ustxtxb_obs_1955_06_27_50_00004-00000_000.pdf

01′ Hound Dawg is happy to announce that as of July 4, the Observer is declaring its independence from filthy greenbacks by doing its best to get so many they won’t mean nothin’. We launch a statewide circulation campaign that day. Here in the office, we will celebrate by breaking a beer bottle over the head of the original sketch of 01′ Hound Dawg. If he bites back, we’ll be on the road. tions. If you don’t want to help, all we ask is a piece of your shirt so we can set 01′ Hound Dawg on the trail. The Texas Observer Address Drawer F, Capitol Station, Austin, Texas Name , Street Address City and State The Texas Observer, one year _ $4.00 Morrow Hits Shivers, Won’t Resign Rayburn would be agreeable to a seating of the Texas delegation in 1956.” Morrow said. Shivers made a “brave and forthright” declaration on March 2 that he would not “bend his knee” to any political chairman or any person temporarily in high political position. “He made that speech just about one hour after he had urged me to resign the position of national committeeman so that Mr. Rayburn would be agreeable to a seating of the Texas delegation in 1956.” Presumably, by “the Texas delegation,” Morrow referred to a conservative Texas delegation. Democratic National Chairman Paul Butler said in Houston on his recent Texas tour that he told Shivers at the now-famous “pantry conference” that the “new national Porter Woos the Right Wing minds have been “freshly snubbed and told again they are not wanted in their own party by a Democratic national spokesman who came all the way to Texas to do it.” It seems, said Porter, that Butler was sent to Texas to tell conservatives “to get ready to vote blindly for a presidential nominee in whose selection they will have had no choice whatever.” He said the choice is now between Adlai Stevenson, Governor Soapy Williams of Michigan, and Governor Averell Harriman of New York. “What needs now to be done,” Porter asked the GOP faithful gathered in Austin, “to convince these conservative Texas Democrats that their most effective means of expression is through a real two-party system?” He said the conservative Democrats will argue that if they leave the party, they will be handing it over to the liberals”that the Fair Dealers are going to take over.” warned, however, that “some thing a lot worse than the loyalists getting control of the Democratic Party machinery will happen unless we protect sound government is loyal, liberal, and a big backer in recent years of Ralph Yarborough. Wilson is not certain about the conservative backing now, particularly since his appearance at the Butler dinner in Dallas. He possibly hopes to tap the borderline springs of conservatism, moderation, and liberalism in vote-heavy Dallas during some future campaign. The Open Mind On party loyalty, he has the middle-road pitch down pat. “I don’t believe in a splinter party system,” he says. “There are certain amounts of traditional membership which give both parties stability, but a party is not the exponent of a particular economic viewpoint. It’s a forum where , diverse viewpoints may reach a compromise.” Wilson, of course, fancies himself a man fit for such a compromise in 1956. For one thing, he’s not militantly anti or pro anything. “I have tried to discipline myself \(while sitting on the Supreme he said. “You’ve got to have an open mind; it’s just a matter of mental discipline. So much of what people call political principles are simply partisan issues. That’s where emotions are involved, and I don’t believe in emotional politics.” Developing this thought, he adds that political campaigns should be conducted on an impersonal basis, “and the issues joined in such a fashion that people generally can make an intelligent decision without so many inflammatory charges.” He admits that he has been through some “hot campaigns,” however. “The irreconcilable conflict which set off the Civil War was the re committeeman” would have to be a Democrat who had n o t voted against the national nominees and who was acceptable to Rayburn and Senator Lyndon Johnson as well as Shivers. Morrow offered his resignation to the State Executive Committee in 1952 and sent a copy to the national committee, The state group rejected it but the national committee accepted it. Morrow Won’t Resign Just what Shivers will do now is problematical. Apparently Morrow has no intention of resigning. “I believe Texas has the righti to name her national committeeman and I propose to stand on that position,” Morrow said in Houston. Texas Democrats have a right to choose their committeeman, he said, “without dictation or inference from Washingtonor anybody.” If conservatives line up for and against Morrow, he could become the wedge Texas Republicans want to split off some conservative Democrats into the GOP. Morrow’s statement was bristling with stingers for Shivers. Cl . . . what has happened since row asked. “Is the Governor standing up to his valiant public position in 1952? …. What is the difference in the leadership in the Democratic national party now from what it was in 1952?” He suggested three explanations. First, he asked, could it be that at the p an try conference, “some agreement w a s made between Chairman Paul putler, Mr. Rayburn, and the Governor that the Governor agreed to ‘bend his knee’?” Second, “Could it be that Governor Shivers felt that in the 1952 election that a restless, discontented people wanted to vote for Eisenhower anyway, so he used the opportunity to further his popularity by ‘seemingly’ becoming the leader of this revolt?” Third, Morrow asked, “Has the Governor ‘given in’ to the demands of the chairman of the national committee …?” He also thinks State Government could use a housecleaning. “One of the predominant issues before the people now,” he said, “is insuring the purity of the legislative branches. It will be for the next few years.” `Standards of Persuasion’ He favors something like Senator William Shireman’s unsuccessful bill in the last Legislature, requiring all legislators to make public clients and the nature of fees they receive for representation before state boards and agencies. “I was rather impressed by that,” he said, “and there were a few othersall seeming to be groping in the right direction.” As for lobbyists and their relations with the lawmakers, he thinks “setting permissible standards of persuasion” may be the solution. On taxes, generally, he calls himself a pragmatist. “Suppose you’re the Governor, and you need some money for some pet project, such as the deaf school here. You may thrust in several directions for the moneybut the main thing is that you get it, not where .it’s coming from.” He thinks, however, that a Governor isn’t the one to set such policy. “A Governor’s office is not an office where legislation ought to originate,” he said. The question of whether Wilson leaves the sanctity of the courts to return to the rough-and-tumble of politicsand his friends say he misses itturns, of course, on the actions of the State’s current top officeholders and the prevailing sentiment in 1956. He hopes that sentiment is middle-roadish. “A middle-roader is not an opportunist,” he said. “It’s someone who’s willing to listen to both sides of every question.” Judge Wilson appears ready and quite willing. BILL BRAMMER Morrow said that in 1952, “The Governor then did not ‘certainly think that the national committee was entitled to have a committeeman friendly to the work it is doing’.” sorrow said he has admired Shivers because he believed in the same principles “I thought he his offer to resign in 1952 had been unanimously rejected by the state committee. “This is my responsibility,” he said. This seemed to mean that he was rejecting Shivers’s public statement Friday, which was tantamount to a request that he resign. Asked at his conference whether Morrow could be replaced before the state convention in May if Morrow did not take the initiative, Shivers had replied, “I assume not.” mulling over the idea of importing cheaper farm labor from Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are U. S. citizens. Passports and wage scale contracts, such as the one now in effect between the U.S. and Mexico, would not be necessary. El Paso: The El Paso Herald Post has a good story and is riding it hard. It concerns the problem of selling beer to minors. Such sales are against the law, but El Paso youngsters don’t seem to have any trouble getting the beer at driveins, bars, or restaurants. A series of “expose” stories brought action from the police department. Washington: An Indian tribal group in Texas will be given full independence from the Federal Goverment July 1. A proclamation signed by Interior Secretary McKay will remove the affilieted,Alabtatilt a n d Coushatta tribes of Folk County, Texas, from the scope of all federal laws especially applicable to Indians. It’s the first such action since 1909. Austin: GOP National Committeeman Jack Porter said here last week that the veterans’ land scandal in Texas may be just what Texas needs in its politics. He thinks the scandals may result in a two-party system in Texas”and maybe a Republcan governor.” He said the scandals over the state this year would have defeated any party if we had a two-party system. sult of the intemperate and violent campaigns of the Jacksonian period and the period following Jackson,” he said. \(He is, incidentally, a serious student of history and likes to “Violent hate campaigns are a form o f dissipation,” he said, “which people always have to pay forjust as we pay for all forms of dissipation. You just can’t spew all that hate stuff in the air without hurting something or somebody.” You try to get the feeling of what kind of campaign Wilson would wagewhat sort of issues he would useshould he become interested in, say, the governorship. A number of Austin’s political savants figure he would have no issues, since he has never been embroiled in the highly partisan conflicts of recent years. He has some issues, though, tried and true ones, and you can almost hear him on the stump, railing, in a judicious way, of course, against further taxes, spending, and the bogeyman of centralized government. “The dominant problem today,” he said, “is centralization. I’m what you call a county rights man. There is too much centralizationeven in the State. “In Texas, the county ought to become the principal working unit of government, with the State acting only at the researchand what we call in the armysupervisory and staff level … The actual operation should be conducted out in the counties.” He says there are exceptions, such as highways, but he thinks the counties need to be strengthened to take over their responsibilities. “I appreciate the need for more and better state hospitals. But this overcrowding would never have occurred if county hospitals could have handled the job.” In short, Morrow asked whether Shivers had made a deal, had yielded to pressure, or had been hypocritical in the first place. Shivers Repudiates ‘Veto’ Shivers had said at a press conference Friday that Texas needs its “full quota” on the national committee; that he doesn’t mind a political scrap, but conservatives are handicapped if they cannot get into the meetings, “you can’t do your infighting unless you’ve got an infighter”; that he can’t object to the national committee “making sure the new members are friendly,” that they “are entitled to have people who are friendly to the work the national committee is supposed to be doing.” But, he added, neither Rayburn, Johnson, nor he “has any business with a veto power.” Corpus Christi. Land Commis’ sioner Earl Rudder revealed at the State VFW convention that he has accepted the resignation of A. C. Becker, part-time supervisor for the General Land Office, and will replace five or six inspectors. He also has plans to set up an inspection of every oil lease to make sure the State gets its full share of oneeighth of the oyalties from its leases. He asked the veterans to help reinstate the veterans’ land program. Near tears at the end of his talk, he got a standing ovation. San Diego, Texas: Duval County Judge Dan Tobin, Jr., and six former Duval County commissioners have been indicted on charges of misappropriation of public funds. The indictments allege offenses involving sums of from $1,100 to $5,000. Tobin was named in each of the indictments. San Antonio: A Bexar County commissioner, A. J. Ploch, admitted last week that county labor was used to build a plywood cabin he put to personal use. He said, however, that the workers did it on .-their own time in gratitude for his kindness to them. McAllen: R i o Grande Valley farmers, upset over the complexities of new bracero labor contracts and the possibility of increased insurance costs for their workers, are AUSTIN It is now clear that Governor Allan Shivers is trying to pave the way for acceptance of a delegation to his liking at the Democratic national convention in Chicago next year. Last week he made a public statement tantamount to a request that Wright Morrow, still recognized by the Texas party machinery as the national committeeman from Texas, resign. Morrow’s blast the next day brought into the open for the first time since 1952 a serious division among Texas conservatives. The Houston conservative, who bolted the Democrats with Shivers and a majority of Texas voters for Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, said that Shivers had asked him to resign four months ago “so that Mr. and keep a Republican Administration in for another four years.” Conservatives Not Wanted’ He said there are “hundreds” of conservative Democratic o f f i c eholders in Texas who have had the support of Republicans in the Democratic primaries. “… I’m sure Republicans would welcome the opportunity to support them as Republican candidates in our Republican primaries and in the general election,” he said. Porter said he “strangely” found himself in agreement with Butler on some points. “Out in Lubbock,” he said, “Mr. Butler urged Republicans to get out of the Democratic Partymeaning, of course, conservative Democrats w h o have voted Republican in national elections. “He was also quoted as saying that those who cannot consistently support the Democratic platform and candidates should work for the Republican Party instead. “He could not have made it clearer to conservative Democrats that they are not wanted in the