Newspaper Page Text
ALABAMA
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JULY 1959—PAGE 7
Patterson Calls Special Session O
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
C 't ov. John Patterson called the
FAlabama Legislature into ex
traordinary session June 24—
right in the middle of the regular
biennial session—to consider and
rectify the “greatest financial
crisis” in the history of the state’s
schools.
The Legislature had voluntarily
recessed itself, at Patterson’s re
quest, to take up the state’s school
problems. While emphasizing
them, Patterson acknowledged
the “dark cloud of integration
(which) hangs heavily over our
heads.”
Although prepared to close
schools, he said, “We cannot afford
to crawl back in a hole as far as
public education is concerned.”
(See “Legislative Action”.)
“Our public school system faces the
greatest financial crisis in its history.
Something must be done at once to
alleviate this situation.”
Thus Gov. John Patterson called the
Alabama Legislature into special session
—in the midst of a regular session ad
journed at his request until urgent
school problems could be dealt with.
All revolve around the question of more
money: “If we fail to take prompt and
immediate action,” Patterson said in his
address to the Legislature June 24, “we
might well see it collapse.”
EMERGENCY ACUTE
Citing the fact that Alabama teach
er salaries rank near the bottom for the
nation and the region, that “many of
our school buildings have leaking roofs
and the school officials have no money
to repair them,” that the classroom
shortage is acute and that school chil
dren are imperiled by worn-out school
buses—these among other pressing
shortages—the governor bluntly warned
the Legislature: “Educational progress
in our state, as a result of a shortage of
funds, is rapidly coming to a halt. This
is truly an emergency ...”
NEW TAXES URGED
The governor proposed an immediate
$42 million per year increase in the
school budget and authorization of a
$75 million school construction bond is
sue. To produce the needed new rev
enues, he proposed:
1) A three per cent sales tax on the
sale of all new and used automobiles
and trucks.
2) A three per cent gross privilege
license tax on all construction contracts
in excess of $25,000.
3) A constitutional amendment in-
Yirginia
(Continued From Page 6)
other race. The integration that has oc
curred in Virginia has resulted when
local school boards, under court orders,
have by-passed the state board.)
The U. S. Supreme Court on June 8
ruled a federal district court should not
have declared three of Virginia’s race
propaganda and litigation statutes un
constitutional, since Virginia courts
might so constitute the laws as to avoid
the raising of constitutional questions.
(Harrison v. NAACP.)
In January, 1958 (see February, 1958,
Southern School News) , a special
three-judge federal district court held
in a 2-to-l decision that Chapter 31, 32
and 35 of the acts of the 1956 extra ses
sion of the General Assembly were un
constitutional. (Two of the acts require
organizations which engage in racial
litigation or collect funds for such pur
pose to register with the state and to
furnish names of members and other
data. The third act redefines barratry,
the stirring up of litigation.)
Judges Morris A. Soper of the U. S.
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and
Walter E. Hoffman of the Norfork dist
rict court held the laws were part of
a pattern enacted by the General As
sembly to deny Negroes their rights
under the federal constitution. They
creasing the income tax on corporations
from three per cent to a maximum of
five per cent and providing that the
computation be made on the same grad
uated scale as for individuals.
4) A constitutional amendment low
ering the personal income tax from $1,-
500 per single person to $1,000, and from
$3,000 per married person to $2,000.
REJECTS LEVY HIKE
Patterson rejected the proposal ad
vanced by the Alabama Education Com
mission, set up by the Legislature two
years ago to consider the school plight,
to increase the state sales tax from
three cents to four cents. “Such a meas
ure,” Patterson said, “would place an
unreasonable burden on the working
man who is already heavily burdened
with taxes.”
Stiff opposition from many sides is
expected to Patterson’s recommenda
tions. Not the least of the arguments
against increased revenues is the de
segregation uncertainty. The governor
acknowledged this at some length in
his speech.
“ . . . The dark cloud of integra
tion hangs heavily over our heads. In
spite of this we cannot afford to crawl
back into a hole as far as public educa
tion is concerned. We must continue so
long as possible to provide a public
education system for our children and
try to get the Negro citizens of this
state to work with us and not against
us.
AGAINST FORCED ACTION
“However, while we are striving to
finance the type of public educational
system we should have, we should
carefully lay the groundwork to main
tain segregation in the public schools
and be prepared to abandon our school
system if integration is forced upon us.
“We have a duty to provide the best
education possible for all our people,
both white and black. We must pro
vide equal school facilities for the Ne
gro children, but they must be segre
gated. Under no circumstances would
I tolerate an integrated public school. I
am opposed to giving one penny to
support an integrated school. We have
no integrated schools in Alabama. We
are not going to have any. We have
no cases pending in court today, state
or federal, where a Negro is trying to
get into a white school. I hope there
won’t be any.”
Patterson reassured the Legislature
he would use every power at his com
mand to resist integration. Further
more, he urged enactment of a law,
proposed during his campaign last year,
to give him authority to close any school
“where such school cannot be oper
ated without chaos or violence.”
The U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap
peals June 16 upheld a Montgomery
District Court ruling that the federal
said the laws “were clearly designed
to cripple the agencies that have had
the greatest success in promoting the
rights of colored persons to equality
of treatment . . .”
HUTCHESON DISSENTS
District Judge Sterling Hutcheson
of Richmond, who dissented from the
1958 ruling, said it was not proper for
federal courts to consider the laws un
til they had been construed by the
state court. “Then and only then,” he
said, “can the federal courts properly
inquire as to their invasion of rights
guaranteed by the Constitution of the
United States.”
In its decision of June 8, the Supreme
Court upheld Judge Hutcheson’s posi
tion.
Justice Harlan, in his opinion for the
six-man majority, wrote:
“We are ... of the view that the dist
rict court should have abstained from
deciding the merits of the issues ten
dered it, so as to afford the Virginia
courts a reasonable opportunity to con
strue the three statutes in question . . .
This now well-established precedure is
aimed at the avoidance of unnecessary
interference by the federal courts with
proper and validly administered state
concerns, a course so essential to the
balanced working of our federal sys
tem.”
But Justice Douglas—who was join
ed in dissent by Chief Justice Warren
and Justice Brennan—declared that this
procedure is a “delaying tactic” that,
when widely used, “dilutes the stature
of the federal district courts, making
them secondary tribunals in the ad
ministration of justice under the federal
constitution.
# # #
Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus (left)
and Alabama Gov. John Patterson put
their heads together in a capital cor
ridor before Gov. Faubus addressed
the Alabama Legislature.
government had no grounds to bring
suit against the Macon County Board of
Registrars and the state of Alabama.
U. S. District Judge Frank M. John
son March 6 turned down the govern
ment’s request for injunctions against
the state, the Macon Board and the last
members of the board, Grady Rogers
and E. P. Livingston. Both resigned in
the wake of the December Civil Rights
Commission hearings in Montgomery.
The requested injunctions sought to
force registration of Negro voter appli
cants in Macon.
The Justice Department contended
that the resignations were void (for de
tails, see Southern School News, March
and April, 1959). Johnson rejected the
government’s contention, ruling that the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 limited preven
tive relief to “individual officers” and
that these had resigned before the court
action was initiated.
The government appealed but the Cir
cuit Court of Appeals June 16 upheld
Johnson’s findings.
Gov. John Patterson hailed the June
decision as a “vindication” of the state’s
position in resisting the CRC investi
gation in Alabama. “It is our duty,” he
said, “to continue to resist all attempts
by the federal government to encroach
upon the rights of the states. (This) is
a victory for our constitutional form of
government.”
CASE AGAIN REVERSED
For the second time the U. S. Su
preme Court has struck down a $100,-
000 contempt fine levied in June, 1958,
against the NAACP in Alabama. The
fine was imposed by Montgomery Cir
cuit Judge Walter B. Jones after the
Negro organization refused, in the course
of hearings on its operation in Alabama,
to release membership lists and certain
other records. The court action was in
itiated by Gov. Patterson, then attorney
general, in his move to ban the NAACP
permanently from operating in Ala
bama. A temporary injunction to this
effect is still in force, pending final
adjudication of the contempt citation.
After the Supreme Court’s first ruling
last year that a demand for member
ship lists was an unwarranted invasion
of the organization’s constitutional
rights, the state Supreme Court ruled
Feb. 12 (Southern School News,
March, 1959) that the U. S. court had
erred in not ruling on the other records
sought in addition to membership roles.
Thus, the state court said, the organiza
tion is still in contempt.
Back the case went to Washington,
where the high court said:
“This denial (by the Alabama court)
comes too late. The state is bound by
its previously taken position, namely,
that decision of the sole question re
garding the membership lists is dis
positive of the whole case.
“We take it from the record now
before us that the Supreme Court of
Alabama evidently was not acquainted
with the detailed basis of the proceed
ings here and the consequent ground
for our defined position.”
Thus, after the second ruling, the
case as to whether the NAACP should
be permanently enjoined may be re
opened after three years. That is, un
less the state again attempts to make
the $100,000 fine stick through some
new legal appeal.
n School Money Crisis
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
Gov. John Patterson met with Sen.
John Kennedy of Massachusetts in
Washington in mid-June and repeated
his support for Kennedy for the Dem
ocratic nomination. Patterson said that
while he would not attempt to commit
a slate of delegates to Kennedy (“I
think the people should elect the dele
gates”) I’m personally for Kennedy.”
Although Patterson expressed his be
lief that Kennedy is “sympathetic to the
troubles we have,” he admitted he did
not know “what kind of stand Sen.
Kennedy will take on the southern
view of civil rights.”
The Southern Negro Improvement
Association of Alabama, a Birmingham
organization saying it represents 15,000
members, has condemned “self-styled
Negro ministers abandoning the Gospel
and substituting integration and other
social doctrines as a basis for their ser
mons.”
Samuel H. Moore, president of the
Birmingham chapter, said “agitators are
substituting political issues for religious
doctrines.” The association passed a
resolution in mid-June, signed by
Moore and two other officers, which
said:
“. . . We find that Jefferson County
(Birmingham) has more unlawful
homicides than all other counties in the
state. . . . Negroes are committing 85%
of the homicides in this county. . . .
There appears to be ... an open season
for Negroes to murder each other, and
they are killing each other almost ev
ery day. Many involve Negro teen
agers.
“This is a compound sin and a shame
when self-styled ministers abandon the
Gospel and substitute integration and
other social doctrines as a basis for the
sermons they preach.
“We have never read in the Ten
Commandments in any part where it
said thou shall not segregate, but we
have read a commandment saying
thou shalt not kill.
“Yet our ministers show that they
are acting on their own and without
any divine authority. Those that follow
such persons can expect destruction
along with them. . . .”
The resolution was obviously in
tended as criticism of the many Negro
ministers who are actively working in
various integration movements in the
state—such as the Rev. F. L. Shuttles-
worth in Birmingham and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., in Montgomery.
The fact that a number of widely-
known Alabamans could be persuaded
to serve on the state’s new Civil Rights
Advisory Committee came as a surprise
to many people.
The six white members and four Ne
gro members of the committee agreed
to devote their attention to voting
rights. However, their comments on
why they consented to serve revealed
an attitude which is not often heard.
For instance:
Mayor Douglas Brown of Ozark,
chairman of the new committee (Mayor
Brown, 47, is a native of his city, an at
torney and banker. He is a Democrat.)—
“I never stopped to think if it
would hurt me in any way (to serve
on the committee). If I get hurt doing
what I think is right, then I’ll just get
hurt. I am for segregation as far as our
schools and churches are concerned,
but I believe in giving the Negro a fair
break, a square deal. . . . The com
mittee plans to leave schooling and
housing alone and confine our efforts to
voting rights.”
Dr. E. B. Goode, of Mobile, vice
man. (Dr. Goode, a Negro physician,
57, is a lifelong resident of Mobile
who was a member of the NAACP until
it was banned in Alabama. He is a
Democrat.)—
“All this committee is trying to do
is ameliorate the situation in Alabama.
... We will attack the problem at
the grassroots level rather than have it
attacked from outside. All progress is
by evolution, slowly; not by revolution,
rapidly. . . . The immediate problem
(is) voting rights for Negroes.”
Mrs. Robert D. Elly of Birmingham.
(Wife of an industrial engineer, Mrs.
Elly was born in Connecticut but has
lived in Birmingham for the past 20
years. She is a Democrat.)—
“I hal served on a number of inter
racial committees in Birmingham. I do
not consider myself an integrationist.
I favor equal rights for all people. This
business of civil rights doesn’t just ap
ply to Negroes; it applies to all peo
ple . . .”
A. G. Gaston of Birmingham. (A
widely known Negro, Gaston, 63, was
associated with a funeral home for
many years, now devotes most of his
time to a savings and loan association.
He is a Democrat.) —
“I’m not a member of the NAACP,
never have been. When you ask me
if I am an integrationist, I would say
that depends on what you mean. I
think our Negro people should be priv
ileged to vote. I’m not so interested
in the other things—schools and hous
ing. . . .”
Dr. Walter Agnew of Greensboro. (A
retired Methodist Minister, Dr. Agnew,
86, served for 16 years as president of
Huntingdon College in Montgomery.
Bom in Illinois, he has lived in Ala
bama for 40 years. He is a Democrat.)—
“I accepted because I felt I could
be of service to Hale County and Ala
bama. This is a buffer committee to
the Civil Rights Committee. Hereafter
the Commission will receive no com
plaints. They will all come to us; we
will sift them out and turn down what
ever we please . ..”
Dr. Arthur D. Gray of Talladega. (Dr.
Gray, a Negro, 52, has been president
of Talladega College for Negroes for
seven years. He is a native and life
long resident of Alabama. He was a
member of the NAACP until the organ
ization was outlawed by the state courts.
He says he is an independent voter.)—
“I think I was asked to be on the
committee because they wanted some
of the moderate citizens of the state to
look at the problems. . . . Am I an
integrationist? I think all Negroes are
to a certain extent. I’d rather not com
ment further because it’s too involved.”
Louis Eckle of Florence. (Eckle, 50,
is executive editor of the Florence
Times and The Tri-Cities Daily. A
native of Alabama, he says he is an in
dependent Democrat.) —
“Editorially we have taken a mod
erate position on racial policies for
many years. We have worked to pro
vide good schools, recreational facili
ties and housing for our Negroes. . . .
Our policy has been one of peace, har
mony and moderation, and it has been
rather uniformly approved in this area.
That is the way it should be. I con
sider myself a moderate . . . not . . .
an integrationist. . . . There is a need
for the committee and it should be in
the hands of people who want to work
for the good of the state.”
Mrs. Frances McLeod of Montgomery.
(Born in Georgia, Mrs. McLeod, 68, is
the daughter of a Methodist preacher.
Her husband is a retired Methodist
preacher. She has two sons who are
Methodist preachers. She is a Demo
crat.)—
“I am not a segregationist, but I am
not for pushing integration. It will
come when it comes in our hearts; it
has to come from our hearts before it
can be experienced in human rela
tions. I try to follow the principles
of Jesus. If He were here, I don’t be
lieve He would show any preference
toward any race.”
Dr. Robert A. Lambert of Fair hope.
(A native of Wilcox County, Dr. Lam
bert, 75, has spent most of his life
teaching medicine. He taught at Yale
and Columbia, was also associated with
the Rockefeller Foundation for a num
ber of years.)—
“I wouldn’t say I was an integration
ist (but) I am interested in a fair deal
for all people. I am especially inter
ested in seeing all people secure the
right to vote. . . .”
Mrs. L. H. Foster of Tuskegee. (Wife
of the president of Tuskegee Institute,
Mrs. Foster, 43, is a native of Indianola,
Miss. She was a member of NAACP
until it was outlawed in the state. She
says she is an independent Demo
crat.)—
“I am a qualified citizen of America
and Alabama and that is sufficient (rea
son for her accepting appointment to
the committee). (As for integration) I
consider myself an American citizen.”
ADDRESSES ASSEMBLY
Gov. Orval Faubus of Arkansas ad
dressed a joint session of the Alabama
legislature June 12. Introduced by Gov.
John Patterson as an “outstanding
American” and a “foremost champion
of states rights,” Gov. Faubus received
a standing ovation at the conclusion of
his 65-minute address in which he
said the safeguards of the liberty of the
people are “fast being whittled away
by the federal government, principally
the U. S. Supreme Court.”
# # #