Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

ALABAMA- southern SCHOOL NEWS—JULY 1958—PAGE II NAACP And Folsom Foe, Wins Gubernatorial Primary Patterson, MONTGOMERY, Ala. tty. Gen. John Patterson, who ran on his record as an opponent of “Folsomism” and the NAACP, won a sweeping victory in the June 3 run-off for Ala bama’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Patterson’s 315,353 votes — a record for a candidate for gover nor—gave him a 64,902-vote lead over his opponent, Circuit Judge George Wallace of Barbour Coun ty. Both had pledged unyielding opposition to integration, but the public image of Patterson as a segregationist was said to be stronger because of his court ac tion which led to the banning of the NAACP in Alabama two years ago. (For another round in Patterson’s fight against the Negro organization, see “Legal Action.”) The charges of Klan support for Pat terson apparently backfired on Judge Wallace, though he did get a heavy Negro vote which probably helped him take Mobile County. Patterson had won Mobile in the first primary May 6. (See “Political Activity.”) STATES' RIGHTERS WIN States’ righters, for the first time in eight years, won control of the state Democratic executive committee. At issue was the party’s “loyalty oath,” bom of the 1948 Dixiecrat revolt, which banned from the ballot candidates who had voted Republican in the last gen eral election. The oath also bound all candidates to support of the national ticket, thus preventing a recurrence of the ’48 revolt when Alabama cast its 11 electoral votes for the Dixiecrat ticket. (See “Political Activity.”) In Birmingham, a Negro leader an nounced that the attack on the state’s school placement law (Southern School News, June 1958) would be car ried to the U. S. Supreme Court. (See “Legal Action.”) The Rev. F. L. Shuttlesworth, Bir mingham Negro leader, announced June 3 that Negroes seeking to enter Birmingham white public schools would carry their fight against the school placement law to the U. S. Su preme Court. A three-judge federal court ruled May 9 that the assignment law was not unconstitutional “on its face” though it might prove unconstitutional in “appli cation” (SSN, June). Shuttlesworth said this ruling would be appealed. His daughter is among the Negro children in whose behalf the action was filed. However, a “class action” ruling was asked by attorneys for the plaintiffs. Shuttlesworth is president of the Ala bama Christian Movement' for Human Rights, a pro-integration group also at tacking Birmingham bus segregation laws. Texas (Continued From Page 10) gun over an alleged uncomplimentary remark made by Harvey to Bowles’ wife. Bowles was credited with fom ing the National Association for Ad vancement of White People before moving to Texas several months ago. He has been active in segregation ef forts in Southeast Texas since coming here. At Houston, four Negro dentists filed suit in U. S. district court seeking to enjoin Harris County commission ers court from adopting segregation Policies regarding use of Sylvan Park Beach, a public facility. This is the second case filed by Negroes claiming they have been denied use of the park. The Texas Methodist Conference by passed a possible dispute by omitting rom its report to delegates a six-mem- er study committee’s recommendation o allow Negroes as well as whites to ^ tend Lakeview, a church camp near alestine, in East Texas. Joe Z. Tower, president of the board governing the camp, said there had been no request from Negroes to use it. In Montgomery, Atty. Gen. John Pat terson, govemor-nominate, went back into Montgomery Circuit Court June 20 to renew his attack on the NAACP in Alabama. Two years ago—June 1, 1956 — the Montgomery court enjoined the NAACP from operating in Alabama. The presiding judge in that case, Judge Walter B. Jones, subsequently fined the NAACP $100,000 for refusing to sub mit its membership lists and other rec ords. Patterson, who initiated the action, said the documents were essential to the case. NAACP attorneys said the information could be used to intimidate or harass NAACP members. On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court unani mously overrode the Alabama court fine. ALTER EGO’ In his latest action, Patterson con tends that an organization incorporated last tail, tne Alabama State Coordinat ing Association for Registration and Voting, is the “alter ego” of the NAACP and is carrying on its work in the state. Patterson charges that the goals and purposes of the organization are the same as the NAACP, its lead ership is the same and it is in fact directed by NAACP national headquar ters. He seeks a contempt ruling against the association for violation of the 1956 injunction. The association has been doing “indirectly what it cannot do di rectly,” the attorney general charged. In a preliminary response to the at tack on the association, Negro attorneys demanded that Judge Jones disqualify himself because of prejudice. The re spondents cited recent campaign state ments by Judge Jones and his support ers (he won renomination to the bench May 6) which, they said, indicated a “personal bias and prejudice” against the NAACP. CAMPAIGN STATEMENTS QUOTED The respondents pointed to a tele vised campaign statement by Judge Jones in which he said: “I intend to deal the NAACP and its counterpart, the Montgomery Improvement Associ ation, a blow from which they shall never recover.” The Negro attorneys also introduced copies of political ads by supporters of the judge in which his stand as a seg regationist and relentless foe of the NAACP was frequently referred to. In addition, a copy of a column Jones wrote for The Montgomery Advertiser last year was introduced. Captioned “I Speak for the White Race,” the column strongly supported continued segrega tion. JUDGE JONES REPLIES Judge Jones rejected the demands that he disqualify himself. In a pre pared statement he said: “I stand legally indifferent between the parties and have neither bias for the state nor prejudice against the respondent.” In reference to his televised remark about the NAACP, Judge Jones said: “. . . The statement does not indicate bias or prejudice concerning any pend ing or future litigation. It is but a simple statement that an intelligent electorate will not permit a person or organization which may be aggrieved at a decision of a court to remove from the bench the judge who rendered that decision.” County commissions studying ways to improve Texas public schools—part of a statewide survey ordered by the legislature—generally are recommend ing that base salaries for teachers be boosted from $3,200 to $4,000 a year. This report came from L. P. Sturgeon of the Texas State Teachers Associa tion. $6,000 RECOMMENDATION Some county commissions recom mended starting pay as high as $6,000 for teachers holding bachelor degrees, Sturgeon added. The county surveys showed an aver age recommendation of $6,000 annually as the guaranteed maximum salary for a teacher. Some recommendations ranged to maximums of more than $10,000. Sturgeon noted that most counties reported they can provide ample build ings without outside assistance. Only six counties of 253 reporting said they need federal aid on building. # # # CORRECTION In the June issue of Southern School News, the Rev. Carey Daniel, who is sued a pro-segregation statement on behalf of 330 Dallas ministers, was er roneously listed as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. He is pastor of the First Baptist Church in West Dallas, a suburb of Dallas. Among the witnesses subpoenaed by the state is Roy Wilkins, NAACP exec utive secretary in New York, and W. C. Patton of Birmingham, an officer in the new association and state president of the NAACP at the time of the 1956 in junction. Patterson claims that Patton conferred with Wilkins at a southwide conference on Negro voting in Atlanta last fall. Circuit Judge Will O. Walton of Lafayette dissolved an injunction June 21 which had been directed at the Ne gro boycott of Tuskegee white mer chants. RETALIATORY BOYCOTT The boycott was Negro retaliation to an act of the legislature last summer which gerrymandered virtually all Tus- kegee’s 410 Negro voters outside of the city limits, thus denying them any voice in municipal political affairs. The bill did not affect any of the city’s 600 white voters. The boycott is still in effect. Atty. Gen. Patterson had asked for a per manent injunction. Judge Walton denied this June 21 simultaneously with his dissolution of the temporary re straining order. He said: “Thus far in this land, every person has a right to trade with whomever he pleases, and, therefore, the right not to trade with any particular person or business.” EVIDENCE INSUFFICIENT Judge Walton said no evidence had been presented to show conclusively that the civic association was part of a conspiracy to boycott white merchants, in violation of a state law which pre vents such a conspiracy to boycott “without just cause or legal excuse.” The boycott was discussed at weekly meetings of the civic association, Judge Walton found, but the law has long recognized the right of any person to “say what he pleases at any public as sembly, subject to being held liable for a violation of the law.” Atty. Gen. Patterson declined to say whether he would appeal the decision. Negro leaders expressed gratification. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Montgom ery Negro leader who had given sup port to the Tuskegee leaders and the boycott, said the ruling was “one of the most wholesome and encouraging decisions rendered in Alabama courts in recent years. Judge Walton will be commended by all men of good will for his forthright courage and broad vision in rendering a decision which is both legally and morally right. It is a revela tion of the fact that not all judges in the South will use their judicial authority to interpret' the law in the light of attitudes of these reactionaries who are guided by prejudice and big otry.” Tuskegee Civic Association President C. G. Gomillion also expressed pleasure over the decision and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, vice president of the Mont gomery Improvement Association, said the decision renewed his faith in “southern justice.” There was no immediate indication that Judge Walton’s action had any ef fect on the boycott. The Macon County Abolition Com mission met in Montgomery June 12 for the first time in months but could reach no agreement on what future ac tion to take. The commission was authorized in a statewide referendum last December. The abolition of Macon County (Tuske gee) was proposed by State Sen. Sam Engelhardt last summer in retaliation for a Negro boycott of Tuskegee mer chants. The boycott was itself a retaliation to Engelhardt’s earlier bill gerrymander ing all Negro voters outside Tuskegee city limits (see “Legal Action”). OPPOSITION GROWING Earlier testimony revealed some op position, which may be growing, to outright abolition. The six surrounding counties which would receive a slice of Macon have, for instance, expressed concern over the legal and economic problems which would ensue. Similarly, some Tuskegee attorneys and business men are reported in opposition to abo lition. The commission must make its report by Oct. 1, the recommendations then to be offered to the 1959 legislature. So far, there seems little agreement on what these recommendations would be. Atty. Gen. John Patterson broke all records for a gubernatorial candidate ALBERT BOUTWELL Nominated Lieutenant Governor June 3 when he received 315,353 votes —almost 10,000 more than Gov. Folsom got four years ago in establishing the previous record. The huge vote gave Patterson a 64,- 902 majority over his runoff opponent, Judge George Wallace, who had been the predicted winner. Both had pledged themselves to maintaining segregation —as, in fact, had all 14 candidates in the first primary. Wallace won state wide attention with his threats to jail FBI or Civil Rights Commission in vestigators who might inquire into vot ing or the jury system in his judicial circuit. But Patterson was closely identified with a court order banning the NAACP from Alabama. (See “Legal Action.”) And, more importantly, perhaps, he stood out in the public mind as the most anti-Folsom of all the candidates. Wallace had been a leading campaigner for Folsom in 1954, and his efforts to divest himself of the association appar ently failed. ANTI-FOLSOM SENTIMENT The anti-Folsom sentiment of the voters was evident in both primaries and they systematically picked out and rejected virtually all candidates, for state or local offices, identified as past or present Folsom supporters. According to many candidates and observers, the chief grievance against the governor was the memory of his receiving and entertaining Rep. Adam Clayton Powell at the governor’s man sion in November 1955. As one observer said of the visit by the Negro congressman: “That may have been the most expensive Scotch and soda in the history of Alabama politics.” The charge that Patterson was backed by the Ku Klux Klan (Southern School News, June) seemed to have little effect on the outcome of the run off. MOBILE COUNTY CHANGE It may have accounted for the fact that Mobile County went for Wallace by about 800 votes, whereas in the first primary Patterson led Wallace in the county by about 1,000 votes. Mobile has relatively large Negro and Catholic votes which may have been influenced by the Klan issue. On the other hand, three Black Belt counties which Wallace won May 6 voted June 3 for Patterson. Many ob servers believe this switch, too, was in fluenced by the Klan charges, but with reverse effect. Wallace’s campaign man agers sensed that the Klan charges were backfiring and pleaded with him to discontinue them. He complied. Except for these four switches, the June 3 runoff left the county-by county picture unchanged from May 6 except in the size of Patterson’s margin. BOUTWELL WINS Nominated as lieutenant governor was State Sen. Albert Boutwell of Birmingham. Boutwell headed a special legislative study commission which recommended such legislation as the “freedom of choice” amendment, which removed mention of segregation from constitutional requirements for public education. In the runoff, Boutwell beat State Sen. E. W. Skidmore by 313,401 to 201,- 031. MacDonald Gallion, a former assistant attorney general under Patterson, will be the next attorney general. He worked with Patterson on the NAACP and Tuskegee cases and was closely identi fied with the Phenix City crime clean up. The trend established in the May 6 primary to put states’ righters back in control of the State Democratic Execu tive Committee (SSN, June) continued June 3. States’ righters won 39 of the 72 seats, giving them a majority, for the first time in eight years, which they are pledged to use to repeal the party’s “loyalty oath.” DISPUTE BEGAN IN 1948 The oath grew out of the 1948 race issue dispute between southern Demo crats and the national party. The na tional Democratic nominees weren’t on the ticket in Alabama that year and the state’s 11 electoral votes were cast by electors pledged not to vote for Truman, for the Dixiecrat ticket. The party loyalists returned to power in the state a couple of years later and invoked the oath which binds all can didates in the primary to support the national ticket in the general election, whoever the nominees might be. The oath also denies a place on the ballot in the primary to any candidate who voted Republican in the previous gen eral election. The states’ righters’ victory June 3 left open the possibility of another third party movement in 1960, although leaders of this faction are minimizing this as their intention. They say the first order of business is to free “Eisen hower Democrats” for candidacy in Democratic primaries. (For more de tails, see SSN, April.) Because of a continuing decline in state tax collections, school funds in Alabama will be slashed 10 per cent in the last four months of the current fis cal year, State Finance Director Ed Pepper said June 13. The fiscal year ends Sept. 30 but a cut may also be necessary in the upcoming 1958-59 school year. The declines in school revenue have been in sales, income, use and tobacco taxes, Pepper said—all of which are “sensitive” taxes, fluctuating with eco nomic conditions. During the 1956-57 school year funds were pro-rated 2.75 per cent for simi lar reasons. The record school budget for 1958-59 ($119 million) was based on the assumption that sales tax reve nue will rise 5 per cent. So far the in crease has been only 1 per cent. The current proration will have no effect on teachers’ salaries, as this fund cannot be prorated. The reduction will be taken from current expenses and capital outlay, meaning local school boards may have to borrow money to pay for work in progress. Official reaction in Alabama to Judge Harry Lemley’s decision on delaying integration in Little Rock was imme diate and jubilant. However, Negro leaders expressed concern. Sen. John Sparkman: “The experi ence [at Central High] shows clearly the futility of the federal government trying to legislate people’s habits and customs. [Judge Lemley] acted wisely and correctly.” Atty. Gen. John Patterson, govemor- nominate: “The decision was evidence that some federal judges “are finally coming to realize that integration . . . will not work and that the people of the South will not tolerate it. ... As for Alabama, I don’t believe the people of this state will ever tolerate integra tion of their schools. . . . There would be chaos and disorder which might . . . result in the destruction of our school system.” GALLION ON LEMLEY DECISION MacDonald Gallion, former chief as sistant attorney general under Patter son and now the attorney general-nom- inate: “I was indeed gratified to see a federal judge ^ake the mystic cloak of domination i. Washington and the NAACP and, f. a change, act with some degree of common sense in deal ing with the practical aspects of the integration problem. ... A suspension of the order is hardly questionable after the Little Rock turbulence. . . . Even another extension might be in order after the current one runs out.” The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Montgomery integration leader: “. . . an unfortunate decision which is natur ally disappointing to all people of good will. It can only aid those people who approve and live on violence. If such decisions continue to be rendered . the whole South will be plunged into an abyss of anarchy and mob rule.” # # #