The Charlotte News
Monday, February 20, 1956
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that a special four-Senator committee was reopening its investigation which had previously been concluded after brief hearings into the matter of the $2,500 campaign contribution to Senator Francis Case of South Dakota, which he had refused and had voted against the natural gas deregulation bill for which the contribution, made through a gas lobbyist and paid by the head of Superior Oil Co. of California, Howard Keck, putatively was designed to influence. Senator Walter George of Georgia, chairman of the committee, said that they had decided to expand the scope of the investigation and that the former U.S. Attorney for Nebraska, who had resigned the previous week, might be a witness, giving no reason for that possibility. Senator George said that they would also recall Mr. Keck as a witness, as well as a lawyer who had provided the money to the lawyer who provided it to Senator Case's office, the latter lawyer having testified that it had come directly from the personal funds of Mr. Keck. During the hearings, it had developed that the U.S. Attorney in Nebraska had introduced the latter attorney to Nebraska's two Republican Senators to discuss the natural gas bill, as the U.S. Attorney was a former mayor and a longtime friend of that lawyer. In resigning his post, he had said he had done nothing wrong but was concerned that his activities might cause unwarranted criticism of the Justice Department. Senator George said that the special committee was still only assigned to look into the single matter of Senator Case but that the members now believed that it might require them to study "the general pattern in so doing."
In New York, a freighter sailed for the Middle East this date with a controversial cargo of 18 tanks, to be delivered to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. Government. The President had embargoed the shipment for two days the previous week, following protests from Israel and members of Congress, but had lifted the embargo on Saturday night. Saudi Arabia had paid for the 25-ton tanks the previous year. There was a large U.S. Air Force base in that country and it had extensive oilfields operated by U.S. companies.
In Thomasville, Ga., the President decided to prolong his vacation until the following Friday or Saturday, with White House press secretary James Hagerty telling newsmen that there was nothing to a report that the President had decided to announce late Friday, after the stock markets had closed, whether he would seek a second term. The President had said that he would announce his political plans around March 1, possibly at a press conference, the next of which was likely to occur on February 29, according to Mr. Hagerty. He had arrived in Georgia the prior Wednesday to spend about a week at the plantation home of Secretary of Treasury George Humphrey. Mr. Hagerty said that he was prolonging the trip by a few days because he was getting a lot of good from the vacation.
In Cairo, it was reported that a large French Cloudmaster airliner, with 64 persons aboard, had crashed and burned in the desert just outside the city this date, with the headquarters of the airline in Paris stating that 52 persons, all of whom had been French or Vietnamese, had perished in the crash. Six crew members and six passengers, including two children, had been taken to a hospital, with the pilot of the plane having been seriously injured. It had been on a flight from Saigon to Paris and had been seeking to land in Cairo when the crash occurred. It had 55 passengers and nine crew members aboard, and was privately owned by Transport Aeriens Intercontinentaux. Two of the survivors among the crew reported that two of the engines of the plane had stopped just before it was attempting to land, that the captain had sought to force-land the plane in the desert, but it had burst into flames when it touched down. The crew members in the pilot's cabin had escaped through the emergency exit at the front of the plane.
Ann Sawyer of The News reports that a ruling would be sought by the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners and the Civil Service Board from the State Attorney General on whether blacks would be eligible to take the County Police Civil Service examination. The 1935 law which had created the Board for the County Police Department said that the examination "shall be competitive and open to all white persons who are qualified voters of Mecklenburg County." Members of the NAACP contended that the language could no longer be limited to white persons only, that, as written, it was unconstitutional, providing their statement to the Board of Commissioners, saying that without the equality of opportunity to obtain useful employment without regard to race, color, creed and national origin, the individual was "deprived of the chance to develop potentialities and to share the fruits of society". It appeared that the NAACP was prepared to take the matter to court if necessary to challenge the constitutionality of the law. The County Attorney had ruled on February 6, when a black man requested an application form for the examination, that only the State General Assembly could change the civil service act, that because it had not been declared unconstitutional by any court, neither the Board of Commissioners nor the Civil Service Board had any authority to declare it so, asserting that court action would be necessary before black persons could be permitted to take the examination.
Donald MacDonald of The News reports that a man had entered a plea of nolo contendere to a second-degree murder charge and was sentenced this date to not less than 15 or more than 20 years in prison, based on the January 8 pistol slaying of his 20-year old wife, following a two hour trial in Superior Court. The defendant, according to the judge at sentencing, had been "courting trouble" when he departed the couple's apartment with a male companion to purchase illegal whiskey. Character witnesses during the trial had suggested that the couple had a happy marriage and no other evidence from the prosecution contradicted that general opinion. A police detective quoted the defendant as having said after his arrest that he had pulled the trigger of a .32-caliber revolver while he was reading a newspaper, after his wife had delivered to him his breakfast, and that the gun had gone off, that they had simply been playing a game, and could give no reason for shooting her. The defendant did not testify and could have been sentenced to a maximum of 30 years.
In Charlotte, it was reported that George Dowdy, vice-president and general manager of Belk Brothers Co. of Charlotte, had been appointed a member of a four-man trade mission to Italy, which would sail from New York on March 3 and return May 8.
Dick Young of The News tells of several mayors from different parts of the country having arrived in Charlotte to take a look at the new Charlotte Coliseum and neighboring Ovens Auditorium, with the mayors uniformly praising the complex.
Emery Wister of The News tells of a chain letter scheme in Charlotte having taken on a new twist, promising participants as much as $24,414 for an investment of one dollar. The local post office said it was illegal and the inspector for the post office stated that a local firm was under investigation for participation in the scheme. The company worked through "sales agents" who were appointed, and had no address on its "contracts" which the agents signed and filled in, with the agents being instructed to mail the contracts to a particular post office box. The postal inspector said he could not divulge the name of the company or the individual using the box, but said that he was confident that the scheme was being worked in conjunction with another business. It was unknown how many persons were involved in the scheme, but apparently the number was increasing daily as the "chain" of agents lengthened. Mr. Wister reports further on how the particular scheme worked.
On the editorial page, "Gas and Lightning Equal a Veto" finds that when the President had vetoed the natural gas deregulation bill the prior Friday, the Senators who had supported it howled "politics", despite having practically begged for the defeat of the bill, when it had been passed in the Senate with a question of bribery by gas lobbyists pending. Even after passage of the bill, the task had been given to a special committee to investigate the effort of the gas lobby to influence the vote of Senator Francis Case by donating $2,500 to his campaign. It thus finds responsibility for ultimate defeat of the bill through the veto to have been on the shoulders of Senate leaders.
It finds it a legitimate effort to remove Federal regulation from private enterprise, especially given that the Federal Power Commission had been eager to be rid of that regulatory power over gas. The only danger involved had been price gouging. But unwillingness of the bill's proponents to push it on its own merits by acceptable means had ultimately condemned it to defeat, just as with the attempt of the Administration to ram through the Dixon-Yates contract.
It concludes that if legislation could not be advanced on its own merits, it would be better to make the admission and leave things status quo under Federal control. In the case of both Dixon-Yates and the gas bill, there had been no true test of how "free enterprise" legislation would fare if properly advanced.
"Eisenhower Stock: Two Little Flies" indicates that the President's political stock had zoomed after his doctors had delivered their optimistic report on the state of his health, with the Republican high command elated.
But with the certainty that he would likely run again, a question remained whether voters would react to his heart attack history. Polls suggested that it would make little difference, but some leading Democrats intended to bear down on the health issue if he ran again. Senator Warren Magnuson of Washington had said that the President would be "fair game" if he did run, and Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon had talked about the "disadvantage of having a part-time President."
That strategy had suggested to some Republicans that a way had to be found to remove completely the health issue from the campaign, resulting in a scheme whereby the President would tell the people that they were aware completely of his health, that he was unsure of where his duty lay and would place himself at their disposal, at which point it was believed a tidal wave of telegrams would be received in support of the President, undercutting the efforts of Democrats to raise the health issue.
It finds that the plan had one fault, that it did not believe that the President would accept it, as the President had said that he would rely more on his own feelings than the report of his doctors regarding his health in making his decision whether or not to run again, and so likewise his feelings would override any emotional appeal to voters.
It finds that both parties would do well to emulate the attitude of the President, when he had talked consistently and frankly about his health, that the issue would be inseparable from the other great issues of the campaign, particularly in regard to his choice of a running mate. It opines that no attempt ought be made by the Republicans to obscure that fact or by Democrats to make a political issue of it, as it was a sober matter which deserved sober consideration.
"Busybodies Just Love Old Miscellany" considers an item which had said that it was time to plant Irish potatoes, onions and English peas, says that in response, someone in Charlotte should form an "Anti-Busybody Committee" to counteract the Spring Busybodies.
It finds that around this time of year, they emerged from hibernation, shouting that spring was present, with the sole purpose of seeing that miscellany multiplied more rapidly, that their grand strategy was to smother "Peaceable Souls in Miscellany of their own making, such as grass." It finds the strategy always worked. Thus, grass was planted, watered and fertilized so that it could be cut, watered and fertilized from March until the night before Thanksgiving, that trees were pruned into symmetrical shapes, and plants were thus lowered into the ground where they might be pampered with sprays, tickled with rakes, shaded from sun and guarded from frost.
"Thus miscellany breeds greedily. Thus will the busybodies inherit the earth, unless somebody forms a committee." And it concludes that it was too busy to do so because of having to get in the grass seed.
A piece from the London Times, titled "Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden" finds the statement of the title, which used to be proclaimed fairly often 20 to 30 years earlier, having gone out of style, but that in West Germany, there were fairies on the telephone, as in Stuttgart, the subscriber had only to dial a particular number to ensure a selection of fairy stories.
It indicates that they were not merely suggestions for stories, but rather an actual recitation of various stories from the brothers Grimm to the Arabian Nights, Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen and all of the fairy books of Andrew Lang. In seven other German cities, the subscriber could receive a news bulletin at any time of day or night, but it wonders who would hesitate between such a dreary recital and the tale of the Brave Tin Soldier.
It questions what parents might do if their child had already heard a particular story or objected to the content of the particular story, supposes that eventually the service would adopt a regular library of stories, each with a separate number, so that every parent and child could be satisfied. It concludes that G. A. Henty, who had otherwise been highly esteemed, had once begun his stories with "My dear lads", which would infuriate his readers, who were now past 70. So it warns that the voice on the phone should not begin any stories with "Dear children", that there was only one proper beginning, "Once upon a time."
Drew Pearson discusses the attempt of aides to keep from the President any distressing news since his heart attack on September 24, gradually of late relaxed as the President began to resume his normal regimen of daily duties, but most recently imposed again regarding statements critical of his Administration made by former President Truman. The President had developed such a peeve against the former President that any word of the latter's speeches or criticism appeared to disturb Mr. Eisenhower greatly, potentially raising his blood pressure. Mr. Pearson suggests that it probably explained why the President had never invited President Truman to the White House, as the latter had with former President Herbert Hoover, appointing Mr. Hoover to conduct a post-war study of the European food situation and to be co-chairman of the Committee on Government Reorganization.
President Truman had shed some light on the beginnings of the irritation in his most recent installment of his memoirs, appearing in Life magazine, in which he had told of a letter he had written to General Eisenhower in early 1952 in which he had said: "Partisan politics should stop at the boundaries of the United States. I'm extremely sorry that you have allowed a bunch of screwballs to come between us." In January, 1953, at the inauguration of President Eisenhower, the latter had driven to the White House to take President Truman to the Capitol for the swearing-in ceremonies but had not gotten out of the car to come into the White House to greet the outgoing President, as was traditional. President Truman had never forgotten the slight and still remarked on it.
May Craig
Mr. Pearson indicates, however, that as with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, who had suffered a heart attack the prior July 4, and was going back to Texas currently to rest his heart after the recent debate on the natural gas deregulation bill, the President's schedule had not been anywhere near that which he had followed before his illness, and prior to it, it had been somewhat lighter than had been that of former President Truman. He indicates that the list of visitors to the White House was on file and that all one had to do was to examine it to determine the difference. Thus far, newsmen and political critics had shied away from making any comparison, but complaints had arisen from the diplomatic corps, where 12 ambassadors were kept waiting for weeks without an opportunity to present their credentials and still had not had the opportunity to do so, finally given a White House luncheon on February 8 to quiet the rumblings. But some of the envoys remained in doubt as to whether they were properly accredited to the United States.
Joseph Whitney, who contributed the
daily "Mirror of Your Mind" column to the newspaper, in
the first of a six-part series of articles on problems common to
teenagers and their parents, looks at puberty, the stage of
development when "life starts to become real
During the time, there would be sudden growth, with children often growing three to four inches per year, with yearly weight gains of up to 15 pounds. Girls, he says, began that transition at about age 11 and boys, about two years later, with puberty running about two years.
The breasts of girls would begin developing in that time and "their bodies become more rounded and womanly", while voices of boys started to change to lower register, their bodies becoming more muscular, "and they occasionally shave off facial hair with purloined razors." (This guy's got a problem. He had to steal a razor to shave at 15?)
Girls were awkward in their new feminine role and boys were ill at tease in the guise of men. Thus came the "dawn of self-consciousness, a period of emotional ups and downs when youngsters act like adults one minute and children the next." (But many adults continue in that vein most or all of their lives. So, what's the dif, daddy-o?)
In time, boys and girls learned to overcome their supposed antipathy to the other sex, beginning to pay attention to themselves and how they looked, starting to think independently of their parents, yet a few years away from the problems of adolescence, but with the first signs of overt opposition to parental authority appearing along with opposition to family rules and so forth. That would naturally upset parents, but was a "healthy indication that one more human being is getting ready to find himself and that adolescence is just around the corner."
Does this guy have any kind of
degree? "Consultant"? Who is this guy? We're going to
work the crossword
A letter from J. R. Cherry, Jr., tries to answer the editorial query recently as to what a liberal was, admitting that he was a conservative, suggests that the actions and thoughts of the 1956 liberal were "essentially opposed to individual freedom (down Eleanor—let me finish), although he sincerely 'thinks' quite the opposite is true. Most of the time he pays only lip homage to the federal constitution which restricts government function in very specific language. Pin the liberal down though, and he will usually admit that he believes that government should have unlimited power to do what it thinks proper." He finds that the founders were the true liberals and abhorred the concept of unlimited power, that the 1956 liberal had lost faith in the great early American ideal. And he goes on, in his usual rambling fashion.
The real question might be what distinguishes the 1956 conservative American from a fascist.
A letter writer from Salisbury responds to a letter printed February 13 from the Campbell College faculty member who had been subpoenaed to appear on March 12 in Charlotte before the special subcommittee of HUAC, and had stated his intention in the letter not to reveal his political beliefs or associates or those of others. This writer asserts that the Committee was not coming to Charlotte to find out whether he was a Democrat or Republican or a member of any "legal political party that does not advocate the overthrow of our democratic government and replace it with a communist form of government." He suggests that the earlier letter, in implying that the Committee attacked labor unions, universities, and the Baptist College which employed him, was merely an attempt to divert attention from the real reason he was being called before the Committee. He indicates that most witnesses called before the Committee through the years had invoked the privilege against self-incrimination and yet the greatest majority of them had worked hard to undermine the Constitution, suggests that when called before the Committee, the witness would be asked whether he was at present or had ever been a member of the Communist Party, and wonders how he would answer it, suggesting that he would invoke his privilege. He asks whether the Russian people had any constitutional rights, tells the previous writer that he could rest assured that the people who believed in the government would protect it with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
Make up your own scenario before the hearing occurs and then comment on the presumed responses.
A letter writer from Pittsboro indicates that it was Brotherhood Week, suggests that Christ, as related in chapter 10, verses 5 and 6 of Matthew, in telling his disciples to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, had not only discriminated between the races, but also the sects, Jews, Gentiles and Samaritans. He suggests that the doctrine of brotherhood and humanity embraced those of subsequent generations, questions whether the formerly all-black school in Asheville which the 13-year old white girl had chosen to attend was doing a good thing, wondering what would become of her after she left the school, whether she would become the wife of a black man and mother of a group of "hybrids", finds that the chances were good that she would, which would, in his view, exclude her progeny from the current humane and brotherhood doctrine. He asserts that people were not thinking beyond their noses in the modern edition of humanity and brotherly love. "This generation can make of the South of tomorrow a land of hybrids whose status in the international society of purebreds should be about that of a pariah in a kennel of purebred dogs. God forbid."
The girl in question was only 13. Perhaps you should allow her to grow up on her own and not be such an inquisitive interloper, already having her married and having children. Do you, like the previous two writers, not belong to that group of hybrids known as modiots? Or perhaps, to avoid unwarranted connotations, they are now labeled ronids.
Framed Edition
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