The Charlotte News
Thursday, June 4, 1959
FOUR EDITORIALS
Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Geneva that the Big Three Western powers were said to be continuing pressure on the Soviet Union this date to abandon its threat to West Berlin and negotiate on a four-point Western proposal to assure a summit conference in late summer. The Big Four foreign ministers had scheduled another secret session in the afternoon at French Foreign Secretary Maurice Couve de Murville's villa, with a dinner meeting to follow. Western officials said that they expected Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko to discuss individual points of the Western allies' new proposal calling for continued stationing of Western forces in Berlin and a reduction in inflammatory propaganda and subversive activities there. The Western ministers had put forward their four-point formula for Berlin in Wednesday's secret session. First, it provided that right of the Western powers to maintain troops in West Berlin would be recognized and, second, that the Soviet Union, in effect, would pledge a policy of noninterference, covering access routes between Berlin and West Germany across Communist East German territory. Third, the Western powers would agree to put a ceiling on the strength of their West Berlin forces, which presently totaled about 10,000, roughly 4,000 of whom were American, with 3,000 British and 3,000 French. Fourth, the Soviet Union and the Western powers would agree to cut out inflammatory propaganda and acts of cold war subversion in both East and West Berlin.
It was reported that a compromise decision to continue both the Nike-Hercules and Bomarc missile programs at a reduced level was said to be in the making this date, after an influential Congressional official said that he had been informed that Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy planned to recommend going ahead on both programs. He said, however, that the Secretary was likely to propose to the President a reduction in outlays for both missiles as they represented air defense only against bombers at a time when chances of missile attacks were growing. The decision was expected to depend in part on the reports which Mr. McElroy would receive on progress toward obtaining the Nike-Zeus anti-missile missile. The President had told his press conference the previous day that "a complete and exhaustive" survey of the missile field was being made by Mr. McElroy and ought be completed within ten days. The Army and the Air Force had been arguing over the respective merits of their missiles and House and Senate committees had also been taking opposing stands. The Army contended that the Nike-Hercules, although limited in range to about 85 miles, was a proven weapon which already had been installed in some areas. The Air Force Bomarc was still being developed, but its proponents contended that it was needed to prevent enemy planes from getting too close to their targets. It presently had a range of about 200 miles, with the hope for an increase to 400 miles in an improved model. The House, in passing a 38.8 billion dollar defense budget the previous day, had cut 162.7 million dollars from that budgeted for the Bomarc and had rejected an effort to cut another 200 million, which the Appropriations Committee had left in the measure for Bomarc procurement. The House had also given the Army the full 95 million dollars budgeted for the Nike-Hercules. The Senate Armed Services Committee earlier had cut 17 million from a proposed 22 million dollar authorization for extension of the Nike system, indicating that the system was virtually obsolete.
In Guayaquil, Ecuador, it was reported that machine-gun fire had crackled through the port city in the early hours this date, with troops chasing looters after two nights of rioting blamed by the Government on Communists. Civilians had fought Army forces in the streets again on Wednesday night and had set fire to a security police building before the crowd of 10,000 had been dispersed. The renewed rioting had grown out of funeral services for six of eight persons killed in clashes between troops and civilians on Tuesday night. Military authorities had ordered a curfew for the city of 275,000, Ecuador's largest. President Camilo Ponce had earlier put the nation under martial law. The Communist Party had openly challenged the martial law decree and appealed for "a great front of popular and democratic unity to prevent dictatorship." The Army general staff, in taking over command of the country, appealed to students and workers to remain calm and not to be led astray by agitators. The general staff said in a communiqué that it had proof of a "dangerous subversive plot that may threaten the very existence of the Ecuadorean nation." It blamed subversive elements, "some of them in the service of foreign interests."
In Managua, Nicaragua, it was reported that the country had begun doubling its army this date in the wake of invasion threats by opponents of dictator El Presidente Luis Somoza. The build-up of the nation's armed forces had gotten underway even though it was officially announced that the small band of rebels who had invaded by air during the weekend was fleeing and was no longer a danger. The Government said that it was adding 2,000 men to the National Guard, the nation's army, which already numbered about 2,000 active members. In addition, 10,000 Guard reservists were being called up for training.
In Omaha, it was reported that three Federal Circuit Court judges had opened a hearing this date on convicted murderer Charles Starkweather's latest attempt to escape capital punishment. He appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court after his bid for a habeas corpus writ had been denied by the Federal District Court. Mr. Starkweather had admitted killing 11 people, having been tried and convicted only on the murder of one of them, 17-year old Robert Jensen, and was scheduled originally to be executed 13 days earlier, but 98 minutes before the scheduled time for execution, a Federal District Court judge had intervened with a stay pending the outcome of his habeas corpus petition, thanks to the persistent efforts of Mr. Starkweather's father, Guy Starkweather. The stay expired this date, but would be renewed by the Circuit Court, which eventually would also deny his petition on June 22, clearing the way for his execution on June 25.
In Jacksonville, Fla., a spectacular crash on U.S. Highway 301 near Callahan had taken five lives the previous night. Three cars had been involved, two of them having collided and the engine of one having been catapulted onto the top of the third car. Only one person in the three cars had survived and that person was critically injured.
In Durham, N.C., it was reported that a 19-year old Duke University student from Stantonsburg had been found dead in his dormitory room the previous night after sustaining a head injury during the afternoon while engaged in horseplay with other students in the dormitory corridor. Police said that they were told that the student had received a one-inch gash over his left eye when his head hit the floor and that he was taken to the Duke Hospital emergency room, where the cut had been stitched up and he was allowed to return to his room. The previous night, when he had gone to supper, he was unable to eat, complaining of not feeling well and returned to his room to lie down. He was then found dead at 10:30 p.m. Duke authorities listed the cause of death as "unknown" and said that they were awaiting the arrival of the student's parents before deciding on an autopsy. They said that the student had given no indications of having had any complications at the time he had been treated in the emergency room. The county coroner said death apparently had been caused by a fractured skull.
Driving rain and hail stones ranging to the size of golf balls had pelted areas of western North Carolina on Wednesday, and in some areas, there was extensive crop damage and some flooding. At Brevard, 2.97 inches of rain and hail had fallen in the course of an hour. The downtown area had been flooded and several highways had 1.5 feet of water on them for a time. The town had taken on a wintry appearance when the hail piled up like snow. The picture was similar in the Statesville area, where nearly 4 inches of rain had been reported in two hours, and hail had accompanied the rain and piled to a depth of 18 inches in some places. In Ashe County, hailstorms were reported in the West Jefferson area and at Glendale Springs. Hail and heavy rain also was reported at Landis and Mooresville. The Weather Bureau at Municipal Airport in Charlotte reported no hail in the county, and rainfall had ranged from a few drops to heavy downpours in various sections of the county. Just two miles northeast of the airport rain had fallen in torrents. Hailstones ranging in size from marbles to golf balls had peppered the Columbia, S.C., area, though no serious property damage had resulted from that storm.
John Kilgo of The News reports from Burlington of Jesse Roland James, a man 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 240 pounds. At 38, he would be one of the youngest men ever to hold the job as Charlotte's police chief. He was ready to accept the challenge, saying that he was very humble and was looking forward to coming to Charlotte. He had received his A. B. degree in Spanish and social science at Atlantic Christian College and had acquired a master's degree in education administration from East Carolina College. While in college, he was a member of Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. He walked with a slight limp, but it was hardly noticeable, having been critically wounded in Italy in 1944 causing part of his right leg below the knee to be amputated. In August, 1947, he had retired from the Army with the rank of captain. He had taken over as Burlington's Police Chief on August 1, 1956, and had the reputation there of being a keen organizer, whose men respected him. One Burlington police officer said this date: "We hate to lose Chief James. He keeps the morale sky-high. We've been in good shape ever since he's been here." Before coming to Burlington, he had been a special agent for the State Bureau of Investigation and was a criminal investigator at Camp Lejeune. He had served as principal of Lewiston High School for one year and was at Gaston High School for one year. But police work had always been his first love. He said he had been interested in it since he was a child and loved his work. He had been married for 15 years and he and his wife had two boys, one twelve and the other eight. He was an active Episcopalian and was very active in church work. During the morning, his telephone had repeatedly rung, as people from Burlington were calling to tell him they were sorry he was leaving and people from Charlotte were telling him they were happy he was coming to become the new chief. He would become the 11th police chief in the previous 40 years, and a piece lists each of the previous chiefs in that time period and their tenures.
Dick Young of The News reports that the City Council's "Big Four" members had settled on Mr. James as the new chief, coming as a surprise to Mayor James Smith and the other three members of the Council, being somewhat grumpy about the whole thing during the morning. The Mayor said that he was informed of the news the previous night before it had hit the newspapers, that he knew nothing about it until Council member Brevard Myers had called him the previous night, and he thought matters of such importance ought be handled by the full Council. Mr. Myers, however, said that all they had was a candidate and he had to be appointed by the Council. But there seemed little doubt that Mr. James would be appointed at Monday's regular Council session, as he had the votes of the "Big Four", and thus the necessary majority. It was understood that the Big Four would propose an annual salary of $11,000, over $3,000 more than Mr. James was presently making in Burlington. Chief E. C. Selvey, who had succeeded Frank Littlejohn the previous fall, had been paid $9,024 per year, and Mr. Littlejohn had been earning $9,864 at the time of his tempestuous departure from the post after a long tenure in the job. The Mayor said that the Council had been selected as a body and he thought it ought to govern as a body, and hoped that the Council would settle down and work together as a unit. Council member Randolph Babcock, a member of the Big Four, expressed displeasure at "the treatment of the story this morning." He said that it had made the four members of the Council appear to be presumptuous and that was not the case. He said they wanted to get a candidate for the chief and a good one, and they believed they had one. Council member Steve Dellinger, who was in the three-member minority, with Claude Albea and Jim Whittington, had echoed the Mayor's criticism. He said that he thought that as important as the job was, it ought be taken up by the whole Council, which represented all of the people and not just some sections.
In London, it was reported that a seeing-eye dog which had deserted his blind master for a night on the town had turned up this date with all the signs of a severe hangover. The dog was so surly that he bit the policeman who found him. The animal was forgiven by his master, a 48-year old switchboard operator from Bolton, who was stranded in the city overnight. How the police officer felt had not been disclosed, as London bobbies were stoic. The hapless constable had to go to a hospital for treatment of his hand. The blind owner said he was numb with relief and happiness, as he was worried about the London traffic which the dog was not used to. He said: "Old Bob has been with me for 11 years. I can't think what life would be without him. He's 15 years old, and to me he is almost human." The dog was a black and tan mongrel of the collie family. It had vanished the previous day while its owner, a union official, was talking to a member of Parliament in Commons. The dog had been left in a nearby apartment of a Parliamentary official because of a strictly enforced rule prohibiting animals in the House of Lords or Commons. The dog had gotten away by scrambling through a window. A thorough search of the neighborhood had proved fruitless, but the constable spotted the dog during the morning slouching around Parliament Square only a few yards from its starting point. The constable grabbed the dog and the dog grabbed the constable. Taken to Cannon Street Police Station, the animal had refused to eat until its master came to collect him. Then he barked with joy and quickly disposed of a can of dog food. He ought to be locked up for about 30 days to impress the lesson.
In the Isle of Palms, S.C., it was reported that five German sailors, who had startled bathers by undressing for a swim on the beach, would get a chance to explain the old North European custom to a German-speaking judge the following day. The puzzled sailors had been arrested the previous day after a shocked woman pointed them out to the wife of the island's police chief. The chief said that he understood it was a custom in some European countries to change from street clothes to swimsuits publicly on the beach. But the men had been charged with disorderly conduct, for which the maximum penalty was a $25 fine. The City Recorder would hear the case against the sailors, who were members of a West German naval crew training at nearby Charleston to take over a former Navy destroyer.
The third in the series of articles on D-Day, June 6, 1944, telling of the Allied invasion of Normandy from the German perspective, appears on an inside page.
Meanwhile, on this night's tv schedule appeared a bergamasque
On the editorial page, "Caution Takes a Holiday at 110 MPH" indicates that there were limits to the peril which law enforcement officers ought inflict on the community merely to apprehend a suspect in a minor case. Local ABC agents had chased a car carrying white liquor through the driving rain at speeds up to 110 mph, exceeding those limits by a country mile. The car being pursued had flipped over and burst into flames, causing its driver minor injuries.
It finds that every man, woman and child, however, along the route of chase had been placed in deadly danger by the tenacity and zeal of the officers. While tenacity and zeal were commendable in lawmen, those traits could be carried too far and in such instances, it behooved an officer to weigh carefully the necessity to make an immediate arrest against the possible risks to innocent people. If a known killer were attempting a getaway, perhaps the risk to pedestrians and other motorists would be worth taking. But the lives of the two ABC agents involved in the Tuesday chase and the lives of others who might have unwittingly gotten in the path of their speeding vehicle, were worth considerably more than 136 gallons of liquor and the custody of a suspected bootlegger.
It was not the first time that local ABC agents had thrown caution to the wind in attempting to catch their quarry. There had been a similar case in 1955 in which ABC agents had chased a suspect from midtown to about 3 miles north of the city limits at speeds up to 120 mph, eventually catching him, but only after he lost control of his vehicle, which had gone over a four-foot embankment and overturned. The car's occupant, a New Jersey youth, had also been charged with transporting white liquor.
It points out, in fairness to the local ABC law enforcement division, that such chases were rare, as suspects were usually blocked off rather than chased. The Tuesday chase had been the exception and not the rule. But it finds that there should be no exceptions when grave risks to human lives were involved, that perhaps it would be well to make a memorandum of it while the "horror of the moment" was fresh in everyone's mind—having begun the piece with a quote from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, in which the Queen advises the King that he could forget the "horror of that moment", which he had said he would never forget, provided he did not make a memorandum of it.
"When Animals Begin To Get Uppity" indicates that now that white supremacists had blistered "The Three Little Pigs" and "The Rabbit Wedding" as racial propaganda, it supposes that nothing was safe, not even "Mother Goose", especially that.
But it was old stuff, as the booboisie had been denouncing children's classics for roughly a thousand years. It finds it no doubt that it was because it was the only branch of literature composed almost exclusively of one and two-syllable words. Ordinarily, the fear of books derived largely from those who did not, or could not, read them.
The governor of China's Hunan Province had banned Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in 1931 because "Animals should not use human language, and that it is disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level." It concludes that animals were apparently all right in their place, but that when they got uppity, began to make speeches, formed committees and filed petitions, it was time to draw the line.
Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had been banned by the public library in Henry David Thoreau's hometown of Concord, Mass., as "trash and suitable only for the slums." The first edition of Lena Towsley's "Peggy and Peter—What They Did Today" had been stopped in New York in 1931 because the children were not shown saying their prayers. In 16th Century England, the "King Arthur" stories had been denounced as "bold adultery and willful murder". Jack London's The Call of the Wild had been banned by Yugoslavia in 1929 as "too radical". Soviet Russia had banned "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" in 1929 because of "occultism and spiritualism". Hans Christian Andersen's "Wonder Stories" had been banned by czarist Russia in 1835 for reasons which were not quite clear, and by Communist Russia in 1935 because they "glorify princes and princesses." Censors in Illinois had stamped Mr. Andersen's fairy tales "For Adult Readers Only" in 1954 to make it "impossible for children to obtain smut." Ireland had suppressed Gulliver's Travels in 1726 because it was considered obscene and detrimental to both government and morals.
It finds something sick in a society which found evil in the antics of furry rabbits and fat little pigs who built houses and danced the jig. But there had always been badly frightened people who mistook yellow birds for the devil and set fire to witches out of sheer frustration.
"There always will be, we suppose.
"Meanwhile, we're putting our copy of James Thurber's 'Fables for Our Time' away until the whole thing blows over. It contains a story about a crow who fell in love with a Baltimore oriole."
"Amnesia" indicates that a Charlotte weatherman had doubted that it had been tropical storm Arlene which had deposited .77 inches of rain in the city on Tuesday, explaining, "The storm lost its identity yesterday."
"They May Laugh with New Compassion" indicates that voices were rising in Washington against the Hollywood filming of the Lederer-Burdick best-selling novel, The Ugly American, arguing that it could damage the country if shown abroad.
It acknowledges that the novel did not present a pretty picture of the country's prosecution of policy in Southeast Asia, and was largely a satirical rogue's gallery in words, showing political ambassadors outflanked by astute Russian professionals. Embassy employees were shown striking plush and exclusive postures before poor natives with the help of tax-free cars, cocktails, and canned goods. American funds were shown building highways where bicycle paths were needed.
It finds that the novel was not, however, so one-sided as the rogue's gallery part made it sound. The "ugly American" was a sympathetic Midwesterner, an engineer, who improvised helpful rice-paddy pumps to be driven by bicycles. Rather than damn the effort wholesale, the novel instead made the point that with the purging of some basic flaws and more competent personnel, Americans could make headway.
The prospective film producer said that he thought it would impress foreign audiences that the country could point out its own faults. The piece indicates that it probably would, but there were better reasons to make the film than to thump the nation's uncensored chest. It opines that no matter how it blasted the country, the novel ought be filmed truly and shown widely, for it accurately depicted the agony which a small number of Americans went through, enduring raving, cocksure isolationists, Congressional miserliness, military greed for weapons, and the timidity of bureaucrats to build a dam or deliver a bag of rice to Asia. It presented the throes of a sprawling democracy trying, with many ties to the fenced-in past, to match the demands of the world where all the fences had fallen down.
"Abroad, they may laugh or even ungraciously curse. But in the laughs and curses there may be an entirely new compassion."
A piece from the Raleigh News & Observer, titled "When the Nickel Came", indicates that in May, 1866, the nickel had been authorized, at the time 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. An obvious demand for small change had been brought about by ever-increasing sales of notions and oddities. Horse-trolleys were carrying increasing numbers of passengers, and commuting was beginning. People had to carry too many pennies and although there were small denominations in paper money, it was unwieldy and making change was a formidable chore.
The nickel became a currency springboard. In the long periods of parlous times, a nickel was big money. It meant bread. For years, even up to recent times, a loaf of bread cost only a nickel. Bakeries also sold nickel pies and cakes, short on flavor, perhaps, but long on rib-sticking dough. A new parlance entered in the form of 10,000 "twofers". In the small towns especially, everything seemed to revolve around the nickel. Hundreds of items were produced extensively to be sold for a nickel. Merchants fixed matter so that the customer who wanted a nickel's worth of something could be served promptly. That was particularly true of sack tobacco, cakes and pies, boxes of dried fruit, and dozens of canned goods.
It had not been jesting alone which had prompted Vice-President Thomas Marshall to say, "What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar." With inflation, Franklin P. Adams had said: "What this country needs is a good five-cent nickel."
The Indian-head and buffalo nickels had introduced boys to the realm of finance and there were a million jobs which paid a nickel. Some chores, requiring a little specialized skill, paid five cents per hour. One could get enough lemonade for a nickel to drown an elephant. One could see a movie or buy a good pair of socks for a nickel. It points out that someone had gently chided Horace Williams, the old UNC philosophy professor, about his penchant for clinging to money and he had answered: "I came along when things were tight. A nickel was vital. It meant bread."
Drew Pearson indicates that House Speaker Sam Rayburn, 77, with 45 years of devoted public service, stood in danger of spoiling some of it, thanks to his library in Bonham, Tex. He wanted to raise an endowment to pay for the upkeep of the library and had turned down $200,000 from Secretary of the Treasury Robert Anderson and another $200,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation. Mr. Anderson could not contribute the money personally, but was willing to raise it from friends. Mr. Rayburn's friends, in turn, said that it would put him under obligation to the wealthy friends of Secretary Anderson and to the Rockefeller family, even though both groups had the best intentions.
A person could not receive large amounts of money even from the finest philanthropist and for the most worthy cause, without feeling an obligation. Congressional friends of the Speaker said that already he had been pulling his punches on the Democratic legislative program, that recently he had pioneered no new legislation. He had put up a fight for the housing bill, but aside from that, there had been little attempt to live up to the Democratic platform. The previous week, immediately after the funeral of John Foster Dulles, Mr. Rayburn had flown with Secretary Anderson to Sherman, Tex., near his home. Mr. Anderson had used a special Government plane to visit his Texas ranch, then picked up the Speaker for the return flight to Washington. The friendly relationship between the Secretary, a Republican, and the Speaker, a Democrat, would become all the closer if Mr. Rayburn accepted the $200,000 from Mr. Anderson's friends for his library.
Mr. Pearson finds it interesting what the friends of Admiral Lewis Strauss would do to influence Senate votes for his confirmation to be secretary of commerce. The previous week, Vice-President Nixon, a close friend of Admiral Strauss, had given a highly exclusive dinner party for West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and the only Cabinet member invited was Admiral Strauss, currently the acting Secretary of Commerce, and the only Senator invited had been Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who was on the fence regarding the confirmation vote on Admiral Strauss. Senator Smith, though not a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had been singled out from all other Senators for that exclusive dinner. But at the last minute, Senator Smith did not attend, sending word that she was detained by a Senate vote which was called only at 10:00 p.m. Mr. Pearson indicates that Senator Smith had a record of not missing any roll call vote since June 1, 1955, had been present to answer a total of 570 votes, and did not want to break that record. She had not known until later that plans had been made to have her get better acquainted with Admiral Strauss, who very much wanted her vote for his confirmation.
Walter Lippmann indicates that there had been elections, for instance 1956, when, except for the possibility of another illness, there was never any doubt about the results. In 1956, as long as President Eisenhower had been able to accept the nomination, he was sure to be elected. But for 1960, the situation was completely different as there was no certainty who would be nominated by either party and not even a high probability of who could or would be elected.
Most of the uncertainty resulted from the situation revealed by the various tests of public opinion, notably the Gallup polls, disclosing a paradox, that while the Republicans were in a steady and deep decline from the Congressional elections in 1958, the President's personal popularity had improved dramatically since the midterms. Mr. Lippmann guesses that there were three primary reasons which had combined to produce that paradox, one being that a large part of the American people did not identify Mr. Eisenhower with the Republican Party. They looked on him as a national figure above the party battle. That was the way the President liked it except at election time.
He finds the second reason to be that the recession was primarily over and there was no popular demand that the White House do anything much about business in general. The local, sectional and group pressures for particular measures were for the most part directed toward Congress. As those pressures were not very severe at present, they did not over-balance the countervailing pressure of the people who, with the President as their spokesman, feared inflation, wanted taxes not to be raised and, if possible, to be reduced. It was not clear that those conditions would prevail in 1960, but as the recovery appeared vigorous, the probability was that it would still hold true, and if so, the Republican candidate for the presidency ought profit greatly from it.
The third reason for the President's strength, despite the weakness of the party, was, as Samuel Lubell had been the first to point out, the Berlin crisis. At present, it was the focal point of the cold war. It had been precipitated by Russia a few weeks after the 1958 midterms and the President's popularity had been rising ever since. For the President had the confidence of a majority of the people that he knew how to defend the country and how to prevent war. That was the enduring magic of his personality and was sufficient to account for the fact that he was so much stronger than his party.
Mr. Lippmann indicates that he had heard that explanation confirmed by two active Democratic candidates for the presidency, both having said from first-hand experience among the voters that when it came to the presidency, as distinct from the Congress, the voters were looking for a candidate they could trust to deal well with the issues of peace and war.
A letter from Henry Brandis, Jr., dean of the UNC Law School, comments on the editorial of May 27 regarding the newly adopted policy statement anent academic freedom at the University. He indicates that he was not unhappy about the editorial and realized that it was not a critical piece but wanted to take mild exception to the statement that "we confess we are sad that writing down liberties so essential should be thought necessary in 1959." He admits to some prejudice on the subject as he had served as chairman of the Consolidated University Faculty Committee which had originally drafted the proposals. He also says that as a lawyer, perhaps his professional training induced him to prefer rights which were legally enforceable to those supported only by tradition. The tradition was essential, for without it, legislative declarations of university governing bodies might not be honored. There were great universities, for example, Harvard, which had never formulated such regulations as were recently adopted by UNC. On the other hand, there were fine American universities which had comparable regulations, and when his committee was working on their draft, they found that there was something of a trend in that direction. For example, the University of Illinois had just adopted new regulations, and a committee comparable to the one at UNC had been working on regulations for the University of Pennsylvania. He points out that a person coming from another section of the country to join the faculty would feel more comfortable with a formal declaration in the code adopted by the trustees which the person could read and appraise for himself, as opposed to merely tradition, which might be more acceptable to someone from the state. As the editorial had pointed out, legislation regarding the conditions of tenure and "academic due process" was necessary. Under the latter, the new trustee legislation recognized that a faculty member might be discharged for "misconduct of such a nature as to indicate that he is unfit to continue as a member of the faculty." On its face, it was vague, as it would be almost impossible to write a precise, self-executing definition of the kind of misconduct contemplated. It thus became highly important that the same legislation contain the declaration regarding academic freedom, making it plain that the exercise of academic freedom by a faculty member ought never be regarded as such misconduct. He says he trusts that they would never have a case where a faculty member had to be tried by a faculty committee, but such a case, should it arise, would have the declaration of the trustees providing advance support to the faculty committee and resisting all outside pressure to recommend discharge of a faculty member who had merely exercised academic freedom, however unpopular and publicly unpalatable that exercise might have been. He indicates that during the previous 25 years, there had been enough hysteria directed at enough respectable American universities and their faculty members to make that person bold indeed who would assert that it could never happen in North Carolina. He finds that there were various freedoms in the American tradition, but that Americans also had a tradition, departing from that of the British, of embodying the guarantees of those freedoms in written constitutions. He says it did not make him sad that there was a Bill of Rights in both the national and state constitutions. He indicates he had recently served as a member of the North Carolina Constitutional Commission and it did not make him sad that the members of that Commission had unanimously thought it advisable to continue in the proposed new constitution a guarantee of freedom of the press. In fact, they thought it advisable to add a written guarantee of freedom of speech. Certainly the state had fine traditions of freedom of speech and freedom of the press and the latter, with the help of many able editors, had given the state, considering the size of its cities, "the finest set of dailies in the world". He finds it vitally important that the freedom of the press continue to be backstopped by written, legally enforceable guarantees. His primary hope was to persuade the writer of the editorial that, however felicitous his total product may have been, his melancholia was perhaps unnecessary and asks to tell him please to be of good cheer.
A letter from J. R. Cherry, Jr., indicates that Boyd Payton, the director of the Carolinas region of the Textile Workers Union of America and chief spokesman for the union during the textile strike at Henderson, had been quoted in the Winston-Salem Journal of May 29 as having said: "I have spent more time and effort on controlling violence than any other one person, to my knowledge." Mr. Cherry places the statement in nomination as probably the most comical to be voiced in the state in 1959 and one of the most novel ways of confessing utter failure of maintaining basic order and decency in his own union, which he finds to be composed, presumably, of civilized men and women. He suggests that the subject could become hilariously comical should, for instance, the TWUA come forth with the allegation that the president of the struck Harriet-Henderson Mills, John Cooper, personally and literally compelled, by force and violence, the TWUA's ordinarily "pacifist-minded" strikers to employ force and violence as a necessary counter weapon.
A letter writer from Salisbury indicates that to him, the sincerity and naturalness of a small child were the greatest things in the world, that such a child was much interested in every new thing that he or she saw, which ought be encouraged by those who had charge of children. The interest of children in the world had to be increased in the place of being killed. Such curiosity had to be guided pleasantly and gently so as not to injure the child or his environment or those with whom he lived. Such a child would catch the feeling of helpfulness and would cooperate, for a child was like a dog in that he knew the persons who were his friends and who wished him well.
Hopefully, though, not like the carousing, peripatetic seeing-eye dog of London.
A letter writer says that one never heard anything much about the ladies who patrolled schoolchildren, saying that they got safely across busy streets to school. She says that she had two precious grandchildren who attended Parks Hutchison and Tryon Hills schools and that if she did not know that some good woman was seeing after their safety, she would be miserable. Hutchison Street was a truck route. She said she did not know what salary the ladies received but that it ought be a good job for it took a good, kind person to be interested in the safety of children.
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