ustxtxb_obs_1960_10_14_50_00008-00000_000.pdf

Texas Observer Ltd. BOOKSELLERS BOOK FINDERS In association with the House of Books, Houston Buy All Your Books Through The Observer PROMPT DELIVERY Regular Retail Prices No Mail Charges MORE CHILDREN’S BOOKS Order NOW for Christmas The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The famous classic still stimulates young readers from 9-15. Random House. $1.95. Man’s Reach Into Space by Roy A. Gallant. A handsomely and profusely illustrated volume countdown for our greatest adventure. Graphs and charts included. Readers 12-16. Doubleday. $3.50. Mr. Wizard’s Experiments for -Young Scientists by Don Herbert. The f.amous TV personal:. ity gets down on paper some of the experiments that enchanted his viewers. Ages around 10-14. Doubleday. $2.95. The Secret Garden. A story loved by girls and boys since its first publication in 1912, never losing its magic and charm. Mothers will remember it well. Ages 8-12. $3.00. Lippincott. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. The timeless tales of Alice with the original illustrations of Sir John Tenniel. Each volume with a slip case. Peter Pauper Press. $2.50 each. DO YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING EARLY. LIKE BOOKS. LIKE NOW. Send your order for ANY book to DEPT. B, Texas Observer, 504 West 24th St., Austin, Texas. The Texas Commission on Higher Education, rejecting a recommendation from its staff to withhold full state support for the University of Houston, called for a favorable report next month for use by the next legislature. The school is now a branch of the University of Texas, and receives state aid only for the first two years of work. The authors of a condensed guide on the teaching of Americanism in Abilene elementary schools were praised by a special citizens’ committee there. The guide, which will be passed on to the school board for approval, emphasizes the moral and spiritual values in the American heritage. A department of agriculture placement director, William McFarland, told Texas citrus and vegetable growers in San Antonio he expects the bracero farm labor program to be sharply limited after 1961. He said farmers probably will be barred from hiring braceros for year-round jobs and will be allowed to perform only jobs which U.S. workers reject. An advisory group of com mittee chairmen and past presidents of TIPRO declared in an Austin meeting that legislation “returning free enterprise to the natural gas producing industry” still is needed. A telegram was sent to Sec. of the Interior Fred Seaton complaining that the oil-producing industry in Texas is experiencing “serious distress” and criticizing the 46 per cent national increase in imports in recent years. A growing movement seek ing reinstatement of Mrs. Sally Fagan, a Negro teacher allegedly dismissed after she bought a home in an all-white neighborhood, is taking place in Dallas. A new petition was signed by 1,569 persons and sent to the school board and Supt. W. T. White. Signers criticized the board for its delaying methods in failing to act upon the case. “Our greatest problems con cern loans of less than $100,” Edward C. Fritz, Dallas lawyer and member of a committee to regulate loan sharks, told the Dallas High Noon Club. He challenged the need for small loans at interest rates over 36 percent and said no legitimate lenders would handle such loans because there could be no profit Without excessive rates. “Usually one can obtain credit from various sources until his debts total $100,” he said. The ten-day strike of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks against Braniff ended with the union winning increases in wages and some changes in working conditions without getting a closed shop. Texans are going to the “bar gain basement for education” and are too often getting a “bargain basement product,” Texas A&M chancellor M. T. Harrington told Abilene businessmen, educators, and lawyers. Harrington charged that Texas industry is declining because of the shortcomings of the state’s education system. “We are no longer one of the really bright spots in the national economy,” he said, warning that “unless we change our approach we can expect to sink still lower.” President Harry Ransom of the University of Texas told the same meeting that 65 percent of top-level industry jobs in Texas are being filled by young people imported from other states. He added that “the great majority” of Texas students who win national scholarships “still go’ outside the state for their higher education.” Match a Subscription To The Texas Observer For a Texas Library Name Address City, State Send $5 to The Texas Observer, 504 W. 24, Austin, Texas. Minister Takes Middle Position FORT WORTH A Presbyterian minister who believes “the pertinency of the religious question \(in the preswhere between the two extremes represented by Blake Smith and \\V. A. Criswell,” has written the Observer that “while religion is not the sole issue by any means, it is relevant to any fair appraisal in the . . . election.” R. W. Jablonowski Jr., pastor of the St. Stephens Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, said Texas Baptists form “a plurality rather than a majority of Texas churchmen,” and that there are “representative, sincere, thoughtful clergymen earnestly seeking to find for themselves, and to offer counsel to persons” in their congregations “seeking to find for themselves, the whole truth.” This segment of the Texas clergy, Rev. Jablonowski said, “has a right to be heard. “The Roman Catholic Church,” he said, “is both an ecclesiastical body with announced religious aims, and a political bodywith announced political aims. With the former, even though I differ from them, as a Christian and an American I can have no quarrel. With the latter I also differ, and as. a Christian and an American I do have a quarrel.” In a sermon delivered September 18, Rev. Jablonowski said he “does not believe for one moment is the only issue.” He cited agriculture, world peace, “a hard economy or a soft economy,” and “the choice between centralized government or a strong local government” as other important issues. Both candidates and both national party chairmen have stated that religion ought not to be an issue, Rev. Jablonowski said. “There is only one difficulty,” he added. “This is not Soviet Russia where the candidates for public office determine the issues. This is still a free electorate in a free country, and the people who compose it have a right to think for themselves. They can determine what the issues are without advice from the candidates or their managers. “Unfortunately, people on both sides have spoken in ignorance and have circulated false material,” he continued. “The search for truth is never helped by falsehood. If there is a religious issue it must be discussed calmly, objectively, dispassionately, and as free from prejudice as human minds possibly can make it.” No honest Christian in a land where separation of church and state is accepted by an overwhelming majority “can possibly disagree with the right of any person, regardless of his religion or his lack of it,” to run for public office, Jablonowski said. No person of judgment could possibly doubt Sen. Kennedy’s sincerity when he says he does not agree with what his church believes. Kennedy “state’s his position unequivocally” when he, declares in favor of separation of church and state, and his opposition to aid to parochial schools and an ambassador to the Vatican. “Then what is everybody so excited about?” Jablonowski asked. “Why will this issue not down?” It is equally tragic, he said, for some people to regard religion as .the only issue, and for others to regard religion as no issue at all. THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 8 Oct. 14, 1960 -Men of stature, beloved, always are influenced, motivated, and directed by their religious beliefs or their lack of them.” Jablonowski then discussed the four possible relationships between a church and a state. One is a theocracy, with state subservient to church. The Vatican State is the only theocracy still in existence, he said. Another is the supremacy of state over church, which is the case in Russia, “to a lesser degree in Great Britain,” and in other countries “where a particular church is denominated as the state church.” A third relationship, he said, is separation of church and state. Citing the first amendment to the American Constitution, he said, “It has served well this nation and it must be preserved! This is because the overriding issue in every election is still the issue of freedom.” He listed a concordat as the other possible relationship, an agreement between a church and a state “to concede some rights to the other . . . to co-exist peacefully side by side.” In his encyclical of 1885, Pope Leo XIII declared, Jablonowski said, “that to recognize and respect the state, no matter what the political form might be, provided that the state is willing to recognize and respect the church.” On the basis of this encyclical, Jablonowski said, the Catholic Church negotiated a treaty with Mussolini, and Pope Pius XI “bestowed his blessings upon the Italian soldiers as they went to rape and slaughter the innocent people of Ethiopia.” Further, Pope Pius XII, then papal nuncio in German7, negotiated a treaty with Hitler “giving exclusive rights and privileges to the Church in Germany, in callous disregard of the plans proceeding apace” for the cremation of the Jews. “What is to keep such a thoughtsystem from one day negotiating such a concordat with Khrushchev or one of his successors?” Jablonowski asked. “Not that they will; this statement is not made*. But as long as this kind of philosophy exists . . . it makes people fearful.” Jablonowski advised, “Do not stop with questioning Mr. Kennedy’s religion.” Reminding his congregation that Vice-President Nixon is a Quaker, and that the Quaker denomination is committed to pacifism, he asked, “Can Mr. Nixon adequately provide for the national defense . . and still remain a good Quaker?” Referring to Sen. Lyndon Johnson, he said, “While he has a rebe more adept at giving barbeques at his ranch on Sunday, rather than taking seriously the necessity for the regular worship of God. “If you believe that Mr. Kennedy is sincere in his statements that he is opposed to the views of his church’s hierarchy, and that he will not later succumb to their demands . . . then you should no longer apply the issue of religion to his candidacy. If you believe that Mr. Nixon does not subscribe to . . . the pacifist views of his church, then his religion should no longer be an issue.” “All that I ask you,” Jablonowski concluded, “is that you ascertain the truth, then ‘speak the truth in love,’ whatever the truth may be.” In his letter to theObserver, Jablonowski said that his own decision “is in a state of flux. Prior to the nominating conventions I was certain. I felt that I could not vote for a Catholic for the Latin Studies Yield Results In Port LdVdCd PORT LAVACA Almost by accident, a Calhoun County “Latin-English Community Group” has come into being in Port Lavaca. Miss Eunice Vasquez, staff worker of the Texas Council of Churches’ “Migrant Ministry” for migrant workers, ordinarily would have been working to assist migrant vvorkers in the cotton fields. The ,crop was drowned out, however, and there were no migrants in the region. Miss Vasquez was requested to make a study of the Latin-Americans native to this region. In her work, which is co-sponsored by the Calhoun County Ministerial Alliance and the United Church Women of Port Lavaca, Miss Vasquez visited 195 Spanish-speaking people-31 families, average number of children five. Most of those interviewed wanted a better education for their children than they had, Miss Vasquez said. Some said the most important thing for improving their health was cleanliness; others did not know. “The water coming into their major problems. Of the 31 families, 21 were Roman Catholic, three Protestant, but “few attended church because they did not understand.” Miss Vasquez quoted one old lady, “We don’t want people corning into our homes because all they do is ask questions, make promises, and no one has ever done anything.” She quoted one young mother, “How wonderful it would’ be if someone would teach us how to take care of our children.” Other problems: housing, knowledge of English, “afraid to be a part of the community,” said Miss Vasquez. Her recommendations: a pre-school English program, day nursery for working mothers’ children, visiting nurses, recreation center for youth, family counseling services. The Latin-English community group met to receive Miss Vasquez’ report from the Rev. CharleS Moss, pastor of the First Christian Church, and the Rev. Keith Palmquist, pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church of Point Comfort, chairmen for the group’s permanent program. They planned to get church and other organization help for the Ministerial Alliance’s yearround service program for the Latin-American community. Benito Cantu told the group that there is not enough water, with 68 families in “Little Mexico” dependent upon water from one one-inch pipe well. City-county sanitarian Clayton Toalson outlined possible solutions, announced that training films in Spanish on public health will be shown to “Little Mexico” residents on a weekly schedule, told how and when Latins could be approved for medical aid from the county, and said a Spanish-speaking pub