The Charlotte News
Monday, June 29, 1959
THREE EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President had this date signed a compromise two-year extension of Federal aid for airport development, providing for more spending than he had recommended. The measure had been reduced by Congress to 126 million dollars in the face of a veto threat raised during the debate. The extension was for 63 million dollars per year. Democrats had fought for a costlier and longer program and some of them complained that they had to accept the smaller allocation "with a loaded veto pen at our heads." The House had originally voted for a four-year 297 million dollar extension and the Senate for a four-year 465 million dollar bill. The President had proposed a four-year 200 million dollar extension of the airport program. Senator Mike Monroney of Oklahoma, author of the original Senate airport bill and also of the stopgap measure, had noted that the present law would expire on June 30, indicating that the two-year extension would take the program into the next administration to be elected in 1960. The bill contained language barring the use of Federal funds for terminal facilities, bars, commercial shops, cocktail lounges and similar additions, unless the program administrator determined that they were essential. There had been some prediction that the President would veto the bill despite Congress tailoring it more to his liking. In signing the measure, the President issued a statement noting that he had strongly recommended Federal money be used exclusively for airport developments which contributed to increased air travel safety. He said that the bill took a major step in that direction by prohibiting the commitment of Federal money for parking lots and airport buildings, bars, cocktail lounges, nightclubs, theaters, private clubs, garages, hotel rooms, commercial offices or game rooms. He found, however, that the bill was not as conclusive with respect to those parts of airport buildings intended for other use. But based on the debate in Congress, he said, the Administration believed that the new law gave Federal aviation administrator Elwood Quesada broad discretion in determining whether funding could be used for those purposes, to be based on whether those facilities were essential for the safety, convenience or comfort of persons using the airports. The President said that the Administration had recommended spending over the next two years of more than 120 million dollars exclusively for projects designed to increase air travel safety.
In Toronto, it was reported that Queen Elizabeth had broken her arduous routine of formal ceremonies and receiving lines during the week for two of her favorite diversions, horse racing and the theater. Canada's top racing event, the Queen's Plate, would be run in Toronto on Tuesday with the Queen and Prince Philip observing. At nearby Stratford, the Shakespearean Festival Company would provide a command performance of As You Like It for the royal couple on Thursday. The Queen and her husband were due in Toronto during the current morning after a three-day cruise up the St. Lawrence River aboard the royal yacht Britannia. The couple had gone ashore for two hours on Sunday at Kingston and had attended services at the United Church in the late afternoon, the first time the Queen had attended religious services other than Anglican on Canadian soil. Canada's United Church had been formed in 1925 in a merger of Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists. The minister had preached an 11-minute sermon, praying for guidance for the royal couple and the strength for them to carry out their "heavy duties", also offering a prayer for their two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
In Stettler, Alberta, it was reported that the mass slaying of a father, mother and their five children had come to light with the discovery of the seven battered bodies in the quiet central Canadian province town the previous day. The 22-year old son of the slain man had been charged with murder of his father. The victims had included the father, a garage mechanic, the mother and their three sons and two daughters, ranging in age between three and nine. Police had found a blood-stained shotgun stuffed under a mattress in the family's neatly kept green and white house, but the bodies had been so badly battered, investigators could not tell whether the victims had been shot before they were clubbed. The bodies had been found in the garage under a pile of old tires, boxes, blankets and other articles. The discovery had shocked the town of 3,000, located 80 miles southeast of Edmonton. Police had gone to the home to inform the father that his son had been arrested on Saturday on a charge involving the father's car. When neighbors told police that none of the family members had been seen since Thursday, the officers entered the home and found the bloodstains on the floor and mattresses. Police believed that the victims might have been slain as they were sleeping on Thursday night. One officer said that they did not know whether the gun had been fired or not, as their investigation was not complete, but that they were sure that the gun had been used as at least a bludgeon instrument to beat the victims to death. He said that the crime appeared to be the work of a "maniac". The son, accused thus far only of the homicide of his father, was described by neighbors as "a nice boy". He had been in custody on the charge related to the car when the bodies were discovered. One neighbor said that he had telephoned the home on Thursday and that a man had answered and said that the family had gone to Vancouver, while another neighbor said that he had telephoned and been told that the family had gone to Hanna, Alberta, to visit relatives.
In Meldrim, Ga., it was reported that rescue teams had renewed dragging operations on the Ogeechee River this date searching for more victims of a freak butane gas explosion which had already apparently claimed 19 lives, with many others having been burned, at least ten critically. The blast occurred the previous mid-afternoon when two railroad tanker cars had spewed flaming butane on 175 fun-seekers in a recreation area beneath a 30-foot river trestle which the Seaboard Air Line train had been crossing. No one could say whether all of the bodies had been recovered but the coroner said that reports that dozens had been unaccounted for were greatly exaggerated. He said that at the time he had accounted for 17 dead. Since then, two children, ages three and nine, had died of burns in a Savannah hospital. A complete casualty list was not available, but 14 dead had been identified, with some bodies so badly charred that identification had been difficult. The railroad said that the explosion of one butane tanker had set off a blast in a second tanker loaded with 10,000 gallons of the cooking and heating fuel. Two trainmen had been injured in the blast and the pileup of freight cars near the end of the long train. The blast had turned the river bank into blackened ruins several hundred yards from the trestle, catching some of the victims in the water and others on the embankment. Children seared by the flames floundered in the river or ran screaming from the spot. A second but smaller explosion had come after rescuers had reached the scene, about 18 miles northwest of Savannah. Most of the 124 cars of the freight train had cleared the 30-foot high trestle before the crash. None fell into the water but several had piled up on the embankment and burned through the night. Some of the train's boxcars had been telescoped.
In Sydney, Australia, it was reported that five Chinese stowaways had crammed into a secret compartment 54 inches long and 33 inches wide on a ship in Sydney harbor and that only three had emerged alive, according to police this date. The compartment's height sloped from 57 inches down to a few inches. A police sergeant asserted in court that crew members involved in smuggling the Chinese had panicked when the men had died, and tossed their bodies overboard. The three survivors were at large in Sydney. The officer testified at a preliminary hearing for seven Chinese crew members of the British ship, charged with secretly bringing a migrant to Australia and also with disposing of a body to prevent a coroner's inquest. All seven had been remanded to custody under bail until July 8. Discovery had occurred after two shrouded bodies had been observed floating in the harbor. The sergeant said that the dead men were two of five stowaways who had boarded the ship in Hong Kong and added that before Australian customs men had boarded the ship on June 24, the five had been placed in the secret locker.
Bill Hughes of The News reports of Terry Sanford visiting Charlotte this date, indicating that he was a Fayetteville attorney and former State Senator, former president of the Young Democrats Club and very active in the Democratic Party. He had prominently been mentioned as a gubernatorial candidate for 1960. He said that he was in Charlotte on business regarding several of his law firm's clients. When asked whether there was any political significance to the trip he said that he would see some people while in Charlotte regarding the 1960 election. When asked if he was running, he said: "It seems to me that 1960 is plenty of time to announce for any 1960 campaign. The year ahead is much too early—it seems to me—to start any campaign. In other words, I'm not making any announcement or beginning any campaign." He looked at a story from the News relating how John Larkins, another potential candidate for governor, had evaded Julian Scheer's questions about his candidacy the previous week, and Mr. Sanford changed the subject, saying that he would rather talk about the new Methodist College in Fayetteville, on the Board of Trustees of which he was a member. The reporter then changed the subject, asking Mr. Sanford whether former State representative from Monroe and longtime friend of Mr. Sanford, Henry Hall Wilson, would manage his campaign in the section, to which he responded that there were no plans for dividing up the state for a campaign for him. He added that he thought the 1960 gubernatorial race would be "an interesting election. But, I don't have anything to say about it now—I didn't expect to be interviewed." He left the newspaper's offices to see local influential Democrats but any talk of politics this date was not for publication. Of course, he would eventually enter the race and win the Democratic nomination, eventually elected Governor in November, 1960.
Dick Rigby of The News reports that water consumption in Charlotte had broken all records according to the Water Department. The previous day, 22,767,000 gallons of water had been consumed and on Saturday, approximately 27 million gallons had been used. Water consumption had been but one record established. The previous afternoon's top temperature reading of 101 degrees had broken the existing mark for June 28. No change was seen in Charlotte weather conditions through the following Wednesday. At least 100-degree heat was forecast for this date through Wednesday, with a chance that two more records at the Douglas Municipal Airport Weather Bureau would fall. The record high for June 29, was 102.7 and for June 30, 100.8. A cold front was expected to drift into the area on Thursday, bringing with it showers and cooler temperatures for the following weekend. This date, there was to be a slight breeze to offset the oppressive heat. The humidity was to remain fairly low. Early in the current afternoon, the humidity reading had been about 30 percent. Causing the extreme heat was a high pressure system located over the Gulf of Mexico. Covering the Gulf states, the hot air reached as far north as Tennessee. Northwest winds, which normally brought the area cool weather, were transporting the hot air to the area. The following morning's low reading was expected to be 73, the same as the current morning. The Park and Recreation Department had reported "very, very good" business the previous day at the swimming pools. County officers added that the Catawba River was "overflowing" with people trying to beat the heat. As consolation, the highest reading in the state was not in Charlotte the previous day, as Burlington reported 103. Joining Charlotte with 101 readings were Columbia, S.C., and Fayetteville. Readings of 100 had been reported in Danville, Va., Charleston, S.C., and Raleigh. It had only been 88 in Miami, Fla.
Cora Harris of The News, the garden editor, recommended providing plants plenty of water in the heat or people might lose them, including their shrubs and trees. She said she had seen brown trees the previous day in her inspection and found the ground around the trees quite hard. She recommended watering the plants all day long, not waiting until the sun went down, also letting the water run all night, with just a slow drip if the person had a canvas or similar soaker, stretching it 25 or 30 feet and laying it by the shrubs.
On the editorial page, "Vote FOR Bonds and Consolidation" urges the residents of the county to vote for the 8 million dollar bond measure on the ballot the next day, to enable consolidation of the City and County School Systems, with the bonds enabling new classrooms and an era of remarkable progress to be opened.
"Let Us See Red China for Ourselves" indicates that the previous week, the State Department had lowered the "Bamboo Curtain" between Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and Communist China. Justice Douglas had applied for a passport validation to write a picture article for the National Geographic and was "irked" by the decision.
It finds he had a right to be irked as the State Department's policy on travel to mainland China, reported to be the most solidly anti-American nation on earth, had been a muddle for many years. The late Secretary of State Dulles had carried on a running battle with the nation's journalists, pleading a long succession of reasons why they ought not visit Communist China. The reason was never made clear, whether it had been because Communist China held American hostages and had sought to "blackmail" the State Department into letting Americans travel there, or whether it was because the U.S. could not "protect" travelers there or that Americans might be "duped" and provide Communist China a favorable report upon return.
Regardless, the present policy appeared to be that anyone who made his living entirely by writing could go there, but only after significant persistence had "journalist" Averell Harriman, former Governor of New York, been granted a visa, which had now been canceled by the Communist Chinese.
It finds that unquestionably, the Communist rulers in China had played their own role in the muddle, sometimes taunting the State Department when it capriciously refused a passport, sometimes refusing to let a certified politician or journalist or scholar be admitted. But it finds that the practice did not excuse the State Department, which was in abject need of a consistent and forthright policy.
It questions why a Supreme Court justice or even the rankest tourist should not be allowed to visit the country. Perhaps, as C. L. Sulzberger had suggested in his recent book on foreign policy, the legacy of sensitive emotionalism dating to FDR's era yet had the State Department in its spell. Official policy was to make believe that Chiang Kai-shek was China, just as FDR in his time had made believe that a China acutely torn by civil butchery was a mighty and unified power on the side of the U.S.
The emotional approach was wearing thin and puerile. Americans might distrust Mao Tse-Tung and Chou En-lai, fearing their power, hate their objectives and their methods, but it was tiresome to have to pretend that there was really no such thing as an Asian nation of 400 million people which had become Communist.
The "Bamboo Curtain" was partly of U.S. making and served no practical purpose. British, French and Canadian officials had not been so irrational. The reports of their journalists, politicians, scholars and plain citizens were available to all, and it was high time for Americans to be able to see the country for themselves.
"Please, Oh Cereal Men, Just a Label" indicates a faint hope that the day would arrive when cereals reverted to being nothing but cereal. It had nothing against cereal, finds that it was nutritious, tasted just fine and built strong heads and came in bright packages.
As a parent it realized that the somewhat gaudy trappings were supposed to attract the young and that the more people who consumed the product the more sales there would be. But it wonders if top management in the breakfast field still had any youngsters of first grade level or under, doubting it.
Supermarket buying had become a grim struggle to retain parental authority. As an example, it offers a situation which had arisen in which the children had to be taken to the store, not daring to let them run free as they would make a beeline for the cereal shelves, and then one had lost the game. There would be at least half a dozen brands in serious contention and they would either contain a prize or offer same for cash and boxtop remittance. If one ignored their pleas and the clamor grew, heads would begin to turn and it was embarrassing.
Another strategy was to buy the lot, but that presented a financial strain and half-eaten contents would litter the cabinets. It had tried to sneak out of the store with a brand which offered nothing but vitamins and other fortification, but it often wound up having to finish the box itself as the children meanwhile had turned to oatmeal or bacon and eggs.
It finds that the only solution was for all manufacturers to put the brand name on the box and let it go at that. One day, the prizes might extend to adults and then it could not decide which brand to buy either.
Get the variety pack with the single-serving boxes. Problem solved. The toys inside weren't worth garbage anyway.
Bob Fain, writing in the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, in a piece titled "Far Finer Calling", indicates that one of his boys was in the first grade in school and, thinking that he had been exposed to enough of life and education to begin thinking about serious matters such as becoming a scientist or President, had been asked by him what were his plans for adulthood. Without hesitation, he had replied, "I want to be a janitor."
He finds that being a janitor was, in the minds of small boys, an interesting and noble calling. It was also a noble calling to the minds of adults who were fortunate enough to have had a school janitor such as he had during his high school years, Mr. Bottoms. He had a first name but they never worried about it. They were fortunate that they thought of his job as being more than following a broom around or seeing that the furnace pipes did not rattle and bang, which he had done well enough.
He was their confessor, confidant, adviser, booster and disciplinarian, withstanding some of the most outrageous pranks ever devised by idle minds. He could be counted on to give eleventh-hour advice which saved them from unheralded appearances before the principal. He might at times be relied on for emergency funds for those who met his standards. He tidied up after feelings wrecked by scholastic disaster as efficiently as he had swept the halls. The English could have their vaunted headmaster system, but he would take a good janitor any time.
Drew Pearson indicates that one of the problems of the harassed Governor Earl Long of Louisiana was his fondness for racetrack gambling, that for many years he had bet fantastically, averaging about 27 races per day, with three bets on three horses in each race, to win, place and show. With most people, the IRS did not worry too much about betting income, but one of Governor Long's political enemies had tipped them off about his gambling and they had sent a squad of agents to check over his winnings and losses.
He had reported no income from horse racing, evening his losses with his winnings. That, together with the "contributions" which the Governor had received from the Teamsters to repeal the right-to-work law, and from the steamship operators to veto the Mississippi Bar Pilots bill, had all come under rigorous tax scrutiny, forcing the Governor to appeal to the Treasury in Washington for a delay, telling his nephew, Senator Russell Long, that it was more than any man could take, that occurring shortly before his mental crisis. He had said that they had 12 to 14 men working on him day and night and that he also had 139 legislators nagging at him, that the agents ought let him alone until the Legislature was over so that he could handle one problem at a time. Senator Long had tried to help by asking the commissioner of the IRS, Dana Latham, for a delay of 60 days, but the commissioner refused even a 30 day delay, saying that they would be criticized for it.
Governor Long had argued to the IRS that the money he had received was not in the form of bribes but rather contributions for his re-election campaign. Since the Louisiana Constitution forbade a Governor from succeeding himself, he had to figure out some way to get around the Constitution. Having announced the previous spring that he would run, he called a special meeting of the Legislature, and was seeking to pass a voter registration bill when he had delivered the speech before the Legislature, using verbal invective against his political enemies, causing such a furor in the state, leading to his being spirited away to Galveston, Tex., at the instance of his wife, to a mental institution.
Mr. Pearson indicates that like his brother, Huey, who had died from an assassin's bullet in 1935, Earl Long's chief political support had come from lower income voters. Blacks and poor whites had supported him to the limit. His brother had introduced free textbooks in Louisiana schools for the first time in history, and Earl had devoted 52 million dollars received from the state's oil lands to raising teacher salaries.
Watts Hill, Jr., State Representative from Durham, in the first of a series of three articles, dissects the recently concluded 1959 session of the General Assembly, finding that the single outstanding characteristic of the session was its failure to deal with the basic issues which faced the state, and its preoccupation instead with secondary problems which resulted from a failure by previous sessions to deal with the basic issues. He finds the session in that respect to rank alongside most sessions since the early 1930's.
In the areas of education, constitutional revision and taxation, to name only a few, the basic issues had not been recognized or dealt with, with the major effort instead having largely been directed to maintaining an inadequate status quo. He finds little expenditure in failing to deal with court reorganization as no member could claim the lack of opportunity to be informed on that issue, after a State Bar Association group had made recommendations.
In education, the session had been more constructive as higher education budgets provided for substantial salary increases for key personnel and many new programs had been allocated funding. But the nature of many policy decisions had enabled them to be deferred until later, though they would have to be faced in the coming years if the state were to maintain its current generally excellent system of higher education. Among the many areas being studied by the Board of Higher Education, and probably by the boards of trustees of the colleges and the University, were student testing to reduce failures after admission, greater utilization of existing classrooms, etc., but most of the problems were the result of much more basic issues which were seldom discussed outside academic circles and rarely, if ever, in the Legislature. Among those basic issues were fundamental questions such as who ought to be going to college in the state and its logical corollary, once decided, as to what college they ought to attend. The Board of Higher Education had dealt with those questions and recommended essentially a four-level statewide system with the Consolidated University at the top for the most highly qualified students and most graduate students, to be followed by the colleges, the community colleges, and the technical institutes, in that descending order.
The concept, tested and proven in wealthier states, was really the only tenable one for North Carolina but it was not generally understood and thus not generally accepted by the majority of the Legislature. In consequence, appropriations for higher education were still made largely on the basis of what had been done in the past, combined with what additions could be obtained through the legislative skill of an individual legislator for an institution in his or her area. The statewide concept was almost completely ignored.
Regarding the public schools, a similar situation existed, in that over a period of many years and enormous though still inadequate increases in expenditures, the state had so broadened the courses offered in the schools that there was real danger of doing nothing well because the schools were trying to do everything, even if poorly. General and real dissatisfaction existed with the present system even though it was one of the better systems in the country. The public and the Legislature alike were asking whether the state was getting the most from the dollars being spent on education and they were finding that too often they were not.
The State Board of Education, unlike the Board of Higher Education, was just beginning to deal with those basic questions, and the reluctance on the part of professional educators to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the present system publicly had caused the Board to be faced with an almost impossible task of reorganizing the state's public school system, and in the face of opposition from those educators who believed that all which was needed was more money. On the other hand, a large segment of the public and the majority of the Legislature were willing to make more money available but would not do so until there was some reasonable assurance that it would be more effectively spent. He finds that lean days were ahead for the public schools if the professional educators did not publicly admit to some of the non-monetary shortcomings in the primary and secondary grades.
Regarding the revision of the State Constitution, he finds that what was taking place in the Legislature and throughout the state at present was a groping for a government and leadership which were capable of meeting the challenge of the times. The tragedy was not so much that constitutional revision had been put off by the 1959 Legislature but rather that even such a minor revision as that originally recommended had been found unacceptable. The truth, he finds, was that the state's economic growth might be exceeding its willingness to comprehend the problems which growth inevitably brought, which, if remaining unrecognized, would go unsolved.
He concludes by saying that it was a time of unrivaled opportunity in the state, calling for greatness, both insight to recognized problems and the courage to solve them in the interest of the whole state. He says that the 1959 session had not been a bad one, having made some very positive contributions and having taken few, if any, actions which would do irreparable damage. But it had also been conspicuous for its failure to grapple with the real issues of the day and time. He hopes that provincialism and satisfaction with mediocrity, resulting in only short-term resolution of immediate problems being recognized, would be replaced with the insight and courage to grapple with the basic issues. "Only then is North Carolina going to achieve her full place in the sun."
The following day's entry would address why the courts had not been reformed.
A letter writer from Matthews indicates that he and his wife favored administrative consolidation of the City and County schools and the necessary funding for their support and expansion. He says that he had received 8,599 votes for becoming a member of the school board, with his friends knowing that he favored consolidation. He urges voting for the bond measure the following day.
A letter writer indicates that Julian Scheer had reported on the final meeting of a steering committee of the Chamber of Commerce to get out a favorable vote on the consolidation bond measure. He finds it surprising and confusing to have read of the Chamber's attitude, wondering whether they were businessmen being sold a bill of goods by County School superintendent J. W. Wilson and City superintendent Dr. E. H. Garinger. He says that a U.S. Chamber of Commerce committee had testified at a Congressional hearing on Federal aid to education that the need for more classrooms and educational facilities did not exist and that the educators who said that they did were talking through their hats. He is thankful that the local Chamber had seen the light hidden from their brethren at the national level. He indicates that he was going to vote for the bond issue and more classrooms and facilities for the school children and that the fact that the U.S. Chamber said that there was not any need for them ought convince thinking people that there must be such a need.
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