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A /AMERICAN INCOME LIFE l inewitemee Executive Offices, P. 0. Box 208, Waco, Texas BERNARD RAPOPORT President Sadler and Absenteeism Austin Land Commissioner Jerry Sadler “is in his office at Austin only about one or two days out of every two or three weeks by a conservative estimate,” says a State Land Office employee who has just been fired. Charles 0. Chambers, who was a draftsman in the engineering section, would be expected to give a conservative estimate he’s an organizer in Austin for George Wallace’s American party. That, he says, is precisely why he was fired. Sadler retorted that the man had been fired because he had been absent twice without giving a reason, other than “personal.” Chambers says he was absent four days, twice in February and twice in April, but notified his supervisor in advance each time. Sadler’s infrequent appearance at the state agency of which he is the commissioner is “incredible, but true,” Chambers told the Observer. “Any land office employee, when put under oath and asked that question, would have to tell you that was so,” Chambers says. The commissioner’s business is “essentially handled by what they call the chief clerk,” Jack Giberson, Chambers adds. How did Chambers know Sadler was in the office so little? “He has a specific parking place in back of the building,” Chambers replied. Also, Sadler “comes back and forth from Palestine,” where he lives, farms, and ‘ runs a motel, and for these trips, Chambers explained, Sadler uses his own plane and pilot. “I also know when he’s there because his pilot’s there.” The pilot’s office is a room on the third floor and is merely a place “for him to hang his hat until the commissioner needs him to fly him somewhere,” Chambers says. Contacted by the Observer, Giberson, saying he was speaking for Commissioner Sadler, pointed out, “We have a million acres of uplands, four and a half million acres of submerged land and a million acres of river beds all under the supervision of the General Land Office. Occasionally Mr. Sadler goes out and checks the land himself. He goes where he is needed. We don’t have offices all over the state like the Railroad Commission does. A person couldn’t do his work for this agency by staying in the office.” Sadler told the AP that he would have fired any employee who took an active part in politics, but had not known of Chambers’ work for Wallace’s party. Chambers tells the Observer that as early as February, he handed out handbills for the American party in his precinct. Chambers said his name had been in the newspapers associated with the party’s activities for two or three weeks before the dayMay 1stwhen he was called in and fired, effective the day before, April 30. May 10, 1968 9 . . . the existence of business solely for profit is not sufficient .. . “I believe that American business must, and is, measuring up to the changing philosophy which permeates our society. In the years past, the single reason for the existence of business was profit; today, this is not sufficient. The business world must be increasingly sensitive to the needs of society, and must assume societal responsibilities and obligations that might have appeared unwarranted a decade or two ago. American Income zealously welcomes the new challenge. We hope you share management’s philosophy that poverty, equal rights, peace, and all things which relate to the dignity of man are everybody’s business. Your Company makes significant contributions in the areas of solving problems of senior citizens, voter participation, enlargement of job opportunities, and in the elimination of poverty.” The following statement is extracted from the president’s message in this Company’s 1967 Annual Report.