The Charlotte News

Friday, March 13, 1959

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that the President had asked Congress this date for 3.93 billion dollars in foreign aid, saying that the expenditure was essential to survival in the face of a "growing Communist potential to launch a war of nuclear destruction." In a special message, the President cautioned against reckless cuts to avoid the country becoming "the richest nation in the graveyard of history." He said that the full amount was urgently needed to thwart "a fantastic conspiracy of international communism", which maintained 6.5 million men under arms in about 400 divisions around the world. Singling out the Soviet drive to force the West from Berlin, the President said: "In Europe today the Soviet Union has made demands regarding the future of Berlin which, if unmodified, could have perilous consequences. The resoluteness with which we and our allies will meet this issue has come about in large measure because our past programs of economic and military assistance to our NATO allies have aided them to stand firm in the face of threats." Speaking of the worldwide Communist threat against free nations, he told Congress: "Two fundamental purposes of our collective defense effort are to prevent general war and to deter Communist local aggression. We know the enormous and growing Communist potential to launch a war of nuclear destruction and their willingness to use this power as a threat to the free world. We know also that even local aggressions, unless checked, could absorb nation after nation into the Communist orbit—or could flame into world war. The protection of the free world against the threat or the reality of Soviet nuclear aggression or local attack rests on the common defense effort..."

In Honolulu, it was reported that happy Hawaiians had cranked up a second round of celebrations this date for their newly acquired statehood, disregarding Friday the 13th, planning a five-hour show at Honolulu Stadium, featuring Hollywood entertainers and 200 grass-skirted hula dancers. It was a holiday again this date, as it had been the previous day when Congress had voted long-awaited statehood for the territory. The House had voted 323 to 89 in favor of statehood, after the Senate had voted earlier 76 to 15 in favor. The President would receive the bill for his signature this date and his approval was certain, with White House press secretary James Hagerty indicating that the President was delighted. Hawaiians would then have to decide whether they wanted statehood, for which they had voted in a plebiscite 19 years earlier by a margin of 2 to 1. They would also decide whether to accept the boundaries defined by Congress, excluding Palmyra Island, a tiny privately-owned coral atoll 960 miles south of Honolulu. They would also decide whether to accept Federal land grants and reservations as specified in the statehood bill. Hawaii consisted of eight major islands and a number of smaller ones, with a total land area of 6,434 square miles. It would be the 47th state in size, larger than Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut. In population, it outranked Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming, Vermont, Delaware and New Hampshire. The big show in the stadium, with 30,000 people expected to attend, was set for the afternoon this date. The day's program also called for religious Thanksgiving services in Honolulu and a concert by the royal Hawaiian band, joined by bands of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Also on the program was a 50-gun salute to the 50th state, fired by artillerymen from howitzers on the grounds of Iolani Palace. The previous day's celebration had begun noisily in the morning within minutes after the House had completed passage of the statehood bill. It had exploded in a discordant din of sirens, church bells, ships' whistles and automobile horns. At night, there were street dancing, bonfires and fireworks. Military planes dropped flares at sea off Waikiki Beach, the island's best-known resort spot. At Waikiki, throngs had jammed the streets to see dancing by Tahitian, Samoan and Hawaiian maidens. Light showers had failed to dampen the festivities. Native Hawaiians, who regarded rain as a blessing of the gods, took it as a good omen for the new state. Servicemen at liberty joined the thousands crowding the Waikiki area. One serviceman carried a cardboard sign from his neck, reading, "Maryland welcomes the 50th state." A sailor carried a sign which read, "Iowa voted yes." The largest bonfire had been a towering blaze on an island adjoining Honolulu Harbor. Logs from many states and foreign countries had been collected for it, dubbed the "International Statehood Bonfire". A series of other bonfires had been ignited through the neighboring islands. In Waikiki, celebration committee workers collected thousands of signatures on a large scroll which would be sent to Congress as a gesture of thanks. At just about the moment the Washington vote had been taken, 84 foreigners, most of whom were Japanese, had taken the oath of U.S. citizenship in Federal court in Honolulu. Addressing them, novelist James Michener had said: "You are very, very lucky. You join America at the same time these islands are joining America." He said that because Hawaii residents would soon get to vote for the President, he was changing his legal residence from Pennsylvania to Hawaii permanently. The celebration of statehood would continue for a year, with events planned in coming months to include an international trade fair, a cultural festival and a one-year exchange of high school students from Hawaii with those of other states and several Asian nations.

In Richmond, Va., it was reported that the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had taken under advisement the previous day a case in which black children sought admission to white schools in Montgomery County, N.C. The lower court had dismissed the suit, which had originated in 1955, because of failure by the plaintiffs to exhaust their administrative remedies under North Carolina's pupil placement law.

In Melbourne, Australia, it was reported that evangelist Billy Graham had announced this date that attendance thus far in his month-long Melbourne crusade had been about 526,000, of whom 19,368 had come forward to "make decisions for Christ". More than 100,000 were expected for the last Melbourne meeting the coming Sunday. Reverend Graham had told a press conference that it was the most moral big city he had ever visited. He said that he planned to spend a two-week vacation on Queensland's Gold Coast resting and writing a book, indicating that at present there was much literature of despair and he wanted to write a book of hope, which had long been burning inside him. He had been warned that a meeting this date at Melbourne University might turn out to be rowdy, but had found it to be one of the quietest on his tour.

In Kansas City, it was reported that a 17-year old boy had died the previous night after making a $10 wager that he could drink a fifth of whiskey in less than five minutes. The boy had died a few hours after the incident and his body was found in a car of another youth with whom he had made the bet. The acting chief of police in suburban Raytown said that police were holding two older youths, ages 20 and 22, for investigation, each of whom having signed statements about the bet. The acting chief said that one of the two related that they had accepted the bet that the younger boy could drink the liquor in less than five minutes. The 20-year old said in his statement that the boy had then opened the bottle and had taken about three-fourths of it down without taking it from his mouth, had then put it down and said that he felt pretty good, then smoked a cigarette and they had talked some before the boy had finished off the fifth. The older youth estimated that it had taken him less than five minutes. The two said that they had then driven to Raytown where they left the boy in the seat of the car because he was "groggy". The 20-year old had then found him dead when he returned to the car a few hours later.

In Raleigh, a group of State Senators, led by John Jordan, Jr., of Wake County, had this date proposed higher taxes on whiskey and a 1.5 cent levy on soft drinks to provide for pay increases for school teachers and State employees. State Senators Grady Mercer of Duplin County, Adam Whitley of Johnston County, Walt Garrison of Lincoln County and Arthur Williamson of Columbus County had joined Mr. Jordan in sponsoring the bill, which would rewrite much of the budget proposed by Governor Luther Hodges and the Advisory Budget Commission. The bill would provide an 8.4 percent pay increase for school personnel and 7.1 percent for State workers.

Julian Scheer of The News reports that a rumor had it that John Belk was about to enter the political arena. His brother Irwin was fresh into politics, serving in the General Assembly. A movement had now begun to support John, who had the support of some prominent local citizens for either a position on the City Council or as mayor. Mr. Belk had indicated that he did not know what was being talked about but would serve the town any way he could, though not interested in a campaign which would get mixed up in issues. He said he was not a candidate and only knew of the other candidates by what he read in the newspapers. He said that he knew and liked two of the present members of the Council and had worked with all of them on one project or another. He also knew Mayor James Smith, a likely candidate for re-election, and hesitated to talk of opposing him.

A severe mid-March snowstorm which had hammered the Northeast, crippling normal activities and leaving a heavy death toll, had tapered off this date. The late winter storm, the worst of the season, had dumped more than a foot of snow in sections of New England and New York State. Snowfall ranged up to 22 inches in New Hampshire and Maine, with Caribou, Me., measuring 34 inches and Rumford, Me., measuring 26. Light snow had fallen during the early morning in the extreme Northeast as the intense storm moved out into the Atlantic. At least 23 deaths had been attributed to the storm, which had earlier hit areas in the Midwest. Most of the deaths had been attributed to heart attacks suffered while shoveling snow. An offshoot of the storm had dipped into the South and given the western Carolinas a coating of snow and a hard brushing with mighty winds. Freezing temperatures had invaded the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Winds of 80 mph had whipped across Grandfather Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains. On Mount Mitchell, in the Black Mountains, winds of 70 mph had howled through the night, sweeping sheets of dry snow before them. The 2 to 3-inch snowfall of Thursday had been almost completely swept off exposed ridges and crests, but the snow had drifted deeply in protected places. Mountains in extreme northwestern South Carolina also had light snow and vigorous wind. The same was true in the Iron Mountains, the Great Smokies and the Unakas along the North Carolina-Tennessee border. Mount Mitchell had registered a low temperature of nine degrees the previous night and in the mid-morning, showed 12. Cold sunbeams glinted across the mountain snow this date, as the weatherman promised clear and quite cool weather but with an abatement in the March winds. Daytime mountain temperatures were expected to rise into the 40's, with the rest of the Carolinas to have readings in the 50's. Fair weather was expected to extend into this night, but with a return to low temperatures. The outlook for Saturday was for sunny and slightly warmer weather. Scattered frost was expected in many areas this night.

In London, it was reported that Britons, who loved animals as much as they loved their traditional pageantry, were going to have to choose between the two. On one side was the famed Brigade of Guards, whose tall, furry headgear was not what it had once been. On the other side were Canadian bears which could provide the bearskins to make the hats. The controversy had begun when a former Air Force man had complained in a letter to the London Times that the Guardsmen at Buckingham Palace were wearing bearskins which looked mangy and tattered. A colonel, whose Household Brigade supplied the Palace Guards, had agreed that the headgear was "a little scruffy". The supply ministry had blamed the condition on a shortage of bearskins from Russia. The mayor of a Canadian town, Timmins, Ontario, had cabled the Guards that they had heard that they were in bad need of bearskins for new hats and felt that they could easily supply for free enough for the whole Brigade by organizing a wide-scale black bear hunt, indicating that those skins were the best there were. With War Office permission, the commander of the Household Brigade had cabled back accepting the offer. Then someone had wondered if the townsfolk of Timmins realized what they were in for, as a bearskin made two hats, and there were 3,000 Guardsmen in the Brigade. A Brigade captain said that they were going to have to do an awful lot of shooting and he believed that they would have to lend them a machine gun for the hunt. At that point, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had announced that it would look into the bear hunt situation. A spokesman for that organization said that gin-traps, banned in Britain, would probably have to be used. He added that the Guards would look just as elegant in imitation fur and suggested nylon bearskins. But that would flout the tradition as the Guards had worn bearskins since 1832.

There was, incidentally, no nomenclature for each round employed as in later years after the expansion of the Tournament, first to 32, then 40, 48 and finally 64 teams between 1975 and 1985, eventually adding four more in two play-in games. It would not have made any sense to describe, for instance, this round of the Tournament as the "Sweet 16" when there were only 23 teams at the start, seven having been eliminated in the first round, and nine having byes for that round. The "Final Four" was simply described as the national semifinals and finals—long before the networks saw a good thing and, as helots always do, entered with a vengeance, eventually blowing up the game with a lot of overhyped nonsense to the point that they have virtually ruined the college game, with NIL and an open transfer portal having ushered in semi-professionalization, including the naming of some college arenas for corporate donors, the name being fungible as the product changes hands, and in the case at bench, the firing in 2026 of an excellent coach at UNC at the behest of corporate donors, most of whom are probably too stupid to have ever gained entrance to the University but like to throw their money and their fat weight around to show what bigshots they are, at least that is the impression conveyed by their idiotic and ultimately self-defeating actions. The talky-talk started at the talky-talk, click-bait podcasts and then caught the attention of fair-weather fans who only show for the big fights and are otherwise too busy guzzling beer to care, are likely, for the most part, also people who never qualified for entrance but like to identify with "winners", which is all fine and dandy, as long they do not start thinking that they have some control over the University and its choices as a University. The other inevitable component of the naysayers are, as it always has been in our time of observation spanning back at least to the present time here in 1959—the children's Garden being then most prevalent—, the "ABC" fans of opposing schools or just anarchists out deliberately to sabotage the program.

On the editorial page, "Luther the Lionhearted to the Rescue" indicates that Governor Luther Hodges had come out boldly for most of the Bell Committee's proposals on court reform the previous day and had handled the matter quite well. The political effect was still to be tested, but the legislators were quite attentive to the Governor's remarks. His support had been welcome and his statements indicated that he grasped well the essentials of the Committee's program and favored them over a slightly different approach suggested by the Constitutional Study Commission.