St. Paul recorder. [volume], August 17, 1956, Image 2

About St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
ST. PAUL RECORDER
"An Independent Newspaper"
KetMbllehed Auyuat 10, 1884, by Cecil K. Newman
Published Every Friday by ftpokaemaa-Recorder Publishing Co., Inc.
lit Newton B jlldlng '257 Minnesota ML). Mt. Paul 1. Minnesota
Minneapolis dfhce. 24 8 Third Avenue Mouth, Minneapolis 15, Minnesota
CApital 2 i)922 - PHONES 9 EEderal .‘> 7071
Watered as second-clasa matter Tune 24, 1888 at the Post Gffhe at Mt.
Paul, Minnesota, under the Art of March 8, 1878 Post master, please
forward form 8678 to 242 Third Ave. Mo., Minneapolis IS, Minnesota.
* Ml HMRIFNO* RATES
Minnesota, North and Mouth Dakota, one year 84.08; oil months, 12 80
All other states |8 00 per year; six months 88.00. All mall subscriptions
E ay able strictly In advance.
•oTT' K. Howman .7 .... . li>iltor-f*ybhsher
Curtis C. Chivers sales
Mildred T. Jordan Newe and Advertising
Nell Dodson Bussell Contributing Editor
Josole Mhopard Modal A Personal Nows
Cheater W. Patterson Advertising
Gloria Wilkerson Chambers ,Bookkeeping
Jimmie Griffin * Mports
Louise Hughes Clerk
Dale E. Margent P r nation
Mk>ux--FaDa. K>utK oajtoTa Correspondent, lira "T>an Coates, Fl 8 Her til
Mabie. Mioux Falls, South Dakota
Dulutn, Minnesota Correspondent, Miss O. Pickford, 81? N. Fifth Ave. E
Duluth, Minnesota
nnai AdvertTslng ftepreawn tatlvss:
eat 4ith Mt. Now York 18, N. Y.—Chicago Office: 188 W Washing
toay Chloafw 8 r Illinois.
WoalCoastTrCepr oven tat Ivos: Robert C 7 WhaTey do.. ’lf’ Hew Mont gome ry
Mt.. Han Francisco 8, Calif., Telephone gutter 1-8872. I*oe Angeles Office
8881 Hollywood Phono- HOllywood 8-710.
Memberi Natleaal Editorial A ■•oelatton
Mrmhrri Mlsnrw«t« Editorial Aaaerlatlea
Member. Watlnaal Newspaper INabllsbrra Aaaerlatloa
Mows MoFvToea Assioefated Negro TFesis, (Ton! Inentai Features and
Newsproos Photos
WTT n.w.p.p.r ■ s.um.a no ...pon.fhlllty for un.oii. It«<l m.ivur'lpr-,
phatos or engravings. Much ar, submitted at owner's rlak.
finXECOftDEK bellevesno man should hr denied the right io
eaatrlbute hla boat to humanity. An long aa that right la denied any
man( no man’s right, are Safa.
FRIDAY, AUGUST IT. IBM
New Southern Strategy
Tha sagrsgatlonlsta of the South these days, are utilizing more
subtle tactics in an effort to win their hopeless battle. Its leadership
has discovered that the old crude tactics of lynching, murder and
violence brings nationwide revulsion and reaction.
Home of them are even frowning now on economic boycotts since
the Montgomery bus strikes. In the rural areas the reign of terror
still continues but In urban centers business Interests, taking a new
look at the situation have decided to soft-pedal boycotts because the
Negroes have at their command, their consumers buying power which
can be used to answer the economic boycotts.
One of the new methods being used are well planned, well exe
cuted, public relations campaigns, some of them sparked by the
southern dally press to convince northern white people that they do
treat the Negro minority any better than the South does.
This campaign is proving successful with people who do not think
for themselves, but with those who know or have been exposed to the
facta It Is a flop.
It doesn’t take a Master’s degree or even an elementary school
education to know that there Is just as much difference In the treat
ment accorded Negroes In any northern state and the most liberal
southern state as the difference between night and day.
The North la no Utopia in race relations, but It Is so far In ad
vance of the South that there Is just no comparison at all. Northerners
white and black, work unceasingly to bring about equality of oppor
tunity for all Americans.
Southern publicists know thia but they feel that by developing a
guilt complex in the north via the press and Ha leadership It will re
duce the chances of this section continuing Its affirmative action a
gainat race segregation and In support of the Supreme Court decision
on school segregation.
The “Hucksters’” Are Coining
For the next twelve weeks citizens of this great Republic are go
ing to be the objects of the greatest mass of political propoganda
ever unleashed on a helpless, defenseless people.
No American of any ago, lie be an uncomprehending in
fMH In swaddling clot As or a hermit hidden back in the mountains or
forests Is going to escape the flood of radio, TV. newspaper, bill board,
direct mail and sound truck appeals which will be launched at the
nation.
Bombast, misrepresentations, demogogery, all will be wrapped up
and palmed off aa the goapel truth. Political orators will drone on and
on from platform, radio and TV mike. Many will be concerned in
principles many more In being elected to office by any means avail
able.
Americans love a show and while the selection of a President is
a momentous, serious task, the manner In which American political
parties carry on their campaigns Is as much like a three-ring circus
as any Barnum and Bailey or Ringling Brothers ever put on the road.
The general public, the voters like these kinds of campaigns and
because the Average American has so many interests developed by
the nation's high standard of living, a great deal of Imagination and
planning is necessary to gain the attention or hold the average citi
zen through the sources of communication.
Often, because of thia, candidates and parties have to resort to
the sensational, the overstatement to arouse controversy which will
attract and hold the voters’ attention. Moat people will run to look at
a fight and often get Into it themselves and the |>eople in the com
munication business know thia.
This accounts to a large degree for the tendency of parties and
candidates to overstatement. The more acute citizens, aware of the
techniques are apt to compare the statements of the opposing politi
cal antagonists and decide that the real truth is somewhere between
the opposite viewpoints.
Of all the mediums of Information moat satisfactory for
the thinking citizen who seeks accurate information on candidates,
party pledges and action, we think that the newspaper is able to do
the best Job for the voter.
Other media have their value, but a newspaper la a lasting thing
which does not vanish unless It Is cast aside. The value of a state
ment printed In the columns 01 a newspaper can be weighed and re
weighed by the reader in a leisurely objective fashion The printed
word gives the voter opportunity to check and recheck the position of
candidates as the campaign grows more heated. Unaoundneas. phony
reasoning, insincerity all stand out in a newsi>aper paragraph like a
sore thumb.
The best newspapers otter editorial examination of party plat
forms and candidates, weighing the merits of proposals and often giv
ing Incisive estimates of political issues based on clone examination
and Investigation. This type of service rendered only by the news
papers of ail of the different media is a real service to the nation
All of the other media have their value but we don’t think we are
being narrow or selfish to take the position that the newspaper gives
the best and most enduring sendee to voters who want to intelligently
appraise the men and measures In the Presidential year
We Started out this piece to warn our renders of the barrage of
printed, spoken and even sung political medlclna they should expect
from now on. It's criming in large donee and It is expected to be the
biggest display of the art of selling American political candidates
In U. 8. history Get ready, get set'
EDITORIAL SHORTS
Any suggestion that the American Negro must earn the right to
full citizenship Is without merit or substance. We submit that no
other subdivision of Americana have done so much for so little
citizenship accorded From Boston Commons to Korea, the American
Negro has patriotically shed hla blood for his country and for a demo
cracy that he and many of his brothers have not even been allowed
to share
We submit the majority group will not have earned its right to
full citizenship, until it has discharged Its responsibility by seeing
that all Americana enjoy equality of citlsenahip alike.
Even If most Russians can only afford one pair of shoea. we im
agine they love their country aa much aa we do ours with all Its
faults
Trying to prove that there is something wrong with Russia
simply because they do not have as high a standard of living aa the
U. 8. Is so much nonsense With the exception of one of the Scandin
avian countries we perhaps enjoy the highest standard of living In
the world—but that doesn't prove anything except that we are a
fortunate, hard working nation with plenty of natural resources The
Good Lord has smiled upon us.
see
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’.T ,5 HUMAN BE N6S FVEfEVWHESE j /\
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NAACP On The Spot
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
la really on the spot in Alabama. Because it refused to turn over
certain records to the state, it has been ordered to pay a fine of
1100,000 for "brazen contempt" of court. At the heart of the NAACP's
refusal was its fear of the consequences if its membership lists were
made public. Spokesmen explained that this might result in the loss
of public and private jobs, attempts at Intimidation and the actual
use of force.
Unfortunately, there is more that a little justification for the
NAACP's fears. That organization and its members have taken quite
a beating In the south since the anti-segregation decision.
Several of Its leaders have been murdered Many members have
reported that they were subjected to economic pressures, threats and
even acta of violence. In Georgia, the state board of education made
membership In the NAACP cause for dismissing a teacher. South
Carolina has decided that no NAACP members shall hold a state
job. Louisiana has outlawed that organization. From the way the
south has been shoving the NAACP around, one would never suspect
that It la a perfectly respectable organization dedicated to some of
the very objectives which the United States supreme court has up
held.
We are not defending the NAACP for refusing to release its
membership Hats in Alabama. What we are protesting la the atmos
phere of pressure and intimidation which makes the NAACP genuinely
fearful of publicizing those lists.
It is a shameful thing when members of an organization dedicated
to the advancement of colored people by lawful means cannot walk
the streets of any American community free and unafraid. The civil
rights bill which the senate strangled would have helped to guarantee
Justice to Negroes In the south now living in the shadow of fear and
coercion. What a pity it was not passed! Minneapolis TRIBUNE
NAACP's First Duty
The first duty of the NAACP is to protect its members from
fear, oppression and unlawful discrimination.
There is nothing else tor it to do but protect those who have
placed their confidence In it, even if it means payment of SIO,OOO,
*IOO,OOO or a million in southern court fines.
That kind of courage In the face of the known fact that judges
and lawyers In Alabama have sworn to defy the Supreme Court
through the White Citizens Councils and are members of the councils
Indicates the seriousness of the case and the determination of the
colored people to be governed by democratic practices alone.
To Insist upon enjoyment of all the rights guaranteed by the
United States Constitution is not contemptuous, but patriotism of
the kind that has made America the beacon light for all men who
dream and struggle to be free.— Afro American, Baltimore
P. L. Prattis On The U. S. News And
World Report
Perhaps the outstanding anti-Communist, anti-Russia prestige
publication in the United States is United States News and World
Report, Week after week, this writer, a subscriber, is treated to the
anti-Communist porridge cooked over in new style. This has been
going on for years.
But United States News and World Report, which has big eyes
for everything Russian and communist, has small compunction for
the basic rights of America's 17,000.000 black citizens. It publishes
many articles about Negroes and whites and about Negro-white re
lations but the objective of United States News and World Report
becomes clearer with publication of each issue. It is not concerned
with the rights of Negroes, nor with justice for Negroes.
It is concerned only with the rights of white Americans and the
problem which 17.000,000 black Americana create for white Americans
It is interested in finding and publishing excuses for the white man's
behavior toward the Negro.
Thus Is throws itself into the situation in the nation's capital
Washington. It presents a horrendous picture of middle-class whites
running away, of the city being taken over by criminally inclined,
disease, I Negroes.
United States News and World Report gave the Manifesto signers
their first Important chance to speak through former Gov. James F.
Byrnes Now this publication adroitly, by loaded questions, builds
the case against Integration tn Washington.
Negroes should be grateful that Commissioner Thomas E. Mc-
Laughlin of the District of Columbia Commission, recognized the
kind of pitches hl* quest toners hurled at him.
Why is It that these anti-Communists. white and colored, never
bleat FOR ua. Did you ever hear McCarthy. Fulton. Lewis, Sokolaky.
or any of the rest deplore minus crocodile tears, what happens to us ’
Quit yer kiddin'! P. L. Prattle in the Pittsburgh COURIER
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I Could Lead Republicans to Victory
Says Harold Stassen
"I could lead the Republican party to victory", Harold E. Stassen
proclaimed in a radio program earlier thia week. Stassen was com
menting on the situation which could prevail If President Eisen
howers health prevented him from seeking re-election.
The former Minnesota governor added that "he always has had
strong support from the nation’s youth and agricultural and labor
group* because of his ‘liberal and progressive’ views”.
It’s nice to have confidence in one’s ability but in Stassen's case
we think he's "stretching things pretty far". All of us can easily
remember Stassen's situation only four years ago when he was given
a stiff fight for the GOP presidential nomination in Minnesota even
though his name was the only one which appeared on the Republican
ballot. Voters thought so little of the former governor that they went
to the trouble of writing in the name of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
even though at that time it was not certain if be was a candidate, and
If a candidate, if he was a Republican or Democrat.
Almost anyone will admit that the support of Stassen in Min
nesota is more of a liability than an asset. We don’t know of anyone
seeking public office in Minnesota who would be proud to admit that
he had the "blessing and backing" of Stassen. In fact, we're sure
that should any such insinuation be made, it would be hurriedly and
heatedly denied by the individual Involved.
We're sure that if Stassen made the statement that "I can be
elected dogcatcher in Alexandria” he would be making boastful re
marks as it is doubtful if he could be elected even though we have
found in Alexandria that It is necessary to beg people in this city
to accept this important civic position. The Park (Minn.) Region
ECHO.
What Price Party Unity?
President Elsenhower’s very moderate civil rights program was
passed by the House Monday and now goes to the Senate, where It
should give rise to some earnest soul searching among the northern
Democrats.
The question for them is whether they put partisan politics or
civil rights first. The chances are overwhelming that not a single
Democratic champion of civil rights will put this principle ahead of
partisan politics and bolt his party, as Senator Morse of Oregon bolted
the Republican party on what he considered a higher principle than
party unity.
If this bill cannot be brought to a vote on the floor of the Senate
against the opposition of southern leaders of the Democratic majority,
then no civil rights legislation can be passed as long as those men
hold the key positions In that body.
In the House there usually comes an end sometime to obstruction
and filibustering. But under the rules of the Senate any sufficiently
determined senators, especially if they are In key spots as are the
southerners, can hold up legislation practically indefinitely.
The Democratic party of course is split right down the Mason-
Dixon line on civil rights.
The position of the southerners is crystal clear; they are flatly
opposed to civil rights for Negroes.
But the position of northern Democrats, Senator Humphrey of
this state among them, is muddled. They want on the one hand to
hold on to the vote of the Negroes and other minorities in the big
northern cities. They are for civil rights, therefore, on the record.
They talk civil rights and they vote civil rights.
However, at the very same time they want to keep Democratic
control over Congresss, no matter what may happen on the presi
dency. even while knowing well that Democratic control over Con
gress is the death of civil rights. To this end they will fight against
a split of the party and they will in effect be fighting for a southern
veto over the issue they claim to support.
Northern Democratic senators can be for civil rights or they can
be for party unity, but they cannot be for both at the same time. —St.
Paul Pioneer Press
White Citizens Councils Pose New
Threat To Labor
The White Citizens Councils are something more than a blot on
southern honor and chivalry; they are a clear and present danger to
the labor movement. Taking a leaf from the Communists’ book of
tactics, the Councils are now infiltrating trade unions in the South.
It is no accident that the chief supporters of the so-called "right
‘to-work" laws are now the chief Lackers of a vicious attempt to use
the race Issue to divide and conquer organized labor. The new Ku
Klux Klan without hoods is making a special effort to recruit union
members, to seduce the union man Into fighting his union.
The union faced with run-away shops knows the importance of
organizing in the South. The union negotiating with America’s in
dustrial giants knows that the southern differential acts as a drag on
wages and working conditions. However, the nation-wide Implications
of the “hate movement” fostered by the White Citizens Councils are
not so clearly recognized.
H. L. Mitchell, President of the National Agricultural Workers
Union, in a special report to the Jewish Labor Committee's recent
Trade Union Conference on Civil Rights declared that the Councils
may "set the labor movement back ten years.” He reported that the
Councils have definite ties to anti-labor organizations in the North
and predicted White Citizen cells in Detroit and other northern cities
within a year.
Mitchell's warning was underscored by race-baiting Senator
Eastland, who has made it only too clear that the Council movement
is not to be confined to the South. Eastland declared:
"It is essential that a nation-wide organization be set up. It will
be ... a people's organization to fight the AFL-CIO, to fight the
NAACP, and to fight all the conscienceless pressure groups who are
attempting our destruction ..."
The AFL-CIO has no intention of giving way before its enemies.
Labor’s support of desegregation and civil rights remains firm. As
Boris Shishkin. Director of the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department
pointed out, the policy of equality of opportunity is "ingrained in the
whole structure of the U. S. labor movement’'
We believe that workers in the South are well award of the
dangers posed by the White Citizens Councils. We are confident that
the deep-rooted traditions of the labor movement. Its devotion to
freedom and human brotherhood will prevail. -Editorial from JLC
Labor Reports
Domestic Brickerism
The Senate Judiciary Committee has chosen to show its displeas
ure with the Supreme Court by approving a bill that could only cause
untold legal chaos in the area of Federal-state legislation. Senators
Kefauver and Langer- -one liberal Democrat and one maverick Re
publican could alone be found to vote against the bipartisan East
land-Jenner-Dirksen-McCiellan group that endorsed this ultra-re
actionary measure in the face of Administration objections.
The proposal would in effect forbid the Supreme Court from hold
ing that an act of Congress deeding with matters also covered by
state legislation preempted the field unless Congress specifically said
so. This may sound technical, but its result would be to throw into
doubt a mass of Federal enactments dealing with labor and many
other matters that the courts have consistently ruled took precedence
over state laws in the same area.
The measure is retroactive, so that it would apply to all past acts
of Congress that failed expressly to state that exclusive jurisdiction
was reserved to the Federal Government.
It would cause unlimited confusion, not to mention a direct rever
sal of the historical development of judicial doctrine in this country.
The immediate impetus to the Judiciary Committee's action on
this bill—which was introduced in the Senate by Mr McClellan last
winter—is probably the Supreme Court’s decision in the Nelson case.
The high tribunal there held that state sedition laws were invalid in
asmuch as the Smith Act and other legislation indicated that Congress
bed pre-empted the field. In our view, this decision was entirely in
conformity with common sense as well as with the spirit of the Fed
eral Union. But is aroused deep resentment on the part of states'-
righters. whose anger with the Supreme Court has been growing
ever since the anti-segregation decision of 1954.
It seems to us that what the pending bill, sponsored by twelve
Senators, all Southern - really represents is an effort to "take it out"
on the Supreme Court by drastically limiting Its powers. The pro
posal represents a throwback toward fractionallzation of our country,
a domestic form of Brickeriam.
If Congress wants to share authority with the states there is
nothing to prevent it from expressly declaring its purpose, law by
law; but that is quite a different matter from adopting a blanket pro
visions giving up exclusive jurisdiction in respect to the past as well
as the future.—N. Y. TIMES
No man is a liberal who believes that one should be segregated
by law on the basis of race No man is liberal who believes one race
is biologically superior to another By this definition liberals are
few—Dr. Benjamin Maya.
Page 2, St Paul RECORDER. Friday, August 17. 1956
PUBLISHIfiS CORNER
Weekly newspaper editors and publishers in the smaller com
munities often sene as the town social worker, civic booster, town
confidante, oracle and problem settler, in addition to earning a living
at the onerous duties most of the time connected with the business of
providing the community with a news medium.
The editor and publisher of a class medium such as this even in
cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul often finds himself in the posi
tion of his country press cousins.
The ordinary folks don't get in our thinning hair so much and
often they give us news or editorial tips, but its the assorted crack
pots who camp in our outer office which almost slay us.
Just get the reputation of not being afraid to publish the news
as you see it, and the people with special causes, many of them purely
personal and the result of cracked thinking, converge on the luck
less publisher.
The pitiful thing about it is that most of these people are good
folks, but just a little cracked on some special subject, and they
thrive on presenting their special projects or ideas to any one who
will listen. When they find an editor or publisher who will listen they
usually “go to town.”
When we think of the hours we have given up to this type of
situation it almost makes us ill. The only consolation is that perhaps
listening to some of these unfortunate folks have in some manner
helped them a bit.
They usually follow a pattern. They come in the office and state
that through some conspiracy they have been denied access to the
columns of some other newspaper. It doesn't take long, usually, even
when their account rambles on to learn that what they have wanted
some newspaper to print is either not news, is libelous, or is an at
tempt to get the public press to settle some personal squabble or
right an imaginary wrong.
A few of our callers in the past 25 years have really been mentally
ill and some have records of hospitalization, but most of them are
what would be considered “normal" persons.
Then there are the "promoters.” They offer a range of schemes
from exporting all Negroes to Africa to building a 50 story office
building in memory of Abraham Lincoln. Some of them want us to
promote beauty contests or have a scheme whereby they can sell
enough of our papers to put the Pioneer PRESS and the STAR A
TRIBUNE out of business.
Some of them are sore at some state, county or city official and
want us to print a critical story about the individual. Of course they
don't want their own names used in connection with the material.
Some of the married women are anxious that we publish a story
about some woman whom they think is “sweet” on their husband. Any
suggestion that no reputable newspaper could afford to invade the
privacy of individuals is received with disbelief and often they leave
the office muttering that we’ve been “bought and paid for.”
Some of the callers offer bribes and one poorly dressed fellow
presented five »100 bills as evidence of his good faith. He said one of
the banks is his home town had cooperated with a public utility in
stealing his patent worth a million dollars and he wanted the bank
and the utility exposed.
The five hundred dollars proffered made his conversation as loose
as it was worth investigating. We didn’t take the money but it made
his story interesting. A trip to the town revealed that the man had
considerable property and was a good man except that he was “off on
the one subject of a utility firm stealing his patent. Investigation
revealed that actually the patent in question was his brother’s whose
widow and children living in a distant city receive monthly royalty
checks for the invention.
We still listen to a lot of people in the course of our week’s work,
but we have learned to a great degree to cull out the bonifide from
the spurious and the confused souls who haunt the offices of news
papers everywhere.—Cecil Newman
DON’T BE AN ENVY ADDICT
People who eat away their insides being envious of others have
their terrible malady written all over their faces and manners. They
are destroying their personalities, and often have gone so far up the
road of jealousy and hatred it would be easier for an alcoholic to make
a comeback. People in a community ••• should learn to avoid this pit
fall, for all around us are people who are progressing and prospering
by the day. We should be thankful for their prosperity, for that
means the rest of us will also have it better all the time.—Archibald
(O.) BUCKEY E
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs,
maybe you just don’t understand the situation. —Ivanhoe (Minn.)
Times.
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