ustxtxb_obs_1956_05_09_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

Bartlett Appears Exclusively in The Texas Observer Loyalists Prevail Let those flatter who fear, it is not an American art. JEFFERSON Was To Be Queen of the May’ Jhe Wort Ahead The Democratic Party of Texas is back in the hands of the Democrats. Governor Shivers takes his ,place in history alongside other discredited demagogues. The cup of liberalism in Texas is brimmingand, as is the way with brimming cups, it tips the easier and spills the more. A toast, first ! To Speaker Rayburn and Senator Johnson ; they came back and fought when the stakes were large. To liberals and Democrats who have worked for many years to end corruption and reaction in Austin. To Ralph Yarborough, only gukrnatorial candidate who took a wholehearted stand against Shivers in this fight, and who, more than anyone else, deserves the credit for the education of the people to the corruption that has been rampant in Austin. To Texans everywhere who had a hand in this decisive triumph! Senator Johnson’s candidacy was helpful in the rural areas and in the silk-stocking urban districts. He did not have a decisive effect on loyalist areasthe Houston Democrats won their precincts without endorsing himbut rio one would deny him full credit for his part. Something new .may develop out of the victorya spurt in liberal political organization in the cities that -will help assure liberals a permanent claim to the Democratic Party of . Texas. That is part of the urgent work ahead. It will be good if Senator Johnson’s candidacy helps keep the South in the Democratic Party without influencing the Democrats to sacrifice the party’s liberal inspirationthe inspiration which has given it stature withthe people and whose -abandonment causes its defeat. On the other hand,’ Senator Johnson’s actual nomination would considerably weaken the Democrats’ national case. We believe delegates to the state convention should consider carefully the conditions under which Texas should be heard at Chicago. In the first place, if democracy is , praZtice as well as theory, the district caucusesthe meetings of the delegates elected by . the peopleshould pick the delegation to Chicago. It is the convention that will be honoring J01111S013 if he is. given the favorite son nomination, and the delegates to Dallas should name the delegates to Chicago. In the scond place, the delegates to Dallas should not give up to Johnson their policy making powers. Johnson -is not to be confused with liberals on several issues, such as MAY 9, 1956 Incorporating The State Observer, combined with The East Texas Democrat Rottnie Dugger, Editor and General Manager Sarah Payne, Office Manager 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 zs, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin, Ttxas, under the act of March 3, 1879. We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of man as the foundation of democracy ; we will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. civil rights and the oil and gas industry, and Texans would do Texas ‘and the nation a disservice if they defaulted their own policy function at Chicago. Third, the delegates should not, we feel, give anybody a blank check. A first ballot nomination, after which the delegates would be released to vote for whomever they choseJohnson or anybody else would be preferable to a delegation pledged to Johnson “unless and until” he releases it, which his own Blanco Comity convention urges. Fourth, Ben RamSey, chief Shivers “en forcer” as. president of the Senate, should resign or be replaced as national committeeman, as should Mrs. -a Shivers backer, gracefully retire from the committeewomanship. Surely the people’s feelings about Shivers and his sympathizers are clear enough now. The battle has just begun, of course. Price Daniel is carrying the Shivers-special interest flag into the summer fray, and the July primaries will tell more about the actual goVs erning of Texas in the next few years than the conventions just over. But on that point’s counterpoint, a final toastto the people! Za 3i g a y The outgoing * Attorney General, John Ben Shepperd, betrayed an almost unbelievable littleness by his anti-Negro outburst the day before the. precinct conventions: He said he heard that Negroes were going to East Texas precinct conventions in massas though this would itk an offense in a democratic societyand then talked vaguely of reports of “threatened violence” in these pre-. cincts. He refused to say who gave him the reports \(though the Citizens’ Councils were saying the same and he failed to alert local officials, just passing it along to the papers, instead. As he must have known, the net effect was to arouse racial animosities among the whites and frighten Negroes away from the precinct meetings. It was as cheap a display as we have seen insome time. A perennially loyalist Austin politician said the other day : “My, my, sun’s shinin’, sure is a pretty day, outside. Sure has changed things I uz walkin’ down the street this mornin’ an’ everybody spoke to me.” People are sorry creatures. Staff correspondents: Bob Bray, Gulf Coast; Ramon Garces, Laredo; Clyde Johnson, Corsicana; Mike Mistovich, Bryan ‘ Jules Loh, Central Texas ; Jack Morgan, Port Arthur; Dan Strawn, Kenedy ; and reporters in San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, and Big Spring. Staff contributors: Franklin Jones, Marshall ; Minnie Fisher Cunningham, New Waverly ; Robert G. Spivak, Washington, D.C. ; John Igo, San Antonio ; Edwin Sue Goree, Burnet; J. Henry Martindale, `Lockhart; and others. Staff cartoonist: Don Bartlett, Austin. Cartoonists : Bob Eckhardt, Houston Etta Hulme, Houston. MAILING ADDRESS: 504 West 24th St., Austin, Texas. EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE: 504 West 24th St., Austin, Texas. TELEPHONE in Austin: GReenwood 7-0746. HOUSTON OFFICE: 2501. Crawford St., Houston, Mrs. R. D. Randolph, treasurer. k t 17 4 \( group met separately at an illegal time. Loyalists are optimistic they will be seated at Dallas, and Drake and Jess Hassell, the conservatives’ temporary chairman, conceded they are probably correct. FORT WORTH Liberals firmly in control in Tarrant County convention \(the test vote was vorite son and chairman but did not instruct their delegates to vote for him, binding them only to vote by unit rule. Liberals identified with the local Democratic Orcr b anizing, Committee drew most of the committee assignments. In suggesting what resolutions precinct leaders might propose, the Tarrant D.O.C. sent out three alternative resolutions on the Johnson matter endorsing Johnson for favorite son and chairman, for chairman only, and merely commending him. County Democratic chairman Tom Ward was elected temporary convention chairman over W. M. Brown, Tarrant County leader for Shivers. In nominating Brown, lawyer Ward Bailey aroused boos and applause when he said Johnson is in office “because they stole an election” and said Texas should be represented “by somebody who will not sell out.” Bailey aMo referred to Johnson’s agreement that he is “against forced integration,” which brought boos from Negro delegates. .’The test vote showed 90 precincts in the loyalist camp, 50 in the Shivers camp, and four split. AUSTIN Austin loyalists gave Johnson a whopping. endorsement from 66 of 69 precincts voting, They had a big day, the highlight o f which was an ,exchange with Dan Moody, Jr., son of the fOrmer governor and a Shivers man. Moody, fighting a loyalty pledge’ advanced by Creekmore Fath \(and adopted ‘by the “Would you support Walter Reuther The audience roared back “yes” with applause. He asked next if they would back Negro Congressman William Dawson of ChiCago, After a pause they shouted back “yes.” There was some indecision, however, when he asked about Henry Wallace. Ralph Yarborough congratulated Johnson for “returning the Democratic Party to the people of Texas.” John White, commissioner of Agriculture, said : “This is an end of the Republican era of the Democratic Party of Texas.” He -paid tribute to Johnson and Rayburn “for coming back when we needed them most.” SAN ANTONIO San Antonio Democrats carried the Bexar convention for Johnson by more than four-to-one. It was strictly no contest. The convention endorsed Johnson, lauded Rayburn and John. Nance Garner, and selected Jimmy Knight as convention chairman and . Mrs. Voigt as chairman of the delegation. The convention resolutions committee considered and defeated Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham’s candidacy , for favorite daughter and delegation chairman. Other rump county convention reports: About 50 pro-Johnson delegates bolted at Wharton County; the pro-Shivers group –umped in Robertson County; the Johnsonites \(jolted at Anderson County after a disputed 50 1/3 to 48 2/3 vote; Shivers people controlled the Harrison County convention at Marshall, and Johnson backers walked; in Smith County, the chairman refused to recognize ex-Rep. Bill Kugle, who led a loyalist bolt; Shivers backers proposed an eight-five pyoShivers delegation vote split in Cameron County, and the Johnson group bolted.. A The Shivers forces in control of the Harrison and Titus conventions backed Shivers for delegation chairman and Johnson for favorite son. This plan had been heralded as a potential ground for compromise by several dailies. Other counties whose Democratic conventions Tuesday pledged to Johnson for favorite son and delegation chairman: El Paso, Cherokee, Washington, Leon, Brazos, Trinity, Houston, Karnes, Calhoun, San Augustine, Angelina, Nacogdoches, Bastrop, Gonzales, Victoria, Slibelby, Jackson, DeWitt, Hardin, Grimes, Nolan, Hunt, Coleman, McCullough, Montague, Palo Pink, Baylor, Jack, Cottle, Comanche, McLennan, Hockley, Navarro, Williamson, Grayson, Hale, Hays, Lamar, Lubbock, Brown, Brazos, Victoria, Bowie, Tom Green, Ward, Falls, Wichita, Fayette, Madison. Other counties whose conventions pledged to Shivers as delegation chairman: , Montgomery, Colorado, San Jacinto, Polk, Fort Bend, Waller, Matagorda,. Panola. Other county convention. results: Pro. I &xas Obistrurr