The Charlotte News

Friday, April 17, 1959

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that Vice-President Nixon would visit Moscow in late July, expecting to talk with high Soviet officials to help set the stage for a subsequent summit conference. His designation by the President to make the trip also could promote Mr. Nixon's chances for the Republican presidential nomination in 1960. A White House announcement at Augusta, Ga., the previous day said that Mr. Nixon would make the trip to open an American exhibition in Moscow on July 25, but no other details were provided, though diplomatic officials were certain he would meet with Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The exhibition—which would turn into the famous "kitchen debate" between Mr. Nixon and Mr. Khrushchev—would continue for six weeks in Moscow's Sokolniki Park, designed to show Russian citizens how Americans lived. The Government and U.S. business interests were cooperating. Russia would stage a similar exhibition in New York City. The President said in a statement that the purpose of the exhibition was to develop broader understanding between Americans and Russians, "the kind of mutual understanding upon which our peaceful future depends. It is a hopeful approach and we welcome it wholeheartedly." If Mr. Nixon could demonstrate a capacity to deal effectively with Soviet leaders, it could provide him a boost in his unannounced quest for the presidency the following year. At a minimum, it would focus attention on him in the months leading up to selection of the Republican nominee. Internationally, the trip meant a new round of high-level contacts, following on the January visit in Washington of Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan. Although the latter's visit had technically been unofficial, he had conferred with the President, the Vice-President, Secretary of State Dulles and other officials, as well as with many private businessmen. American officials had credited Mr. Mikoyan with making a generally favorable impression on many people in the country. Presumably, one of Mr. Nixon's purposes, apart from giving the American exhibit a large build-up, would be to demonstrate to the Soviet people a friendly American interest in them. He was expected to emphasize a desire on the part of the U.S. for better relations with Russia. Mr. Nixon now planned to remain in Moscow for three or four days and appeared assured of red-carpet treatment. His time in the country might be extended if the Soviet Government were to come forward with suggestions for meeting with a number of officials and for trips to places outside Moscow.

In Green Pond, S.C., it was reported that Acting Secretary of State Christian Herter had arrived at his plantation this date and promptly had gone into seclusion. He and his wife were met at the train station by his plantation manager. Several newsmen and photographers also were at the scene. As the party stood on the platform, the plantation manager turned to Mr. Herter and said, "You don't want any of these news people out at the plantation, do you?" He responded that he had come down for a rest and did not want to be bothered. The appointment of Mr. Herter to succeed John Foster Dulles, who had resigned as Secretary of State earlier in the week, was expected within a few days. Mr. Herter was to return to Washington on Monday. Several photographers had driven the 12 miles to the plantation and snapped several pictures of the Herter home. As they departed, they were overtaken by the plantation manager in a car and warned not to return.

In Washington, it was reported that a practice nuclear attack this date would test Civil Defense preparedness in hundreds of communities across the nation, in New York City, Chicago, Washington, Kodiak Island, Alaska, Savannah, Ga., and New Orleans, among others. The activity would be the first phase of Operation Alert 1959, the sixth annual nationwide Civil Defense training drill, and would last for two days. Federal Civil Defense officials figured that millions of people in more than 500 communities would take part.

In Frankfort, Ky., Governor A. B. Chandler had ordered two National Guard battalions to assemble at their home bases early this date for possible movement into the strike-troubled eastern Kentucky coal fields. At Whitesburg, Ky., a gunfight between striking coal miners and a nonunion truck driver had left one man dead and another severely wounded on Thursday night. Three members of the United Mine Workers, including the wounded man, had been arrested on murder charges in the second violent death since the UMW had gone on strike in eastern Kentucky on March 9. The truck driver, who also worked as a guard at a nearby nonunion mine, was killed while exchanging shots with men who tried to drag him from his truck. State Police said that the men were charged with murder. The mine in question had a full-time guard and that guard and the nonunion truck driver had worked out a headlight-blinking system for identification. The unidentified guard on duty had seen the lights of an approaching car blink and walked down to investigate, that upon reaching the car, one of the men inside had struck him with a gun and dragged him inside. They told him that he would be killed if he caused any trouble and added that they had come looking for a truck driver. Soon a truck began winding its way up the hill to the mine, and one of the men subsequently charged with murder had walked up to it, opened the door and told the driver to get out, at which point the shooting started which led to the fatality.

In Dear Lodge, Mt., the chaplain at the Montana Prison said this date that an agreement apparently had been reached to end a 16-hour riot. Eighteen hostages were still held by the convicts, who had killed a deputy warden and stabbed a guard. The chaplain said that everything was going to be all right, after leaving a conference of prison officials and spokesmen for the rioting prisoners. The negotiations had begun after the convicts had threatened to burn the 18 hostages with gasoline. That warning had stopped plans for officers to storm the prison in an effort to rescue the hostages. The Catholic chaplain had participated in a two hour and 45 minute meeting at a prison gate between convict spokesmen and prison officials, indicating that a formal announcement of an agreement would be made shortly. The deputy warden, 38, had been shot to death and the guard had been stabbed in the arm during the early hours of the uprising. The warden had been held at knife-point for nearly three hours, escaping unharmed with the aid of a convicted burglar wielding a meat cleaver. He, the commander of the Montana National Guard, and the priest, had been talking through the prison gate with spokesmen for the rioters. Until the prisoners shouted threats to burn the hostages, authorities had planned to send 150 officers into the 90-year old turreted, castle-like prison, where there were 435 inmates. A prisoner, identified by others as a burglar from Butte, shouted to newsmen that the riot had started over poor medical facilities, filthy sanitation and dissatisfaction with Montana Parole Board policies. Convicts had taken control of the prison on Thursday afternoon. Someone had called on the prison's telephone to the warden's office, according to the prison business manager, who said that the warden and he had been present at the time in the office, and the caller had said that there had been a knifing inside. The warden and he had started across the street and they had gone to the main entrance and let themselves in, at which point the prisoners grabbed the warden, whereupon the business manager had run back to the prison office and summoned help.

In Raleigh, it was reported that a public hearing would be held the following Friday on court reform proposals and other proposed revisions of the State Constitution. The hearing before the House and Senate Constitution Committees had been announced this date by a Representative who was chairman of the House Committee. Meanwhile, Victor Bryant of Durham, who had headed the commission which had drafted the proposed revisions to the Constitution, continued at a meeting of the committees this date with his explanation of the proposals.

Bob Slough of The News, in the fifth article of a series on unwed mothers, indicates that the unmarried girl who was to become a mother could be any girl in any family. A nationally prominent physician had written recently that he was far from pessimistic about teenagers, that though he sat in the hard seat of the doctor, forced daily to witness the pathos and tragedy which entered so many young lives, he had seen many teenagers build good lives on the lessons they had learned from early mistakes, though questioning whether it was necessary for them to undergo the pathos and tragedy, wondering whether it was not time that adults put a stop to their contributory negligence in the matter. A Charlotte doctor had discussed the problem with fellow physicians and social agency workers and made some suggestions, that society, and parents in particular, had to cast off the role of passive individuals who declined to set standards of taste in art, literature and behavior. Limits needed to be set, not arbitrarily to show power or authority, but with understanding, sincere thought and concern in protecting young people from situations in which they were uneasy. Parents ought say simply, "I am your parent, you may not do that." They ought offer explanations and love with the limits they would set. Young people ought be taught what sex, love and marriage were about, and especially girls ought be taught that passion alone was relentless and without morals or control. Teenagers ought be told that promiscuity was habit-forming. A doctor suggested for parents that they know their son or daughter, that absentee fathers, who gave no concept of being male to their sons, caused them to marry with little appreciation of the role of a husband, and a girl who had known her father only as a male boarder in the home could never have a properly focused understanding of marriage or choosing of a husband and a sensible pattern on which to make a sound choice. The remainder of the suggestions are on an inside page.

John Kilgo of The News reports that a man who had robbed an elderly Davidson couple at their supper table the previous night had not figured on a fight, but had gotten one from a 63-year old woman in a wheelchair. The couple had been eating supper in their home at around 5:30 when the man, armed with a .22 rifle had walked in. The 79-year old man and 63-year old woman had said good evening to the intruder and asked him what he wanted, whereupon he said that he wanted to hunt for some rabbits. The woman said that the hunting season was over, and about that time, the husband had finished his supper and gotten up and gone around into the front room and sat down. The woman said they did not allow hunting after the season. The intruder then walked up to the husband and stuck the rifle in his back, saying that he wanted his money. He took $170 out of the man's billfold and returned the wallet, keeping the cash. About that time, the wife had come into the room and saw what was happening. Two rifles were hanging on the living room wall. So, the woman, in her wheelchair, charged the robber, telling police that she had been trying to buck him and get hold of one of the guns. When the man then saw that he was in for a fight, he took off running, and police and bloodhounds had not yet been able to find him. A County Police officer said that the money the man had stolen was the couple's grocery money for the month and that they were on a very limited income. The woman could not get out of her wheelchair and the man was hard of hearing, but, according to the police officer, they had put up quite a fight against the intruder.

Julian Scheer of The News reports that a man had never been in an airplane in his life, but had at least three seconds of flying time, with his only landing having been successful, albeit rough, though happy. The man was a roofing worker and had flown three stories straight down the previous day, with his quick trip being from the top of the new nurses' home at Memorial Hospital to a plot of soft mud at the bottom. It had not been planned, but he had made a pretty good three-point landing, on the right side of his face, right arm, and right shoulder. He got up and walked away. He said he was a little shook up over the whole thing but that the guys who tried to pick him up from the ground were really shook. He said he actually did not need help, that his arm ached and he had a black eye and a slight cut on his right cheek, that they wanted to take him to Memorial Hospital's emergency room, but he had walked instead. He had been atop the building hoisting a big can of roofing material, using a tripod-type block and tackle rig, when one of the legs had broken loose from its mooring and had flown up and hit him. He had seen that he would fall off the building, looked down and saw some cement steps, so pushed himself out from the building as if he were diving, that way clearing the steps and hitting the mud. He had blacked out as soon as he left the roof, and did not remember anything, waking up when he hit, finding that he hurt a little, apparently having hit face first. He felt good this date, with his arm taped and would go right back to roofing work as soon as the doctors allowed. Everyone, including his wife, was more upset than he was. He told a photographer that if he wanted a real good picture, "let's just walk back to the building. I can show you where I landed." The photographer told him to lie still right where he was.

In Long Beach, Calif., it was reported that a gunman had demanded of a bartender, "How much money you carrying in your wallet?" The bartender replied that he had two dollars, and the gunman said, "If you're lying, you've had it." He had just rifled the café till of $200 the previous day. The bartender handed over his wallet and the gunman looked inside and found two dollars, handed the wallet back to him and walked away.

Again, lots of print on the front page, but little substance.

On the editorial page, "One More Triumph of Logic Is Needed" finds that the victory in the State House for the state minimum wage bill had been sweet, but that another stern test waited in the State Senate. Despite predictions that opposition in the latter chamber would be comparatively light, any lessening of effort, it finds, would be unwise. Final ratification would possibly depend on the same type of parliamentary derring-do which had saved the bill from destruction in the House. The majority in that latter chamber had earned the admiration of North Carolinians equipped with 20-20 social vision, that despite several unfortunate exemptions, the 75-cent minimum wage approved on Wednesday might raise the standard of living for as many as 50,000 state residents.