The Texas Observer An Independent-Liberal Weekly Newspaper A Window to the South Vol. 53 TEXAS, APRIL 25, 1961 15c per copy No. 3 An Editorial Speculation on Senate, Governor 5he mortal 45 SALES TAX MAKES IT There comes a time, in the dormant (36 other states hav- AUSTIN Speculation in Austin now cen- the governor has never firmly reporting of state affairs, when ing passed such a law), they It was a patchwork coali- ters on Gov. Price Daniel. As a said he would wield the veto on persistent foe of a general sales a sales tax. a newspaper of whatever poli- voted for the banks. In the tion of hard-core conserva- fight over the revised franchise tives, a few moderates, and a tax, will he veto the bill if it If the bill clears the Senate, tical persuasion concerned with tax, which would have made handful of dissident liberals passes the Senate? His statement Daniel has the choice of either the greater welfare of the aver- the burden fall less heavily on who this week put the 1961 just after House passage, though vetoing, signing it, or merely let- age citizen of the domain must the small Texas businessman Texas House of Representa- critical, was cautiously non-corn- ting it become law without his tell the people who their real (only one other state having tives in the history books as mital. "I am not going to stand signature. While the legislature idly by and let 90 percent of the is in session he has ten days to enemies are. failed to pass such a formula), the House that passed the they voted with the large inter- sales tax. tax load be put on the already sign or veto, twenty days out of overloaded family budgets," he session. Four weeks now remain It is no pleasant task. We state corporations. In the fight over the "loophole" bill, when said—but there was no mention in the regular session; the gov- cannot pretend to fathom the the revised franchise tax Willie Morris of a veto. Questioned in the past, (Continued on Page 3) complex motivations of indi- again emerged and when the The success of the measure, vidual representatives in an issue of retiring the state's which survived its first and most elective democracy. We are all deficit could not have been crucial test by one vote and then too well aware than one can more clear, they again voted cruised home on final passage by Houston Crowd against the home-based Texas interpret the decisions of elec- 14, caught House anti-sales tax industry and against a partial forces totally by surprise. When tive officials in the broader solution to the state's financial the two-day debate started Thurs- idiom of the inherent failures needs that would not hit the day morning, opponents did not Cheers Birch Head and shortcomings of the dem- consumer. give it a chance. HOUSTON Hume Everett, attorney for the ocracy itself, of its sad mis- This list is straightforward. Three thousand American- Ohio Oil Co., keynoter of a Free- dom in Action convention, one- informations, its awkward hesi- It is undiluted. It does not in- ists heard what they wanted time speaker on a Christian Anti- tations, its tragic weaknesses clude conscientious and con- to hear Robert Welch say this week, and then some. Communism Crusade program, in the face of greater strengths cerned conservatives — Reed Quilliam and Menton Murray, They pledged allegiance and but functioning Tuesday evening and greater powers. We feel, as president of the Houston chap- for example—who have under- sang the anthem and cascaded ter of the Sons of the American nonetheless, that the average stood the problem and voted down upon the tomb of Joe Revolution, opened the evening's citizen of Texas has a right to with the people in one or two McCarthy a thunderous ova- ceremonies by telling the photog- know. or three instances. tion. It was a whing-ding for the right wing. raphers they could photograph A vote against the escheats Only ten days before, the sales- The leader of the John Birch Welch while he posed at the mic- bill, by itself, might be ex- taxers had withdrawn the Allen- Society told the packed Music rophones, but could not take any plained in terms of overween- Harding sales tax from the House Hall that the federal and some pictures during his speech. "So ing pressures from local bank- calendar because it did not have state governments are controlled have at it—Shoot us any way you ers; or against the mild and the votes. A conservative caucus by the communists and their cap- want it, except dead," Everett simple franchise tax revision the night before Thursday's de- tives. said. in terms of overweening pres- bate, skeptical of Trinity liberal The defenders of Welch teet sures from corporations offi- Charles Wilson's sponsorship of Ronnie Dugger they have been embattled by the cials in a district ; or against the sales tax, was seriously split U.S. press, particularly Time Mag- the "loophole" bill in terms of azine. Welch had refused to have on tactics. It was only after the The New Deal was "foreign, overweening pressures from a press conference on arriving in fight had started that conserva- phony, and a failure." The com- There were 76 members of the Austin lobby to avoid fore- Houston, and the day before he tives quietly went to work in munists engineered the defeat of the Texas House of Representa- stalling a sales tax and hence had told a Dallas reporter he does earnest. Moving from one victory Robert Taft in the contest for the tives who voted this week for making a tax on the man mak- not talk to newspapers that are to another, they gradually 1952 Republican nomination for a general retail sales tax. These ing $2500 a year with four against his Society. brought the situation under firm president. The communists want- 76 well knew that the tax they children and a house mortgage control. ed to destroy McCarthy because Rev. T. Robert Ingram, rector were voting would fall heavily more easy. But a vote against The House-passed bill would his method was "to expose com- of St. Thomas Episcopal Church on the low to middling income all of these, coupled with a levy a two percent tax on all re- munists," Welch said. and an opponent, of the United groups in Texas. Some 21 of vote for a sales tax, is most Nations and the welfare state, de- tail sales, with exemptions on When he declared, "Basically, them, in their own judgment, indicative. For these, let there livered the invocation. He asked food, medicine, farm machinery, and with very minor exceptions, had voted for previous taxes— be no doubt, are the elected that the President "use the force and several other diverse items. indeed, there was nothing wrong taxes which in very small meas- representatives who can stake of this people only to the punish- Wilson, who masterfully guided with McCarthy's methods from ure would draw upon sources no claim to Jefferson's dictum, ment of wickedness in other gov- the bill through a host of amend- the point of view of the patriotic other than the modest and lim- "The average man of the com- ernments" and then led the assem- ments, estimated its yield at $127 American," the arched ceiling al- ited spending potential of those monwealth, without the power million annually. bly in the Lord's Prayer. families which, in the suppos- to expect the aid and sympa- most billowed off into the night It goes now to the Senate, from the applause. After the pledge of allegiance, edly lucrative and sometimes thy of the gentleman he elects, Donald Peters, American Legion bawdy economy of the state should nonetheless expect his where sentiment for such a meas- ure is know to be stronger even Giggles and F.I.A. leader who a week be- of Texas, have not found the aid and sympathy, because "I can find you a lot more Har- fore assisted in thwarting a Texas going easy. without his proper representa- than in the House. How, specifi- cally, the conservative upper vard accents in communist circles Legion endorsement of the Birch- tion in the American system today than you can find me over- ers, led in the singing of the na- There is another group out he is but a cloud in the wind, chamber will deal with it remains of this 76, numbering 45, who problematical, however. With all all," he quipped to the crowd's tional anthem and the fourth or a simple atom in the uni- vast delight. verse of the Battle Hymn of the have not found the decision so verse." 31 senators up for re-election next difficult. They have voted at year, a sales tax is considered po- Furthermore, 7,000 Protestant Republic. every turn against the people. The following representa- litical dynamite, and a voice vote clergymen in the United States Everett explained that the group In the fight over the escheats tives are those who have voted on final passage would be greatly are "comsymps." And what is a of elderly men on the stage were bill, which merely would have AGAINST the escheats bill, preferred. But it would be a ma- comsymp? "Either a communist all officials of the Sons of the given to the people those funds the revised franchise tax, and jor surprise if the Senate did not or a sympathizer with communist American Revolution.