The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1957-03-29

recent clarion call for al Virginians
to stand staunch and firm where
Virginia has always stood i'll ages
past IN opposition to tyranny from
whatever quarter it may come. We
do likeW Use salute the entire Virginia
delegation TO the United States Con
gress and Senate. both Democratic
and Republican. for the stalWart
fight which even now they wage
against the vicious assault upon the
liberties Of all Americans being
made in the United States Congress
through t he proposed pernicious
Force Bills. sometimes called Civil
Rights Bills. now pending before
that body
The threat to the liberties of our
people is mortal The course of Vir-
ginia has been set The contest is
for eternal values. We call upon all
local legislative bodies Of the coun-
ties and cities Of Virginia iii the
sacred named of the liberties of our
people TO stand firm and united in
support Of the policy and the course
which has been fixed for Virginia
in this crucial hour
We likewise call upon all people
Of America everywhere to unite in
this time Of crisis that we. in our
day. may be worthy OF our heritage
and pass it on to future generations
pure and unsullied
Ask Free Speech
We believe in the absolute and
utter necessity of preserving unim-
paired for all Americans the price
less right of freedom of speech and
peaceful assembly, the right of an
accused to be confronted by his ac-
cusers. to presentment by grand
jury and a trial by a jury Of his
peers presided over by fair and
impartial Judge We decry the use
by the Federal Judiciary of coer-
cion intimidation and threat of
punishment to be visited upon local
school boards and officers unless
they refuse to recognize the lawful
authority Of the Virginia Pupil
Placement Board and usurp and
exercise pupil assignment powers
which have been denied to said
school boards and local officers by
the duly enacted laws Of the State
Of Virginia. We direct the attention
Of the entire nation to the dangers
inherent in the wholesale resort to
injunctive and summary contempt
procedure designed to subvert and
thwart the traditional constitutional
and common law methods of crimi-
nal procedure.
These measures conceived and
nurtured III the cynical greed of
politicians for power, are directed
against the people of the South, but
they hold Within themselves a
deadly and mortal threat to the
most sacred and essential consti-
tutional safeguards to the liberties
Of all Americans Of all generations.
We appeal to Americans every
where to arouse themselves from
their lethargy and unite with us in
the condemnation Of these Ubiquitous
measures
While the immediate issue III the
great contest that is presently being
Waged is brought into focus for Vir-
ginia and the people Of the South
in the unconstitutional usurpation of
power eXemplified in the school
segregation decision by the United
States Supreme Court and the threat
Of fine or imprisonment Of our
school and state officials, an d
through the denial of freedom of
speech and trial by jury by Federal
injunctive decree. nonetheless We
are deeply convinced that the SIMS
ter attack upon the fundamental
liberties of Americans and upon the
basic constitutional system itself,
manifests itself in many other facets
Of our American life.
Advice 10 Sch0oimen
Therefore We do further declare
~ 1t is essential that those res
ponsible for the administration OF
cur schools should be alert. that
the fundamentals Of a sound educa-
ton are taught to our Virginia chill
dren. including an understanding of
the fundamental constitutional sys-
TEN under which we live, the bless
ings of liberty which it alone be-
slows, the part played by great Viz
ginians of the past in the struggle,
for the establishment and preserva-
ton of these liberties.
a. 1t is essential that the molding
Of the minds, characters and spiri-
tual lives of our children should re-
main under the control of Virginia