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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde AUSTIN Rep. Bob Eckhardt of Houston, whose line illustrations occasionally grace our columns, received a letter from a constituent crisply condemning him for his drawings visualizing Houston Boy Scouts scouting for pornography in the city’s anti-smut campaign. Eckhardt sent us a copy of his reply, and with his permission we print it. “I have your letter of November 11 concerning my cartoon for the Texas Observer. “I must admit to a sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. As a legislator I try to exercise that restraint and balance associated With Dr. Jekyll. As a cartoonist, at night, I must admit that Mr. Hyde wields the brush. “You have a perfect right to consider the drawings sophomoric. and in bad taste. It is entirely possible that I may have to pay for this in the long run at the expense of what you call my dignity as a leader of Harris County Democrats or ‘of our legislative delegation.’ “I have drawn rather caustic political cartoons, as well as some that were intended just to poke fun \(as this one larly for about fifteen years. Before that I drew for fun on occasion. Every time I have made a political comment in this character, I have to some extent jeopardized some other phase of my occupation, the practice of law, a prior governmental job, and now my position in the legislature. “But I have been associated with Mr. Hyde so long that I have become so attached to him that I do not wish to give him up, though he is infrequently in accord with majority public opinion. But as a lawyer and a legislator I absolutely refuse to take his case or to defend him publicly. He is incorrigible. “Sincerely, Robert C. Eckhardt.” The one great rule of composition is to speak the truth. THOREA U The T :0’4 f>’ \\ e yr or e ,’S> V d <614.k 4 Weekly Newspaper 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. server An Vol. 51 ,, DECEMBER 4, 1959 10c per copy No. 35 BUTLER'S TEXAS FORAY Jones Case Is Argued HOUSTON Houston's liberal D e m ocrats scored something of a political coup here this week, attracting more than 1,000 potential precinct workers to a $1-a-box chicken supper to hear the Democrats' national chairman, Paul Butler, on a one-shot flight into Houston. To avoid problems of protocol such as inviting the state's official party heirarchy, formal invitations to the box supper were limited to Harris County people. "A working meeting," the event was held in the East End YMCA and resulted in contributions and precinct workers' cards which will be used on the liberal side of Houston politics in 1960. Paul Butler Sen. Ralph Yarborough was an out-of-town guest, whether by plan or accident no one would say. He cancelled out a speech scheduled with the Travis County Democrats Monday night to visit with and hear Butler. In an Observer interview \(see borough could "very well be considered" for vice-president or president. He was circumspect about Sen. Lyndon Johnson and any controversy involving national committeewoman Mrs. R. D. Randolph, but he reaffirmed his remarks of last summer about Democratic leadership in the Congress and said Mrs. Randolph is "one of the outstanding women Democrats in the nation." He outlined a five-point programdepressed areas legislation, federal aid to education, extension and increase of the minimum wage, prohibition of the use of Taft-Hartley to help management in strikes, and militant civil rights legislationwhich he said the Democrats must enact in the 1960 Congress. "You recall the last time Texas went Democratic? When one of the greatest little fighters ever produced went across the country fighting for a liberal program," Butler said. "This is no criticism of that great Democrat who carried our banner in 1952 and 1956. But there certainly was a tendency in part of our party to equivocate, to hold togetherand '.:/ lost." Dave Gibson, president of the Harris County Young Democrats, presiding, introduced, among outof-town guests, Creekmore Fath, secretary-treasurer' of Democrats of Texas Clubs; Mrs. Jud Collier, Mumford Democrat; and Mrs. R. D. Randolph, the national committeewoman, whom the Houston crowd gave a standing ovation. Yarborough, greeted tumultuously and applauded often, welcomed Butler and pleaded for Padre Island national seashore area, his Cold War GI bill, and political warfare against Freedom in Action, Which he called again, "Fascism in Action." Of Butler Yarborough said: "You can tell which side he's on from the difficulties he's having in office. The big money doesn't flow in on the side of a national chairman who tries to keep the Democratic Party on the side of the people, and that's what he's trying to do." Yarborough called Mrs. Randolph "the greatest Democratic national committeewoman Texas has ever had in all its history." He criticized J. Ed Connally, state Democratic chairman. Ed Drake, Democratic chairman of Dallas County, "boasts he has never voted for a Democratic nominee for president," yet, Yarborough said, Connally "publicly congratulated Ed Drake on winning" a struggle for county Democratic committee control. "They'll be just like they were in 1952 and '56running the Democrats for Nixon or somethings like that," Yarborough said. Roundly and extensively criticizing Freedom inAction, Yarborough said the FIA film showing how to keep "socialists" from taking over precinct conventions has been shown "in the high school in McKinney, Collin County. They're sneaking it in the schools they're poisoning the minds of our young people," Yarborough said. There were then a series of short speeches. Rep. Dean Johnston, Houston, urged signatures on the petitions on the tables in the hall to request the legislature to submit to the people a constitutional amendment to abolish the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting. Dr. L. E. Smith and Don Horn, co-chairmen of the Harris County Democrats' poll tax efforts, spoke on the importance of paying poll taxes for political victory. Pliny Shaw discussed party finances. Rep. Bob Eckhardt, Houston, said Texas has not gone Democratic nationally in 12 years and urged organization for winning for the nominee, whoever he 'is. Chris Dixie, Houston attorney, supervised distribution of cards to the guests on which they stated whether they would work in precincts and if so in what capacities. He Discusses People Introducing Butler, Woodrow Seals, the county Democratic chairman, said, "We all love you. We realize we must have a positive, a forward looking, a progressive program for the Democratic Party." "In Harris County," Butler began, "you have proved once again that you can do things on a big scale." Some Democrats "don't like me" and '.`.wish Butler would go dry up," he said; in fact he had been doing that lately because of a de hydration in his physical system the last few days, he said. He thanked former Mayor Roy Hofheinz and Percy Selden for $1,000 contributions to the Democrats. He introduced Hobart Taylor, Negro leader and another heavy contributor to the Democrats. Expressing shock that "a Republican could be elected county chairman of one of the counties in Texas for the Democratic Party," Butler advocated state legislation "so that members of the Democratic Party are the only ones who can be elected to office in the ranks of the Democratic Party." \("When men and women are elected to office on a position on the Democratic ticket, they have an obligation to stand up and be counted when we are electing our national candidates," Butler also "As Ralph Yarborough said," Butler remarked, 'Texas has, in the presence of Frankie Randolph on the national committee, one of the outstanding women Democrats in the national and a great fighter, man or woman, in the ranks of our party. There isn't anyone on the national committee more devoted, more dedicated, more willing to work." Butler then turned to pay tribute to Yarborough, "one of the great liberal and progressive Democrats who never gives up fighting for the traditional principles of the Democratic Party ... He was a man who wanted to give a service, and he had a sense of dedication to the real principles in which he believed ... a man of honor and integrity and selflessness. "The real policies and fundamental policies of the Democratic Party will never be without a voice in the United States Senate as long as Ralph Yarborough is there," Butler said. Butler did not discuss Sen. Lyn AUSTIN "The case of the Unidentiin which Marshall lawyer Franklin Jones was held in custody three hours for denying that an insured defendant would himself have to pay damages in a lawsuit reached the Texas Supreme Court Wednesday in the muted, gusty oratory of Austin attorney Hamilton Lowe. Lowe, one of three lawyers defending Jones from a three-day sentence for contempt of court, condemned court precedents he said are "responsible for a situation where the trial judges are so frightened of the word of 'insurance' that they won't even let it come in when it's necessary." Associate Justice Norvell asked Lowe from the bench if it is not correct that an insurance company may be shown as the true defendant in damage suits "whenever it becomes material," and Lowe agreed it is. "Insurance companies have gone into national publications and urged jurors to keep insurance companies in mind in the courtroom and remember that high verdicts may take money out of their own pockets," Lowe said. "Juries in this country can be trusted to arrive at a fair verdict," he said. "I don't think Humble Oil will be unfairly dealt with just because it's a rich corporation. I don't think an insurance company will get a raw deal from an American jury." "In some states, why it's all right to arguefactually to bring Chief Justice Hickman remarked at one juncture. The appeal for Jones was the last case argued in the old Su preme Court hearing room in the Capitol. Next day, Thursday, the court moved to the new Supreme Court building. Lowe, closing his argument that Jones had a right to deny what he regarded as an untrue statement that the defendant person would have to pay damages if they were allowed when in fact an insurance company would pay, told the nine assembled judges of the state's highest court that he was honored to close the last case in the Capitol chambers on an issue that did not "involve dollars and cents." "It involves the fundamentals of the legal profession and the jury system," he said. No one appeared to argue for Jones's three-day incarceration. Don't Say 'Insurance' As set out in the Observer's first story on this fascinating case, which has stirred statewide interest, the damage suit involved was not an unusual one. A nineyear-old boy riding a motor scooter was hurt in. a traffic accident. Jones represented him in a suit for damages in Cass County. The defendant, Jack Walls, was supported in his defense by lawyers for an insurance company which had insured him. However, in the course of argument, Howard Carney, one of the defense lawyers, said that the damages would be "taken away from" the defendant, who had worked hard for his money. Carney said the plaintiffs were adearnings $80,000." Jones told the judge, Maxwell Welch, \(who has subsequently been killed in an automobile acciswer Carney's statements. On motion of counsel for the insurance company, Welch instructed Jones "not to advise the jury that the defendant ... was covered by liability insurance." This followed the general accretion of precedents in Texas against telling a jury that an insurance company is the true defendant in a damage suit when this is true. Lawyers are prohibited, \(except when there is juries that a defendant is or is not protected by insurance. Jones said he was going to have to answer the argument. Welch told him he could answer. In the disputed part of his answer, Jones told the jury he was surprised to hear Carney arguing, "Don't take from his earnings $80,000." "He knows in his heart it is improper. He knows that under the instructions of the court you are not to consider how this judgment may fall, who pays it, how it is paid, or whether or not it is ever paid. "He knows it is untrue that Walls will have to pay $80,000 in this case ... You are not concerned with who pays it or if it is ever paid ... We will collect it from the proper parties," Jones stated. Welch did not interrupt.Jones at