CuAPa Hill News Leader
Of Action Is Proposed For Southern Moderates
PiFTH YEAR, NO. 90
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1953
Perjury! Perjury! Perjury!
1
Perjury, in la^v, is “a willfully false state
ment of fact material to the issue made by
a witness under oath in a competent judicial
proceeding.” Perjury has been too much used
lately as a catch-all charge when others seem
ed unlikely to stand up. Indictment of a quiz
show producer in New York is the latest
example; he may be more a victim of perse
cution than a perjurer.
Let’s examine what the definition implies
and requires. Perjury isn’t mere lying. It
must be a lie “under oath in a competent
judical pioceeding.” Well, Albert Freedman,
the indicted TV man, had been sworn and
was before a grand jury, so that portion of
the requirements is met.
Also, perjury musuconcern “facts material
to the issue.” A witness could testify truth
fully about a case and then go on to say he
planned to spend the next day walking among
the craters of the moon. He wouldn’t be
guilty of perjury (though he ipight cast
doubt of his reliability) if his a/tivities the
next day didn’t bear on the case/
What was the issue before the grand jury?
Before all else, whether a law,had been vio
lated. We know of no stati^te that says a
show can’t be rehearsed, prepared for in ad
vance. That goes for quiz shows as well as
Broadway musicals. Perhaps it’s less than
highly ethical to coach a quiz contestant—if
this was done, which ha.sn’t been proved.
, But we can’t see, and ^ve haven’t been told,
how it could be against any existing, enact
ed law.
If it isn’t, there was no material issue be
fore the grand jury, and if there wasn’t per
jury was impossible.
The quiz show hullabaloo has been gaudy
but trivial up to now. Indicting a man for
perjury is far from trivial. It’s rotten wrong
if the prosecutor resorts to a prejury charge
because he can’t find a law that applies pre
cisely to what the man has or may have done
that the prosectuor disapproves.
Owen Lattimore was cleared of communist
collaboration but then, in MoCarthy-esque
days of persecution, was accused of perjury
for having denied doing what he’d been ab
solved of doing. This was a way of getting
around the double - jeopardy prohibition
against making a man stand trial twice for
the same offense. This use of the perjury
charge could keep a man forever in the
courts: each time he was found not guilty,
he’d be accused of having lied when he said
he was not guilty. Fortunately, the perjury
charge against Lattimore was knocked out,
but he’d been put to agonizing trouble, and
not everyone is sure to come to a happy end-
ms;.
Perjury is a specific, well defined offense.
It isn’t a wastebasket or a gimmick to let men
skirt the law who are sworn to enforce the
law. It seems to have been used that way in
the recent indictment in New York.
Ho-hum Holiday
No, we didn’t whoop and holler last week
for Veterans Day. fact is, we think it’s a low-
grade, second-rate holiday.
It made sense when it was Armistice Day.
Then some of those folks who won’t let well
enough, or even excellent, alone had to
change it.
What they called' their logic was that the
anniversary of the end of World War I was
outdated after World War II and the like.
If that’s right, we’ll have to say that on
Thanksgiving Day we are thankful only for
the blessings we enjoy on that day, not for
those of the rest of the year. The World War
I dat-t could stand as a fitting tirne to be
glad for the end of any and every piece of
inn.’rnational bloodshed.
Mind you, vve like veterans. But they al
ready had, and they still have', a day of their
own in Memorial Day. True, it’s especially
dedicated to those of them who made the
supreme sacrifice. At the same time, though,
the ones who risked dying are remembered
and honored. The two classes can’t be cut
clean apart in a nation’s gratitude. So now
veterans have two holidays, and the idea of
the end of fighting has none.
That’s the rvorst of it. Veterans Day is
to praise veterans and their deeds. Their
deeds were deeds of war. It begins to edge
toward praising war. Armistice Day was a day
to give thanks for the end of a certain war,
for the ends of all wars. It was a day to pray
that no neiv war would start. A day to honor
peace has been stricken off the calendar and
a superfluous day to honor fighting men has
taken its place.
\Ve call that a stupid swap.
In Praise Of A Melon
Two women in a local market paused and
eyed a long, bright-lined melon that was fa
miliar to neither of them. Finally they asked
a clerk in the store about it.
“Well,” said he, “it’s a melon, and it tastes
like a cucumber, and you eat it.” Unless the
Christmas rush frays nerves, this is likely to
They Won't Let Us Stop
Since we’re generally thoroughly pleased
with the results, we’d be willing to stop yak
king about the election, but others keep
coming up with remarks that call for com
ment. The song that a great many Republi
can apologists are now singing deserves some
critical attention.
Its theme is that the party wasn't beaten,
nor its principles, but that it unfortunately
happened to choose a weak set of candidates.
A Joseph Alsop cdlumn went all out with
this a while back.
The “open secret” of what happened has
long been known in horse-racing, Alsop said,
and it’s this: “You cannot expect to win many
races if almost all your entries are spavined,
string-halted or afflicted with glanders.”
“Wherever,” he goes on, “the Republican en
try was not visibly ready to be carted off to
the knacker’s yard, this exceptional animal
made a respectable showing or actually won
his race.” He mentions Rockefeller in New
York, of course, as Republicans must these
days when they seek a crumb of comfort.
Next, Alsop becomes downright vicious in
Thanks and Congrats
—To Mayor R. B. Todd of Carrboro for
his faith in the town, with every hope that
he is right in looking past present clouds to
ward a bright future for the community.
—To Paul Minor on appointment as the
second full-time Negro patrolman on the
Chapel Hill police force with James Coun
cil as his companion.
—To Clarence D. Jones for his work
through a difficult period as a member of the
Orange County Board of Education, from
which he now is forced to resign because of
his election to the Board of County Commiss
ioners.
—To Betty June Hayes, who ran for Reg
ister of Deeds and received, according to the
official count, the largest number of votes
any Orange County candidate got in the re
cent election—2,829.
Astounding: What pains some folks take
to find a parking meter with time left on it
or otherwise save a penny.
# # #
Sports followers talking footbowl.
# # ” #
Comforting thought while paying 1958
taxes: They’re not as high as they may be
next year.
(A speech , by H. Franklin
Williams, vice president of the
University of Miami, accepting
the Leonard L. Abess Award in
Human Relations from the Flor
ida Board of Anti-Defamation
League.)
In the past the moderate has
been a man in a secure position,
esteemed by the majority be
cause he has seemed neither to
advocate radical change nor to
refuse all possibility of change.
In the .Anglo-Saxon tradition
where freedon, has grown from
precedent to precedent, the
moderate has had wide support
because he stood for legality and
conformity.
He has been one of many. He
has not had to sing alone, but has
enjoyed the comforting sound of
a chorus of voices around him,
to which he can happily contrib
ute his song.
^lo Longer
This happy .situation no longer
exists, because now and here in
the South the stand for modera
tion has become controversial. In
these troubled times it has even
become controversial to stand
for respect of the law. And this
.concerns me personally becaus'',
as a member of the administra
tion of the University of Miami,
I have the responsibility to make
it clear that in what I have to
say today I speak for myself
alone, not for the University of
Miami nor for any other organi
zation of which I am a member.
To such a pass have we come to
day.
The moderate in America sees
our society as based on the funda
mental moral principle that the
individual personality, the indi
vidual freedom of choice, the de
velopment of the individual char
acter are the basic purposes of a
moral society. He has moved
readily to the application of this
principle in the political doctrine
of equality before the law.
In the last few years the
thoughtful moderate has had to
face the question of race relations
and has found himself forced to
accept the position taken by the
Supreme Court as essential if
we are to have a moral society.
Conformist At Heart
Now the moderate is essential
ly a conformi.st, a man who de-
VValt PartyrniUer—York Gazette k; Daily
sires to respect and obey the
law. Having heard the Supreme
Court jstate the law in a fashion
which liis conscience cannot re
fute,, he, desires to see that law
applied arid''enforced. But, being
a conformist, he also believes in
order. Ail his past experience has
led him to believe that adherence
to the law. arid moral principles
will ensure order.
Now he is told that the pro
posed acceptance of law will in
vite disorder. He seems to be
forced to choo.se between two ex-
treiries, both repugnant to him.
He is told that he can have prin
ciple without order or that he
can have order without principle.
This is his dilemma.
Moderates have reacted in dif
ferent ways. Most of the moder
ates have fallen silent and become
indecisive. They look for leaders
who will embody the principles
of law and order which they re
spect and find none. They have
no rallying point.
Others have heard the state
ment, “I am ready to accept de
segregation of the schools, but It
is impossible_t.i carry it through.”
This attitude is common on boards
of trustees and school boards. I
have wondered Whether the mod
erates should not arrange to In
terview members of such boards
separately, and then confront
them in full meeting with their
several statements.
Some have tried to cover con
formity with local customs, in
violation of their principles, by
quibbles about the state law as in
conflict with the Supreme Court
decision, or by saying we must
wait for a court decision. Since
when have we Americans had to
wait for a court decision when
the law is clear?
Some who call themselves mod
erates have stood for delay with
out proposing any steps in the
direction of acceptance of the law.
This attitude is all too common,
particularly among those holding
elected offices in this state.
Some, in the name of modera
tion, have even yielded ground
out of caution. Thefe are, for
example, a number of Southern
cities in which the Urban League
has been dropped from the Com
munity Chest or United Fund be
cause it stands clearly for de
segregation.
Position Suggested
I would like to suggest that
there is a position for i.ie mod
erates that comes much closer
than; any of the stands which I
have outlined to satisfying both
demands of their consciences, the
demand for law and principles,
and the demand for order.
It is a position of movement.
This position is a; difficult one,
one which sometimes calls for
courage, and, in a vyorld of ex
tremists may irivolve some person
al risk to the person who ex
presses it. It has, however, pow
erful backing in those parts of
the Supreme Court’s decision
which are often fOrgotten, the
parts which admit the possibility
of local variation in the speed
with which t'ne decision is to be
carried out.
Relying on that concept, the
moderate can insist that we be
gin action at once. If conditions
forbid action, we can gt least
plan for it. We must never sit
down and wait for conditions to
change, but must take an initia
tive to bring about the change.
Must Take Lead
This position means now in the
South that the moderate cannot
look around for a leader to follow
but must himself take a position
of leadership, on the assumption
that because his position is in
accord with the underlying prin
ciples on which our government
is based, others will eventually
follow and rally to him. In this
fashion he can begin to move out
of his dilema. It may take a long
time to reach the objective and
to fully enjoy both law and or
der. But if he does not forget
the objective, he can satisfy his
conscience by striving toward it.
It may be useful to spell out
the meaning of this position of
motion for the individual man
who regards himself as a moder
ate. First of ail, he must cling to
his fundamental beliefs. He must
hold to the principle that if our
society is to be good it must give
respect for every individual, that
it must offer every individual
freedom before the 1^ and free
dom of opportunity. |
Then he must satisfy himself
that his adherence to this prin
ciple ana its expression i
law as set down by the S
Court is compatible witl-
because the court has rei
the necessity for gradual 1
ment of school desegregi
But Not Passively
The moderate must n
this view passively and'
himself. He must state h‘
and must believe that s;
view is based on princip:
are others who will holdi
view. ‘ij
I can think of no betf
tration and encourageiHi
this action than the
of last year’s winner Jl:
award. Representative:I
Orr. His clear stand tu(
not to be political sulc
many people said it wouk
spoke at a time when he
for re-election. He did ii
the election, but was retl
office.
Another thing which f
erate must do is to seek:
ganizations of like-mind,
vididuals, organizations d:
both to law and to th
tenance of order. If he 1
find such organizations, 1
responsibility to create!
This position which I;
posing for the moderate 1
a deep-seated and almos'
faith in our free system;
ernment and society. No :
take this stand unless he'
as we all must believe, th
society is based on right
Will Not Stand Ala:
If a man holds to what;
he will not stand alone,
at the very heart of our:
If any one of us felt that
along for right, he could
himself what value then
his vote, one among ;
But our system is hasec
idea that when we take^
or cast a vote conscie
millions will be doing fc
thing and that the voice
be a single one, but onei
a vast chorus.
The times call for the r
now to sing a solo even
not sure that he can c;
tune, confident in the be
before long his fellow
will, join in the song of:
"So Long, lt"s Been Good To Know Ya" a Reader-s sentences
'iHi;
On The Tor Heel Strand
stand as the worst bit of salesmanhip of 1958.
One of the shoppers nervily bought a spec
imen, anyway. This is a good melon, and you
eat it with relish. It tastes, really, like a hon-
eydew with the lemon juice built in. If an
apathetic clerk steered anyone else away,
here’s justice to the Christmas melon.
IlfiBMlfi
- / CAf-t/AnSrS') -f a
^ ■ 'I
r
THE OUTER BANKS OF
NORTH CAROLINA: 1584-1958.
By David Stick. The UNC Press,
Chapel Hill. 352 pages. $6:
his description of the Massachusetts ticket,
saying Republicans in that State seem to have
picked candidates “by searching under stones,
tracking down creatures that were making
odd noises in the wall and other macabre ex
periments in natural history.”
Well, that’s a Republican talking about
Republicans, so let it stand, though the re-
?'ction would have been interesting to con
noisseurs of apoplexy if a Democrat had said
the same in the campaign.
First, we submit that a day or so after the
election is a sorry time to find out that most
of your candidates are “obviously likely to
repel the maximum number of voters,” to
quote Alsop again.
Second, let it be noted that many of the
losers held the offices for which they ran,
and were after re-election. They’d won be
fore, and according to Alsop must have
changed—in two years in the cases of mem
bers of the House—from voters’ pets to re-
plusive monstrosities.
Third, though we can’t call the Republi
cans the wisest politician^ in all recorded
time, we don’t believe they were quite so
dumb as to beat the bushes all over the na
tion for candidates with built-in guarantees
of failure.
As an excuse, the loathsome-candidate
cha'iit may do about as well as any. The ex
planation is simpler: The Republicans nom
inated Republicans, and that made those
candidates loathsome to voters in most places
j^fgAHOKt
Lee. Madden for The News Leader
Pilfering Is Postal Peril
For game birds, the darkest hour is likely
to be just after the dawn.
Thefts of mail from household
ers’ mailboxes again is at the top
of the list of postal crimes. Post
master General Arthur E. Sum-
merfield has announced.
Chief Postal Inspector David H.
Stephens reported to Mr. Sum-
merfield that postal inspectors
caused 7,495 arrests for mail
crimes in the 1958 fiscal year.
A total of 7,401 convictions—
98.7 per cent—were obtained in
cases taken to trial.
Postal statutes most often vio
lated last fiscal year were those
involving thefts from mail recept
acles, particularly home mail
boxes. There were 3,835 arrests
in this category in fiscal 1958,
compared with 3,287 the previous
fiscal year.
Mr. Stephens’ report revealed
growing numbers of criminals are
victimizing householders in thefts
from the home boxes.
Those who receive regular gov
ernment allotment or pension
checks are often victimized, and
their checks stolen, forged and
cashed. Ultimately, they get their
money, but there are often de
lays which involve hardship.
Iri addition to home mailbox
thefts, Mr. Stephens’ report not
ed increases in mail frauds. At
the top of the “best seller” list in
the mail fraud fields, he noted,
are such products as “miracle ’
weight reducers, “bee jelly” sup
posed to have magical curatiye
powers, fake cancer cures and
similar worthless nostrums.
A total of 351 mail fraud ar
rests were brought about by in
spectors in the 1958 fiscal year.
Involved in these 351 arrests
alone, Mr. Stephens estimated,
were fraud schemes which bilked
the public ot an estimated $11,-
408,000.—The Postmasters Advo
cate - ;
David Stick has lived on North
Carolina’s Outer Banks since he
was 9 years old, and has engaged
in a constant love affair with the
fascinating region, of which this
book is a britriming token.
He has gathered history, lore
and facts of three and three-
quarters centuries; if a main fault
in his love letter must be picked,
it is that he has so much infor
mation to present that sometimes
it gets in the way of free-flowing
narrative. This is in spite of
the fact that part of the data he
gathered spilled over into a prev
ious, separate volume, “Grave
yard of the Atlantic.”
Europeans approaching the
newly found continent came early
to this shore-guarding strand,
and it was here that first English
attempts at settling took place,
including the famous planting of
the Lost Colony.
"Tales of war—the Banks were
of strategic importance in the
Revolution and when the States
fought; of violence—by men like
the pirates who hid there, among
them Blackbeard who was track
ed to his hideaway and killed,
and by the elements that made
Hatteras and places nearby fear
ful to sailors; of industry, not
ably fishery with whales and at
one time porpoises amor
regular prey; of calm a;
even to the point of iS(
all these center around tl
and make sections of tl
World history can nev-
gard that it was on th
that the Wright Brothers
mankind the way to b(
borne.
All this and more fin;
in this record, including
riotes on almost every B:
tlement.
Admirable illustra
Frank Stick add much
book’s appeal.
As the Banks attract n
more tourists, which seei
their new destined way
this book will serve ex
as a guide, the more sc
complete index.—Dan A
. Rush...
BY DAN ANDERSON
What He Say?
(Special for The News Leader)
My bad luck made me oversleep
Just on the day I had to keep
A' most important business date
For which I didn’t dare be late.
As though at an electric shock
I leapt from bed and raced the
clock.
Omitted shaving—didn’t care
For looks so much as getting
there—
Decided I’d no time to eat,
Broke speed laws over every
street.
And then upstairs for five flights
flew.
Arriving just when I was due—
And heard a secretary say,
“I’m sorry, but there’s some delay.
Just have a seat, please, and I
know
He’ll see you in an hour or so.”
Here is an exact quotation front
President Eisenhower, according
to the official transcript of a re
cent press conference:
Every single day there are new
and tough decisions that have to
be made within a foreign policy,
but if you go back to 1947 and see
the statements that are made
about opposing the territorial ex
pansion of communism by force,
when you go back and see what
our policy went into in the effort
to develop collective security,
mutual aid, technical assistance,
that kind of thing that, well, at
least will help to make the Free
World stronger collectively and
each individual nation as opposed
to communism, that when you
come down to it are the basic
parts of the policy.
Chapel Hiu NewsLi
Published every Monda
Thursday by the News
Company, Inc.
Mailing Address:
Box 749
Chapel Hill, N. C
Street Address: 311 E. M
Carrboro
Telephone: 8-444
Roland Giduz
Jim Jones
Managing
Dan Anderson Edit Page
Leo J. Murphy M
E. J. Hamlin Busine
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BY CARRIER: $ .10 1
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