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Kentucky LOUISVILLE, Ky. OV. Lawrence Wetherby, attend ing the Southern Governors Con ference at Boca Raton, Florida, took what competent observers here con sidered a significant step when he declined to sign a petition offered by seven other southern governors pro testing enforced integration in south ern schools. Earlier, Gov. Wetherby had refused to support a resolution offered by Florida’s acting Gov. Charley Johns which would have put the conference on record as favoring a constitutional amendment permitting equal but separate school facilities for Negroes. Veteran Bluegrass reporters saw in the governor’s action: (1) proof that he intends to “comply with the law as set forth by the Supreme Court,” as he had earlier promised, and (2) indication that the Democratic or ganization, led by Wetherby, Sen. Earle Clements and Sen-elect Alben Barkley, does not believe that A. B. “Happy” Chandler can make effective use of the integration issue in next year’s gubernatorial election. Chand ler, former governor, U.S. Senator, baseball commissioner and now again an active candidate for governor, has been linked in the past to States’ Rights forces which oppose racial in tegration in the schools. LOUISVILLE PROGRAM Meanwhile, plans are being made in several sectors of the state for speeding integration as soon as the Supreme Court hands down its deci sion governing the course that deseg regation must follow. In populous Jefferson County, which includes CHARLESTON, W. Va. ^fEST Virginia, which was the scene of the first organized pro tests against integration, is experien cing a period of almost complete tran quility as the time approaches when its legislature must take some kind of action in the 60-day session begin ning Jan. 12. A move has been started, but re mains unorganized, to reduce the number of State colleges since all are now accepting both white and colored students. Some observers feel that to continue all institutions of higher learning is only duplicating services, particularly in the southern sector of the state. Because of this a determined effort seems to have been made by West Virginia State College an Institute, near Charleston, to increase the num ber of white students in what for merly was an all-Negro school. Full nnd part-time white pupils attend- mg West Virginia state now are un derstood to exceed a hundred in num- The trend at Bluefield State College, near the Virginia line, is not as definite. Officials at neither former Negro college mention the subject but it is understood that they are determined ° keep operating. West Virginia “te, in particular, has one of the est physical plants in the Mountain fate and a great percentage of its Rodent body comes from beyond the ?®te line. At one time this was more an half, but now probably is closer w 35 per cent. Revenues down But with West Virginia’s economy nrting from a 20 per cent drop in lat V r<x fuction, the incoming legis- g re > strongly Democratic, must ahl neW sources °f income just to be j 1® f° stand still. A seven million di® anr >ual deficit already is pre- e c ec and much of this could be ed if both schools and college re completely integrated. stu dents af the two for- v >dLl egr ° * nst 'tutions could be pro- YjJ . f° r at such schools as West at Montgomery and both f ^ College at Huntington— which already have Negro pu- i 6llCe ^'fhout too much inconven- Louisville with one-sixth of Ken tucky’s population and more than one-third of its Negroes, Louisville Supt. Omer Carmichael launched an intensive “grass roots” program which he hopes “will give us an idea of what our problems will be and how best to meet them.” On Nov. 19, Carmichael asked each of his principals to meet with his teachers and discuss the matter of integration. Each teacher and prin cipal is then asked to submit to Car michael a list of problems that teach ers and principals would like to have studied, or which they expect to en counter in the process of integration. PTA presidents have been asked to meet with their members and prepare similar lists. “We will then compile a complete list of all problems concerning in tegration, and submit the list to every principal, teacher and PTA mem ber,” Carmichael explained, “asking them in turn to send in again any suggestion or possible solution to any of the problems. From these answers, we hope to be able to compile a store of information that will be of help to us should difficulties arise. “We hope,” he says, “that by spring our staff personnel will have com pleted preliminary studies, and that by the time the Supreme Court hands down its explanatory decision we will be ready to go to work. At any rate, we will be accustomed to thinking about the matter. We will not be afraid of it, and we may have evolved policies that will smooth out the transition.” Mr. Carmichael said that while he expects “no bad trouble,” there un- Huge savings, economists also argue, can be obtained with the abol ishment of separate school bus sys tems for white and colored pupils in addition to consolidating all young sters into single classrooms. No one seems to be resisting such moves on an organized basis although some difficulties probably will occur before the whole plan is accomplished. The protests which occurred in Greenbrier, Barbour, Boone and Ma rion counties, seem to have suc cumbed under their own weight. Per haps the lively interest in the No vember elections gave objectionists another outlet for their activities, but, if so, the subject of segregation never reached the speakers’ rostrum. Meantime, both white and Negro teachers are hopeful of an increase in salaries for the term beginning in September of 1955. In this they have the support of State School Supt. W. W. Trent, who has said he would recommend to the governor and the legislature an increase of $40 a month for all teachers holding certificates based on academic degrees. The in crease. if granted, would cost approx imately $4,347,000, he said. Recently, the Negro teachers were voted membership in the State Edu cation Association, formerly restrict ed to white instructors. MORE MONEY NEEDED Supt. Trent, who along with Gov. William C. Marland, approved the wisdom of the Supreme Court’s de cision outlawing segregation, says that another six million dollars will be needed to maintain the states present school program. This does not include any allowance for increased enrollment, which Trent estimated would cause added expense of $800,- 000 to $900,000; money for additional teachers needed for extra pupils, or for increased cost of utilities. All of this adds up to at least $11 million more annually, including the proposed salary increase. “We must have more revenue or the school facilities must be mate rially curtailed,” the superintendent declared, while side-stepping any mention of the possibility of reducing costs through integration. This he is leaving to political leaders. doubtedly will be “people who will have trouble adjusting.” “I believe the students will cooper ate in most cases,” he said, “and we know we can count on the press. The way the press has moved in with the Southern Education Reporting Serv ice has been wonderful. And we feel confident that we will receive honest reporting and sympathetic editorial help.” County Supt. Richard Van Hoose, who supervises all county schools outside of Louisville’s city limits, has also begun a study of the problems of integration. “I do not anticipate any serious racial trouble,” he declares, “regard less of the way we are told to inte grate.” Like many of the state educational officials, however, Van Hoose says that he “hopes the Supreme Court will give us a little time to put de segregation into action. “It is not a matter of racial con flict,” he adds, “but rather a matter of housing.” Previously, Jefferson County Ne gro students were educated in segre gated elementary schools, and then sent into Louisville for high school training, with the county board of education paying the city an agreed tuition for each county student. “We will be able to absorb the ad ditional children, both Negro and white, into the lower grades,” Van Hoose believes, “but where we are going to put those high school stu dents, I just don’t know. It’s hard to say just how much we are going to be able to do until we find out exact ly how much money we are going to have and what our building program is going to be. We are anticipating 3,000 additional students next year, and hoping somehow to find the classroom space for them.” “It is possible,” Van Hoose said, “that classroom crowding might make integration a little more difficult. I hope, however, that the students will not allow this crowding to aggravate racial feelings.” PANEL DISCUSSION County school principals generally agreed with the superintendents that integration could be effected peace fully. Speaking at a panel discussion sponsored by the St. Matthews Lions Club, Principal Jack Dawson of East ern high school declared that “par ents, not children, will be our big problem.” “If I could keep parents from talk ing to their children, we could get integration done next year within a few weeks,” Dawson said. Principal Kenneth Lam of Lyndon said, “a lot depends on the attitude of the school administration. All we have to do is establish the right at titudes, and the elimination of segre gation will be accepted.” Principal Kenneth Farmer of Greathouse favored a gradual inte gration, like the one tried recently in Indiana. He joined Principal Margue rite Lewis of Chenoweth in the opin ion that placing Negro teachers over white students “could cause trouble.” Father Charles Boldrick of Holy Trinity school disagreed. “Southern whites have for generations been reared by Negro mammies, and taught by them, too,” he declared. “Parents are our biggest worry, but I’m sure it’ll work out all right if we don’t get excited.” The “gradualist” approach to in tegration is not favorably regarded by the privately-sponsored groups that are already assuming a major role in planning for the end of school segregation. Dr. Hugh A. Brimm, professor of sociology and human relations at the Carver School of Missions and Social Work and recent- lv-elected president of the Kentucky Council on Human Relations, de clared on Nov. 16 that “the only way to integrate is to integrate.” “The pattern for successful inte gration has already been established in our colleges,” said Dr. Brimm, “and should provide us with an en couraging blueprint.” TEAMS BEING TRAINED Following a meeting of the council on Nov. 21, Dr. Brimm revealed that two-man teams consisting of a Negro and a white worker were being train ed in the problems and techniques of integration in the schools. These teams will be made available to any SOUTHERN SCHOOL mayor, superintendent or principal who asks for help in solving problems arising out of integration. Dr. Brimm’s service will be state wide, and will be offered primarily for those areas outside of the Louis ville area. A similar service for Louisville is being readied by a spe cial integration committee of the Urban League, under the direction of Charles J. Steele. Carl Braden, Louisville newspaper man, will be tried on Nov. 29 for sedi tion charges growing out of the dynamiting here last June of a Ne gro contractor’s home. Both Braden and his wife, former newspaper reporter and a prominent member of the Progressive Party, were indicted by the September grand jury. Also indicted on the sedition charge were Vernon Bown and I. O. Ford, and Misses Louise Gilbert and Larue Spiker, all of Louisville. The October grand jury indicted the Bradens, Bown, Ford and Lewis Lubka, industrial worker, for con spiring to damage private property to bring about the success of Com munism. The indictments were returned by the September grand jury after it in vestigated the explosion which dam aged the home of Andrew Wade IV, in a Louisville suburb. Wade, a Negro electrical contrac tor, moved into the house in a white neighborhood in May. The house was bought and transferred to Wade by Braden and his wife. Neighbors pro tested the ownership of the house Maryland (Continued From Page 7) not merely folly, but highly dan gerous folly...” That left only Atty. Gen. Edward D. E. Rollins to be heard from, and his friend-of-the-Court brief fol lowed the McKeldin speech by two days, and the committee of school su perintendents’ report by a week. Mr. Rollins, defeated on Nov. 2 by State Sen. Ferdinand Sybert, argued, as ex - pected, that the segregation cases should be handed back to the lower courts which first heard them, that these courts should decree “an effec tive, gradual adjustment” to a school system not based on color distinc tions and that the carrying out of de crees should be left to local school administrators. The attorney general stressed the point that there was as much differ ence in the racial situation between one section of Maryland and another as “there is between Maine and Mis sissippi.” A reasonable time schedule was necessary, he said, because “what may be done in one county without perceptible effect could not be done in another country at the same time without grave danger of serious pub lic disorder and violence.” The Rollins brief vigorously de fended Maryland’s record in provid ing equal educational opportunities for Negroes. Especially in the hiring of teachers, he said, Maryland has shown less discrimination against Negroes than northern states where segregation has been illegal for years. Maryland, with a Negro pop ulation of 388.000, emploved 2.900 colored teachers, he noted, whereas New Jersey, with a 324,000 colored population, had only 645 Negro teachers. Mr. Rollins said his office had re ceived hundreds of letters “of varying degrees of literacy” with advice on the school situation, ranging on the pro-segregation side from serious proposals by an “earnest and intelli gent” group of parents in Southern Maryland to “outright demand for blood and the reactivation of the Ku Klux Klan.” On the anti-segregation side, he said, “are those who are in favor of immediate integration and even in favor of the establishment of hard and fast school districts, and the reauirement that all pupils must at tend a particular school regardless of their or their parents’ choice in the matter.” MODERATE COURSE The course the attorney general said he preferred was the moderate one outlined by Dr. John H. Fischer. Baltimore city school superintendent. This course does not involve any West Virginia NEWS —Dec. I, 1954 —PAGE? by Wade, and several instances of violence, including threats and broken windows, persuaded Jeffer son County police guards around the house on a 24-hour basis. A fiery cross was burned in the yard of the Wade home by uniden tified persons, and shortly afterward the house was seriously damaged by what police said they believed was a dynamite explosion. No one was injured. RED PLOT SEEN Commonwealth Atty. Scott Hamil ton has said the investigation turned up evidence that the blasting of Wade’s home was either part of a Communist plot or was Communist- inspired for the purpose of stirring up racial trouble. Before the Wade incident, inter racial progress in Jefferson County had seen Negroes admitted for the first time into Louisville parks and swimming pools and on park tennis courts and golf courses. Negroes were admitted to the University of Louis ville and the University of Kentucky, and admitted to membership in the Jefferson County medical, dental and bar associations. Local newspapers, as well as both white and Negro in terracial workers, deplored the Wade incident as a blow to racial relations and Negro progress. Braden, in a statement to the Courier-Journal, declared that the commonwealth attorney, having failed to find the real culprits in the Wade explosion, was resorting to “McCarthyism” as a means of avoid ing blame and gaining publicity. deliberate effort to mix school pop ulations. Instead, the tradition right of children to go to the schools of their own choice is preserved, with color distinctions dropped. In Balti more, in the first year of change, it has meant that 97 per cent of Negro children have remained in all-Negro schools close to their homes, while only 3 per cent have chosen to go to formerly all-white schools. As for the deliberate mixing of children, or forced integration, the Rollins brief had this to say: Under no circumstances should little children of any race be used as guinea pigs in experiments to support or de stroy anyone’s social theories. The pur pose of an educational system is to edu cate, and there can be no sound reason, in the operation of a sound educational system like that of Maryland, to operate so as to arbitrarily create integration any more than to create segregation. The difference between the situa tion in Baltimore City and in the counties, which Mr. Rollins must surely have had in mind, revolves around the location of schools. The Baltimore residential pattern is gen erally all-white or all-colored, with a school serving each neighborhood. When children are allowed to attend the school of their choice without color distinctions, most of them choose the school nearest their homes, where the school population is pre dominantly of the same race as the neighborhood. Only in racially mixed neighborhoods has there occurred much racial mixing in classrooms. In the counties of Maryland, the small district schools serving white or colored communities have given way in the last two decades or more to large consolidated schools serving broad areas and sometimes an entire county on a segregated basis. If chil dren were allowed to go to the school of their choice without racial distinc tions, school officials assume that some and possibly many Negro chil dren living in the vicinity of a white school would prefer to go there rath er than travel many miles by bus to the consolidated school formerly de signed for Negroes. Thus, an end of racial distinctions in school admission might produce considerably more racially mixed classes in some Maryland counties than in Baltimore. And the opposition to such mixing is generally conceded to be stronger and more articulate in some of these counties than in Balti more. Because of this situation, Mr. Rollins told the Supreme Court that local school authorities should be al lowed time to work out their own time schedules in the light of local conditions. He added: This court, or any court, should only intervene where school administrators on the local level can be shown to have failed to exercise good faith and reason able diligence.