The Charlotte News

Wednesday, October 23, 1957

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Richmond, Va., that two days after the Supreme Court had denied the petition for writ of certiorari to Virginia from lower court decisions holding that the Virginia Pupil Placement Act was unconstitutional on its face, a lawyer representing the three-man Virginia Pupil Placement Board, which was provided by the law the decision-making on pupil placement, taking it away from local school boards and superintendents, expressed the opinion that the law still might have some viability, drawing qualified agreement from the U.S. District Court judge who had the prior January held that the law was unconstitutional on its face, a decision subsequently affirmed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The question had arisen, however, as to whether the Supreme Court had affirmed the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the law provided for no adequate administrative remedy or whether it had affirmed the District Court ruling that it was unconstitutional on its face. The District Court judge partially agreed with the Board's attorney that the ruling by the Supreme Court was being misunderstood in that regard, saying that while the Supreme Court's refusal to grant review "may in the eyes of the public be a complete affirmance" of his opinion, he did not necessarily agree.

In Washington, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan arrived this date to appeal to the President for restoration of American-British partnership in scientific research, indicating that his single purpose was to "improve friendship and extend cooperation" between the two nations. The Prime Minister was met at the airport by Secretary of State Dulles, who said that while the Communist world was held together by force, the free world was united by understanding. He said that the free world, however, could never take that understanding for granted. The Prime Minister talked briefly with the President informally by telephone shortly after his arrival and they would have their first in-person meeting later in the day at the White House. White House press secretary James Hagerty said that the President had initiated the telephone call to the Prime Minister and that they had talked for five or six minutes, with the President welcoming the Prime Minister.

It was reported in Hong Kong that Peiping this date had repeated Russian charges that the President and the Prime Minister were meeting to "draw a secret aggressive plan against Arab countries."

John Hightower of the Associated Press, in the second of a series of three front-page articles presented on the Middle East situation, reports that for years the region had been torn by conflict and that the U.S. had never succeeded in producing a policy for dealing decisively with it, resulting in the U.S. presently facing greater dangers and deeper involvements in the politics of the region than at any time in its history and also facing the possibility of serious defeats by Russia in the region unless means could be found to block the spread of Soviet influence. The U.S. had two major objectives, to make peace between Israel and the Arab states and to protect the region against Soviet inroads. Many of the best informed diplomats and officials considered the Israeli-Arab conflict to be the main source of the trouble. With a permanent peace arrangement between Israel and the Arab states, all other troubles would be manageable. All efforts toward that end, however, had thus far failed. Other factors were the conflict between the newly independent peoples of the Middle East and the colonial powers of Western Europe, and the struggle for leadership among the Arab states. If Russia could break the ties and influence of the U.S. and its allies, Soviet gains would be tremendous and Russia would gain authority over output from the world's richest concentration of oil reserves, controlling the Suez Canal and the airways between Europe and Asia, breaking the chain of American and allied bases which provided the first line of defense against Soviet striking power. Thus, the Middle East and defense were among the top items on the agenda for the meeting between the President and the Prime Minister. Mr. Hightower indicates that it was nothing new, that the Middle East had been a priority problem for every high-level Western conference for years and the prospects were that it would be so for years to come. It appeared probable that any other than the most carefully localized outbreak of fighting would, sooner or later, draw U.S. forces into a Middle East war. U.S. commitments had begun to take shape in 1947 when President Truman established the Truman Doctrine, the policy of sending military and financial aid to Greece and Turkey.

In Damascus, a Syrian general claimed this date that unidentified reconnaissance planes were flying deep over Syria almost daily, expressing the belief that they were American planes. He said that they believed the planes were not originating from Turkey, but from the U.S. Sixth Fleet located in the Mediterranean.

Near Cairo, two Gaza Arabs, convicted a year earlier of spying for Israel, were hanged this date in a prison north of Cairo. Egyptian authorities said that three others were hanged early on Monday following conviction on a similar charge.

The President told a nationwide radio audience the previous night that he intended to seek opportunities to present his views in the present critical times directly to the American people in a series of talks to proclaim anew his faith that the free world would prevail against Communism in the space age. The President had spoken before 1,500 guests at a Waldorf-Astoria Hotel dinner sponsored by the National Fund for Medical Education, dealing primarily with the need for money to train more doctors and other medical personnel and to expand health facilities.

Secretary of State Dulles had decided to suspend the bulk of U.S. aid to Yugoslavia, including jet planes, because of President Tito's recognition of Communist East Germany.

Senator John McClellan of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate Select Committee investigating misconduct in unions and management, said this date that the Committee had received "perfectly plain evidence of collusion" between the Morton Frozen Foods Co. and the Bakery Workers Union, making the statement during the questioning of James Cross, president of the Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union, who had denied any personal participation in the organization of workers at the Morton Co. plant in Webster City, Ia. Mr. Cross denied that he had any conversation with Nathan Shefferman of Chicago, whose Labor Relations Associates, Inc., aided in the organization. Mr. Shefferman was a friend of Dave Beck, retiring president of the Teamsters Union. Representatives of the Shefferman organization had sparked a drive that defeated organizational efforts at the frozen foods plant by the United Packinghouse Workers Union. The Committee had heard the previous day that Mr. Shefferman's agents had helped to negotiate a contract with the Bakers Union. Several witnesses, including one from management, had said the previous day that the contract was less favorable from the standpoint of the workers than any which the Packinghouse Union would have demanded had it been successful in organizing the Webster City plant. They also said that workers at the plant were not consulted in the negotiations between Morton management and the Bakery Workers Union. Senator McClellan said that it was apparent that the management knew and, he believed, arranged for the Shefferman organization to combat the Packinghouse Workers drive and then back the Bakers Union. Mr. Shefferman specialized in aiding firms having labor troubles.

Ann Sawyer of The News reports that school superintendents from all over the country were meeting in Charlotte from cities ranging in population from 100,000 to 200,000, finding that they had common issues, including tremendous enrollment increases, too few classrooms, integration, and not enough money. There would be a private session and a public session the following day. Items on the agenda were year-round operation of the schools, financing, and use of teacher personnel. One superintendent had solved the integration problem in his schools and another had been able to employ and keep teachers, while yet another had to pay $278,000 per acre for a school site, as others were concerned about securing teachers and providing classrooms.

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