ustxtxb_obs_1961_12_15_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

son and Formby. With Connally now announced, the question becomes “which two?” Will Wright, Ralph Yarborough, or Don Yarborough cash in on liberal and moderate-liberal support? That question will be resolved in the next three weeks at latest. ‘Best Serve’ Connally, a behind-the-scenes power for years as Lyndon Johnson’s associate and political manager, told newsmen he had “seriously weighed” how he could “best serve in these times” before deciding to run for governor. “Communists, knowing well the power and readiness of our military forces, have not chosen an outright test on that front . . . It is my_conviction that responsible political leadership of the separate states is an essential foundation upon which we must build and upon which active, effective national leadership must ultimately depend.” Connally telephoned Daniel, Sen. Yarborough, and Wright informing them of his decision. On Daniel, he said: “I expressed the hope that I might have his support. In fairness, I must say he was less reassuring than I had hoped.” He said he would discuss “all issues which are vital to Texas.” He stressed fiscal responsibility on the part of government, labor, and management. President Kennedy praised Connally’s “outstanding service as secretary of the Navy” and immediately appointed another Fort Worth man and Johnson supporter, Fred Korth, to fill the vacancy. A spokesman for Johnson, George Reedy, said Connally has been for many years “a close and trusted friend” for whom the vicepresident has “great admiration.” He added that Johnson “does not take sides in primary races unless he is directly involved.” Daniel, who must avoid the stigma of a “lame-duck” governor during the forthcoming special session, had hoped Connally would with -hold his intentions until of ter the session ended in February. For practical political reasons if no other, Daniel must either an AUSTIN The continuing personal feud between Gov. Price Daniel and Atty. Gen. Will Wilson erupted again last week, this time over Daniel’s campaign for bringing banks under an escheat law. In a morning press conference, Daniel told newsmen he had proof that six national banks in the state had transferred dormant accounts to their own profits, and that some 30 others had accomplished much the same purpose by large service charges against dormant accounts. “I am estimating that more than .100 national banks have escheated their abandoned property to themselves,” Daniel said. He suggested that Atty. Gen. Wilson should be doing something to stop such practices. He said he had told Wilson as much in a letter last month. The attorney general, Daniel argued, now has the authority to take action against banks. Wilson wasted little time in striking back. He said he was not going to be pressured into hasty action on dormant accounts merely to further Daniel’s campaign for bringing banks under an escheat law. He charged that Daniel’s “political maneuvers” have already done harm to public confi THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 2 December 15, 1961 nounce for a fourth term or keep any aspirations publicly alive until after the session. If Daniel does decide for re-election, that would mean Johnson would have two political friends running against one another. In response to a story in the New York Times that Kennedy might offer Daniel a federal position to “clear the way” for Connally in the governor’s race, Daniel said: “I know of no federal appointment that would be of as much interest to me as the office of governor of Texas.” He said he was “definitely considering the matter of running again for governor.” The Times, quoting an unidentified “well-informed source,” reported: “The four-way relationship between Pres. Kennedy, VicePres. Johnson, Mr. Connally, and Gov. Daniel is such that there is little chance Mr. Connally and Mr. Daniel would run against each other.” The Times said Connally had discussed the governor’s race with Kennedy. ‘Completely Identified’ Atty. Gen. Wilson, who has been the most energetic of all the candidates, minced no words in his response , to the Connally announcement. “John Connally is so completely identified with LBJ, as campaign manager, secretary, and confidant, that the two are inseparable,” he said. “At such a time when . . . Americans have been called upon to forsake their jobs, their businesses, and their families for the nation’s defense, ‘it is inconceivable to me that Mr. Connally proposes to abandon ship in the face of peril to come home and politic. “The main issue between Connally and me is,” Wilson said, “are we going to let Washington politicians dominate Texas? Is the governor of Texas to be a No. 1 chief executive or somebody else’s agent?” It is generally believed that Connally’s entry will. squeeze Wright out of the picture. Besides the Fort Worth congressman’s close relationship with Johnson, he would be forced to share some of the same financial sources as dente in banks. “I regard it as a legislative problem and not a law enforcement problem at this juncture,” Wilson said. He said if Daniel would give him a list of banks escheating abandoned accounts to themselves, he would conduct any investigation that might be made legally. But excessive service charges are not against the present law, he added. He continued: “I would not as attorney general initiate any escheat proceedings simply on the proof that an account has not been checked upon for seven years, as this would be very unfair to the depositors.” Large numbers of elderly people, Wilson said, establish “burial funds” in bankS to take care of funeral expenses and often leave such accounts untouched for years. Texas bankers are right, Wilson argued, in their position that the state should not undermine public confidence in bank accounts. Each of Daniel’s “political maneuvers on this subject has the effect of adding to accumulative attack upon public confidence in bank accounts.” Daniel then replied: “I am con’ winced that if you find out for yourself what is happening to many of these dormant accounts you will agree that action is called for immediately. Otherwise, there will be nothing left of many bank deposits either for the state or for missing heirs.” ,Connally. Sen. Yarborough, who three times lost bids for the governorship, has been giving the race serious thought. Close associates have been discouraging him from giving up his Senate seat, however. Under the circumstances, Don Yarborough could very well end up as the liberal choice. Indicating that he would disclose his plans in several days, he said that if he does run for governor and is elected, “I will definitely try to repeal the sales tax.” Hitherto, Yarborough has been considered a candidate for lieutenant governor. But several forces are at work which could get him into the gubernatorial fight. A number of Houston conservatives who are supporting Sen. Bob Baker of Houston for lieutenant governor are promising Yarborough support in the governor’s race if he runs. Liberals who are backing Speaker Jim Turman for lieutenant governor are telling him much the same thing. But even more crucially, many liberals want him in the race to persuade Sen. Yarborough, whom they wish to remain in the Senate, to stay out. Wilson and Daniel Meanwhile, the Daniel-Wilson controversy, which makes the front pages more and more frequently, erupted again last week when Danielbefore Connally had announcedsaid “no candidate announced yet is a major candidate in the race.” Wilson rebutted: “I intend to be a major factor in the race and I hope more than a major factor.” Two years ago, Wilson said, the governor’s .candidacy had 13_ points of unfinished business, and he presumed Daniel would have about the same roster next year. W.M. AROUND TEXAS In Dallas, a Negro hotel operator was judged innocent of raping a 22-year-old English woman Freedom Rider who was evicted from the Dallas YWCA because of her racial activities and went to live in the all-Negro hotel where, she claimed, she was assaulted. Anthony Davis, operator of the hotel, said the jury verdict “reaffirms my faith in justice in Texas.” In Austin, State Education Commissioner J. W. Edgar said he would be delighted to have suggestions from anybody on how to improve the selection of textbooks, and he said that final selection of the textbooks still rests with the local school authorities. But the selection on the local level is severely restricted,’ with no more than five, and as few as two books to choose from, by the time the state boards get through weeding out the possibilities. In Houston, State Rep. Bob Eckhardt complained that the Houston School Board had broken state law by establishing a new policy that requires all teachers having their expenses paid to professional meetings to voice only opinions in keeping with the policies of the Houston board. Eckhardt called it a coercive gag rule and in violation of the lawpassed when the legislature passed the recent teacher pay raise prohibiting any school board from directly or indirectly pressuring a teacher into staying out of political affairs. Eckhardt has protested to the local school board and to State Commissioner Edgar. In Dallas, L. S. Goforth, president of the Texas Bankers Association, said that Gov. Price Daniel’s intention to bring the banks sailing in the Mediterranean waters early last fall. The Meyer family is owner of Newsweek and -of the left-wing Washington Post. It was from this yachting trip that Drew Pearson visited Khrushchev in Moscow, and reported that Khrushchev said he had not released the two American fliers before election in order to help President Kennedy. This is a brazen intrusion into our internal American affairs.” He said civilians in government have constantly kept the military from having the full control over the nuclear bombs that they should have. “To this day the military are censored in their control of the nuclear weapons they need in combat,” he said. “Every senior officer in your military establishment for the past ten years has been concerned or involved directly in the struggle to release atomic weapons from bureaucratic civilian control.” To accompanying applause, he praised “superpatriots,” and to accompanying laughter and boos he ridiculed “moderate patriots, such as the State Department,” and he said that superpatriots knew all along that . Cuba was a communist nation. About ‘Cuba he also said, “After 16 years on the defensive, Cuba was and is our greatest opportunity to take the offensive. I endorse what Tom Anderson said and when I met the secretary of the Army recently I told him . I endorsed what Tom Anderson said: ‘In order to solve Berlin, we must take Havana.’ ” . Not only have government civilians kept the military from getting full control of the nuclear bombs, Walker complained, but under the escheat laws shows that “the banks and bankers of Texas are being used as ‘cannon-fodder’ in a game of political warfare.” The legislature this year passed an escheat law requiring all businesses except banks and savings and loan companies to report dor: mant accounts to the state, with the ultimate goal of turning over these accounts to the state. Now Daniel has called a special session for Jan. 3 with the prime purpose of bringing the banks under this law. Denying that the banks disliked the idea because of any non-civic impulse, ‘Goforth, in a statement approved by the TBA, said the banks’ interest in the welfare of Texas has been proved “by the fact that the banks of Texas have been carrying without interest charge for years the tremendous state deficit created during your administration.” A $1,499,280 contract for design of the Manned Spacecraft Center at Clear Lake has been awarded Brown & Root Inc. of Houston. More than 150 companies competed for -the contract. Part of the land on which the center will be constructed was given to Rice University by Humble Oil Co., and Rice in turn -gave the land to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The center reportedly -will cost about $60 million to build. In Marshall last week the Rev. Ashton Jones filed a $50,000 suit against Harrison County Sheriff Earl Franklin alleging violation of civil rights. Jones was arrested in Marshall April 28, 1960, on the Wiley College campus. He says he was denied use of a telephone and was beaten by the sheriff and his deputies. they have also allowed the communists to take over prize uranium mines in countries which the ‘U.S. military wanted to invade and capture, such as Czechoslovakia in World War II. Destroyed Spirit Further, he said the civilian government leaders “have also instituted a campaign against the use of atomic weapons, depreciating our use of them at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which actually saved Japan from conventional destruction and communist take-over, as in Germany. They have magnified radiation hazards, and the fear of atomic war without contrast to the destructiveness of conventional weapons or the hopeless fate of living under communism. They have attacked unceasingly our personnel security clearance system.” In short, the civilian government has almost destroyed the spirit and the purpose of the military. “I have never seen an army with a greater cause for a great country with a more obvious total enemy, that had less mission and purpose”at this point he left his prepared text and added”not by its own hand but by the national policy of its own country.” He intimated that, if it were not for civilian restraints, the military would long ago have taken care of Russia. “Over-control of atomic weapons is censorship of military responsibility, -plans and preparedness,” h’e said. “We have never been without combined plans, Army, Navy and Air Force, that would reduce Russia to where she would be no threat to anyone.” plads have to provide for the use of atomic weapons, since the enemy has such weapons. Yet, the military has no assurance that these weapons can be used according to plan, or ever used. Because political considerations are a factor of determination with any President.” Walker was introduced by former Gov. Coke Stevenson. After the speech, Mayor Earle Oabell in presenting Walker an honorary Dallas citizen’s award and a Stetson hat, said, “Our honored guest has distinguished himself and his state on the battlefield in defense of our country.” UT Students Start Chapter AUSTIN A group of University of Texas students, having organized a UT chapter of the Texas Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, will solicit funds in several cities during the Christmas holidays. Jim Bass, junior philosophy stu