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Georgia MACON, Ga. /\K January 11, Georgia will in- ” augurate as its 72nd governor S. Marvin Grifiin, who has promised that as chief executive the state will never accept mixing of the races in the classrooms and will resist it with all resources. A new state legislature will con vene on Jan. 10 and is expected to consider enacting at least three laws recommended by the Georgia Edu cation Commission and designed to keep whites and Negroes separated in the schools by local option. The commission, set up by the leg islature itself to chart Georgia’s strategy aimed at maintaining seg regated schools, met Dec. 8 and voted to submit to the legislature the three suggested measures drafted by Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook, Commission Counsel B. D. (Buck) Murphy and Commission Secretary Durwood Pye. If approved by the General As sembly of Georgia, the laws would: 1. Make it a felony punishable by two years imprisonment for any state, coun ty, city or school official to allow any state or local funds to be used for a mixed school or to nay any teacher instructing a mixed class. 2. Permit local school superintendents to assign pupils to specific schools and grant to the state board of education authority to make tuition grants to pupils dissatisfied with the school to which they are assigned so that they could go to a private school. 3. Authorize local boards of education to map attendance districts and require pupils to attend the school in the district in which they live, the districts to be maimed so as to “best promote public ed ucation within the school district.” Bill No. 1 contains a provision ex empting state and local funds used to pay off State School Building Au thority bonds from the ban on use of local or state funds for mixed schools, stating: “... the provisions of this act shall not apply to the annual capital outlay funds allotted to the local school units as referred to in the General Appropriations Act ap proved Feb. 20, 1953, or to any funds hereafter appropriated for capital outlay purposes nor to funds for payment of principal or interest on anv bonded school indebtedness.” Bill No. 2 would serve as enabling legislation for the segregated private school amendment to the State Con stitution adopted by Georgians in the Nov. 2 general election. The amend ment permits the legislature to make tuition grants of local or state funds to individual students in discharge of all educational obligations and pro posed Bill No. 2 would assign the authority to make such grants to the state board of education. It would also create a “grant register,” to be used only for education and its use supervised by the board, by means °f which the state board of educa tion would keep records of the names °f students and the amounts of tui tion funds granted. Bill No. 3, allowing local boards to -eate attendance districts, states that in addition to considering what best promote public education Wl thin the school districts, authori ties will weigh such factors as dis- tances, school bus routes, roads and school populations. It would require students to attend schools in their ■stricts but contains a provision stating: “This law shall not prevent e assignment of a puoil to another school within the school district pur suant to anv law authorizing the as- SI gnment of public school pupils.” legislators polled t ^Parate questionnaires submitted the members of the incoming state cgislature by the Associated Press d the United Press attempted to J* u Se the sentiment of legislators on easures propo' cd as means of de- t' ln K integration or thwarting it ^together. ^The AP asked members of the that Se an< ^ ® ena te if they believed 1seSre0a tion could be preserved p r j anen tly through a ' system of W( 7*e schools. Fortv-two answers a- rec ei v ed, 18 giving a flat “ves” J’iffcp^ anc * s ' x a fi a t “no” answer. PY _ en said thev did not know or cessed hone that it could. imtv? 2 ' Braswell Deen Jr., said: “It is evejjf 31 . e to accurately predict the “ if a private school system is used and I would only consider using it as a last resort.” Another representative comment ed: “I believe segregation will be maintained for many years in Geor gia, but I will not guess what the Supreme Court will say in its final decision.” One legislator said, .. the people of Georgia have enough guts to pre serve segregation whether it be by public or private schools.” Rep. William B. Freeman believes segregation can be maintained by a private school system but added, “the problem is keeping it private.” Asked how they felt about deny ing state funds for mixed schools, 43 approved and two opposed. Replies from 17 per cent of the legislators were received in answer to the Associated Press question naire. OTHER REPLIES The United Press reported an swers from 26 per cent of the legisla tors to questions dealing with segre gation and other legislative matters. The UP said 32 of the 259 General Assembly members are against en acting enabling legislation at the January session for the private school amendment while 10 approve of such legislation. Ten others said they would support such action if convinced it was absolutely neces sary and 16 said they have not yet made up their minds. The 32 legislators opposing enabl ing legislation for the segregated private school amendment indicated in answers to other questions that they would go along with the assign ment plan giving the state board of education authority to make tuition grants to individual students if a pro test against his assignment by the student is upheld. Sponsors of this proposed law do not believe it is enough of an en abling act to cause a major fight in the legislature, since the authority to be given the state board is already being exerted by the State Board of Regents who operate the University System of Georgia. Tuition costs at out-of-state col leges are paid by the regents for Negro students desiring to take col lege courses which are not available in Georgia’s Negro colleges. COURT DELAY HAILED Postponement of the U. S. Supreme Court hearings to determine when and how the decision outlawing seg regation in the public schools should be implemented was hailed with “de light” by Gov.-elect Griffin. He said: I am delighted that Georgia will not have to consider the matter of segrega tion at this time. It will suit me fine, and I am sure it will suit all Georgia folks if we never have to consider it again. Two days later, President Eisen hower told a Washington press con ference it was his understanding the Court was trying to work out the in tegration problem under some sort of decentralized process. Gov. Herman Talmadge, who had only a few days before pledged, along with seven other chief execu tives attending a Southern Governors Conference, to “exercise every proper prerogative” to maintain segregation in the schools, commented immedi- atelv on the President’s remarks. “President Eisenhower may be backing down a little on his segre gation stand.” Talmadge said. The Georgia governor attached no signi ficance to the Supreme Court’s post ponement of implementation hear ings but thought Mr. Eisenhower’s statement significant. “Heretofore, President Eisenhower has been rather proud of his part in breaking down all forms of segre gation,” Talmadge said. “It might be that he realizes the situation is so fraught with explosive possibilities that he is seeking some way to back down a little on it.” The U. S. Supreme Court hearings were postponed until some time after the U. S. Senate reconvenes in Jan uary and approves the appointment of Judge John Marshall Harlan of the U. S. Court of Anneals in New York named by President Eisenhower to succeed the late Justice Robert H. Jackson. Judge Harlan’s appointment was a deliberate move to strengthen anti segregation feeling in the court, it was charged by Roy V. Harris, Au gusta attorney and former speaker of the Georgia House who managed Herman Talmage’s successful cam paign for reelection as governor in 1950. Harris urged Georgians and other Southerners to get behind a cam paign to have southern senators block Judge Harlan’s appointment to the Supreme Court and to vote against every man named to the Su preme Court until different type men are appointed. COOK’S ADDRESS In a speech before the annual con vention of the National Association of Attorneys General at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Atty. Gen. Cook of Georgia, retiring president of the body, dealt at length with the ramifications of the decision outlaw ing segregation in the public schools. Cook advocated the enactment by Congress of a bill to strip the U.S. Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over state educational systems, say- ATTY.-GEN. COOK ing such a course represents the most effective remedy to the decision. The decree, he contended, “had the effect of amending the Constitution,” an au thority which is not delegated to the courts. The text of a proposed bill, which he had drafted and described as “simple, short and devastatingly ef fective,” was read by Cook. It said: Be it enacted by the Congress of the United States: Section I: The Supreme Court, the sev eral District Courts and Courts of Appeal, and any and all other federal judicial tribunals, quasi-judicial tribunals and all administrative or executive agencies shall have no jurisdiction to decide or consider, either originally or on appeal, or by any other means of review, any matter draw ing in question the administration by the several states of their respective educa tional systems. Section II: All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. Cook said the wording of the bill was not to be construed as “any crit icism or condemnation of the United States District Courts.” He termed it “unfortunate” that the lower courts would have to be circumscribed in order to deal with the Supreme Court but said it was necessary because otherwise the district courts would still be bound by former Supreme Court decisions concerning school segregation. Removal of educational matters from the court’s jurisdiction was held by Cook to be the “only effective an swer nationally.” Any other course, he said, will result in “a generation of litigation which will solve noth ing. ...” PRECEDENTS CITED The Georgia attorney general listed precedents supporting the proposed congressional action to limit the jur isdiction of the federal courts and quoted from opinions by Chief Jus tices Marshall and Taney concerning such a course. He said the U.S. Supreme Court has overstepped its authority in many instances in recent history and cited three examples in: (1) a decision in terpreting the Natural Gas Act; (2) a ruling in an Arkansas tax case hold ing that contractors employed by fed eral agencies are exempt from state taxation; (3) the decision outlawing segregation itself. Terming these as examples of SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—Jan. 6, 1955—PAGE 7 usurpation of authority not held by the court, Cook said there are three courses open to curb such “usurpa tion.” The three courses were listed as: (1) Amendment of the Constitution to authorize the acts prohibited by the court as was the case in the adop tion of the Sixteenth Amendment af ter the court declared the federal in come tax unconstitutional. (2) Legislation enacted by Con gress overriding specific decisions of the court as was the case when Con gress conveyed title to tidelands to the states after the court has ruled to the contrary. (3) Limitation of the court’s appel late jurisdiction as provided in Sec tion 2 of Article III to the Constitu tion and as suggested by Cook in the segregation cases. OPINION ISSUED Earlier, Cook had issued an official opinion as attorney general of Geor gia that the State School Building Authority may legally transfer its buildings to private schools. The opinion was given in answer to a request by State School Supt. M. D. Collins who, prior to ratification of the constitutional amendment per mitting the legislature to establish a segregated private school system, had questioned the legality of transfer ring any school buildings being financed through leases with the au thority to private schools, in view of alleged contract terms stating that the structures are to be occupied by the county and city systems. In a letter regarding the segre gated private school plan, Cook cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision which upholds the right of a state- supported corporation to enforce segregation, as long as the state itself does not require segregation. The dis closure has been interpreted in some quarters as probably one of the state’s big arguing points if the seg regated private school plan is ever at tacked in the federal courts. The case cited by Cook, Dorsey vs. Stuyvesant Town Corporation, in volved a New York housing project which was subsidized by New York State and for which the state con demned land. When segregation in the housing project was challenged, the court ruled: “Respondents cannot be held to answer for their policy under the equal protection clause of state or federal Constitutions. The aid which the state has afforded them and the controls to which they are subject are not sufficient to transmute their con duct into state action . . .” The General Assembly of Georgia has been constitutionally empowered to set up state-financed organizations to maintain segregation in the schools. The State School Building Author ity was confronted early in Decem ber with a ruling by Ohio banking authorities that bonds issued by the authority are not an “eligible in vestment.” Bonds totalling $127,909,000 have been issued by the authority in the past two years in a vast program aimed at equalizing educational fa cilities available to separate races and improving all schools. A bond is sue of 40 million dollars involving 42 school systems is scheduled in the near future. Thurman R. Hazard, Ohio bank ing superintendent who announced the ineligibility ruling, emphasized, however, that it had nothing to do with ratification of the segregated private school amendment by Georgia voters and that the decision was ac tually made late in the summer. BUILDING PROGRAM The City of Atlanta, meanwhile, is rushing to complete a 10-project five million dollar school expansion pro gram before the arrival of the flood of new students expected for the 1955- 56 school year. Negro schools in Atlanta will get $2,306,190 and white schools will re ceive $1,675,500, with the remainder of the bond issue going for new fur niture and equipment, paving streets fronting schools, a renovation pro gram and other contingencies. This is the first time in many years that Negro schools have received a major portion of a bond issue for school im provements in Atlanta. The Bibb County Board of Educa tion was requested to integrate the races in the schools immediately by the Macon Chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Col ored People which submitted a peti tion signed by Negro parents. A con ference of white and Negro citizens to discuss the request was also asked. Forty-two parents of Negro school children had their signatures on the petition, but a check by local news papers, after some parents claimed they had misunderstood the petition, revealed that four thought they were signing in the hope of obtaining more schools, three said they “positively” did not sign and several others said they did not remember signing. Dr. J. S. Williams, president of the Macon Chapter of the NAACP, said only Negroes employed by other Ne groes or by the federal government were asked to sign, in order to avoid subjecting petitioners to economic pressures, and added that the text of the petition was in plain view and understandable for all who were asked to sign. MINISTER IN NEWS In Shellman, Ga., a Baptist min ister who publicly expressed himself as being in favor of the Supreme Court ruling on segregation, was ousted from his church. The board of deacons demanded the resignation of the Rev. Henry A. Buchanan at a called church conference following Sunday school. The board of deacons had earlier voted to obtain a new pastor for the church but agreed to give Buchanan an opportunity to re sign. The minister criticized the con gregation as “prejudiced” and said he thought the church members were “seekers of truth,” but found out he was mistaken. He went to the church rolls, scratched out the names of himself and his wife, and wrote in the mar gin beside them, “Cast out,” after the congregation voted 78 to 17 to accept the board’s recommendation that the pastor be ousted. Truitt Martin, church secretary, said the Buchanans were not being cast out and claimed the church only needed a change of leadership. “Why quibble with words?” reacted Buchanan, who is reported now en rolled at a Baptist school in Louis ville, Ky. Correction (Note: Through an error in makeup, a portion of Ralph McGill’s review of the new book, “Schools in Transition,” was inadvertently omitted from the December issue. The missing portion follows.) One of the dismal facts of bi-racial conditions has been, and is, the lack of communication between white and colored leaders. That this factor crops up in the study is not surprising. The following important paragraph is from the summary: A tendency frequently observed in com munities where desegregation initially aroused opposition was a lack of com munication between white and Negro leaders and a tendency on the part of the whites to attribute the local call for de segregation to “outsiders.” Sometimes re sponsibility was imputed to national or ganizations having a local branch or chap- ter..Sometimes the reaction took the form of our own Negro people are satisfied with things as they are—It is only those outsiders who want change.” Where defi nite information was available, however, it usually showed that among the local Negro people there were proponents of integration and that the white members of the community did not always have the .L k ”° wledge of the h °Pes and feelings of their Negro co-residents. Again, let it be said that this fac tual study, like a patient’s hospital chart, shows sudden uprisings, fever ish infections; reductions of tempera ture by the antibiotics of knowledge, good will, common sense and under standing, along with a malarial-like tendency for the fever to recur. But, all in all, the book itself is a sort of antibiotic and one wishes it could be widely read by all those on both sides of the segregation issue. While disclaiming any prophetic quality, the authors conclude: No detailed prophecies can be made here as to the long-term future of integration in the schools. Unless our experience to date has been wholly misleading, however, a generation from now the people of the United States may be able with some pride to look back on this period as a time of successful transition, accomplished in a characteristically American way.” And certainly any who calls him- self “American” must hope for the accuracy of that prophecy.