ustxtxb_obs_1955_08_03_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

commissioner. But that didn’t seem to make any sense, as we said before. Why should the number two man in State Government deliberately run for the third or umpteenth spot? Latest reports from his close friends indicate Ramsey may be a late starter for governor and will at least seek re-election. …. Meanwhile, Senator Jimmy Phillips of Angleton is expected to announce early and run hard. If he does not, Ramsey might jump in, making it difficult for his good friend the senator to announce against him. …. Out in East Texas we found some suspicions that Governor Shivers is going to run again, but in Austin the disbelief continues. .. John Ben Shepperd, the Attorney General, has sent up some trial balloons for governor. His “anti-crime committee” creates an interesting situation: businessmen out in East Texas get headlines in the papers reading, “Local Man Named Director of Anti-Crime Agency.” But whether Shepperd can recover from the solar plexus blows Phillips gave him over the land scandal is problematical. . Everybody is wondering what’s happened to the money in the mysterious “Texas Foundation.” This was a tax-free outfit sponsored by Texas conservatives to collect money for “political education.” When leaders in the State Democratic Executive Committee first set it up, Governor Shivers was not close to the Democratic National Committee. Now Wright Morrow fears that the Foundation may turn the money over to the national committee. Others speculate it may be used for conservative precinct work. Nobody who knows is talking. It is unusual, ‘to say the very least._to try to get political exper. to …. Ralph Yarborough is trying to see if his strength around the state is sufficient to justify an early announcement. The loyalist money is not committing itself to John White or Yarborough yet, but Yarborough isn’t worrying about financing; he is campaigning to beat the band. A speech he made in Houston last week had a freshness in it that suggests he is getting his second wind. …. A full year after the campaign’s end, Yarborough has given Jerry Holleman, executive secretary of the State Federation of Labor, and Roy Harrington, former executive secretary of the State CIO Council, t h e appreciation scrolls that he gave to most of his campaign supporters immediately after the campaign. …. The State Federation of Labor has changed the constitution of its political auxiliary, the Labor League for Political Education, so that voluntary contributions by individuals will be available for direct political campaigns \(as in the unions at 10 cents per member per year or $25 per organization may be used for administrative and educational expenses of LLPE. …. Believe-it-or-not department: At the reecnt Democratic Executive CoMmittee meeting at which Wright Morrow was fired at the Texas national committeeman, Fagan Dickson, the Austin liberal, and Arch Rowan, the arch-conservative from Fort Worth, were both applauding Morrow at the same time. …. The value of construction authorized in Texas during the first six months of 1955 exceeded any six-month period on record, the Texas Business Review reports. But 17 percent of the apartments in Dallas are vacant, and a ho ,iilding slow-down may h’ , . . t , 2… . 6 , 3t those flatter who fear, it is not an Azinerican art. JEFFERSON Building Ca’ sties in the Sands of Timk. Sacrificial Ca, After Wright Morrow’s ouster last week, we venture to suggest a motto for Governor Shivers’s desk : “Principle above party, usually.” Morrow was fired as Texas national committeeman by Shivers and his political committee because Morrow did exactly what every member of that committee and Shivers himself did in 1952. It was “principle above party” in 1952 ; now it is “compromise above friendship, and principle be damned.” They used to rag Harry Truman for sticking by his frie::ds and it was true that Harry used to stick by some pretty sour characters. But here is a man who won’t even stick by a friend who has fought beside him, who left the national Democratic Party in 1952 with him, and who has since done nothing to offend hima friend, in other words, who has done what he was asked to do. Why was Morrow canned? Because Shivers needed a sacrificial offering with which to ingratiate himself with the Democratic National Committee. It is a disgusting case of a. man preferring his own advancement to loyalty to his friend and associate. The State Democratic Executive Committee, too, practiced thick-tongued hypocrisy. Out with you, Morrow ! You supported Eisenhower in 1952! We aren’t crying for Wright Morrow, but we are ashamed for Shivers and his associates. It was an unworthy thing. no Let any guilty man in Austin who thinks he has covered the tracks of his chicanery study the fate of Bascom Giles and think upon his future. No one rejoices in the conviction of Giles on a charge of stealing from the State. ,The suffering inflicted upon his family by the long buildup and trial is a sad thing. Twelve good men and true listened three weeks and then agreed that Giles was guilty. To the outside observer, the evidence seemed circumstantial and, perhaps, inconclusive. But the jury’s judgment is what all must respect . They were the experts; they heard it all, and they all agreed. Now Giles must stand trial on charges of taking a bribe and committing other scandalous acts. Any further delay in a full investigation of all his official acts as head of the General Land Office will only arouse in the people more anger at the foot-dragging state officials who have tried to minimize the scandal. Remember how the Governor kept calling the scandal “alleged irregularities” ? So inured did we all become to this euphemism, when Land Commissioner Rudder slipped at a public hearing and said he, too, thbught “the mess in Austin” should be cleaned up, it was like an electric shock to the reporters on hand. It is time for a thorough study of all phases of State Government. Indifference and venality are too firmly installed. Rumors about what jurors say always fly fast after ,a major trial. We don’t know if it’s true, but we heard it reported that one juror said that the jury voted for Giles’s conviction at once, then took three hours on the penalty. We also heard that another said he just got to thinking about those GI’s in the trenches overseas fighting and dying, and this guy here pulling off these deals, and he would have stayed in the courtroom a year to convict him. The point is, if the peopleand the jury is only thatare so deeply aroused about the land scandals, the earlier rumblings of “clean the rascals out” may become a roar next year. Published once a week from Austin, Texas. Delivered postage prepaid $4 per annum. Advertising rates available on request. Extra copies 10c each. Quantity orders available. Entered as second-class matter April 26, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin, Texas. under the act of March 3, 1879. MAILING ADDRESS: Drawer F, Capitol Station, Austin, Texas. EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE : 504 W. 24th St., Austin, Texas. Phone 7=0746 HOUSTON OFFICE: 2501 Crawford St., Houston, Texas \(Mrs. R. D. Randolph, Ronnie Dugger, Editor and General Manager Bill Brammer, Associate Editor Sarah Payne, Office Manager We will ,erve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and ie right a3 we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all 0 the rights of man as the foundation of democracy ; we will take orders but our own conscience, and never will we o rlook or misrepreset the the interests of the pc or cater to the oble in the human Sh tverJ on iniegrahon Although Governor Shivers’s acceptance of the Supreme Court decision on school integration as “the supreme law of the land” was sandwiched between standard passages of vituperation against the Court Monday, it is good that he has finally realized that as Governor he has no jurisdiction in the matter. His politically pandering campaign promise to maintain segregation is now abandoned, and perhaps in the future we may expect from him a little more of the temperance and leadership the state requires during the difficult transition. One thing is 51ear from the conviction of Bascom Giles last week: the people are furious about the land scandals. The State had a weak case against Giles. In his charge to the jury, the judge found it necessary to declare without reservation that the State was relying on circumstantial evidence. That there were holes in that evidence that had to be padded in by inference was frankly admitted by the prosecutor, District Attorney Les Procter. aocas *ism= Incorporating The State Observer, combined with The East Texas Democrat AUGUST 3,i 1955 190 3 The court cases over the scandals will continue through next year. …. Some loyalist leaders would prefer that Texas send a “RayburnJohnson delegation” to Chicago in 1956 rather than one firmly cornIltnitted to the Speaker for President. But some conservative loyalists now believe Rayburn may be the candidate around whom most Texas Democrats can re-unite. …. Discount all the reports that Lieutenant Governor Ben Ramsey is going to run for anything less than lieutenant governor again, and quite possibly governor. He has been reported thinking about attorney general and ”road Bartlett Appears Exclusively in The Texas Observer TEXAS AT LARGE A New Report on Ramsey’s Plans; John Ben’s Sending Out Feelers Again