The Charlotte News
Friday, March 2, 1956
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Saudi Arabia had disclosed this date that it had asked to buy from the U.S. a small number of jet planes, in addition to 18 additional tanks, the U.S. having recently shipped 18 light tanks to the country. U.S. officials said that the request had not received approval but would receive careful scrutiny. The request was in addition to seven million dollars worth of U.S. military goods authorized for shipment to Saudi Arabia during the previous six months.
The House Appropriations Committee this date voted a large increase in funds to fight cancer, heart trouble and other diseases, amid recommendations for 8.3 billion dollars in new money to finance 24 Government agencies in the coming fiscal year.
In Birmingham, Ala., the case of Autherine Lucy, the first black student admitted to the University of Alabama, was in a state of confusion, as the trustees at a secret meeting on Wednesday night had permanently expelled her for having initially alleged in a lawsuit that the University had contributed to the mob action which had interfered with her attendance of classes. U.S. District Court Judge Hobart Grooms had ordered her readmission to the University, from which she had been suspended on February 6 for her own safety in the wake of riots on the campus. Her attorney said that he did not yet know what legal course he would pursue to have her readmitted in the wake of the action by the trustees. Ms. Lucy had left Birmingham for New York the previous day with Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel for the NAACP, which had been backing her efforts during the previous 29 months for admission to the University. The resolution which expelled her said that she had made "false, defamatory, impertinent and scandalous charges" against University officials and that "no educational institution can maintain necessary disciplinary action if any student, regardless of race, guilty of the conduct of Autherine J. Lucy, be permitted to remain." She had originally enrolled on February 1, pursuant to an order of Judge Grooms, after the Supreme Court had affirmed her right to eligibility for admission based on earlier Supreme Court cases, including Sweatt v. Painter from 1950, requiring states not maintaining substantially equal facilities in higher education for qualified black students compared to the all-white institution for which entry was sought to admit the applicant, not reliant on Brown v. Board of Education, which overruled the 1896 separate-but-equal doctrine with regard to public school secondary education and held that segregation per se was violative of the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. After the rioting and Ms. Lucy's suspension for her safety, she had filed motions to hold in contempt the responsible University officials, alleging that they had conspired with members of the mobs to keep her from attending classes, those conspiracy allegations having been eliminated, however, from the complaint the prior Wednesday pursuant to motion by Mr. Marshall. Judge Grooms had found that the trustees and officials were not in contempt because they had acted in good faith in excluding Ms. Lucy from the campus following the riots, but ordered her readmitted. The order had been predicated on her being a legally enrolled student, and so now that she was expelled, her counsel would have to return to court to seek another order overruling the trustees' action.
Meanwhile, the Alabama House of Representatives in Montgomery had quickly passed a resolution to establish a committee to determine whether the NAACP was controlled by Communists and thus should be barred from the state. Under its terms, Ms. Lucy would be called as a witness while it was being considered by the State Senate.
Near Wallace, Idaho, a snow slide had smashed into five houses at the community of Mace, early this date, killing at least one person and injuring a dozen others. The police in Wallace said that the slide down the Burke Canyon had been at least a half-mile long, burying several automobiles and breaking the windows in several homes.
In Port Chester, N.Y., two men had robbed a drive-in bank this date of an estimated $175,000 after kidnaping and holding captive all night a female bank teller, who was reportedly released unharmed. The bank robbers had made the teller drive them around for five hours before telling her to drive to the drive-in branch, where they used her key to enter the bank, taking her with them and holding her captive for five more hours until the branch opened for business the following morning. A janitor had sought entry with a key but when he could not get in, had gone away, then returned, whereupon one of the robbers opened the doors and seized him, after which a bank official had arrived and the robbers forced him to open the vault, making him carry all of the money to the teller's car at the curb. They then sped away in the car, leaving the bank official behind. As they left, a police car pulled up, summoned by a schoolteacher who became suspicious while passing the bank, and the bank official told the officers what had happened, at which point they dispatched an alarm. But the robbers by then had disappeared in the direction of White Plains.
Julian Scheer of The News reports that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence would finally go on display in the Hall of History in Raleigh, as Christopher Crittenden, director of the State Department of Archives and History, had notified the Mecklenburg Historical Association that a copy would be displayed beside the State flag. It was the climax of a long effort by the Historical Association to obtain proper recognition for the Declaration, putatively signed on May 20, 1775, but originally opposed for inclusion in the State Archives by Dr. Crittenden because the Declaration was only a copy, the original having been destroyed in a fire in the early 19th Century and so its history and provenance had been the subject of debate. The prior January 19, the head of the Mecklenburg Association had sent a letter to Governor Luther Hodges, saying that in the previous few days, with Mrs. Ernest Ives and Ed Murrow having spoken in Charlotte, they had been stirred again about the Declaration, reminding that despite the date of its supposed signature being borne by the State flag, a visitor to the State Archives would not see it or even see it mentioned. Also to be included would be a copy of the Halifax Resolves, signed April 12, 1776, the other date on the State flag. Dr. Crittenden said that both documents would be an appropriate addition to the exhibit of the flag to illustrate its two dates.
Charles Kuralt of The News tells of a completely new concept in recreation being recommended to the city and county this date, following a nine-month $14,000 study by recreation consultants who issued a 200-page report during the afternoon, recommending abolition of the City Park and Recreation Commission and replacing it with a Metropolitan Recreation Commission to administer a master plan for parks all over the county, as well as extensive use of school buildings and grounds as recreation areas, and establishment of a total of 44 neighborhood centers, 14 district centers, two locality centers, nine rural centers, seven swim centers, six large parks, four athletic centers, six neighborhood parks and a garden park adjoining the new Public Library building on Tryon Street.
Helen Parks of The News reports that library officials were enthusiastic over the prospect of a city park adjoining the new million-dollar library, the park to be located where the Baptist Book Store and Robinson Building presently stood.
In Ballybunion, Ireland, a young woman, 21, too young to vote, had been elected to the Irish Parliament, the youngest deputy ever so elected and Parliament's first unmarried female member.
In London, a member of the British Cabinet, Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George, said that it was still a jailable offense to fraternize with the devil, prohibiting black magic or witchcraft. He said that white magic was not banned, as it did not entail the aid of the devil. The statement came in reply to a member of Parliament who wanted to know by what authority the police recently had knocked on the door of one of his constituents, a spiritualist, who was engaged at the time in an attempt to exorcise a ghost named Ronald. Mr. George said that it was not normal to disclose the reasons for police actions in the course of their duty, but that in this case, he would make an exception, stating that he was informed by the commissioner of police that on February 22, the police had received information purporting to come from the address in question about a black magic circle proposed to be held there that evening, and as the practice of black magic remained an offense at common law, the police had called to inquire whether there were any grounds for police action. Police found that the man in question was about to come to grips with the poltergeist which had been pestering a 15-year old girl, by plucking off her bed clothes and making tapping noises in her bedroom. But the devil was not present, nor had been invited. Mr. George said that the police then departed, satisfied that nothing wrong was occurring. The girl reported that the exorcism was a complete success, that the poltergeist had vanished as completely as though it had never existed at all. (Incidentally, we don't know whether he was referred to as Mr. George or Mr. Lloyd-George, as was his father, David, former Prime Minister, but we shall stick with what we have, as that is what one gets for having two first names as a last name, plus a first name more consistent with a surname, reminiscent of the phonebook.)
In
Reno, Harold's Club, which in 21 years had grown from a $500 bankroll
into the world's largest gambling casino, had been sold the previous
night for about 14 million dollars in cash. It was the largest
moneymaker in Nevada and had been sold to a San Francisco
property-management firm, headed by Jules J. Agostini, Jr. He would
be known as a "square" in Nevada's gambling fraternity
because he had never had a connection with gambling previously. His
firm owned 28 San Francisco Bay Area buildings. The purchase included
the more than 2,500 "Harold's Club or Bust" highway
billboards located in 41 states, helping to make the casino familiar
to motorists across the country. It was known in gambling circles as
"the factory", taking in more than eight million per year,
paying almost $500,000 per year in gambling taxes to Nevada.
Officials of the club estimated that more than 75 million people had
been customers. It was open 24 hours per day, having been closed only
a few hours since 1940, on V-J Day in 1945, ending World War II. It
had provided millions of dollars to churches and charitable
organizations within the state and had recently discontinued an offer
of a college scholarship to a graduate of each high school in the
state, which had cost more than two million dollars in four years. It
was a family corporation, with Harold and Raymond Smith and Harold's
former wife, Dorothy, owning it from its inception in 1935. The
sparkplug of the organization had been Raymond Smith, father of the
two brothers. The signs, of course, should have read: "Harold's
Club, Where You'll Go Bust
Perhaps,
Ronald had departed England for a more receptive venue
On the editorial page, "Curbing a City's 'Metropolitan Sprawl'" indicates that after three weeks of delay, the subdivision control ordinance for Charlotte had been passed in three minutes by the City Council, which it finds important, even though it had not been a major news story. It represented a vital step for the continuing struggle against decay, extending protective requirements to a large and vulnerable perimeter area of the city, establishing order in future developments.
Metropolitan Charlotte was growing swiftly in every direction and "metropolitan sprawl" was beginning to become evident, necessitating laws, such as subdivision control, to provide the tools necessary to mold a potential regional city into a unified, healthy whole.
"The Extremists Carry the Ball" tells of Robert Henry, in his Story of the Confederacy, published in 1936, having pondered the gathering forces of World War II and the U.S. effort to forestall them, concluding that the U.S., in preaching its own peaceable virtue and wisdom to the world, had been blind to the basic lessons of its own Civil War, suggesting that arrogant regional assumptions of superiority had caused that earlier war and would, likewise, agitate the world situation during the 1930's. It finds that he had a point which still applied. But the lesson being increasingly applied in world affairs, it opines, was being ignored at home by many leaders.
Thus there were demands for Federal coercion, economic and military, to implement desegregation in the Deep South, those demands coming from some Northern politicians and labor leaders. The extremists who demanded coercion, as well as their reactionary counterparts who turned to violence, had to feel themselves bathed in virtue and clothed in morality, both sides being sure they were right, although, the piece finds, they were certainly wrong. The extremists canceled the moderate views of the people and their leaders.
It concludes that the nation was not faced at present with the task of preventing a second Civil War, but that it was time to look with alarm at those who were trying to break the peace.
"The Hoover Report and Hitchhikers" tells of there having been much praise within Congress and the executive branch for the second Hoover Report, which it finds made good sense for the most part. Currently, Federal costs were at $1,600 per family, 42 times higher than the $38 in 1910, suggesting that everything possible should be done to reduce that burden. But thus far, not much had been done to try to implement the bulk of the report.
The Citizens Committee for the Hoover Report had stated that only 16 percent of the recommendations had been adopted and that those were primarily minor ones, promising a savings of 300 million dollars annually, whereas five billion dollars might be saved if all of the recommendations were adopted. It lists some of the minor adoptions and finds that the foot-dragging was hard to figure, asserts that the slothful attitude of Congress and the Administration needed to change toward a recipe for efficiency and economy.
A piece from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, titled "Patent No. 2,729,124", tells of a New York City restaurateur who had invented a corkscrew which expelled the cork with gas, by means of a carbon dioxide cartridge in the screw's hollow handle. He had invented it after having seen people struggling with corks, watching them rip the corkscrew out through the cork and then seeking to pry out the rest of the bits of cork with a knife, finally having to push what was left into the bottle. He had even seen some people bang the bottle against a solid surface to try to dislodge the cork.
The inventor was now seeking to perfect a safety valve to prevent the bottle from exploding when the gas was applied through the hollow screw.
It wishes him well in his endeavor
Drew Pearson again looks at the Superior Oil Co. and the Keck family which ran it, having sought to contribute $2,500 to Senator Francis Case of South Dakota, who had declined the contribution, subsequently leading to a special Senate committee investigation. The investigators had just discovered that Superior had not only paid no income taxes in 1953 and 1954, but had made money in the form of tax credits under the special tax laws written for the benefit of the oil industry. Mr. Pearson suggests that it might be an explanation for why company president Bill Keck was able to provide political contributions.
All other corporations had been paying 52 percent of net income in taxes since 1952, while the wealthy oil companies had been paying very little or nothing because of the depletion allowance and other tax loopholes.
Superior had earned 10.2 million dollars in net income in 1954, but after deductions, the Government ended up owing the company $100,000 in tax credits. In 1953, its net income before taxes had been 12.5 million dollars, with the net income after taxes being 13 million, as the Government paid a half-million dollars to it in tax credits. Oil companies were the only corporations which could end the year with a huge income and then collect taxes from the Government.
In 1952, when President Truman had been in office, Superior had not done as well, having earned 12.1 million dollars in income and having paid the Government two hundred thousand dollars, even if only 1.6 percent of its income.
The highest tax which the company had paid during the previous decade had been three million dollars in 1948, a 16.7 percent rate, out of its 17.9 million in earnings that year. In 1946, the company had paid no income tax, and usually any amount paid was no more than $200,000, the amounts it had paid in 1949, 1950 and 1952.
Thus, Superior Oil had been able to raise more money to lobby for more tax loopholes, freeing more tax money for more lobbying, all essentially financed by small taxpayers who had to make up the difference in revenue.
He notes that thanks to the tax benefits, millionaires had sprung up in the oil industry as nowhere else. Texas oil millionaires had been contributing vast sums to such politicians as Senator McCarthy and providing contributions to political magazines, broadcasts and other propaganda to influence public opinion.
For years, House Speaker Sam Rayburn of Texas had carefully scrutinized the House Ways & Means Committee, which wrote the tax laws, to make sure that no one was placed on the Committee who might vote against the oil depletion allowance of 27.5 percent, one of the reasons why the special tax benefits had never been changed.
Mr. Pearson indicates that on January 11, 1956, he had revealed for the first time that Secretary of Interior Douglas McKay had created drilling rights in a waterfowl refuge in Louisiana for Seagram's Frankfurt Oil Co., and that prior to that time, the Secretary had placed a stop order against oil permits within game preserves. He says that he had previously been in error in the column on the matter and apologizes for having underestimated the Secretary's generosity.
Doris Fleeson tells of the upcoming primary races between Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee and Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, the first primary being in New Hampshire on March 13 and the second, in Minnesota on March 20.
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, representing the Democratic center, had not yet found a suitable candidate on whom to focus emphasis, with the center dissatisfied with both Senator Kefauver and Mr. Stevenson. Former President Truman felt the same way, disliking Senator Kefauver and believing that Mr. Stevenson was not aggressive enough, but had also found no one around whom to rally. The Johnson-Truman groups were not compatible but would cooperate to achieve an open convention to give them more latitude in developing the platform and their own nominee, the chances of that thus far, however, not being good.
Senator Kefauver had sharply criticized Mr. Stevenson for "backhanded" tactics in New Hampshire, with the Senator's aides charging that a great deal of money was being spent there by Stevenson supporters who had entered a full slate of delegates, all prominent people, with Mr. Stevenson replying only that he personally would not compete there but appreciated the work of his friends.
Senator Kefauver continued to be plagued by a lack of money and if he were to trounce the Stevenson slate in New Hampshire and closely compete with him in Minnesota, money could begin to flow to him, even though he would continue to be plagued by the insistence of the party professionals and managers not to allow him to achieve the nomination. The Senator would make a strong bid for support by debating Harold Stassen at Dartmouth College on whether the Republican Party deserved re-election.
Meanwhile, Mr. Stevenson would soon go to Minnesota, where he understood Senator Kefauver had done very well the previous week speaking before farm audiences. Mr. Stevenson, theoretically, had been handed the state by Governor Orville Freeman and Senator Hubert Humphrey, with the consent of nearly all of the party leaders, and so an upset there by Senator Kefauver would be a devastating blow, and would also end the prospects for Senator Humphrey becoming the vice-presidential nominee.
Ms. Fleeson concludes that some politicians contended that people generally were bored with politics, old arguments and old faces, and the fact that the farm bill, currently before the Senate, was drawing little attention even in Minnesota, supported that fact.
The Congressional Quarterly indicates that cheap atomic power was still a dream but that international competition for the business was presently in earnest. U.S. interests had received a major boost from the President in his announcement the previous week that a billion dollars worth of nuclear fuel would "be made available" for use in atomic power reactors, or furnaces, at home and abroad.
Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico, chairman of the Joint Atomic Energy Committee, had commented that American companies had been at a disadvantage in trying to sell reactors at home and abroad because they could not guarantee that the fuel would be available.
The U.S. fuel offer by the President could undermine the British in the reactor sales business. The British, whose present coal-fired power costs were high, were in advanced stages of an ambitious atomic power program at home, while in the U.S., where power was cheaper, the growth of an atomic power program would probably not become significant before 1965, according to the Joint Committee's panel on the impact of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The foreign market for power reactors might offer a solution to bridging that gap, potentially representing a 30 billion dollar market, according to the panel.
Meanwhile, potential foreign customers for power reactors were facing a number of difficult questions, one being what kind of reactor they should buy, whether one running on natural uranium, U-235, or on enriched uranium, or uranium to which U-235 had been added in varying proportions. According to one of the background papers prepared for the panel, the U.S. industry was ready to sell enriched-type reactors, while the British were selling a natural uranium reactor. The British-type appealed to potential buyers because natural uranium would presumably for some time be easier to obtain on the world market than would enriched uranium, and because if a nation wanted to become self-sufficient, natural uranium fuel would be easier to produce than enriched material. Thus, they worried that if they purchased the enriched-type reactors, they would become dependent on the nations with U-235 and were concerned that conditions would be imposed on the sale which they could not accept and thus could lose their supply at any time.
A letter writer comments on a letter printed on February 24 praising a judge for standing for principles on which America had been founded. This writer indicates that she did not know the judge but was acquainted with his opponent, Arthur Goodman, whom she finds without equal in Mecklenburg County, a disabled veteran who had served three terms in the Legislature. She urges voting for Mr. Goodman for judge of Superior Court, whom she expected to support in the primary.
A letter writer urges Democrats to return to the fold and elect a Democrat as Congressman from the 10th District, the only district in the state which had a Republican in Congress, Charles Jonas.
A letter writer encloses a letter he had sent to the City Council regarding vandalism in the city, urging establishment of a vice campaign to help eliminate vandalism. He suggests appointing a committee to study the situation and to appeal to the local Ministerial Association for cooperation.
A letter writer says that she had worked under Social Security from the age of 47 until she was past 50, and under the present system would never be able to draw the Social Security she had paid in. She indicates she was glad for all who had benefited by improvements in the Social Security program but contrasts those who would benefit to countless widows who had worked for as many as ten quarters and paid under the system but would never draw out of it at any age, asks whether that was fair.
Framed Edition
Links-Date — Links-Subj.