davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
INGENUITY IN THE SOUTH
There Are Many Ways the Vote Can Be Denied

thought was nearing solution. In
recent years-until the Supreme
Court decision outlawing school
segregation in l954-Southern
white attitudes against the ballot
in the hands of the Negro softened
considerably Between the end Of
World War II and that decision.
the number of Southern Negro
voters steadily increased: in some
States, 1t multiplied several times
over.
Goin DwindIes
Figures released last week BY
the Southern Regional Council tell
much OF the story: The 1926. 900
Southern Negroes on voting lists
in the 1856 general election rep
resented a gain Of 229,4 400 over
1852. But it is significant that this
gain was only about half OF the
gain that was made in the pre-
vious four years. And 1t can be
assumed that a large majority Of
the 229,400 added in the past
four years was registered before
the courts decision.
Since the decision. not only has
1t become generally more difficult
for Negro to qualify as a voter,
but many thousands who pre-
viously we're allowed TO vote have
been stricken from the rolls.
In Tuskegee. Ala, for instance,
Negro voters recently we're gerry
wandered" out OF town. In Qua
chita Parish. La. members OF the
White Citizens Council were al
lowed to challenge the quail
fications Of thousands Of Negro
voters with affidavits which were
not sworn TO. as required by law.
AS a result. the number OF Negro
voters in the parish was reduced
from about 1000 70 6ol.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

agreement. But meeting Of top
officials in Washington on May
Is is reported to have reversed
the American stand.
Yesterday, taking cognizance of
the increasingly gloomy outlook
for the London talks, President
Eisenhower ordered Mr.. Dulles to
go to London. The State Depart
ment stressed that the Presidents
action did not mean either "a
breakdown or a breakthrough" in
the arms talks. The White House
would say only that Mr.. Eisen-
hover considers that the prob
lens under consideration are of
such Importance as to require the
Secretary's personal review and
attention"
While the international welkin
was ringing with the opposing
pronouncements on the arms con-
troll problem, several events re-
vealed chilling evidence that prep
arations for war were proceed
ing without pause. In London,
the Macmillan government re-
vealed that the British stockpile
of nuclear weapons was nearing
"self-sufficiency." The glowing
praise of Britain's new nuclear
power climaxed, ironically, full
days debate in the House of
Commons on disarmament.
In Cairo, Dictator Canal Abdel
NaSser paraded an impressive dis
play of Soviet military equipment,
from jet fighters and bombers to
tanks and fieldpieces, in a three
hour parade.
In Nevada, the United States
Atomic Energy Commission
banged away with new test nu-
clear blasts. In California the
State authorities warned that
melting SHOWS from the High
Sierras were highly radioactive,
and in Florida, new long-range
guided missile. possibly the Army's
jealousy guarded "Redstone,"
was test-fired.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
Kosper Case:
7 AreGuiIty

A verdict handed down last
Tuesday afternoon in a Knoxville
(Tenn) courtroom was instantly
seized as potent weapon by
Southern Senators fighting the
civil rights BILL
At Knoxville an all-white, all.
Southern jury found six Tennes-
scans and Frederick John Kasper.
a Yankee white supremacist. guilty
of fomenting disorders in viola
ton of Federal court injunction
against obstructing orderly inte-
grafton at the high school in
Clinton, Tenn.
This outcome of what was orig
inally called the trial of the
Clinton Is" five of the Defend
ants were dismissed during the
proceedings and four were acc
Quilted, the Senators said, gave
the lie to the claim by sponsors of
the civil rights bill that a South
ern white jury will not convict in
race issue case. The Knoxville
trial hit squarely on the race
issue. The jurors were exhorted
by a battery of IL defense lawyers
not unwilling to appeal to "the
integrity Of the white race" Time
and again they were reminded of
the dark days of Reconstruction
and its deep wounds. Not only
would guilty verdict rend the
Great Wall of Southern resistance
to school integration, they were
told. but it would serve as a STAFF
to those who would "mongrelize"
the white race.
History, from the building Of
the pyramids to the school inte-
grafton decision in 1854, was
paraded before the jury, with
each milestone of man somehow
related to the cause OF the de.
PENDANTS. Then. finally, there was
the admonition to preserve the
purity OF Southern white woman
hood" an appeal that for a cen.
fury has conjured up visions Of
danger in the minds Of Southern
white men.
But the Tennessee jury con-
victed. And the Senate soon was
told that this ought to be proof
that the jury system will serve
the ends Of justice in Southern
race cases.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
Another View

There was. however, another
view which questioned whether
the Knoxville jury could be taken
as Q typical Southern white
jury" Those of this view see East
Tennessee, where Kasper and his
followers did their work and where
the trial was held. as a place
apart from the rest Of the South.
Anderson County. Of which
Clinton is the county seat. has a
population that is only 3 per cent
Negro. Counties from which sew
eral OF the jurors came have
populations in which the Negro
proportion is less than per cent.
1t is section that has never
followed typical Southern patterns.
The plantation system never
fiourished there: the small farmer
worked his own land and was not
inclined to view slavery as a divine
institution.
When the great schism came in
1861, the staunch Unionists OF
East Tennessee voted oyerwhelm-
ingly against secession. When
war came they Joined the Federal
armies by the thousands. Many
spied on and sabotaRed the Con-
federate army as members OF the
Sons OF Liberty.
History is a durable thing. and
this century-old dispute forged
political alignments - and atti-
tudes = that still persist TO
repeatedly return two East
Tennessee Republicans 10 Con-
gress and AL local Offices with
Republicans
The prosecution al the Knox
vile trial took pains 10 remind
the jurors Of this heritage Of
mountaineer independence.
In the minds OF many. then.
there was still the question 81
whether a jury in a more typical
Southern area--in Alabama. Mis-
sississippi or Georgia--might have,
under the same circumstances,
returned a guilty verdict.
After the verdict Kasper and
Continued on Page AIS
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
Concern in Germany

In West Germany itself. there
was evident concern that any
agreement between East and West
on arms limitation would have
the inevitable effect of implying
a tacit acceptance of the present
division of Germany.
Chancellor Adenauer has pub
licly denied reports that his gov
eminent opposed an arms accord,
and has stated his acceptance Of
an international inspection sys-
TEN to include West Germany.
But he has failed TO convince
many people, particularly his po-
liticat. foes inside Germany. that
he is enthusiastic about the Lon
don talks.
The chief opposition to the
Adenauer Christian Democratic
coalition is being mounted by the
powerful Social Democratic party,
under the leadership of Erich
Ollenhauer (see NATO debate on
page A-25 between Mr.. Ollenhauer
and former Secretary of State
Dean AcheSon).
AS the week ended, a new note
was injected into the arms talks.
In what appeared to be reversal
Of the previous United State posi-
ton on guided missiles. Mr.. StaS-
sen proposed that a scientific COM
mittee be set up to insure that
objects fired into outer space
would be limited to peaceful"
objections.
The American delegate added
that controls over shorter-range
missiles and any ban on research
or production must await q
"Second-Stage' arms accord. on
April IS. Mr.. Stassen had pro-
posed that all research on inter-
continental range missiles be
ended Is q part Of the "first-step"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

Mr.. koonee. member Of the stoff Of
the Sunday Editorial Section. hos lived
ond worked in seven Southern StoteG
~-------------
direct and brutal disbursement
Of Negro voting-the shooting and
killing Of Negro leaders.
According TO testimony. the
first such incident was in MAY,
1855. when. George Lee. who was
the first Negro in Humphreys
County to become a registered
voter. was shot to death in his
car. The killer-or killers-were
never found.
The following August. another
leader Of group attempting to
enlarge the Negro electorate OF
Humphreys County, Lamar Smith,
was called to the courthouse in
Brookhaven. According to the
testimony before the judiciary
Committee, he was shot to death
in the presence Of several per-
sons as he entered the courthouse.
A grand jury met but failed TO
indict anyone. Three months
later. Gus Courts. president Of
the countys NAACP chapter. was
shot and wounded as he waited
on customers in his grocery at
Belzoni.
In some places mortgages are
foreclosed on Negroes who attempt
TO vote. and others are denied
credit. II the aspiring voter is
businessman. say a store operator.
he may find that wholesalers with
whom he has done business for
years may suddenly refuse to sell
to him--at any price. II he is in
the employe Of a white man. he
may be fired.
Another method cited N the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
Strong Support

The plan had, in addition to
the Southern bloc. which all along
has voted for the notifications,
strong support throughout the en-
tire Senate. 1t was expected that
here the split among liberals
would be even wider than it was
on the vote to remove Part III.
Prospects, however, indicated a
narrow vote margin in favor Of
this or similar plan. Senator
Aiken predicted that the issue
would be won or lost on from
three to five votes.
Should the Kefauver O'Ma-
honey-Church plan fail, the
Southerners have indicated they
are prepared to f1libuster at
great length-possibly for some
weeks - against final bill
lacking jury trial. Should
the compromise succeed, they
might be expected to conduct
only token Enthusiastically for
the benefit of "the folks back
home" who might otherwise feel
that their Senators did not fight
long enough or hard enough.
The Republican administration
was in the most envious position.
politically speaking. of any Of the
civil rights combatants as the
week ended.
President Eisenhower can stand
firm on the jury trial issue. for
his advisers can be reasonably
certain that, after three genera
tons. there will emerge a law
implementing the voting rights
of the Fifteenth Amendment. and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
BY DAVID KOONCE

The civil rights bill now being
debated in the Senate is based on
the charge that a substantial
proportion of qualified Southern
Negroes are denied their Consti-
tutional right TO vote. Backers
of the bill say that in all of the
IL Southern States Negroes are
voteless because of a region-wide
use Of fear. force and intimida-
ton.
They cite figures like these,
compiled by the authoritative
Southern Regional Council: In
Mississippi, Just per cent OF
qualified Negroes are registered to
vote: in Arkansas. l6.5 per cent;
in Alabama, 1913 per cent: in Vir-
ginia 20 per cent; in South Caro-
lima. 25.3 per cent. OF the $780,
900 Negroes of voting age in the
South. only about IS per cent are
registered and the percentage of
those actually voting is much
lower. says the Council. BY con-
trast. about so per cent Of eligible
whites are registered.
Yet. none Of the Southern
States include in their Official
voting requirements any discrim-
ination against Negroes. How.
then. is racial disfranchisemen
accomplished?
The methods. according to Ne
gro leaders and witnesses who
have given sworn testimony be-
fore the Senate judiciary Com
mittee. are sometimes crude and
sometimes subtle. but almost al
ways they are effective.
Violence chorsed
Belzoni. Miss. near the State
capital Of jackson. saw the most
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

hearings is for registration on
cial simply to refuse to register
a Negro. In the Black Belt coun-
ties of the Deepest South 1t re-
portedly has sometimes been
sufficient disbursement for a
registration official TO tell a Negro
that I'VE don't register Negroes"
Tests Are Tricky
In some States-North Carolina,
for example, prospective voter
must be able to read and write
and the registrar, who is bound
by no specified test. is the judge Of
a prospective voters literacy.
Here are some Of the questions
put to Negroes in the "literacy'
test as reported to the Senators:
How many rooms in the court
house,"
Can you name and identify all
candidates for office In this
county,"
How many bubbles in a bar OF
soap?"
How many persons are on the
payroll Of the United States Gov
ernment?"
IF the NAAcP should attack
the United States Government,
which would you support"
What is due process Of law?"
What was the 18th State adj
mitted TO the Union?"
In North Carolina. one Negro
claimed that he was turned away
because he was left-handed.
One sophisticated device to dis
courage Negro registration can be
the use of the Sheriff's ONCE as
the place Of registration. It is
argued that many Southern Ne
groes are reluctant To 20 70 the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
Role Is Stressed

Two developments last week
pointed clearly to the role the
continued division of Germany,
and its complicated problems, was
playing in the progress Of the arms
talks-and, through them, inevi-
tably the progress of East West
relations in general.
. Secretary of State Dulles, in a
major broadcast to the American
people. warned that fundamental
issues" still divide the Soviet Union
and the United States. Although
disavowing any requirement that
political settlements must precede
a first step" arms agreement, Mr..
Dulles also said: I'VE seek by
peaceful means an end to the I'M
just and inhuman partition of
Germany And he stressed
that the search for armament
limitations and the search for po-
litical settlements must go forward
hand-in- hand.
. Soviet Premier Bulganin, in a
lengthy note to British Prime Min
lister Harold Macmillan, charged
that the West was sabotaging the
London disarmament talks because
deal" had been made to aid
West German Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer'S campaign for victory
in the forthcoming September
elections. Statesmen in West
Germany do not conceal this fact"
Mr.. Bulganin asserted, adding that
the effect of such a consideration
was Transforming European Sc
curity : into a field for polit-
ical combinations" The Vests
position, the Bulganin message
charged, was blocking completely
a solution of European security by
linking it with a solution to the
German problem"
Reports from London that Har-
old E. StaSSen, the American dele
gate. was conducting a holding"
operation, striving to keep the con-
ference going until September
without taking any concrete steps
toward an accord until the Ger
man elections were over, were not
dispelled by the Dulles and Bull
ganin remarks.
Analyses of the two states
mems announcements were in
general agreed on two points:
Cd that Mr.. Dulles, although
pointing to the danger in a con-
tinued ornaments race, plainly
told the Russians that the United
States had gone as far as it
would go, under present condi-
tions. toward a first step limita-
ton agreement, and 90 that Mr..
Bulganin. fully agreeing that the
future of the world was dubious
II the nuclear weapons buildup
continues, revealed a significant
stiffening in the Soviet position
and an absolute refusal to admit
the German problem to the dis
armament agenda.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

that that law will bear the
Eisenhower label. And. should by
chance the bill be defeated. the
Democrats, with their Southern
wing. could be blamed.
Further. II the bill finally in
cludes jury trial provision. the
Republicans can claim that II It
had not been for the Democrats,
who control Congress. a much
stronger bill could have been had.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
FRIDAY
The Test Proposal

The big test this week will come
on the plan offered by Senator
Kefauver, Tennessee Democrat,
and Senator O'Mahoney, liberal
Democrat of Wyoming.
Under this amendment. the jury
trial would be permitted in a case
of criminal contempt, where the
sole purpose is to punish de-
PENDANT accused of being in con-
tempt for flouting court order in
a voting rights case. However. no
jury trial would be provided where
the object of the court would be to
obtain compliance and in which
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

as a voter Wnlle armed deputies
60 about their business.
Psychological Barrier
Many registration officials are
white women who use room in
their own homes TO register voters.
This fact. too. is psychological
bar for Negroes who wish to regis
ter. Even the fact that the regis
trar may be a white woman will
discourage many. for they know
that the Southern code governing
white-Negro relations is strictest
when a white woman is involved.
For instance. in a case cited
to the Senate committee, a
Northampton County IN. c.
Negro who wished 10 vote brought
his attorney. also a Negro. along
with him on registration day.
The registrar. a white woman.
refused to register him. whereupon
the attorney said: 20. K. then,
l will see you in court" The
Negro attorney subsequently was
arrested and convicted Of dis
orderly conduct and trespassing.
When he appealed. the charges
were changed TO assault on a fe-
male. and he was again con-
victed.
Sometimes. Negroes are told
that there are no more forms or
blanks. and they must come back
on a designated day. When they
return. the Office may be closed
In Macon County. Ala. election
officials resigned rather than reg
ister Negroes. No successors we're
appointed for about 10 months.
during which time there was no
registration.
The question Of Negro voting
u one that many Southerners had
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

local officials who are hindered
from putting civil rights DEGREES
into effect.
WEDNESDAY
BY a vote of So to 80, the Senate
killed all of Part III of the bill
except a brief technical section,
thus removing provisions for en-
forcement of school indignation by
Injunction and leaving the bill as
voting rights bill only. The vote
represented a major breakdown of
the liberal pro-civil rights bloc.
1t was sponsored by Republican
George Aiken of Vermont and
Democrat Clinton Anderson of New
Mexico, both civil rights adherents.
Twelve Eisenhower Republicans,
including Senators Smith Of New
Jersey and Saltonstall of Massa-
chuSetts, both members of the Re-
publican Policy Committee, voted
to strike the heart of Part III.
THURSDAY
Debate began on the jury trial
issue. Senator Lyndon Johnson,
Democratic leader, announced he
would support a widely favored
compromise that would permit
jury trials in cases of criminal
contempt arising from voting
rights cases, but would leave the
verdict in civil contempt cases
under the act up to a judge. Fears
that Southerners would carry out
earlier threats of filibustering
until the snow flies" had all but
disappeared.
FRIDAY
Senate Republican Leader Will
liam Knowland breakfaSted with
President Eisenhower and reported
afterward that the Chief Executive
remained firm against any jury
trial amendment. The President
has said he wants no jury trials
in such cases. period. Senator
Knowland confidently predicted
that Mr.. Eisenhowers position
would be upheld. But Senator
johnson was equally confident of
a compromise, and said that more
Senators will come around to
this view by the time the amend
ment is voted on. probably on
Tuesday or Wednesday.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
TUESDAY

Two attempts to salvage some
Of the injunctive powers of Part
III of the bill. which by this time
appeared headed for the scrap
heap. were defeated. One, sug-
gested by Republican Senator
Bricker of Ohio, would have per-
mitted the Attorney General to
seek civil rights injunctions only
if the President approved. The
other, offered by Senator Cooper.
Kentucky Republican. would have
permitted the Attorney General
to request injunctions to protect
not individual compliments, but
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

In 1945, when the battered
forces of Nazi Germany were
gasping out a last, murderous re-
sistance, the fast-moving Allied
armies halted on the banks of the
Elbe. There they waited, while
the massive Soviet Red army
completed the destruction of
Berlin. %
The wait at the Elbe was pre-
arranged, in accordance with care
fully drawn plans for the DISPOSE
ton of conquered Germany be-
tween the Soviet Union and the
Western allies. The arrange
ments, made in the prevailing
optimistic atmosphere, presup-
posed continued close co-opera-
ton between the Communist East
and the capitalist West after Ger
many had been subdued.
The subsequent Developments
are now history. Almost from the
beginning, relations between the
Communists and the West went
steadily downhill: the shotgun
honeymoon" Of the fight against
Hitierism ended in bitterness and
mistrust-the cold war. Germany,
split in territory between the East
and the West, was divided into a
Communist Democratic Republic"
in the East Zone and a German
Federated Republic in the West.
Despite months of negotiation the
division of Germany remains to
this day. the most serious unre-
solved problem of postwar Europe.
Last week it was plain that this
artificial division of proud nation
was a major factor in the success
or failure of the disarmament
talks in London. There the United
States, Britain. France and Can
ada for the free world are facing
the Soviet Union for the Commu-
mist world. There has been an ex-
ceptionally high degree Of hope
this year that the London meet
ing, held under the direction of
the United Nations Subcommittee
on Disarmament, would bring
some small beginning toward in
ternational control of the arma-
ments race. But hopes are either
fadinU ra arn IN e.,eraneioV,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
Communism:
Still Seething

The Communist part of the
world was still seething last week.
Nikita Khrushchev gave every
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
MONDAY

Senators voted 900 to repeal
the 1870 law empowering the
President to use troops to enforce
civil rights laws and DEGREES. The
statute-section 1889 of the Re-
vised Statutes, title AZ, United
States Code. section 1993-had
been invoked by a cross-reference
in the bill. When its presence was
discovered and broadcast by Sen
ator Russell of Georgia, many
civil rights proponents admitted
they did not know it was there,
and even President Eisenhower,
who quickly promised that he
would under no circumstances use
the provision, conceded some con-
fusion. The Senate action began
a hard-fought retreat by die-hard
civil rights proponents from the
original bill.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28
The Weeks Progress

This was the progress of the
bill in the Senate last week:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

Mr.. koones. o member Of the stoff Of
the Sunday Editorial Section. hos lived
ond worked in seven Southern Stotes
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-28

sheriff's office to ask to be qualified
as a voter while armed deputies
60 about their business.