ustxtxb_obs_1966_02_04_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

would like to see the poll tax abolished and a free registration system adopted to protect the purity of our elections. But when a suit is filed, it is the duty of the attorney general to fight. I would be violating my oath of office if I fought only those laws I don’t agree with.” Talking about the public accommodations section of the 1964 civil rights act, the section Tower called unconstitutional before its passage, Carr said, “It was a fundamental development in our laws, and caused some deep thoughts and comment on the part of everyone. The important point is that it appears to be working rather smoothly in our statehere again, due to the common-sense approach. This office has not become involved in it, havingno state civil rights act.” As to legislation ahead, Carr said he wanted to reserve comment on Johnson’s 1966 civil rights proposal concerning equal justice until the bill is ready. He added quickly, “The general proposition of equal justice under the law is fundamental.” As for the war on poverty, Carr skirted the question of $1.25 minimum wages,, which troubled Gov. Connally so, and spoke to the question of mismanagement of the welfare program, a charge Tower has made again and again: “Just by the law of averages,” said Carr, “when you get a new program as extensive as this is, I’m sure some errors in judgment come about.” He said that the Texas Office of Economic Opportunity, under Walter Richter, is in good hands. Carr’s reluctance to support federal aid in any field is demonstrated in his comments on federal water aid. “As Speaker,” he said proudly, “I pushed through the first statewide water conservation programa tremendous step forward. I think this is also a legitimate field for the federal government to participate innot to dictate to the states, but to assist them.” Carr refused to comment on specific points about federal aid to education, such as the National Defense Education Act scholarships, which the President intends to change this year, or the “impacted areas” aid which Tower has supported strongly. “The red light I see in all this is that the fedei-al government, in whatever program it adopts in the field of education, should never have control in what is taught in our schools, or in taking the schools away from the people. But the idea of helping the student get an education in this space age will not only benefit the student, but Texas and the country.” Carr is of course in favor of continuing the oil depletion allowance: “From Texas standards, it would be very unwise to pull the oil depletion allowance. It takes a man who has lived in an oil producing state to realize the tremendous cost of exploring for new oil and gas.” To pull it, he said, would endanger “not only the income which now goes to the state, but also our national security.” But on oil imports he remained silent, as he was also silent when asked about tracer labor, the one-price cotton system, specific civil rights legislation, and the idea of federal aid in general. L.L. Songs, Dances, Snappy Stories Austin It was an unusual scene in Committee Room No. 1 at the statehouse the morning Stanley Woods announced for governor as a Democrat. The assembled press knew the candidate only slightly, if at all, and Woods made it clear that he would campaign by his own rules. By the established rules he was behaving oddly. There was no mimeographed copy of his announcement \(the announcement was, in fact, improno sheaf of glossy photographs, and the candidate chomped a fat cigar and called the reporters “you boys.” Over against the wall sat Rep. Bill Hollowell of Grand Saline, an anti-Connally man from “way back, and when a reporter asked Woods what Hollowell was doing there, the townlot driller allowed that he didn’t believe in beating around the bush. Woods said he had asked Hollowell to run with him as lieutenant governor, but that Hollowell had not made up his mind, had not had time to. Later, Hollowell said yes, and the two went on television. The two are using poor-boy tactics, perhaps with cause, for Woods’ operations are minor ones in the world of big-big Texas oil, and Hollowell is certifiably non -rich. In their announcements and on their first television broadcast, \(which was also a bill of particulars against Connally and his administration. Among the complaints: Connally’s failure to push enactment of an $8-per-month increase in welfare payments, an increase authorized by the people in a constitutional amendment. His veto of funds for a medical school at Texas Tech. Woods and Hollowell promised to work for such a school, and Hollowell called his opponent, Lt. Gov. Preston Smith of Lubbock, a “follow-along” who swallowed the Tech veto without protest. Connally’s spending in the governor’s office$800,000, Woods said, twice what Price Daniel drew as office expenses in his full term. And they brought up the matter of the $200,000 gubernatorial airplane and a trip to Acapulco. The absence of a Texas industrial safety act or minimum wage. Low teacher pay. Woods exhibited a headline showing Connally “bowing” to teacher pay demands. “Why is he bowing to teacher pay demands? He should be the advocate,” Woods said. High insurance rates, ‘although Woods and Hollowell offered nothing specific to do about them. And, perhaps most important to Woods, the matter of the Railroad Commission, the governor’s theory of taxation, and the oil pooling bill. In listening to Woods talk, the question of oil production crops up again and again. Woods, who calls himself “an enlightened capitalist,” is a small-small producer, what those in the trade call a town-lot man, one who drills on city property where the Railroad Commission’s well-spacing rules are more generous. At commission hearings Woods has risen on behalf of small royalty owners and small producers to speak against production percentages favorable to the major companies. “They’re producing 30 days in Louisiana to ten days in Texas,” said Woods, who indicated that unrestricted production would create a fine tax base for state spending. Woods broke away from Texas Independent Producers and Royalty the forced pooling bill which TIPRO wrote and which was ushered to passage last session by Rep. Wayne Gibbens of Breckenridge, now Connally’s liaison man in Washington. On television Woods said that Gibbens’ appointment to the post was unconstitutional because Gibbens served in the legislature which created the post of a Washington lobbyist for the state, although Woods most likely understood what Connally actually had done. The Gibbens question was one which Connally chose to answer in a news conference called the day after the telecast. The governor said he had no doubts about the constitutionality of Gibbens’ appointment, which he described as “temporary.” \(It is not, in fact, the same lobbyist shit which the legislature approved, but an apThe other Woods statement which Connally protested was the Houston man’s charge that Connally has bought up 30,000 acres of land during his term of office, and that there was a question of “conflict of interest.” It was 14,000 acres, said Connally, who added, “I do own farms and ranch land. That’s my business. I’m proud of what I’ve done in agriculture.” Otherwise, Connally’s tactic was to poohpooh the “tag-team” opposition. He said he had not seen Woods’ broadcastfriends described it to himand then he recited a poem: “To those who talk and talk, This motto should appeal, The steam that blows the whistle Never turns the wheel.” Veteran statehouse reporter Stuart Long wrote that Connally sounded that day “like he’d been hit by a poll” and found it surprising that the governor responded to Wood’s charges at all. L.L. February 4, 1966 13 EUR OPE An unregimented trip stressing individual freedom. Low cost yet covers all the usual plus places other tours miss. Unless the standard tour is a “must” for you, discover this unique tour before you go to Europe. EUROPE SUMMER TOURS 255 Sequoia, Dept. JPasadena, California `Woods & Hollowell’ -*4′