The Charlotte News

Friday, May 23, 1941

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: "A Threat" resounds back to one of Cash's opening salvos as a journalist, when at age 27 he set forth in one of his early "Moving Row" pieces for The News the quote, attributed to Voltaire, which would most characterize the attitude and principle of his work through time. His stand was consistent, whether the object of suppression of speech was on the left, the right, or somewhere down the middle blue streak--in this case, the right.

It brings to mind some recent news regarding chilling of free speech in the country within the context of the late presidential campaign. We say again that candidates should not have to apologize for remarks made on the campaign trail which are innocent. Nor should anyone have to apologize for anything their minister said from the pulpit or otherwise. (That now embraces all three of the candidates remaining in the field--very diplomatic of us, wouldn't ye say?)

That is why we have freedom of religious belief, tied into the very notions of freedom of press and speech and association and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, all of which, as Jefferson believed, and, as the Founders made each phrase equate to one thought in the First Amendment, the other Founders with him, comprise one freedom. They remain together constantly teetering above the linchpin of the gallows: booting the trap door to hang one, hangs all together.

So shame on those who elicit apologies or make political hay out of freedom of speech and its exercise. It is fine to criticize our candidates; expected, and also part of the same freedom. But it is another entirely to express horror at either their own remarks or, even more, the remarks of someone else associated with them and thereby demand they apologize for them or issue a retraction. We need more free statements of opinion in the marketplace of opinion, not chilling of argument, thought and discussion, which seems increasingly the order of the day in this all too patrician society being slowly created within the subconscious of the country.

Meanwhile, the media gossipissimos lead precisely the other way, precisely setting up in the minds of the mindless the very notions which precipitate these petty outrages at simple offhand remarks of one sort or another, continue their mindless array of daily defamatory gabble under the double-standard of the rabble about this or that speculative reaction to this or that murder, peccadillo, indiscretion or, better, all three at once. When do they apologize, these purveyors of the corner-mouthed loquacity, for the damage they are doing to the country and our democracy, damage done not in the name of freedom of speech or the press, but that of simple-minded, idiotic gossip and defamation?

Our political leaders and churchmen ought be the font from which flows the leadership exemplifying those contradistinguished freedoms, not kow-towing to every sensitivity expressed by some silly mind preoccupied with niggling bones to pick from their own obsequies licked in the double-speak kingdom of their new royalty.

We may not agree with every statement you utter, but you sure as hell, said Voltaire, sort of, have every goddamned right to say it! That is, as long as not defamatory or meant imminently to incite by violence the overthrow of the government. The double-speakers have difficulty obviously with the simplicity of that concept.

"Neat Trick" indicates the true motive in all probability for the humanity shown the 201 civilian passengers, 142 of whom were American citizens, of the Zamzam, when on the night of April 17, 1941 German torpedoes tore into its side and sent it ultimately to the bottom of the South Atlantic as it headed for the coast of Africa. It was most assuredly not motivated by a "Christian" gesture, as we see one website, probably very naively, trying to suggest it. For no Christian person of adult age could have ever served the Reich in any manner, most assuredly not as a naval captain. Such a person would have preferred death at the hands of his government, labeled a traitor, to participation in the wanton slaughter of innocents, or, in the case of the Zamzam, their attempted slaughter. It was plainly not altruism which prompted the act, as merciful as it was on its face, reports that the captain of this German ship Atlantis held Sunday worship services notwithstanding. Else, why sink the Zamzam in the first place? He also worshipped his Führer, and thereby violated a cardinal commandment--or was the Führer, too, a "Christian" servant in his own right? perhaps God incarnate? And therefore...

The name of the Zamzam comes, incidentally, from the sacred well at Mecca which, according to Islamic tradition, the angel Gabriel showed to Abraham's wife Hajar, enabling her to quench her thirst as she made her way across the desert with Ishmael some 4,000 years ago.

More on the Athenia, referenced in the piece, sunk September 3, 1939, the first act of the war involving Americans, may be read from the links in the note associated with October 21, 1938, as well as in "Clumsy Tale", January 23, 1940,--regarding also the subject of the first piece below, the DNB propaganda machine--, "Wrong Foot", February 1, 1940, and "Smart Work", March 4, 1940.

And we pause on that earlier note of October, 1938 to wish Senator Kennedy well. His lasting beacon of hope to the country, through the last four decades especially, and especially when hope seemed dimmest and darkest in uncertain hours of the past, has served not only a much needed symbolic and spiritual light to the land, purposing that the torch of liberty continually burns bright even across the oddest and darkest of the times beset a' times by wine-dark seas, but also a quite substantive one. His distinguished service and statesmanship for his country would have, in our estimate, fit well his brother's book of 1957 and will live on far beyond his temporal years, which, we trust, are far from done. None of us may predict our hour and we hope that the water from the well will afford him solace, optimism and good cheer as he has many times done for us as a country over the years.

And so, from the Longfellow poem, comes to mind, for many reasons:

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee,--are all with thee!

And we wish him well again, even if Mr. Meader did sound more like him than the President.

Naval Claims

Nazi High Command Usually Sinks Ships 4 or 5 Times

So far in this war, German High Command communiques (to be carefully distinguished from DNB dispatches, which always lie in the realm of fiction) relative to land operations have generally turned out to be within the bounds of truth. The German High Command communiques about British naval losses have generally proved to be lies, often clearly designed to divert attention from the failure of other objectives.

Thus the Hood has been reported sunk at least three times, the Malaya, now lying in New York for repairs at least twice. As early as last November a British compilation of German High Command records showed that the British fleet was already a minus quantity by two battleships. And in January the claims of the Axis had mounted to nearly double the total number of British battleships at the outbreak of the war.

In view of that, it is interesting to observe that German High Command communiques have not yet--as this is written--mentioned air-land operations in Crete, (we know only through the British that they have taken several positions), but have instead concentrated on the claim that two British battleships and ten cruisers have been sunk in the Mediterranean by the Luftwaffe, another battleship and two more cruisers either sunk or crippled.

During the last month the Axis High Commands had previously claimed four other battleships and large numbers of cruisers and destroyers either sunk or crippled. At the last account, Britain had either five or six battleships and supporting ships more or less in proportion in the Mediterranean, in view of the exigencies in the Atlantic has probably not added more. It is therefore evident that, if the claims are true, the British naval power in the Mediterranean has been destroyed and that England has already lost control of the whole Mediterranean area.

Oddly enough, these eerie British ships still seem able to sink convoys to Crete by naval action and to fill the wine-dark sea with the corpses of Nazis.

It would be foolish to wax over-optimistic on this basis about the British chances of holding Crete. The Nazis can probably take it by sheer force of numbers if they choose to disregard the point at which losses exceed its military value. But if they go on along that score they can probably be eventually bled to death.

Site Ed. Note: Once, many decades ago, on our way back from Mexico City and Acapulco, we were stopped for speeding in Texas in our little blue roadster; we were in excess of the "nighttime" speed limit, the daytime being 75, with which we lacked familiarity--thus, 81 in a 65 did not cut it, even at 10:00 p.m. in a small town in east Texas.

We were ushered in, very politely, to a little room beside the Sheriff's office. "Ya'll wait here for the judge. He'll be in in a minute."

We waited, somewhat anxiously, as we had heard of these hanging judges in Texas--and some unwritten laws thereabouts. We didn't know whether the judge would cotton to us, us not being from those parts, that is.

Directly, in bounded the "judge", a rather heavyset gentleman who obviously brooked no nonsense in his jurisdiction. He was wiping his hands of axle grease as he, dressed in bib overalls, stepped in from the garage next door to the courtroom of honor, and took his place behind the bench, a rather pronounced thud greeting his gravity, taking its leave of his frame for the moment, as he sat himself down, having obviously just finished an overhaul on a 1967 Buick, perhaps, or something like that anyway. He was actually, as it turned out, the justice of the peace who moonlighted obviously as a mechanic in his spare hours.

"Alright, you're in my courtroom. How do you plead?" he inquired abruptly, somberly, and obviously possessing a sound sense of his authority and position in the world, as he placed the greasy rag on the bench beside the gavel.

Not wishing to find ourselves finishing up that Buick, or whatever it was, for him, we responded, vigorously and forthrightly, in our most contrite and melodious, though straight-to-business, tone, "A, guilty, your honor, as charged."

"Alright, that'll be seventy-five dollars then, plus my fee. Pay the Sheriff on the way out. Court stands adjourned."

Whereupon, we then paid the Sheriff. "A, could you direct us back to the interstate?"

"Sure, go down here half a mile to the junction, take a left, go a quarter mile past the pasture, take a right at the Texaco sign, then a quick left. There you are. You'll see the sign."

"Thank ye."

"Nice having you here. Ya'll have a safe trip, now, and come back and see us sometime."

It was, we would have to say, one of the more friendly and interesting speed traps we've ever had occasion to run across, anyway.

And, they didn't, before we had opportunity to take our leave, so far as we know that is, give us any intelligence tests either, in the little town there. Probably a good thing.

Texas Law

State Enacts Fairly Strict Driving License Statute

Texas has begun somewhat cautiously to move toward a driving license law which will actually control fools and criminals on the road.

Like North Carolina, Texas made the initial mistake of handing out licenses without requiring an examination, subject to renewal without examination, and that error is not completely remedied in the law which has just been passed. But the authorities are empowered to require an examination of anybody whom they deem unqualified, even though he had a license from the beginning and has not violated any legal proviso.

Other provisions of the law are:

The authorities are empowered to refuse a license to anybody who is not physically or mentally qualified, or whom they judge to be "inimical to the public safety."

Licenses may be revoked for involvement in accidents, resulting in death or injury to any person or serious property damage, habitual violation of traffic laws, habitual recklessness or negligence, failure to report an accident in which a license was involved.

Licenses will be automatically suspended for driving under influence of alcohol or narcotics, conviction of felony, conviction of aggravated assault on persons by automobile.

The authorities are to check with other states and all violations committed out of Texas by Texans will involve the same penalties at home.

Driving without a license is punishable by six months in jail and fines up to $100.

The law is not perfect. Obviously everybody who drives an automobile should be submitted to the most rigid physical tests, should be made to show the competence to control the machine, and above all should be subjected to intelligence tests. Most of the accidents are caused by morons.

Still the law represents a vast advance over North Carolina's, which imposes no real restrictions save in a few cases like drunk driving.

A Threat

S.C. Senate Waves a Club Over Critical Newspaper

The threat to freedom of the press is often assumed to come mainly from the executive branch of government.

But yesterday at Columbia, South Carolina's State Senator Cotesworth Pinckney Means of Charleston, and the Senate with him, were busily proving that it can come from the legislative branch also.

In the Senate Means blasted the newspapers of Charleston, and particularly the News & Courier. The editorials of that paper, he said, "had wrought irreparable harm to the City of Charleston and the County of Charleston... destructive... has offered nothing constructive... the editors spend their time thinking up ways to damn the Legislature... to convince the people that the Legislature is unworthy and incompetent... wrong, unwholesome, destructive..."

And in all that, he was of course strictly within his rights, and constituted no threat at all to the freedom of the press. Captain Billy Ball, the editor, and a gentleman of the most extreme Right, himself pulls no punches when it comes to charges and name-calling.

But then Senator Means went on to propose, and the Senate to adopt, a resolution calling on the State's Attorney General for an opinion on how the State's anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws applied "to combinations and newspapers, news services and radio stations..."

It was an obvious threat to attempt to use anti-trust laws to an end never contemplated, the suppression of freedom of the press, if the News & Courier did not heed Means' multi-phrased warning to "clean up" its editorial policy--that is, make it subservient to the Legislature.

Neat Trick

Nazis Handled Zamzam Case As Expertly As Athenia's

The German handling of the Zamzam case has the earmarks of a very cleverly-contrived play in the war of propaganda and nerves.

There is no doubt that the Germans sank the Athenia in the first days of the war, with many Americans losing their lives in the crime. And that also had the earmarks, when you look back upon it, of a cleverly-contrived piece of work on the propaganda and nerve front.

Theoretically, of course, it might have brought us into the war--the last thing the Germans wanted. But the agents of the German Embassy had been plumbing American opinion and, it may reasonably be surmised, had informed their masters at home that such a possibility could be discounted, and that in reality the total effect of the crime would be to furnish the isolationists over here a chance to thump and roar, to convince the people, that it was necessary to hang to the so-called Neutrality Act. Certainly, that is the way it worked out in practice.

But at present the murder of a large body of Americans in a neutral bottom might well serve to take us fully into war, something Germany wants to avoid until she has first polished off Britain and got the British navy and command of the Atlantic.

So the Nazi navy very carefully avoided any loss of life in the Zamzam. For once, it seems actually and astonishingly to have followed the rules of international law meticulously--which is as though the Devil should suddenly turn chivalrous.

Then Berlin sat back and kept mum until it was natural to assume that the ship had gone down with all hands before a German submarine, and until British and American news sources were saying as much. Whereupon it released the facts.

As though to say:

"See, how poor Germany, the chivalrous, is maligned for the betrayal of the American people into a war which is totally unnecessary?"

Site Ed. Note: The rest of the page is here.

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