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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS —Dec. I, 1954—PAGE 13 South Carolina COLUMBIA, S. C. HE State of South Carolina is not participating in the forthcoming hearings before the Supreme court on the formulation of desegregation de crees, but the Clarendon County school officials actually engaged in the litigation have filed a new brief in the matter. Basically, the position taken by the Clarendon attorneys last year is un changed. Their principal contention is that the matter should be referred back to the local federal district court for the issuance of such de cree or decrees as may be necessary in the light of the May 17 Supreme Court decision. In bulwarking that argument, Law yers Robert McC. Figg, Jr., of Charleston and S. E. Rogers of Sum- merton (in Clarendon County) have turned to language employed by the Supreme Court itself in its decision of last May and to statements embodied in earlier briefs filed by the Depart ment of Justice. Meanwhile, the State’s Negro teachers, through their Palmetto Ed ucation Association, have made their first specific reference to the court’s outlawing of racial separation in pub lic schools. The association’s House of Delegates, meeting in Columbia, has recorded its determination “to work unceasingly to uphold” the Supreme Court decision. At the same meeting, the delegates voted to withhold ac tion on the proposed construction of a headquarters building. President Madge Perry Harper, an Orangeburg teacher, said the delay was due in part to the association’s fear that ac tive progress toward erection of such a building might be misconstrued as an evidence that the Negro teachers did not expect to work toward inte gration. South Carolina’s white teachers, through their S. C. Education Asso ciation, have endorsed the principle of racial separation in public schools as being best suited for meeting the educational needs of the children of both races. The South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation likewise is working for the preservation of “the greatest de gree of separation possible” in light of the Supreme Court decision. The Farm Bureau is sponsoring an infor mational program aimed at the ulti mate improvement of the educational establishment and the maintenance of the right of “free choice of associa tion” as a safeguard for separate schools for those who wish them. South Carolina Baptists, in annual meeting at Greenville, accepted a re port from the Social Service Com mission which called for prayerful moderation in meeting the present school crisis. Without specific refer ence to the issue of separation itself, the report urged an attitude of friend liness in race relations, a general strengthening of public schools, and obedience of the laws. PROBLEM CITED So far as the actual litigation on school segregation is concerned, the Supreme Court is being urged to al- ow school problems to be worked out °n the local level, under the jurisdic- tion of federal district courts. In mak- that appeal, the current Claren- on County brief refers to the May 7 ruling in which the Supreme Court ^ted “the great variety of local con ations” as a source of difficulty in rafting decrees for the five cases in volving racial separation. Clarendon '-°unty, the brief contends, presents ° ne extreme on that “great variety.” The problem in this district,” the th ° meys s t a t e in their brief, “is not ® as signment of a comparatively .. 1 number of Negro pupils to bite schools. Here, integration Quid involve the assignment of th ^ ^ the proportion of less a n one out of ten, to what are in reality Negro schools. . . brief makes reference to New r sey s continuing efforts to inte rs e the races in public schools and mts out that even after four years v SUc ^ e ffort, “with every factor fa- inw! 6 *° suc k adjustments,” full Nation had not been achieved in Parts of the state. Then, with ref erence to Clarendon County, the brief says: The problems and difficulties facing the school authorities of this (Clarendon) district greatly exceed those of any dis trict in New Jersey and are as great as any that will arise in any school district in the country. We respectfully submit that the instant case is a proper one to be remanded for further proceedings in the district court, so that the school au thorities will have the opportunity of presenting their problems fully to that tribunal . . . QUOTES EARLIER BRIEFS The brief turns also to statements made in briefs filed during the ex tended litigation by Democratic Atty. Gen. McGranery and Republican Atty. Gen. Brownell. Those state ments are cited in support of the Clarendon County argument that or derly and gradual adjustments should be permitted to the new status cre ated by the Supreme Court decision. From the McGranery brief of 1952, these excerpts are taken: The fact that a system or practice is determined to be unlawful does not of itself require the Court to order that it be abandoned forthwith . . . The Court should take into account the need, not only for prompt vindication of the constitutional rights violated, but also for orderly and reasonable solution of the vexing problems which may arise in eliminating such segregation. The public interest plainly would be served by avoidance of needless dislocation and con fusion in the administration of the school systems affected. It must be recognized that racial sep aration in public schools has been in effect in many states for a long time. Its roots go deep in the history and tradi tions of these states. The practical diffi culties which may be met in making progressive adjustment to a non-segre- gated system cannot be ignored or mini mized. From the Brownell brief of 1953, these excerpts are cited: In framing its judgment a court must take into account not only the rights of the parties but the public interest as well. The needs of the public, and the effect of proposed decrees on the general wel fare, are always of relevant, if not para mount, concern to a court of justice . . . There is no single formula or blueprint which can be uniformly applied in all areas where existing school segregation must be ended. Local conditions vary, and what would be effective and practi cable in the District of Columbia, for ex ample, could be inappropriate in Claren don County, South Carolina. Only a prag matic approach based on a knowledge of local conditions and problems can deter mine what is best in a particular place. For this reason, the court of first instance in such area should be charged with the responsibility for supervision of a pro gram for carrying out the Court’s deci sion . . . Turning to the transcript of oral argument made in 1952 by an attor ney for the Negro plaintiffs them selves, the Clarendon brief quotes this: The only thing that we ask for is that the state-imposed racial segregation be taken off, and to leave the county school board, the county people, the district people, to work out their own solution of the problem to assign children on any reasonable basis they want to assign them on ... I say it is not a matter for judicial determination. That would be a matter for legislative determination. FARM BUREAU STAND The South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, while seeking to stimulate “constructive thinking” on the prob lems posed by the Court’s anti-segre gation ruling, is not retreating from its conviction that separate schools are most desirable for continued progress and peace in South Carolina. At the annual convention of the Farm Bureau, held Nov. 16 in Columbia, these statements were included in resolutions adopted by approximately 350 persons, representing a member ship ranging between 15,000 and 20,- 000: We reiterate our unfaltering conviction in the segregated school system as the best and most natural arrangement for the public school system of our state and urge that both the spirit and the letter of the ‘separate but equal’ principle con tinue as our educational goal in South Carolina ... In view of existing circumstances it appears that we must find a new way to approach the solution of the problem of maintaining separate schools in this state. We deplore the prospect of strife, dis cord and a completely disrupted public school system that is certain to result from any attempt to force integration of the races in public schools in this state. We pledge our best efforts and full sup port in the development of any plan of operation designed to improve our public school system and to avoid such chaotic deterrents to that end as would result from forced integration. We recognize the equal right of free choice of association guaranteed to all citizens of this country by the Constitu tion of the United States and we stand ready to defend that right to whatever extent necessary to preserve it. So far as South Carolina’s state government is concerned, the school establishment is being operated as usual. The state department of edu cation is asking approval of a $55 million budget for the fiscal year 1955-56 without any reference to the possibility of a disruption of the pres ent system. The Educational Finance Commis sion, which administers the state’s huge school building and expansion program, likewise is proceeding as before, modifying its policies only to the extent that a more careful scru tiny is given to the proposed location of new schools. The intent here is to Editorial “An excellent example of the determination of many southerners to meet the problem of school de segregation thoughtfully and fairly is found in the creation of the South ern Education Reporting Service by a group of leading southern news paper editors. “. . . Now the first issue of a 16- page tabloid, Southern School News, has been mailed to some 10,000 edu cators, public officials, newspaper and magazine editors, librarians and in terested citizens throughout the United States. Through the corre spondence of 18 southern newspaper men it backgrounds the story of seg regation by giving factual reports on the status of southern education state by state. . . . “The work of the southern editors, who have the backing of university and college presidents of their area, should bring light, not heat, to a problem which needs calm and ob jective reporting.” The St. Paul (Minn.) Dispatch “ . . . The first issue shows that the directors of the service realize fully the magnitude of the segrega tion problem. All of the various re ports are calm, factual and objec tive, which is the way the problem should be approached. “If future issues of the paper meet the standards set by the first, and there is every reason to expect that they will, the Southern Education Reporting Service will perform a most valuable function, one that will help in meeting and solving the seg regation question.” The Rome (Ga.) News Tribune “. . . So a very useful service is being rendered by the Southern Education Reporting Service in pub lishing the Southern School News. The first issue was mailed out on Friday, Sept. 3, presenting a factual summary of what is being done in each of the southern states to deal with the problem raised by the seg regation decision. SERS is a non profit agency established by a group of southern newspaper editors, head ed by Virginius Dabney of the Rich mond Times-Dispatch. The project is being financed by a grant from the Fund for the Advancement of Educa tion, an independent agency set up by the Ford Foundation. “The paper is designed, not to plead a cause but to keep under scrutiny what is being done. South ern School News is distributed free on request. In the long run here is a great public service that may merit a Pulitzer accolade.” The Dallas (Texas) News “. . . Formation of the Southern Education Reporting Service by a group of southern editors, which was widely reported early in the summer, is a prominent example of the lengths to which newspapermen go to keep themselves and others adequately in formed on a subject which is of vital interest to their whole area. Their efforts in this instance actually go beyond the ordinary call of duty, the routine requirement of their jobs, and should be cited as one of the many extra curricular activities in which newspapermen participate for the knowledge and education of their readers. “We agree with Mr. McKnight that place schools where they will logi cally serve a racially homogeneous community. COMMITTEE RECONVENED The special study committee set up by the General Assembly to formu late plans for coping with a Supreme Court threat to the school system has been reconvened for further closed sessions. There is some suggestion that the 15-man committee may have another interim report for submission to the legislature when it convenes in January, but no official statement to that effect has been forthcoming. In other developments, Bishop Frank Madison Reid of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of South Carolina, called for continued efforts toward integration at the church’s 91st annual conference in ‘this initial issue speaks for itself in answer to the two southern news papers which have voiced the opinion that SERS was established to en courage integration, and to the east ern Negro newspaper which expres sed the fear that SERS was a scheme by Dixiecrats to thwart the Supreme Court and preserve segregation. “It is stated again ‘that the South ern Education Reporting Service will not be an advocate for or against anything, that it will express no opinions of its own on what is good and bad or wise and unwise, and that it will adhere scrupulously to the ac curate and objective reporting of facts as it finds them.’ “We think it has made an admir able and effective start.” —Robert U. Brown in Editor & Publisher “. . . Under these circumstances it is fortunate that special measures have been taken to make it easier to get the whole story, reliably and without bias. A new, temporary agency has been set up to make those facts available, especially for the benefit of educators, governmental authorities, civic leaders and news papers where desegregation of the public schools is currently a top is sue. “The Southern Education Report ing Service, brought into being by southern newspapers and educators, has established headquarters in Nashville, Tenn. It has the support of the Ford Foundation’s Fund for the Advancement of Education. Al ready it has put out its first issue of Southern School News, which can be had for the asking. “As a sample of the kind of objec tive, informative, detailed reporting that the SERS will do, that issue is most reassuring. The contents, too, give some reason to hope that pro gress in desegregating public schools is greater, and that restraint and reason prevail more generally, than might have been expected.” The Milwaukee (Wis.) Journal “A group of Southern newspaper editors, furnishing the plan, and of ficers of the Fund for the Advance ment of Education, an agency created by the Ford Foundation, furnishing much of the money, decided in April, May and June to establish the South ern Education Reporting Service, dedicated to telling the story, factual ly and objectively, of what happens in education as a result of the Su preme Court’s opinion of May 17 holding segregation in the public schools to be unconstitutional. “The initial tangible result is the appearance of Vol. I, No. 1, of South ern School News, published in Nash ville, Tenn., by the Southern Educa tion Reporting Service, of which the officers are: chairman, Virginius Dabney, editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch; vice chairman, Thomas R. Waring, editor of the Charleston News and Courier; execu tive director, C. A. McKnight, editor of the Charlotte News, now on leave of absence from his newspaper and in direct charge of a unique publishing effort. “. . . The nature of this effort to obtain and present information has a special meaning in Virginia. Here it has been assumed by the State gov ernment that the complex problems Columbia. “I never tire of commend ing and congratulating those who lead on in the work of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” On the other hand, a Parent- Teacher Association on one of Co lumbia’s upper middle-class white neighborhoods has “heartily” ap proved the action of the S. C. Edu cation Association in endorsing con tinuation of the segregated school system. The PTA group added: We... earnestly request, all public school commissioners and trustees in South Carolina, the members of the Gen eral Assembly, and the South Carolina senators and congressional delegation to take immediate and progressive action to assure the people of South Carolina the right to locally control, operate and man age the public school system in South Carolina for the welfare of the children and in the public interest. SERS following the segregation decision can be handled best by a body of 32 State legislators directed by the Gov ernor, in so far as he can direct them, to produce a method of maintaining segregation, without any indication thus far of serious preliminary study. There is another attitude of earnest effort for the bases of action, for the range of possibilities, for the develop ment of ideas, for the recognition that this is a matter of statesman ship. The Southern School News re flects that attitude. We hope it has wide reading in Virginia and by none more closely than the 32 State legis lators on Governor Stanley’s com mission.” The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot '. . . Any school administrator, legislator, school board member, newspaper editor or other interested citizen will find that the first edition of Southern School News adheres strictly to its stated purpose of pre senting factual information. There is not an opinion in it except as record ed in the correspondence and in the court decision. But it is jammed with facts from which a reader may learn how each of the 17 states with seg regated schools are going about meeting, or preparing to meet the new dispensation. As the South comes to grips with the Supreme Court’s order imple menting its May 17 ruling, the SERS should provide a periodic summary of developments and out of these lawmakers, state and local officials and citizens at large may find solu tions they can use.” The Danville (Va.) Register . Mr. McKnight and his col leagues have now mailed out the first issue of their paper. Because the enterprise was earlier attacked in a few misguided quarters (as on the other, to encourage integration), we are happy to report that the first issue of Southern School News is guilty of neither charge. It is, instead, as factual and objective as trained newspapermen could hope to make it. “The first issue’s state-by-state re ports are also, as McKnight puts it, ‘somewhat long, somewhat weighty.’ But for their specialized audience they had to be, because each gives not only a wealth of background on the state and local educational sys tems and laws before the Supreme Court spoke but also a three-month summary of developments since then. “. . . But the first issue alone is of great value to the educators and law-givers and opinion-makers most concerned with understanding the problems involved, and it firmly es tablishes the factual and objective approach so necessary to the attain ment of SERS’s purpose to render public service. Published in Nashville and sent free of charge to educators, public officials, newspapermen and other interested citizens who ask for it, Southern School News is well launched to implement its practical belief that communities throughout the South and the border states ‘can learn useful lessons from the experi ences of one another.’ ” The Louisville (Ky.) Courier- Journal Comment On