ustxtxb_obs_1958_09_26_50_00005-00000_000.pdf

Sanders, Alge Face the Women BOW WILLIAMS A U101014/ bile and General Insurance Budget Payment Plan Strong Stock Companies Gliceenroed 2-0545 424 LAMAR, AUSTIN Let’s Abolish the Poll Tax! YOUR SAVINGS EARN MORE Accounts Insured To Current $10,000 Rate 4% Per Annum ALICE SAVINGS & Loan Association BOB MULLEN Vice-President Mullen Building Alice MO 4-5446 Over $1 1 0 Million ail Al,th,attieo Insurance In Force INSURANCE COMPANY P. O. Box 8098 Houston, Texas 4111111111M111, TEC in Trouble? AUSTIN The possibility that the federal government may declare the administration of the Texas Employment Commission out of compliance with federal standards and deny Texas federal funds to pay for the administration of unemployment payments is now recorded in a public document. Robert Newman, labor member of the TEC, has filed an answer to Lee Williams’s suit seeking his reinstatement as legal counsel of the commission. Williams was fired by Commissioners Perry Brown and Maurice Acers, who gave him the reason they “lacked confidence” in him. Brown says in his petition he has “the greatest confidence” in Williams and, far from wishing to be a defendant with his fellow commissioners, agrees with Williams that the firing was “unreasonable, arbitrary, tion and laws of the state of Texas.” He prays that the court will hold the firing void. Newman says since they failed to give Williams notice, specific reasons for his charges, all the facts in writing, or any of the seven reasons specified as accept OThe latest Belden Poll shows a marked shift in Texas opinion on college integration. The latest indication is 47 percent opposed to integration in colleges and universities, 44 per cent in favor. In 1948, the same poll showed 76 per cent opposed. OThe state’s chief water plan ner said at College Station the state board of water engineers will not be able to provide the next legislature with enough data upon which to base a comprehensive development plan. Chief Engineer McDonald Weinert said the immensity of the study and shortage of funds are the causes. Wilson Guesses NAACP Waiting AUSTIN Atty. Gen. Will Wilson said this ‘week that he has spent only $4,000 or $5,000 of the $50,000 appropriated to his office in 1957 to resist integration suits. Mainly this has been for state responses to the two Dallas lawsuits, one seeking to obtain a clarification between conflicting state and federal laws, the other seeking exemption from the state law for Dallas because the suit to integrate the schools there was filed before the state law took effect. “I would just guess,” Wilson said, “the NAACP folks have decided to let a year go by and see what happens in Arkansas. This is a situation that time’s gonna work out, and if the hassle happens in another state, it’s better for everybody, don’t you think? Of course, that doesn’t pass judgment on the situation whether we should or not.” The second called session of the Texas legislature cost the state $188,000 in salaries plus more money for supplies for the session, the Comptroller estimates. The session’s primary purpose was segregation legislation. The Houston school board has spent $9,400 on legal expenses resisting integration suits to date. The Dallas school board, a member estimates, has spent about $7,500 on its two law suits. THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 5 Sept. 26, 1958 able grounds for firing under the Merit System, Acers and Brown illegally tried to fire Williams. They voted to exempt his job from the Merit System, but Newman says this could not change Williams’s status as a 20-year state employee. At Williams’s hearing, Newman said, no record was kept, no charges were required, no witnesses were sworn, no testimony was given under oath, and no cross examination of witnesses was permitted. Newman, in his petition, then mentions the matter which has been back-of-the-hand talk in Austin several months. He said he filed his answer because of his confidence in Williams “and also upon his desire to avoid the effectuation of a finding by the Bureau of Employment Security, U. S. Department of Labor,” that TEC is not in compliance with federal standards, with the result that it “may be found ineligible to receive grants of federal funds” for administration. Newman said the bureau “has informally made such adverse decision,” as attested to by a letter he attached from Ed McDonald, OTwo Texans, their bodies stiff from 50 days in a sitting position, landed their light plane in Dallas after setting a new world flight endurance record in a promotional effort sponsored by Dallas radioman Gordon McClendon, and two commercial firms. U. S. rotary drilling rose to the highest level in seven months despite another drop in Texas activity. Texas rig count was down eleven units to 681. OA woman is the new state labor commissioner. Gov . Daniel appointed Mrs. M. B. Morgan to succeed her late husband to the $8,400 a year job. ORepublican senatorial candi date Roy Whittenburg said citizens should be “alarmed” by the integration decision of the Supreme Court which he said had the effect of amending the Constitution. A manage ment consulting team has recommended the Port. of Houston make drastic changes in its cargo publicity programs to regain ranking as the Gulf’s top port, a position it recently lost to New Orleans. OPaul Etheridge, the apparent winner in the Trinity County commissioner’s runoff, conceded defeat to Chester Hudson after a district court threw out 35 ballots, making the final vote 604 to 600 in Hudson’s favor. Hudson had filed a suit for a recount, alleging a scheme to pay poll taxes for Negroes by unauthorized persons. “To .set an example in favor of integration,” a second white minister, Rev. Charles McMahill, quietly enrolled at Texas Southern University. Earlier, Rev. E. A. Munroe, pastor of the Missionary Baptist Temple, enrolled in an effort to illustrate how “ri director of the Dallas office of the bureau. In the letter McDonald says the absence of charges in advance and denial of the right to question or cross-examine opposing witnesses “fall short of adequate or desirable standards for such hearings.” A charge of “lack of confidence,” he went on, “would not in itself constitute a justifiable cause for dismissal.” “We are concerned,” McDonald went on, “about some aspects of personnel administration in Texas and the implications these may hold for employee morale and efficiency and the prestige and public acceptance of the merit system. We believe that beyond the case of the General Counsel’s dismissal there are several matters that should be evaluated with a view toward improvement.” McDonald elaborated some of these matters in a closed-to-thepress hearing in Austin June 23; the Observer can report only that he minced no words in excoriating aspects of TEC’s program. TEC administers the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act under which Texas co-operates with the federal program for unemployment benefits. diculous” are all integration efforts. McMahill is a Methodist. OThe State Board of Insurance in Austin refused to take a stand on the controversial issue of fixed vs. flexible auto rates. Chairman. Penn Jackson said “it is a legislative problem, not a board problem.” OA Negro veteran testified in Cuero two associates of C.O. Hagan induced him to apply for land under the veterans’ land program by telling him the state was giving it away. Hagan, a McAllen produce dealer, is accused of conspiring to defraud the state of $146,000 in veterans’ land transactions. OThe Department of Agricul ture announced increase to average $12 an acre soil bank payment to Texas farmers in an effort to raise unplanted acreage to 3,335,000 acres in 1959. In 1958, 2,091,000 acres were banked by Texas farmers at an average of $10 per acre. OAn M -K-T combination pas senger-freight train chugged into a washout near Forreston in Ellis County. No passengers hurt. Officials Undecided About ‘Gilmer Road’ AUSTIN The Highway Commission, caught in conflict over its plan to build a road across lobbyist Claude Gilmer’s ranch in preference to a shorter and less expenyet taken any action on the matter. Highway Engineer Dewitt Greer told the Observer, “They haven’t discussed it in the last couple of months. … I guess they will one of these days.” DALLAS The state’s only authentic struggle between a Republican and a Democrat, Conman Bruce Alger versus State Rep. Barefoot Sanders for the Dallas seat in the U.S. House, came into focus on the issues before the Dallas League of Women Voters here last week. The two young political men, each handsome enough to turn the heads of many of the less serious women voters, had to deal with a number of questions which were designed to nail them to the podium until they answered. While no one could hesitate to call Alger a conservative after the meeting, Sanders emerged as ‘ an elusive. quantity for those who like their politicians classified and labeled. Alger was asked, “Mr. Alger, why are you opposed to the U.N.?” `Because nowhere in the U.N. charter is the right to recognize private property. I am against sacrificing U.S. sovereignty through the U.N.,” Alger replied. Sanders flipped in: “Alger misses the entire point. The U.N. is to furnish a forum for public debate … It’s our hope to avoid another world war.” But on some issues the two agreed. On the Smith bill to curb the Supreme Court, Alger said it would have “reinstated the 10th amendment.” Sanders said, “I would have voted for it.” Both opposed seating Red China in the U.N., Sanders because it “would be appeasement because its government is not one that has conducted itself in a civilized manner,” Alger because it “would be giving in to thievery’ and dishonesty.” Sanders says he has supported the right-to-work law \(as THERE. the common ground ended. What about the Kennedy= Ives bill to curb labor racketeers? “Rayburn made a deal with Walter Reuther. It was a sorry bill. A whitewish. It did not curtail labor,” Alger said. Not so, said Sanders: it called for full reports by union officials, made it a crime to embezzle union funds, made it mandatory to give due notice of union meetings and elections. Had Sanders supported Stevenson in 1952? “Yes. When I run as a Democrat I vote for Democrats.” Alger: “Reuther nominated Stevenson. Reuther controls the Democratic Party. God bless the conservatives.” Alger was asked, “Why is the Republican Party running against Reuther? Reuther is not a dictator.” “Reuther is telling congressmen how to vote,” Alger replied. Sanders interjected, “Reuther is not a candidate. A labor-backed candidate has not won in Dallas County politics in the last 12 years. There is no labor money in my campaign. But I appeal for every group’s vote.” Alger is against public works as a recession check. “A congressional committee which has studied the situation reports that there is no relationship between government spending and the na Member of the Piano Technicians Guild, Inc. Douglas R. Strong PIANO TscamoiAN Tuning. NaPartal, Bleboildind JAckeon 3-1276 803 Harold ` Houston 6, Texas tion’s economy,” he said. “We are about out of the recession. The secret is not more government .spending. It’s getting money into your hands so you can spend it.” Sanders said the Democrats’ program in Congress “was the only leadership given to doing something about the recession. We are about out of it.” Why had Alger voted against social security? “Because you may not get the money back you pay in. It’s not actuarially sound. You are forced to pay in. There is no assurance of return. Your children are going to foot the bill. Put your money into private insurance. Social security causes inflation. It is financially unsound.” “If you have so little faith in the United States government,” Sanders retorted sharply, “why not vote social security out? Social security is a trust fund. It is a contract between the government and the people. There is a $23 million surplus in the Social Security fund.” Alger was asked to comment “on the fact that Sanders was labeled as a Dallas County liberal in 1953.” “I’m not going to try and analyze him,” Alger replied. “But you are crawling in bed with Rayburn and Paul Butler if you are a Democrat. … I’ve got a team that will fight Rayburn and he won’t get what he wants unless Dallas County gets what it needs.” Sanders accused Alger of “innuendoes and insinuations. About half of this has involved Rayburn and Reuther. I want to remind my opponent that Mr. Hoffa is an admitted Republican.” IN THE COURSE of the debate, Alger also said he was the only conservative in the race, opposed foreign economic aid, and said Walter Reuther “bought the Democratic Party.” Sanders said he favored curbing government corruption, reforms in the national election process, curbing labor racketeering, reciprocal trade, assistance to nations willing to help fight communism, social security, and federal participation in maximum development Of the Trinity River. This Week in Texas