ustxtxb_obs_1955_05_02_50_00005-00000_000.pdf

Page 4

by

Observer Reporter at Work Called “Stockholder Profit Sharing Plan”, and available only to ICT Group stockholders, this plan offers: 1.INCOME-PRODUCING INVESTMENT 2.SAVINGS BANK SECURITY 3.LIFE INSURANCE PROTECTION All who participate in the Stockholder Profit Sharing Plan create profit for themselves in two ways: 1.FROM CASH DIVIDENDS PAID ON UNITS OF THE PLAN 2.AS STOCKHOLDERS IN ICT IN-SURANCE COMPANY OR ICT DIS-COUNT CORPORATION, YOU SHARE IN THE PROFITS MADE BY ICT LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. YARBOROUGH DENOUNCES HARMONY SANS HONOR BRANNAN SAYS By the Observer Staff DALLAS The responsibility for any Administration’s conduct, Charles F. Brannan said last week, lies with AF the country’s chief executive. And it doesn’t bother Brannan in the least if some persons are reluctant to blame Eisenhower for the “repeated failures” of his Administration. “Our very form of government and our Constitution,” he said, “blame it on him for us. You don’t hare to.” Brannan, former Secretary of Agriculture under the Truman Administration, spoke at a luncheon meeting of the Texas Democratic Women’s Committee in the Baker Hotel. A crowd of more than 500 filled the terrace room of the Baker for the address. “For some reason,” he declared, “every time something goes wrong it’s Benson’s fault or Wilson’s fault or Dulles’s fault. They’re the ones who do these terrible thingsnot the President. “Don’t believe people who tell you Eisenhower was out playing golf and didn’t know about what happened … Eisenhower knows about every move made in his Administration before the move is made … If Benson left his office tomorrow we’d have the very same policies carried out by another secretary of agriculture.” Brannan came down hardest on GOP farm policies. Accusing Eisenhower of attempting to “liquidate” the farm program built up by 20 years of Democratic rule, he said: “I remember when Henry Wallace was criticized for allegedly plowing under the little pigs … But I never heard of the Democratic Party plowing under a million American farmers.” He said farm income has dropped 13 per cent after two years of Republican Administration and noted that the Agriculture Department predicts another five per cent slump this year. “I challenge anyone to point out where the food costs have dropped as a result of decreasing farm income,” he said. He said the GOP passed a “rich man’s tax bill” and refused to pass a $20 income tax deduction for the little people. “Just 20 lousy dollars, and they said it would wreck the economy and unbalance the budget!” he said. He said he wasn’t going into “Dixon-Yates, federal aid to education and the veterans land programs … Your own GovernOr is an expert on such things as veterans land deals anyway.” He predicted a Democratic sweep in 1956despite the pollsters’ predictions \(“They don’t talk to the Eisenhower Democrats next year “will be as hard to find as Eskimos in Bikini bathing suits.” At a business meeting, the women’s committee ‘elected Mrs. Jud Collier, Mumford, president; Mrs. John F. Weinzierl, Riverside, secretary; and Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham, New Waverly, treasurer. A subscription campaign for The Texas Observer was made the group’s number one project for the year. Plans were laid for a series of rural-urban conferences. Page 5 May 2, 1955 THE TEXAS OBSERVER Stale Advocates REA Limitation AUSTIN The State of Texas, through the Attorney General’s office, now officially maintains that rural electrification co-ops “will have fulfilled their purpose of serving strictly rural areas” when communities they serve reach 1,500 popu. lation. If the State is upheld in the Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative case, co-ops would be forbidden to serve areas with more than 1,500 inhabitants. Assistant Ait t o r n e y General William W. Guild maintained last week on behalf of Attorney General John Ben Shepperd that ‘the 1937 REA law makes it unlawful for such co-ops to operate in towns over that size. Texas Electric Co-operatives spokesmen have accused Shepperd of pushing a suit that would terminate rural electrification in Texas. Joining the argument with Guild at last week’s Austin hearing of the State’s case, Upshur attorney William Brown said rural co-ops have a right to compete “on an equal basis” with private utilities in the fringes of towns and cities. E. M. Fultim of Gilmer, another Upshur attorney, warned that under the state’s interpretation of the law, it is that it would be economically unfeasible for the coops to operate anywhere in Texas. Special to The Texas Observer HOUSTON The return of Allan Shivers to the Democratic Party would “weaken and disgrace” it, Ralph Yarborough told the Harris County Demop -.ats here last week. Calling the Governor “the architect of :treason in the Democratic Party of Texas,” Yarborough said that politicians who welcome Shivers backin a position of management or influence “are politicians who have lost their souls.” “I am for harmony, but not at the expense of honor,” he said. “John Ben Shepperd has been running all over the state suing everybody that helped him squander the veterans’ land fund,” Yarborough said of the land scandals. Calling attention to the law of trust he said that if three people are charged with the execution of a will and two are too busy to do the work and delegate it to the third person, all three are equally liable at law for anything going wrong. Yarborough also hit hard al what he called “the failure of the big Republican daily press in the big ‘cities of Texas to give the people of Texas the truth about any situation that does not reflect credit on the corrupt political machine in power in Texas.” He cited press references to the Veterans’ Land Board as “an exoficio board” as an example. “It simply isn’t true,” he objected, say ing that an ex-oficio member of a Board is a member by virtue of his office “when no power is expressly conferred upon the individual.” The Board is a constitutional one. “The playboy jaunts and ribboncuttings of the Governor and the Attorney General do not excuse them from any failure of theirs to attend the meetings … which they now claim they didn’t, attend,” he said. He referred in passing to the 1954 campaign, in which, he said, a sum “conservatively estimated by five nationally known political writers and newscasters” at more than $10 million was spent to keep Shivers in control by a campaign of “falsehood, hate, bigotry, fear, and smear.” His speech brought to a close a three-week conference on “Politics for Democrats” sponsored by the Harris County Democratic Women. “BOW” WILLIAMS Automobile and General Insurance Repitesents ICT Insurance Co. The Company owned by Union Members Ph. 2-0545 624 Lamar Austin “Let’s Abolish the Poll Tax” Ike’s Responsible A vitally important message to all ICT Group stockholders YOU ARE ENTITLED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NEWThat Barefoot Bo y . left front corner of the center aisle, as close to the main mike as almost every strategist or would-be strategist in the House. He thinks” the State should spend more money rehabilitating the people in the mental hospitals. He favors federal aid for roads, agriculture, and river developments, but opposes it now for education on grounds of the likelihood of “federal control.” He sponsored a resolution passed last session instructing Speaker Reuben Senterfitt to appoint a committee to study the tax structure, but Senterfitt never got around to it. Sanders says he would favor a broad-based manufacturers’ tax if it was soundly drawn. He is optimistic about ‘ Texas, thinks it will be like New York in a decade or two. Ask him what he worries about most and he says: “Sometimes I think the people don’t pay any attention to state problems. With a lot of them a thing’s black or white. In legislation it’s always in between. There are usually things in every bill you like, and things you don’t like.” Whose fault is this indifference? One day this reporter slouched onto the House floor and stopped behind the brass rail at the back to talk to Barefoot. While I was saying something, his eye roved down to my shoes. “Why don’t you get your shoes shined?” he asked. I smiled defensively. “Allright, I will.” “You really should, yoil know,” he said. A few days later I did get a shoe shine, and a few days later still I saw him again on the House floor. “I got a shine a few days ago, but I couldn’t get by in time to show it to you,” I said. He looked down at my shoes and laughed. guess those shoes won’t hold much of a shine anyway, will they?” “No, guess not,” I said. Later, as I was buying a new pair of shoes, I remembered the day he won the student presidency. When the students started for class that election morning, they found little bare feet painted on the sidewalks all around the edge of the campusall pointing toward the polls. It was the best political gimmick I ever heard of. He’s come a long way, Barefoot has. “I think it’s the people’s ,fault,” he says. RD STOCKHOLDER PROFIT SHARING PLAN After many months of hard work and careful study, The ICT Life Insurance Company is ready to announce an exclusive personal benefit plan for ICT Group stockholders only! If you are an ICT Group stockholder, Home Office Representatives will soon be calling on you to fully explain your rights under the Plan and show you how to exercise them. For your own benefit and profit, give these Representatives an opportunity to point out the many exclusive advantages the Plan offers. Many of you may want to have the Plan explained in detail to you before a Home Office Representative has the chance to contact you personally. Below is a coupon to be filled out and mailed if you would like to have complete facts on the Plan as soon as possible. REMEMBER, STOCKHOLDER PROFIT SHARING PLAN IS FOR ICT STOCKHOLDERS ONLY! ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION Name Street Address City and State The Texas Observer, one year $4.00 Gentlemen: I understand the Stockholder Profit Sharing Plan offers me as an ICT Group stockholder many exclusive,unprecedented benefits. I want to be among the first ICT stockholders to hear all about the Plan and receive my Allotment Certificate. So, please have a Home Office Representative call on me as soon as possible. Name Address City State . IT, mill LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY T GROUP eu1t3ING I BETUR ILIfilCI Cala 401 ICT Building, Dallas