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For Thoughtful Criticism MARSHALL Early in the campaign one of the President’s ghost writers just about cased the situation. He had Ike say that t h e Democratic candidates were trying to pass him in the middle of the road, and that he was already there. In Texas this fea.t was made more difficult by the stiicide compulsion the Johnson-Rayburn axis felt for the Democratic Party in May and September. Indeed, small wonder the liberals here could not work up a sweat over whether what’s good for General Motors, or what’s good for Brown and Root,. would be best for the country. They were deprived of positions of leadership in the campaign, and the Daniel crowd either dragged their collective feet or slipped into the Shivers Trojan horse through the back door. The conspiracy of our -congressional leaders and milk toast campaigners never to refer to the party’s candidates by name left the party a faceless mass of double talk, which had the sole object of not offending the Republicans whom the senator wants to support him, come another election. On the. whole, freedom of thought and speech should be in for better WASHINGTON Senator-elect Frank Lausche of Ohio, whom Ohio Democrats don’t always’ like and whom Ohio RepUblicanssometimes love, has now got himself more betwixt and between than ever. Sen. Lyndon Johnson of Texas, the Democratic leader, has been on the telephone warning Lausche that he had better make up his mind whether he is going to be a Democrat or a Republican. Simultaneously, White House representatives have been on the phone to Lausche, urging him to side with Ike and organize the Senate for the GOP. Lyndon Johnson, who can be as tough a talker as he can be charming, told Lausche in no uncertain terms what .would happen if he didn’t vote with his own party on organizing the Senate. If he voted Republican, Johnsin warned, he could go over and sit with the Republicans on the other side of the aisle. He would get no committee appointments from the Democrats, he would have to get them from the Republicans. Senator “Gone” GoreDemocratic plans to probe two suspicious elections may have gone glimmering, thanks to one of the so-called “bright young men” of the Democratic Party, Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee. Senator Gore is in charge of the subcommittee on election investigations, but now he’s gone. He lit out for Europe one, day after the election, and a lot of his colleagues are cussing him under their breath. They even call him “Gone” Gore. The two suspiciouS elections are in Kentucky and South Dakota …. However, the ambitious young Tennessee senator, Albert Gore, who has talked so much about honest elections, just isn’t going to be around to follow up: his preaching. Europe was too enticin g. NoteReason his colleagues refer . to the Tennessee Senator as “Gone” Gore is because he has run out on other important showdowns. One was his retreat in the atomic energy battle when he suddenly backtracked in the Senate fight against the giveaway of atomic patents to private industry. Another `was when he folded up on a thorough probe of the gas-oil lobby last winter and went along with the Lyndon Johnson whitewash. Rayburn Angry Congressional leaders who sat down with the Presi Frankly Speaking times than they were when the Presi1953. This year he did not find it expedient to embrace the wild men .of his party so fondly and actually praised General George C. Marshall, in strange contrast to his behavior when cowed by Senator McCarthy four years ago. We may at last have come to the realization that the communists outside the United States are a greater threat to us than those within \(a realization crystallized by the crackle of rifle fire and exploding No more, may we brightly hope, will neighbor be turned’against neighbor for the profit of the demagogue; and may the soap mouthwashing given tricky Dick remain effective for a while. Herein lies a field of action for the Democratic congress. Why can we not have a loyal opposition that is capable of thoughtful criticism ? Is it too much to hope that the erstwhile majority leader of the Senate can operate effectively outside the Capitol cloak room or various ‘butler’s pantries? He has assumed the position of the straddle so long that it would be -By DREW PEARSON dent’ last week learned that the world was in a much more precarious posi tion than appeared in the newspapers. Heart of the White House briefing was summarized by the President as follows : We do not intend to give up the Middle East. What happens there is now up to Russia. There are three chief moves Russia could make : 1.Move in the Red ArmywhiCh would mean war. 2.Move in volunteers which would not mean war. It would be serious but war could be avoided. 3.Let the United Nations police force settle the dispute. As the conference closed, Senator ….. It is dawning now on conservative Democrats that the big Republican vote for Bryant for governor in some of the cities substantially strengthens the liberals for the 1958 precinct fights. Votes for Daniel determine a precinct’s voting strength at county conventions and a county’s strength at state conventions. …. The Dallas News editorialized : “While the Supreme Court is invading the police power of the states in forbidding segregation of the races in public buses, its action was not unexpected. In Dallas, at least, desegregation of bus passengers will cause no trouble unless racial friction is stirred up by something else The real problem is not where who stands on the bus. The real problem is when do we get some judges on the Supreme Court.” …. In his column, “Washington Report,” Robert S. Allen says moves by Senator Lyndon Johnson and other Senate leaders to have National Democratic Chairman Paul Butler reL placed by Senator Earle Clements were blocked by Speaker Sam Rayburn. …. Weldon Hart, a director of the Democrats for Eisenhower, told a Sigma Delta Chi journalism fratennity meeting in Houston that despite Ike’s win Texas is still far from being a two-party state. He said independent voters cast their ballots for Ike twice in a row but may well go the other way next time. ErnestJoiner, publisher of the Rails Banner and an outspoken Democrat, was pleased when his county gave Stevenson a 1804 lead over Ike’s most difficult to bring his mental posture around to forward motion. But surely there must be Democratic members of Congress who could see to it that the people would be better informed as to what’s going on during the next four years than they have been during the last four. It is inexcusable that it took .a political campaign to acquaint us .with the dangers of the hydrogen bomb tests, the collapse of our diplomacy in the Near East, and Many other matters that would have found open debate in similar circumstances in England. Already state political. writers are boasting that Texas will get all . it wants from the next Congress because cause the Senate and House . leaders are Texas members. Is it not time that we have a Democratic leadership that will put the nation and the party ahead of the selfish desires of a single . state? Since the election, it is difficult to think of the present leaders as .anything other than low men on the ‘totem pole, and some will doubtless assign ,them a position on that part of the pole that is in the ground. Once more, the Brown Root, not the grass root, is manifest. How long, oh how long? Lyndon Johnson, the Texas leader, gave assurances of bipartisan approach on foreign affairs. It was sig. nificant, however, that Speaker Sam Rayburn, who trained Lyndon from the day he emerged ‘from his political swaddling clothes, made no such statement. , Privately Mr. Sam has told friends that the Eisenhower Administration alienation of France and England is the gravest of all blunders and that foreign policy must be subject to frank and careful debate in the House of Representativeswhere, incidentally, Sam packs a lot of weight. 704 votes. His banner story was: “Thumbing Nose at Texas, Crosby oCunty Stays Put’!” To round out his account of the election, he started off his column, “It Sez Here,” with the following story: `Curt Hendrick was downtoWn listening to election returns and about 9 p.m. he called his wife. ‘Pack up all our stuff, honey, it looks like Texas is going Republican and we’re moving elsewhere.’ An hour later Curt called back. ‘Take your time with the packing, Monte, there , may not be any place to go’.” A MATTER OF MURDER AUSTIN Newspaper reporters are reputedly cynics,, and of all the various. news specialists required. to put together a daily, the police reporter is supposed to be the toughest…”If it doesn’t bleed it isn’t interesting” is the. view of the news. usually attributed :to. the crime. beat: reporter,. . It was quite a .deparfure from thiS profesSional character last week when Harry McCormick crime ,reporter of h e Morning. appeared be fore the *Texas Prison, Board. He . .asked premission to go into the Huntsville death .iOnse to interview condemned’ men as part of a campaign to abOlish the death penalty in Texas. McCormick has watched 27 men die . in the electric chair and is seeking to bring home to. the people the horror of execution. His request was a personal one and did not come from his newspaper. He reminded the board that a poll in 1949 showed that 50 percent of the people’ of Texas were in favor of abolishing the death penalty. , “In 100 years there will be no death penalty any place in the world. This board,’ ; he said,. “has brought the prison system from one of the worst to the best in the ‘hation..I,urge _.kyou to taketthis step forward, not by taking. a stand either pro. or ton -on thisquestion, but by giving me permission to start a campaign. I know of no other way to start an effective campaign.” . . . . Board chairman H.. H. Coffield of Rock -dale was authorized to appoint a committee to study the matter. There was no indication’ *of what decision the board committee will make, but our vote goes with McCormick. Regardless of hoW, heinous a crime ., there is always doubt that the eye-for-an-eye philosophy of punishment is right or just.. Does legal murder ever correct illegal , murder .? And there is the ever-present danger of mistaken convictions. Harry MeCormick has .watched the wild side of life for years. He has covered the crime, the conviction, and the execution. To him, apparently, the last crime is the worst. We wish him well on his campaign. B.B. …. The Texas State Federation of Labor newsletter, “Behind the Scenes,” joyfully starts out this week: “It isn’t often that Allan Shivers gets outsmarted, but this time he did, and it’s just flat killing him. Shivers was made a sucker by Senator Price Daniel, who submitted a resignation written in such a way that there’s no way for Shivers to appoint a Republican senator to be in Washington Jan. 3 to throw control of the U. S. Senate to the GOP …” FRANKLIN JONES The Washington Merry -Go-Round The Listening Post Soon This Will All Yours!’