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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS —Dec. I, 1954 — PAGE 5 Florida MIAMI, Fla. F LORIDA provided the setting in November for a struggle among the governors of 16 southern states over a united stand on the issue of segregation in the public schools. The Southern Governors’ Confer ence at Boca Raton turned down a resolution by Florida’s acting Gov. Charley E. Johns asking President Eisenhower to call an immediate spe cial session of Congress to deal with the question. Specifically, Johns’ resolution sug gested asking that Congress “con sider and submit to the 48 states an amendment to the Constitution which will provide that the various states may furnish for their children separate but equal educational facili ties.” Failing this, Florida’s governor asked that “we, in our individual re sponsibilities as governors, consider the necessity of calling into special session the legislatures of our various states to petition the Congress for enactment of such constitutional changes.” Johns’ proposal was unexpected. The matter was not on the confer ence agenda and Johns said later he had revised his prepared address of welcome at the last moment to in clude the comments. ACTION URGED “I strongly urge you governors to take action at this conference on th' important question,” Johns told his colleagues, and added: We in the South are particularly proud of the progress that has been made in education for our white and our colored citizens. Based upon an early decision of the Su preme Court of the United States that equal but separate facilities was not a violation of the Constitution of the United States, we in the South, as well as those in the North and in the West, have made tremendous investments to provide sep arate but equal educational facilities for our white and colored. Then came the decision which repre sented a change in thinking on the part of the Justices who occupy the highest tribunal in the world. That decision, which impressed the philosophy of those justices upon the Constitution as written by our forefathers, has created turmoil and con fusion, not only in the southland, but also from Maine to California. The question of whether or not our schools shall be segregated is by far too peat an issue to rest simply upon a judicial opinion of only nine men, parti cularly when there is a constitutional method by which the people themselves are permitted to speak. This, Johns said, is the procedure for amendment of the Constitution. Gov. Herman Talmadge of Georgia, following Johns’ talk said, that the southern governors are “fainthearted ln their refusal to take a flat, open stand against racial integration.” Talmadge recalled his efforts at a orevious meeting of the conference to get a united policy on segregation before the Supreme Court ruling. I thought the rest of the nation, and especially the Congress and Su preme Court, ought to know the sen- lm ent of the southern states,” he said. Talmadge added that he had little ■ °Pe of “positive results” from Johns’ Proposal. ‘You can’t make the people do ^ . they don’t want to do simply y judicial decree, unless you want °e a nation like Russia or Ger- man y under Hitler,” he said. favors referendum sa'rnT Ffugh White of Mississippi end F avore( f such a national refer- sio U °f ° n se ff re S a ti° n as the submis- . n ° an amendment to the national institution would provide. e nce* tp 6 secon d day of the confer ee ff° vern °rs found copies of the' P ;° P0sed Johns resolution on j„ ° e .• Johns pressed for action e nine-man resolutions com- 0 f rp e beaded by Gov. Allan Shivers Q 6Xas - He asked for a roll call vote, romrn Fbird day the resolutions .Johns'^ 6 rejected the proposal, states t ” en Prepared an unofficial tiors 1 6r « basing individual gover- r °gati° exerc * se every proper pre- = iples Ve f t0 preserv e the basic prin- 0Ur constitutional govern- e statement pledged the signers to “preserve the right of the states to administer their public school system in the best interests of our people.” Signing the statement were Johns, Govs. Herman Talmadge of Georgia, Thomas B. Stanley of Virginia, Ro bert F. Kennon of Louisiana, James F. Byrnes of South Carolina, Allan Shivers of Texas, and Johnson Mur ray of Oklahoma. Gov-elect George B. Timmerman Jr., of South Carolina, added his name. Declining to sign were Govs. Theo dore R. McKeldin of Maryland, Lawrence W. Wetherby of Kentucky, Frank G. Clement of Tennessee, Francis Cherry of Arkansas and Wil liam C. Marland of West Virginia. Gov.-elect James E. Folsom, Ala bama, was in this group. Two other participants, Gov. Hugh White, Mississippi and Gov.-elect Leroy Collins, Florida, had left the meeting place before the matter came up. Johns said the statement was a “moral victory” for his stand. in fact an invasion of the police powers of the respective states.” The Governors Conference rejected the resolution on grounds that such action must originate with one of its members. Lofton, president of the committee, is an Orlando radio commentator who offered to run for Congress in 1952 with a statement calling the United Nations a “hot air debating society” in its present form, and demanding that the Communist party be out lawed. During November the National As sociation for the Advancement of Colored People pushed an all-out campaign to build its membership which is down from a high of 8,000 several years ago to about 5,000. Wil liam A. Fordham, president of the Florida branch, said the segregation question is being used as a recruiting aid. Confirming this, Francisco Rod riguez, Tampa attorney for the Flo rida NAACP, added: I feel that if the larger and more en lightened counties such as Hillsborough (Tampa), Dade (Miami), Duval (Jackson ville) and Pinellas (St. Petersburg) take the initiative, others will of course fall in line. I am of the opinion that where school boards voluntarily institute a pro gram of desegregation, it will for the most part succeed. Rodriguez said he had talked to several county school superintend ents who demonstrated that “their approach to the question has certain ly shown a type of open-mindedness McKELDIN STATEMENT Gov. McKeldin of Maryland made a statement of his own, declaring it was the duty of every citizen to ac cept the Supreme Court decision. “The very suggestion that Maryland should offer resistance, active or pas sive, is fantastic nonsense,” he said. Defiance of the Supreme Court order would mean, McKeldin said, “that there would be no security for property, for liberty or even life it self.” Johns’ proposed resolution was dis cussed editorially by the Miami Daily News while the conference was con sidering it. The newspaper said: It is worth recalling that Acting Gov. Johns did not spring his idea in time for the Florida electorate to react to it at the polls in May and Floridians instead nom inated, and on Nov. 2, elected, LeRoy Col lins. Therefore we believe it would be at least courtesy to Florida for Collins to be considered the state's more legitimate spokesman on desegregation at the South ern Governor’s Conference. Johns and Collins were opponents in the May primary. The segregation question was not an issue. A new organization seeking a solu tion similar to Johns’ proposal for a constitutional amendment came to light during the conference. John D. Lofton of Orlando, president of the National Committee for the 23rd and 24th Amendments, urged the confer ence to adopt a resolution for the amendment which would deny the Supreme Court the right to handle matters pertaining to racial segrega tion. The group also advocated an amendment limiting federal income tax to ten per cent. The committee’s proposed segrega tion resolution said the Supreme Court’s ruling “was in fact based on no living law, either statutory, com mon or constitutional.” It is contrary to the Tenth Amendment “and was Miami Herald Photo TAKING TIME OUT from the recent Southern Governors Conference at Boca Raton, Fla., Acting Gov. Charley E. Johns of Florida, left, and Oklahoma’s Gov. Johnston Murray try on new hats donated by a Florida Cattlemen’s As sociation. ACTING GOVERNOR CHARLEY JOHNS (standing) is shown as he welcomed chief executives attending the recent Southern Governors Conference at Boca Raton, Fla. Gov. Johns called on President Eisenhower to back a constitutional amendment permitting the states to op erate segregated schools. In the center is Gov. Johnston Murray of Oklahoma and at right is Gov. Frank Clement of Tennessee. and objectivity.” Among these he named J. Crockett Farnell of Hills borough and Floyd Christian of Pinellas. The NAACP attorney said that geographical conditions would tend to reduce frictions under desegrega tion in such areas as Tampa where the Negro population is concentrated. “We wouldn’t send a Negro child to a school outside his residential area just to prove a point,” Rodri guez said, and added: If then, from a practical standpoint, the changes would be negligible, what’s the shouting all about? But because we are not unmindful of local differences, we believe the best in terests of justice will be served if we follow the present scheme of things to the end that we will adhere to whatever course is prescribed by the Supreme Court as to time and method. These local differences cited by Rodriguez are one of the big points made by Atty. Gen. Richard W. Ervin of Florida in his brief now before the Supreme Court for aid in its final consideration of ways to implement the decision. to be used for separate white and Negro schools, contrary to the Su preme Court decision. In approving the bonds the Florida court said the segregation ruling was “a great mistake.” Justice Glenn Terrell’s decision for the court, to which only one justice dissented, said the ruling “will re tard rather than accelerate the re moval of inequalities” between the races in the schools. “Whether or not the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has a place in the field of public education is a question of policy determinable by the legislature,” the court held. “It is not a judicial question as I understand the canons of interpreta tion. Likewise, the question of segre gation is for the same reason a leg islative rather than a judicial ques tion.” The court declared “segregation must come by gradual adjustment.” Therefore bonds for separate schools are needed now. CITES OPPOSITION Ervin said the great majority of Florida citizens are not ready for immediate desegregation and to ignore that fact might make an orderly end to segregation impossible. In his brief, Ervin said: There is some reason to believe that segregated schools can be ended in Flor ida in an equitable manner without de stroying the school system itself. But there is no reason to believe that this can be accomplished hurriedly or caught in the impossible dilemma of con fronting on the one hand the irresistible force of a judicial edict which must be obeyed and on the other hand the im movable object of public opinion which cannot be altered. The only hope for a solution is for this court to restrain the use of coercive measures until the core of public opinion has been softened to the extent that there is acceptance on the part of the majority of the people. In discussing his decision to file the brief, Ervin said: The court itself has said that its de cision is based on psychological and so ciological factors. I therefore think it will have to consider the same factors in the thinking of white people on the subject if it is to be at all consistent. Under Article 6. Clause 2 of the U. S. Constitution, Florida will be bound by the decision of the U. S. Sunreme Court if the state wants to continue its public schools. Whether we filed the brief or not, the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court will apply as a binding precedent to Florida regardless of anything you have heard to the contrary. Segregation was brought up by the Florida Supreme Court in ruling on a Manatee county school bond issue. A taxpayer challenged the legality of the bonds, on grounds that they were BOWLES IN STATE In the latter days of the month, Bryant Bowles, head of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, the organization which figured in incidents in Delaware and other states over the segregation question, returned to his native Flo rida in a recruiting drive. Bowles spent his early days in Tampa. In speeches at Jacksonville and Tavares, Bowles said the “Com munists want to found a Negro re public in the South.” Bowles said the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People “is not a Negro organization. The real bosses are Jews.” “There is nothing wrong with be ing a Negro. I’m willing to help the Negro see that all his descendants will be Negroes. “The Negro would still be happy if the left wingers hadn’t started (in tegration.)” Bowles said he will form a chapter of his NAAWP in Lake County and “turn it over” to Sheriff Willis V. McCall. Sheriff McCall spoke to a mass meeting under NAAWP spon sorship at Milford, Del., just prior to the disturbance last September. Bowles told his audience there had been recent incidents in Lake County and in Apopka, near Orlando, in which Negro children tried to enter white schools and were removed by police. This was not confirmed by other sources.