ustxtxb_obs_1957_08_09_50_00001-00000_000.pdf

hsrrur Ws will serve no group or party bit will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. ulling The ens great rule of composition is to speak the truth. Thoreau Wilsor/ g sb.savows Bank Wire Vol. 49 011r rxtts c\(b k?` 44e 0 independent Liberal Weekly Newspaper TEXAS, AUGUST 9, 1957 10c per copy No. 13 Elkins Wins Fight; ‘Asinine,’ Says Falkner AUSTIN “I just couldn’t let that stand. I called Mr. \(Commissaid, ‘Let’s have another meeting tomorrow. I just can’t let it stand this way.’ He said it might be too late and that now he might have to issue ’em both a charter, and said, ‘Well, hold up on it and we’ll meet again tomorrow.’ He said some pretty strong things, but I told him, am going to change my vote.’ “I know it looks like there mighta been some wirepullin’ \(From Mexico City we acquired this story from the Sweetwater Reporter and the reply in Island Times in Puerto Rico. Old-timers in Austin think they detect, in the Island Times reply, the fine verbal spinnings of an expatriate University of A TEXAS TOURIST UNCOVERS MANY STARTLING FACTS ON ISLAND LIFE A description of her Caribbean cruise by Mrs. John Majors featured the program of the Creative Art Club when it met in the Majors’ home on Thursday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Hal Etz accompanied Dr. and Mrs. Majors on the trip. After leaving Port Charles, Louisiana, on a freighter which accommodated only twelve passengers, the group was six days a n d nights in reaching Puerto Rico, as the danger of a hurricane necessitated going two hundred miles off course. The ship docked at San Juan for nine days, during which time the passengers were free to stay on board or to sightsee. They were entertained at the governor’s mansion and visited other points of interest. On a one-day tour in the neighboring Dominican Republic, they viewed the tomb of Columbus. Although Columbus died in Spain in 1506, he was buried in the Dominican Republic on the island of Haiti, because he had discovered Haiti in 1492. In the area surrounding San Juan, the flowers were exotic and the landscape beautiful, particular mention being made of the “Rain Forest.” There were just three industries: a straw factory, a leather factory, and a mahogany factory. Except for products of these factories, all items in the shops were conspicuous by their “Made in. the U.S.A.” labels. The population of San Juan is 285,000 and consists of a low class and a high class only. Children belonging to the former group do not wear clothes until twelve years of age. Beggars are everywhere. Except that, no matter what one ordered, people knew a little English, the only language heard was Spanish. The women do not smoke, because their husbands do not allow them to, but they do drink. There is a distillery every three blocks or so. Everything in San Juan, includ but there wasn’t. I was hot and I was tired. We’d had a long day. I had gone to the Driskill for lunch. I came out about two o’clock and I thought, ‘all those fellows from San Antonio we turned down are still there,’ so I walked back up to the Capitol and I called Mr. Falkner James.” The speaker was Attorney General Will Wilson. He spoke candidly but with the half-embar TEXAS TOURIST’S TALE BREWS TEAPOT TEMPEST PUERTO RICAN AIRMAN DIS-COVERS STARTLING FACTS OF LIFE IN SWEETWATER, TEXAS A description of his recent visit to Sweetwater, Texas, by Lt. Pedro Gonzalez of the Puerto Rican Air Force highlighted the program of the Traveler’s Club when it . met last week in San Juan’s picturesque Pier 3. The trip was unscheduled according to Gonzalez ; who said he was trying to avoid a dust storm when he saw what he thought was the flag of Puerto Rico. Upon landing, he discovered that it was in fact the Lone Star banner of Texas. Friendly natives assured him that he was free to sit in his airplane or to sightsee. The visitor was entertained in the Mayor’s adobe mansion and strove valiantly to find other points of interest. In a one-day tour of neighboring Dallas, Gonzalez viewed the tomb of “Alfalfa” Bill Murray. Although Murray died in Chicago he is buried in Texas because he was a prominent governor of Oklahoma. In the area surrounding Sweetwater the cacti were exotic and the landscape had all the wild beauty of a billiard table. There were just three industries: a jute mill, a lard-rendering plant, and a plant which was busy putting Cadillac insignia and accessories on Chevrolets. Except for products of these factories, all items in the shops were conspicuous by their “Made in the U.S.A.” labels. The population of Sweetwater is 7003 and consists of a middle class only. Children who belong to this class wear clothes until they reach the age of twelve. After this they are known. as juvenie delinquents and left pretty much on their own. There are no beggars in Sweetwater, the town’s motto being “You can’t get blood from a stone.” Although the language is ostensibly English, Gonzalez encountered some difficulty in communicating with the natives, who employ an odd patois known as Texan. It is believed this is caused by the excessive amounts of dust swallowed by the natives in their lifetimes. The men do not smoke because their wives will not allow them to, but they drink. There is a liquor store on both streets in Sweetwater. Due to quaint local rassed, half-defiant air of a man who had painted himself into a room’s doorless, windowless corner. He was explaining why, on Aug. 1, as a member of the State Banking Board \(the other memhad voted to approve issuance of bank charters to each of a pair of Houston banking groups wanting to open a branch bank in the same location, and why, less than 24 hours later, he called an executive meeting of the banking board and withdrew approval for one \(Observer , The voting flipflop already had political overtones and would shortly, it appeared, have legal ones as well. The charter Wilson let stand in the executive session \(Jesse James had already approved it and had disapproved by Judge James Elkins, one of Texas’s most powerful background conservatives. The charter he voted to cancel would have gone to a group led by Harris McAshan \(who, Wilson said, supported him for and including R. D. Randolph, husband of Texas’s Democratic national committeewoman and leader of the liberal Democrats of Texas. Wilson said he expected that McAshan probably willand McAshan has said that he likely willchallenge the executive session decision in a district court, his right under state banking law. If this occurs, Wilson expects to be cast in a difficult dual courtroom role: defense attorney as the state’s lawyer, and hostile witness as a Banking Board member and the member directly responsible for the controversy. The Wilson action also apparently splits the Banking Board into a two-against-one combination, Wilson and James versus Falkner. Falkner angrily refused to take part in the executive session, blasted it as “asinine” and “juvenile,” told the Observer, “The Banking Board has become the laughing stock of the state and I don’t appreciate it.” James said he differed with Falkner: “I’ve never heard any body say that and I get around WILSON TO SEEK A SECOND TERM quite a bit. I’ve always heard high praise for the board.” James said of Falkner’s refusal to stay in the meeting: “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything lik this happen in my 20 years on the board.” \(Falkner’s refusal to be a part of the executive session led to an interesting sidebar development, perhaps of no significance: On Aug. 3, the day after the executive meeting, Falkner received a letter signed by James and Wilson. It said: \(“Enclosed is a signed record of our votes on the applications of Lyman Jones the two groups that had filed for a bank charter under the name of Meyerland State Bank, Houston. \(“On the basis of the signed votes, we feel that you can issue the charter to the T. A. Robinson, Jr. , \(Full minutes covering the meeting will be sent to you as soon as they can be drawn.” The letter was on Treasurer’s Department stationery. James’s signa’Slightly Tilted’ Wilson apparently anticipated he would be asked for an explanation of his overnight change of EAST TEXAS CLIMATE heart. He left a written statement of explanation with Falkner’s secretary at the Banking Board’s quarters in the Capital National Bank Building in downtown. Austin. However, no copies of the statement were passed out to the Capitol press corps at the Capitol press room. This was his written statement: “When this matter was originally presented to the banking board, I voted ‘no’ on public necessity on both applications, primarily on the grounds that I thought there were enough banks in Harris County to serve the people, and I still think that is fundamentally correct. The population ratio per bank is lower in Harris County than any other of the municipal counties, that is, the number of people per bank. The parties asked for a rehearing \(Obgrounds that this was not correct, but even if it was correct, there is a need for a bank in this particular location, and this location will support a bank. “I am a firm believer in the due process of law and I firmly believe that a rehearing is a fundamental part of our due process.” ‘\(To Falkner’s comment that granting of a rehearing overrode all banking board precedent and that due process had not been denied either applicant, Wilson said verbally: “I’m a lawyer; Mr. Falk Marshall and many of its officials for acting in concert to deprive him and other Marshall Negroes of the use of the pool maintained out of tax funds. This, said the suit, denied him the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Wilson a Target With that, Marshall was bubbling again with the resolute emotions of white supremacy. The falsetto voice of the vigil was the town newspaper, the Marshall News Messenger, which proclaimed on its front page: “The most such a force order would do would be to deprive a large segment of our population=the whitesfrom use of the municipal pool …. The white people are the minority group in Harrison County!” Perhaps the best step, said the paper, would be to offer the pool “back” to the white citizens who originally put up the funds to build it for the city, then formally deeded it to the city. \(The city will have an election on the quesMarshall had tried to help its Negroes, said the paper. If they would have put up $10,000, a fourth of the cost, the city would have built them a pool. “Such consideration, however, is ignored by the Negro filing a federal suit against the city,” said the paper. A special target was Atty. Gen. Will Wilson, who refused to intervene in the suit on grounds \(Continued on URISTS WAR I AUSTIN Attorney General Will Wilson apparently has made up his mind to run for reelection. In the middle of an interview on another subject this week, Wilson told the Observer he believed it would take him four years to achieve his plan for making the attorney general the “state’s lawyer” by having him relieved of membership on. a number of state boards and of other not strictly legal duties. He said he would get this job done “unless I get knocked off next summer.” There has been speculation that Wilson might run for governor or for U. S. senator in 1958. MARSHALL In 1905 people in Harrison County erected a statue of a Confederate infantryman in the square at Marshall, with this verse in relief on the granite base: “No more they hear the rebel yell Where battle thunders rose and fell: ‘Tis now a welcome and a cheer To friends, to foemen, far and near; And peace, sweet peace, born of despair Walks forth and sheds her radiance fair Upon lost fields of honor.” The infantryman still stands, but the verse is badly weathered by the rains and by the times. To the passer-through the town looks peaceful, the Negroes stand about the streets around the square, the aging whites discourse upon the courthouse benches. “It looks so peaceful. You’d never guess it, but it’s going to explode; it is,” said a citizen who is charged to know such things. For the first time this century MarShall’s segregation has been