Editorial
THI CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS
Published at Charlotte. North Carolina__
OLDEST LABOR PUBLIC ATI* iH THE TWO CAROLIXA8
H. A. Stalls. Editor and Publish*, M. Witter. A»aociaU Editor i
Entered as second-class mail nu»t*e September 11, 1981, at the
(Port Office at Charlotte. N. C., under the Act of Congress of
March 9. 1879.______ j
Endorsed by Charlotte Typogrmpbieul Union. Number 338. An Af-;
filiate of Hiarlotte Central Labor Union and the North Carolina Fed
eration of Labor ____
FAMOUS COLUMNIST TABS TAFT “JERK” FOR
ATTACKING GENERAL MARSHALL
One of the most widely-read newspaper writers in Amer
ica has decided that Senator Robert A. Taft (R-, 0-) is a
“jerk”—and has said so.
He is Henry McLemore, whose column appears in more
than 200 daily papers. Part of his comments on Taft are
printed below.
McLemore is not a political columnist. He generally
writes in a humorous manner on the lighter topics of the
day. Occasionally, a more serious subject makes his blood
boil. Taft’s recent attack on General Marshall did that.
• • •
McLemore is no “wild-eyed” liberal. Born and reared in
rural Georgia, McLemore is the son of a Methodist min
ister. He did such a good job as a sports writer for the
United Press, the McNaught Syndicate hired him to com
ment on events in general.
Here is what he wrote in London—where he was on a
special assignment—about Taft:
“Senator Taft came to my mind about an hour ago when
I noticed a story under a Washington date-line that in- i
formed me that Senator Taft was against President Tru
man’s appointment of General George Marshall as Secre
tary of Defense.
• * ft
“My first reaction to the~ atory *aa that Senator Taft
finally had reached rock bottom. My second, third and |
fourth reactions were the same.
■■ “I am sure that one can’t call a Senator a jerk and still
maintain dignity, so 1 am going to waive dignity and call,
Mr. Taft a jerk. Not a bench-sitting jerk. Not a utility
jerk. Not a jerk who has run in to kick a field goal. No,
I am going to call him—from thousands of waves away—
a starting, first-string varsity jerk.
“Give him Ruth’s old number, Gehrig’s old number and
Grange’s old number. Place him on a pedestal as the one
man who, without having to go to the trouble of thinking,
hits the wrong thing on the head every time.
“Senator Taft objects to Marshall. Just think of that.
“The man of Ohio carries enough nonsense in his head
to attack a man who, in the pages of history yet to be
written, will ertierge as one of the great Americans of all
time.
“It is like a Piper Cub attacking a B-29. It is the mouse
slapping the cat, the lamb trading haymakers with the
lion.
“The Senator says his reason for trying to block Mar
shall’s appointment is because it would strengthen Secre
tary of State Acheson’s hand. In other words, the Sena
tor’s dislike for Acheson is stronger than his like for his
country.
* *
“Who did more than any one else to make this country
victorious in World War II? Marshall.
“Who saw the needs and fought with hack politicians to !
get them ? Marshall.
“My consolation here in London is the knowledge that
my countrymen will ignore the Senator from Ohio and go
ahead and put the best man in the job.
“One of these days—it may not come until a Russian
throw’s a hand grenade through his living room window—
Senator Taft is going to realize that the United States is
now fighting for survival, not Ohio votes.”
UAW-AFL Issues Poster
Get Rid of These Headaches!
!
WHAT THE UAW-AFl LOCAL
UNION CAN DO ABOUT IT
o L>~ i>» op^r»> and <ond<
'•'* ml IN lbte:
L*i b«4 >oii
GET OUT THE LABOR VOTE
a***
Milwaukee, Wis.—The AFL United Ante Workers issued this
psstsr to stimulate rank and flic participation in the 1954 elections.
'CAPITAL REPORTER
*
RALEIGH. N. C—The public
flood control-hydro-electric power
vs. private power companies row
could be solved very aimply if
both sides would get the knives
out of their hands and work to
gether.
In a speech last week at Fay
etteville. Governor Scott took an
other back-handed swipe at the
power companies for what he
called “lack of vision.”
And at a press conference the
next day he said that flood con
trol on the Cape Fear during
the past 50 years would have
saved more than enough in dam
aged farm land and crops to have
built all the seven hydro-electric
plants Army engineers have rec
ommended for that stream.
Power company spokesmen
have pointed out that it is cheap
er to build steam generating
plants than it is to try to ope
rate hydro-electric plants. That
is true, and if power is the only
aim it would be foolish to build
dams for power.
But no one has denied the need
for flood control. If at the same
time, more power- can be manu
factured, it's foolish not to do
so.
But the private power com
panies don’t want the govern
ment to go into competition with
them by selling power.
Since the private companies
are given exclusive franchise in
their areas— and since private
power companies are not ex
pected \o foot the bills for flood
control—a simple solution would
fa* for the government to build
combination flood control-power
dams. Then sell the power only
to the private companies for dis
tribution. Included should be a
provision that this cheap power
Oe used first to expand services
to new areas and for reselling
to REAs. Any extra power then
would be available for use in
regular channels.
As head of the Edison Insti
tute (the private power com
panies’ organization) Carolina
Power and Light Company’s
Louis Sutton is in a fine position
to make such a suggestion and
see if he can’t get private power
and government pulling together.)
He probably can end a running
fight nq| only in North Carolina1
but als* throughout the rest of
the country.
And, incidentally, it would in
crease earnings of private pow
er companies.
The prison rehabilitation pro
gram is beginning to hit on all
eight cylinders.
1 he camp for young first of
fenders at Camp Butner has
proved so successful that a sim
ilar camp for Negra youths at
Goldsboro has been okayed by
the State Highway Commission. I
In addition, another such camp 1
for white youths is in the plan
ning stages for Morganton.
These camps are not placed at
state hospitals because of near
ness to psychiatric treatment,
but are so situated in order to
give the young first-timers work
on the hospital farms
~ The unfortunate fact about our
prison setup is that now some
eighty per cent «f all prison
ers are repeaters. If, through
the rehabilitation program, the
first-term youths can be sent
to society as good citizens its
long range effect will be to save
the State tremendous amounts of
money in operation of state pris
ons.
Warden Jw Crawford’s reha
bilitation and recreation program
at Central Prison is paying off
in an all-round better attitude
among prisoners there. The
sports and other recreation pro
grams are resulting in bettor
work and better dispositions
among the prisoners, with hope
that some of the repeaters will
not be coining back after their
current tour at Central.
Raleigh radio station WNAO
is planning a program from tha
prison, using all prison talent j
and featuring an unidentified
prisoner* story of his life on
each program. This program
will start next week. The pris
oners wanted to use “If I Had
the Wings of An An$el” as their
theme song, but the idea was Ve
toed by radio station official*.
The State Board of Conserva
tion and Development is plan
ning quite a “do” at its regular
fall meeting, October 23-26 at*
Charlotte. On the 24th the Board
will take a trip to Morrow Moun
tain State Park near Albemarle.
On the 25th, Buggs Island proj
ect officials and army engineers
will tell all about recreation
plans for the program, and on
the 26th a regular business ses
sion will be held
Agriculture Commissioner L.
Y “Stag” Ballentine is being
praised for his presentation of
Agriculture Department needs to
the Advisory Budget Commis
sion.
He used charts to demonstrate
the tremendous expansion of
work done by the department
during the last 21 months. Par
ticularly. gains were shown in
dairy and beef cattle programs,
seed testing and poultry grad
ing. j
“I didn’t go into a lot of fig- j
urea,”. Stag said. “I tried to get
across the growth in services
rendered by the department and
the need for expansion.”
From remarks made by mem
bers of the Budget Commission
and interested listeners, Ballen
tine apparently succeeded in do
ing an impressive job of presen
tation.
Even the moat conservative of
the conservatives now are con
vinced that the State will have
to have increased revenues to
keep up its services during the
next biennium.
And .about the only suggestion
of new money raising is sales
tax exemptions. I
But don't think the people with
exemptions are gonna take It
sittin’ down. Already the high
brass of merchants, automobile
and other organizations lire get
ting their ducks in a row to
fight such a proposal. They
probably won’t begin a concen
trated campaign until after the
November 7 election.
Did you know that practically
every school bus in the State
violates the law every school
day?
C. C. Brown, director of trans
portation for the State Depart
ment of Public Instruction, said
this was so. There’s an average
10% overload on each school bus,
he told the Advisory Budget
Commission.
That came out after D. Hiden
Ramsey. State School Board
member from Asheville, told the
Commission it was time for the
State to take over full responsi
bility for the schoo) bus system.
The school board wants to add
815 buses to the system at State
expense during the next bien
nium. That’s in addition to 1,
250 replacements. This would
provide a seat for every student
by the end of the biennium, elim
inate the dangerous overloading,
and practically eliminate second
runs.
State Superintendent of Public
Instruction Clyde Erwin has
troubles other than school con
solidation. He reported that the
boll weevil feasted on his Cleve -
land county farm’s cotton, bat
that he didn’t get enough out of
his crop insurance to pay for his
fertilizer.
--
E. L. Gavin <rf Sanford, Re
publican nominee sor U. S. Sen
ate, needs to do a little mission
ary work with at least one of his
hometown neighbors. CAPITAL
REPORTER passed through
Sanford recently and stopped at
a filling station. Turned out it
was the same one at which Gavin
traded — but the man on duty
didn’t even know that Lawyer
Gfcvin was running for the Sen
ate.
Kerr Scott wiH cut short his
attendance at the Southern Gov
ernor's Conference in South Car
olina November 26-28 so that he
can fly to Chicago for the Na
tional 4-H Club powwow.
As the only 4-H boy ever to
be elected governor of a state,
he will be an honor guest at the
Chicago session.
He was a member of the "Corn
Club,” when it was organized in
1910, and Mrs. Scott was a mem
ber of the "Tomato Club," the
girl*' organization.
Incidentally, the Governor al
iost caused a commotion in
owmtown Raleigh the other
ight. After endless hours of
udget hearings, he would up
Itting through a three-hour ses
sion with the National Federa
THE AUTO Ci-UE l?)
ADVISORY BUDGET
COMMISSION
“7
]
WM'riCOMee 4&WES.
tion of Music Clubs, the other
night. It wound up late, ana ne
decided to walk from the Sir
Walter Hotel to the mansion
just to work the kinks out of his
legs He had on his “two-cow
suit” (that’s what he said he
could have bought with the
money he had to spend on eve
ning clothes when he was inaug
urated) and started up a desert
ed Fayetteville Street.
-A police car spotted him,
slowed down for a look. Not sat
isfied, the cops circled the block
twice—giving the governor the
one-over—before apparently con
vincing themselves that Scott
wasn’t some midnight rambler
bent on mischief.
With Democratic party lead
ers beating the bushes for money
to run the campaign, here’s a
source suggested by one Capitol
Hill observer; nick each teacher
for $1 each of the pay boost
just voted them. That would
net some $26,000 for the cam
paign kitty.
State Public Instruction Con
troller Douglas reports a recent
check shows between five and
six hundred schools in the State
still without lights.
The Governor asked Douglas to
check again and let his office
know where they were.
“Maybe we can do something*
about it,” the Governor dead
panned, “now that we have elec
tricity running out our ears.”
Douglas noted that the request
ed budget also had a $16,000 item
for school telephones. “since
you’re expanding that program.”
On the House speakership race
front, supporters of Rep. Frank
Taylor of Goldsboro claim from
49 to 51 votes “in the bag.” Co
horts of Rep. Fred Royster of
Henderson report up to 67 votes
in the "sewed up” class. Un
biased observers don’t believe
either man has anything like
those claims pledged, but they
believe Taylor has a slight edge.
There’s talk that Wake County’s
Brantley Womble—who served in
the much-maligned 1983 session
—may be rung in as a “dark
horse.” Womble, a middle-of-the
roader who calls 'em as he sees
n and lets the chips faU where
they may, could wind up wield
ing the gavel in the 1951 House,
seme folks think.
Cousin C. Wayland Spruill,
veteran representative from Bertie
county, bought a Texas style hat
recently for Secretary of State
Thad Eure.
Cousin Wayland said he was
tired of seeing Thad in his beat
up summer straw. No. "Cux”
is sorry he did it. Seems as
though every friend he has is
peeved because he didn’t get in
on the bonnet-buying spree.
“It’s cost me five more hats
to keep some of my best friends."
Spruill moaned. “But I’ve given
notice that Fm through—the rest
of ’em will have to buy their!
own hats or go bareheaded.”
M. G Mann, general manager
of the Farmers Co-operative Ex
change and the N. C. Cottbn Co
operative, is quite a prophet.
In 1946 he predicted 35c cot
ton. It hit that. In 1947 he pre
dicted 40c cotton, and was laughed
•t—-but that, too, has come about.
Now he’s predicting 50c cotton
in 1961, but there are no snick
ers.
Red - headed, 70-odd-year-old
Hiss Nora Edmondson is tradi
ng again this year because of
RTautauga School Superintendent
talker’s help.
You probably remember Missfi
Nora. She’s the schoolmar’m
who talked herself out of a job
by getting the “Road of the 99
Fords” built in Watauga county.
She was teaching .a score or
more of kids in a one-room shack,
because they were isolated in the
Watauga hills.
When they built the road, the
kids were transferred to a con
solidated school — riding bases
instead of walking flv* to ten
miles—and Miss fora’s job was
gone.
Walker looked around. Down at
Ocracoke, Teacher Rondthaler—
•on of Moravian Bishop Bond
thaler of Winston-Salem — read
about Miss Nora. He and Walk
er got together.
Now Miss Nora, spry as »
cricket and refusing to retire far
teaching the Outer Banks kids.
She's pioneering again, now com
pleting the tour from mountainr
to seashore. Folks like Miss
Nora make “retirement at 65*
sound silly.
Fitzgibbons Boiler
Co., Inc.
1527 E. Fourth Sr.
Represented by
John F. Weeks
Tel. 5-3207
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
Compliments
of o Friend
of Labor
HARVEY H. STEWART
CONTRACTOR
1200 South Graham Street
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
■. . i i
SOUTHERN KNITWEAR MILLS, INC.
424 West Third Street
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
For Indigestion, Sour Stomach and Gas, Take
NA-CO TABLETS
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
SELWYN CUT RATE DRUG STORE
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Some of The Things We
Lend Monev on
Dim Mb
WttfL^a
Jewelry
Mtr’i Clothing
loots
Silverware
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Rifle. r
Pistol.
Trunks
Addins Machine.
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Kodaks
Typewriter*
ah
M^kt,y™to v?d*ntia,‘ When ,0 Need
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“ t9r b*r**h' *■ *•"«*«. w.tefce* Jewelry, do*WM. -
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*•1 EAST TRADE STREET
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