The Charlotte News
Saturday, April 28, 1956
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from London that a British Government source had said this date that two anti-Communist underground groups had plotted to assassinate Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin and Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev during their visit to Britain, just concluded. One of the organizations had been reported centered on the Continent and the other in Britain, according to the source, with both Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office having been tipped to the plot. Scotland Yard had declined comment, saying that they did not discuss security matters as they would then cease to be secure. A spokesman said that the Foreign Office had no knowledge of any plot, that the Russian security officers and the British Government had taken logical action against the large number of people hostile to the Soviet regime. Two British newspapers, the Daily Express and the Daily Sketch, said that vigilance of Scotland Yard had prevented the plot from coming to fruition, that secret agents on the Continent had tipped British security officials of the conspiracy long before the arrival of the two Soviet leaders, causing Scotland Yard to set up the tightest security screen in British history during the ten-day visit. The Daily Express reported that the plotters had been members of "a small but effective underground anti-Communist society" on the Continent. There had been no major incidents during the visit of the two Soviet leaders.
Three Soviet seamen, who, along with a fourth, had spurned repatriation in a dramatic face-to-face encounter with the Soviet Ambassador to the U.S., Georgi Zarubin, prepared to tell their story to a Senate Internal Security subcommittee this date, as it was investigating Soviet activities in the country, already having heard from the fourth seaman. The four had met at an immigration hearing the previous day with the Ambassador, who had pleaded in vain with them to return to Russia. They had repeatedly refused, leaving no doubt of their intention to remain in the U.S. forever, as they had stated to the press afterward. The Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner, Joseph Swing, said in a statement the previous night that Ambassador Zarubin had requested that the four seamen return but that they had turned him down twice. He also indicated that the four had been advised that they should call immediately on the INS or their sponsor, the Church World Service, should anyone seek to bully them into leaving the U.S.
Several Senate leaders had predicted this date that Congress would resolve differences between the Senate and House on the highway construction bill proposed by the President and pass it during the current session. The House had ignored a different highway bill passed by the Senate the previous year and had passed a new bill the previous day by a vote of 388 to 19, which called for expenditure of 51.5 billion dollars on new roads during the ensuing 13 years, providing for new taxes to help pay for the program. Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson told reporters that the Senate would go to work on that bill promptly and was confident that they would pass a good bill before adjournment the following August. Senator Edward Martin of Pennsylvania, the leading Republican spokesman on the bill in the Senate, said that he believed passage would take a little time but that they would work out a satisfactory bill in the end. Senator Albert Gore of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Public Works subcommittee on highways and author of the road construction bill which had passed the Senate the previous year, predicted that they would be able to merge the two bills into a vigorous highway improvement program. Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia said that the Finance Committee, which he chaired, would hold limited hearings on the tax features of the House bill, which included a penny increase, to three cents per gallon, in the Federal gasoline tax, along with increases in other taxes on motorists. Senator Byrd said that the hearings would not cause undue delay, however, and that he was sure a highway program would be enacted. Senator Gore's bill provided for a five-year, 18-billion dollar program, with greatly increased Federal allotments for all aid programs, for interstate highways, primary and secondary or rural roads, and for urban street systems.
In Karlsruhe, West Germany, Otto John, a former West German intelligence chief who was alleged to be a double turncoat, had lost another round this date in his fight to defend himself against charges of treason, as the West German Supreme Court refused to overturn an arrest order against him. The effect of the ruling was that he was returned to prison with little likelihood of avoiding trial on treason, which would probably begin during the summer. The chief prosecutor said that investigation of the case against him would be completed by the end of May. He had been in jail in Mannheim since the prior December. He had slipped across into East Germany on July 20, 1954, telling reporters that he had gone to work for peace and against a revival of Nazi militarism. He had returned in December, 1955, whereupon West German authorities arrested him, after he told of having been drugged and taken while unconscious into East Berlin. The prosecutor said that there was still "urgent suspicion" that he had committed treason and that if released, he would seek to escape abroad into some Western countries. Mr. John had been a lawyer in London between 1946 and 1950, and had numerous friends there. The hearing before the West German Supreme Court, per its usual practice, was held behind closed doors, and there was no indication of whether the decision had been unanimous. The prosecutor said that the Court had ordered a new psychiatric examination of Mr. John at an unidentified clinic, that while previous examinations had not shown evidence of mental disturbance, the Court wanted the matter definitely settled to prevent the defendant's counsel from moving for a recess during trial to hold a psychiatric examination.
In Vienna, Austria, Friedrich Hammerl, 18, the only survivor among four young Hungarian refugees who had sought freedom from the Iron Curtain via a farm tractor across the border into Austria, told reporters this date that he recognized his own brother among the Hungarian border guards who had fired on them, indicating that the other three youths had been killed by machine-gun fire as they sought to tear through barbed wire entanglements which guarded Communist Hungary's frontier bordering Austria. He told Austrian border police that his family was Communist, that his brother was a lieutenant in the border police, and that his father was a captain and commandant of another police unit. He said that when he had gone back to the border with Austrian police to reconstruct his flight, his brother had stood behind barbed wire on the Hungarian side and cursed him as a renegade. He said that he and his three companions had made their break on Wednesday night, fleeing because they feared they would be drafted into the Hungarian Army. His father had arrived at the border the previous day, urging Austrian officials to return his son, but his son repeatedly said he did not want to return. He would be provided asylum in Austria.
In Dayton, O., the explosion of a bomb had caused cancellation of a wedding ceremony this date, seriously injuring the bridegroom and three female relatives, the blast having taken place in a residence where the bridegroom's father had recently died, with his funeral scheduled for later this date. The groom, 27, a student at the University of Dayton, and basketball coach at a local children's home, had been seriously injured by the blast. His sister and two aunts had been injured less seriously and were released after hospital treatment for minor cuts and bruises. The groom's uncle, who was visiting for his brother's funeral, had gone to the front door of the home in the early morning and found three packages, taking them to a table in the living room, where the groom began opening them near his sister and two aunts, finding that the first package contained a wedding gift, but that the second package, wrapped in brown paper, contained an explosive device. He was undergoing surgery at the hospital, where one of the doctors present was his intended father-in-law. Detectives and police investigating the bombing had yet to determine any motive, saying that a six-volt battery had triggered the explosion, unable to indicate the type of explosive used. The couple, both set to graduate from the University in the spring, had been engaged for some time and had been going together since their sophomore year in college, with investigators believing the facts ruled out any motive by a disgruntled suitor. Members of the family said that the funeral services for the father would go on during the afternoon.
In Blenheim, Ontario, six children of a farmer, with 15 children in all, had been married in one ceremony this date, including two sons and four daughters. The father wore bedroom slippers for the wedding rehearsal the previous night, opting not to make repeated trips to escort his daughters to the altar, waiting, after accompanying the first up the aisle, until the others arrived one by one. The brides all wore identical dresses, admitting that it had been hard to find a dress which pleased everyone. Following Dutch custom, they had worn the same rings as engagement rings, transferring them to the left hand for the wedding. A crowd of well-wishers gathered at the church to watch the ceremonies and townspeople brought new cars for the six couples to ride in from their home to the church. No explosions occurred.
In St. Louis, the landlord of a 1,700-family development of the local Housing Authority said he was quitting the position as he was too soft-hearted to seek back rent from tenants, after being called to task by the Authority the previous day regarding arrearages in rent collections totaling about $5,600 for the previous month, saying that he was told to collect the rents even if he had to knock on every tenant's door. He said that he would quit before he would do that, that he had become a little sentimental and considered the human element, which he guessed was his trouble.
Jim Scotton of The News reports that Juvenile Court Judge Willard Gatling had said this date that there should be a "total reevaluation of the whole problem of young offenders" on a statewide level, after two teenage boys had been jailed the previous day by Charlotte Police Chief Frank Littlejohn, where they remained this date, for lack of space at the State Morrison Training School for juvenile delinquents. The two boys were becoming the center of statewide controversy because of the lack of facilities to handle juvenile offenders. County Welfare superintendent Wallace Kuralt said that it had been a constant and acute problem for years, something about which they had been talking 20 years earlier. He said that they had told Mayor Philip Van Every and other authorities that if the State would not assume its responsibilities for juvenile offenders, then the City ought do something about the problem. Chief Littlejohn had openly admitted that his action in placing the two juveniles in an adult jail facility contravened state law, but said that he could not conscientiously release such persons, with eight or ten offenses on their records, as the community had experienced an epidemic of juvenile offenses just the previous week, when 35 automobiles had been damaged and articles taken from them, not wanting any repeat performance. He said he did not want to hold the two juveniles indefinitely but would hold them until he found someone to take responsibility for them. Mr. Kuralt had pointed out that in cases of that type, authorities could do only one of two things, release the juveniles to a parent or responsible relative or place them in a foster home, adding that there were no foster home facilities available locally. Judge Gatling had "refused responsibility" for the two after the Morrison facility had told him that there was no space available for them, following his sentence of them to an indeterminate term at the home for being "delinquent and incorrigible". The older boy, 15, had escaped twice from detention homes, and most recently had been arrested for stealing an automobile and attempting to run over a motorcycle officer. The younger boy, 13, was first taken to the City Youth Bureau of the Police Department by his mother on April 3, who said that he was stealing everything he could lay his hands on. His father was serving a life sentence for murder in South Carolina.
On the editorial page, "Jailing Juveniles: A Public Disgrace" finds that Chief Littlejohn had exposed himself to public censure by illegally placing the two children in a jail cell in violation of state law. But, nevertheless, the greater blame, it opines, belonged on the "self-righteous, apathetic" public, who had neglected to provide for adequate facilities for juveniles at the state level.
It finds that Chief Littlejohn's motives in jailing them had been noble enough, to protect society against their continuing delinquency, but that each juvenile had the right to humane treatment befitting their age, and it had been regrettable that the Chief had not been more resourceful, more than regrettable that society would allow conditions to exist which forced such decisions as the Chief had made.
It finds that if the State could not or would not meet its obligations, then Charlotte had to provide its own facilities for such juvenile delinquents, as emphasized in a recent report by the Mayor's committee on juvenile delinquency, which included Mr. Kuralt and Chief Littlejohn, the County Police Chief and Judge Gatling. A more satisfactory place of detention had to be found than city jail cells, even if it meant improvising temporary quarters, and the public had to address the problem of finding detention facilities for other such youthful outcasts.
"Nation's Right To Know Is in Danger", an editorial book review, finds that modern Americans, desperate for a look at the face of the age, had reason to know how right Thomas Jefferson had been in his classic statement: "Man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found is freedom of the press."
It finds that no one had put the practical realities of that continuing challenge into sharper focus than Kent Cooper, in his recently published book, The Right To Know. Mr. Cooper had retired five years earlier as executive director of the Associated Press and had been the first to use "the right to know" as a new expression of an old freedom, adopted through the years by patriots and journalists everywhere as a watchword of liberty. It finds that no one was better equipped by experience and conviction than Mr. Cooper to discuss the evils of government news suppression, including propaganda in peacetime and political censorship in time of war.
Written in a brisk, journalistic style, the book traced the history of news dissemination from the dark past through the present atomic era, then plunging into practical problems of the present and recent past, finding an increasing trend toward the suppression of news, approaching disaster.
In the book, he said: "Though news is the spark that can weld the interests of mankind into a spirit of mutuality and has done so through the ages when not hindered by governmental action, its power in governmental hands has been misused to involve people in endless strife, when what the peoples themselves really want is mutual friendship." Everywhere, the people wanted peace and everywhere, small groups incited them to war, with the governmental instrument in that great struggle at present being news rather than bullets, often either unilateral, tainted or untruthful in its presentation, sometimes all three. He urged that governmental efforts, "through spraying self-centered news propaganda on a world long sick and heedless of that method when applied internationally," would never achieve peace through mutual understanding and acquaintance of various peoples. The U.S. had been the last major power in the world to copy others in withholding news and engaging in news propaganda, with Mr. Cooper arguing that the country ought be the first to abandon it and return to recognition of the people's right to know.
It finds that the lessons of the book were adaptable to all levels of government, those being that confidence and loyalty thrived where people had the right to know, that there was no greater inducement to patriotic achievement than that which sprung from the people's own convictions, not based on vulnerable, unilaterally disseminated propaganda but on being fully informed on all sides of every question, that governmental power was unassailable when an equal partnership was formed between the government and the individual, based on respect for the latter's right to know.
"The Bees Are Buzzing—Back 'Em" tells of a trip being taken by a couple in which the man driving the car had become lost, as discovered by his wife when she consulted a map, to which the man had then said: "What's the difference? We are making great time!" The piece describes it as an old joke but that it reminded of the early-season adventures of the Charlotte Hornets, the local minor-league professional baseball team, which it regards as one of the most enthusiastic teams in professional baseball. They had been making great time between ballparks, properly appreciative of the closeness of some of the games they had lost, but, nevertheless, had been losing with regularity, making it appear that they were enthusiastically lost in the lower part of the league standings.
It finds, however, that it was nonsense, as whatever had been suggested by the early part of the season was not nearly so bleak as the scorecards had indicated, after they had just won four straight games. Their enthusiasm and the arrival of a new player appeared to help the situation. They had talent in the lineup and were anxious to show the local fans what they could really do.
It tells of their latest home stand to last through the following week and urges fans to turn out to cheer them on, matching enthusiasm with enthusiasm.
A piece from the Sanford Herald, titled "A Girl and Her Cat", tells of a pup chasing a cat, with a girl then smacking the pup, hurting the girl as much as it did the pup, and that if the cat climbed a tree, the girl would coax it down, trying to keep urgency out of her voice to avoid startling the cat and causing it to jump. The girl seemed to be running in and out of the house most of the time, and at night, would bring the cat into her room and place it among her sweaters, crinolines, phonograph records, stuffed dolls, comic books, ribbons, bracelets, scarves, speakers and blue jeans, which seemed to pile up always at the foot of her bed. The cat would then purr grandly at the spot until the girl's mother would come upon it and carry it away, with the girl urging care in so doing.
In the early mornings, mid-afternoons after returning from school, and again at night, the girl would mix food in a bowl, certain to include calcium-building content, and then would ensure that the cat consumed all of it, guarding it the while against encroachment by the puppy or other neighborhood dogs, which had often populated the back steps at feeding time. In consequence, the cat came after a time to resemble "an oversize, furry piggy bank."
Meanwhile, the girl began to wonder if anything had gone wrong. The piece concludes that nothing had, and asks whether anyone would like a kitten, as they had at their house three new ones which were pretty cute.
Now, all they needed was a string of Peloponnesian Poloponese
Drew Pearson tells of some people finding it problematic that he had recently helped find a job for John Maragon, the Kansas City bootblack and influence peddler during the Truman Administration, whom Mr. Pearson had earlier helped to send to jail. They had reminded that it was partly the result of that fact and Mr. Maragon's close friendship with General Harry Vaughan, the military aide to the former President, that Mr. Truman had at one point called Mr. Pearson an s.o.b.—which had actually occurred in direct response to Mr. Pearson protesting outside the Argentine Embassy in Washington in response to dictator Juan Peron presenting General Vaughan with a special medal. Mr. Pearson says that it was true that Mr. Maragon's trip to Potsdam with President Truman, his demotion of General William Lee, his dabbling in black-market diamonds at Potsdam, and his gifts of black-market perfume to the wives of various Truman Cabinet members had first been revealed by his column, to which Mr. Maragon had responded by calling Mr. Pearson a liar, until he was later convicted of perjury. "However, John Maragon was a little frog way over his head in a big pond."
He regards him as not nearly so bad as some of the major influence peddlers, both at that earlier time and at present, and that having served his time, it appeared to Mr. Pearson that he deserved a break, as the job he had obtained as a day laborer in the House folding room would not hurt the taxpayers and that by all reports, he was more than earning his modest pay.
He indicates that there were some interesting things taking place in the folding room, which had occurred before Mr. Maragon obtained the job, involving the man he was supposed to have replaced, Ralph Scalzo, who had lost his job two months before Mr. Maragon was employed the prior March. Nevertheless, Congressman William Ayres of Akron, O., had made headlines by charging that Mr. Scalzo had been fired to make room for Mr. Maragon.
Mr. Pearson presents the facts, indicating that the folding room was a place where members of the House got their speeches folded and mailed to voters based on their franking privilege, and where they could also obtain booklets on any number of topics to be mailed to their constituents either at cost or, up to a particular limit, for free. The House doorkeeper, Luke Hicks, had obtained sworn affidavits to the effect that extra documents, beyond the quota of Mr. Ayres, had been delivered to his office under the direction of Mr. Scalzo, whom. in consequence, Mr. Ayres did not want fired. The affidavit of a laborer in the folding room indicated that on several occasions, he was ordered by Mr. Scalzo to deliver to Congressman Ayres 300 copies of "How Our Laws Are Made", and that the secretary for the Congressman had told him to put them by one of the desks in the Congressman's office, with no order having been received for the pamphlets and no receipt provided by the secretary. Another laborer in the folding room had stated in an affidavit that he had been told the previous summer by Mr. Scalzo to deliver about 100 copies of the two-dollar Agriculture Yearbook to Mr. Ayres, plus about 40 or 50 maps, about 500 copies of the aforementioned pamphlet and three cases of a booklet on infant care.
Meanwhile, the Congressman was entitled to 40 free copies of the pamphlet on making of laws, beyond which he was supposed to pay 15 cents each for them. A member of Congress was allowed 400 copies of the Agriculture Yearbook and 50 maps total, with 500 booklets per month allotted for baby care.
Mr. Pearson concludes that it was the reason Mr. Scalzo had been fired, not to make room for Mr. Maragon.
An excerpt from Man and Superman, the dream sequence consisting of the Devil's speech from "Don Juan in Hell", by George Bernard Shaw, the Devil's indictment of mankind, is reproduced, as the play had been presented by the Mint Drama Guild of the Charlotte Mint Museum of Art the prior weekend and Monday, with News reporter Charles Kuralt playing the role of the Devil.
As with any literary presentation, it is not subject to distillation without losing its nuance, and so you may read it for yourself, as well as reading it in context of the entire play, while perhaps trying to imagine the gentle Southern accent of Mr. Kuralt delivering the lines of the Devil.
And that's the way it was...
For a similar take, see Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger", also borrowing the basic concept, insofar as alluring, inveigling conversation between man and the Devil, from Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, as with C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Devil and Daniel Webster", etc.
A letter writer urges that Charlotte produce an art program which would be unsurpassed. She could remember when the Charlotte Symphony had first been born, started by Mr. DeRoxlo, who had come from Cuba with an excellent musical background. The orchestra had been good and created much interest, but difficulties had arisen, primarily of a financial nature, as too few in the community were willing to contribute to the orchestra. The Little Theater had also experienced a difficult beginning, until Tom Humble's excellent guidance caused everyone to rally around it, insisting on getting front-row tickets. She urges those in large businesses to come to the aid of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and support it for the sake of the community.
A letter writer says that at age 83, he wonders how he could have ever voted for a Republican ticket for the presidency, that just 25 years earlier, 14 million people had been roaming the highways and riding on freight trains, begging for work, hungry and ragged. FDR had then come into office and led the country out of the Depression, through a number of programs, including Social Security and the Wagner Labor Act, protecting collective bargaining and the right to strike through creation of the NLRB. Some people had called those programs socialistic, but he says that he had never heard of a single bill passed by the Republicans on behalf of the working man, and so it had to be a rich man's party, after all.
A letter from Dorothy Knox, formerly a News columnist and reporter, suggests that the dating crowd probably believed that Charlotte needed a large, public, inexpensive place to dance, finding that the group included hundreds of young local businessmen and women, along with many newcomers, college girls and boys, and teenagers, who did not belong to a country club and had neither the money nor the inclination to patronize road houses or nightclubs, but all wanting a place to dance. She urges that if some civic organization would sponsor such dances at the new Park Center, which was nearing completion, when it was not otherwise in use, they would make a large contribution to a large segment of the city's population.
A letter writer from San Francisco indicates that he was in the Navy, serving with the Seventh Fleet stationed in the Far East, where he had been for a little over two months and had only received three letters, says that he would appreciate very much receiving correspondence. His name and mailing address are included, in case you wish to write him.
A letter from Dr. C. C. Warren, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, wonders what the issue was with a letter writer who had taken him to task on April 19.
The editors note that the statement signed by Dr. Warren and other Baptist leaders had appealed to Baptists and "other Christian friends" to give careful consideration to their statement of principles: that "God created man in his own image" and thus every man possessed infinite worth and ought be treated with respect as a person; that "Christ died for all men" and thus the Christian view of every man had to reflect the spirit of the cross; that "God is no respecter of persons" and thus prejudice against persons or mistreatment of persons on grounds of race was contrary to the will of God; that Christ had said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and thus Christians were obligated to manifest active good will toward all people and to help them to achieve their fullest potential as persons; that "Christian love, exemplified by Christ, is the supreme law for all human relations" and thus Christians had the assurance that such love would resolve tensions and bring harmony and good will; that "All true Christians are brothers in Christ and children of God" and thus they were obligated to cultivate prayerful concern for one another and to show confidence in each other; and that "Every person is accountable to God" and thus the right of individual opinion and of freedom to express it in the spirit of Christian love ought be granted to all and respected by all.
Framed Edition
Links-Date — Links-Subj.