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Lincoln’s Advice, , For Young Texans Abraham Lincoln,’ in a letter to W. H. Herndon on June 22, 1848, offered some advice which young men in Texas politics may now wish to heed, especially in view of certain equivocal propensities among our “older men.” “Now, as to the young men,” Mr. Lincoln wrote. “You must not wait to be brought forward by the older men. For instance, do you suppose that I should ever have got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and pushed forward by older men? You young men get together and form a ‘Rough and Ready Club’ and have regular meetings and speeches’ …. Let everyone play the part he can play best,some speak, some sing, and all ‘holler’.” The Listening Post …. Jean Lee, Travis County liberal leader, complains that the liberals are in the majority too often these days ; she is looking for a new militant minority to join. …. A writer for a national magazine has been in Texas stndying the drouth intensively. …. The Harris County Democrats ordered. 12,000 copies of last. week’s Observer for special distribution in Houston. …. ‘The issue also aroused much . interest in the Governor’s office because of the editorial commentaries on the Fort Worth convention. Copies were all over the office, and delight -with the obvious Democratic diyision was general. …. Several Austin loyalists objected to the Observer’s designation of Gaynor Kendall; Travis co-manager for James P. Hart for Senator, as a “moderate conservative.” They say he’s a Shivercrat. …. Nobody in Austin seems to know what Ralph Yarborough’s plans are for the Senate race, and everyone is asking. The Observer’s best understanding is that ,Yarborough really hasn’t decided, is concerned about clearing up his campaign debt first. Naturally he is watching to see what kind of an election it will be, sudden death or primary, runoff, and general. …. It is categorically asserted by persons close to Lyndon Johnson that he did not ask of Adlai Stevenson at the Chicago convention that he be given a veto over the vice-presidential nominee. In this event, informed sources on which this newspaper, as well as at least one Chicago newspaper and Drew Pearson relied, were incorrect. …. J. R. Parten, the Houston oilman who has been a generous contributor to the Democrats for many years, told Johnson on the floor of the convention \(shortly after the roll call that point, their paths separated. This has caused comment around the state. …. We never did get around to publishing the lyrics that Robert C. Eckhardt composed for the convention.. It was distributed early but was never sung except for a few groups in hotel rooms, early in the morning after the battle. Rhythmed to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, \(“Glory, “They have stolen votes of counties that they never stole of yore, Jefferson, Van Zandt and Live Oak and a half a dozen more ; There has been no steal so flag-a-rant since 1944, As Lyndon lets us down. “Deal and compromise forever; Deal and compromise forever; Deal and compromise forever; For Sam will see you through.” Out of the chaos which Texas politics has known for the past several years has emerged one clear-cut leader. He is Ralph W. Yarborough of Austin. He has continued to grow in stature among the bona fide Democrats of Texas and is the choice of a huge majority of the party. Had the Republicans been barred from the runoff primary and only Democrats, both liberal and conservative, voted, Yarborough would have received a comfortable majority. During Yarborough’s rise to leadership, were were those Texas Democrats who could have helped him ? Where was the Democratic Advisory Council during t h e gubernatorial campaign just ended ? Where was Lyndon Johnson ? Where was Sam Rayburn? After the Chicago convention, Sam Rayburn could have made just one speech for Ralph Yarborough and this would have been enough to insure Yarborough’s election. True, the day of the election Rayburn admitted he H. M. BAGGARLY Tulia Ah-ha To the Editor : I noticed in your front page account of our good Baptist senator … that he “insists that none of his office workers in Washington smoke.” I took heart at that. Sounded like a good clean kid. But on page four of the same issue, alas, there were two candid shots of Daniel, and in each picture he was holding a cigar. Reminded me of the Ogden Nash ditty: “0 Mammonite and spendthrifts, draw ye nigh, Fingernail-biters and sluggards, come on in, Consider now how tolerant am I ,Who hate the sinner, yet who love the sin.” B. SHERRILL College Station THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 3 Sept. 26, 1956 MARSHALL Perhaps our candidate for governor has decided to speak out boldly now that he has his .0002 mandate from the electorate. At least, he has candidly voiced his fear of .the election of Thad Hutcheson or Ralph Yarborough in a winner take all election. Much worse things could happen. We need a strong Republican Party in Texas, and the thought of a possible victory in the race for the Senate would stimulate its growth. Too long some of our Republican friends have been content to keep the party weak while holding patronage distribution in the hands of a few. Our one party philosophy likely created a sense of frustration in the pioneer members of the opposition party, and through desperation some found their way into the Democratic Party. Unlike Ruth, its people did not become their people, nor did its deals become those of the uprooted Republicans. The fears of Sen.-Gov. Daniel bear !additional examination. Many of us have long believed that if the Repub We Need More Republicans …. Announcing the birth of sixpound, one-ounce daughter Helen, Observer cartoonist Etta Hulme and her huSband Vernon sent out a card, proclaiming: “We caucused and decided that there should be one more Democrat.” ‘ Progress To the Editor : Your editorial of Sept. 12 \(“An statement of discriminating moral relativism, worthy Of the enthusiastic approval of all cultivated minds. If physical differences between white and Negro were divinely designed for permanent mutual” isolation, we should accordingly separate blondes, redheads, brunettes ; pugnoses and aquilines green eyeds, blue-eyeds, grey-eyeds, brown-eyeds; brachycephalics and dolichocephalics; human beings and apes ; and above all, men and women. Oneward and upward ! Each man may yet have.his own shell ! …. BEN G. LEVY Scanlan Bldg., Houston Open Letters \(The Stump received two copies of To Speaker Sam Rayburn: I arrived home Thursday from the convention in Fort Worth. I arrived a very disillusioned Democrat. I cannot comprehend, I cannot perceive why our leadership either stood idly by or in some instances helped the Shivercrat forces give the “Republican” delegations from Harris County, El Paso County, and other counties a seat in the convention, while our true, real, and faithful Democrats were left out in the sun all day. That included our National Committeewoman, Mrs. Frankie Randolph …. Somehow some of our loyalist lead ers are fast losing the esteem and al most veneration in which some were held by the true Democrats of Texas. LEO J. LEO Box 1, La Joya To Senator Lyndon Johnson : …. You returned to Texas dazed and crazed for having been denied the Purple by the Nationol Convention. Your obsequeous aides unblushingly joined crown prince Price’s attack on the Negroes and working people of Texas …. You helped rig the last state convention so that the true Democratic delegations from Harris and other counties were excluled. For the above and many other reasons, I find that I can no longer support you, nor is it my intention to ever support you again. EARL RUSSELL 5310 Bretshire Dr., Houston Frankly Speaking licans would remain in their own party, we would have done with the continuous suppression of liberal prin-. ciples and candidates. We consider the true. Democratic Party to be a party of liberals and believe that those who are unwilling to let the majority control it should openly move into the Republican Party where they belong. A reason for the refusal of our present leadership to achieve this is the Johnson-Daniel axis. Stevenson could have spoken of it easily when he said our Vice President sailed down wind, no matter which way the wind was blowing, except he would have added, perforce, and no matter how . malodorous it was. The Senator and Governor-to-be know that they are supported in large measure by Republicans in Democratic false-face; and they are not about to offend their supporters, financial and otherwise. A more significant fact is pointed up by their refusal to agree to the election of a senator in November. The group that has controlled the par Ponder To the Editor : It is a tantalizing question to ponder : will the Observer hew hard to the right that it sees it and give its all-out support to Judge Hart for U.S. Senator, or will it be more .”realistic” ,and line up behind Judge Yarborough again] Judge Hart is right, but Judge Yarborough can win, and besides Judge Yarborough’s backers are bread and butter. I do not envy the editor’s seat. BUSTER SCONDORE Garland From Tulia Editor To the Editor : My record as a loyal Democrat is well known to the readers of The Tulia Herald, a weekly paper which I publish. I supported Adlai Stevenson in 1952. I worked hard for Ralph Yarborough in 1952, 1954, and 1956. I have supported Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, the Democratic Advisory Council, and every other person or group which even faintly resembled the bona fide Democratic Party of Texas. I vigorously deny that I am one of those “extremists” which the moderates talk about. I supported Lyndon Johnson when many Texas Democrats felt that he was too much on the fence. ty to the exclusion of the. liberals has done so only with the aid of out and out Republicans in the primaries. With . Mr. Hutcheson in the list with a chance of winning, this support would not come to the down winders. They would stand naked in their weakness as a minority in the party,. and they cannot afford such an exposure. , .. So in order to perpetuate the Johnson-Daniel . axis in power, they must hold a selective primary, whereby the Republicans may select one of their own kind to run as a Democrat and thus be tempted to leave Mr. Hutcheson in the lurch. By then Limpid,Lyndon will be persuading them he cannot win, and that the conservatives could -not afford to split their vote. At worst, he would point out, there would be Republican Hutcheson running against another Republican disguised .: as a Democrat. Not only does the present Democratic leadership need to share the party bed with strange fellows to maintain its domain, it has also made it crummy and crawling overall ,. FRANKLIN JON ES voted for Yarboroughbut this was too late to help. Last spring when we weren’t sure whether Johnson or Shivers would control the precinct and county conventions Ralph Yarborough w a s working hard for Johnson. Daniel was riding the fesice. A little help, from Lyndon Johnson would have in sured a Democratic victory Aug. 25. Yarborough symbolizes the Demo-. cratic party of Texas more than any other one man. Yet those whom we’ve looked to as our leaders, Raybui-.., Johnson, the DAC; have been too busy fishing with Allan Shivers, trying to merge the Democratic and Republican parties, to give him a hand. Personally, I’m_ a little weary of this spirit of compromise. I want unity in Texas politics as much as anyone but not at any price. I’m not willing to ditch a true-blue Democrat like Ralph Yarborough as the price of bringing ” Price Daniel and Allan Shivers back into the Democratic party. D We 700,000 Texas Democrats who supported Yarborough. do not have to bow to anyone. We can get along without Daniel, Shivers1–and even Johnson and Rayburn if they can’t find it within their hearts to go along with us. I for one don’t like the way we loyalists have permitted Yarborough to be treated by the compromisers and fence straddlers.