Evening star., 1958-09-09

DOdAu' AiiC OOdAd oOoOS0 VAAe
postponed until opposition by
State authorities and the gen.
eral public subsidized, then 1t
may be seriously doubted
whether the courts are able to
effectively cope with State ac-
ton such as this and perhaps
this court should so hold"
The petition asked the Su-
preme Court to review and re-
verse o decision bv the Eighth
Circuit Court of Appeals which
called for immediate reinstate-
ment of desegregation at Cen
trail High School. scene of mob
violence last fall when nine
Negro students sought admis-
sion under court order.
Arguments Thursday
The high court will hear ar
gumentS Thursday involving
the Eighth Circuit Court ruling
and going to the heart Of the
Little Rock desegregation issue
Its ruling probably will be made
before the scheduled Septem-
ber Is opening Of Central High.
Its decision on the question Of
delaying desegregation in Little
Rock is expected to set clearer
guide lines as to how fast COM
munities must move in deseg-
regating their schools.
In outlining its position that
any attempt to enforce deseg-
regation at Central High now
will result in destruction Of the
school system, the school board
criticized Arkansas Gov. Fau-
bus and the State government
generally as throwing insuper-
able obstacles in the pain Of
a deSegregation plan put into
effect by the board last year
with the result of disorder.
The legislative. executive
and judicial departments of the
State government opposed the
desegregation Of Little Rock
schools by enacting laws calling
out troops, making statements
villifying Federal laws and Fed
eral courts and failing to util-
ize State law enforcement
agencies and judicial processes
to maintain public peace" the
petition charged.
Good Faith Stressed
This, together with the ques-
tioning Of the courts enforce
ment power, seemed to some
as though the school board ac-
tually is trying to provoke the
high court into taking a firm
stand against State segregation
activities.
The board pleaded its hands
are clean. It cited the plan
for desegregation as showing
good faith" efforts to comply
with the Supreme Court de-
crees. 1t declared it never de-
MED Negro children their rights
as laid down by the Supreme
Court. But, the board stated
Rather, the actions often
sive to the 14th Amendment -.
are mass opposition to integra-
tion by the people of the State
and obstruction by the State
itself"
IntegratiOn Called Disastrous
Explaining its position fur
ther, the board said:
The district commenced
functioning under the (deseg-
regation) plan in September
1857, and it operated during
the 1957-1958 school term with
disastrous results. With an ex-
perience which taught the fu-
tility of compliance without
sacrificing those values upper
most in the minds of the edu-
Gators, the district filed a petit
ton that the district court post
pone operations for 212 years,
On undisputed testimony, the
district court concluded that
the education of all pupils was
being harmed and in the public
interest an interruption should
be permitted.
I'm addition to the findings,
other factors are revealed in
the record. Many of the mob
participants were identifiable
but none were charged by Fed
eral law enforcement agencies.
The pupils who became involved
in disciplinary investigations
were being guided by adults.
The FBI made a full report Of
the situation: the Department
Of Justice has not seen fit to
make this report available to
the school board. Nor was the
report utilized by the Depart
ment of Justice since it publicly
dropped plans to prosecute agi-
. tatorS :"
FIexibiIity Of Rule Desired
In suggesting that the courts
may not be able to enforce de-
segregation DEGREES. the school
board declared:
IF the Brown rule calling
for desegregation with all de-
liberate speed is not sufficient
ly flexible to allow time for the
subsistence of forces such as are
arrayed here against it, then
it may be seriously doubted
whether courts are able to eff
fectively cope with State ac-
tions such as these, and per-
haps the court should SO hold. Z"
The petition contended the
legislative and executive
branches of the Federal Gov
ernment might be better able to
combat such State opposition.
Directing a blow. at these
branches for allegedly tagging
in the battle to obtain compli-