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Three illustrations from the “Know Your Enemy” portions _ of the Dallas civil defense commission’s locally-produced booklet, “Essentials of Survival.” The one great rule of composition is to speak the truth. Thoreau The Observer 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. -tipindependent-Liberal Weekly Newspaper A Window to the South Vol. 52 TEXAS, DECEMBER 16, 1960 No. 37 Civil Defense, ‘Backdoor Phase’ Tax Funds Used to ‘Suggest’ Right-Wing List Dallas \(First of two articles on Dallas public programs and conservative political viewpoints. Next week’s article will report on ramifications of the Dallas public schools’ new program to teach anti-comDALLAS The Dallas city-county civil defense and disaster commission, whose work is financed in part with federal funds, has been preparing and mailing out, at city tax expense, a suggested reading list which includes many ultra-conservative books and publications. Among these are the right-wing magazine, American Mercury; the “Dan Smoot Reports,” published in Dallas by the key man in Dallas billionaire H. L. Hun’t’s old Facts Forum programs; Collectivism in the Churches, Edgar Bundy’s controversial recitation of what he considers radicalism and communism in U. S. churches; books Ronnie Dugger about alleged communism in U.S. schools; the “Wedemeyer Reports,” represented on the list as “the true story of how China was lost to the Communists”; and such other publications as Human Events, which represented Sen. Lyndon Johnson as a very radical candidate for president in 1960; “Christian Anti-Communism Crusade”; and The Firing Line of the National American AUSTIN All the remedial legislation in the world won’t correct the migrant laborer’s living conditions until he is educated to receive whatever benefits come his way, Egon R. Tausch, executive secretary of the Migrant Labor Council, said here after returning from a tour of the Lubbock area cotton harvest. Disgusted with the way some migrant laborers are “spitting on the hand that reaches out to help them,” Tausch said a tour of the area he just covered would convince anyone that in agriculture “it isn’t a simple matter of rah migrant laborer, boo employer.” “I found many employers doing their best, and at considerable expense, to provide the workers with decent living conditions, only to have the workers ignore their offerings or, worse, treat them with contempt,” he said. He said that Jim Wright, who operates the Broadview Gin, spent more than $4,000 during the !cotton-picking season on installing portable toilets. He contracted with ,a company to come in at regular intervals and replace the toilets that broke, supply others as needed, and in general keep on top of the sanitation situation. These toilets were made of aluminum siding, inclosing a small bowl and small urinal. “When I got there, Mr. Wright had lost his patience,” Tausch reported. “He told me to go out and look at the way the migrants were treating the toilets. I quickly saw what he meant: they were defecating all around the toilet, but ism Commission of the American Legion. In addition, the list specifies governmental and congressional committee publications on subversion and espionage. The local civil defense program, according to Col. John Mayo, chairman, in an Observer interview, has also had printed 20,000 copies of a locally-produced booklet called “Essentials of Survival.” In this booklet, the local “civil defense” project called “Know Your Enemy” is outlined. Communists are described in simplified terms, and then it is stated: fl . there are many thousands of fellow travelers, pinks, fifth columnists, Communist Front Members and others who are in the Communist orbit and who could–not be counted on for loyalty to our government in time of Communist threat . . . Many are intellectuals, who are soft on communism for reasons known only to themselves.” The booklet states that J. Edgar Hoover constantly alerts the people against “many, many Communists and fellow travelers in our midst in important organizations, who are acting in the guise of champions of the oppressed. Actually they are there to defend Communist action and to cause trouble and dissatistac few of them would bother to go inside, and those who did go inside messed it up so intolerably that no one else would want to use it. “To be frank, I saw evidence of workers having stopped short of the toilet by one yardto relieve themselves. I also found evidence that many preferred to defecate just outside their front door.” Tausch said he visited ten large cotton operators in the Lubbock, Tahokah, Lamesa area, and except for one instance each offered first rate housing to the migrants; that is, first rate as migrant housing goes. At least they tried, by putting screens on the windows and doors, to relieve the Bob Sherrill migrants of the indignities of eating flies in their food. “But again and again I found the Mexican mothers leaving the door propped open,” said Tausch. “When I reprimanded them, they would shrug and say, ‘Flies? Who cares about a few flies? The children were driving me crazy going in and out and slamming the door, so I propped it open.’ “Maybe they like to eat flies,” Tausch said drily. “Maybe it’s just that much more meat in their diet.” Squatters at Fault Tausch said some of the workers’ quarters don’t have windows, but the workers prefer it that way, explaining to him, “We get plenty of fresh air and sunshine \(Continued on Page tion with our governmental system; or they are parroting some social communist line that will confuse our people and aid Soviet Russia, Red China, or the world Communist movement . . .” It is recommended that the citizen “learn enough about Americanism” to “detect the false philosophy of the Communists or their dupes.” 4i. practically every phase of American life has been infiltrated by Communists or Communist sympathizers,” asserts this pamphlet as part of what is represented as the Dallas-state-federal program to gird the citizenry to protect themselves against atomic attack. To “recognize a communist,” says Dallas civil defense, one should study subjects that include -deterrent to Communist Control,” the question, “Would Communist leaders welcome World Government?” and “Unlimited immigration to the U.S. and effect on our Country.” The Dallas civil defense cornmission owns, Col. Mayo cofinned, a copy of the film, “Operation Abolition,” a purported representation of “the San Francisco riots” during a hearing there of the House Un-American Activities Committee. ‘Tenor of the Text DALLAS Printed on the back of one of the official Federal Civil Defense Administration booklets being distributed ‘by the Dallas civil deferiSe agency, “Emergency Action to Save Lives,” is an authorization to republish it for “free distribution, legitimate promotional purposes, or for sale.” “In reproducing this booklet, advertising, promotional material, and art work should conform to the tenor of the text,” says the statement, signed by the United States Government Printing Office. Col. John Mayo, chairman of the Dallas city-council civil defense commission, told the Observer that one reason for the “Know Your Enemy” ideological emphasis of the Dallas civil defense program was the fact that “People are interested in the backdoor phase more than they are interested in the atomic phase” of the communist threat. None of the nine U. S. booklets on civil defense provided the Dallas office free by Washington discuss what Mayo calls “the backdoor phase.” A spokesman for the Dallas civil defense program conceded that this movie is highly critical of Congressman James Roosevelt of California for his proposal to abolish the committee. As part of its civil defense program, the Dallas city-county agency shows this film to civic clubs and other meetings. Mayo said the agency has access to two other copies on short notice. It is understood about 40 of them are circulating in Dallas now. Speakers are sent about to civic clubs speaking on civil defense and the added dimension of the program in Dallas, ideological issues. At such meetings; Mayo said, copies of nine federal pamphlets given the city-county agency free by the U.S. government, a state pamphlet, and the locally-written “Essentials of Survivial” are all supplied to citizens together. In addition, the suggested reading Sherrill, Dugger on Staff \(FOr statements by Ronnie Dugger and Willie Morris about the change in the Observer editorship, see page AUSTIN The Texas Observer is continuing publication with former Rhodes Scholar Willie Morris the editor and general manager, veteran reporter Bob Sherrill the associate editor, and retiring editor Ronnie Dugger the contributing editor. Mrs. R. D. Randolph and Dugger, the present partners in the Observer, state: “This decision is made possible by the solid business progress the Observer has made since the summer. We thank very much the Observer’s many devoted supporters for their work in helping to get new subscriptions and support.” The Observer is not yet out of the financial woods, and a goal of 10,000 subscriptions has been set for next summer; the community and area “Observer committees” which have been established since the summer will be asked to continue to function, they said. Details of the business drive will be reported shortly after the first of the year. The newspaper will continue with a three-man editorial staff for the first time since Dugger became editor six years ago in December, 1954. The reorganiza list is supplied, at these meetings, “on request.” U.S. Funds Involved Federal funds are involved in that the warning sirens used for civil defense in the city were paid for half with federal money, half with city tax funds; the 50-odd public school teachers who are qualified to teach night civil defense courses are paid entirely by federal funds; and the official U.S. booklets on self-preservation in an atomic attack are provided. Mayo stated that the Observer’s inquiry into the “fourth dimensional warfare” aspect of the Dallas civil defense program caused him to decide to take up the matter of the reading list and the booklet, “Essentials of Survival,” with the Dallas civil defense executive committee in January. If they find anything objectionable, they will take it out, he stated to the Observer. He stated that the non-governmental publications on the reading list were included at citizens’ suggestions, and he welcomed other citizens’ suggestions for additional listings. The Agency’s Speakers Mayo stated that the speakers for his agency before various Dallas groups are “persons that we feel have knowledge of the subject. They must either be military intelligence reserve officers, or naval, or former FBI agents. Some are just persons who have studied the subject and are qualified.” tion will become effective sometime after the first of the year. In the Observer tradition, Mrs. Randolph and Morris have agreed, Morris will have exclusive control over all the editorial content of the newspaper, as Dugger has during his editorship. Morris was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1956 with a degree in English. He was editor of The Daily Texan, the student newspaper at the University. A Phi Beta Kappa and a member of Friars, the University’s highest honorary society for senior men, in 1956 he was selected the first Rhodes Scholar from the University of Texas since 1946. Morris studied at Oxford University, in New College, four years. He ‘received a degree in modern history \(which, he says, “began in the year zero and ended in 1900. Everything after that did a year’s graduate work work at Oxford in American history. He was president of the American students there. He worked for the Observer as associate editor in the summer of 1958 and returned to the staff in July, 1960, again as associate editor. He has written articles for New Republic and The Nation. He is married to the former Celia Buchan of Houston; they have one son, David, age one. Sherrill, who recently has been \(Continued on MIGRANT OFFICIAL IRED BY MIGRANTS Morris Is to Edit Continuing Observer