ustxtxb_obs_1955_03_07_50_00003-00000_000.pdf

March 7, 1955 THE TEXAS OBSERVER ‘CONSPIRACY’ Secure the Psychiatrist Page 3 AUSTIN In these parlous \(if that’s the of us to be security conscious, ever alert for the Commie, the pinko, the dirty Red and the PhD in economics. You can’t be too safe these days, you see, particularly with those Democrats controlling Congress again. We know of no one more twitchy and nervous concerning the danger within than a friend of ours who is a working newspaperman. He is a cautious and discreet fellow. He made one mistake once, but is now back on the straight and narrow. Some years ago he voted for a candidate whom fashionable people in those days described as a little man in a high place. He has not voted since then. He is now as security conscious as the next guy, but he thinks things may be getting slightly out of hand. That Tired and Flowered Again By PAUL HOLCOMB Written for The Texas Observer AUSTIN My wife and I recently returned from a trip through Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, an area which is served by the TVA. Having spent the summer of 1912 in Kentucky and Tennespossessed of fairly good memory, I was able to note the changes which have developed in the people, as well as in the land and general prosperity of the area since 1912. Having lived in Texas since 1915, I am aware of the revolutionary changes that have taken place in Texas within the past forty years, so the mere fact that Kentucky and Tennessee has changed is to be expected. But the reasons for the changes in Texas, which has such matchless mineral resources, and the changes in Kentucky and Tennessee, which were dependent on what the natives called “tired and worn out land” for their livelihood, are vastly different. It is possible that the discovery of oil, gas, sulphur, and other natural resources would have brought a degree of change and even some . prosperity to Texas. But none of these things have come to Kentucky or Tennessee. But “The New Deal” developed the great water resources of these states and has brought them a degree of prosperity which is little short of miraculous. Their land has doubled in productivity, and the prices for their products have more than doubled. You would think that the people who have received these benefits would appreciate their blessings. But the people I heard talking were grumbling about “government waste, government spending, government regulations” and wailing piteously about their income taxes. One basic fault of the New Deal was that it compromised with the entrenched plunderers, such as big tobacco processors and warehouse dealers, and they are still riding “the gravy train” and also leading the cacophony of wailing complainers and gloom and doom prophets. ‘Twas ever thus. When I visited Kentucky and Tennessee in 1912, the farmers were just beginning to emerge from the “one horse double shovel era.” There were weighty discussions over the comparative value of farming with the “two horse walking cultivator” and the old reliable “double-shovel,” with most farmers feeling that “The old ways are the best.” During that summer, I saw one or maybe two of the more reckless farmers using a “twohorse riding cultivator,” but the concensus of opinion was that these “radicals” were headed for bankruptcy. Having grown up on a Kansas farm, where most of the farming was done with four horses and riding tools, I found it the part of wisdom to keep out of these arguments. As a case in point he cites the visit to his desk this past week of a sweet old lady who wanted to talk to him about the “hospital situation.” His newspaper has recently completed a series of articles on the need for improving the state hospitals. He thought he knew the type: someone wanting to congratulate the newspaper for the job and inquire as to what she could do about it. But he was mistaken. This lady wanted to inform the reporterand a great many more people, if possiblethat the state hospitals need, if anything, to be closed up tight, the patients sent home, and the psychiatrists thrown in jail. She went into great detail describing what she called the “conspiracy” to have everybody cornmitted to some institution. She said she had just come from a special committee hearing on a bill which would do away with the jury trial for insanity cases. “The Worn Out Land With New Deal Today most of the farming is done with tractors and other modern farming implements. But some of the “side-hill farms” are so steep that nothing but a surefooted horse or mule could move without tipping over. There are some horses still in use, but most of the crops are planted and harvested with modern tools. Rural electrification has truly revolutionized farm life in Kentucky and Tennessee, but still the young people are leaving the farms. Most of the people actually making their living from farming are beyond middle age, and many of them are really old. The great upsurge in industrialization has stripped the farms of the South of young people. The cities and larger towns are increasing in population, while the rural sections have only the older people left. What will happen when these older people are gone remains to be seen. As industrialization increases in Texas, the same situation will develop here. In fact, there are sections where this condition already exists. In 1912 the rural sections of Kentucky and Tennessee had few roads worthy of the name. There were some “turn-pikes” and toll roads, but the country roads were terrible. Today there are hundreds of miles of hard surfaced roads which reach most of the rural communities. There are so many big hills and rough country that their country roads are mostly narrow and crooked. They are passable allweather roads, but they do not measure up to Texas standards of country road construction. The Tennessee Legislature is in session and is faced with the problem of raising a huge amount of extra money for their public school system. It was very similar to the situation in Texas, with similar efforts being made by the newspapers to divert the public mind from the taxation issues. The murder of the Attorney General-elect in Alabama is being played up by the newspapers of Tennessee, while they slip over a fine new crop of additional sales taxes. This is the standard technique and it works in Tennessee just as they are trying to put it over in Texas. We saw Lincoln’s birthplace and the old home where he got his start in life, they say. We also visited “The Old Kentucky Home” near Bardsville, where Stephen Foster is said to have written many of his most famous songs. The family graveyard was near the house and we were told that Stephen Foster’s uncle, Judge John Rowan, was the subject of “Massa’s in the Cold, Cold Ground.” The grave is still there, and while we did not see any “Ivy creepin’ o’er t h e grassy mound,” we can guarantee that the ground was cold or even colder the day we were there. We saw a lot of interesting things on our trip but were glad to get back to Texas. ‘ trial is good,” she said. “It protects the patients. If we leave it up to these Jewish psychiatrists, they’ll throw everybody they can in the insane asylum,” she said. The reporter said he had a few friends who were of the Jewish faith, but none of them psychiatrists. They are a sneaky bunch, said the lady. They change their names to Smith or Jones, but you can still spot them when they start spouting their Communist ideas. The Jews, she said, control the American Psychiatric Association, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Government of California, and the Social Security branch of the Federal Government. “They are ruthless,” she said, “and now they’re trying to come into Texas with all this immoral, indecent talk about people needing treatment for mental illness.” The little lady said Jews, Jewish psychiatrists, Communists and “leftwingers” were responsible for a recent federal report which stated that one out of every 13 persons in the US needs treatment for mental illness. The reporter told the woman that the Texas Research League had recently come out with similar figures, stating that one out of every nine Texans now living would need treatment for mental illness some , time in his life. “Then they’ve already infiltrated!” said the lady. “The Jews and the Communists and those awful psychiatrists are already in Texas, working to destroy our way of life.” The reporter replied that the Texas Research League was a nonpartisan organization, very well thought of, a public service agency whose directors include some of the most conservative and-of distinguished citizens in the state. “How can you say that when they say one out of every 13 persons is crazy?” said the woman. “The league didn’t say that exactly,” said the reporter, “but I’ll accept their findings when there’s nothing else to go on.” “You would, would you?” said the lady. “Then you believe that one out of every 13 …” “Yes, said the reporter. “And since talking to you I’m …” “Then you’re one of them!” said the lady, leaping to her feet. “What else can you go on,” said the reporter. “They’ve got the figures right …” “You can use common sense,” she said. “Haven’t you got any good old common sense? Do you believe these immoral things?” The reporter, who up to this point had never had a thought but that it was moral, shifted in his seat and tried to think of some common, immoral things to tell the lady. “You’re hopeless,” she said. “They got you. You’ve been brainwashed.” And with that she turned and departed. FRANKLY SPEAKING By FRANKLIN JONES Written for The Texas Observer MARSHALL The chairman of Gov. Shivers’ State Industrial Commission, C. E. Fulgham, made news Dec. 29, 1953. His group had not long since completed its all-out hunt for Communists in the Texas Labor Unions. The press quoted him as saying that 41. . . high members of the Cornumnist Party” were holding meetings in Texas, and that dozens of known Communists were under observation by law enforcement agencies in the State. Just why the “known Communists” have not been prosecuted and jailed remains a State Secret. The chief witness before the Commission was Harvey Matusow, imported \(expenses paid, we may by our professional patriots as the hero of the hour. A bitter political canard arose from these doings, The Actual Truth To the Editor: Last week you printed a letter from John Lee Smith to the effect that block deals got the “green light” from John Ben Shepperd. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. Such sales were considered by the Legislature which enacted the first Veterans’ Land Act and that Legislature specifically authorized groups of veterans to go together to purchase land under the Program. A large number of block sales were finally completed under the original Board \(before Shepperd multiple sales included Rio Val in. 1951 and Wintergarden and T. J. McLarty in 1952. When Shepperd became the junior member of the Board in 1953, this group of block sales had been finally completed. Board procedure remained exactly the same as they had been under prior administrations. JOHN DAVENPORT \(Assistant Attorney Austin Every Texan To the Editor: I wish every Texan would subscribe to The Texas Observer and learn the truth about what is going on in Austin. You are to be commended for printing the truth no matter whom it may affect. What this country needs is more of the type newspapers you priht and less big-city Republican sheets. My opinions, of course, are not necessarily those of this newspaper. BILL SPEAKE Sports Editor, Athens Review Nuthin’ Yet To the Editor: Your article on Ken Towery and Wiley Cheatham in your Feb. 14 issue was fine. A lot of us down here would like to predict that “you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.” D. C. DeW= Yorktown Shivers Not Dense To the Editor: …. The big $50 plate dinner … in Dallas honoring Allan. Shivers on March 2 under the farcical name “Democratic” is nauseating to people who are sincere and honest. We presume they think this affair will divert the attention of Texas people from the land scandal through which all good Texas liberals were painted a glaring red by the Shiverites in 1954. A little more than a year has passed. January 28, 1955, Matusow filed an affidavit in El Paso that he gave “deliberately false” testimony against Clinton Jencks, once president of Local 870 Intl. Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers. Federal Judge Thomason granted Jencks a new trial Feb. 1. sow has invoked the Fifth Arriendment to avoid stating whether he testified truthfully before the Fulgham Commission. Public figures as widely separated as Joseph McCarthy and Joseph Alsop suspect Matusow’s entire performance as being carefully stagemanaged by the Communists. If they are right, Mr. Fulgham’s group were made ,dupes of a communist plot. They were harboring an active communist who was falsely accusing others. As search now under investigation, but we believe they are guessing wrong …. Governor Shivers is not so dense that he was unaware of the cesspool of corruption going on right under his nose …. M. M. JOHNSON Dallas The Hog Feed To the Editor: The U. S. Justice Department has just ordered the dismissal of the indictments against five grain dealers and elevator operators in Galveston, Texas. These men were charged with mixing Canadian wheat which was designated as fit only fol. “hog-feed” with goodgrade U.S. owned first class wheat. The Canadian wheat was graded as unfit for human consumption but was stored in the Galveston Elevator B, as was the Governmentowned wheat. These five men were charged with having defrauded the U.S. Government of $1,700,000 …. The indictments against the Galveston. men were issued on June 10, 1954, and were dismissed on Feb. 25, 1955. One may understand this peculiar incident better when it is learned that Governor Allan Shivers … had lunch with President Eisenhower on Jan. 25, 1955. It was reported that they discussed the indictments against these Texas elevator operators. But in order to understand this case better, it should be remem bered that one of those men in dicted was a very important man, a Mr. E. H. Thornton, Sr., whose son is Governor Shivers’s Highway Commissioner and who also man aged the Governor’s 1954 election Mr. Thornton, Sr., was manager of the Galveston Elevator B and was the star witness before the Senate Investigation Committee. The rec ords show that Mr. Thornton, Sr., boasted of how he gave orders to “slug” as many ships as possible.