ustxtxb_obs_1956_08_22_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

Let those flatter who fear, it is not an American art. JEFFERSON p eople or Companieo? The Kingmaker Bartlett Appears Exclusively in The Texas Observer LBJ Like Bag With Hole in It Washington Merry-Go-Round the Mitatrurr 6 1=OL:=3 .Ir -” AUGUST 22, 1956 Incorporating The State Observer, combined with The East Texas democrat Ronnie Dugger. Editor and General Manager Bob Bray, Associate Editor 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 26, 1987, at the Post Office at Austin, Texas, under the act of March 3, 1879. We will serve group or party but will hew hard to the truth tis we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above 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 o: cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. Staff correspondents: Ramon Garces. Laredo: Clyde Johnson, Corsicana : Mike Mistovich. Bryan ; Jules Loh, Central Texas : Jack Morgan. Port Arthur ; Dan Strewn, 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, yVashington, D.C.: John Igo, San Antonio : Edwin Sue Goree, Burnet : J. Henry Antonio ; Edwin Sue Goree, Burnet ; and others. Staff cartoonist: Don Bartlett, Austin. Cartoonists : Bob Eckhardt, Houston : Etta Flulme. Houston. MAILING ADDRESS: 604 West 24th St.. Austin, Texas. EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE:. 604 West 24th St., Austin, Texas. TELEPHONE in Austin : GReenwood 7.0746. HOUSTON OFFi II: 2501 Crawford St.. Houston. Mrs. ‘I D. Randolph. treasurer. The issue Saturday is a very old issue : will the people run their government, or will the corporations, through the government, run the people? The recently discovered corruption in the state government is merely an obvious form of the larger, subtler, pervading corruption of a government that serves business instead of the entire community. For two decades Herman Brown, H. L. Hunt, Humble Oil and Refining Company, the Texas Manufacturers’ Association, the electrical and power companies, and their kin have elected the governors and the senators and the representatives in Texas. They have avoided taxation on themselves, put the burdens on the people through sales taxes, fought adequate spending for social welfare, carved out special privileges. The agent of these interests, In a little while we will be able to believe that the fights the Texas Democrats are having are less portant than the simple fact that Democrats, not Republicans, represented Texas at the Democratic convention in Chicago. Could each delegate have been heard with his own vote, the facts could not have been concealed that the delegates preferred Hubert Humphrey for vice-president and favored Adlai Stevenson over Averell Harriman, four-to-one; as soon as their favorite son vote was out of the way. Speaker Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson insisted on a “for-the-record” vote for a Southerner on the first ballot for vice-president, even thougl! Johnson himself favored liberal Humphrey and most of the delegates agreed. When Humphrey dropped out of contention, Rayburn and Johnson called an emergency caucus and strongly recommended John Kennedy, a very good man but not nearly the vote-getter Estes Kefauver is. The delegates went along. Johnson’s maneuvering to prevent a caucus at which the delegates could vote openly for their presidential choice besides Johnson, and the asinine first-ballot vote for Senator Gore for vice-president, caused the Texans much frustration and seriously distorted the relationship between their opinions and their votes. The legislature should abol Price Daniel, is not going to go along with the people’s interests when his benefactors tell him not to. He continues to mealy-mouth around on whether he will support the Democratic nominees because his Republican supporters insist that he help the Republicans, not the Democrats. Ralph Yarborough h a s some faults, as does each of us ; but he is above all honestly devoted to the people, honestly anxious to serve them. He has had the courage to challenge the controlling interests ; he is not beholden to them. He would govern for the people, not for the corporations. So also would Tom Moore; so also would he, when necessary, slug toe-to-toe with the business giants, local and out-of-state, that have used Texas as an economic colony all these years. It was time for a change some time ago. ish the unit rule in Texas delegations to the national conventions as a first step in reducing the sway of rural bosses in Texas politics. There was infighting and there was bossism, but these are the continuing troubles of a political party. For the first time in 16 years, the Democrats of Texas went to the national convention as one body, They are enthusiastic about the nominees and expect to carry Texas for them. This will be remembered as the year when the Democrats cut free from their body politic the hybrids and hypocrites who have heretofore lacked the courage to remain independent or to affiliate with the party that more nearly represents their political philosophies. Obviously the Democrats at Chicago thought Stevenson a better man, with a better chance to win, than Harriman. They shored up Stevenson’s chances by defying the political bosses \( including those vote-getting Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for vice-president. I While the Democratic platform contains a touchstone for the liberal positions on civil rights, it is not itself liberalis, in fact, evasive and inconclusive. The Republicans could have developed a firm political appeal to Negroes and civil rights enthusiasts, but early reports from San Francisco indicate they, too, are equivocating. CHICAGO Two days before the Chicago convention merry-go-round opened, tall, handsome Lyndon Johnson of Texas had no more idea of taking his candidacy seriously than he did of abandoning his campaign to help big gas, oil producers. Suddenly on the Hilton’s 23rd floor carpenters began nailing together a Johnson booth. Suddenly Johnson placards blossomed from nowhere; red silk “Love that Lyndon” ribbons were passed out to anyone looking remotely like a Texan. Suddenly, also Lyndon flew to Chicago …. reason: Lyndon heard via his old friend and political mentor Sam Rayburn that Harry Truman was coming out for Averell Harrimanwhich meant a possible deadlocked convention, a race in which a dark horse might win. Truman’s announcement was to be at 3:30. That was why Lyndon, one of the smartest political operators of this generation, beat him to it with his Drew Pearson own announcement at 1:30 p.m. that he was in the race to stay …. Cardiac Lyndon was missing no trickseven if he did knock another prop out from under the best campaign issue the Democrats have, the health of Cardiac Eisenhower. Convention BackstageSen. Johnson, t h e Texas lea de r, literally thumbed his nose at Northern gasconsuming cities by using a Texas natural gas lobbyist as his convention campaign manager. John Connally, paid by Sid Richardson the big Texas gas-oil mogul and heavy Ensenhower contributor, worked closely with Elmer Patman pulling wires in Washington during the natural gas bill battle. Patman has since been indicted. Connally has since been in Chicago working for Johnson while still on Richardson’s payroll … Big question raised in delegates’ minds : Did some of the money for Lyndon’s ornate headquarters here come from Sid Richardson or other gas moguls? No Canal TalkMost important of the scot-es of backstage huddles held during this convention was that between Sen. Johnson and Adlai Stevenson. Johnsol ‘id down the terms under which he would switch his delegates to Stevenson. Regardless of what his critics may think of Stevenson, he wouldn’t deal. If he had it would have cost him a lot of heartaches. Stevenson called on Johnson in his private hotel suite. They were supposed to talk about the Suez Canal. Actually Adlai asked : “Why are you doing this?”, He referred of course to Johnson’s sudden decision switch from an inactive favorite son to an active candidate busy as a bird dog rallying Southern votes. Johnson’s reply was couched in the pious high-sounding language of party unity. He said he wanted a civil rights platform which would be acceptable “to my people.” He said he must have a Democratic National Chairman who could unify the party, and he named James Rowe, his own lawyer and chief adviser. He said he wanted to name the vice-president and he named Sen. Stuart Symington of Missouri. Stevenson was shrewd in his reply. He said he would take any civil rights plank the convention adopted. He said he would have no objection to James Rowe as Democratic chairman. Rowe is an old New Dealer from Montana and has many friends from both the North and South. On the most crucial point, the vicepresidency, Stevenson flatly refused to deal. He indicated that he wasn’t accustomed to doing business with a gun at his head. Looking Back One of the most important results of the Democratic Convention was a revamping of the leadership of the Democratic Party. When Harry Truman made his pitch to put across his candidate and failed, it marked something more than a personal defeat for Truman. It meant a defeat for big money, for big bosses, and for picking the candidate in a smoke-filled room …. The big Texas oil and gas men who pulled wires behind Governor Allan Shivers in 1952 had no power at this convention. Sid Richardson forces were behind Lyndon Johnson’s brief and sudden bid for power, but Lyndon ended up looking like a cellophane bag with a hole in it. Speaker Sam Rayburn also of Texas laid a pacifying hand on the convention. Zoyat tAlegation,