The Petal paper. [volume], December 05, 1963, Page 4, Image 4

About The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??

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In The Midlothian Mirror, The Unkindness of Penn Jones—
"WE THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD!''
Below is a letter we had con
sidered ignoring. We print it
now because we feel it illus
trates a point worth making.
Here is a man once important
in the world of journalism His
daily column was reprinted in
hundreds of American news
papers. Here is a man who has
taken full and free advantage of
the RIGHT of Freedom of the
Press. But he has never con
sidered in the past, nor in this
letter, his DUTY to tell the pub
lic the truth.
It is more with sorrow than
anger that we must point out
Pegler has seldom hesitated to
print as fact the foulest of rum
ours, the crassest of vulgarity.
Wiser heads have long observed
that he has always jumped from
wrong opinion to a much more
inaccurate conclusion.
For years the American
people read this sort of tripe for
which Pegler was paid untold
sums.
Only Quentin Reynolds had
the courage to sue Pegler and
make him pay for some of his
foul writings.
In our younger days, this edi
tor read Pegler with awe and
respect. Now we must agree
with a fellow editor who said:
“If Pegler liked me, I'd resign
from the human race.”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Rt. 6, Box 292, Tucson,
Aug. 1, 1963
Dear Mr. Jones
I have just read in Editor and
Publisher the story of vour fight
with one Seay. You both seem to
be punchy but that is beside the
point. The E. and P. says Mr. Seay
is a “Birchite” and collateral stuff
in this incompetent piece of re
porting indicates that you called
him out for making a speech which
you didn't hear. You seem to have
acted on hearsay from an imma
ture and unqualified witness who
got his bigotry against the freedom
of the American people from you.
Judging by the background in
Who’s Who of the judge whom you
tried to thrust upon the high school
princiapl. I suspect that she was
trying to cut herself a slab of vul
gar, demagogic publicity and pro
mote herself to higher pay. per
haps to the Supreme Court. It does
not appear that this obscure but
inveterate politician has been off
the public tit very long in a very
1 long time I would like to know
! how much tax money she has
drawn in all her years and how
much she has paid in taxes.
I note that you produced a docu
ment indicating that your adver
sary once was convicted and fined
for having been present in Demo
cratic Party headquarters? Or was
it a place of resort like Polly
Adler’s in New York which Was
the poon-tang parlor patronized
for years by the elect of your poli
tical party’s White House and
cabinet riff-raff? Would you say
that you have never been inside
such a place or would you take the
Fifth? Or would you say you were
just waiting for a street car?
Even if the answer is “yes” would
that disqualify you forever to
condemn and oppose traitors in
and subservient to the Democratic
Party? I remind you that a son of
David Lloyd George recently pub
, lished a work depicting his old
man as the most disgusting old
fanny-pincher and chippy-chaser
of his time. Still, he won a war
for Britain and history paid off on
that.
Your party’s mahatma tried to
We're Still Seen By Others
AMERICA'S LITERACY TESTS
The other day the Mayor of New
York, Mr. Wagner, called for the
abolition of literacy tests for city
voters, arguing that Spanish was
for all practical purposes the sec
ond language of the city. Even
divorced from any political mo
tive the Mayor may have had, his
suggestion is significant, for it
touches on wider issues, particu
larly the enfranchisement of the
southern Negro.
In New York itself the problem
is caused by the vast and con
stantly growing population of
Puerto Rican immigrants who, be
cause they are born American
citizens, escape the requirement of
the naturalization procedure under
which applicants must demon
strate “an understanding of the
English language.” There are, of
course, enclaves of Chinese, tlal
ians, and others who inherited
their citizenship or were never
naturalized and who speak barely
any English, but their numbers
have declined since the war. The
days are gone when whole com
munities spoke nothing but Ital
ian, Polish, German, or Greek.
Only the Spanish speakers — the
Puerto Ricans in New York and
the Mexicans in the South—sur
vive as a noticeable challenge to
America’s powers of absorption.
Local politicians are now used
to wooing them in their own lan
guage, and parts of New York at
election time might be mistaken
for a Latin country. Mayor Wag
ner would accept this, and his
reasons are understandable, hut
■ there Is a good case on the other
side. Voters who do not learn the
language of their country must
form their judgments in the dis
torting mirror of any faction that
takes the trouble to woo them. A
broader perspective is almost in
evitably denied them.
However, merely to maintain
the literacy tests is to maintain
injustice in the southern states,
where they have long been used
as a deliberate means of excluding
Negroes from the polling booths.
Elaborately framed questions that
would taxe the brightest intellects
are put to Negro applicants, while
whites are registered with the bar
est formalities. Most efforts to
tackle this problem have been
thwarted by invoking the consti
tutional right of states to lay down
their own qualifications for vot
ers, and also by pointing to New
York as a place where the effect
would be to enfranchise voters
without a knowledge of English.
The solution to both problems
appears to be contained in the
Civil Rights Bill that President
Kennedy vainly put before Con
gress last March. It would have
laid down that in Federal elections
completion of sixth grade school
ing (normally achieved at about
twelve years of age) would con
I stitute a presumption of literacy.
This, if passed, would prevent
states from manipulating the lit
eracy tests for special purposes
but would also ensure the voters
were in a position to assess the
issues on which they had to pro
nounce—The Times (London)
score on his wife’s pretty younj;
secretary way back in the Firs!
War and he was still flaring his
nostrils like a stallion at this same
female as he sat beside him wher
he dropped dead. His wife, as
usual, was a thousand miles away
lam not a member of the Bird
| Society. I m too fr to the right
I But I qualify for membership, be
cause, unlike you Democrats. I no'
only swear to support the Consti
tution but try constantly to main
tain it against ignorant Demo
cratic dolts who pawn their poli
tical patrimony for handouts ant
oaltry little medals.
Somebody wrote a book which
was published under Bobby Ken
nedy’s name called “The Enemj
Within.” I wondered “Has this
character turned square at last’
because the Democratic Party is
the enemy within. But it turned
cut that he was rewriting dis
closures which I made many year*
ago as an honest reporter aboui
the predatory union which art
subsidiaries of your party—anc
his. Ho did not include the Federa
judiciary among these enemies bm
I do not expect truth of am
Kennedy.
Do you seriously believe Demo
era 1& snouia oe allowed to vote'.
Or even breathe?
Last year Colby College in Maine
hung a card board medal on an ole
crud over in California for his
great courage in blasting the Birch
Society. But all the firey crosses
that have been burned in all these
years were burned in Democratic
country. We had a big lynching in
Waco when I was a young reportei
in Dallas and they burned the
body. How many Republicans dc
you reckon there were in Waco ir
1915? There is no charge that any
Birch people shot tear gas at law.
abiding citizens, including co-eds
at Ol’ Miss. That was done by
your low-browed, droopy-eyec
Democratic president and his
brother with the chipmunk face.
God you Democrats scare easy
Don’t be afraid, Buster. We won’!
slap your face. You used millions
of pickets to try to scare me but 1
held still. But your low-browec
fuehrer tossed out the phrase “Gel
moving” and brother, you had
better. We are going to run you
down the road.
Sincerely,
Westbrook Pegler
The Empty Pew
(Continued from Page 1)
in people. There are so many who
have kind hearts and gentle
natures. There are those who
really do forgive the injuries we
j all collect in our daily living
Some people enjoy doing kind
j things for others.
Why do we deny our own good
ness? Why do we have to have a
“season” or some other excuse for
doing good things? Why do we
invent a non-existent character to
blame the goodness on? Maybe
this is what Christmas does for us:
it steals away the credit for the
goodness that men do. No big fat
fraud will get credit for the good
ness that has been done for me. 1
will not write my gratitude to the
North Pole. I want to express it
to the people whom I see every
day doing wonderful things for
others.
I’m glad I went through this
season with rose - colored glasses
on. I saw the goodness in people
and I was delighted by it. Andi 1
thought, if only they were not
ashamed of their own kindness
and love. I am not ashamed of it
I am grateful to them for it. The
only thing that keeps us from
halving Christmas 365 days a year
is waiting for Santa Glaus.
Journal Of A Trip South
(Continued From Page 3)
you don’t talk or try to create
some understanding?”
“They think they do under
stand.” he said. “They under
, stand just what they want to . .
At four, Father had a confirm
; ation class in the rectory. I
strolled about outside, visited the
church again.
When I stepped out of the
church. I saw P. D. East, an old
friend, famed editor of the Petal
Paper, getting from his car. He
had driven over to visit me from
, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We went
into the back door of the rectory
and remained in the kitchen with
cups of coffee. Father came into
the kitchen, his face blank with
puzzlement. Who was this white
man with the Mississippi car
licence? Had trouble already
struck?
P. D. looked his sourest and
said: . “Father, I’m from the
Mississippi Klan and we want this
mingling CUT OUT.”
Father glanced at me.
I “It’s UNCHRISTIAN, don’t you
know that,” P. D. continued.
I quickly introduced them.
Father wanted his confirmation
class to meet us, so we went into
the front room of the house and
talked.
Father invited P. D. to spend
the night, but we decided that no
small southern town should be
asked to tolerate both of us over
night.
“And besides, John makes me
so nervous,” P. D. added. “I never
know when he’s going to start
taking those damned pills and
turning black.” (Referring to the
medication I took when I toured
the South as a Negro.)
, We felt that it would be too
risky to go out to anyone’s house
for supper that night, after I had
been seen around town, and
especially now that P. D. had ap
peared on the scene with his
Mississippi licence plates.
One of the young men in the
confirmation class insisted on
providing the supper. He left
and soon returned with an im
mense steak, a watermelon and
salad greens. I cooked and the
three of us had supper in the
kitchen before P. D. drove away.
NIGHT
The tensions are tangible. Each
time the phone rings, both Father
and I go because if it is the Klan,
both of us want to hear what is
said.
The phone does ring, again and
again. Each time it is one of his
parishioners, calling to make surd
everything is all right with us.
Father prolongs the conversations,
and I am glad he does, because so
long as the phone is tied up, we
cannot receive the calls we ex
pect . .. and dread.
Certainly, we feel it is time for
me to leave.
TUESDAY
We left early this morning for
visits to Baton Rouge and an
evening lecture in Lafayette. Also
a radio interview on an independ
ent station. The commentator
promised me that I could say
anything I please, and that noth
ing would be deleted from the
broadcast.
j We finally returned here long
after midnight. Now, at four a m.
I prepare to retire. I am going
back to Mansfield tomorrow.
WEDNESDAY
Driving out of the little town,
two police cars picked me up at
the outskirts and accompanied
me, one in front, one behind, to
the next town. There, another
“team” took over and accom
panied me on to the next. What
does it mean
They did not explain, did no„t
stop me. But each time I slowed,
they slowed; each time I accelerr
ated, they accelerated. I did not
feel that they were protecting me,
but rather that they were making
sure I left this area. Police are
as bigoted as anyone else in such
localities. . >
They accompanied me halfway
across the State. (RAMPARTS)
Badly Needed, An Item Called—
FAITH
The trouble with the right-wing
movement in this country is that
the ultra conservatives have little
faith in our system of government.
They continually preach the
I gospel that it is subversive to talk
disarmament with communist
| leaders because we cannot trust
them and they are certain to get
j the better of us over the bargain
ing table.
We do not trust communist
leaders either but we fail to see
what will be gained by refusing
to discuss the possibility of peace
ful coexistence. The alternative
is war, and this would make
ideological argument academic.
The survivors of a nuclear con
flict would be too busy remaining
alive to worry about which type
of government was guiding their
destinies.
We are not convinced that be
cause the communists are dedicat
ed to their ideology there is no
hope of persuading them that war
must be outlawed, or that in do
ing so we would lose the battle for
men’s minds. Through the forum
of the United Nations we have as
much opportunity as our enemy
to convince the world that our
system of government is superior.
Americans with abiding faith in
our destiny have no hesitation in
engaging in open debate with the
■ puppets of the Kremlin or in
working and praying.for peace. *■
1 Our strongest weapon is the
freedoms we preach, and our
greatest weakness is our failure to
practice those freedoms, particu
larly in the area of civil rights.
Here is where the communists
could be put to rout if we would
put our mind to it.—The Suffolk
County News.
A BOOK REVIEW
(Continued from Page 1)
not sympathy from his wife),
Surely he will be forced to make
a decision? No, he seeks the ad
vice of his former roommate.
Structurally, the story comes full
circle. When Peter Copeman goes
to another party, in borrowed
trousers, hoping to meet a girl, the
reader envisions for the non-hero
! continuous revolutions of the
circle.
In his first novel, Victor Young,
himself a schoolteacher in Eng
land, has pictured the little fellow
of the middle class, who always
gets pushed around, even trampled.
He is likeable, but not particularly
admirable.
He will never change the
system; he is too much bound by
it. because he is a non-hero. (L.
E. BALLARD).
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