ustxtxb_obs_1965_08_06_50_00015-00000_000.pdf

Opposed Education Bill The Observer had fought valiantly but in vain against passage of a bill that Connally said was a milestone in the history of higher education in Texas, but which Dugger maintained threatened political control of courses and faculty. “If this law is let stand,” Dugger wrote, “Texas higher education will become lower education.” In the case of another measure this year, a proposal legalizing 17.5 per cent interest and other charges on installment loans up to $1500, the Observer fared better. The paper blasted the bill unmercifully, and in the end Connally went against the bankers and vetoed it. One of the Observer’s principal charms, from the standpoint of those who want to know the ins and outs of Texas politics, is the care with which it watches the vagaries of the Legislature meeting in the handsome red stone capitol. It speaks very plain English. Writers Are Frank Dugger’s frankness in trying to tell his readers precisely who is behind what is matched by the zeal and freedom from inhibitions of his contributors. Larry L. King, who files a report from Washington, proved an unreconstructed liberal when the votes were in last November and some of Texas’s more conservative House members had bitten the dust. “The truth is,” King wrote in summing up the delights of victory, “their defeat is not enough; I would like to think that on election day they got their pockets picked, and perhaps had flat tires while returning from the polls.” King then provided the Observer’s readers with a no-holds barred appraisal of the legislators Texas had remaining in Congress and commented as follows: “This sad fact remains: Texas will have in Washington 23 Congressmen and two U.S. Senators, of whom eight of the House members and exactly half of the senators will not be worth a damn.” Articles on Texas When it is not watching politicians and the friends of politicians, Dugger’s paper may carry its readers on long, meaningful, even poetic excursions around the Lone Star statelooking into the life of the people and talking about the problems of the poor and unwashed. Shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the accession to power of President Johnson, Dugger devoted more than three pages to “A Letter From Texas” in which he tried to give outsiders an idea of what the state was really like. “To a Texan,” Dugger wrote in one passage, “a car is like wings to a seagull. Our places are far apart and we must dip into them driving. For an often traveling man like myself, the junctions in the highways and the towns are like turns in a city well known. . . .” Dugger drives an old car, the trunk of which is filled with camping equipment. He spends a lot of time driving around the state. He has said he planned to stay in Senator John Connally?No Thanks The liberals who met in Austin to plan for a larger gathering in Houston on September 11 voted not to vote on the substance of a resolution asking Ralph Yarborough to run for governor, but to submit the resolution to the later meeting. I expressed no opinion about the proposal until, in the absence of a vote, it was suggested that we were probably unanimous in hoping that Senator Yarborough would oppose Governor Connally for reelection and that we differed only about timing and tactics. I yield to no one in lack of enthusiasm for the current performance of the present governor. My principal reason for hoping that Senator Yarborough will remain in the Senate without making a campaign next year is that Yarborough’s making a gubernatorial race, whether he wins or loses, will almost certainly catapult Connally into the United States Senate. I’m not that desperate to replace the governor. Margaret Carter, 2816 Sixth Ave., Fort Worth, Tex. A Write-In for Activism Recently I have taken upon myself the obligation of writing some person of influence every weeka write-in. . . . Your editorial “The Liberals of Texas” has lingered with me, and I want to confront you with several of my reactions to it. I decided that your two complementary of introspection by bludgeoning him with a straightforward description of the people of the province of Texas as they jog along to subtly illustrate personal honesty by presenting a plan to Texans rather than aphorisms and exhortations. Your archery is an art: each point inevitably reached me, and I felt them and reacted. Within the description, however, lies an MEETINGS THE THURSDAY CLUB of Dallas meets each the Downtown YMCA, 605 No. Ervay St., Dallas. Good discussion. You’re welcome. Informal, no dues: MONDAY LUNCHEON CLUB meets on 3rd floor, McFarlin Auditorium, S.M.U., Dallas, each Monday at 12:00 noon. Join us if you are in town. WORK PARTIES every Sunday afternoon in Austin, 2:00 p.m., Texas Society to Abolish Capital Punishment, 3014 Washington Square. ITEMS for this feature cost, for the first entry, 7c a word, and for each subsequent entry, 5c a word. We must receive them one week before the date of the issue in which they are to be published. Texas “for I love it here and belong here, an animal that feels best when he knows where he is.” El assumption which . . . led you to a compromised plan. Specifically, you assumed that Group-Think is the core of status quoism. . . . [O]ften enough liberals are thinkers. The serendipity effect keeps ideas and hopes flowing. No, there is rampant thinking: beergarten liberals are in fashion. . . . Your assumption that there is too much Group-Think led you naturally to your suggestion that Texans should structure a situation to facilitate dialogue and individual participation. Saul Alinsky and the workers in the ERAP projects sponsored by the Students for a Democratic Society have demonstrated that organizations can be structured so as to encourage dialogue and even at times provide therapy for citizens who never before have been in community with one another. But Alinsky has a lot more to sayabout activism. . . . A Texas Organization of Liberal Democrats is called for to fight the selfishness and materialism of its own members, for these are the habits central to America’s brand of hedonistic status quoism. What things we have, how many pitchers of beer we can afford, how much we spend on our next trip, our new electric appliance considerations like these constitute a large part of the thinking of most people, including liberals. Activity is the measure of freedom and thought; freedom -is not inherent at the grass roots level of society. Angry, awake citizens are needed. And it will take Organizers to prod citizens into being involved, militant agents of changeto. be August 6, 1965 15 SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW THE TEXAS OBSERVER 504 West 24th Street Austin 5, Texas Enclosed is $5.00 for a oneyear subscription to the Observer for: Name Address. City, State 0 This is a renewal. 0 This is a new subscription.