The Charlotte News
Thursday, January 5, 1956
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President's annual State of the Union address, read by clerks because of the President's continued convalescence from his September 24 heart attack, had stated that the budget would be in balance during the current fiscal year and the following one, but that a tax cut would be justified only if it would not put the Government again into a deficit. He said that the nation's outlook was "bright with promise" despite Soviet leaders having shown that they were "not yet willing to create the indispensable conditions for a secure and lasting peace." He said that Russia had shifted from "violence and the threat of violence to reliance on division, enticement and duplicity." He favored increasing the foreign aid program and granting "limited authority to make longer-term commitments for assistance to such projects, to be fulfilled from appropriations to be made in future fiscal years." He proposed a 25 billion dollar program for Federal aid to construction of highways with "an adequate plan" for financing it, rather than insisting on the long-term borrowing which had caused the plan he had submitted during the first session the previous year to become stalled. He proposed farm legislation, including a soil bank program, as part of "a many-sided assault on the stubborn problems of surpluses, prices, costs and markets." He also proposed a five-year program of Federal aid to school construction, to be outlined in greater detail in a later special message, as would his farm program. He proposed a two-year slum clearance program calling for 35,000 public housing units in each of the two years. He also urged creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate charges that in some localities, blacks were being denied the right to vote. The commission would investigate charges of deprivation of the rights to vote and subjection of black citizens to unwarranted economic pressures in the process, the President indicating that he hoped the commission would be established promptly so that it could arrive at findings which could receive early consideration in the Congress—set to adjourn before the political conventions would commence in August. He asserted: "We are proud of the progress our people have made in the field of civil rights… We must expand this effort on every front. We must strive to have every person judged and measured by what he is, rather than by his color, race or religion."
The message made no mention of lowering the voting age to 18, one of the President's major requests two years earlier. He only asked, as previous Presidents had done for years, that residents of the District of Columbia be allowed to vote. Congress had shown no disposition either to lower the voting age or to allow Washington residents to vote in Federal elections. An amendment to the Constitution would be required to lower the voting age.
Julian Scheer of The News reports that the Rev. Billy Graham was again packing his bags to set off ten days hence from his home in Montreat, N.C., for a another crusade, this time in India, where he would spend a month, before traveling to Hong Kong, Formosa, Manila and Japan for another month, returning to North Carolina on around April 1. He said that there were seven million Christians living in India and that he would speak to them, along with missionaries and pastors. The country was predominantly Hindu, with many Moslems and Buddhists, but he expected to draw a crowd of 100,000 at some of his meetings. He told the newspaper that he had no appointment with Prime Minister Nehru, but that he would be honored if the opportunity to meet him were to arise. He said he believed that there was a greater religious awakening in the world now than there had been two years earlier when he had drawn very large crowds in Britain and Europe, suggesting that he would obtain even larger crowds now. He said that he found tensions gathering in the world again after a little relaxation of those tensions, a factor in the new religious awakening.
In Charlotte, the Park and Recreation Commission was reported to have no plans for even discussing any time soon a proposal for desegregation of local park facilities, as indicated this date by the board chairman, who said that desegregation was not even listed for discussion at the Commission's next meeting on January 10. He said that numerous letters had been received at the Commission office protesting desegregation of the public recreational facilities. He said that there had been erroneous reports that a decision had already been reached on the matter, indicating that some of the public park properties were presently the subject of court action and that no one knew how soon decisions would be handed down in those cases, that it would be futile to try to establish a policy until the courts had made their rulings.
Charles Kuralt of The News reports that workmen had started installing an orchestra lift in the new Ovens Auditorium this date, ready for use in about six weeks. It would bring orchestras out under the sloping auditorium ceiling in front of the stage, improving acoustics, and would add a flashy note of professionalism to the building. The platform would be able to stop at any position from the basement to the stage level, and performers could ride it up to the stage. The cost was $20,500, the money coming from the original bond issue funds for the Coliseum and Auditorium.
Dick Young of The News reports that lovers of local history could be assured that the famous leopardite carriage stone at Independence Square had not been stolen, that its removal from the sidewalk in front of Liggett's Drug Store the previous day had caused a local stir, with the president of the Mecklenburg Historical Association having said during the morning that he had planned a business conference but had been unable to start it because of frantic telephone calls about the famous stone and its removal. The superintendent of street maintenance told the newspaper that the stone was safely stored in the City garage, awaiting instructions from the local historical society. The 1,000-pound stone, said to have been used a century earlier as a carriage stone, had been embedded in the sidewalk at its original location some 20 years earlier, but City engineers had explained this date that the stone stood a half-inch to a full inch above the sidewalk level and thus constituted a hazard, a woman having recently stumbled over it, falling and breaking her glasses—making it a tripping stone. Engineers also pointed out that the stone's surface was slick, constituting another hazard—a slick tripping stone. A decision was made, therefore, to remove the stone and place it somewhere else. A local historian said that the leopardite stone was very rare, found only in three places in the world, Italy, Montana, and Mecklenburg County. The stone was said to have been part of a larger block which had been prepared for use in construction of the Washington Monument and that a famous sculptor had been commissioned to carve a leopard from the larger stone, which was presently in the State Museum in Raleigh. The local historian suggested placing the tripping stone near the main entrance of the Old Settlers Cemetery on W. 5th Street, at the rear of the First Presbyterian Church. The superintendent of the Park and Recreation Commission said that park officials would be glad to place it among other historical markers located at the entrance to Freedom Park, provided some local civic club could provide a marker for the stone.
You could, combining it with the piece on sausage the previous day and a letter this date from a woman whose hat was splashed by a pigeon, come up with a marker which reads: "Here lies the historical leopardite stoned pillbox hat. Pause here on rainy days and contemplate." No one would much understand it, but it would pose a source of great speculation and rumor for many decades to come, no doubt, and stimulate thereby the tourist trade that much more.
In Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe would return to 20th Century-Fox studios the following month, having formed a seven-year contract, estimated to be worth more than eight million dollars, ending one of the most publicized walkouts of an actor or actress from a studio in film history, beginning a year earlier. She had the itch.
In Monte Carlo, it was reported that Prince Rainier of Monaco, 32, royalty's most eligible bachelor, appeared to have captured the heart of actress Grace Kelly, 26, as their engagement had been announced this date. The two had met when Ms. Kelly was filming "To Catch a Thief" on the Riviera, and the Prince was currently visiting her in the U.S. Residents of Monaco were anxious for the Prince to marry, as the principality would revert to France, with high French taxes, were the sovereign to die without an heir. Monaco had a voting population of about 1,000, but visitors and French residents brought its population to around 20,000. It charged no personal taxes, with the Government receiving its revenue from the Monte Carlo Casino. The Prince had reigned over the principality since his ailing grandfather, Prince Louis II, had abdicated in 1949, dying four days later. Would, instead of a royal retinue, the new Princess Grace be said to have saved Monaco residents from royalty revenue?
In Innsbruck, Austria, an Austrian wife, who had posted nude photos of her rival in the market square of her home village near Innsbruck, had been sentenced to five days in jail. She told the judge that she found the nude pictures in her husband's wallet, had posters made from them and then placed them about the square. The judge said that the sentence would have been longer except for the extenuating circumstances of "justified anger". Was the rival blonde?
In Phoenix, Ariz., a State Representative gave his fellow legislators a birth announcement, announcing a candidate for the Legislature in the year 1980, with 25 being the minimum age for service, providing the name of his child, "produced through the cooperation" of his wife, "chairwoman, Planning and Development Committee", with himself listed as "chairman of the Ways and Means Committee", and two doctors, "Co-chairmen, Labor Committee."
In Chicago, Dr. Irvine Page, president of the American Heart Association, said that half the annual deaths in the U.S. resulted from some form of heart disease, too often occurring to the man who was successful and had a large bank account. He urged moderation in the use of salt, fatty foods, sex, tobacco and alcohol, adding that he was for all of those things, but in moderation. He urged learning equanimity in a world full of stress and strain and avoiding fatigue, which was a warning signal.
On the editorial page, "Doesn't Anyone Want To Be Governor?" tells of no candidate appearing to step forward to challenge Governor Luther Hodges in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, with former State Senator Terry Sanford and Dr. Henry Jordan, the two most prominent mentioned competition, both deciding not to enter the race, and no other viable prospects appearing.
It finds it unsettling that there would be no opposition candidate, suggesting poor regard for the office and for the vigor of ideas within the Democratic Party. As political campaigns defined issues and the candidates, lack of opposition gave a politician a blank check and voters lost their opportunity to fill it out. It indicates that the office of Governor should not go by default and that a contest would be good for the state's political health, and, in all probability, for Governor Hodges.
"Which Way to Charlotte, Please?" tells of downtown Charlotte being somewhat hard to find from Douglas Municipal Airport, an issue presented to the City Council the previous day, when City Manager Henry Yancey had relayed the complaint of a South Carolina visitor, who said that he could find the airport with no trouble but invariably became lost when trying to get back into Charlotte.
The piece finds the complaint well taken, as there were plenty of signs pointing the way to the airport, but few showing the way back to the city. Making the matter more complicated, there were many roads going in a number of directions, with the visitor almost as likely to wind up in Tucumcari, New Mexico, as in Charlotte.
Mr. Yancey had said that the city was only thinking of natives when it established the airport. It suggests that a few signs pointing the way to the city would be helpful, so as not to lose any stragglers to Tucumcari.
"The School Board Tends to Its Knitting" finds that the City School Board intended to run the schools of Charlotte, rejecting unanimously a proposal by the State Advisory Committee on Education that it cease its study of the desegregation issue, the Board not understanding what was behind the Committee's proposal, just as the public did not know what the Committee was doing. Governor Luther Hodges had said that the directive had been a mistake in the first place.
It finds that the Board's decision was logical and complied with state law, placing the power and responsibilities for assignment of pupils to particular schools in the hands of local school boards, that if the Committee's proposal had any merit, it should have been openly declared, and that the Board had properly refused to deal with it in the dark.
"Once More unto the Polls, Pierre" comments on the French National Assembly election three days earlier, indicating that the French were always having elections, and the most recent had followed in the tradition of French politics, not settling anything. It had given the Communists more seats in the Assembly, resulting from the struggle of the center parties and not because of the popularity of the Communists, which had actually declined slightly. The election had given 28 seats to "a group of crackpots", the Poujadists, who were "against everything and for nothing", suggesting that it might be a good thing for them to be out in the open. The controlling number of seats went, as usual, to the center parties which, through one crumbling coalition or another, had governed France since the end of the war.
It finds the remaining question to be whether the center parties could establish enough common ground to produce a coalition strong enough to govern effectively and consistently, thus averting the destructiveness of the Communists and crackpots. It suggests that the prospect for positive action by the centrists, however, was dim, as the election campaign had only increased their bitterness for one another. It finds that the French appeared doomed to governmental instability by the multiplicity of their parties, shaky coalitions and concern with petty issues. As CBS correspondent David Schoenbrun had observed, it was no way to run a railroad, but "that is the way the French run this one."
A piece from the Mattoon (Ill.) Journal Gazette, titled "A Rose by Any Other Name", tells of names and words sometimes being irritating to the author of the piece, citing Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, in which a lowly swineherd had discussed the Normans who had recently invaded England and made themselves the ruling class, saying something to the effect that the animal was called a swine when it ran around in the mud and required work and care, but that when it appeared on the tables of the wealthy as something to be enjoyed, was known by the French word "pork".
It sometimes wonders about people who used large words when smaller or simpler ones would suffice, perhaps not trying consciously to put on airs, but finding that inevitably they were. It wonders what the pre-adolescent was called before people started so labeling that person. Long words such as "plenipotentiary" were not new and could be found in any unabridged dictionary, but every now and then a word such as "psychoanalysis" would become popular, with the result that it was expected that toddlers would use it when they began talking.
It suggests that "regurgitate" sounded better than "vomit", because the former concealed its meaning, but would be a hard word for a child to use in an emergency. (The earthily descriptive "upchuck" was the word of choice when we were in the early grades. "Vomit" would only have been used by the garishly supercilious.)
Anyway, it goes on in that vein, criticizing writers who used foreign language phrases, which could be looked up, but doubting seriously whether the writer had anything to say worth that effort, concluding: "Language is a means of communication, and if our ideas are clear they should be expressed clearly."
But why contend that an idea can be expressed clearly only by utilization of simple words understandable by a child? The more complex the idea, the more complex the expression of it sometimes must be, by the very nature of the concept.
Drew Pearson indicates that friends were suggesting to Congresswoman Gracie Pfost of Idaho that she dress as an Egyptian and make a speech on the floor of Congress inviting Premier Nikolai Bulganin and Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev to visit Moscow, Idaho. Friends were suggesting that in that case, perhaps the followers of the President would allocate the same amount of money to develop Hell's Canyon as they were offering to the Egyptians to build the Aswan Dam on the Upper Nile.
The proposed Hell's Canyon and Aswan Dams were exactly the same in general principle, except that the Aswan was three times more expensive. Yet, while the Administration had gone out of its way to offer money to build the Aswan for the Egyptian Government, it had vetoed any large Government dam at Hell's Canyon, instead giving the Idaho Power Co. a permit to build a small dam there, one which would not take advantage of the canyon's huge power potential and would be swallowed up if a big dam were later constructed. Western members of Congress planned to fight the Administration on the Aswan on the basis that what was good enough for the Nile was good enough for the Snake River. Southern Congressmen planned to oppose the Aswan for another reason, that they did not want the U.S. to irrigate a million acres to grow competitive Egyptian cotton.
Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks and RNC chairman Leonard Hall had something in common with former President U.S. Grant, as both wished they had never heard of the Lees. Fred Lee, a Republican from Vermont, head of air safety, and Josh Lee, a Democrat from Oklahoma, a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board, responsible for allocating air routes, had been causing Secretary Weeks and Mr. Hall many headaches, after both had been fired by them, backfiring in the Senate. Fred Lee, the former CAA administrator, had previously been dealt with in the column, and Josh Lee, equally important, had done an equally good job, having come to Congress as a public-speaking professor from the University of Oklahoma during the New Deal, had been elected to the Senate and then appointed to the CAB, where he had served for 12 years. He was the author of How To Hold an Audience without a Rope, and no one at first thought that he knew much about aeronautics. Mr. Pearson indicates that he probably had not, yet had become not only an expert in the field, but a champion of small airlines.
When his name had come up for reappointment, a lot of Republicans had supported him, but most of those had been connected with the small airlines. Mr. Hall, however, had been adamantly opposed to him and none of the Republicans who had gone to bat for him could change Mr. Hall's opinion. All of them had pointed out that the law required that his place on the CAB had to go to a Democrat and that he should therefore be reappointed. But Mr. Hall wanted Joseph Minetti, having already been appointed by the President to the Maritime Board, and so he was appointed to the CAB. Undersecretary of Commerce Louis Rothschild had not wanted Mr. Minetti, but Mr. Hall had forced the appointment anyway, for reasons that were not known. Mr. Pearson asserts that Mr. Minetti had been backed by the Republican leader of Brooklyn, a close friend of Mr. Hall, and that he had married the daughter of a prominent Brooklyn Republican. Mr. Minetti had been backed by Roy Cohn, former counsel to Senator McCarthy, presently counsel for National Air Lines.
Senators were upset that every Democratic former Senator appointed by previous Presidents had been kicked out of office by President Eisenhower, whereas under the law, a certain number of Democrats had to be appointed to every commission, and many had been former Senators.
Doris Fleeson tells of Frank ("I Am The Law") Hague, former political boss of Jersey City, N.J., having died on New Year's Day, a decade after his political eclipse. The legend of the big city bosses linked with the Democratic Party, however, lived on and that legend was useful to the opposition and reformers. Adlai Stevenson was already being accused, as part of the 1956 presidential campaign, of catering to the bosses, and Governor Averell Harriman of New York was assailed for his associations with Carmine DeSapio, Tammany boss. Meanwhile, Senator Kefauver's amateur supporters railed against the bosses with almost more righteous indignation than Senator Barry Goldwater had used against UAW president Walter Reuther. And FDR and President Truman both had boss connections, the former out of New York, such as Ed Flynn of the Bronx, and the latter out of Kansas City, principally Tom Pendergast.
Ms. Fleeson indicates that the death of Mr. Hague suggested the question of how the legend of the bosses was standing at the present time, whether Mr. Stevenson or Governor Harriman or some dark horse could make deals with machine bosses who could positively deliver votes of delegates at the Democratic convention and in the general election in November. She indicates that a spot check of cities, long identified with political machines and colorful characters such as Mr. Hague, showed that they could not. The only political bosses at present lived by consent, surviving only as the candidates supported or the policies promulgated suited the public weal. She suggests that the latter-day version was not really a boss but rather a political manager who had to cater to stockholders. Usually he found it best to run for office, himself.
Mr. Stevenson had to get along with Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, who had to wage a hard primary fight to be nominated and had to out-promise a reform Republican to win the general election. "King David" Lawrence had worked hard as Mayor of Pittsburgh for ten years, with a newspaper critic saying of him that he was "far too shrewd to put up for office anyone likely to prove a misfit… He is enormously respected by friend and foe." In New Orleans, an editor said that the big city boss was extinct, that there was no citywide or even ward boss whose control was such that he did not have to care what the uncontrolled voters thought. The principal politician in New Orleans was described as the Mayor, "Shep" Morrison. His machine was said to be new, created only to handle local problems and that it would be surprising to find his organization functioning well nationally.
Robert C. Ruark, in Melbourne, Australia, tells of several service personnel remembering him from prior visits, such that he concluded he was home, making him feel like he was 28 again, sunburned and wearing a uniform with two gold stripes on the sleeves and no worthwhile ribbons, rather than a balding 40, with too many chins.
It was his fourth visit to Australia in 12 years and thus far, he had never been disappointed in the place or the people, ranking Australians and non-bragging Texans as an "entry for being the nicest people in the world".
"This is the country where so many of us preserved our youth or left it, according to who got killed at Guadalcanal and Tarawa. This was the Gay Paree of our fathers' war, and our theme song was not 'Mademoiselle from Armentiers,' but 'Waltzing Matilda'." They had their "styke and eggs for breakfast, girls called Sheila, and a massive kindness and hospitality unknown to previous man." He says that people kept asking him why he returned to Australia and his answer was simple, that it was the only way he knew "to keep on being 28 years old, with a neat blue suit, two stripes on the sleeve, and no worthwhile ribbons whatsoever."
A letter writer, chairman of the Citizens Committee for Smoke Abatement, blesses two previous letter writers for their letters regarding the smoke abatement program, viewing it as a farcical waste of taxpayer money, that smoke could not be stopped because it was really fog. He says that if it were not for such letter writers, they would not be able to produce a brilliant case history which favored the program. He believes that there was an excellent air pollution engineer in the city and that the City Council regretted the waste of more than $70,000 on abortive attempts in previous years at smoke abatement, such that within two or three smoke seasons, there would finally be success. He concludes that it was good and healthy for all reform movements to have critics, making the success thus sweeter.
A letter writer believes that something like the return of the Pied Piper would be necessary for Charlotte to be rid of its pigeon problem. She indicates that she and her husband were buying a home in Charlotte, that the prior Sunday, she had on her new hat and coat, and after church, she and her husband were stepping off the curb in front of the Selwyn Hotel, when out of the blue, she was bombarded by a pigeon. She says that she did not intend the letter to be amusing and that something needed to be done about the pigeons. She urges that bird lovers should not get the wrong impression, that she liked birds, but not when they became a nuisance and destroyed property. She does not want the city to become infested entirely by those "flying cows".
Choose a different color hat next time. Perhaps you had on a red one, which attracts bulls.
A letter writer congratulates the newspaper for publicly recognizing the good things which were being done by the community's young people, and singles out Julian Scheer of the newspaper for an article including the outstanding achievements of students, with a picture of each such person. She finds the young leaders a credit to their parents, their schools, their community and to themselves. She issues three cheers for the "All-City Brains Team!"
Twelfth Day
Framed Edition
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