The one 'great rule of composition is to speak the truth'.
rxas Otistrurr
—Thoreau
We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it.
1. An Independent Liberal Weekly Newspaper Vol. 48
TEXAS, APRIL 25, 1956
10c per copy
No. I
Oil: Price-Fixing or Conservation? (First of a series of articles an vari014S aspects of the Texas Railroad' Co m mission.) . •
AUSTIN
Here, unheralded, is housed one --erf the most powerful government ag-encies in the. N‘rorld. Monthly it declares, in fine, how much oil the United States shall produce. But is it free in this declaration,. or is it controlled by an industry device known as "pipeline proration" by which the oil companies refuse to refine more oil than., they want produced? Does the Texas Railroad Commission conserve oil—or help to maintain prites? - Does it limit production for the oil companies, or in the public interest, or both? The issue is seldom debated in Texas. The three commissioners usually avoid discussing it, explaining they are merely enforcing Texas law and aren't economists. It is hot a subject likely to attract voters to politicians. But it does affect every car driver in the country, the profits of the oil industry, and the security of the United States. --The agency that makes the decisions, or the announcements, as the case may be, is the Texas Railroad Commission. The • Texas Railroad Commission, it should be explained, is not the Texas railroad commission. It is a Texas oil, gas, and transportation Commission, its historical name out . of joint with its manifold modern functions.. Created by Governor Jim Hogg to regulate railroads before the turn of the century, it Was later given the task .of limiting and controlling oil production in Texas for the stated purpose of conservation. The oil Texas produces is half of what the nation produces. When the Texas commission sets a production limit, the 20-odd other states of the Interstate Oil Compact generally follow 'suit. In oil, therefore, as Texas goes, so goes the nation..
The -Texas. Railroad Commission The Agency Limits the ProduCing Days, But Is It Decision Or an Announcement? — Murray Defends Commission Marketers' Assn., last January called the proration law of Texas a great "hoax" being perpetrated on American' consumers. • Through the law, "under the guise of conservation," Hadlick charged, the big oil companies "control market demand and prices." It is now generally agreed that it is wise to control oil production from any given field to get as much oil as possible out of -the pool. (The commission bases such . control on an "MER" factor—maximum efficient rate.) The "daily allowable" production per well is based on the MER for the field. But Hadlick's accusation is that by going further and limiting production, even at the maximum efficient rate, to about half the days in the month, the commission is helping -the industry to
create an artificially short supply of oil. To this General Ernest a Thompson of the commission has replied: "You've never seen any shortage of oil." In an Observer interview last week, the present chairman of the commission, Bill Murray, said that the commission stays "ors the threshold of pipeline proration all the time." Pipeline proration means the rerefusal . of pipelines to take more oil than the big refineries will accept from them. In other words, Murray was saying, the oil companies have in mind a production maximum, above which they will refuse crude at their refineries. The Railroad. Commission sets the number of days the wells will produce as near this maximum as they can. There prevails in the oilfields what
• is usually called a "uniform .posted field price" for crude oil per barrel. There are small differentials in fieldto-field prices because of such factors as different oil gravities and transportation costs, but the industry has ironed out actual price competition in the fields. When it is thus considered that the refineries control the level of production through the club of "pipeline proration" over the Railroad Commission, and that at least some of the potential price competition is eliminated by the use of the uniform posted field price, it can be seen that the "market demand" on which the commission baSes its decisions on monthly producing days is defined by what the industffy, it is, within very narrow limits. . s tays . M URRAY would certainly ' differ with the 'Imposition that the commission is party to a price-fixing scheme,-but, he told the Observer last week, ."A person would be naive to say that market demand proration doesn't have an effect on price." (Continued on page 5)
SHOWDOWN at the PRECINCTS AUSTIN
and Russell Long of Louisiana, in ad- convention's' nominees ; Shivers Nvalifs dition to Alan Bible of Nevada. a delegation that is not instructed to The people speak Saturday week Meanwhile, an anti-Johnson, anti- any' candidate. to settle one of the most spirited pre- Shivers movement to name Mrs. MinShivers conferred, with U.S. Atty. convention Democratic struggles of nie Fisher Cunningham favorite Gen. Herbert Brownell in Woodville Texas record. , daughter and delegation chairman two weekends ago (see related story): chose its statewide leaders. --The Governor has indicated he Will Lyndon Johnson, seeking presiTurnouts at the precinct conven- Support Eisenhower as he did 'in 1952 dential . nomination = and the Texas tions May 5 and the county convenif the Democrats don't nominate somedelegation chairmanship, was en- tions May 8 will probably decide the one acceptable. to him. dorsed by more of his Senate col- outcome of the May 22 state convenleagues, formed a broad-based com- tion in Dallas. Shivers is riot opposing OHNSON sent out thoumittee of 183, and opened head- Johnson for the favorite sonship but sands of letters last week urging "an quarters within a few days last week. wants the delegation chairmanship, effective delegation which can do a Allan Shivers, contesting for the which Johnson is also seeking. John- real job for Texas and speak with a chairmanship, toured the state ap- son wants,a delegation pledged to him united voice that will- be accorded a pealing for money and workers. In as favorite son and to support of the respectful hearing." He said the alter- . native, "to use the delegation as a Dallas the Shivers forces -won a vehicle for carrying on personal fights party machinery test—and in -Housand old political grudges," will result ton the loyalists .won. in a delegation "weak, disunited, and Meanwhile, Speaker Sam Rayburn, largely disregarded." THE MOST SERIOUS who proposed Johnson for both posts . Johnson distributed a reproduction AUSTIN charge against the proration system is in the first place, was named permaThe Attorney General of the United of his recent TV speech prefaced by that it amounts to a price-filing nent chairman of the national convenStates, Herbert Brownell, visited Gov- Sen. Russell's recent remarks that it tion in Chicago Aug. 13, and the nascheme for the oil industry. would be "impossible" to prevent For instance, Paul Hadlick, who is tional committee's credentials commit- - ernor Allan Shivers at his Woodville other delegations from adopting John:home weekend before last. general counsel of the National Oil tee announced plans to send investigaShivers, asked about it, confirmed -son as their favorite son if Texas so tors into states with contesting delegathat Brownell had flown from Hous- names him. • tions to ChiCago before the national Other signs . pointed to the concluton to Woodville in a private plane convention opens. sion that Johnson intends a serious bid Saturday, April 14, with Mrs. BrownMrs. Hilda Weinert of Seguin DALLAS ell. They spent the weekend with the for the presidency. In endorsing his The oilmen are worried about their sought to advance the idea in Wash- Governor and his' wife. candidacy,' former U.S. Rep. Lloyd public relations. Jake Ha:mon, board ington that Johnson should withdraw' (Continued oii Page 4) The Brownell flight from Houston chairman of the American Petroleum from candidacy for the delegation for to Woodville was kept a strict secret, the chairmanship, 'but Johnson made Institute, says he and his colleagues but it leaked out late last week. must dispel the public opinion that like newsmen must have misunderSpeculation naturally arose about stood the national committeewoman ;Texas oil producers are "a bunch of what the two men talked about. from Texas, and Rayburn simply ATisTIN rich, overbearing braggarts with a tax From Washington, Marshall McLong-smoldering charges burst into gimmick."- In a speech during the con- nixed the possibility. Ben Ramsey of San Augustine, the - Neil, Scripps-Howard writer, com- a court of law Tuesday when C. T. • vention of the Texas Independent national committeeman, who is also mented on the Brownell-Shivers visit: Johnson, running for lieutenant govProducers and Royalty Owners Assn., Some Democrats apparently believe ernor, filed a suit against Brown & facing a hard re-election fight for his Eamon said: that the GOP is working for Shivers for lieutenant governorship, said he will We must face the fact that we Texas in.. chairman of the Texas delegation to the Root, Inc., Lt. Gov. Ben Ramsey, and let it be known before the state con- party's. Chicago convention in. the hope Austin printer David Gannaway askdependent oil producers are pretty unvention May 22 whether he will stand that he eventually will bolt again and ing $65,000 damages and legal fees for popular everywhere in the United States --- outside of - our, own. oil patches. I know for re-election to the party post: alleged unreported campaign expendiwork once more for the election of Presioil men are good family men, civic workSens. Harry Byrd and Willis Rob- dent Eisenhower. This was the Shivers tures by Brawn & Root for Ramsey. ers, and citizens, but ... the rest of the ertson of Virginia stated that Johnson strategy in 1952. It succeeded. The petition said Brown & Root United States has an entirely aifferent is "of presidential stature," joining A Washington report by Sarah Mc- made $25,000 in cash available to opinion. other senators in a Southern move Clendon maintained Brownell pro- Ramsey sin June, 1954, • and that the We have a bad habit of liking to get our names in the papers, showing off our toward Johnson in preference to Adlai posed that if Shivers would deliver sum was spent by Ramsey; his cam, Stevenson, Estes Kefauver, or Averell 100 electoral votes to Eisenhower, he paign.aides, and Brown & Root agents airplanes, our houses ; our horses, our red Harriman. Others who have indicated would get a place on the Eisenhower in the furtherance of Ramsey's candicoats, our fine bulls, and our swimming they will back Johnson Sens. Walter ticket or a cabinet. position. Weldon dacy. Gannaway - is charged with pools. Perils we like to picture Texas as the land fif the big rich. Whatever the George and Richard Russell of Geor- Hart, the Governor's press aide, called "knowingly and wilfully" conspiring cause, the 4fect is snowballing into big- gia, George Smathers of Florida, . the story a "complete fabrication" and with them by receiving at least $12,000 ger proportions. Strom ,Thurmond of South Carolina, a "plant," of the cash.
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Shivers & Brownell
Oilman's Lament
Ramsey, Brown & Root Suit
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Let those flatter who fear, it is not an American art., —JEFFERSON
Johnny Comes Lately Home Agaiti, Hurrah! • • ..•
5he aL.Jirect Approach Ralph Yarborough's speech on water conservation last week was the first really constructive approach we have heard this year from any public figure. He recalled the splendid development . of the lower Colorado Rier valley of Texas through a system of dams up and down the Coloradoa system paid for by its own revenues, costing the taxpayers not • a cent, yet harnessing the water and the .power of the river to man's organized uses. The system controls floods ; stores, preserves and distributes the waters of the Colorado and its tributaries for irrigation and power ;- generates water power and electricity; and protects the land by preventing soil erosion and flood damage. As Yarborotigh, a former director of the , Lower Colorado River Authority, pointed out, the program
has increased property valises, farm income, and prosperity in the entire area. "The flood waters that once ran to the Gulf of Mexico, carrying lives, homes, and precious irreplaceable soil with them, now are stored for use for. the irrigation of crop lands, for cities and towns and industry, and for the making of power," he said. By contrast; 81 percent of the average runoff of Texas streams occurs as floods flow.; much of our water runs into the salty green mass of the Gulf of Mexico, useless to man, wasted. We need a whole series of valley developments — dams for power, flood control, 'irrigation. Our farmers will benefit, our natural resources will be preserved, consumers and industry will get cheaper power. Why has nothing been done lo these many years?
Abundant .„eand The Eisenhower veto of the farm bill will cost the Republicans millions of farm votes. Apparently the GOP • operates on the theiiry that what this country needs is a good, sound, conservative program of farmer_ extermination. Neither 'canthe Democrats claim to have developed. a coherent farm program.. It does not make sense to go on subsidizing excess production unless- there is a use for the goods --produced. There is : there is desperate need for food and fiber all over the world. But neither party has yet been willing to accept the political risks of world-wide famine relief as a part of our,competition with communism. The Democrats tried •to persuade
01' Uncle Herbert Brownell, the Republicans' political masterminder, went at the..house of Ouah Govenah, Allan (I Was a Democrat for the GOP) Shivers, over to Woodville the other day. Just a little social visit; said the Governor. Just a little social chat. Why did they keep the meeting secret for ten days? Did Brownell give Shivers encouragement in his precinct fight against the Democrats ?• Why, after Shivers urged Eisenhower to accept the farm bill, did he turn around and accept the veto as based on careful analysis ? If it hadn't been for a belated leak; a slip of the lip, Brownell and Shivers could have had their little tetee
the Congress to adopt a * ,two-price Bartlett Appears Exclusively in The Texas Observer system, but the old guard wouldn't hear of it. A system of letting farm products find their own price levels in the market, with payments to farmers of the difference between Washington Merry-Go-Round WASHINGTON their market income and agreed The American Society of News- know regarding a man who might run standard prices, would do away with paper Editors will be interested in the for President again. However, no the expensive and wasteful processes findings of Congressman John Moss, other newspaperman, of the many at the diligent California Democrat who, Thomasville whom I read, reported of government surplus - storage, We are a most abundant land. We more than any other public official, the incident. I• was not at Thomasville. However; should have more food available has been digging into press censorship. curious as to why it wasn't reported, Several recent news incidents have more cheaply to our own people; we occurred to support Congressman I called up Tully to see if the incident should capitalize our agricultural Moss in.his belief that some newsmen had occurred in front of the press or abundance in the marginal lands are not inclined to buck censorship. was something which Tully had heard abroad. Even . if all the Republican . On March 20, for instance, Merri- about in a private conversation, It had Party has to offer is farmer eradica- man Smith, dean of the White House 'occurred in front of the press. tion, the Democrats should have the Estes Apes. Adlai. With Adlai Stevvision to offer' more than compensatenson imitating Senator Kefauver's folksy campaign technique, the senaing subsidies. correspondents, wrote a short item for tor took time out the other day to try a-tete and no one would have been release by the United Press on March out Stevenson's witty, intellectual apthe wiser—until Shivers , started 22 that President Eisenhower was proach. Kefauver addressed two intellectual campaigning for Eisenhower in the overheard to remark, apropos of a secsocieties—the Economic Honor and ond term : summer. I had to say yes because they told me Whig-Cliosophic societies—at Rutgers they didn't have time to build up another University. i , candidate. "I want to assure you, My dear eggyou 500? Between the time this story was heads," he said, that "I have great adwritten and the date of release, wires miration and fondness for you. It is Saturday week thousands of Tex- began to buzz around the White simply that I have never sought to set ans will thoughtlessly deny them- House and the UP office in Washing- you apart in our society—as someselves something that no one could_ ton. Jim Hagerty, the able, all-seeing 'thing either to be idolized or sneered take away from them without war— White House press secretary, was at. I believe, you see, in a policy of alerted. Suddenly Lyle Wilson, UP moderation toward you." . their voice in party politics. . Eisenhower aids have been One of the hottest issues drawn vice-president in charge of the Washbureau, ordered the story killed. telling the gas lobbyists privately that in the Texas Democratic Party in ington Wilson, explaining the kill, said he if Ike is re-elected, he will try to free years will be settled with many of had ordered it because it was over natural gA producers from federal the state's qualified voters ignorant heard as the President passed down a controls. (Behind this is the fact that of the arguments. White House corridor, and "it was im- the gas lobbyists won't contribute to Thousands of Texans who call possible to determine to whom the the Republican campaign *itil they themselves Democrats will go to the President was talking." know where Ike, stands on (a new gas Merriman Smith reiterated that the bill). ball game, attend a movie, watch television, or otherwise be distracted story was accurate. In reporting 'it, of and thus give up their voice at this course, he was fully aware of current Washington reports that the President vital party business session. Garland Farmer, the Governor's really does not want to run again and press secretary, has resigned and remight step down frOin office later. Another instance, of self-censorship turned to California. Weldon Hart, by newsmen occurred when Eisen- who left his spot as chairman of the hower was at Thomasville, Ga., just Texas Employment Commission to rebefore he announced for a second join the Shivers staff in a political advisory capacity, has become press secterm. Andrew Tully, covering the Presi- retary. Staff eorrespondents: Bob, Bray, Gulf Coast; Ramon Garces, Laredo ; Clyde Johnson, Corsi....Ralph Yarborough telephoned dent's vacation for the Scrippscana ; Mike Mistovich, Bryan ; Jules Loh, Central Howard newspapers, reported in some weekly editor-publisher •Archer FullTexas ; Jack Morgan, Port Arthur ; Dane Strawn, Kenedy ; and reporters in San Antonio, Dallas, detail how Ike had lost his temper on ingim of the Kountze News (Hardin El Paso, and Big Spring. the golf course, Showed extreme irri- County) last week, and Fullingim told Staff contributors: Franklin Jones. Marshall ; Minnie Fisher Cunningham, New Waverly ; Robtation at his caddy, and thrown a golf all about it in his column, "The ert G. Spivak, Washington, D.C. ; John Igo, San club with considerable vigor against Printer Fires Both Barrels." YarAntonio ; Edwin Sue Goree, Burnet ; J. Henry Martindale, Lockhart ; and others. borough told him honesty in governthe side of his golfmobile. Staff cartoonist: Don Bartlett, Austin. Carment will be the primary issue, that The incident was revealing regardtoonists : Bob Eckhardt, Houston ; Etta Hulme, Houston. ing the health of anyone suffering the voters will demand from the state MAILING ADDRESS : 504 West 24th St., Ausfrom a heart condition or high blood administration ''-`a broad general retin, Texas. pressure, since loss of temper and ex- gard for the needs of all the people," EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE: 504 West 24th St., Austin, Texas. citement is something which doctors and that the government "Shouldn't be TELEPHONE in Austin : GReenwoed 7-0746. warn a patient to 'try to avoid. It was run just for a few rich rich, but for HOUSTON OFFICE: 2501 Crawford St., Houssomething the public was entitled to all the citizens of Texas.' • ton, Mrs. R. D. Randolph, treasurer. .
Mfg &3ittS Olistrurr WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1956 Incorporating The State Observer, combined with The East Texas Democrat Ronnie Dugger, Editor and General Manager Sarah Payne, Office Manager Published once a week from Austin, Texas. Delivered postage prepaid $4 per annum. Advertising rates available on request. Extra copies 10c each. Quantity orders available. Entered as second-class matter April 26, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin, Texas, under the act of March 8, 1879. We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the. truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of man as the foundation of democracy ; we will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerfUl or cater; to the ignoble in the human spirit. ,
GAS BILL TO BE REVISED
Drew Pearson
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Texas-at-Large
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A Little Sketch AND WHAT DEAR FRIENDS, IF YOU WIN? of An Ex-Cop • MARSHALL
GALVESTON
Fred Ford is a man who might honestly say that he is . learning has profession inside and out, literally: He is a former Galveston police chief. and until last week was a guard at Galveston county jail. Next month Fred is scheduled to start serving three years in federal prison for failure to pay income taxes on his bribes. I. ,. Although characteristically syrnpii thetic to -a man who has trouble with . the minions of the law, many GaJ•vet-; ton Islanders are "down on Fredn-, They say it.was downright inconsidei .-' ate the way he promiscuously spent all that money paving the way to trials that caused certain citizens extreme .embarassment. One of those who didn't enjoy the trial was Margaret Lera. "Maggie" testified she made payoffs to Ford
Bob Bray while he was police chief "for they privilege of operating a bawdy house.. Fred said there wasn't anything' fo. Maggie's ;story—that it just went show you couldn't take a bawdy hon operator's word for anything any-mq-i:! But Fred was never able to satisfaCtorily- explain to the jury how he managed to spend more money (untaxed) in three years than he had brought home in paychecks during his twenty years with the Galveston police department. Fred's friends couldn't explain .. it either. Present Police -Ghief Willie Burns acknowledged that he'd known ex-chief Ford many years and "never knew him to take no bribes." He could riot understand it at all: - • When word came that the Righer court had denied Ford's appeal, two groups of islanders were principally concerned. These included top ranking brass of the Maceo gambling syndicate, who are awaiting trial on similar charges of short-potting Uncle Sam, and the prisoners Fred was guarding at the . county jail. The latter group was debating whether a hitch in stir would make Freda more benevolent or bitter jailer. Maggie, who still operates a bawdy house in Galveston known as the Leader Rooms, didn't have any comment to make on Fred's conviction. She did remark that no one comes around to her anymore to talk, about payoffs.
BOXSCORE AUSTIN
The veterans' land and insurance scandals have resulted' in numerous criminal and civil suits. The Observer checked upon the net status of these suits last week and learned from the Attorney General's office: That the state has filed,36 civil suits for recovery of a total of $3,489,807 in the veterans' land scandal, and that $673,046. has been recnered to date; tictments have That 319 criminal ilii been returned in connection with the scandals, with 13 convictions (all against Bascom Giles), one acquittal (of land_promoter J. Paul Little in Crystal City), _one hung jury (in the trial of C. P; Ernster of Cuero in Georgetown), and one quashed indictment (against Congressman John J. Bell of Cuero on a charge of conspiracy to steal $154,000 from the state) so far recorded ; And that 36 criminal indictments have been returned in the insurance connection, 24 in Bexar county, nine in Travis, two in Harris, and one in McLennan. One man (W. C. Brickey) was acquitted in San Antonio, and another (Leslie Lowry) wa.s convicted in Austin and sentenced to seven years —a conviction now on appeal. Numemus civil suits have also ensued from the collapse of various Texas insurance companies in recent years.
It is doubtful that a single liberal who has enlisted under the confused and multicolored banner of •Senator Johnson has paused to reflect that the senator might end up as the.nominee of his party.. • Few will permit themselves even to speculate on this result; yet it is plainly within realm of possibility. We should pause to consider his vulnerability: as a national candidate when the protective oil coating enjoyed by most Texas office' holders would be dissolved: by the acid of personal attack. .. The President will be called to book for his giveaway policy arising from the Dixon-Yates deal, Hell's Canyon, the tidelands, and other measures. The Democratic standard bearer could not answer the certain counter-attack that he was for giveaway measures, as evidenced by his championing the Harris gas bill, tidelands return, and so on: Exit: one issue. - Another battleground will be the prevalence of government servants in the Administration who are torn between private . interests and conflicting government interests. It is not difficult to surmise, the source of the thousand photostats :Drew Pearson-has concerning the Brown and Root Lyndon •
Johnson tax. affair. A gentleman like Herb t(Dossier) Brownell may well be expectefl to have exact copies thereof. So, when the Republicans re-group and charge on this issue, the Democratic candidate from Texas would be lucky if he did not, come home on his shield instead of with it. Dick. Nixon was able to diVert attention from his contributors by a complete public accounting of his income, reference to a. cloth coat, and the calling of a cocker spaniel puppy as a character witness. Few believe the Senator could come out as well, even if he called a complete kennel of pups.
The success of political parties in America lies in the degree to which groups of divergent opinions may be brought into coalition. The Democratic Party has been that of the immoderates, and will so remain. As has been said, Roosevelt combined the Bourbon South with the Detroit automobile workers to bring it success. Any thought of appealing to the mediocre middle never entered his mind, nor that of any other successful leader of the party. Can Johnson then win by identifying himself with the motionless mass of inertia at the center? The Republicans appropriated this, nucleus long- ago, and it -rightfully belcingS' to them.
A Different Legislature AUSTIN
Maury Maverick is quitting the statehouse., takes away something from the way you feel about -the Legislature. It is difficult_ to say . why. Shuffling, mumbling; grumbling Maverick has lifted up many an ideal and defended it when no one else would. Rational, emotional, passionately for the individual man, he mistrusts all people who travel in groups of two or more. Many a vote he cast in the House.. chamber was marked down by the wise ones : "a suicide Vote.." Yet he came back. There are many entertaining types in the Texas House of Representatives. There's the revival ,leader who will guide the members in-a little fervent meditation when things are dragging a little at mid-morning. There is the black-haired mustachioed' slicker from the farm' town who was available to the higher bidder and will be again.. There is the devoted conservative, moved by ideas that haven't moved themselves in decades. There is the 'pure representative who always votes the way he thinks a majority of his supporters want him to. • (Is that good or bad?) Then there has been Maury Maverick. He slumped around the House chamber like a dogless friend. Now and again he'd go to the microphone and tell the obvious truth nobody else would. When the House was about to kill the water conservation bill, he said; for heaven's sake, you mean we're not even going to pass this drop in the bucket of our needs ? Then I will always remember one morning. Senator Dorsey Hardman, the statesman from San Angelo, had convinced the Texas Senate that the United States flag should never fly over the Texas flag on state buildings. This was about to pass the House, and Maverick took the mike. Isn't there a limit to the idiocy of a Legislature? to you mean to say you aren't an American citizen before you're a Texas citizen ? Now, really, Senator Hardeman, don't you think this is too much ? he asked. To everyone's surprise the House did think so and dropped the proviso out of the bill, shame-faced. It was almost as pained a moment as the day back in 1950 when they accepted the refusal of the University.of Texas Regents to fire a professor they had pilloried—accepted it without a word, Without a stir. . He had the lobbyist regulation bill, Maverick did, and what a joke that was, He got committee hearings set, .
,
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the very basis of past Democratic triumphs in the substance, if not the wording, of his meaning. The PresiYiTherf, Johnson piously. stated he Wanted no fringe support, he rejected dent is wisely making sounds 'like a liberal, knowing that he will lose nothing Of his support at the center, and hoping the Democrats will nominate a Taft-like retrogressive. - The Sentor Would fit the bill admirably.
Lastly, while we all have the greatest sympathy for the President and the Senator in their common affliction, health will undoubtedly- be an issue come November. Already the Democratic hopefuls are justifiably pointing at Ike's inability to be a full-time president. Should the Democratic Party lose this legitimate issue by running a candidate who suffers from the same malady ? The Democrats would do more harm to liberalism by sending the Senator to Chicago as a favorite son without the Governor as a delegate than by sending the Governor as a delegate without the Senator as a favorite son. The odds are that we will end up doing both and select the Governor as a delegate and the Senator as the favorite son. I hope the fish are biting May 5th. FRANKLIN JONES
Who's whimpering now ? Uncle Ben says now we'd better register those bad old- lobbyists. Yes, sir, the time has come. What we need is
and nobody showed up. Finally he got a quorum, and action was -delayed. He got the House to switch the bill to another committee ... all along it was a joke, one clef the hearings was like a "requiem mass," he said; finally, at the end of the session, the -House passed it, and Ben. Ram'sey's Senate killed it so fast it didn't even have time to-whimper.
Well, Maury, he canied a few votes last session, he was on the winning side, and things were askew in that. He was born to crusade for worthy and hopeless causes. Maybe he figures the Legislature's not worth the trouble now that everybody's for , reform. Maybe he's right.
The Duck and the Eel
Valley, asking for recognition and . the. right.to join Motor Coach Employees of Am_ erica No. 1142. For five months now, my husband, without missing a day: has walked the picket line in front of the Valley Transit Bus Co., while two of Uncle 'Sam's mail carriers deliver the mail of the • morning and then scab as bus drivers for the Valley Transit Bus Co. in the afternoon. • Now I . am wondering, just what kind of Men does Uncle Sam have on his payroll? MRS. JOINT H. WRIMIT PO Box. 1426, Harlingen
To the Editor : A news story of an interview with chairman Ed Drake of the Dallas County executive committee contains an illuminating sexplanation of the shift of Shivers conservatives to the support of Sen. Johnson, A Senator in the hand, it reported, was worth more than a lame duck Governor in the bushes to this group. I wonder if they have had any practice holding eels. FRANKLIN JONES Marshall
Personal Reply To the Editor : When Price Daniel telecast his appeal for postcards and letters expressing opinions on his - possible candidacy, I sat down and wrote a letter urging him not to run. On his next telecast, that only a , few hundred people had opposed his candidacy, and I assumed a very few liberals had bothered to write. But yesterday I got a form letter froin his office, thanking me for my encottragment and support in asking him to run ! Did this happen to anyone else ? GRACE K. JAMESON, M. D. 121 Tarpon St., Galveston •
A Complaint
To the• Editor : My husband, along with 47 other bus drivers, went on strike Oct. er Rio Grande 21 here in the Low
R.D.
GOP Achievements To the Editor : We do not have a farm plan because we do not have the right kind of leader.' in my opinion the present administration stinks. Their have clone three things to take credit for. First Ike has. taken care of the foreigner;; second he has certainly taken care of big business ; and third he has raised interest rates and money costs more now than in 30 years. . • .A distressed farmer or rancher is Certainly in no position to argue interest rates when he needs money I enjoy your paper because I am a Democrat and am for Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn 100 per cent. . S. J. WILLIAMS, Jr. Fowlerton THE TEXAS QBStRVER APRIL 25, 1956 -• PAGE 3
TEXAS IN THE 48
AUSTIN
Texans, a same-what boastful folk, may be interested in the state's relative standing among the states . in :Various categories of state services. Texas leads the nation in oil and gas production, and there are those who say it is the world's primary generation station 'for hot air, but The Book of States, 1954-1955, the latest source on the relative. standing of the -states, places Texas, in the lower quarter in . most important social categories. In educatidn, however, Texa7s. ranked 32nd among the states in state and local spending per pupil ($205.82) andi 26th in classroom teacher salaries ($3, 240) in 1952-'53. In some instances later Texas ficrures are available than provided in the source quoted, but situations in other states may also have changed. Old age. assistance payments in Texas in 1953 averaged $38.43 a month. This left Texas 38th the union and far short of the U.' S. average payment of $51.08. Only three states among the 48 had a maximum payment ;that was lower than Texas's $55. Average aid per family for dependent children in TeXas was 37th in the nation—$65.40 per month in 1953. Only 20 states specify a maximum per family, and Texas is the 19th from the 'top among these 20. Again Texas was 28th in aid to the blind, $43.21 per month in 1953. Texas. did not allow any aid' to. the permanently and totally disabled that year, while the . national average was $53.72 (but a bill was adopted by the Legislature in 1955 allocating aid for such people). Fewer children in Texas than in any state in the union, received public social work aid. Less than one Texas child in one thousand received child welfare case work service from public welfare agencies, compared to 14 in 1 ;000 in North Dakota, seven in
Corpus Gets OK On Slum Project
million in federal aid for lifgliway, construction—the second highest total, led only by 35.3 million for New York.
The source book also affords an interesting comparison of public utility regulation among the states. While the Texas Railroad CommisThirty-five percent of the hospital money came from the federal till. Fed- sion is charged with regulation of oil eral to state-and local ratio of Texas and gas, railroads, trucks and buses, expenditures was 72-28 for dependent Texas remained one of six states with children; 66-34 in old age assistance, out state. public utility regulation in -electric light and power and one of and 63-37 in aid to the blind in 1953. only three states without such regulaTexas ranked 16th among the states tion of the telephone industry as of in federal funds accepted for social 1953. security (per capita) in 1952-'53. The Texas was one of only seven states absolute total accepted ($90 million) was the third largest among the states. that did not have a state planning and In fiscal 1954, Texas received $34.3 development agency in 1953.
Study of Comparative Ranking of States Places Texas in Lower Quarter Often 1,000 in Alabama, eight in 1,000 in New York in 1953. Only two states had weekly maximums for workmen's compensation lower than the Lone Star State's $25 in 1953. The average weekly. unemployment compensation benefits in .1952-'53 was $17.42 in Texas, sixth from the bottom. among all states. Texas, led all the states in expenditures on hospitals as of June, 1953. 0
Showdown at the Precincts mittee and his forces prevailed in a standing vote last week, but county chairman Ed Drike gaveled down demands for the roll-call vote. Drake did not ask those for Johnson to stand, and he was accused of "mob rule:" In Houston, at a 'meeting of the Harris County Democratic executive committee, loyalists were firmly in would not be proud to' have Lyndon control Saturday, and a heci: count of Johnson. as the next President of the those present gave the loyalists 107 United States ... and the conservatives 40. The majority Shiv.ers warned in Dallas that if did not take Up the Johnson candidacy. "the radicals" win the conventions Navarro County's executive comthey will "ditch" him if it serves their. mittee went on record for Johrison purpose. He said he is "the under- tverwhelmingly. So did the Nueces dog" in the fight. In Abilene he helped. County Committee. supporters plan door-to-door camAll Democratic precinct chairmen in paigning for the conventions. In Potter County, which is usually proSweetwater he said he would not go Shivers, said they favor Johnson for to the national convention pledged to both favorite son and delegation chairsupport any one candidate. In Housman. ton he said Johnson would be, a poor The loyalist Democratic Advisory choice for delegation chairman be- Council's steering -committee met in cause, as favorite son, h! would have Austin over the weekend to plan conto clear with ,party, labor, and "or- vention strategy. ganized minority"' leaders on policy statements. He charged Johnson is usHE COMMITTEE for ing "some of the toughest and rawest political and economic pressure that Johnson included loyalists, oilmen, behas ever been applied in this or any tween 30 and 40 ardent Shivers backers of recent years, a few labor leadother state." ers, and political figures and newsJohnson gained - additional support paper publishers. Among the more Monday when two of the state's top proMinent members within these cateAFL-CIO leaders called on union gbries: Liberals and loyaliSts: J. R. Parten, members across the state to go to the precinct conventions and back the sen- Houston, honorary chairman, and Byron ator. Leroy Williams and Jerry Holle- SkeltOn, Temple, chairman, Democratic AdVisory Council; J. Frank DObie, Aus. man, president - and executive secre- tin, writer; Dr. Walter P. Webb, Univertary, respectively, of the Texas Fed- sity Of Texas professor; Jimmy Knight, eration of Labor, stated: Bexar County Democratic chairman; Arch (Continued from Page 1) Bentsen said the time is past due for Texas to have a president. John Nance Garner, former vice-president and honorary chairman of the "Johnson for President Committee," declared in Uvalde: I see no reason why all true Texans
LW T
CORPUS CHRISTI
Corpus Christi has become the first city in Texas to obtain federal funds for urban housing renewal. Its application for $88,100 in federal funds to plan such a program has been approved by the Commissioner of Urban Renewal in Washington. The project, which involves clearance of a The basic issue is whether the Texas large slum tract near the bay, will cost Democratic Party is to be owned and con$6 million, of which the federal gov- •trolled by a corrupt political machine or ernment will pay two-thirds if it is „" iS to be run by and for the real Demofinally approved. crats of Texas. The U.S. has reserved $2.7 million In Dallas, W. 0. Cooper, loyalist in capital grant funds for Corpus. Other Texas cities have been slowed leader, had called for roll call vote in obtaining such funds by the refusal of the county executive committee on of the State Legislature to pass enab- Johnson-versus-Shivers. Shivers has a strong working majority on the camling legislation.
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Underwood, Lubbock cotton businessman; Bryan Bradbury, Bryan attorney; Gilbert Adams, Beaumont attorney; Adrian Spears, San Antonio attorney. Members and ex-members of the Shivers-cOntrolled Democratic executive committee: Gene Houchens, Victoria; C. T. McLaughlin, Snyder; R. E. Bibb, Eagle Pass; Eugene Germany, Dallas; Morris Roberts, Victoria. Political figures: former U.S. Representatives Lloyd Bentsen, Jr., Houston, and John Lyle, Corpus Cpristi; State Representatives Dolph Briscoe, Uvalde, and .J. 0. Gillham, Brownfield; former Gov. Miriam Ferguson, Austin; former Attys. Gen. Robert Lee Bobbitt, San Antonio, Gerald C. Mann, Dallas, and Grover Sellers, Sulphur Springs; Oscar Holcombe, mayor of Houston.
Labor executives: George Cook, Orange, secretary of the Port Arthur Building and Trades Council; W. J. Harris, former president of the Texas Federation of Labor; Frank Swales, president, San Antonio Trades Council. Oilmen: James S. AbScrombie, Houston; Gen. H. Miller Ainsworth, Luling; M. D. Bryant, San Angelo; Mason Nixon, Christi. • Ctorpus Newspaper publishers: H. M. Fentress, publisher of the Fentress chain; Fred Conn, Denison; Sam Fore, Floresville; Houston Harte, publisher of the HarteHanks newspapers; Rhea Howard, Wichita Falls; Howard McMahon, Abilene; Frank Mayborn, Temple; Ward Mayborn, Sherman; Morris Roberts, Victoria; Don Scarborough, Georgetown; S. B. Whittenburg, Amarillo.
Shivers said he regretted that some of his former associates were listed and thanked those "who have resisted this pressures even when it might have been to their personal advantage to `give in and sign up."'' George Sandlin, Shivers's chairman of the State Democratic executive comnlittee, wrote to between 35 and 40 of the 183 persons listed asking if they prefer Johnson in the party leadership and whether they have abandoned the Governor's views on "states' rights and the integrity of local goy. ernment." Mrs. Cunningham's candidacy was announced last week as her campaign 'manager, Mrs. Mary Weinzierl of Riverside, described her as the kind of leader and citizen her backers would like to see represent Texas— "plain, honest men and women of known integrity, none of whom occupy official positions in either the state or federal government." The statewide committee for Mrs. Cun ningham, by congressional districts, follows:
Senatorial District 2, Mrs. Hulda Jones, Marshall; 5, Mrs. Mary Weinzierl, Campaign Manager, Riverside; 6, Mrs. Orissa Eckhardt, Houston; 8, Mrs. Lily V. Leonard, Dallas; 11, Mrs. Lillian Collier, Mumford; Mrs. Kathleen Steele, Corsicana; 14, Mrs. Mary Ellis, Austin; 15, Mrs. Margaret Reading, Waller; 20, Mrs. Alice Register, Corpus Christi; 26, Mrs. Marie Halpenny, Public Relations Dir., San Antonio; Mrs. Ruth Halworth, San Antonio; Mrs. M. L. Crea, San Antonio; 29, Mrs. Ruby Worthen, El Paso; 31, Dr. Evelyn G. Powers, Amarillo. ,
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 'AUSTIN friends on the-Johnson committee are Spot developments in the Lyndon buying a trojan horse with Ralph YarJohnson-Allan Shivers maelstrom: borough in it. The Belden Poll reported this sentiThe Texasi Citizens' Council asked ment among those Texans it polled in Johnson for his views on segregation various trial presidntial heats : Eisen- and interposition. hower 54 percent, Stevenson 41 perByron Skelton, D.A.C. head, accent ;Johnson 48 percent, Eisenhower cused Shivers of ."smear tactics" 45 percent; Kefauver 45 percent, against his opponents.. Eisenhower 44 percent. P. B. Garrett, head of the Texas Ralph Yarborough, gubernatorial Bankers Assn., said at an insurance candidate, predicted Johnson will win meeting in Dallas that Shivers is "one the May conventions "by a landslide." of the outstanding statesmen of AmerReuben Senterfitt, also a' guberna- ica." torial candidate, sided with Shivers Television coverage of the state conand interposition in opposition to vention, commercially sponsored, is "creeping bureaucracy" and "complete being considered by George Sandlin, federal control," and linked "Johnson, chairman of the state Democratic com( Price) Daniel, and Rayburn" in a mittee. "surrender to the left-wingers." But Daniel had no comment on the fight. -THE TEXAS OBSERVER Hugh Prather, Jr., conservative lez.der in Dallas, said ,formet Shivers= APRIL 25, 1956 ,PAGE 4 'um
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Lyndon Talks of Farm Depression contraband AUSTIN Charging that the Eisenhower administration "is now pushing us into a third farm depression," Senate Democratic Leader Lyndon Johnson promised to continue to "fight for 90 percent of parity" and "to win," despite the President's veto of the farm bill last week Johnson accused Republicans of favoring high price supports "only during election years." He declared "that it is the Republicans who worry about surpluses and the Democrats who worry about farmers. "This happens because of a basic difference between the two parties. The Democrats worry about the individual. The Republicans forget about the individual and worry only about the ceonomic problem," Johnson declared. Johnson reiterated charges that the farm bill veto had cost farmers $2 bil-
Lion and pointed out that farm income has dropped 26 percent since 1952. Speaker Rayburn said last week the President must take full responsibility for the veto. one vetoed . this bill. except Mr. Eisenhower," he said. "I don't think he gave any good, convincing reasons for vetoing the bill ... I don't think he even gave a good excuse for vetoing it."
Agriculture - Commissioner John White called the veto "a slap in the face to our farmers who only want a chance, to escape from the disastrous downward spiral of agricultural prices." He said the bill "would have given our rural people an even break in our economy" but that farm people now "seem fated to be shoved further into the black pit of depression by a relentless administration."
. Rep. W. R. • Poage (D.-Waco) believes an effort will be made to furnish the Agriculture Department' with money for a soil bank. Arguing for a veto override, Poage had asked the House : "Are you going to be carried away by -a great general who never farmed a day in his life?"
Gov. Shivers, who urged the Presi-. dent to sign the bill, accepted the Sen. Price Daniel said - "it is one of Eisenhower analysis as a "sincere and the greatest mistakes he has made thorough study that it would not do the job." He said the Democrats since becoming president." haven't solved the farmer's problem— Ralph Yarborough, gubernatorial "they created surpluses"—and the Recandidate, said Democrats are for 90 - publicans "haven't helped it very percent of parity price support and much."
OIL: PRICE-FIXING OR CONSERVATION (Continued from page 1 "The commission could abuse it," he said.
the commission then caused stocks to drop way on down to 200 million barrels, the price would go up. If we let the stocks run up, we would create waste and you would also break the price. We haven't made oil scarce, and stocks are high enough for everybody to get what they need. As long as we do that I believe the price on an average is lower than it would be without market demand proration, when you would have periods of waste and then scarcity, with the price going way up during the scarcity. I readily say that all we have to do is start curtailing production to less than market demand and things are gonna happen."
Ducks Done In for $
will triumph. He blamed the veto on "the Republican Party bi brass, with its heart and its interests in the money centers." •
economic studies, and they impressed me as sound—they say that petroleum is rather inflexible in the effect (of demand on ,price) within a certain range. The price of oil can vary several cents a gallon without particularly affecting the demand for gasoline.
HOUSTON
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The state's charitable institutions have 3,000 free duck dinners coming up and 53 Texans are faced with fines or jail terms ranging up to GOdays as climax to a fantastic federal crackdown last week on wildlife law Violators. Employing cloak and, dagger tactics more involved than a class B murder mystery, Anthony Stefano, a federal officer who posed as a jewelry salesman, worked two years making buys from the illegal hunters who he says shot- game from Beaumont to Corpus Christi. Among those snared in Stefano's net was Algoa Constable Ike Franks, a candidate for re-election, who promptly labeled the whole thing as "just politics." Stefano estimated that more than 200,000 duclis and geese have been killed in the tulf Coast area during the past two years, many at night as the market hunters shot into heavily, concentrated roosting places. "Too many people find it an easy way to make a fast buck, and the government's purpose is to invoke action that will take the dollar sign off ducks, geese and other migratory birds as an incentive for killing them," one federal official said.
Last month, spokesmen for 22 Of the major oil companies in the United States appeared before the commission In other words, Murray was saying, and gave their estimates of the level to increase production would not necof above-ground crude oil stocks that The 53 game violators are charged essarily decrease price and therefore they considered "ample" for the with unlawful sale, transportation, and increase the demand for oil within a United States. certain range. Whether this would be possession of waterfowl. Maximum The companies were in substantial 'true because of an indifference of con- penalty upon 'conviction - of such a agreement on this question. None of sumers to cheaper gasoline or-the re- charge is a $500 fine and/or 60 days in the estimates was lower than 250,000,fusal of the refineries to refine -it is the j ail. 000 barrels ; none was higher than question. Summing up his two years of illegal 270,000,000 barrels. The average estiThus is the issue joined : price-fix- waterfowl purchases, Stafano estimate was 260,800,000 barrels. How, theri;, Murray was asked, is ing or not ? R.D. mated he had spent approximately The Railroad Commission accepts market demand decided upon? (Next: Exactly what does the com- $4,000. The birds are now stored in 260 million barrels as an ideal abovemission do in its control of production the deep freeze at Houston Terminal Just because those companies said so? ground crude oil stock level. Hell* they may have had some purpose. of oil under the state conservation Warehouse and Cold Storage ComMurray obserVed: Well, the thought is—I have seen these laws?) pany awaiting trial of the alleged game "If you get much above 260 million, law violators, most of whom are free you begin to have pipeline proration. under $500 bond each. We have some now in East Texas." (U.S. stocks are now at about 263,When the cases are settled, the — DALLAS Smith and Saunders took various trips birds, federal officers said, will be 000,000 barrels.) Insurance Commissioner Byron with insurance executives to Mexico given to the state's charitable instituThe commission had its monthly statewide hearing last week, and the Saunders and Gov. Allan Shivers have City, Hawaii Miami, Cuba, and other tions. various company spokesmen recom- reassured visiting insurance commis-. points. mended either 14, 15, or 16 producing sioners and the public that the Texas days. The commission decided on 16 insurance trouble was minor and that days. (This means that Texas wells the industry is now doing nicely.. • Meanwhile, the Houston Post dican prodUce 16/31sts of their maximum efficient rate of production for vulged that at the 1955 insurance commissioners' zone .five convention, Ben the month.) Said . Murray : The .Observer has exposed the The Texas Observer is an inde"One of them said that at 14 days Jack Cage, insurance promoter and Austin lobbyists, reported the•venalthey would have more oil than they troubleshooter, .flew Saunders and pendent liberal Texas newspaper. ities of Texas state officials and legcould use, but we always like to stay then-Commissioner Garland Smith to Iii one short year it has quadru- islators, turned up hidden insurance on the high side. We stay on the thres- Las Vegas for an overnight stay. Shivers said that less than 80 out of pled its circulation. It is the widest scandals, published interviews with hold of pipeline proration all the time We decided on. 16 days, the maximum 900 Texas-based companieS have circulated weekly in Texas, with most of the leadina b figures - in Texas failed in the last 15 years. He said the of rhc. three reCommendations." week to week public life—provided subscribers in 248 of the 254 Texas "a minor Murray emphasizes that at 260,000,- illness of the industry -1vAs exclusives on Texas politics. k0 barrels of above-ground stocks, one and not an epidemic" and that the counties. It has the third largest toevery demand can be met, but the patient is "doing nicely." tal circulation of all Texas weeklies.. It has developed a forwt'ard-lookSaunders said the Texas Insurance 3tocks are not so excessive as to cause ing program for Texas. It has critiCode is now one of the strongest in Look Magazine has called the Obunreasonable-physical waste." cized Democrats as well as ShiverHe maintains that excessive above- the nation, particularly in the power server "a crusading opposition crats when it felt they deserved critit gives the commission to put a firm ground stocks result in waste through newspaper."• It has been quoted and icism. out of business on a question of the leakage, weathering, evaporation, fire, recognized widely in its first year and deterioration. (It map - be rememl competence of Officers or directors. He ("An eloquent voice of the Texas Intelligent Texans, we believe, bored that it is not the level of crude- said that when the current licensing a Magazine; can ill afford to be without the Obeggheads"—Reporter program of the 2,000 insurance comoil stocks , above ground .-- at any moment, but the rapidity with which the panies now,.operating in Texas is com- "courageous ... weekly newspaper" server, especially during the crucial open end of those stocks. moves into pleted, some 75 will be refused li-, —Coronet • Magazine ; "A coura- months ahead, when smokescreens geous liberal weekly"—The Na- aryl blockades will be thrown up at the market, that describes oil con- Censes. Ordinary life insurance sales in tion). every voter's turn. suruption.) Texas dropped eight percent in January but recovered two percent and COMMISSIONER Murray, addressing himself directly to the stood 19 percent ahead of a year price-fixing charge, explains his posi- earlier in February_ THE TEXAS OBSERVER SUBSCRIPTION BLANK Meanwhile, the Post reported that tion this way: Saunders flew to Dallas for a conI say it (the setting of maximum numPlease enter the following name for one year's subscription : ference with Cage on U.S. Trust & ber of producing days) can be a necessary Name Guaranty Co., in June, 1955, according implement for conservation. It is foolish to an expense account filed with the to think you can attempt conservation without both ceilings (the MER and the state comptroller, and that Cage flew Address daily ceilings). It could be abused—it Saunders and Smith to Las Vegas Enclosed find $4 check( ), money order ( ), cash ( ). could be used as a price-fixing device. in early April, 1955, at the end of the SuppOse we started cutting allowables Mail the subscription to Texas Observer, 504 W. 24th Street. . commissioners' convention in Santa to 225 million (above-ground stocks). Austin, Texas •Fe, New Mexico. They'd start clamoring for it. Pretty soon As has been previously reported, P. S. Should you get more than one new subscriber list them companies would start offering bonuses •In the side. Then the price would go up. on separate sheet of paper ; careful to give name and address. Unquestionably if at any time we were THE TEXAS OBSERVER (Advertisentent) a realistic price in relation to cost, and APRIL 25, 1956 • PAGE 5
Texas Insurance Said Doing Nicely' ,
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Liberals and Democrats: I
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It's a good buy for four bucks.
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Hoxsey and the W. 0. Gant, the unforgettable character in'Thomas Wolfe's Of Time and the River, after surviving a hemorrhage caused by the cancer which was to kill him, was thought by his wife Eliza to be recovering. Said she: I believe that, that old growth—that awful old thing-4hat—well, I suppose you might say that cancer ... the whole thing tore loose in him yesterday ... and he has simply gone and got that rotten old thing out of his system.
Eliza believed that nature was the best physician, and she scorned doctors. "It's always been my opinion that they're wrong about as often as they're right—only you can't prove it on 'em. They bury their mistakes." She argued that her _husband would recover. It is to that large group like Eliza Gant who are hostile to the medical profession, who wish to believe, as Harry Hoxsey of Dallas charges, that the American Medical Association is composed of selfish mcn wishing to suppress a cure which tfey themselves would like to control, and who believe that there is an easy, painless cure for cancer, that Hoxsey's You Don't Have To Die (Milestone Books, $3.95) has its greatest appeal.
arse
A full-dress debate is taking form in the University of Texas faculty over a proposed ban on faculty participation in specified state elections. The Faculty Council of the school. passed a resolution prohibiting faculty members from engaging in pUblic advocacy of, or opposition to, candidates for- the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, and the Legislature. They would not be prohibited from other political activity if kept separate from their university connection.
a Saga
The Dallas Cancer Clinic Man Tells a Story In His Book, 'You Don't Have to Die' "The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Treatment," it is subtitled.
mulas that proved effective in many cases of cancer.
The finding of the cure, as Hoxsey relates the story, was indeed amazing. John Hoxsey, Harry's great-grandfather, discovered that a prize Percheron had a sore on its right hock. The vet diagnosed it as cancerous and advised that the animal be destroyed, a sentence which was not carried out. During the summer the horse began to improve and finally recovered. John Hoxsey found that it had been grazing in a portion of the pasture where "red clover and alfalfa, buckthorn and prickly ash," and other plants grew.
Organized medicine has branded the liquid brown cancer cure useless. "Of the ingredients ... only potassium iodide has an recognized therapeutic. activity," says the Journal of the American Medical Association. Mucli. of Hoxsey's book, after he describes the finding of the cure, concerns his feud with the A.M.A., his legal entanglements, and his numerous arrests. The A.M.A. charged 30 years ago:
He picked samples of all the plants growing there, took them to the barn,. ground them up with a mortar, and began a series of experiments .... Patiently, month after month, he tried them separately and in various combinations on sick horses in the neighborhood. He studied the ingredients of old home remedies, adding and subtracting them experimentally. Eagerly, week after week, he examined his dumb patients and noted their progress. Finally he hit upon three for-
A Faculty Debate on Citizenship AUSTIN
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The administration had asked for a clarification of a previous Board of Regents regulation against involving the university in partisan politics. The recommended revision - was brought forth by the faculty's committee • on academic freedom and responsibility. A general faculty debate is expected on the prohibition; which some professors defend as necessary for a state institution and others attack as a basic infringement of their rights and duties as citizens.
The history of Hoxide is typical of cancer quackery. It originated with the father of Harry M. Hoxsey, one John C. Hoxsey, a quack now dead, who used to dub himself "doctor." Hoxsey senior seems to have dabbled in veterinary medicine, faith healing, and cancer curing. Ten or fifteen years ago John C..Hoxsey, with two others, was indicted by the Montgomery County (Ill.) grand jury on the charge of attempting to blackmail a dentist of Litchfield. Following the indictment Hoxsey disappeared, although the two coconspirators were convicted and punished. Hoxsey evaded arrest for some months when he was jailed until he furnished the $5,000 bail required. He - apparently . escaped punishment. John C. Hoxsey died in 1919; cause of death— cancer.
Hoxsey answers in You Do-n't Have to Die that the A.M.A. report was full of distortion and half truth—that his father was falsely accused of attempting blackmail and was exonerated, as he says the court records prove. "The claim- that he'd died of cancer was equally false; his death certificate, on file at the State Capitol, would show that he'd died of erysipelas," Hoxsey said. Hoxsey claims that a campaign of innuendo and slander' against his treatment and against him by the
A.M.A. ma de him become "showman and promoter in order to continue to treat cancer by unorthodox methods and survive." He is now considering entering the political side-show as a candidate for governor. If he wins, he plans to appoint members to "verify the success of the clinic's treatment of cancer." He also told the Dallas News that he would "investigate the Federal Food and Drug Administration and bust up the monopoly of the American Medical AssoCiation." The Food and Drug Administration haS recently warned the public: The Hoxsey treatment costs the patient $400 plus $60 in additional fees; expenditures which will yield nothing of any value in the cure of cancer the Food and Drug Administration has not found a single verified cure, of internal cancer effected by the Hoxsey treatment.
Apparently undisturbed, Hoxsey posed for Life magazine standing - beside a plaque which Life calls his motto: "The world is made up of two kinds of people—dem that takes and dem that gets took."
You Don't Have to Die may well be an important campaign document during the governor's rate this summer; it is certainly a fascinating tract which reveals much about the folk culture of our Eliza Gants. G. H.
He Demands a Probe DALLAS
Harry Hoxsey last week said he is going to ask Congress to make an immediate investigation of the Food and Drug Administration, which has called his cancer cure worthless. He says his gubernatorial candidacy will be decided by what Texas. congressmen tell him about such an investigation. THE TEXAS OBSERVER APRIL 25, 1956 . PAGE 6
Who Will Go with 'Minnie Fish' to Chicago? (Paid Adv.
Committee for MINNIE FISHER CUNNINGHAM as FAVORITE DAUGHTER and Candidate for CHAIRMAN of the TEXAS DELEGATION to the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION Mrs. Hulda Jones Marshall Mrs. Mary Weinzierl Campaign Manager, Riverside Mrs. Orissa Eckhardt Houston Mrs. Lily V. Leonard Dallas Mrs. Lillian Collier Mumford Mrs. Mary Ellis Austin Mrs. Margaret Reading Waller Mrs. Alice Register Corpus Christi Mrs. Kathleen Steele Corsicana Mrs. Marie lialperiny Public Relations Dir., San Antonio Mrs. Ruth Haworth San Antonio Mrs. M. L. Crea San Antonio Mrs, Ruby Worthen El Paso Dr. Evelyn G. Powers Amarillo
DEMOCRATS : Buying a pig in a poke to send to the national Democratic Convention is nothing new to Texans, and by now you know what always happens—SOMEBODY ELSE GETS THE PIG AND YOU GET POKED. If you really want to win, elect that glorious Democrat and gallant lady, MINNIE FISHER CUNNINGHAM, as your favorite daughter and chairman of the Texas delegation to the national convention ; a leader you can trust and be proud to have represent Texas. "Minnie Fish" has never Shivered or been caught Lyin' Down in a fight for everybody's rights. Back her with a delegation of plain, honest citiz'ens of known integrity, none of whom hold official positions in the state or federal government. Take a look at the records of the two men now being ballyhooed to lead the Texas Delegation. The record of one has now been exposed throughout the United States—a traitor to the Democratic Party under whose administration Texas has been shamed before the world as a state - of graft: Take a look at the voting record of the other man contending for this office. Here are a few examples : in partnership with the Dixiecrats and G.O.P. he voted against stopping tax loopholes favorable to big business ; he voted against unemployment compensation; he voted against the public housing bill; he voted to use the Taft Hartley 80 day injunction clause against the steel workers; he voted for the "natural gas exemption grab"; he stood against allowing the little cotton farmer even a MINIMUM allotment of four acres for cotton; he voted against civil rights and the same year voted to send money to the Spanish dictatorship. Now, take a look at the record of MINNIE FISHER CUNNINGHAM, a record of civic and political service that everyOne can be proud of. MINNIE FISHER CUNNINGHAM, member of a pioneer Texas family, was born on a farm near New Waverly in Walker County, Texas, and still owns and operates the same farm. 'Her education was personally supervised by her mother until she attended the University of Texas Medical College, where she received a degree in pharmacy. Under her leadership as president of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association, women in Texas won the right to vote two years before the ratification of the national amendment. She served as a member of the Texas Military Welfare Commission during World War I; helped organize the National League of Women Voters and served as national executive secretary of this organ-
ization until it was established; held the chairmanship of the Urban-Rural Cooperation Committee of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. She served as Acting Vice-Chairman in charge of Women's work of the Democratic National Committee. She has been a member of the Vocational Guidance Committee of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, and was a member of the National YWCA Committee on Agriculture, also serving a term on the National Board. She served as Editor for the A&M Extension Service, and was in charge of the Women's Division of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Nothing less than a book would be sufficient 'to list all of the things MINNIE FISHER CUNNINGHAM has accomplished and is still accomplishing. After the Democrats were sold out in 1952, she helped organize the Texas Democratic Women's State - Committee, which she now serves as treasurer. Right now you're being told you MUST support one of two men as your leader—that you have NO other choice and you'll just have to put your pride and beliefs in your pocket and go along to get along. • Back in 1835 Texans were being told they would have to bow down, too, but on April 21, 1836, a handful of courageous Texans with a leader they could trust threw off the yoke of tyranny crying, "Remember the Alamo, Remember Goliad !" In April 1956, Texas Democrats and all Texans are once again bearing the yoke of tyranny, the yoke of gigantic economic tyranny. In April 1956, we Democrats can and should cry, "REMEMBER WACO AND BEN RAMSEY! REMEMBER LYNDON JOHNSON AND BROWN & ROOT! REMEMBER SHIVERS AND CORRUliTION!" We Democrats have a leader we can go forward with—an unblemished leader we can trust and respect — MINNIE FISHER CUNNINGHAM! It remains to be seen whether we as Texans and Democrats still have the courage—the plain old guts—to stand up for what we believe and again win freedom for ourselves, our children. Go to your May 5 Precinct conventions and elect delegates pledged to Minnie Fisher Cunningham as favorite daughter and chairman of the Texas delegation. Pass a resolution that only plain honest citizens of known integrity with no official position in either the state or federal government be sent as Texas delegates to the National Democratic Convention. Join the Fight to return Texas to the hands of honest citizens —break opee your piggy bank and send campaign contributions to Mrs. Ma2y*einzierl, Riverside, Texas.
