The Charlotte News

Friday, May 4, 1956

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President, at his press conference this date, had stated that the U.S. would feel a lot better about its air power position when the full story had been presented to the Senate, indicating that the country had a very powerful Navy with a powerful air arm, of which people had lost sight in comparing the relative strength in air power to that of the Soviet Union. He said that the U.S. did not try to match Russia in ground power and should not necessarily seek to match the Soviets in the rate of output of such things as intercontinental bombers. Earlier in the week, General Curtis LeMay, head of the Strategic Air Command, and Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, had testified before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee, examining air power, stating that current U.S. production of intercontinental bombers capable of carrying hydrogen bombs was lagging behind the output of Russia. General LeMay had predicted that Russia was likely to surpass the country in intercontinental bombers between 1958 and 1960. The President said that it was disappointing that some B-52 intercontinental bombers had been rejected temporarily because of defects which were being corrected, but added that there was still much testimony to come in the Senate investigation, then making his comments about the Navy and its air wing. He said that he would not necessarily favor increased production of B-52's to try to match Soviet increases in production, that production of such planes had already been increased twice and he did not know what the Defense Department might recommend next.

The President also said that he had no reason to believe that any member of his staff had violated his orders as to ethical procedures or had been guilty of any indiscretion in contacting attorney Murray Chotiner, campaign manager for Vice-President Nixon in 1952, who had testified that two members of the White House staff had provided him information on client cases pending in the courts.

The President also said that his doctors had told him that he could continue indefinitely his present work schedule. Democrats had criticized what they called the part-time activities of the President since his heart attack the prior September. He said that he had eliminated normal official social functions except those with heads of state visiting Washington and that he intended to resume some of the normal social functions in time. He said, however, that no President could delegate his constitutional duties, which he alone had the responsibility to fulfill. He could order others to do things for which he would take full responsibility. He was asked about published reports that he had told a friend at the time of his February 29 announcement of seeking re-election that he had to do so because they had told him that if he did not, the party would not have time to build up any other candidate, the President replying with a grin that he had heard so many stories about his announcement that he could not remember them, that if he had said anything like that, it had been said facetiously, that as he had always stated, there were many good Republicans who could be nominated. He was also asked about a survey of high school students in which a majority had expressed their support for him, and he said that he would have been less than human had he not gotten a lift from it, but that the important point was that youngsters were taking an interest in government. He was asked about a statement by Representative Dean Taylor, the Republican national committeeman from New York, that former Governor Thomas Dewey would have to accede to any Presidential request that he run for the Senate seat in New York, the President responding that it was the first time he had heard about the matter. He was also asked why there had been a change in timing for the announcement by Vice-President Nixon that he would run for a second term, with the President being reminded that previously he had said he did not expect to have anything to say about the nomination for the vice-presidency until about the time of the Republican convention in August, but had commented during the week that he was happy with Mr. Nixon's decision. He replied that he had not said what the convention would do about the nomination. He also said in response to another question that he did not know whether a Federal law would be effective in regulating spending and other campaign activities, that everyone wanted to take corruption and graft out of politics, but he was not sure that a Federal law would do the job. He noted that campaign spending and such matters were regulated by the states in many instances.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration said this date that it would deny Federal funds for construction of airport facilities which were to be used on a racially segregated basis, indicating that its order provided that the Government would not contribute any money for that part of a building from which persons would be barred for reasons of race, creed or color. It said that the new rule would apply in construction and remodeling and repair of existing facilities of airports, and to single dining rooms or restrooms, as well as to construction of duplicate facilities provided for different races. The policy had been formulated the previous October and was put into formal wording in a memorandum issued April 6, but had not been made public until this date.

Julian Scheer of The News reports that an emotional evangelistic fervor had swept over one Charlotte high school, with parents, teachers and some students having expressed concern to school officials over what they considered an over-emphasis of religious activity at Myers Park High School. The situation had reached the point where Thomas Glasgow, chairman of a committee which sponsored Bible teaching in the public schools, had indicated that retreats, Bible clubs and other religious activities might have to be abandoned. One complaint had been addressed to the superintendent of schools, Dr. E. H. Garringer, which related to spontaneous religious meetings being held on the Myers Park campus, with some parents reporting that their children had arrived home after the meetings in a highly emotional state, the superintendent stating that after investigation, he had found the meetings to be electives in the curriculum, and were not sponsored by the school or a school official. Much of the activity, it was believed, had come from junior high school students who were not yet enrolled in Bible classes, which were electives at Myers Park. Students had reported being approached by fellow students and faced with the question, "Have you been saved?" Mr. Glasgow said that the schools had not sponsored any of the recent "crusades" which had excited some, but that the meetings and interest, he believed, had been a spontaneous demonstration on the part of the students. He said that the classes on the Bible in the schools, which presently had an enrollment of between 2,500 and 3,000, were elective and had students of 38 denominations, was not tax-supported and was offered in grade schools only to pupils at the request of their parents.

Charles Kuralt of The News reports that a farm had the imposing title, "Mecklenburg County Juvenile Detention Home for Negroes", but did not live up to that title, as it was just like a lot of other farms, having pigs, chickens, horses, cows and a sturdy, clean old farmhouse, with the difference being that eight boys, all under age 16 and all in trouble with the law, lived there. They did not stay long, as they were awaiting court hearings or transfer to a State training school or to their own homes or the homes of relatives. But when they left the farm, others would take their place. Almost every black boy under age 16 who got picked up by the police spent a few days at the farm while legal and social workers determined what to do with him. The farm was one of three such detention facilities in the county, with the other two being for white boys and girls, respectively. There was no home for black juvenile female offenders, except in Welfare Department foster homes or with relatives. At present, the farm in question filled the need for the county, with its capacity of about 12 boys, there being rarely that many present. But Juvenile Court officials, looking to the future, wanted to see a larger facility established nearer the city for the temporary detention of black children who got into trouble. The problem of runaways plagued the farm, something a new center might solve. Chief of Police Frank Littlejohn said that the two black teenagers, ages 13 and 15, whom he was holding in jail for want of space at the Morrison Training School, would not stay at a place like the farm, as there was nothing to keep them from ducking into the woods and leaving, which some did. The farmer said that some of them cried like babies,however, when they had to leave. The lure of three good meals per day, a clean bed, four dogs and a barn full of livestock were enough to keep most of the boys present on the farm.

Dick Young of The News reports that the juvenile detention home proposed by a special subcommittee the previous week would not duplicate such facilities as the farm, but would be an added facility for the Welfare Department's temporary "security care" and evaluation of youngsters who had violated the law. The explanation was provided by Wallace Kuralt, superintendent of the Department and chairman of the Mayor's committee on juvenile delinquency. That committee had said that the detention facilities had to be more than a place for security detention of a few children, but had to provide space and staff to care for the children and to screen and evaluate their problems. Mr. Kuralt gave further explanation of the purpose of the proposed home, saying that it would be a place where a child could be held if he were picked up in the middle of the night, a place where he would stay perhaps for a few hours or a day as investigation was being made of his situation. It would also be a place where proper examination could be made of the child's physical and mental condition as they attempted to throw light on his case and to evaluate his problems and arrive at a proper decision affecting the disposition of his case. That might take a few days or a week. He said that the detention home would not take the place of any of the existing foster homes where youngsters were presently placed for rehabilitation. It would also not provide long-range training, such as was presently available in State institutions, and thus would not invade State responsibility, as that would be an expensive proposition unwanted by the local community. Mr. Kuralt said it would not be a "children's jail" but a place of detention while the detainees' cases were being investigated and their physical and mental conditions determined. The home would have a psychologist on staff and would offer additional facilities for the Juvenile Court and the Welfare Department to do a better job in probing the child's problems, home conditions and other factors which might contribute to the delinquency. With that information, Mr. Kuralt said, caseworkers would be able properly to evaluate the situation and take the steps necessary to correct the difficulties and restore the child to his proper place in society.

Harry Shuford of The News reports that the County Board of Commissioners this date had earmarked $25,000 of the general fund for a juvenile detention home, with the appropriation contingent on similar financing by the City. Mayor Philip Van Every appeared before the Board at their budget session during the morning to propose to them the detention home for juvenile delinquents, assuring them that the City Council was in favor of such a project.

In Gastonia, N.C., a 15-year old polio victim, conscious the entire time, had spent 15 minutes pinned under a wrecked car in the rain the previous night, while a Highway Patrolman, who had witnessed the accident, flagged down cars until enough volunteers were found to lift the automobile off of the girl from which she had been thrown. She had made no outcry and was being treated this date for severe chest and head bruises, and might be transferred to a Charlotte hospital for further examination. Two other Belmont High School students had been injured in the single-car accident on Wilkinson Boulevard. The Highway Patrolman said that the teenagers' car had suddenly veered off the road and gone into a spin, before hitting the north side embankment, with both girls having been thrown from the car, before it then toppled onto the girl who was pinned. A 15-year old boy in the car was thrown into the back seat by the force of the spin. The other girl, listed as the driver, told officers that she had no idea what had happened, that the steering wheel suddenly appeared non-responsive. The patrolman said that the car was being operated at a reasonable rate of speed at the time of the accident and that there was no evidence that anything was wrong until he saw the car start to spin. The youngsters had been to a high school party and were on their way to Gastonia for ice cream at the time of the accident. The patrolman said that the car had spun at least three times, with its entire body being dented.

Emery Wister of The News indicates that Charlotte would be a key point on a new transcontinental network which the Civil Aeronautics Board had been asked to approve, that North American Airlines, a group of non-scheduled airlines, had asked the CAB for permission to operate a network of scheduled routes, with one such route being between Boston and San Francisco, stopping in Philadelphia, Washington, Charlotte, Dallas, Fort Worth, Amarillo, El Paso, Albuquerque, Tucson, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Alternate routes were proposed between Charlotte and Birmingham by way of Atlanta and between Charlotte and Dallas. North American presently flew passengers between Los Angeles and New York and other cities, with its headquarters in Burbank, Calif. It had asked for authority to transport both passengers and cargo, but not mail unless the Government wanted them to do so. The previous day, Capital Air Lines announced that jet powered turbo-prop airplanes would begin service in Charlotte around mid-August, with two flights north and south each day.

In Midland, Tex., the deputy district railroad commission's supervisor had picked up a can and oiled his calculating machine, and a few minutes later, two-foot flames had leaped from it, as the commission supervisor found that he had picked up a can of lighter fluid instead of oil. Damage was minor.

In Little Falls, N.J., it was reported that third-grade pupils might have trouble figuring out who their teacher was the following fall, as the board of education had appointed identical twin blondes to teach the third-grade classes.

On the editorial page, "Taxes: Poor Timothy and Rich Raleigh" indicates that judging by the optimistic tax forecasts emanating from Raleigh, the State Government was about to suffer another embarrassment of riches, with tax dollars expected to produce a 20 million dollar general fund surplus for the fiscal year. A year earlier, every conceivable tax source in the state had been sought by the General Assembly to raise an extra 9.75 million dollars for the year, which was raised, levying 19.5 million dollars in new taxes for the ensuing biennium, which, as it turned out, was unneeded as there would have been plenty of tax money without it.