ustxtxb_obs_1960_12_30_50_00004-00000_000.pdf

Let those flatter who fear. it is not an American art.Jefferson Thoughts on Taxes ‘AW-W-W . . . YOU SHOULDN’T’A DONE IT!’ Observer Notebook With Congress and the state legislature going into session in the next several days, we shall expect the usual outcries from our well-heeled friends against reckless and immoral federal spending program. Amidst the dust devils of a state legislative debate, we shall be treated again to the bold hosannas of the sales taxers. All this is near at hand. We recall a recent speech delivered by Sen. Joe Clark of Pennsylvania, who described with rare clarity the fundamentals of such complex matters. Seven-eighths of all local tax dollars are levied on real estate, he said. Just about all the poor man or the middle class man possesses centers around his house and his backyard ; he is taxed on all of it. The gentleman who has accumulated further wealth has it largely “in the form of stock certificates, or bonds, or other intangibles. And the local tax does not penetrate the secret confines of the safety deposit box.” In desperation, Clark said, states ‘ and localities have turned to the sales tax and the wage tax but these, he said, are regressive and provide only a small part of total revenue. Arguing that federal taxes are “far more equitable,” he concluded with his “heretical” view that “the federal tax system should be used to an increasing degree to finance services which have been heretofore strictly state and local.” The great bulk of the population pays less taxes under federal programs because of the progressive features of federal taxes. Under state and local taxes, the 70 percent of the Texas population, for instance, with It has become something of a fashion in the big press to registerpredictions for the coming New Year; we shall not let the opportunity pass. With warmest greetings of the season to our readers we humbly pre-, diet that W. H. Criswell of Dallas will be converted to the Jesuit Order and will quietly retire to a Belgian monastery which specializes in -peppermint liqueurs; that in the Senate race Highland Park precincts in Dallas will go resoundingly for Sen. Henry Gonzalez ; that Lt. Gov. Ben Ramsey will vigorously advocate nationalization of oil and gas; that his principal backer will be Jim Clark of the Houston Post; that Thad Hutcheson of Houston will become a contributing editor of The Progressive that Soapy Williams will name Jerry yearly gross incomes of less than $6,000 pay proportionately more. The outcries against federal spending programs are not merely the litanies of conscientious servants of indiyidual dignity to the splendid edifice of “states’ rights and responsibilities.” The corpOrations and their spokesmen, Clark said, “hate the federal government and love local government because the former taxes them heavily and the latter lightly. Federal aid redistributes the wealth downward. A shift of responsibility to states would redistribute the wealth upward.” Although the Texas Commission on state and local tax policy recently found that the general burden on the individual is somewhat lighter in Texas than in other states, the Texas Research League contributed this information : Texas has a “very high state tax” on manufacturing companies with no net income. For those earning leSs than six per cent profits, the tax is “above average.” On corporations making above six per cent the rates are “below average.” “It conceivably could be concluded,” a recent AP report on the state tax problem stated, “that lobbyists for well heeled corporations have been active in the hallowed halls of the Capitol.” It could also conceivably be concluded, we might add, that modest enterprises like the Texas Manufacturers Association will be forthrightly in favor of a penurious token reform in our public school system and pittance increases in teachers’ salaries. But as for the federal program on eddcation, it will kill our incentive, our character, and our moral worth. Sadler his administrative assistant on African Affairs ; that Franklin Jones will become a Republican and Charles Alan Wright a Democrat ; that the new undersecretaries of health, education, and welfare will be Dick West and Lynn Landrum ; that professors at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest will be purged for right-wing activities ; that the Austin American will crusade for the abolition of Mayor Tom Miller’s hidehouse and will turn against Lyndon B. Johnson ; that State Sen. Parkhouse will emigrate to Cuba ; that John Tower will finally admit that Harold Laski taught him a t the London School of Economics; and, finally, that the Texas Observer will be forthrightly praised on the editorial page of some large Texas daily. Exposure’s Sake The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorialized this week on the HUAC and its widely circulated film “Oper”A recent activity of the House Committee on Un-American Activities is production of a film entitled “Operation Abolition.” Termed “forgery by film” by the Washington Post, this film distorts criticism of the committee as Communist inspired. “In 1957 the committee produced another “Operation Abolition” #1. pamphlet concerning efforts to abolish the committee. Fourteen of its 15 pages were devoted to so-called “dossiers” of its critics, ‘as if to say,’ Representative James Roosevelt remarked, ‘that this alone destroys their reasoning.’ Herblock in The Washington Post. Cutting-Room Floor “The committee and its predecessors have now enjoyed 22 safe and secure years of heresy hunting, bolstered by appropriations totaling many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why the concern about its pos. sible abolition ? ‘The fact is that Representative Roosevelt is expected to move, when the new House makes its rules, to abolish the committee. The Californian suggested as much last April in a detailed indictment of the group. “The abolitionists cannot be very sanguine about the prospect. The House has been partial to its superpatriots. It has increased their funds from $50,000 in 1945 \(when there were 64,000 known Communists in And in the new House, the coalition of Republicans and Southerners which usually supports the committee will be stronger than in the last session. “Whatever the House does, the committee’s worst enemy is its record. Reviewing that in the 1957 Watkins case, Chief Justice Warren noted that the House had exercised little control over its free-wheeling sleuths, and the committee itself had no concrete purpose. ‘Who can define the meaning of un-American ?’ asked the Chief Justice. “Under such men as Martin Dies, J. Parnell Thomas and now Francis E. Walter of Pennsylvania, the committee has fitted its own definitions to its own objectives. The high court may soon have another opportunity to ponder the matter in the contempt case of Frank Wilkinson. He was subpoenaed by the committee when he went to Atlanta to organize public opposition to its hearings. Was this a deliberate effort to harass a critic for exercising his right of petition? “For the House, the first question is what legislative purpose the corn Published by Texas Observer Co., Ltd. Entered as second-class matter, April 26, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin, Texas, under the Act of March 3, 1879. DECEMBER 30, 1960 Ronnie Dugger Editor and General Manager Willie Morris, Associate Editor Sarah Payne, Office Manager mittee serves. Congress already has adopted a mass of laws dealing with subversion, some of which still face court tests. The accepted laws on treason and espionage are in the hands of the Justice Department. The Un-American Activities Committee is not producing major legislation, and the security of the nation is fortunately not dependent on it. “In the absence of serious responsibility, the committee’s purpose too often becomes exposure for exposure’s sake, which Justice Warren ruled impermissible. The purpose often seems to be, not to stop subversion, but to intimidate dissent. And the result too often has been a disservice to the traditions of individual freedom which are distinctly American. . If the House does not abolish its gumshoe group, the least it should do is to limit it to a clear legislative charter.” The Boys at Gatesville “In the late winter of 1959, a survey of juvenile penal institutions in Texas was made by’ State Representative Don Kennard and Observer Editor Ronnie Dugger, and the facts duly recorded in these pages. Statistics of various sorts were offered, and I was particularly struck with the information that for 1,157 boys at the Gatesville School, there were, in,cluding school books, only 3,000 books available. I read this, deplored it, and filed it away in my memory. “Several months later, I was ask to aid in the sale of some 15,000 books which had been donated to the Annual Book Fair of The Council of Jewish Women. The Book Fair is held each Spring and is a must for all people to whom books are a necessity. An astonishing assortment of books flow in all year and are priced, sorted, and sold with proceeds going to worthy charities. “About a week after the Book Fair, I thought again of the boys at Gatesvine. The chairman said that not all the books had been sold and the remaining ones would be distributed to eleemosynary ‘ homes in the city. When she heard what was on my mind, she said some books would be sorted out ‘for this purpose and brought to , my home. A call to the local juvenile authorities arranged for the transportation of several hun. dred copies of history, adventure, text . books, and children’s classics to the school. “As a result of the warm and gratifying thanks received from the director of the school, the same procedure was followed again this year. Over 500 books have now been sent with the hope that perhaps the lonely’ mind of a trouble _d boy might be enriched by , them. Many more are needed.” rmb Rumor It is being widely rumored in Austin that Gov. Price Daniel will soon confer an honorary admiralship in the Texas Navy on John Connally of Fort Worth. A New Home? The Youth Council is pushing hard for additional money for Texas’ six state operated juvenile training schools and establishment of a juvenile parole system. Council chairman W. C. Windsor Jr. will also press before the next legislature a proposal to build a badly-needed home for neglected and dependent Negro children. Hospitals and Special Schools have requested a $27 million increase in appropriations over the next biennium. Gov . Doniel’s budget \(to be recommends only a $15.5 million increase. Published once a week from Austin,i Texas. Delivered postage prepaid $5 per annum. Advertising rates available on request. Extra copies 15c each. Quantity prices available on order. EDITORIAL and BUSINESS OFFICE: 504 West 24th St., Austin, Texas. Phone GReenwood 7-0746. HOUSTON OFFICE: Mrs. R. D. Randolph, 419% Lovett Blvd., Houston 16 , Texas. 5he Rig Contrail e Prognoj . ticale THE TEXAS OBSERVER 7411114.11.A.