ustxtxb_obs_1956_09_12_50_00001-00000_000.pdf

We will ‘erne no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. OIR Orxtw Ohm= The one great ride of composition is to speak the truth. Thoreau An Independent Liberal Weekly Newspaper Vol. 48 TEXAS, SEPTEMBER 12, 1956 10c per copy No. 21 Republicans Vote In Demo Meet Coalition Prevails, Disharmony Reigns HOUSTON Wrathful Democrats have frequently charged that there is no difference between the Shivercrats and the Republicans. Records of the conventions held in Harris County in certain precincts indicate that certain such folks not only consorted with Republicans they were Republicans. An example is Precinct 246 of Harris County, which is in Pasa Al Heiken dena, alongside Houston, on the east. On May 5, the Republican convention in Precinct 246 was called to order at 4 p.m. in Richey School by Republican Precinct Chairman Leland D. Baker. Mrs. Bettye J. Baker was elected secretary of the convention, Leland D. Baker was elected permanent chairman of the convention and Government Gives Up Wetbacks’ Sea Express PORT ISABEL The Mexican Navy ministry, after investigation of the drowning of five Mexican wetbacks, has announced that future deportations will be made by railroad. The statement came after public opinion in Mexico was reportedly highly inflamed over the drownings which occurred when the wetbacks attempted to swim to Tampico after escaping from the Mexican steamboat Mercurio. The boat already was under investigation on charges it was a “slave ship.” The five who drowned were among 500 illegal immigrants being deported from the United States under an Immigration Service contract. Meanwhile, U. S. Rep. Joe Kilgore of McAllen, chairman of the pertinent government operations subcommittee, said it has not yet been decided whether his group will conduct a full scale investigation of the matter. CORSICANA Navarro county folks those old enough to rememberlast week recalled a torrid political campaign in 1924 when the Ku Klux Klan was getting out of hand. Texas and Tennessee rioting caused citizens in Corsicana to recall the fervent fight a courageous district judge made for law and order. Clyde E. Johnson They were reminded of the late Judge Thomas Hawkins Scarborough. “Hawk,” as he was called, has been epitomized as “a brilliant lawyer, a natural judge, a selfmade man …” the following persons were named delegates to the Republican county convention: Bettye J. Baker, Leland D. Baker, Chappel F. Cashman, E. E. Scarborough, Mrs. E. E. Scarborough, William R. Trutna and E. E. Young. Also present at the Republican precinct, convention that May 5 were W. Max Anderson, Mrs. William R. Trutna and Mrs. E. E. Young. There were two others not present at this Republican precinct convention who did, however, take part in the Republican precinct convention on July 21. These two are Louise Young and Fred E. Gray. Fred Gray is personnel manager of Diamond Alkali corporation. On May 5, he was the floor leader for the Shivers forces who tried, but failed, to capture the Democratic convention in Precinct 246. The loyalist, pro-Johnson Democrats won the May 5 convention, M. P. Murphy defeating Edward Layman who had been proposed by Fred Gray. The minutes of the convention show that Fred Gray made the motion for a division of the house. Texas law makes it illegal for an individual to take part in a convention of more than one party on a single day. On May 5, the Republicans and Democrats both held their precinct conventions on the same day. However, the Republicans conveniently set their July conventions for July 21, a week before the Democratic precinct conventions that follow immediately the closing of the polls in the Democratic primary election. And, on July 21, Fred Gray was one of the participants in the Republican precinct convention in Harris County precinct No. 246. The minutes of that convention show that the others who took part included William R. Trutna, who was elected Republican precinct chairman; Bettye J. Baker, who was elected secretary of the convention; Leland D. Baker, who was elected permanent chairman of the convention; E. E. Young, who But he was more than that. He was a dynamic person, a great statesman and patriotic American, a friend to the humblest as well as the most exalted citizen. And he was widely noted for his high regard for the property rights and liberties of all people. Some folks looked upon him as the A b e Lincoln of Navarro County. When the campaign of ’24 rolled around, the Ku Klux Klan had become a power in politics. And violence, of course, became rampant. Throughout the South, Negroes were being pulled from their beds at night, beaten, shot, or hanged by masked night riders. Jailers were overpowered b y hooded mobs who dragged their helpless prisoners from cells and staged hanging “parties,” climaxed by that a person at the “very top” of convention affairs told him thereafter that his group would be allowed to enter the convention if it would vote against seating the Houston liberals. “The El Paso Democrats kept their virginity” by refusing the deal, Bean said. DANIEL ‘DENIES FLAT ADLAI SUPPORT DALLAS Senator Price Daniel said here two days after the Democratic convention that he has never flatly endorsed Adlai Stevenson for president. He said that for one thing he is not sure where Stevenson stands on integration. Sen. Johnson, asked if he felt Daniel’s statements and the action of the convention amounted to an endorsement of Stevenson by Daniel, said yes, he did. Rayburn said from Bonham Daniel had not promised to back Stevenson and added that he is “waiting and hoping” that he wilL firing bullets sadistically into the lifeless bodies of their victims. One lynching mob burned a Negro alive on the Courthouse lawn in Corsicana after breaking their way into county jail. Doubt exists today that the man was guilty. So, it was natural last week for those who knew Hawk Scarborough to reminisce a bit, as mobs once again appeared on the public scenes, demonstrating against liberties and legal rightsagainst those things for which “Hawk” so strongly stood. Hawk’s attitude about this KKK-ism was best revealed by a paper weight conspicuously displayed on his desk in the Courthouse. It was a miniature American flag being eaten up by moths. Printed on the moths’ backs were the letters “KKK”. The Klan stronghold in Navarro county was at Barry, a commun The committee reconvened and, without giving the liberal minority its reasons, reconsidered the El Paso matter and voted to seat the conservative delegation. Senator Lyndon Johnson and Speaker S a m Rayburn joined with Daniel in voting their home county delegations against seating the Houston liberals on the key vote of the convention. They were charged with “working the floor” for Daniel and with joining Daniel and Governor Shivers in “a Ronnie Dugger conspiracy to steal the convention.” On the wave of liberal disenchantment, such urban loyalist spokesmen as Ed Ball of Houston, Mrs. Kathleen Voigt of San Antonio, W. 0. Cooper of Dallas, and Jerry Holleman of Austin burned their bridges with angry but measured statements against Johnson and Rayburn, Conservatives to the right of Daniel from Dallas County were thwarted in their efforts to get the NAACP declared “subversive” and to propose a limit on income tax of 25 percent of income, but General Ernest Thompson proclaimed that a voice vote approved their resolution asking Governor Shivers to call a special session of the Legislature to act on the racial referendum issues. The convention endorsed the Stevenson Kefauver ticket by voice vote, “urged and directed” ity about six miles west of Corsicana. Hawk always lost the Barry box during his 14-year reign as district judge. At political speakings, voices from the crowd would yell, “Hawk, when you gonna quit runnin’ for district judge?” Hawk would always answer, “When I carry Barry!” He hated the Klan and all it stood for. And he always let his audience know that. His first race for the district judge’s post was in 1920, while just 34 years old. It was a two-toone victory over two other opponentso n e of them Klan-sponsored. And when Hawk ran again in 1924, the Klan’s influence had become statewide. Felix Robertson entered the gubernatorial campaign, with the Klan’s endorse members of the state executive committee actively to support the national nominees and Daniel’s state program, and heard Johnson and Rayburn proclaim that the Democrats are on the march and will carry the state and nation. Daniel also endorsed the nominees in an effort to quiet the\\ storming, delegates. The convention as a whole nev-. ertheless probably weakened the Democrats’ national, ticket in Texas by shattering prospects for unity by November. It very certainly pushed the loyalist-liberal Democrats into a position of greater independence from their traditional leaders. Mrs. R. D. Randolph, the national Demo cratic committeewoman from Texas, could not get into the convention. Since the Houston liberals were not seated, she was not a delegate, and she Yarborough, Hart Forces Compete FORT WORTH The Ralph Yarborough for Senator committee displayed a stack of telegrams five inches thick with hundreds of signatures favoring Yarborough here this week at the state Democratic ‘ meeting, and James P. Hart, greeting delegates in the lobby of the Texas Hotel, said of Yarborough’s possible entry into the race : “The more the merrier.” An enthusiastic demonstration for Yarborough for senator broke out at a loyalist caucus, but Yarborough would observe only that he had heard a report there was a movement to draft him for the seat vacated by Price Daniel. Workers at the Yarborough committee headquarters in the Texas Hotel were telling supporters that Yarborough is “in this fight all the way.” The first task, they were saying, is to pay off a $26,000 campaign debt with a county-by-county fund raising program. Former Supreme Court Justice Hart talked with delegates all day Monday while his campaign aide, Bo Byers, took notes for the campaign. In response to a question, Hart said he is definitely in the race to stay. He said response to his announcement was “very Judge Scarborough Opposed the Klan Johnson, Rayburn Scored by Liberals for Alliance with Daniel on Test; Nominee Wins Committee Majority; ‘Big, Nasty Steal’ Is Charged FORT WORTH While the issues at the state convention in Fort Worth this week were not in themselves of unusual importance, the wounds inflicted on the limbs and trunk of the Demo cratic body politic of Texas will fester for years. It was an unhappy convention from practically every faction’s point of view. In victory, Senator Price Daniel had to brave 15 or 20 minutes of unrelieved booing and capitulate on various points of issue. In defeat, the loyalists believed themselves victims of “rotten politics” and “a big, nasty, dirty steal.” With the contested delegations, including the conservatives from Harris County, voting on the issue, the loyalists lost their fight to seat the Houston liberals by a roll call vote of 1,006 to 869. The 270 Harris County votes cast by Presley Werlein, Jr., for the conservatives were, of course, decisive. The convention credentials committee voted first to seat the loyalist delegation from El Paso, but Woodrow Bean, its chairman, said