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understatement. Like my good friend, the honorable editor of the Observer, my good friend Larry errs in assessing the political temper of the minority groups; that is, in underestimating their potential, a potential that can become reality with devastating suddenness. The Observer made this mistake in the Henry Gonzalez case. I hold no brief for Henry, my very good friend also. I have .supported Henry consistently, but not because he is a champion of the mexicano or liberal causes but rather because he has symbolized, in his district, the revolt against the old guard. But, as Larry points out can, by default, throw the Negroes and the mexicanos \(for cat’s sake into the old guard camp. The Observer, through inadvertence, has been guilty of alienating some of the mexicanos who fundamentally are liberals. Labor has made its mistakes in its treatment of the “minority” groups. If memory serves me right, the Observer \(among othmexicanos can speak for the mexi. canos. I will reiterate that seeming chauvinism by saying that only the Negro can speak for the Negro. Now, if labor and the self-anointed liberals want those several hundred thousand votes of the Negroes and mexicanos, they had better seek counsel from those Negroes and mexicanos who really know their people. The opposition, better-heeled, more politically sophisticated, and more ruthless, is not marking time. The Negro vote, as Larry implies, defeated Don Yarborough. What a tragedy for the Negro! Then we find P.A.S.S.O. [the Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations] endorsing and then un-endorsing John Connally! So where did the mexicano vote go? If the liberals have the gift of leadership, they had better begin using it now and not play the last-minute game of “after all, under the skin, we are brothers.” Hell! George I. Sanchez, 2201 Scenic Dr., Austin, Tex. Topolobampo, Anyone? If any adventurous reader of the Observer is interested in taking a ride on Mexico’s new railroad from the Texas border to the Gulf. of California, it’s a real experience. The round trip takes four or five days, and a first class Pullman ticket is less than $30. The food is excellent and reasonable in price. Once you are aboard in Ojinaga traffic, expressways, taxes, world news, or anything. You just ride, enjoy the excellent Mexican beer, and food, and scenery. . . . Hotel representatives meet all trains and drive you either to Los Machis or Topolobampo. . . . I like the new fortnightly. E. E. Elliott, Box 143, Canyon, Tex. Shabby , Oppressive I am a sophomore at Sam Houston State Teachers’ College. . . . Your very complete report [Obs. Nov. 30] was the first real knowledge I got of the. actual mechanics behind Professor Koeninger’s dismissal. These machinations can at best be called shabby, and the atmosphere here now seems oppressive. Earl Noe, P. 0. Box 2195, SH College Station, Huntsville, Tex. At Least One or Two Re Chandler Davidson’s “Independents Boxed” [Obs. Nov. 30] deploring the barriers facing an independent candidatedon’t be so discour SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW THE TEXAS OBSERVER 504 West 24th Street Austin, Texas Enclosed is $5.00 \(or if the for a one-year subscription to the Observer for: Name Address City, State Sender: Name Address City, State This is a renewal. This is a new subscription. aged! Davidson is appalled that a statewide independent in Texas must secure 15,000 signatures on his petitions ; in Massachusetts, a state onethird Texas’ size, 1500 volunteers \(one-third students and one-third staff secured for just such a man as Mr. Davidson envisions, liberal \(prosocialized medicine, disengagement, tougher equal housing and employaspirant Stuart Hughes, a required 72,000 signatures with 46,000 to spare. . . . Surely you can think of at least one or two Texas congressmen who “never would be missed”! Charles L. Gholz, Box 5412, Burton, 420 Memorial Dr., Cambridge, Mass. Is Patriotism Gauche? I think the Observer misses the point about the criticism of Pete Seeger’s concert [Obs. Nov. 16, 30]. I agree with the editor that Seeger ought to be free to propagandize, but is he not doing the liberal cause a great disservice by laying himself open to the charge of doing harm to this country? Is patriotism too gauche and old-fashioned for the modern liberal anymore? I don’t know if Seeger’s program constitutes unpatriotic propaganda, \(as I’ve said, I didn’t server, or someone who knows, would be more critical in their comments. I think that the Observer ought to be as quick to criticize the unpatriotic as it is those phony patriots who try to inject the ideas of the extreme right wing into our schools. Donald Norton, 119 Knibbe, San Antonio 9. Wrong Spelling I have read in the Nov. 16 issue of the Observer several references in your article “Compulsory Patriotism,” to statements I supposedly made. May I suggest you use my name correctly and be sure of your quotes. You designate me as Mrs. Morris and you use quotes once removed that are incomplete. Mrs. Fred B. Norris, past president, Texas State Teachers’ Assn., 1057 Chamberlain, Corpus Christi, Tex. \(The Observer regrets having misspelled Mrs. Norris’ name. The point of the story’s reference to the quotes was the fact that they were being repeated by the Dumas school superDecember 27, 1962 15