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Other Evaluations AUSTIN Readers may wish to compare the Observer’s appraisal of the 1961 legislature with the conclusions in other news media. United Press International said it will be the most liberal legislature in modern state history, while Associated Press said it will be “a legislature of moderates with maybe a shade toward liberal in political philosophy.” Dick Wall, writing in the San Antonio Express, said conservatives were “cautiously” assessing their gains in the House at four or five seats. Dallas News said the legislature Will be “younger and more diverse,” but most observers, including some lobbyists, consider it more lib eral, “largely because some well -known conservatives were defeated.” Texas Manufacturers’ Assn., in a “file for reference” report to its members June 8, said: “It should be kept in mind that a man who voted somewhat liberal in one session might, due to changing conditions and issues, reflect a middle-of-the-road’ or possibly conservative attitude in a subsequent session. . . . With these thoughts in mind,” T.M.A. said that whereas the 1959 legislature was 46 percent conservative and 45.33 liberal, the 1961 legislature will be 51.33 percent conservative, 40 percent liberal \(with the 8.67 percent in the “middle” the same for both sesThe one great rule of composition is to speak the truth. THOREAU e Texas Obser An Independent-Liberal Weekly Newspaper We will nraUb or T-IT1-stlY opetus 919e Tpj GJOUDIOGJO SJW .te/r 41 serve no party but d to the find it it as we Vol. 52 TEXAS, JULY 1, 1960 10c per copy No. 12 A More Liberal Austin Conservative House Edge Drops by Eight Segregation: New Trends AUSTIN A careful review of the platforms, campaigns, a n d political allegiances of the 181 legislators who will cornprise the Texas House and Senate for the next two years points to the conclusion that both branches, and particularly the House, will be more liberally disposed on matters of taxation and economic legislation. Conservatives, who held 81 seats in the 150-member House in the 56th legislature, will occupy 73 seats in the new session, a net loss of eight. These seats have peen absorbed by the moderate-liberal coalition whichwith the help of some dissident conservativessucceeded in controlling the House sufficiently in 1959 to pass the severance beneficiary natural gas tax over the opposition of Speaker Waggoner Carr and Lt. Governor Ben Ramsey. Dividing these eight seats conservatives\\ lost on the basis of five to the liberal bloc and three to the moderates, the new lineup in the House appears to be about 73 conservatives, 52 liberals, and 25 moderates. Thus, for the first time since early New Deal days, conservatives do not hold clear majority control in the House on basic economic legislation. Should the conservative candidate for Speaker, Wade Spilman, fail in his bid to succeed Waggoner Carr, which has become increasingly probable, the so-called’ organized lobby” in Austin will, in the forthcoming 57th legislature, face its roughest sledding in years. In the Senate, four incumbent conservatives will not return. They will be replaced by two liberals and two conservatives, a circumstance that keeps the upper chamber, under the direction of Ramsey, in firm conservative control. Or most clear-cut issues, the lineup checks out at 19 con ervatives, seven liberals, and five moderates. Among the most significant changes in the new legislative picture: The demolitions that riddled the ranks of the conservative leadership; The conservative victories in Houston which ousted four liberal House incumbents; The unexpected liberal sweep of San Antonio; The heavy turnover in conservative ranks, with net losses, in the East Texas delegation. Veterans Swept Out The losses among veteran conservative legislators were severe. Biggest change, of course, was the unseating of Senator William Fly of Victoria, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and generally regarded in Austin as the heir-apparent to Ben. Ramsey’s presiding chair. Fly was crushed by Bill Patman, son of liberal Texas Congressman Wright Patman of Texarkana. But while Fly’s loss weakened the Senate parliamentary “team” somewhat, conservative leadership losses were much more sweeping in the House. Almost every prominent conservative leader in the long seven-month tax fight of 1959 will be missing from the 1961 lineupsSpeaker Waggoner Carr, veteran sales tax advocates Frates Seeligson and Bob ‘Strickland of San Antonio, Scott MacDonald of Ft. .Worth, and Bob Woolsey of Corp* Christi; one-time Speaker candidate Joe Burkett of Kerrville; and Max Smith of San Marcos, the “dean of the House” and long-time chairman of its appropriations committee. In addition, the informal team of floor leaders that functioned in behalf of Speaker Carr’s conservative forces last year suffered rudely at the hands of voters. V. L. “Bo” Ramsey, chairman of the key revenue and taxation committee, was defeated in his bid for Comptroller, Pete Matthew of Yoakum was upset in his reelection bid by freshman Paul Haring, and H. J. “Doc” Blanchard of Lubbock did not seek reelection. Returnees from Carr’s “team” include W. T. Oliver, who defeated his liberal opponent in a close runoff after trailing in the primary, Bill Heatly of Paducah and Dick Cory of Victoria. Of the eleven conservative leaders listed who will not return to the 57th legislature, three ran for higher office and were defeated, four were defeated for reelection, and four voluntarily retired. Houston, San, Antonio Liberal losses were centered in Harris County, though there were occasional losses elsewhere in the state. Turned out of office by the conservative upsurge in Houston were Dean Johnston, Bill Kilgarlin, Roger Daily, and Clyde Miller. In addition, the seat held by retiring J. Ed Winfree was won by conservative W. H. Miller. New Houston conservatives are Henry Grover, Paul Floyd, Don Garrison, and Donald Shipley. Liberal incumbents who survived in Houston were Bob Eckhardt and Charles Whitfield. Criss Cole also returns. Elsewhere in the state, liberal Bob Jackson of Corsicana was defeated by conservative Paul Curington; Ted Myatt of Cleburne retired and was replaced by a conservative; James Bates of Edinburg and Zeke Zbranek of Liberty, both liberals, unsuccessfully ran for the Senate and were replaced in the House by conservatives; Jamie Clements of Crockett did not seek reelection, and his replacement, George Richards of Huntsville, is tabbed as “not as liberal”; Oscar Laurel of Laredo did not seek reelection, his seat going to a moderate t The liberal sweep of San Antonio turned out of office all but one of the “Bexar Legislative Team,” the conservative ticket that had operated successfully for AUSTIN Some 17,000 policyholders in the , defunct Franklin American Insurance Co., San Antonio, have a half-million dollar interest in a lawsuit filed against five San Anto’niansa lawsuit fraught with political implications. One of the defendants, John Peace, is the man whom Gov. Price Daniel had placed upon the state Democratic executive committee in 1958 after Daniel had rejected, as objectionable to him, the Bexar County caucus nominee for the job, Bernard Lifshutz. Peace has served as vice-chairman of the seven-member resolutions committee of S.D.E.C., and in the absence ‘of Mrs. H. H. Weinert, Seguin, as for example on June .13, has presented the reports of the committee. He is also a delegate at large to the Democratic national convention from Texas. Elmo Burke, Jr., another of the defendants, is a delegate to Los Angeles, also. Sam Bennett, Jr., a third defendant, is mayor of Castle Hills, ‘Bexar County. The other two individual defendants are ‘Burke, Sr., and Barney T. Matteson. Six companies controlled by the Burkes are also cited. The State Liquidator, C. H. Langdeau, ‘acting as court receiver for Franklin American, accuses these five men and the six Burke companies of “a joint adventure and conspiracy to defraud the to obtain the controlling stock of said company, to pay for the same Front Our Louisiana Legislative Correspondent BATON ROUGE, La. On July 27th in Louisiana a new law takes effect making it a crime punishable by imprisonment to conceive or give birth to an illegitimate Child. A companion bill with similar penalties for the new crime of entering into a common-law marriage also takes effect in July. Both partners in such extra-legal unions are liable to a $500 fine and one year in prison or both. The bills passed through the legislature this month under the tag, “administration segregation package.” They became known as “the bastard bills.” They were hatched by the joint legislative committee on segregation. Their effects will be felt mostly by Negroes, if state welfare department statistics are representative. The welfare department, perhaps the only state agency with indicative statistics on ilegitimacy in Louisiana, counted 18,743 illegitimate Negro children on its rolls and 1,190 illegitimate white children. Roughly 31 per cent of all Negro children on the aid to dependent children list were ‘illegitimate. A welfare department ‘spokes out of the assets .of the company, without material expenditure on their part . . . merely for the purpose of promoting and subserving their individual nterests.” ‘Peace, the petition filed in 126th district court here alleges, was attorney for all the defendant persons and companies. He was to receive about five percent of the stock acquired in the company, the Burkes ten percent, and Bennett and Matteson 85 percent, it is charged. The Observer tried to contact Peace and the Burkes this week, ‘but found them all out of town. However, Burke, Sr., has issued a statement denouncing the suit and threatening a suit for damages. In a wire to Ins. Cmsr. Wm. A. Harrison, Burke said: “Charges made land published . . . against me and others \\ are malicious and unfounded and have no truth. This statement was made by your Liquidator C. H. Langdeau. These charges must be publicly acknowledged in the San Antonio paper as being incorrect. If this is not done I will file suit imediately against you for maliciousness and defamation of my character.” Harrison had no comment. Langdeau said he does not know any of the gentlemen and the suit therefore could not be malicious. “We’re objective about thing’s. We’re just doing our job,” Langdeau told the Observer. Asked whether political pressure had been brought to bear, Langdeau said, “No. Since Feb. 10, 1958, when I came over here, man commented that illegitimacy was a consequence of “the ethnic roots of the Negro race, a system in which the mother bears full responsibility for her offspring, and the stag roams at large.” The spokesman also dreaded a probable result of the new law against common-law marriage. The department has until now recognized many such unions as economically stable and has held the man responsible for the maintenance of the woman and children living with him. If the new law is strictly ‘applied, these men would desert their “families” en masse, he said, leaving those behind to seek aid from the state or from charities. A common-law marriage is a marriage consummated by a man and woman living together but not by their legal wedlock. It is called a common-law marriage because the common law accords such unions-in-fact a legal status. Under terms of the illegitimacy law, a woman’s first childbirth out of wedlock is forgiven. It is only upon her second such birth that she ‘becomes subject to fine and imprisonment. An admitted flaw in the new law would make the woman liable upon her first extra-marital pregnancy if she bore twins. Lawmakers and state capitol sources interviewed on the motivation for such legislation an I don’t think anybody ‘has tried to put any pressure on anybody. And I’m glad, because I wouldn’t operate under it. We’re just going along doing our work. It’s unfortunate if we have to name somebody who’s high in olitics.” Sources in the Liquidator’s Division said the company’s deficit is roughly $1.5 million. Total recovery sought by the suit is $575,780, or in the alternative, this sum less the value of some InsurOmedic Life Insurance Co. stock conceded to have a book value of $73,551. Thus the outcome of the suit will have a good deal to do with how much of their money the policyholders estimated by the Liquidator’s Division to number 17,000 will eventually recover. Allegations Only The receiver’s petition of course contains only allegations, none of which have yet been tested, proved, or disproved in a court of law. Houston American Insurance Co., a stock, fire, and casualty firm, was organized in 1953 and the name changed to Franklin American in 1957. On June 20, 1958, the company was thrown into receivership and Langdeau named the receiver. Langdeau now sues either for payment of debts he claims th’e defendants owe the company or for damages. In his petition, he names six companies he says the Burkes control, Highland Hills, Inc., Burke Shopping Centers, Inc., Sunset Ridge Apts., Inc., and \(Continued on The San Antonio Case