ustxtxb_obs_1958_03_14_50_00001-00000_000.pdf

200,000 JOBLESS TEXANS AUSTIN A spokesman for the Texas Employment Commission Wednesday “unofficially” estimated the state now has a total of 200,000 unemployedan increase of approximately 19,000 over the last official estimate, made at the beginning of March Officially, TEC Wednesday had these other things to say: Initial claims for unemployment compensation for the first week of March totaled 9.615, as compared to 8,889 for the final week of February and with 3,963 for the same week of 1957 Payments of unemployment compensation also increased for the week ending March 6 TEC said these totaled $1.433.438 for the week, as compared with $1,396,403 for the week ending Feb. 27. The previous high week was the one ending Feb. 21 when TEC paid out a total of $1,417,884. Payments for the week ending March 6, 1957, totaled $696,464. Total individuals filing for the week ending March 6 were 82,576 as compared to 77,232 for the week ending Feb. 27 and with 42,703 for the same week a year earlier. TEC’s spokesman declined to draw any conclusions from the new figures. However, Francis B. May, statistician for the University of Texas bureau of business research, wrote of the state economic situation this week: “Even at the bottom of a business cycle, all indicators of business activity show irregular upward and downward variations which are not significant indication of a real change , .. There is too much additional evidence of recession to warrant any conclusion that the forces of revival are reasserting themselves …” 4s e …EXAS, MARCH 14, 1958 rte HOUSTON “The American way of life … the Texas way of life … conservatism … Americanism …” these are the things the conservative school board majority here are insisting “will be taught” the 150,000 youngsters in their supervisory custody. Conversely, Houston’s 5,000 teachers have been told clearly enough that their interest in the National Education Association, advocating, as it does, the officially-nixed idea Ronnie Dugger of federal aid to education, may endanger their job security. If, say, the New Deal is an honorable part of the American heritage, if federal aid for school construction is even a conceivable solution for overcrowded school rooms, if teachers should be encouraged to participate in the professional organizations of their choice, Houston’s pupils and teachers have been getting thorough brain-washings to the contrary. The social philosophy of the present five-to-two board majority was illuminated during debate over the appointment of Citizens’ Council charter member G. C. Scarborough, who had been principal at Lanier Junior High School here, as the acting superintendent of the entire system in April, 1957. School trustee Kemmerer said that retiring superintendent W. E. Moreland had told him “he would never recommend Mr. Scarborough.” Mrs. A. E. Vandervoort said she didn’t think Scarborough was qualified. Kemmerer demanded of conservative trustee Stone Wells: “Give me one reason for selecting Mr. Scarborough.” “I think he is the best man in the system,” Wells responded. “And I think he is the best man to carry out the intentions of the majority of this school board, and that is to run this school system in a manner in which the American way of life will be taught and the Texas way of life will be taught, and conservatism and Americanism will be taught. That’s why we want Mr. Scarborough to do it.” Mrs. Dyer chimed in against Kemmerer: “You have certainly helped to solidify any support I might want to give to Mr. Scarborough by your own objections, because it is pretty obvious that the left-wing would rise up against a man who has stood for all he has stood for in this community.” Mrs. Maughmer, too, was can, did about her thinking on the new acting chief of the school system. “He does know school curriculum and he does know schools,” she said; “and, of course, his ideals are very much the same as mine.” A number of contests, observances, and practices in the schools suggest that anything much less than hundred percent laissez faire economic theory has become suspect. “United States Day” is observed as on last Oct. 23under the sponsorship of the Houston junior chamber of commerce Americanism committee. Fred Smithwick, chairman of the committee, explained to the board last September: “We have selected the school as a focal point _because it is there that ideology is formed and nurtured. Our purpose is to see that our American ideology is tantamount [evidently, paramount Ed.] in the minds of Houston students. Then, all of tis can rest securely in the knowledge that our children will be able to withstand the tremendous pressures stemming from wholly unAmerican propaganda which surrounds every one of us daily. “… we have found a booklet titled OLD GLORY which clearly sets forth the history, customs, and usage of the Flag … we have entire instructional staff of the. Houston schools. The Bank of the Southwest has graciously volunteered to provide this material … “We would like to sponsor several contests in the three levels junior and senior high school a news coverage contest … of UNITED STATES DAY activities; Said an accompanying resolution: “… we are under constant threat of losing our freedoms and National Sovereignty by the usur pation of individual and of rights and the surrender of our National Sovereignty to external interests and control.” The Americanism committee was given the go-ahead without a dissenting vote from the board. So thorough is the schools’ economic training program, Ben Belt, president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, wrote Moreland in mid-1956. it . . . the education committee of the Houston chamber of cornmerce unanimously voted to commend the Houston public schools for doing an aggressive, alert, and intelligent job through a comprehensive program of teaching the free enterprise system in the public schools.” Belt said the schools’ program was so good, the committee had abandoned a plan it was working on “for teaching the free enterprise system in public schools.” “Invest in America Committee. Inc.,” of Philadelphia, a group financed by large corporations, sponsors a free enterprise theme contest in the Houston high schools. The Houston Teachers’ Assn. declined to sponsor the contest but does provide the judges. One theme ‘subject was “promoting world peace through free enterprise.” One of the judges says the contest is meant to teach the value “of saving and investment in stocks and bonds.” The writer of the best theme wins a free trip to the Freedom FoundatAm. at Valley Forge and the New ,141c. stock exchange, plus five shares of various stocks. HOUSTON Dist. Judge James Sewell of Corsicana, who has been considering running against Gov. Price Daniel this summer, demanded here that Daniel now call a special legislative session to deal with spreading unemployment in the state. He told 400 members of the Harris County Democrats, at their quarterly meeting, that Texas is entitled to an honest government and Texas Democrats to an honest party, and that a party registration bill would be a long step toward those ends. Blind, but a political leader of keen hearing and long memory, Sewell told the crowd that the dogwood blooms a little later in Corsicana than in Houston. He spoke of “foxes being put to guarding the chickens” in Austin and Washington under Pres. Eisenhower, Ex-Gov. Shivers, and Daniel. Daniel and Shivers “have not AUSTIN The collective bargaining contract agreement between the management of the General Electric Co. plant at Tyler and Local 782 of the A F L-CIO International Union of Electrical Workers provides that employees with one year of service are entitled to a one-week paid vacation upon completion of that year. Last Aug. 2, the Tyler plant was shut down for three weeks. Most of the men in the IUE bargaining unit went to the local office of the Texas Employment Commission and filed claims for unemployment compensation. The local office ruled that for the third week of the shutdown, all claimants who were otherwise eligible should get unemployment compensation, since the third week of shutdown was for taking inventory. As for the first two weeks, however, the office held all the claimants ineligible because the two-week shutdown was for vacation purposes. Approximately 125 ,of the claimants appealed the finding to the appeal tribunalthe second step in TEC’s quasi-judicial system. The tribunal held that the twoweek shutdown was not for vacation purposes and that, therefore, all the compensation claimants were eligible for a compensation check for the second week. The tribunal said that those claimants who would not be eligible for a vacation at any time during calendar 1957 \(there were about 25 pensation checks for the first week, too. But those who would be eligible for paid vacation during 1957 after Aug. 2 were ineligible, it said. The remaining 17 appellants, the tribunal said, had already received one week’s vacation pay and were, therefore, ineligible for compensation. In effect, therefore, approximately 85 employees laid off through no fault of their own by the shutdown could not collect unemployment compensation on been fit to lead the Democratic Party or any other party,” he said. He was introduced by Robert Eckhardt, chairman of the Harris County Democrats and a candidate for the legislature. Eckhardt praised Sewell for his work as first chairman of the Democratic Advisory Council, to which he was appointed by Speaker Sam Al Hieken Rayburn to maintain the campaign for Adlai Stevenson in 1952 when the Shivers-controlled S.D.E’.C. went over to Eisenhower. Eckhardt said that as a member of the legislature Sewell had been skillful in bringing about agreement among adversaries but that he had never compromised basic principles to accomplish his objectives. Before the meeting Sewell told reporters he had not decided whether to run. “I am getting a an assumption that they would qualify for vacations with pay sometime later in the year and would then draw a week’s pay to compensate for the earlier week’s layoff. This ruling was appealed to the TEC’s “court of last resort”the three commissioners of the Texas Employment Commission, S. Perry Brown, chairman and public Lyman Jones member, Maurice Acers, employer member, and Robert F. Newman, labor member. The commission, by two-to-one vote \(Newman disthe appeal tribunal. Neither Brown nor Acers gave reasons for their votes. But Newman’s dissent went into detail. He agreed with the holdings on the eligible claimants. “However,” he said, “the appeal tribunal also We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. tremendous amount of encouragement, predominantly from independent oilmen who are dissatisfied with the way they have been hurt by the administration,” he said. Daniel and his administration, he said, “betrayed Texas in 1952 for a Republican administration that in their own words now has driven oilmen’s backs to the wall, injured gas men, and harmed farmers and ranchers.” “We hear a lot about oil and how imports are affecting the industry,” Sewell told the evening meeting, “but all the employment in Texas is not due to the oil industry. Unemployment is spreading throughout Texas. Men and women are walking the streets of Houston, walking the streets of Dallas. The Governor of the state should do something about this nownow is the time. They say people should buy. I don’t know a man can buy his way out of this depression when he’s getting only an $18 to $28 check and can barely holds: ‘After careful study of the provisions of the contract relating to vacations, it is quite clear to me that it was the intentions of the parties that all employees who qualified for a vacation during the calendar year should take such vacation at the time of the annual shutdown. The parties agreed that the vacation season for eligible employees should run concurrently with the shutdown period’…” “My study of the collective bargaining agreement leads me to a contrary conclusion. contained in the following language: ‘Those works shutting down annually shall consider the vacation season for eligible employees to run concurrently with the vacation period.’ “Themeaning of ‘eligible employees’ must be gathered from the terms of the agreement. … The one great rule of composition is to speak the truth. –Thoreau hgrrurr Vol. 49 ‘TEXAS WAY OF LIFE’ EDUCATION IN ORTHODOXY #S. ti e t 4 0 0 At-Liberal Weekly Newspaper e .. 10c per copy No. 50 Sewell Flails Price THE CURIOUS ‘VACATION’