ustxtxb_obs_1956_05_16_50_00005-00000_000.pdf

WHARTON COUNTY RESOLVES RESOLUTION Adopted by Wharton County Democratic Convention Of which E. Hawes, Jr., was Chairman RESOLVED: That only those who are Democrats and faithhil to the Democratic Party sh6uld take part in its conventions. Therefore we each declire that we respectively are Democrats and agree to support the nominees of the party to be named at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, and direct that only those who declare they will support such nominees be elected as delegates to the State and National Democratic Conventions and as party presidential electors. That those desiring to participate in this County convention express their approval of this resolution and those who decline are requested to retire and not participate further in this convent tion. The above resolution together with the following letter was presented at 1:55 p.m., May 8th, 1956 to Wilson Rutherford, County Chairman, immediately prior to the convening of the convention with the request that it be submitted to the convention delegates for action immediately upon call of the, temporary run. and upon convening of the convention. The Chairman declined this request, and also declined to recognize E. Hawes, Jr., as well as delegate Terry Chappell who each attempted to present the resolution for action by the delegates after the call of the temporary roll. The letter is as follows: WHO MAY PARTICIPATE IN DEMOCRATIC PRECINCT AND COUNTY CONVENTIONS To: Honorable Wilson Rutherford Democratic County Chairman Wharton, Texas There appears in the front portion of Vernon’s Civil Statutes of Texas, Annotated, Volume 9, Election Code, on page XXXVI under title History of Texas Election Laws, by Abner V. McCall, Dean of the School of Law, Baylor University, the following: “Texas Supreme Court declared thereafter that a political party has a constitutional right to choose its own members and the Legislature. cannot take from it the poWer of determining the qualiArticle 3107 was not a grant ofpower to the political parties, but rather a declaration of existing law. Its repeal certainly deprived the political parties of no power.” Under note 108 above cited the Supreme Court case of Bell vs. Hill, 123 Texas 531, 74 S.W. 2nd 113, which follows and sustains the above statement. As the Texas . Constitution reserves the right to the pebple form a Democratic Party to choose its own members and to determine the qualifications of its members, the LegiSlature has no power to take this right away. It is elemental that only Democrats who are faithful to the Democratic Party should take . part in its conventions. The least requirement that can be made of those offerings to take part in. Democratic Conventions, is a declaration from them that they are Democrats and agree to support the nominees of the party to be named at the 1956 Democratic -National Convention. If article 13.58 of the Election Code undertakes to limit the right of the party to choose its own members, it is unconstitutional, void and wrong. Therefore it is both legal, proper and desirable that a resolution be presented immediately. after the call to order by the County Chairman of the Wharton County Democratic Conveni tion, and be acted upon by those on the temporary roll, declaring that only those’ who are Democrats and faithful to ‘the Democratic Party should take part in its conventions and that they declare that they respectively are Democrats and agree to support the nominees of the* 1956 Democratic National, Convention, and direct that only those who so declare shall be elected as delegates to the State and National Democratic Convention. If this is not done, at no time .will there be any test determining that the delegates elected and the persons participating in the convention are really Democrats. Therefore I urge the adoption of the attached resolution and request \\ the County Chairmz. -aa to submit same for action as soon as the meeting is called to order. . Respectfully, EDWIN HAWES, JR., . P.O. Box 707, Wharton, Texas In addition to the above resolution, other resolutions adopted by the Wharton County Democratic Convention formed by those declaring themSelves Democrats and agreeing to support the nominees of the 1956. National Democratic Convention were: Resolution No. 1 “RESOLVED by the Democratic Con vention of Wharton County, Texas, that we endorse Senator Lyndon B. Johnson for Chairman of the Texas delegation to the National Convention inee for President of the United States in 1956 and for our favorite son nomof America. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson’s record of great service to Texas and to the Nation eminently qualifies him as the ideal man to chart a course of strength and influence along which all Democrats of Texas can proceed to the victories which have escaped , us in the recent past. We commend Senator Johnson and Speaker Sam Rayburn for the splendid work they are doing to restore the integrityof the Democratic Party in Texas and restore its influence in the Nation.” Resolution No. 2 “RESOLVED: That the Texas elecState Democratic Convention by resolution declare, that only Democrats participate in Precinct, County and tion laws be so amended, and the State Democratic Conventions, and that only those who declare they will support the nominees of the party be State and National Conventions and as elected as delegates to the County, party presidential electors. And it is further resolved that the resolution adopted on September 12, 1944, by the State Democratic Convention requiring support of the Democratic nominees by the delegates of the party and those taking part in said conventions, be reported.” The follovAng delegates were elected to State Convention: E. Hawes, Jr., Chairman of Delegation Joe F. Naiser Terry Chappell H. C. Lockwood Phil Kleas R. E. Meek Edith Hyatt Frank O’Bier A. Tom Wendel Mrs. Orpha Govier Charles E. Hall Mrs. Leonard Chappell Mrs. T. H. Duncan, Jr. \(Space Provided by E. Hawes, Jr., The Week in Texas Fort Worth’s city recreation board has answered an NAACP request for desegregation of local swimming pools by voting not to open the pool June 2 as formerly scheduled. City council proposed instead a new pool for Negroes at a cost of $45,000. Dr. Irving P. Krick,_ self-styled weather modification expert, says his cloud-seeding operations were responsible for two and one-half inches of increased rainfall in the Fort Worth-Dallas area April 28 to May 2. Duval County Boss George Parr’s pleas to have cases against him tried in his home county have been rejected by the Fourth Court of Civil Appeals. One suit seeks to recover the 55,000-acre Dobie Ranch and the other involves Parr’s alleged transfer of public funds from one account to another in his bank at Alice. Harris Cou-nty Judge William A. Mille; found. three operators of the swank Shalamar Club in Houston innocent of operating an open saloon despite testimony of a State Liquor Control Board agent that he had paid $3:50 for two scotch-and-sodas at the establishntent. Defense attorneys had claimed the charge was made for setup rather than the whisky. Dr. R. N. Little, University of Texas nuclear physics professor, says the average car could be operated for its lifetime on a fifth of an ounce of uranium, but by the time the protection factors were added to offset radiation and poisonous combustion, the engine alone would weigh 80,000 pounds., Voigt of San Antonio, secretary of the D.A.C., has also been .discussed, as a candidate for national committeewoman or secretary of the new executive committee. The committee members debated who ,should preside at the state convention. Speaker Rayburn was mentioned ; a question was raised whether he would accept. Also discussed were Tom Moore, McLennan County ‘district attorney and a candidate for attorney general, and Jim Wright, Congressman from Weatherford. Tentatively the steering committee decided that there will be two seats in the convention for each delegate, with the persons to .sit in the convention to be selected .by the chairman of each county delegation. Another steering committee meeting Sunday in Dallas is to receive rea.ctions to these plans from Johnson and Rayburn. Rayburn and Johnson will address a ^ loyalist rally Monday night at the Hotel Adolphus at 8 p.m. There is no doubt that the convention majority will endorse Johnson for favorite ,. son and delegation chairman. The terms of the endorsement may or may not create a dispute. ‘Some lib’erals would prefer a first-ballot endorsement, after which the delegation would proceed by majority rule. Senator Johnson’s Blanco County convention pledged its delegation to him “unless and until” he releases it. THE FACT that Houston’s 270-vote delegation .was not bound to Johnson acid that the Harris .convention did not endorse him finally stirred public speculation that there is anti-Johnson sentiment among the lib The Dallas News quoted Johnson in Washington : “The next fight will be to knock dOwn the extreme left wing.” William .H. Gardner observed in the Houston Post that Moderates in a number of cities ‘w e r e “frankly alarmed at the manner in which the labor leaders and the liberal extremists took charge of the ‘county conventions.” He reported there will be three forcesnot two7-at the state convention. Trial of former Mexican police . chief Jose M. Aiguilles in federal court at ‘Brownsville on charges of smuggling marijuana into this countery has been scheduled before Judge James Allred. Arguilles, 43, is for-. trier police chief of Cuidad Victoria, capital of Tamaulipas ‘state, Mexico. Texas .Prison System General Manager 0. B. Ellis is trying to hire more guards to help patrol prisoners working in the system’s fields. 110 Attorney J. Paul Shelton, who is serving a conviction for car the at El Paso, has won a suit forcing the federal government to return to him items seized at time of his arrest _which the government believed, but could not prove, were stolen. Included are some phony car titles and a printing press. Texas Ranger Captain Hardy Purvis, who at 65 has worn his badge longer than any other Ranger, has resigned effective June 1. On that day he will have completed his 20th year as a Ranger Captain. James C. Cook, a Jacksboro, Texas, flier, has contracted with the U. S. Weather Bureau for $50,000. to fly a P-51 fighter into the . funnels of tornadoes during the next 60 days to obtain valuable weather data never .; previously secured. OMiss Ima Hogg and H. H. Cof field, both of Houston, ha -A been named the “Texian woman and man of the year.” Miss Hogg is the daughter of one of Texas’s best known governors, and Coffield is a financier. The The first kind came from Austin ; the second kind, from Houston. In Austin, Charles L. South, Johnson’s campaign manager, said the senator is not quarreling with organized labor. “He is opposed to extremists on both sides, but he certainly has not taken a stand against labor,” South said. A jointstatement was issued by Jerry Holleman, executive ‘secretary of the State Federation of Labor, and Fred Schmidt, executive secretary of the Texas State CIO Council, blaming. Governor Shivers for the report. “Much as Allan Shivers wishes it were true, there is no difference, of opinion between the so-called ‘Johnson forces’ and the so-called ‘forces of organized labor’ with regard to Democratic Party unity,” they said. The convention results “amply ‘demonstrated that the united Democratic Party of Texas” is behind Johnson for favorite son and delegation chairman, they said. From Houston, Troy ‘Crawford, the chairman of the Harris,/ convention resolutions committee, said there -had been rumors of a compromise with Shivers forces, and that the Harris delegation would oppose such a compromise, but that otherwise it was with Johnson. The Houston convention, firmly in control of the Harris County Democrats, deliberately omitted a Johnson endorsement. Only about five of the 170-odd*Hosuton precincts that went for the loyalists passed Johnson resolutions. The county convention chairman, J. Edwin Smith, stated after the county convention that the Harris County delegation is morally bound to Johnson. Shiversin urging his few delegates to attend’and express their views “but not act as a roadblock”-,naturally enjoyed these reports. He said he .knows nothing of a rift, “but the idea might conceivably have come from Sen. Johnson’s own statement that `the next time we’ll knock down the extreme left wing.’ That’s the same as saying he won with them this time but he’s going to beat them over the head the next time he gets a chance.” THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 5 May 16, 1956 Texian awards are made by the Texas Heritage Foundation. Application for a new state bank ,at Houstonthe city’s tenth has been made by a ‘group headed by Houston Post owner Oveta Culp Hobby and Attorney George A. Butler. Galveston County’s political race picked up steam -as LaMarque Police Chief Paul Hopkins, running for sheriff, charged that veteran incumbent Frank L. Biaggne is “completely ignoring flagrant prostitution.” He added that bawdyho 74S es are “nothing more than dispensing stations for narcotics.” John L. Tompkins, Padre Beach . deVeloper, urged the State. High way Commission to consider a Blue Water Highway reaching the length of the Texas coast: “I don’t think there is another single highway project that would contribute more to the