ustxtxb_obs_1961_12_22_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

CONSERVATIVE.,DEMOS Two-Party Warnings Imitation Called Chief Ne466 . Evil gro life in America. But one thing constantly bothered him about the American Negro: his tendency to imitate white peopleto straighten the hair, to powder, to “go slick”a tendency which is well displayed in the popular Negro magazine Ebony. “But when a man imitates, he loses himself,” said Biggers. “He’s got to turn back and find something to be proud of within himself. The Chinese and the Japanese have achieved industrialization without changing spiritually. The American Negro and the African Negro must advance without surrendering spiritually.” Unfortunately, he said, his hopes to find the African being faithful to the spirit of Africa were not always supported. “The African also is prone to take over Western images and spiritualitiesaesthetics, religions. Western art and music are being taught in some African universities while African art and music are slighted. This is not always true, and I was happy to see some African leaders aware of the danger.” Biggers said he felt like a Ourist, but also like a brother returning home. “The educated African understood the racial ties between us. The uneducated didn’t; they thought I was just a foreigner. At Ede, Nigeria, I was . drummed into the presence of the king with AROUND TEXAS Some legislators continued to voice their doubts this week about the worth of the loan shark measure written by the Legislative Council and recommended to Gov. Price Daniel for inclusion in special session matters. The criticisms are aimed particularly at two features of the measure: the favoritism shown companies that make loans of less than $100, and the inclusion of loans of up to $1,500 under the loan company law, the ‘contention being that this gets out of the realm of small loans and into banking. The only two of the 11-man panel who voted against recommending the bill were Rep. Don Kennard of Fort Worth and Sen. Charles Herring of Austin. Under the recommendation, companies could charge up to $20 for a $100 loan made for only 15 days. Kennard said only six states set up a separate category for regulating the under-$100 loans. In Beaumont, rival factions that developed since last year’s erime crackdown have begun to do hatchet jobs on each other. The criminal district court grand jury indicted W. G. Walley Jr., acting district ‘attorney of Jefferson County, on a morals charge; then the 13th District Court grand jury turned around and indicted 11 of the 12-member criminal district” court grand jury for allegedly divulging proceedings and information after they were discharged. Atty. Gen. Will Wilson took Walley’s side and said his indictment “will bring such a wave of public indignation as to backfire on those who perpetrated it. Such an indictment will undoubtedly be accepted . .. as a political move. It may even add steam to the cleanup.” Walley fought back by filing a $50,000 libel suit against L. M. Williams Sr., foreman of the grand jury, and 10 other members. Walley was appointed to head the county’s crime investigations after last year’s widely publicized ex THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 2 Dec. 22, 1961 talking drums. The king came out in the courtyard and explained in the Yoruba tongue that the drums had been wrong. They had said I was a European \(the Yoruba have the same word for European neither a European nor a foreigner, but a brother from America who had returned after 300 years. And that’s the way I really felt.” He said he ran into several dozen American Negroes living in Africa, living there permanently. “They probably started out to find their roots like I did, and just stayed.” If he felt like a “brother” to the Africans, does this mean he doesn’t think in terms of being an American? “I certainly want to be a full-fledged American,” he said. “You see how I answered that question? I want to be an American. I think the African experience had a great deal to do with settling me down. Certainly I am an American. There’s nothing else I am.” Then, if he has “settled down,” does it mean he will take his art subjects from all ‘parts of American lifefrom whites as well as Negroes? No, said Biggers, he would continue to paint Negro life only. “But I may start doing some satirical work,” he said. “About the kind of American Negroes who are ashamed of their kinky air.” B.S. pose of Beaumont-Port Arthur conditions. In Austin, as this issue of the Observer is in preparation, Senator-elect Franklin Spears’ special escheat committee is meeting again. Thirty-six bankers were subpoenaed to appear, but most of them chose to send underlings. In Houston, the Post reported that James A. Elkins, of the firm of Vinson, Elkins, Weems and Searls,well known in Texas political affairshas purchased 20,000 shares of common stock of the Pure Oil Co., the shares having a market value of $690,000. Elkins is a director of the Pure Oil Co. Everywhere in Texas, independent oil men continued to complain this week about the Interior Department’s order to allow imports of 12,206 barrels more daily in 1962 than is presently being permitted. The new figure is 919,837 barrels daily. James E. Russell, president of the West Central Texas Oil and Gas Assn., said this would result in another severe blow to the Texas independent oil man. He also said that by allowing it, President Kennedy was going back on his word to “study” the situation. In Houston, Rice University undergraduates voted 778 to 447 to desegregate the school’s admission policies. The vote has no effect on the school’s charter, which limited admission to whites only. In Austin, the University of Texas’ population research center reported changes in trends. Of the 143 counties that lost popula-* tion during the 1950’s, 94 gained during 1960-61, and 17 of the 111 counties that gained during the 1950’s lost during 1960-61. Also, the metropolitan areas did not grow as rapidly during the past year as they had during the past decade. Sly California book stores, taking advantage of Texas’ virtue, have begun placing ads in Texas newspapers advertising the sale of Tropic of Cancer by mail. In several areas of the state the book Is banned for sale in bookstores, but the U.S. Post Office does not judge it to be pornographic. Second in a continuing series on the Texas Republican Party. AT LARGE Two differing expressions of concern over the Republican upsurge in Texas by conservative Democrats who wield influence in Democratic and governmental circles in the state were published recently in East Texas newspapers. E. B. Germany, president of Lone Star Steel Company, whose column “The Way I See It” appears weekly in several East Texas newspapersthe space being purchased by Lone Star Steelsent out the warning to other Democratic conservatives: “A great deal of comment is going around about Democrats quitting the party and becoming Republicans. There probably is more conversation than there are actual defections, but be that as it may, it is well for all conservative Democrats to consider the grave consequences of defecting because therein is the danger of handing our state government over to the liberals. “The law states that if you vote in the Republican primary election, your poll tax receipt shall be stamped so as to indicate your action, and that no poll tax receipt so stamped shall be honored in the Democratic primary election or run-off. It will, of course, allow you to vote in the general election. “The Republican party has not yet gained sufficient strength to become a factor as such, nor is it likely that a sufficient number of Democrats will switch over to make it a strong factor in the years immediately ahead. In many instances, Republican candidates will be unopposed in the Republican primary, hence, the lone candidate automatically will be named to run in the general election where the voter may cast his ballot for either party’s candidate. In many races there will be no Republican. “Now let’s look at what might happen to the Democratic slate if a large number of conservatives bolt the party and vote in the R’Tublican primary, thus eliminating their vote in the Democratic elections. “It goes without saying that virtually all of the Democrats who become Republicans are ultraconservatives. Thus, their votes would not be included in the Democratic primary or run-off where we need all of the conservative strength we can possibly muster. The loss of these votes would pave the way for a liberal Democrat to beat a conservative, and move into the general election. “On the other hand, if conservative Democrats remain loyal to the party, cast their votes in the Democratic primary and run-off for the most conservative candidate \(and there usually are several candidates in the Democratic primary as compared to only one in get him nominated, they thus gain the opportunity of voting in the general election for one of two conservatives, either the Democrat or the Republican. Then the choice is up to the voter, but it is a cinch that the winner will be a conservative regardless of party affiliation. Balance of Power “There is one big point to remember . . . If you vote in the Republican primary, you cannot vote in the Democratic primary or run-off. Then you should remember that a vote cast for either party’s candidate in either primary does not bind youmorally or legallyto vote for the same candidate in the general election. “The sane, reasonable course to be followed by all conservative Democrats is remain in the party, and try to get a conservative candidate nominated. If we do this, then we will be assured of a choice between two conservatives in the general election instead of a favored liberal Democrat against an underdog conservative Republican. “The balance of power within the Democratic party conservatives versus liberalsis, indeed, a thin margin. Defection of Democratic conservatives might easily hand the state offices over to the liberals by simple default, and voting in the Republican primary is an easy way to default your rights to strengthen conservatism in state government.” Texas Under Attack The Palestine Herald-Press, a conservative Democratic daily, expressed a somewhat different fear, but with parallels, in an editorial last week. Under the headline “Texas Is Under Attack” the paper warned: “Obviously, the swing of Texas voters toward conservatism in recent years, with Republicans making inroads in the politics of this once-solid Democratic state, has liberal chieftans of the national Democratic Party worried. “As a result, it appears. that a big move is on by Democratic bigwigs to capture control of Texas. The move is to dominate in Austin and to remove Texas congressmen who refuse to follow the liberal big-government line. John Dowdy of this district is one of the intended victims of the purge. “All through Texas the party controllers are busy, laying the groundwork for an all-out assault on Texas politicians who oppose federal giveaways and federal dictation of the states. “What looms in Texas, therefore, is a showdown battle for control. Texans must recogn!ze the obvious signs that its very existence as an independent-thinking state is jeopardized by what is going on today. “It is no accident that a large share of the counties of Texas were designated as ‘distressed areas.’ That gives the bureaucrats, with full instruction from their political sponsors, excuse to organize large groups of Texas people into politically valuable units, with the promise of federal handouts to spur their enthusiasm. “It also is not accident that the Federal Study Commission, set up under the sponsorship of Vice President Lyndon Johnson, has turned out a report on Texas water development that, if accepted by ‘Congress, would give federal bureaucrats complete control of all the water resources of the state. “We are under massive attack In Texas. Have no doubt about that. The attack is political, but it carries with it the very grave possibility that Texas may become a mere ward of the federal government, similar to the several states in the southeast were the federal government’s Tennessee Valley Authority has taken over political control by controlling their economies. Such a possibility calls for alert resistance by Texas ‘voters … “Texas has become a major item of conquest for the people who believe all power should be vested in Washington, and who would like to usurp the rights of the states, politically and economically. Texas, through the independence of Texas people, has shown voters in other states that they do not have to wear a brass collar as liberal Democrats. Those who want to perpetuate the brass collar want to remove Texas as a sore spot in their area of control and remove Texas at the same time as an influence on Southe i rn states . . .” ‘Throw Off Shackles’ Meanwhile, the Republicans’ public relations onslaught continues. Typical of their drive to recruit disgruntled Democrats all over Texas was a full-page advertiseMent in American Weekly, a Sunday magazine which is carried by many Texas dailies. “There’s Only One Party for Texas Conservatives” the large print proclaimed. A lengthy text, in standard type, said: “\(.conservatives stand for the principles of our Constitution and our heritage of freedom which made America great. In simplest terms a conservative is for greater personal liberty and individual responsibility. A conservative stands firmly for government economy, sound money, private enterprise, private property, limited federal government, states’ rights, and responsible, local selfgovernment .. . “If you are a conservative, then you belong in the dynamic new Republican Party of Texas . . . because these are the conservative principles the Republican Party stands for. “You are wasting your time and helping destroy your own freedom If you cling ‘ blindly – to a party name that once stood for the Constitutional principles of your father and your grandfather.” The Democratic Party, the ad continued, is now the party “of the ultra liberal and the welfare state.” Texas Democrats, furthermore, are “completely controlled by the ultra-liberal New ‘Frontier bosses in Washington, whose policies and platforms were endorsed by Democratic leaders.” “Throw off the shackles of the past,” the appeal concluded, “and move forward with the new Republican Party of Texas.” At the bottom of the page was a coupon, to be addressed to state GOP chairman Tad Smith. 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