Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-09-11

rNeN' v ~ " N~SgNSS W SOt0CfSN
Sdtton.
have the courts to help us in
terpret it we wouldn't be able
to make head or tail of it.
If it hadn't been Chief Jus
tice John Marshall who took
the power Of passing on the
constitutionality of laws for
the Supreme Court, some
other Chief Justice would
have done it.
If we didn't have the
Supreme Court to do this, citi-
zens denied rights guaranteed
them under the Constitution
would have no recourse except
to whistle for them.
Stephen Rock.
y y X
j. w. Haywood says that
Nothing in the Constitution
prohibits secession" This is
correct, and this is the only
reason that Jefferson Davis
was never tried by any Fed
eral court. There is no law
on the books or implied that
says that a State cannot
secede from the Union.
Why is it that several States
T Of the Union, by their En-
abling Acts, are not obligated
to obey any Federal law or
court ruling by Federal courts
} concerning any public school
matter?
J. Clyde Nesom.
Any attempt by a Federal
court to force the Arlington
County School Board andior
Arlington County division
superintendent of schools to
enroll Negro pupils in white
schools. or vice versa, is viola
tive of Sections 22-72 %, 90
and t4) of Virginia Code
1850, and Section 22-63
of Virginia Code 1850, un-
der which Arlington County
school officials can make no
rules and have no powers
except as provided by Vir-
ginia law.
These statutory provisions
Of the Virginia Code were in
effect before Brown VS.. Board
Of Education, and Virginia
school officials must abide by
them unless, and until, such
time as they are declared
null and void.
A Federal court cannot
force county school officials
to violate State law while
such State law is still valid.
A. Masters.
X 4 4 4
David Lawrence's sugges-
ton that Congress legislate
so, that public school educa-
tional policies be left entirely
in State hands will un-
doubtedly meet with ap-
prevail of those striving to
maintain the status quo in
the South. But such a posi-
bility strikes fear to my
heart.
I was born and reared in
Alabama and know the
problems faced by the Negro
parent who wishes for his
child a good education. Be-
cause there was no good
high school for Negroes in
our town, my parents were
obliged to send my brother
and me away to school. And
despite the fact that we lived
only a stones throw away
from the State-supported
university, our parents were
forced to maintain us in
colleges away from home.
Our graduate degrees were,
obtained at considerable ex-
.pense in universities hun
dreds of miles away. Qnci-
dentally. my parents were
professional people whose
real estate holdings in the
State caused quite a con-
tribution to the tax coffers.)
I returned to a small town
In Alabama to teach in a
school which had been es-
tablished by a missionary as
ISOLATION because there was
no high school in that
county which Negroes were
privileged to attend. The
county beneficently dis
charged its duty to the
Negro citizenry by paying
the salaries" $40 a month";
to two of the 16 teachers
employed by the missionary
association.
Does Mr.. Lawrence know
that separate but equal"
schools we're maintained by
the State of Mississippi at a
cost of 1858 per white child
ana $40 per Negro child? Is
this what Mr.. Lawrence pro-
poses that Congress legis-
late to perpetuate?
Marie w. Haywood.