St. Paul recorder. [volume], March 07, 1963, Image 2

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

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let’s Demand An
Explanation Of This
... House File 483 is a bill which ostensibly deals
with the problem of voters who face disfranchise
ment In a presidential election because they have
recently moved to the state. It ostensibly extends
the franchise for the presidential election to voters
with as little as three months residency instead of
the presently required six months.
This bill comes to the legislature under respect
able auspices: the commission on uniform legislation
of the Council of State Governments. It has been
introduced in the Minnesota house by respected and
sincere legislators who certainly cannot be suspected
of ulterior motives.
But it is a bad, not to say cynical and outrage
ous bill.
If it set out to do what it pretends, it would
simply provide for the franchise for all citizens on
proof of three months residency. Instead, it provides
for procedures that might please a Philadelphia
lawyer and Dixie vote registrar but hardly anybody
else.
Among other things, it absolutely excludes from
its provisions the Negro who has moved to Minne
sota from any of a number of Dixiecrat states like
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Caro
lina.
We charge that their exclusion is cynical and
deliberate on the part of the Council of State Gov
ernments it Is achieved by requiring, as a condition
of qualifying for the vote, the certificate of the
local election judge from the voter’s previous pre
cinct. One of the motives of the Negro who comes
to Minnesota from Dixie is to obtain such advant
ages of citizenship as the vote which these same
election judges have denied him. The Council of
State Governments has written into this "model” law
a provision as ingenious, dishonest and outrageous
as any of the many inventions of Dixie’s white su
premacy vote commissioners.
The bill should be withdrawn.
And an explanation should be demanded from
the Council of State Governments.
Adam Clayton Powell
Congressman From Harlem
When Congressman Adam Clayton Powell told
Washington newsmen at a press conference called
by him to answer the Senate floor attack made on
him by Senator John Williams (Rep., Del.) he is
alleged to have stated that the nation's Negro press
was solidly behind him.
We beg to differ with Congressman Powell on
that particular statement because we are not part of
that press which "is behind him,” and there are lots
more papers like us tired of Mr. Powell's 'capers’. At
the same time neither are we against him for the
same reasons which the daily press and a few Re
publican politicians are.
Our criticism of Adam Clayton Powell, expressed
before in these columns is that he has failed to use
his great natural ability, political acumen and
energy in such a way that he could have reflected
credit upon the Negro community In Harlem which
originally elected him to office and the American
Negro in general. He’s been no inspiration to the
Negro.
Powell with great natural gifts, a well trained
mind has by carelessness and irresponsibility wasted
those great God-given talents on the flotsam and
jetsam of life and to some extent, his own personal
material advancement. When he has wanted to be
and persevered he has been a good lawmaker but
that hasn’t been often or constant
While we do not consider his Senate critic John
Williams a particularly good friend of the American
Negro's advancement, we think Powell’s claim that
the Senator’s attack was made on him solely be
cause Powell is considered to be a Negro is all so
much hogwash. As Star & Tribune Washington Bur
eau chief Richard Wilson said in Sunday’s paper
Powell Is "only part Negro.” Holy Moses, most Ne
groes are only “part Negro,” or hasn't Mr. Wilson
noticed this American fact of life. We don’t con
sider Senator Williams or any public official who
signs a real estate racial or religious covenant a
good American in the highest sense.
While most Negro newspapers have never been
too happy about Powell's flamboyant escapades, pol
itical switches and absenteeism, they know for their
money, there are three or four dozen Congressmen
and some Senators, too who have been guilty of
most of the things which Senator Williams decried
in Powell.
American Negroes help pay the salaries of a
large number of Congressmen and Senators too, who
would like to keep the entire group in subjection in
this democratic society. Therefore they are not about
to get excited because Powell has been doing what
other members of Congress have been doing for
years. This attitude does not mean they feel
Powell's defense that "others are doing it” is
necessarily an admirable or legitimate defense. Most
American Negroes wish Adam Clayton Powell would
settle down and become the Congressman they
hoped he would be when the Negroes of New York
City elected him.
Powell’s main trouble is that he is selfish, dic-
ST. PAUL RECORDER
"An Independent Newspaper"
Established August 10, 1114, by Cecil E. Newman
Published Ever r Thursday by Spokesman-Recorder Publishing Co., Ine.,
Wl New York Building (6th and Minnesota) St Paul 1, Minnesota.
’ourth Avenue South,
Inneapol
-lass Postage Paid at St. Paul, Minnesota,
form Hit to 1144 Fourth Avenue South. Minn
’Aylor 7-4021
subscription rates
Minnesota, North and South Dakota, one year ss.oo; six months SI.OO.
All other states SO.OO per year; six months, $4.00. All mall subscriptions
payable strictly In advance.
Cecil E. Newihdn Editor-Publisher
Oscar H. Newman Assistant Editor
Curtis C. Chivers Advertising Manager
Clara Pettlford Social A Personal News, JA. 0-4114
Harriet Jones Social A Personal News
Louise Hughes ....
Gloria Hayes
James Slssoh
Verner M. Larson .
Jerry Wsblnger ....
National Advertising Representatives: Amalgamated Publishers, Inc., 310
Madison Avenue, New Tork 17, N.Y. MUrray Hill 2-54S2.—Chicago Office:
1M W. Washington, Chicago 2, Illinois.
Member) Notional Editorial Association
MOmberi Mlnnesotn Newspaper Assoelntlon
Mnnshnri Nntlonnl Newnpnper Pnbllnhers Ansoelntlon
Mows Sorvloes: Associated Negro Prose, Continental Features and
Nawsprsss Photos
aaaumas no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts,
Inrs, Snch are submitted at owner's risk.
ffct BBOOKDER boHowi no man should be denied the right to
Hi hast to hnmantty. As long os that right Is denied any
mmm, an aante rights are and*.
tatorial and has lost all sense of responsibility to the
people who elected him and the American racial sub
division with which he has ostensibly thrown his lot
all these years.
In a sense he’s like a lot of the southern Dixie
crats who by keeping the Negro from the polls for
years have been reelected time and time again
and have become arrogant and intolerant, flouting
tlie basic rules of conduct which people really expect
representatives in the Congress to observe.
We have no quarrell with any other Congress
man spending the counterpart funds which are due
the U.S. and cannot be spent outside the country
where they are held. We would rather see some of
our Congressmen spending the money than have it
laying around in foreign banks. Most of our federal
lawmakers have real tough jobs, and if they get a
chance to go to Paris and spend some of the im
pounded funds having a real good old time, we see
nothing particularly wrong with it even if it is done
by Mr. Powell.
Taxes, Here And
Elsewhere
Informed and sophisticated citizens have al
ways recognized as propaganda the proposition that
Minnesota tax policies, by comparison with those
of other states, discourage business and industry.
Much of the time the propaganda has seemed from
90 to 100 per cent phony, especially when it has
been used to promote sales taxes.
Recently we got an insight into the phoniness
of this line of talk from a source that can hardly be
said to be prejudiced on the liberal side of the tax
argument.
TIME’S March 1 issue presents a round-up of
states that are in deep fiscal trouble. Of the nine
states listed, at least five now have general sales
taxes ranging from a relatively modest one in Ohio
to a viciously oppressive one in Illinois. The sales
tax, nevertheless, has failed to rescue these states
from financial trouble. Ohio, reports TIME, has
fired 3,500 employees and ordered a 9.1 per cent
cutback in state spending (which means, of course,
“state services”). It has made advance collections
of corporation taxes and is using S7O millions of
creditors' money by delaying payments on state
liquor dispensary purchases.
Tennessee’s sales tax has proved Insufficent,
and that state is now talking about extending the
sales tax to electricity (this will, of course, extend
the "favorable tax climate" that our phony friends
like to talk about to the industrial users of power).
Illinois, now taxing its citizens 3.5 and 4 per
cent on their purchases, needs S2OO million more,
and is talking—of all things—about an income tax!
New Mexico has found the 2 per cent sales tax in
adequate and has considered, such devices as taxing
Christmas trees.
The picture is not all black, however. We think
the most instructive thing is what happened in
North Carolina. There the state imposed a sales tax
on food. The revenues are so large that the state is
preparing to return part of them to the taxpayers.
Not, however, to the sales-taxpayers who produced
the revenue. To, the taut relief if any, will go to the
income-taxpayers!
This helps to illustrate what the sales tax people
are driving at.
Managers And Management
Of The News
The rather strident campaign, by those who
manage the news, to Indict President Kennedy on
charges of managing the news has us somewhat
bemused. The managers of the news —those who
gather it, write it, select it, edit it, dispatch it, and
broadcast and print it—are dead serious about this.
Recently, a few people who are involved in the man
agement of the news have ventured a dissent to the
effect that possibly President Kennedy was right in
not telegraphing his punch to Nikita (through the
American press) in the Cuba crisis; and the rest of
the management people jumped on these mavericks
like police on a bookseller.
Sometimes the charges are hilarious, as when
Washington Correspondent May Craig, in front of
the TV cameras, bawled out the President for his
crime, and wound up asking the President to define
his crime! Sometimes they are merely silly, like
those of the repetitious Richard Wilson, which boil
down to accusations against the President of dis
agreeing with his (Wilson’s) judgment.
And sometimes they are puzzling, especially
when the accuser gets specific. Robert Smith got
specific in the February 24 Tribune. He said the ad
ministration withheld the results of a public opinion
poll in Europe. And he repeated the accusation re
garding the Cuba crisis. That's all. That’s manage
ment of the news by the administration.
What’s puzzling about it is the attention which
the managers are giving to so small a list of griev
ances. We know amateurs in this field who could
compile a lot more impressive list against the real
managers of the news.
Inn—polls
latmasUr please
oils t, Minnesota
TAylor 7-4022
-PHONES—
Classified A Circulation
Bookkeeping
Advertising
Production
Pressman
DRY POINTS
BY FRED ORAM
Many Republicans are optimistic
about the prospects for the next
presidential election. Their prin
cipal assets: Governor Rockefeller,
Senator Goldwater, and a stable of
newspaper pundits prepared to
prove that Rocky is at heart just
as conservative as Barry, and that
in Barry lurks a liberalism just as
sincere as Rocky’s.
The handy man around the
house tends to have a short useful
life span. He quickly learns to be
(a) not so handy in crucial areas;
and (b) not around at crucial
times.
For all that has been said about
them, Minnesota’s local election
judges came pretty close to the
mark after all. In fact they have
set a model for accuracy that
might well be our inspiration as
we begin work on our income tax
returns.
Radio and TV sports reporters
have one advantage over their
brethren who write sports for tbs
newspapers. The latter cannot
write out of the aides of their
mouths, or through their hoses.
FRANKLY SPEAKING I
By Everett Luoma
During the first two years of
President Kennedy’s first term, the
method that was expected to “get
the country moving again" was the
New Frontier. Now the New Fron
tier hats been abandoned and a new
cure has bee n HU||HH|
new cure Is jj
change in cure:fl^t^^X;
■scorns to indin,-ih |
that either the Everett Luoma
Kennedy Administration does not
know what it is doing or else this
is all a hoax.
| Anyway the present philosophy
is as follows. In order to have a
balanced budget and a surplus to
aid the individuals who are ill
housed, ill-clothed, and ill-fed, the
economy must be working at full
capacity. How are we to get the
economy working at full capacity ?
This is to be accomplished by
means of the tax cut which will
place more money into circulation,
which in turn will spur new in
vestment causing the economy to
boom. The end will be an adequate
national income which will provide
enough taxes to balance the bud
get.
Many columns could be written
on this theory but today I will
only consider the principle that tax
cuts themselves are the best meth
od to spur the economy. It is cor
rect that American industry over
all is functioning at only 80* of
capacity. Certain parts of this in
dustry including the steel in
dustry are functioning at a level
far below even this percentage. R
is also true that consumers for the
added output from an industry
working at full capacity do exist.
If consumers for this added output
did not exist, there would be no
poverty in the United States.
The difficulty within the Amer
ican economy is that the goods
produced and the individuals who
need these goods do not meet. This
is readily illustrated by the farm
surplus. More farm produce Is
placed on the market each year
than is consumed but several mil
lion people also go to bed hungry
every day.
The reason Is that these people
do not have any money to buy the
food they need. Because these in
dividuals generally pay no taxes
anyway, it is absurd to argue that
a tax cut for them will give them
more money to spend and thereby
give them a square meal every
day.
It is also absurd to argue that
what the farm economy needs Is
a general tax cut so that the
farmers will be encouraged to
produce more food so that there
will be an abundance for all.
This however seems to be Ken
nedy’s logic.
It is true that a small percentage
of the individuals who need the aid
may actually be helped by giving
a tax cut for those individuals who
provide the jobs. This is on the as
sumption that the wealthy will not
merely sit on their tax cut but that
a certain percentage of the tax cut
will actually be utilized for invest
ment purposes.
For the sake of argument, let
us assume this assumption is
correct. This Investment is sup
posed to create more employ
ment and therefore indirectly
help the lot of those that are now
unemployed by giving them buy
ing power. This buying power is
supposed to cause even further
expansion. ,
If the purpose is to give buying
power to those that now do not
have buying power, why not give
them aid more directly rather than
hope that they will receive bene
fits from aid to the wealthy? It
would certainly seem that public
work projects, a shorter work
week, and higher unemployment
benefits along with other welfare
benefits will much more rapidly
go to the root of the difficulties
than a general tax cut
VIEWS & OPINIONS I
THE WORLD OVER
Can U.S. Assure
African Students Of
Full Equality
Here in the United States, where
discrimination against foreign vis
itors has caused untold harm to
our relations with the world, there
may be a tendency to be smug
about the Bulgarian Incident. There
shouldn’t be.”
A British newspaper, reviewing
the Bulgarian affair, invited the
African students to come to Eng
land and learn the real meaning of
racial equality. How many U.S.
newspapers could, with confidence,
extend the same sort of invitation?
—Miami NEWS.
Democracy Product Of
Long History, Does
Not Transplant Easily
Western-type democracy is the
product of a long history. It was
nobody's gift It was gained the
hard way and It is supported by a
deep accumulation of habit tradi
tion, language, nurture. It does not
transplant easily onto other cul
tural sediments.
This is not to say that efforts to
Do’s And Don’ts
THAT’S WHArife
Kespecting The Other Fellows Opinion Shows Intellegence.
Letters To
Commands Paper For
Policy Of Printing
Nows Without Foar
Editor: Your editorial article
dated February 7, 1983 entitled
“Negro Union Members Have Re
sponsibility” immediately attracted
my attention.
In response, being throughly in
formed on and close to the situa
tion which you describe in your
article, I am at liberty to assure
you that the matters which you
raised in your article, along with
other matters have not been over
looked.
This reader has had some ex
perience in evoking criticism for
expressing and defending views
strongly and honestly held and can
understand the pressure and expo
sure which you face in your for
ward position. Your policy and
practice of printing the news with
out fear and without favor is to
be admired and commended.
As a regular reader of your
papers they have provided me with
many a relaxing and enlightening
moment and it is hoped that your
circulation continues to grow.
Enclosed you will find my check
for a one year’s mail subscription.
—Sincerely yours, James D. Cook,
Jr., 4436 Clinton Av. S., Minneapo
lis 9, Minn.
implant the Western democratic
idea in culturally uncongenial
places will always fail. They do not
always fail. There have been not
able successes. But the way to
avoid disappointments is not to ex
pect too much too soon, and to
understand . that definitions of
democracy may be wide enough to
encompass kinds other than Wes
tern. Baltimore SUN.
Communist Ineptitude In
Handling Foreign Students
Cited By La. Daily
What makes the Sofia incident
all the more significant is the fact
that African students in Moscow
as well appear anything but happy
with their lot, since more than 100
of them have applied for transfer
from Russian to American schools.
The foreign students in Bulgaria
have complained not only of poor
housing and poor food, but also of
political Indoctrination at the ex
pense of education. It is quite cer
tain that at least this latter is a
grievance of the African students
in Russia itself.
Communist ineptitude in dealing
with foreign students who presum
ably will become leaders in their
own nations the same countries
Tan Topics/^
“YOdvE HAD ENOUGH TO DRINK, HONEY,—
YOUR FACE IS GETTING ALL BLURRED A
The Editor
Thinks Lincoln Would
Be Uncomfortable In
Today's Republican Party
Editor: Your story in the Feb.
28 issue on the White House cele
bration of the Emancipation pro
clamation committed the same of
fense that the Republican press
was guilty of. TIME magazine,
Richard Wilson of the Cowles
newspapers, and other devoted re
actionaries, expressed the feeling
that the Kennedys were guilty of
trespass on the sacred ground of
Republican hot - airators. Your
story expressed the idea that the
President had pulled a fast one on
the Republicans in honoring the
memory of the first Republican
President.
I do not agree. Lincoln belongs
to America, not the Republican
party. In fact, the Republicans
have largely deserted the positions
that Lincoln fought for, including
the freeing of the slaves and in
tegrating them as free men in a
society of free man. Where are
they, for example, when a civil
rights issue comes up? Where are
they when it comes to liberalizing
the law-making machinery by re
ducing the power of the Dixlecrats
to block legislation?
If Lincoln were with us today, I
don’t think he’d feel very comfort
able in the Republican party. In
fact I don’t think he’d be there at
all. Democrat, St. Paul, Minn.
which communism Is seeking to
swing into its orbit is a defeat
comparable in a measure to the
admission of inadequacy which led
to the building of the Berlin wall.
—New Orleans PICAQUNE.
New Southern View
Of Abraham Lincoln
From S.C. Publication
The tragic figure of Lincoln
grows taller in American history.
Southerners a century ago cursed
him as the leader of an enemy
nation. A generation grew up after
the Civil War in confusion over
identities. But Lincoln in retro
spect takes shape as a man of good
will and dedication to the Republic
beyond all other causes.
On those two rocks—charity and
the Constitution we can accept
him as one of the great men who
have understood the American
dream and who tried to make it
work for the best interests of the
majority of citizens. It is fitting
therefore today, on the anniversary
of Lincoln’s birth, to submit a
fresh appraisal of the President
who made war to preserve the
Union. NEWS St COURIER,
Charleston, B.C.
Page 2, St. Paid RECORDER, Thursday, March 7, 1963
An irate lady who says she’s a regular reader complained this
week because our business office would not extend her credit for a
$1.50 classified ad. She huffed and puffed, was indignant and castigated
us for our “poor business methods.”
She said her credit was good all over town. Our immediate con
sultation of the Yellow Book and our own records Indicate her credit
is anything but good.
She received this newspaper for three years, promising frequently
when called to pay up.
That was six years ago and she has never paid the bill. We finally
had to cut her off the list. Her record in the Yellow Book (credit ref
erence volume) is poor also, yet she became righteously indignant be
cause our business office would not give her credit.
This dear woman is like too many people who fail to understand
the importance of keeping their credit good, even with their com
munity newspaper. People who won’t pay their newspaper bills are
usually deadbeats, unworthy of receiving credit.
There are usually times in the lives of many persons when they
can’t pay their obligations promptly. Some of the best credit risks on
our books are families who years ago, were poor pay, not because they
didn’t want to pay, but because of their economic situation at the
time.
These families usually were ones who when they couldn’t pay
would call and request more time or extensions. Most of this group
are the people who today have Prompt behind their names in the
credit books.
That too large group who would call and order the paper or an ad
and who failed to pay for the service and offered no explanation are
among the people who still have no credit rating, and many like the
woman mentioned in the first paragraph-get all indignant when re
fused credit.
In modem society credit is a precious possession, if nurtured and
used properly. In a business which has grown as large as this news
paper it would be suicide to grant credit carelessly. The larger the
paper gets, the less it can afford to extend credit facilities to careless
people who often by some strange quirk feel we do not need our money
as much, as for example, the daily paper they take.
Ernest Calloway, an East St. Louis, Mo., publisher has figured
It out that the average American Negro spends 21c per year to sup
port the fight for equal rights. No wonder the results seem so slow!
The same publisher claims that only two out of 100 American
Negroes joined the NAACP last year! What a crying shame for a
people who are always crying about “our rights.”
We received a number of compliments on our February 28, Progress
and Emancipation editions, for which we are very appreciative and
grateful.—Cecil Newman.
Education For Women
Jacques Barzun, a social critic and historian of considerable stature,
has put himself in line to have his ears boxed. He has declared that
Americans waste huge sums on “the higher education of women who
never contribute anything to society.”
Doubtless Barzun would not argue that higher education is wasted
on all women. Conspicuous examples of female brilliance in such fields
as economics and the sciences reduce such an argument to absurdity.
But we disagree even with the notion that it is a waste of money to
educate women who cannot be expected to reach heights of scholarly
achievement but will become mothers and home-makers.
We would argue, on the contrary, that the gains of providing
education for such women that is, for the great majority who attend
colleges far outweigh any possible waste of resources. The contribu
tion that such women make to society, if only through their greater
understanding of the importance of education for their offspring, is
great even though it is not precisely measureable.
Without question a woman can be a good wife and mother without
higher education. A formally-trained intellect is not the only qualifica
tion, and perhaps not even the most important. But nothing is gained
by ignoring the fact that as our society grows more complex the need
for awareness and understanding of its problems grows proportionally.
This applies to housewives quite as much as to businessmen.
It was suggested above that Barzun might have his ears boxed for
denigrating the value of higher education for women. On reflection it
seems that the danger is not great. Women in America know their
worth, and are not likely to be much troubled by such views. They rest
secure in the knowledge that their contribution to society, though not
always in scholarly fields is very great indeed.—The DAILY COURIER
I’OST, Hannibal, Mo.
The Love Of Learning
The concern is legitimate over whether this country is going to
have enough school buildings and teachers to handle the rush of young
Americans who will be seeking education at all levels in the decade
ahead.
Yet it would be unwise to conclude that if by some miracle we
should meet these requirements we would have no other major educa
tional worries.
We must have youngsters who want to learn. The forecast of 7.5
million school dropouts for the next decade is strong evidence that the
urge to learn is not as deepset as it ought to be.
Francis Keppel, the new U.S. Commissioner of Education, looks to
society In general and to the home in particular to provide an atmos
phere encouraging to the acquisition of learning.
The best teachers and the best buildings in the world will not help
too much unless U.S. children come to school fortified by their parents
with a love and respect for learning and a powerful desire to acquire
it.
"You can’t buy a climate of thought of the sort that is fundament
al to the needs of our 10 and 15-year olds,” says Keppel as he plunges
into his new job.
Entire schools can be weakened as Institutions if they happen to
be populated largely by students who are Indifferent to learning and
have no understanding of its importance.
This fact explains in part why many southerners protest the racial
desegregation of schools, since many Negro students have not had the
chance at home to discover what learning is all about.
On the other hand, one southern governor has said privately that
this situation constitutes evidence that separate school facilities for
Negroes can seldom in fact .be "equal.” This amounts to saying that a
good education can only be had where the great majority of the stu
dents want one and will work to get it
As indicated, however, Commissioner Keppel thinks society as
well as the individual family must have a proper interest in knowledge
and its dissemination.
A society that does not care about learning, is even perhaps sus
picious of it or hostile toward it, will find its attitudes reflected first
in the family and then in the offspring sent off to school.
There are plenty of signs, current and historical, that this country
does not always respect the learning process as much as it might. We
are often distracted by what some call the “practical” aspects of living
—as if a genuine education somehow were not practical.
But what we need to hear from Keppel, from other educators, from
the nation’s leaders, Is how we can build our youngsters a better atmos
phere of thought in a world dazzled by its material attractions on the
one hand and stifled by destructive ignorance on the other.—The Mary
ville (Mo.) DAILY FORUM.
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