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PAGE 2—NOVEMBER 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Industry
(Continued From Page 1)
to $83,698,500, according to Ward—ex
cluding a $150 million power plant at
Wilsonville announced by the Alabama
Power Company, as well as any other
public utility developments which will
be added at the end of the year . . .
Last year total capital investment in
Alabama was $305,709,000, but this in
cluded public utility investment.
•
ARKANSAS Correspondent William
Shelton says: What effect the Little
Rock situation is having on the state’s
program of industrialization is hard to
tell . . . Gov. Orval Faubus said it was
having no adverse effect, that in fact
some of the state’s new industries had
written to him in approval of his stand
. . . The Arkansas Industrial Develop
ment Commission, a state organization
headed by Winthrop Rockefeller, spent
most of one afternoon discussing inte
gration situation and then decided it
would be ill-advised to make a state
ment. Three weeks later Rockefeller,
interviewed on CBS television by Ed
ward R. Murrow, said the situation had
damaged the industrial program but
that it would be six months before he
could tell how much . . . Another offi
cial body, the Arkansas Legislative
Council, called for study to find another
source of industrial capital, rather than
the money markets in the East, be
cause there is “no desire or interest on
the part of northern and eastern people
to understand the problems of the
South” ... A Little Rock Chamber of
Commerce official and a private indus
trial consultant at Little Rock both
said the events had hurt the industrial
program.
•
FLORIDA Correspondent Bert Col
lier writes: Pinning down the effect of
segregation on industry is tough. Cer
tainly, Florida industry is booming . . .
Gov. LeRoy Collins has repeatedly used
Florida’s “calm and reasonable” ap
proach to segregation as a selling point,
and credited it in part for his success
. . . One concrete example is on the
record. Globe Union, Inc., an auto bat
tery firm in Milwaukee, announced
Oct. 4 that it will build a million dollar
plant in Tampa. C. O. Wanvig, presi
dent, telegraphed Collins that he was
“greatly influenced by your courageous
and statesmanlike efforts to solve the
crucial issues [of segregation and racial
understanding!. This followed by a few
days Gov. Collins’ plea for moderation
at the Southern Governors Conference.
•
GEORGIA Correspondent Joseph B.
Parham writes: There is a difference of
opinion . . . but there are no signs that
the industrial boom is slowing up. Pre
ponderance of oninion is that Georgia’s
bid for more plants will not be ad
versely affected . . . Gov. Marvin Griffin
in a recent speech pointed out 360 new
factories costing $165 million were built
in 1956 [moving] the state from fourth
to third place in the nation in locating
heavy industries since World War II
• . . U. S. Department of Commerce
reported in late October that Georgia
has led the South—and was exceeded
in the entire nation by only five states
—in expenditures for new plants and
equipment since World War II . . .
One prominent business leader says the
effect of Little Rock is more than spec
ulation and the subject has come up in
talks with northern commercial col
leagues. He is concerned for the South,
believing key management and tech
nical personnel may balk at moving
their families to communities troubled
by racial controversies . . . An execu
tive of the Georgia Power Company
who called on six likely industrial pros
pects outside the South after the Little
Rock crisis said all were interested in
the southern viewpoint and none ex
pressed any intention of revising ex
pansion plans because of developments
in racial relations.
•
LOUISIANA Correspondent Leo
Adde advises: There is currently being
organized a group called Mississippi
River Economic Council. It could, and
possibly will, be the prime growth-
shaper of the kind of industrialization
which can pay off handsomely for
Louisiana—the petro-chemical develop
ment along the Mississippi river and
intercoastal waterway. The council is
being formed among bankers, Chamber
of Commerce people and the like in a
dozen parishes (counties)—no elected
public officials. The men behind it want
the people with the money, those who
will do the real influencing of things
like local bond elections, to be lined
up against the parish-level politicians.
It is the only way, it is believed, to
arrive at such revolutionary, for Louis
iana, ventures as inter-parish planning
and financing of schools and roads . . .
A consultant who hires out to industries
is telling his clients that, in the end,
South Louisiana will accept integration
Publication of the book, With All Deliberate Speed: Segregation-Desegregation
in Southern Schools was announced Sept. 29 during a CBS television panel
discussion with the above newsmen participating. They are, from left, Joseph
Parham, editor of the Macon News and SERS’s Georgia correspondent; Don
Shoemaker, executive director of SERS; Griffing Bancroft, CBS news commen
tator and moderator of the program: Weldon James, associate editor of the
Louisville Courier-Journal who covers Kentucky for Southern School News;
and W. D. Workman Jr., special capital correspondent for several South Carolina
newspapers and SSN correspondent in that state.
gracefully. He means at most school
levels, in public transportation, in more
and more residential areas, and in labor
unions . . . This is what the petro
chemical and oil industries like to hear
—since they are coming here anyway
. . . The persons I have talked to agree
that the southern part of the state is
atypical ... I talked with no one who
does not think that the resources ad
vantages will outweigh others such as
possible racial tension . . . Director of
State Department of Commerce and In
dustry says: “In the last couple of
weeks I have been in conversation with
representatives of several industries
considering Louisiana. The word ‘race’
never came up” . . . About the northern
part of the state—my own estimation is
that there is concern over the Little
Rock after-effects.
•
MARYLAND Correspondent Edgar
Jones reports: We’ve got an active in
dustrial locations bureau in the Associ
ation of Commerce, vigorously beating
the urban bushes for new plants. They
travel all over the East and Mid-West
booming the virtues of Maryland . . .
They tell me they have heard no in
dustrialist say recently that he didn’t
want to go South because of racial dis
orders. The only case they’ve heard of
was six months ago.
•
MISSISSIPPI Correspondent Ken
neth Toler says: Gov. J. P. Coleman
and other officials insist that racial
situation is having no effect on Missis
sippi’s industrial development. Gov.
Coleman said the major concern of
prospects is the state’s tax schedules.
Likewise Henry Maddox, director of the
Mississippi Agricultural Industrial
Board said, “I don’t believe there is one
iota of relation between the state’s in
dustrial program and the racial situa
tion. The racial situation is never a
point of discussion with industrial
prospects. They never bring it up nor
do we.”
•
NORTH CAROLINA Correspondent
Jay Jenkins finds: Gov. Luther Hodges,
after a week spent in New York City
contacting industrial prospects, said a
top official of one of America’s largest
firms said segregation exerted no in
fluence on the location of plants . . .
Earlier, O. D. Heck, speaker of the New
York House of Representatives, had
predicted (in North Carolina) the
South will suffer industrially because
of segregation difficulties . . . Gov.
Hodges said after the North Carolina
delegation had contacted 250 persons in
the search for industry, “I checked very
carefully and the question never came
up.” He said that he finally broached
the subject himself to a top officer “in
the fourth or fifth largest corporation
in the country” and asked about the
effect of segregation on the plans of a
new industry. Hodges said the officer
said: “It has no effect. We adapt our
selves to whatever the situation is in
the state.” For the third quarter of
1957, North Carolina experienced the
greatest industrial expansion ($95 mil
lion worth) for any similar period in
its history.
•
OKLAHOMA Correspondent Leonard
Jackson reports: After returning from
the Southern Governors Conference at
Sea Island, Ga., Gov. Raymond Gary
observed: “I think maybe the fact that
we are getting along so well in carry
ing out the Supreme Court mandate
will be reflected in our industrial de
velopment. In fact, I had an industrial
leader tell me that. He wouldn’t want
his name used because he lives down
there [in the Deep South].” During
October it was disclosed that Okla
homa’s peaceful integration is being
used by the State Department of Com
merce and Industry to promote location
of new industries here. Dr. Randall T.
Klemme, director, said several thousand
letters have been sent to nothem and
eastern firms concerning an industrial
tour there and some 350 of the firms
raised questions about integration in
Oklahoma . . . Members of the tour
reported back from Chicago that people
they had talked with there expressed
amazement that Oklahoma had closed
so many separate schools and was ac
cepting integration peacefully for the
most part.
•
SOUTH CAROLINA Correspondent
W. D. Workman, Jr., reports: South
Carolina governmental and industrial
officials say that neither Arkansas situ
ation nor segregation problem generally
have had any adverse effect' . . . On
contrary, Gov. George Bell Timmerman
Jr. credits segregation with beneficial
influence, saying: “Our custom of seg
regation is a boon to our tremendous
industrial growth in that we are not
plagued with social unrest, racial strife,
and civil disorders so prevalent where
a lesser understanding of racial differ
ences exists” . . . Industrialization cur
rently is moving at the rate of about
$200 million in new or expanded in
dustry for this year, about the same
pace as that for 1956 . . . Charles E.
Daniel of Greenville, construction mag
nate, says: “We have not had the ques
tion raised by any of the industries
with which we have been negotiating
[in the South] and it certainly has not
affected us in South Carolina . . . In
dustry is looking South because we are
growing and developing markets” . . .
On broader regional field, I queried two
officials of Southern Association of
Science and Industry at last month’s
Southern Governors Conference. Both
said flatly that they had been unable
to find any evidence to support the
allegations that southern industrializa
tion was being hampered by the segre
gation issue, despite their having made
a specific effort to find such evidence.
TENNESSEE Correspondent James
Elliott finds: A statewide survey re
vealed no reports of potential industrial
loss because of racial discord . . .
Figures compiled by Tennessee Indus
trial and Agricultural Commission show
that for 1947-49 new plant construction
averaged $10 million annually and plant
expansions $31 million. For period 1954-
56 new plants averaged $37 million an
nually and plant expansion $87 million
annually . . . “It [the segregation is
sue] has not affected our local indus
trial picture to any degree and we
don’t believe it will,” says James
Thurston of Memphis Chamber of Com
merce ... In Knoxville Charles Herd,
assistant manager of Chamber of Com
merce, feels that incoming industry will
take a hard look at community pic
ture, including schools and race rela
tions, “but in Tennessee I do not believe
it will be a problem. I believe that Ten
nessee can accept the evolutionary
changes we are facing and go through
this period without permanent scars”
. . . Richard Hawkins of Clarksville,
president of State Bankers Association,
said he had heard of no industry back
ing away from Tennessee. “I don’t be
lieve it will ever become a problem
here because they [industry] have a
worse mess [race relations] in the
North than we do here” . . . Robert
Cassell, senior industrial consultant for
Tennessee Industrial and Agricultural
Commission, believes economic condi
tions surpass social considerations
when an industry is looking for a new
plant location.
•
VIRGINIA Correspondent Overton
Jones finds: Nobody can put a finger
on a single fact to show that the South
is, or is not, being hurt. In other words,
there are opinions based on reasoning,
and the reasoning differs depending on
whether one is a segregationist or an
integrationist, or perhaps whether one
is a strong segregationist or a moderate
. . . Director of industrial development
for the State Chamber of Commerce
says the racial issue “is not discussed
at all” in conferences he has had with
industries concerning locating in Vir
ginia . . . An official of the Virginia
Electric and Power Company says he
has seen no indication that the race
matter is affecting industrialization . . .
Some of those who see no evidence of
any effect say that of course it is pos
sible some industry which planned to
come South may have changed its
mind. But they emphasized that they
have not heard of a single actual case
. . . One business leader said the talk
about any effect is “NAACP propa
ganda.”
•
WEST VIRGINIA Correspondent
Thomas F. Stafford finds: No reaction
[to Little Rock], We have gotten no
new plants, no contracts that I can un
cover which stemmed from the racial
tension in Arkansas or other states, and
no apparent increase in the search for
industrial sites here ... I talked with
our industrial development man at the
capitol, and while he doesn’t “believe
the racial situation is having any effect
on West Virginia industrially right
now,” he says it’s quite likely that ex
pansion-minded industrialists will give
a second look at the South, if the
trouble persists there, and West Vir
ginia then might benefit . . . While at
tending the Southern Governors Con
ference, and listening to a discussion of
industrial development, I learned that
our state is above the national average.
Such states as Arkansas, Alabama and
Tennessee were below the average, but
while this might seem to indicate in
dustry was shying away from the
trouble areas, the three states which
benefitted most last year were Texas,
Florida and Georgia.
# # #
SERS Book
(Continued From Page 1)
Delaware around to Texas.
Judge Leflar, who is also director of
the seminar for appellate judges at New
York University, discusses in “Law of
the Land” the principal legal develop
ments since 1954.
McCauley’s chapter, “Be It Enacted,”
deals with the large body of legislation
adopted by southern states in the three-
year period.
Parham, who is editor of the Macon
News, contributes a chapter “Halls of
Ivy—Southern Exposure” which is the
first comprehensive survey of college
segregation-desegregation yet published.
It includes as appendix material a list
of southern institutions of higher edu
cation and their segregated or desegre
gated status.
ADMINISTRATORS’ PROBLEMS
Robinson, a school administrator, is
author of “Man in No Man’s Land,” an
authoritative discussion of the prob
lems facing educators and schoolmen.
Miss Rogers, who covers the District
of Columbia for Southern School News,
writes on Washington’s school experi
ence in the chapter, “Nation’s Show
case?”
Westfeldt, one of the two SSN Ten
nessee correspondents, writes on “Com
munities in Strife”—an account of situ
ations which brought violence or near
violence to the school scene.
The appendix also contains a table
of major legislation and a statistical
summary of enrollments, segregated
and desegregated districts state-by
state, etc., at the end of June, 1957. In
addition the book contains a compre
hensive list of “current materials”—
books, magazine and newspaper articles
and periodicals on the question.
THREE COMMENT
A number of persons read With All
Deliberate Speed in manuscript or in
galley proof. Some of those who com
mented, and their comments:
Gov. LeRoy Collins of Florida: “. . .
a sincere effort ... to give a complete,
factual analysis of developments in a
field which far too often is cluttered
with misinformation and unreasoning
passion.”
Dr. Quill E. Cope, Tennessee Com
missioner of Education: “. . . objective
presentation of the most serious prob
lem confronting education in the South
today. It should be of interest to those
who want to get a true picture of the
situation.”
Grover C. Hall, Jr., editor of the
Montgomery Advertiser: “This book is
what happened when a sound editor
and a panel of able, objective reporters
got together to tell the tale of a mo
mentous tumult in the Republic. They
have reported their revolution as ade
quately as Carlyle reported the French
Revolution.”
The book will be available at most
bookstores in the United States at $3.50
a copy. It was manufactured in Nash
ville by Benson Printing Company,
printers for Southern School News.
# # #
Special -3n t>
nlerview
Nashville’s
Experience
Recounted
NASHVILLE, Tenn
AAuch of the burden of transforming
Nashville’s public schools from a
system requiring segregation to one
permitting desegregation this fall rested
on the shoulders of a soft-spoken vet
eran of 27 years service in the city’s
schools.
He is William Henry Oliver, 53, now
assistant superintendent, who after
Jan. 1 will bear the full load as the
chief school administrator in the sys
tem which is under court order to lay
out plans by Dec. 31 for extending the
desegregation program begun two
months ago at the first grade level.
“There is no doubt that the great ma
jority of the people in Nashville do not
favor integration,” Oliver said. “But it is
equally as obvious that they favor law
and order.”
CORE OF 300
A determined core of approximately
300 demonstrators had descended upon
the affected formerly all-white schools.
Violence resulted, but local and federal
authorities soon had it in check. Within
10 days the first stage of the transition
had been completed.
From his vantage point as assistant
superintendent of schools, Oliver as
sisted in guiding the transformation.
“As long as desegregation had to
come,” Oliver said in mid-October, “I
believe it has been handled in Nashville
in about the best possible way.”
FACTORS IN PROCESS
What are the factors behind this? Why
has desegregation worked in Nashville?
Here is what Oliver says:
1) The Nashville desegregation plan
was a sound one. Developed by City
School Supt. W. A. Bass and the city
board of education, the program had as
its backbone a liberal transfer policy.
And it began in the first grade.
2) Mayor Ben West, Police Chief
Douglas E. Hosse and the Nashville Po
lice Department acted with dispatch
when it became apparent that local au
thorities must meet the challenge of
determined agitators.
3) City Judge Andrew J. Doyle acted
promptly in disposing of all cases of vio
lence brought into his court by city po
lice.
RESTRAINING ORDERS
4) Federal Judge William E. Miller
moved quickly in issuing a restraining
order and later a temporary injunction
as requested by Mayor West and the city
board of education against those seek
ing to prevent orderly school desegre
gation.
5) The great majority of Nashville s
population, while traditionally southern
in outlook, favored law and order over
violence.
6) Nashville, for more than a century
has been a city with a great sense o
educational responsibility. For man?
years, the emphasis has been on creating
facilities that were separate but equal-
3) The local newspaper, radio and tel
evision coverage leading up to and dur
ing the period of violence was accura
and in true perspective.
NEGRO PARENTS COOPERATE
8) The parents of Negro students, bo
those who kept their children in
Negro schools and those enrolling ]
in white schools, cooperated with sen
officials. ,
9) The city board of education
school officials faced the issue squar® 1
and honestly.
10) Attorneys Edwin Hunt and
Boult, legal counsel for the board
education, offered sound and const* 1 *
tive legal guidance. ^
11) The principals and teachers of
white schools in which Negro fi rs t"£ r ^ | ] e
ers registered exhibited remark
courage, tact and good judgment.
105 REQUEST TRANSFERS
As a result, Oliver noted, U ^ ot . i
students today are attending fi ve ^
merly all-white schools. Approx®® J
105 Negro students, eligible to a ^
white schools, requested and ' ^
granted transfers to attend "
schools.
By Dec. 31, the city board of eC * u I',gf > |
must present to U.S. Judge a fl
complete plan for desegregation 0
grades.
The first grade desegregation can
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