards of newspaper employment, but questions whether it had the right to do the same thing through its investigations, chilling such employment. The power of investigation had been used to intimidate, punish and destroy people and were it to become the accepted practice, Congress could effectively nullify the First Amendment.
He urges that no part of the editorial management of the newspaper ought be ceded to Congress and that if newspapers acquiesced in the right of Congress to censor on any grounds newspaper employment, the door would be opened to a grave invasion of the freedom of press.
The New York Times, itself, had said that the press was not sacrosanct and that the right of "any investigation of the press by any agency of Congress" could not be questioned. But Mr. Lippmann begs to differ, saying that, while the newspapers were not sacrosanct, they were subject to all the laws of the land, and freedom of the press was sacrosanct, and so impact on newspaper employment ought not be tolerated.
The First Amendment imposed many duties on newspapermen, one of which was that journalists should preserve the freedom inherent in the First Amendment. He thus views it as the duty of newspapermen to refuse to assent to the setting up of any precedent which could lead to the gravest abuse.
A letter writer agrees with the recent editorial of January 9, "The Right To Speak Your Mind", concerning the expression of opinions in the letters column, that it ought to remain free, regardless of the type of opinion expressed, as long as it was expressed in an appropriate manner, free from obscenity and inflammatory expressions of hate or libel. He believes that the column was functioning well, with strong convictions being expressed from both sides of various current issues, and hopes that the feature would remain as there was a crying need for it, especially in the current times. But he does not see any problem in letter writers criticizing the views expressed by other letter writers, as the editorial suggested ought not occur. He believes opinions had to be attacked and defended if they were at all worthy.
A letter writer finds progressive the same editorial and believes the majority of readers of the newspaper would agree with every point made therein.
A letter writer says that there was presently a bill pending before the Senate Finance Committee to amend the Social Security laws, such that persons 62 years old and handicapped persons over 50 could draw benefits, but that the matter might be tabled in the rush of business in the present session unless public opinion focused on it. He urges that people contact their Congressman regarding it. He says that he had been employed by the Salvation Army in Charlotte and had observed women and men who were in dire need coming to them daily to seek financial assistance, that they were good and honest, and found many who had not yet reached 65 worried, while others were pitifully handicapped. He says that as of the previous June, there had been 21 billion dollars in the Social Security fund, sufficient to meet the demands that the new legislation would add. He imparts that he was a handicapped person, 57, crippled by osteomyelitis, and had to use crutches, causing him to have to give up his position with the Salvation Army and live on his meager savings. He says that he would be pleased to receive letters commenting on both sides of the issue.
A letter writer urges readers not to ask God to bless anyone personally, for God had directed the people of the city to erect smokestacks to attract people from all over the world. He says that he was 76 and knew what had put the town on the map, that the city's engineers could not control fog or the 50,000 cars, trucks and other vehicles which caused exhaust fumes to accumulate on foggy days, finds that it was not smog, but just plain fog.
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