About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1955)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—March 3, 1955—PAGE 9 Louisville Education Leaders LOUISVILLE SUPT. Omer Car michael has been working since last .May to achieve “the favorable climate of opinion” which he says will smooth the way to “the inevitable change” of desegregated schools. Courier-Journal, Times Photos FOR OUTSTANDING service in improving race relations, Dr. Philip G. Davidson, president of the Univer sity of Louisville, was awarded a plaque by the Louisville chapter, Frontier Clubs of America. Kentucky Continued From Page 8 the impact of the decision on the South, said that small organizations known as citizens councils are “sweeping Mississippi and have spilled over into Alabama and Geor gia.” He said the councils describe themselves as advocating “no vio lence—then a slight pause—unless necessary.” “These uptown Ku Klux Klans,” he said, “could turn into weapons of terror.” Describing “the phenomenal and frightening rise” of these “legal or ganizations of citizens with some extra-legal ideas in mind,” the Mis- sissippian added: “I think they truly mean no vio lence, but all of us know when peo ple band together it is very easy for hotheads to take over and the or ganization can turn into a weapon of terror. The weapon of the citizens coun- eil is going to be economic pressure exerted against the individual Negro w ho tries to send his child to a w jy. e school.” Asked about the pos sibility of counter-boycotts, he said here had been talk of these, but at they probably wouldn’t work; m his home county, with a 75 per c ent Negro population, the manager 0 one large chain store had esti mated that only 10 per cent of his r ? de . came from Negroes. integration is forced on Missis- .'PP 1 abruptly, Editor Carter said, ,, ere 3 s going to be trouble” from e citizens councils. to circumvent the Supreme ™ riJ ling. he added, “include m j mos t amazing gerry- , "/nng of school districts the a ? " as ever seen.” Proponents of adrn> Va t e ’ segregated school system “ a ! ’ ae concluded, that it is only lion 3n t0 c * issuac l e any real integra- 10 v n0W ’ ^ a t it can mean at least “cars of legal maneuvering.” Lack Of FRICTION tute* an °.ii ler Southern Police Insl “■ph se ?hn ar on b^b- 11, this one i Lon; ce an< i Racial Tensior tis n r*. le , Police Chief Carl E. Heu , e lack °i racial friction < m oni 0 1Pa golf courses and the “ha S r ouDs US - re ' at i° ns between raci vilie P ~, 'j University of Loui "’hat , Uaen t body” as examples C iassec° expect when public schc p 316 desegregated. ^ashjntri. C ^’ e ^ s °f Milwaukee ai W^n, U. C., joined in the di Ca bdle^ moderat ed by David A. M kee - ,,®; ln stitute director. Milwai 'lesea,.^ lc schools have always bei been ed a nd there has nev Chief t racial tension in thei • °hn W. Polcyn reported. F Washington, Chief Robert V. Mur ray attributed last fall’s desegrega tion walkouts largely to “highly pub licized disturbances in nearby Delaware and Maryland communi ties.” Washington students now, Chief Murray said, are accepting integra tion with good grace. BEREA’S EXPERIENCE In an earlier appearance (Feb. 8) before Louisville’s Filson Club, Dr. Francis S. Hutchins, president of Berea College, said that “a great volume of experience” in interracial education was lost after Kentucky’s Day Law was enacted in 1904. From 1866 until then, Berea had admitted Negro students. It began doing so again in 1950, after the Kentucky legislature modified the law’s appli cation to colleges and universities. “One of the continuing aspects of Berea College,” Dr. Hutchins added, “has been its interest in the welfare of the Negro.” Berea’s president expressed the belief that school desegregation is going to work: “I don’t expect it will work without difficulty,” he said, “but I expect it will work.” In Lexington, meantime, on Feb. 11, a Negro educator accused Negro teachers of “selling us down the river” on desegregation. “Fearful of losing their jobs through desegre gation,” he said, “they vote for white-supremacy candidates.” He was Dr. William Mason Chi solm, founder and president of Chisolm Training Institute, Rock Hill, S. C. Speaking before a special convocation of the College of the Bible in Lexington, he decried “poor jobs, low pay and no opportunity” for many southern Negroes, but added: “Regardless of where you are, if you’re trying to do the right things, you’ll find some people will ing to help you.” CALLS FOR LEADERSHIP In Louisville on Feb. 20 Dr. Philip G. Davidson, president of the Uni versity of Louisville, told a Negro service club meeting at the Seel- bach Hotel that America’s schools can be desegregated peacefully “by firm and determined leadership.” As an example of peaceful desegre gation, Dr. Davidson cited the U. of L., which was opened to Negroes in 1951. “Of all the controversies we have had,” he declared, “not one has had a racial basis. “And that is what we might have expected. That has been the experi ence of every other institution where the same course has been taken.” E. E. Pruitt, president of the club (the Louisville chapter of the Fron tier Clubs of America), presented Dr. Davidson with a bronze plaque “for outstanding service” in improv ing race relations. Mississippi JACKSON, Miss. CURRENT special session of the Mississippi legislature is as di vided on financing the equalization of Negro public schools with those for whites as it is unanimous on keeping them segregated. Gov. Hugh White convened the assembly on Jan. 11 solely to raise taxes to finance a program officials are hopeful will discourage integra tion efforts by placing the dual sys tem on an equal footing. At the end of seven weeks of the assembly, the “fund-raising” remains far short of the goal set for that purpose. The situation is so serious that Gov. White has repeatedly called for full cooperation among the mem bers with the warning that “unless the program is financed, we might as well forget segregation.” Gov. White and other state officials are confident that Negroes will agree to continue segregation on a volun tary basis provided their schools are immediately equalized with those of the whites. However, those Negroes who have more or less agreed to the voluntary plan are getting a bit impatient as a result of the difficulty the lawmakers are having in raising the necessary money to launch the program. COST OF PROGRAM The added biennial cost of equaliz ing teachers’ salaries, transportation and administration is 22 million dol lars, plus the long range building program which the state department of education has estimated will ulti mately require 117 million dollars. Once the program is financed and levels off, the biennial requirements for maintenance and operation of segregated schools will be 72 mil lion dollars, compared to the 50 million dollars now provided, plus 12 million dollars for retirement of bonds for the school building phase of the equalization effort. This adds up to a total overall two-year money need of 84 million dollars. At the moment, $30,325,000 new money is needed to carry the pro gram for the next 15 months of the current two-year period of operating ending June 30, 1956. Of that, 22 million dollars is for teachers’ sal aries, transportation and administra tion, and $8,325,000 for bonds that are planned for issuance for build ings. Making up the 22 million dollars is a balance of 18 million dollars left for schools for the 1955-56 session through failure of the 1954 regular session of the legislature to vote the full 68 million dollars for the pre vious biennium, 1952-54. The other four million dollars is the amount officials underestimated the needs for full payment of a new teacher salary schedule which eliminates previous disparities between Negro and white teachers. ONE BILL PASSED Of the new money requirements of $30,325,000, the current legislature at the end of seven weeks has voted, and the governor has approved, one tax increase for only $1,500,000 of the needs. That is in a bill raising the cigarette tax from four to five cents a pack. Both branches, however, have ap proved, but in different form, a bill raising the two per cent sales tax to three per cent, for an added $17,500,000 during the next 15 months. However, because of the differences, the measure is in conference. As originally introduced, the sales tax proposal would have provided $25,750,000 of the money needs for the next 15 months, but it came under attack by several groups, headed by the farm bloc, since it carried no exemptions. Proponents felt that the situation facing Mis sissippi was of such a serious nature that all segments of taxpayers should bear the burden and that none of them should be singled out for ex emptions. After the “exemptionists” finished with the bill, however, its revenue producing capabilities were reduced to $17,500,000. The exemption-loss would have been $1,000,000 greater except for an amendment which singled out whisky, illegal in Mississippi, for a higher sales tax rate of five per cent (others would pay 3 per cent). Assessment of the sales tax on liquor in this prohibition state is an anomaly. However, precedent for that action was set in 1944 when the legislature voted a ten per cent “black market” tax on “any product, commodity or article sold or distrib uted in Mississippi, the sale of which is prohibited by law.” Incidentally, the “black market” liquor tax nets the state $1,200,000 annually. Levying of these taxes in a prohi bition state is difficult to explain to residents of other states, and more so since records of the sales are made available to taxing authorities for the purpose of determining lia bility of the “bootleggers.” Few, if any, prosecutions result from avail ability of those records to law en forcement officials. However, visitors to Mississippi who find whisky openly sold in some sections—along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi river, as well as in inland counties—understand the in consistency. The situation has ac tually given some counties “local option” without the necessity of legislation. (State level enforcement is blocked by the fact that sheriffs in the coun ties exercise exclusive law en forcement authority within their bailiwicks. Mississippi has no state police organization. In rare cases the governor, when petitioned by local authorities, calls out the National Guard to raid establishments. How ever, National Guard raids are large ly confined to confiscation of gam bling equipment.) TAX DEADLOCK Back to the school situation, a deadlock has developed among the various groups suggested as the sources for the needed new money requirements. Each group contends that added burdens will injure their business and as a result “the other fellow” should be the one taxed. Largely because of the numerous exemptions voted in the sales tax, mostly on agricultural products and the co-ops, so-called “big business” is fighting a proposed 20 per cent surtax on corporation income, oil and gas severance, finance and insurance companies privileges, chain stores, franchise and excise. That tax would bring in the remaining $6,500,000 needed to round out the school equalization program if actual allo cations for new school buildings are delayed until Jan. 1, 1956, instead of set aside at this time. With no change in the money ac cruals to the school districts, the “gap” remaining is nearer 12 million dollars. School authorities are opposed to the delayed accruals. They take the position that Negroes have been promised equalized school buildings, and to delay any phase of the pro gram will place Mississippi in the position of “not keeping faith” with those willing to accept voluntary segregation. The delayed accruals of state aid for new buildings would reduce the $8,325,000 needed for the remaining 15 months to $3,325,000. Proponents contend it will not delay new con struction as plans must be drafted and school districts consolidated under a plan to reduce the 1,000 districts to a number the taxpayers can finance without too great a tax burden. WHITE HITS OPPONENTS Gov. White has criticized so-called “big business” interests for opposing the 20 per cent surtax proposal. However, he was originally opposed to it until manufacturers were elimi nated in order to prevent it from hurting his “balance agriculture with industry” program under which the state subsidizes new industries with sites and plants on a rental-amorti zation plan. The governor takes the position that the cigarette and sales tax in creases apply to the consumers, and that business should be willing to help pay the cost of maintaining seg regation. He is also opposed to the exemptions voted for consumers of public power, while those buying from private companies must pay the sales tax. The deadlock is also holding up final action on other bills designed to speed the equalization program in its effort to discourage integration. Thus far in the seven weeks of the special session, only one major ad ministrative bill looking to equaliza tion has passed the House and Senate and gained the governor’s approval. It allows a bonus construction al lowance for Negroes. Under the bonus bill, state fund allocations to school districts for new school buildings are based on average daily attendance. To speed closure of the 117 million dollar facility gap, the bill allocates $15 per Negro child and $12 per white child. However, under a 1954 measure, the Education Finance Commission is prohibited from spending money for white schools until Negro schools in the areas involved have been equalized with the whites. That re quirement resulted in strong opposi tion to the bonus bill on grounds that all funds will go to Negroes until the two systems have been levelled off. Opposition also came from the heavily white-populated sectors of the state. It stemmed from practices followed in the past whereby the heavily-Negro-populated counties spent most of their funds on whites, regardless of the population ratio. A special legislative committee re port in 1952 showed that of the funds returned to Tunica County, with 80 per cent Negro, $270.69 was spent per white child, against $21.36 per Negro child. In Sunflower County, another with more than 60 per cent Negro population, the ratio was $183.43 per white child against $37.65 per Negro child. The “whitest” county, Itawamba in the hill section, showed $90.79 per white child and $56.82 per Negro child. Itawamba has less than 5 per cent Negro population. BOND PLAN STYMIED Also stymied in the current session is a proposal for the issuance of 60 million dollars in state bonds to launch the building program. Funds would be set aside from the bonds on an average daily attendance basis for the school districts. To speed construction, the districts could an ticipate their needs for 20 years and borrow against them. Such loans would be repaid annually as the state allocations become available without delaying new construction or putting it on a year-to-year basis. The Senate approved the 60 million dollar bond issue, but when it reached the House, the Ways & Means committee cut the amount down to 30 million dollars. No floor action has been taken as yet. OTHER BILLS PASSED Despite the deadlock the equaliza tion measure has encountered, both legislative branches have completed action on proposals designed to de feat desegregation via other routes. A constitutional amendment au thorizing the legislature to abolish public schools as a “last resort” to prevent integration was speedily in serted in the constitution. It was ratified in a special election last December by the voters—with less than one-fifth of those qualified par ticipating. Abolition, however, on a state wide basis will require a two-thirds vote of both branches, although that power may be given to counties or municipal school districts by a sim ple majority vote of the lawmakers. That same amendment, now a part of the state constitution, also author izes the legislature to dispose of school properties, and vote state funds directly to children to gain an education in a school of their choice. Also rushed to placement in the constitution was another amendment ratified in the November general election. It raises the qualifications of those applying for voting rights by requiring applicants to be able to read and write and to write a short essay on the function of con stitutional government and the pre requisites of a voter, as well as his responsibilities. Bills implementing the voter amendment have already been ap proved. They are designed to slow down the registration of Negroes as qualified electors.
