The one great rule W e will serve no of composition is to group or party, but *0 4l'e4s, will hew hard to the speak the truth. Truth as we find it and the right as we —Thoreau Obrrurr see it. .;kly Newspaper 49 c)' NOVEMBER 29, 1957 10c per copy No.34 Bills The Long Fight Fails AUSTIN ing, talking and talking and day. Two South Texas senators talking and talking on and Gonzalez took the floor to ar- —Laredo's chunky, volatile on and on ... gue for his proposed amendment Pass Abraham Kazen and San Gonzalez's was the main effort. to S. B. 2, a bill authorizing the Antonio's challenging, volu- He talked 20 hours and six min- attorney general to give legal as- AUSTIN ble Henry Gonzalez — last utes, beginning Thursday at sistance to school authorities de- The Texas House, in a week swam upstream against 10:54 a.m. and slumping into his fending the constitutionality of morning. of . keenly-felt de- a strong current of so-what, chair, his face gray under his state laws in federal courts, and bate, passed the Governor's knowing there was little providing $50,000 for this purpose. bills letting school boards hope of reaching the far The Gonzalez amendment would close local schools and giv- shore. In separate filibusters, Lyman Jones have stricken the $50,000. Kazen ing the attorney general $50,- both aimed at stalling action began his lengthy speech as ar- 000 to defend segregation lo- on the so-called "anti-troops" olive complexion and the effects gument for an amendment to re- cally. bills sought of the second of a fever evident in drops of move from S. B. 1—the "anti- sweat beading his forehead, at 7 House voting for the "anti- special legislative session by troops" bill (Observer, Nov. 22) a.m. Friday (See related story.) troop" bill was about eight to Gov. Price Daniel in alliance —Section 5, the provision for Kazen, with the Senate's inten- five, but it melted to 114-26 on with the legislature's East "out-of-classroom instruction." tion of passing the bills obvious final passage . The attorney gen- Texas segregation bloc, they The Senate-passed "troop bill —he might as well have tried to eral bill passed 120-20. Both talked more than 23 hours, authorizes local school boards to saddle a blue norther—talked passed exactly as the Senate had pleading, arguing, explain- close schools if they find "vio- only three hours and 17 minutes, adopted them, without amend- ing, exhorting, scolding, de- lence or the threat thereof" from 10:34 a.m. to 1:51 p.m. Fri- ments, obviating another Senate nouncing, whispering, shout- (Continued on Page 5) filibuster. All that was required as of Tuesday noon was their sig- nature by - Gov. Daniel, who called the session that they might TEXAS TIDELANDS, 1836 to 1957 be enacted. AUSTIN Tidelands Claim," in which Sena- tions" on the other, was a seven- lion in oil company royalty fees Rep. Jerry Sadler, Percilla, car- On Nov. 7, the United tor Johnson said Eisenhower had paragraph staff story, "Texas are being held in escrow for the ried the bills through to passage. States government s'u e d reassured him he still believes Faces New Tithiands Claim De- winner. Magnolia says 100 com- Reps. Bob Wheeler, Tilden, and Texas for the tidelands be- in the Texas claim but in which fense Against U. S." In the Nov. 9 panies have already spent one Bob Mullen, Alice, led an un- tween the three-mile and the Johnson also (in the eighth para- issue, the News headline writers, billion, dollars looking for oil in compromising fight against them, three - league (ten-and-a-half graph of the Post's eight-para- too, thought it more important the Gulf of Mexico. with assists from Reps. Oscar mile) limits. Said an admin- graph story) said bitterly, "The (in terms of the news values for Laurel, Laredo, and Sam Bass, istration spokesman : "The people of Texas now know how page 30 that morning) that "John- The Texas claim is based on its Freeport. United States has always in- much trust they can place in Re- son Says President's Tidal Posi- historic title out ten and a half Sadler said Little Rock "wiped sisted that under interna- publican promises." tion Unchanged" than that he had miles. The government disputed out states' rights at the stroke of title before the Supreme Court tional law, no state or nation The San Antonio Express had made the remark about Republi- a bayonet." He said the issue was can have a boundary farther can promises. in 1950, but the court ruled that "free choice and voluntary asso- no story the morning after the the government has paramount out than the traditional three suit but the next day, on the ciation." He said the bill leaves mile limit." Said the govern- On Nov. 18 the Houston Chron- rights (including oil rights) as a "the entire authority" on school- 29th of 30 pages, carried a one- icle played the New York Times corollary of its "external soVer- ment's brief to the Supreme column, six-paragraph story, closing with the school board. think piece on the suit with a eignty," apparently regardless of Court : the Texas boundary "Johnson Sees No Tidelands Jus- Wheeler questioned him at does not extend "more than banner that Ike had "turned who owns the lands. length, saying it is the duty of tificatioxi." On page one of the (his) back" on Texas. The Chron- three geographic miles" from Beaumont Enterprise of Nov. 8, Texas is the only one of the 35 the Daniel to enforce the U. S. the shore. icle said editorially Eisenhower's constitution "paramount, even, under two stories about Eisen- present position was "difficult to states added to the original thir- teen which was truly an inde- to state laws." Sadler agreed For two weeks you could hear hower's defense speech, the tide- understand." The News, after a closing schools might "nullify" an exclamation point drop in the lands suit story was carried with long silence, blamed the Justice pendent nation before it joined court orders. Texas dailies. The Houston Post the headline, "Traditional 3-Mile Department. The Fort Worth the union. Immediately after Mullen said the parents at Lit- the next morning consisted of Offshore Boundary Asked for 5 Star-Telegram blasted "judicial Texans won their revolution a- tle Rock were sending their chil- 46 pages, but nowhere did the States." lawmaking." gainst Mexico, the Congress of dren to school, even with the editors squeeze in the tidelands The Dallas News responded to the new Republic passed an act story from Washington. The next troops. "The parents, apparently the news with similar circum- $98 Million extending its jurisdiction ten and not welcoming federal troops, day the Post (front paging a spection. Page one the morning Stripped down, the tidelands a half miles into the Gulf. State's were glad to see order," he said. story headlined: "Praised by of Nov. 8 carried the Eisenhower question is whether the state or lawyers argued to the court that Laurel—moving to strike "out- (Norman Vincent) Peale: Presi- speech at length. Back on the the federal government will con- Texas retained the tidelands in- of-classroom instruction" on state dent Reaffirms His Deep Faith funny page, between Mark Trail funds from the bill—said the i..,- in God") had a story on its for- and Smokey the Bear on one trol leasing and receive the land- side this limit as a condition sue was not intermarriage or so- tieth and last page, headlined, side and an ad for "Nature's Own owner's profits from oil drill- of its annexation in 1845. U. S. cial and economic equality but "Johnson Says Ike Backs Texas Aid for Kidney-Bladder Condi- ing the tidelands. Some $98 mil- (Continued on Page 5) "equality of opportunity for all Americans." "You can't hold back the law," he said. "We cannot trample on the rights and digni- Midnight Watch With Gonzalez ties of the human spirit." He was applauded. His amendment was AUSTIN to the south, the wet and cold and gesturing, his voice, and the And he was aware, too, that tabled 81-56. A norther rattles the huge outside—off downtown a red outside howling of the wind, people pay attention to filibust- Sadler urged, against all pro- windows heavily and whines shop sign flicks on and off, and schoing in the chamber; and the ers, to what filibusterers say, and posed amendments, that they like a fleet of ambulances as the red neon "Hotel Austin" and high chandeliers, the page boys, that the newspapers, about dawn, might let the Senate get em- it curls around the granite the white pillar basing to the would be full of what he had broiled in another filibuster. corners • outside the second- floor, the panels of Senates past. said. Whether one calls it public- Wheeler said "There's one sure story Senate chamber. A Ronnie Dugger "Exalted feelings, and • inflamed ity-seeking or educating voters, way to keep federal troops out of page boy trots to the office minds," the man is saying. he had this role to play. Texas and that is ... when the at the back to answer a the green neon "Driskill Hotel" Why is he talking alone when federal court says integrate, to loudly ringing, unattended stare out of the night sky, sup- he knows he will lose? Although he had a low-grade ported only by the ladder lights throat infection, which led fin- integrate." By passing such legis- phone.