The Charlotte News

Saturday, January 28, 1956

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Senator Irving Ives of New York had suggested in an interview this date that the President could end speculation about whether he would run again by announcing that if his health continued to improve up to the convention the following summer, set to start August 20 in San Francisco, he would accept the Republican nomination. When the President had been asked at his press conference the prior Wednesday whether his health was the only issue in making his decision, he had responded that it was a question no one could answer. But in a separate interview, Senator Frederick Payne of Maine, one of the original Eisenhower supporters in 1952, had said that he did not believe the President would make any conditional announcement, and that when he finally made the decision, it should be accepted without any additional pressure being placed on him to change it. He joined other Republicans in condemning a suggestion by Democratic Senator Richard Neuberger of Oregon, that some Republicans who were anxious to have the President run again "might try to have him propped up unwisely with drugs and other such aids" if he were to become ill for any reason during the campaign. White House press secretary James Hagerty said that the President had once been able to sleep only six hours, but now was getting accustomed to a longer period of sleep.

Mr. Hagerty, the previous day, denounced as a complete falsehood and a "scurrilous lie" columnist Drew Pearson's statement that the President had intervened in the Al Sarena timberland case in the Rogue River National Forest, referring to a column by Mr. Pearson which had appeared in newspapers on Thursday. Mr. Pearson had replied that he was confident that time would prove the facts he had reported, saying that the first time Mr. Hagerty had denied one of his stories had been in October, 1953, when he had reported that the President had a heart condition, and that the second time Mr. Hagerty had taken him to task had been in connection with the report on the hydrogen bomb test at Bikini, after which Mr. Hagerty had telephoned him to apologize for what he had said.

In Charleston, S.C., Air Force chief of staff General Nathan Twining, delivering a prepared speech at The Citadel, said this date that the time was fast approaching "when any conflict would be waged with nuclear weapons." He said that even after a limited exchange of nuclear weapons, land, sea and air forces would be unable to fight on in the traditional, pre-atomic era methods. He denied that any other responsible Air Force official had said that another war would be short or that foot soldiers were obsolete. He said that there was still the possibility of non-nuclear peripheral action lasting for several years. He also said that even a limited exchange of atomic weapons would involve more firepower than that of all the wars in history, and that traditional forms of war could not possibly follow such an opening phase.

American scientists were intending to launch satellites so that they could be observed by a majority of the world's population, according to new details released by the National Academy of Scientists, with the first launchings scheduled to occur in 1957-58, the International Geophysical Year. It said that the intended path of the satellites would be about 5,500 miles wide, straddling the equator, permitting them to be seen by people from New York to Buenos Aires and from Tokyo to Melbourne, Australia. They would also be visible in part of Russia, during the several weeks or months of orbit around the earth. A British physicist who headed the IGY planning said that scientific results of the program would depend largely on other countries, including Russia, making observations of the orbits and receiving messages coming from the satellites. The Soviets had also announced intentions to launch satellites, but the British physicist said he believed the U.S. would have its version into space first.

In St. Louis, a U.S. District Court judge had denied motions to dismiss indictments and for a change of venue to Washington, filed by Matthew Connelly, former appointments secretary for former President Truman, and Harry Schwimmer, former Kansas City lawyer, both of whom had entered pleas of not guilty the previous day to charges of conspiring to defraud the Government by fixing a tax case. The judge tentatively set their trial date for May 7. Lamar Caudle, former head of the tax division of the Justice Department during the Truman Administration, also named in the indictment, had his hearing on the motions postponed until February 3 because of the illness of his attorney. The judge took other motions filed by the defendants, including for severance, under advisement. Attorneys for the defendants had also argued that they had not been properly advised of their constitutional rights before testifying before the grand jury which had later indicted them, but the special assistant attorney general in the matter testified that Mr. Connolly had been apprised that his testimony could be used against him.

In Bombay, India, it was reported that the Rev. Billy Graham had addressed a huge meeting of Christians in the state of Travancore-Cochin at Kottayam the previous night, being the principal speaker at the inauguration of a four-day convention sponsored by several churches, receiving a tremendous ovation, especially when he said, "Humanity is basically alike, whether Indian, French or American." A bishop of the Church of South India said that it was the largest Christian gathering in India, numbering more than 75,000. The evangelist had spoken to another convention earlier at Madras. He had not been able to address a mass meeting in Bombay because of recent riots.

In Long Beach, Calif., Ford Motor Company's big West Coast assembly plant suffered an estimated three million dollars worth of damage to parts alone the previous day, while other damage had yet to be assessed, from flood, explosion and a fire. Four men had been injured, but not seriously. The plant manager said that the facility would be out of operation for at least two months. Weakened by a storm during the week which had dumped more than six inches of rain, huge dikes had collapsed, flooding the 72-acre factory area with oil-slick water. The grounds of the plant were five feet below sea level, having subsided in recent years because of the extraction of oil from huge pools underneath. The flood water had shorted out an electrical transformer and the resulting flash had ignited the first in a series of explosions, with flaming oil from one of the explosions erupting over a corrugated building, housing the power plant, and the fire spreading to a building containing eight 6,000-gallon gasoline and paint thinner tanks. A spokesman for the Ford assembly plant at Milpitas, to the north in the Bay Area, said that his plant would begin a ten-hour, six-day week to compensate for the Long Beach plant being off-line.

In London, a New York-bound Stratocruiser, carrying 47 passengers and a cargo of diamonds, had run into mechanical trouble over the Atlantic this date, forcing it to turn back to London, where it landed safely with one of its four engines not operating. After it was fixed, it took off again. The package of rough diamonds had been valued at 8.4 million dollars, with one being a 426-carat stone which diamond magnate Ernest Oppenheimer had called the most magnificent ever found in South Africa. A diamond-laden Stratocruiser had crashed on Christmas Day, 1954, at Prestwick, Scotland, with 28 aboard having been killed. Detectives had searched for weeks through the burned wreckage of that plane for the diamonds, valued at 2.8 million dollars, and had found most of them.

In Richland, Kans., Andrew Gray, husband of the former Treasurer of the United States, Georgia Gray, had shot and killed an unidentified man who had broken into the couple's home and engaged him in a gun battle early this date. Mr. Gray, currently a public relations consultant in Washington, had told police that the person who was slain looked like one of three men who earlier during the month had broken into the residence and forced his wife at gunpoint to open a bank and grocery store she operated and then fled with $2,000. (The fact that she also operated a grocery store clues you to which Administration she had served.) A hastily organized posse began a building by building search of the town, on the theory that the slain man had one or more accomplices. The couple's pet dog, Mamie, had set off an alarm, awakening the couple with its barking after the intruder had forced his way into the home by breaking the glass in a rear door. Mr. Gray had told his wife to hide herself in a bedroom and he then grabbed a revolver he had purchased after the first robbery in early January and ran to the top of the stairs outside their bedroom, and just as he got there, the intruder started coming up the steps. Mr. Gray fired once and the intruder turned and ran, firing several shots hurriedly as he raced out the rear door. An agent for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation determined that the intruder had fired four shots aimlessly. The Grays did not need a first gentleman in service as they had a first lady in Mamie.

In Hickory, six Catawba County beer retailers were cited this date for alleged violation of State Alcoholic Beverage Control Board regulations, with hearings on the citations set for February 8-9 before the ABC Board in Raleigh, the charges in some of the citations including selling or allowing sale of beer to intoxicated persons, allowing consumption of beer or allowing beer to leave the premises outside legal sales hours, and selling or allowing sale of beer to minors. It indicates that Catawba County had about 147 licensed beer retailers, and lists those which had been cited.

In Charlotte, City police said that a man had been killed instantly the previous night when he had been struck by a car at the intersection of Beatty's Ford Road and Tate Street. Police said that it appeared the victim had been knocked about 100 feet after being struck by the car. The man driving the car said that he had slowed while a car in front of him had made a turn and had picked up speed to about 25 to 30 mph when he struck something and applied his brakes. A cab driver, who, just before the accident, had observed the victim while he was waiting on the curb to cross the street, said that he had cautioned the man about approaching cars, that the man had waited until they passed, but then walked into the lane of traffic where the car which hit him was proceeding. It had been the second traffic fatality of the year in Charlotte.

Also near Charlotte, Mecklenburg County police reported that a man had been killed and another injured this date when their car had skidded into the slow-moving cab of a tractor-trailer on U.S. 29-A. The truck driver had been awarded the previous week a safe-driving pin for an 11-year record of good driving. A patrol car, headed to the accident scene with its siren on, had been involved in an accident and the two patrolmen in the car had suffered cuts and bruises. The driver of the other car was cited for reckless driving and failing to yield the right-of-way, as he had run a red light.

In London, British television viewers had seen seven-year old Prince Charles brush away what looked to be a tear the previous day, as he and his sister bade farewell to their Nigeria-bound royal parents. He had asked anxiously: "It's a little misty, isn't it? But I suppose it will be all right." The story indicates that the British morning newspapers had given more space to the Prince's reaction than to the royal departure.

We do not mean to be pessimistic and are only trying to help prevent a tragedy, but their plane will probably crash in the mist and then you will feel awful for not having convinced your parents not to proceed until the weather clears.

On the editorial page, "Charlotte Slums: On with the Battle" tells of members of the City Council having praised James Ritch during the week for his direction of Charlotte's slum clearance program, an honor richly deserved. It finds that credit also belonged to the Charlotte Board of Realtors, which had sponsored the program originally and had supported it through the years.

It indicates that probably the principal human problem across the nation at present was the decaying of urban housing and the needless misery it created for urban dwellers. Based on a recent national survey, nearly a quarter of the country's urban population was living in crowded blight and squalor, the children in those households growing up without proper safeguards for health and without adequate space for play and recreation.

Charlotte had undertaken a great effort which had attracted nationwide attention, with few cities in the nation having done a better job in the field of slum clearance. The previous year, according to Mr. Ritch, 412 housing units had been brought up to standards and 172 units had been demolished as unfit for habitation. In all, 10,881 units had been brought up to standard and 1,543 dwellings had been demolished since the initiation of the slum clearance program in August, 1948.

It indicates that the City could perform an even better job were it equipped to supplement its rehabilitation program with an urban redevelopment program, permitting condemnation and demolition of all structures which were beyond salvage. But the North Carolina General Assembly had failed to pass legislation strong enough to enable Charlotte to revive its urban redevelopment program, and, meanwhile, the City was making the best use of the tools it had available, with property owners cooperating.

It tells of the problem continuing and that the city could never afford not to face up courageously to its part in reversing the spread of urban blight, as everyone paid for slums, including those who fled the city for the suburbs, as most of the tax burden for City services in the slums was carried by residents outside the slums. The spreading urban blight also threatened property values in all other neighborhoods. The suburbs could not prosper if the city decayed, and slums bred crime and created a public health problem, the bill for which was shared by the whole community.

It concludes that the city had to continue to attack its slum problem with the same vigor it had been exhibiting during the previous year.

"The President Returns to the Issue" indicates that the President, at his press conference during the week, had added nothing concrete to speculation on his intentions to run again, but at the same time, had succeeded in shaping speculation into more reasonable proportions.

He said that he was not bored, as some had speculated, and that therefore such would not be the basis for his decision, and that his family would not make the decision for him. He would rest his decision solely on his health prognosis and whether he had the "zip and zest" necessary for the job.

It finds that the President was fully aware that he had to make the final decision and that it was completely tied to his health. It has no doubt that he would make a decision taking into account the best interests of the country, finds that the principal danger regarding the decision was that others were trying to make it for him.

"Natural Gas: The Senate's Own Brand" informs that there were two types of gas involved in the proposed bill to deregulate natural gas, the type which was used for cooking food and heating houses, and the type which the Senate used to fill pages of the Congressional Record.

West Virginia Senator Matthew Neely is quoted from debate the previous week as saying that he thanked the eminent Senator from Illinois, Paul Douglas, for the 15 minutes of precious time he had granted him, and assured him that his generosity would not be "abused by extending the allotted time into a trespass on eternity—an offense which is much too frequently committed in this chamber." He then suggested several alternative titles for a radio commentator's remarks on the Life article regarding the supposed three times the Administration had averted war at the brink, had hearkened back to Gettysburg and the "Cross of Gold" speech of William Jennings Bryan, referenced Thucydides and then came forward to 1884 to discuss the coining of the phrase "rum, Romanism and rebellion" and its part in the defeat of James G. Blaine by Grover Cleveland, compared the Republicans to Belshazzer, eulogized Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt, lionized Harry Truman, and "put himself in grave danger of being shot down if eternity has posted any sentries against trespassers."

The piece concludes that there was plenty of room for debate on Federal controls of natural gas, but as to the Senate's Own Special Brand, controls, it suggests, were overdue and could not come too soon.

A piece from the Sanford Herald, titled "When Old Friends Turn...." tells of some of the magazines to which it subscribes coming to the office, while the others were mailed to the writer's home, causing the writer's name to be duplicated on mailing lists, with magazines obtaining the home address from other magazines using the office address.

It indicates that during the current week, the situation had become intolerable as its subscription to a magazine which ordinarily came to the office had expired when it had failed to send a check immediately. It did so, and then received a notice saying that the subscription would be terminated unless the payment were made forthwith. Figuring that the payment had crossed in the mail, it swallowed its pride and decided to forget about the poor treatment. When the writer got home, there had been a fat envelope from the magazine containing a letter inviting an eight-month trial subscription at half-price, with no need for immediate payment.

It indicates that it would like to send in the half-price subscription and stop payment on the check for the full subscription, but knows that a letter would come back informing that the lesser check was insufficient to cover the subscription originally ordered but would be applied to its obligation, while the subscription meanwhile would be canceled. It concludes that one could not win against a mailing list.

Drew Pearson tells of certain Republicans, notably Senators Styles Bridges of New Hampshire and William Knowland of California, taking to task Secretary of State Dulles, while Democrats were criticizing him publicly. Senators Knowland and Bridges were upset over the appointment of Robert Bowie, a Harvard professor and a Republican whom Secretary Dulles wanted to become assistant secretary of state, the Senators objecting to Mr. Bowie having indicated previously that he supported U.S. recognition of Communist China, of which the Senators also suspected Secretary Dulles, despite his public statements to the contrary.

Initially, Mr. Bowie had been submitted for confirmation as a resident of Maryland, until it was discovered that Maryland's two Senators, John Butler and James Beall, would not support him, and then his residency was changed to Massachusetts, where Senator Leverett Saltonstall was willing to lend his support to the nomination. But that change had only made Senators Bridges and Knowland that much more angry and they had called the Secretary of State into a meeting at which they let him know their dissatisfaction with the nomination. Mr. Dulles had told them that Mr. Bowie's views did not entirely coincide with his regarding Communist China. But they recalled that the law partner of Mr. Dulles had favored recognition of Communist China and that Mr. Dulles, in a private press meeting early during the Administration, had said that recognition would be eventually necessary. Finally, after the Senators said that they were adamantly opposed to the nomination and demanded that it be withdrawn, Mr. Dulles became upset and said he had made the decision and that he was Secretary of State. Senator Bridges had responded that the Secretary's term would run only for the ensuing year and that he would be around for at least another five years, that they had responsibilities as Senators and intended to live up to them regarding confirmation. Mr. Dulles was flustered after the meeting.

HEW Secretary Marion Folsom had presented a medal to Dr. Jonas Salk the previous week for his work in developing the polio vaccine. But the medal had nearly not been struck because of the failure of Congress, which had approved the medal, to appropriate the $2,500 necessary to pay for the artist who designed it. Congressman Irwin Davidson of New York had originally suggested the medal and he offered to reimburse the Treasury out of his own pocket, but Secretary of the Treasury George Humphrey told him that it would be illegal for the Treasury to receive funds from a private citizen. Eventually, a deal was struck with the head of the polio foundation, who would donate the funds as an anonymous citizen and then, when Congress finally got around to appropriating the money, the foundation would be reimbursed and the $2,500 would go to the March of Dimes. Mr. Davidson had insisted that the medal be presented prior to the start of the March of Dimes campaign.

Mr. Pearson notes that at the White House conference, it had been decided that Secretary Folsom should present the medal rather than the President or Secretary Humphrey, it being hoped that it it would dissipate some of the ill will caused the previous spring by former HEW Secretary Oveta Culp Hobby for having "muffed up" the vaccine distribution program.

A letter writer comments on a piece on the front page of January 18 regarding the profits turned thus far by the new Coliseum and Auditorium, wonders how any "self-respecting newspaper" could print such a "gross misrepresentation", as the omitted cost of depreciation during the fall months after the opening, had been approximately $63,000, based on two percent interest and a 30-year retirement period for the bonds, which he calculated represented actually a loss of approximately $35,000. He acknowledges that the piece by Charles Kuralt had mentioned that the balance sheet did not include that cost, but finds the omission critical and rendering the piece dishonest.

The editors respond that City Manager Henry Yancey, when asked for comment on the accounting procedure, had said that municipalities usually did not account for depreciation, as the City did not do that, on the theory that money should be left with the taxpayers until it was needed, that it was a mistake, however, to talk in terms of profits regarding municipal buildings, as it was a matter of income exceeding expenses rather than profit in the true sense, that a lot of City services, including the police and fire departments, the Mint Museum, and City Hall, never made a profit, and he had concluded that they had never promised anyone a profit on the Coliseum, but that if income continued to exceed expenses, they would be happy.

A letter writer from Bennettsville, S.C., tells of the time drawing near for the board of trustees of the Consolidated Presbyterian College of North Carolina to make a decision concerning the location of Flora Macdonald College, of which the letter writer was an alumnus and supplies some pertinent historical facts concerning the "great school and also the town of Red Springs", which she proceeds to do at some length. She indicates that the aim of the college was "to train and educate young people for Christian life and to achieve that goal, Flora Macdonald College offers a creative experience in a rich and stimulating environment; which fosters disciplined moral character, happy human relationships, and a vital faith in God." She says that it was a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and was recognized as a standard A-grade institution by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, that it was located 25 miles from Fayetteville and 35 miles from Southern Pines and Pinehurst. She closes with: "Logic is logic/ So they say,/ At Red Springs/ Flora Macdonald must stay!"

A letter writer from Rock Hill, S.C., says that opponents of segregated schools would find it wise to stop and consider their proposals to involve the segregation issue in the most important piece of legislation before the House, proposing to provide Federal aid to public schools, vitally needed at present. He says that the President had been correct in stating that "the need of American children for schools is right now, immediately, today," and in suggesting that attaching a rider to the bill to prohibit funding to school systems still practicing segregation would hinder and delay passage of that necessary legislation. He urges Congress to get on with the business of passing the bill, without the rider.

A letter writer from Hamlet quotes the Ninth Amendment as being the case for interposition, and calls attention to the newspaper's editorial sometime earlier, titled "The American Heritage", (apparently as reprinted from the Carolina Israelite), of which he says that there were a number of people in North Carolina who were "'eccentric'" enough still to love and cherish it.

Try reading the Supremacy Clause.

A letter writer indicates that at present Charlotte had two Representatives in the State House, J. B. Vogler and Jack Love, and that they were now looking for two more, "who have the interest of the public instead of personal interest as of the past years."

A pome appears from the Atlanta Journal, "In Which Is Outlined One Procedure Of Being A Good Citizen:

"Do not weasel, fake or stall
When you hear the jury's call."

And in the box, stay on the ball,
Lest someone's fate off a cliff may fall...

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.