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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS —Nov. 4, 1954—PAGE II
Mississippi
JACKSON, Miss.
•MISSISSIPPI'S qualified electors
■I** w ill determine on Dec. 21 wheth
er to “gamble” 120 million dollars of
the taxpayers’ money on ability of
state leaders to continue public school
segregation for 10 to 20 years in the
face of the United States Supreme
Court’s integration decision.
State officials, headed by Gov.
Hugh White, are confident if the long-
delayed facility equalization program
of the dual system is immediately
launched, Negroes will not seek inte
gration but will be content to remain
segregated on an overall equality ba
sis.
The state department of education
has estimated officially it will take
$117,477,978, based on construction at
$7.50 a square foot, to equalize facil
ities in the dual system. They admit
most of that applies to bringing Ne
gro school buildings up to equality
with those of the whites.
As a starter on the building pro
gram, the 25-member Legal Educa
tional Advisory Committee headed by
Gov. White has gone on record favor
ing immediate issuance of 60 million
dollars of the needed new money in
bonds for inauguration of the facility
upgrading work. The LEAC will sup
port that size bond issue in a con
templated special session of the leg
islature early next year.
AMENDMENT A PREREQUISITE
The session, however, is contingent
on voter ratification of a constitution
al amendment authorizing the legis
lature to abolish public schools to
prevent their integration as such.
Gov. White, sole authority for calling
a special session before he steps from
office in January of 1956, has said he
will not issue the call “without the
protective features” of the constitu
tional amendment.
The Legal Educational Advisory
Committee was created at the 1954
regular session of the legislature
prior to the May 17 decision of the
Supreme Court. It was authorized to
“devise” means of continuing segre
gation in anticipation of an adverse
court ruling.
The proposed constitutional
amendment was drafted by the ad
visory group and submitted to a re
cent special session of the legislature
where it was approved for submission
to the voters in a special election on
Dec. 21. Sponsors of the amend
ment insist it will be used only as a
“last resort” to prevent integration,
and point to an estimated six other
delaying steps” that will take from
10 to 20 years to exhaust through
the courts before being called on to
use the abolition-amendment.
Before making a decision on the
amendment, the voters face a stump
speaking campaign reminiscent of
quadrennial contests for election of
governing officials on all levels—
from constables in the 410 beats in the
82 counties to the governorship.
The only issue on the special elec
tion ballot will be the amendment.
Ratification will require a majority
v °te of those participating.
An alternate school program has
n °t been spelled out by those spon
soring the amendment. In general,
owever, it calls for a private school
system financed by direct appropria-
ions to the children, rather than to
e school districts as presently
voted.
INEQUALITIES corrected
The state has already corrected
0 er inequalities in the dual segre-
ge ed system. The 1954 regular ses-
j^° n °f the legislature removed them
t equalization program covering
achem’ salaries, transportation and
mistration. The program adds
nullion dollars to the previous 25
t ioa dollars annual appropriation
Public schools.
sch V Same T954 session approved a
holding equalization formula,
the not vote any funds pending
or-;Supreme Court’s decision. As
era^, na ^ y drafted, the building pro-
whe Ca ^ e d f° r 10 million dollars
able° anC * ^ th e money is made avail -
With opposition developing to the
constitutional amendment, the advis
ory group has upped the building
program to 60 million dollars and
agreed to recommend its passage at
next year’s contemplated special leg
islative session.
The advisory group is also on rec
ord favoring increased funds for the
teacher salary-transportation-admin
istration phases of the equalization
program. They now require 34 mil
lion dollars annually, but this sum is
still short about $3,400,000 of fully
carrying out the program.
Anticipating a bitter fight on the
constitutional amendment, the advis
ory committee has drafted a brochure
of “questions and answers” for dis
tribution statewide. The brochure
anticipates some of the opposition
questions, and attempts to answer
them.
The committee has already placed
Rep. Ney Gore of Quitman county,
its secretary, on full-time duty to
handle a speaker’s bureau as well as
distribute interim reports of the
group. It rejected an offer of financial
assistance from the newly formed
“Citizens Councils” tendered through
Speaker Walter Sillers of the House
of Representatives. (The councils are
made up of white males dedicated to
upholding segregation.)
The outside financial assistance was
offered after the recent special legis
lative session refused to vote cam
paign funds for the advisory commit
tee. In turning down the outside
funds, the advisory group suggested
that those interested in promoting
the amendment handle their own
campaigns.
Members of the advisory committee
have agreed to make speeches with
out cost to the inviting clubs or
groups. They will also arrange “on
their own” meetings in the more than
1,700 precincts in the 82 counties to
“sell” the amendment to the voters.
OPPOSITION FORMED
However, an opposition group
which feels that the amendment
should be delayed until all other
steps to preserve segregation have
been exhausted, is also preparing a
statewide campaign. Several larger
newspapers—at Greenville, Tupelo,
McComb and Pascagoula—have come
out editorially against the public
school abolition amendment.
The opposition group met at Jack-
son on Oct. 21 and set up a tentative
organization. Miss Alma Hickman of
Hattiesburg, former president of the
Mississippi Education Association,
was named chairman.
Two key members of the group are
State Sen. George Owens of Ponto
toc, and State Rep. Joel Blass of
Stone County, both of whom opposed
the amendment in the recent special
legislative session.
A tentative name, “The Committee
of Friends of a Segregated Public
School System,” has been adopted. A
state headquarters will be maintained
and speakers and literature sent
statewide.
Spokesmen for the Hickman group
emphasize that they are for segre
gated public schools, but feel that the
abolition amendment should not be
presented the voters until all other
asserted “delaying steps” have been
exhausted.
Members of the opposition organ
ization contend they have consider
able support in all sections of the
state, and feel confident they may
be able to gain voter rejection of the
amendment in the Dec. 21 special
election.
AMENDMENT ENDORSED
Another development was endorse
ment of the amendment “as a last
resort” to prevent integration by the
Mississippi Association of School Ad
ministrators in the annual meeting
at Jackson, Oct. 21. The action was
by voice vote, with some members
voting “no.” It was evident that the
750 members of the association are
not in full agreement on its stand.
A counter resolution by Dr. L. O.
Todd, superintendent of the Meridian
city school system, proposed that the
association “reaffirm its historic po
sition that a free public school system
is the best guarantee of personal and
national well-being and is thus in
dispensable.” However, it was tabled
by a closer vote than was the other
proposal adopted.
Speaking against the Todd propo
sal, and for the one endorsing the
amendment submitted by the conven
tion’s resolution committee, A. W.
James, superintendent of schools at
Drew in the delta county of Sunflow
er, said:
We must have faith in our officials that
they will not abolish schools until the
people decide that is the best thing to do.
Adoption of the Todd motion would be
interpreted by the public that we don’t
believe the amendment should be rati
fied.
James Ewing, president of the
Copiah-Lincoln Junior College at
Wesson, onetime head of the Missis
sippi Education Association and a
member of the Legal Educational
Advisory Committee, spoke for the
endorsement resolution.
“We either want to maintain segre
gation and pay the price for it (vot
ing of a 60 million dollar bond issue
to launch a building program to
equalize Negro schools), or if, when
and as accosted by a sociological and
psychological integration decision, be
willing to integrate,” Mr. Ewing told
the administrators.
I don’t believe the issue is solely seg
regation versus integration, but it may
be an issue as to how much we want
segregation. We’ve got to be willing to
abolish schools if necessary as a last re
sort to prevent their integration. There
is no danger of that until the time comes,
but if it does, we will all be ready.
WHITE BACKS PROPOSAL
Gov. White admitted at a meeting
of the advisory committee on Oct. 12
that “a lot of work must be done” if
the amendment is to be ratified by
the voters in the Dec. 21 special elec
tion. He said strongest opposition
in northeast Mississippi, the so-called
Hill Sector, stems from reports “be
ing spread that the Delta wants to
abolish schools.” The state’s heaviest
Negro population is in the Delta area
along the Mississippi River.
“We must get over to the people
that abolition is not the objective in
the amendment,” Gov. White told the
advisory committee. “No one wants
to abolish our public school system.”
James Ewing, president of the Co
piah-Lincoln Junior College at Wes
son, and onetime head of the Missis
sippi Education Association, a mem
ber of the advisory committee, said
committee approval of a school build
ing program “will do more than any
thing else to offset the feeling in the
opposition area.”
Following his statement, he pre
sented a building program calling for
immediate issuance of 60 million dol
lars in bonds to begin equalizing the
estimated $117,477,978 disparity be
tween Negro and white schools. Un
der a 1954 statute, Negro schools
must be equalized before the now ex
isting gap is widened.
Under the proposed building fund,
the state in addition to alloting $12
per child in average daily attendance
per year for buildings, will allot, as
an emergency measure for 10 years,
an additional $3 for each child of the
Negro race. That is expected to speed
equalization in the heavily Negro-
populated counties.
Legislative opposition to the addi
tional $3 is expected, however, from
the big white areas on grounds the
“black counties” failed to use pre
vious allotments for Negroes and of
their own making maintained a wide
gap between the systems.
Sen. Earl Evans of Canton, chair
man of the senate finance commit
tee, said the poorer Hill counties
should be willing to help the other
areas since the richer section, mostly
the heavily Negro populated area, has
been assisting them through the
equalizing fund.
Of Mississippi’s 82 counties, 61 are
in the equalizing group and receive
added state aid to bolster inadequate
local funds for maintenance of their
schools.
OTHER FEATURES
Other features of the school build
ing equalizing proposal approved by
the educational advisory group in
clude:
No allotment of state funds (for
buildings) could be used to retire an
existing indebtedness of a local school
district for the first five years of the
construction program. (Counties
which have already built schools
“frown” on that feature, contending
they will be penalized for their
equalization efforts).
The “question and answer” bro
chure of the advisory committee lists
six measures for the maintenance of
segregation that “will probably be
used before a legislative vote on abo
lition” and then estimates it will take
“from 10 to 20 years, or probably
longer, to exhaust them.”
“It is hoped that by that time a
permanent solution will have been
found,” the committee states.
The six delaying steps are listed as
follows: (1) Continuance of segrega
tion under section 207 of the state
constitution which calls for equal but
separate opportunities for the races
and which has not been subject to
direct court attack and is still the law
in Mississippi. (2) The assignment of
pupils (as provided in a 1954 statute).
(3) Gerrymandering of school dis
tricts. (4) Application of military or
police power. (5) Use of other appli
cable statutes. (6) New statutes.
Answering the opposition question,
“Why not wait 10 or 20 years or un
til all other methods of preserving
segregation have failed before con
ferring upon the legislature the pow
er to abolish the public schools,” the
committee has these answers:
1. Adoption of the amendment on Dec.
21 will serve notice that the people of
Mississippi mean to maintain segregation
at all cost. Negro leaders participated in
the formation (through the 1952 Missis
sippi Citizens Council on Education) of
the present school program often de
scribed as the finest in the history of
Mississippi (the 1954 teacher salary-
transportation - administrative equaliza
tion program). While a large number of
Negro leaders have since repudiated the
separate but equal philosophy of school
operation, it is believed that, by and
large, Negroes want equal advantages for
their children under a segregated tax-
supported plan.
2. It will be a warning to alien or
ganizations that we intend to preserve
our way of life.
3. Conceivably, it will crystallize public
opinion in some states to a point where
it would probably result in a more liberal
high court interpretation of its May 17
decision.
4. It will have some weight in the
preparation, adoption and promotion of
the platforms of political parties.
5. Passage of the amendment will pro
vide the best possible assurance of a
continued and improved segregated pub
lic school system to the citizens who are
being called upon to pay for a 120 million
dollar school building program.
As to whether the legislature has
sufficient authority under existing
conditions to deal with public school
segregation, the advisory group says:
No, not as the constitution is presently
written. Adoption of the amendment on
Dec. 21 is necessary to give the legisla
ture flexibility to meet whatever situa
tion may arise.
DETAILS NOT WORKED OUT
The committee admits that “a
workable plan for private schools”
has not been offered or blue-printed.
“A good ‘quarterback’ cannot name
the play he will use in a game ten
years hence,” it answers. “Many ed
ucational, political and legal leaders
think the details of the ‘private
school’ program must be worked out,
if and when needed, in the light of
conditions at that time—including in
tervening Supreme Court decisions.”
The committee insists there is a
satisfactory plan for separate schools
under existing conditions.
“The answer to the racial problem
is a continuance of segregated tax-
supported schools through increased
support for the minimum foundation
program (the 1954 equalization stat
utes) and the immediate inaugura
tion of a building program,” it states.
The committee answers question
No. 1 in its brochure: “Will the
amendment, if adopted, abolish pub
lic schools in Mississippi,” this way:
“No. The voters are not asked to
vote on Dec. 21 on the abolition of
public schools. So far as is known, no
one presently favors such a course.”
PURPOSES STATED
It then states as the purposes of the
amendment the following:
1. To enable the legislature to con
tinue authorizing the establishment,
support, maintenance and operation
of the public schools of this state. In
view of the conflict between the pro
visions of the constitution of Missis
sippi relative to segregated schools
and the recent decision of the United
States Supreme Court, it is doubtful
that the legislature can make any ap
propriation for public schools or en
act other legislation without violat
ing the provisions of the constitution
of this state or the May 17 decision of
the United States Supreme Court.
This conflict will continue until the
United States Supreme Court rules
on the constitutionality of Section 207
of the Mississippi constitution which
is the section that specifically pro
vides that separate schools for the
races shall be maintained.
2. To confer upon the legislature
the power to abolish the public
schools by a two-thirds vote of those
present and voting. By a majority
vote of the legislature, counties and
school districts may be authorized to
abolish their public schools. Legisla
tors have pointed out that such a
course may become necessary at some
future date in order to provide finan
cial assistance for all educable chil
dren. The public schools would be
abolished only as a last resort, to pre
vent integration.
Question: “What constitutional
provisions guarantee a continuation
of the present system of public
schools?”
Answer: As a practical matter, by
failing to provide revenue, two-fifths
plus one of the senators or house
members present and voting could
nullify the present school program.
By refusal to vote for school appro
priations, 25 senators (of the 49), or
71 house members (of the 140) could
sound the death knell to schools.
Other questions posed in the bro
chure and the answers which indi
cate the thinking and position of the
proponents of the school abolition
amendment, include:
Question: “Is the May 17 decision
in keeping with the American way of
life?”
Answer: “No. The United States
Supreme Court’s action is an inter
ference in states rights. It is legisla
tion by decree instead of through
Congress. In the May 17, 1954 deci
sion, the United States Supreme
Court overruled at least five of its
own previous decisions, 13 decisions
of lower courts, and 59 decisions of
state supreme courts. Its decision was
not based on a single precedent of
previous decisions. The decision
struck down the constitutions of 17
states relative to separate schools for
the races and further struck down
the statutes of 21 states. The decision
of the high court was based on seven
works in the fields of sociology and
psychology.”
Question: “Isn’t it asking a great
deal of the proponents of a strong
school system to vote to authorize
the legislature to abolish this system
which has been more than 100 years
in the making?”
Answer: “Yes and no. No one is
voting to abolish the public schools.
Some term the Dec. 21 vote as a vote
of confidence in faith in our ability to
solve our problem if and when all
other measures have failed. We must
have faith.”
Question: “Is there any guarantee
that the court will uphold a system
of private schools?”
Answer: “No one can predict a
court decision. The establishment of
a system of private schools would
tend to invalidate the effect of en
forced racial integration.”
Question: “In the event of abolition,
is there danger that the federal gov
ernment might set up a federal sys
tem of schools?”
Answer: “Such is not likely to oc
cur. It would require a favorable vote
of both houses of the national Con
gress. Thus far, Congress has not
voted on the segregation issue—not
even for the District of Columbia
which Congress governs. Our South
ern congressmen have had the sup
port of many from Northern, Eastern,
and Western states in preventing a
vote on this matter.”
Question: “If the public schools
should be abolished, would not the
poorer counties and school districts
suffer a much greater loss than the
richer political subdivisions?”
Answer: “No. Better school prac
tices throughout the country require
that the ‘money follow the child.’
This is the fairest, all-around method
of financing schools. It can be used
under either a public or a private
system. The same legislators will vote
the distribution.”