Corpus Christi Caller-Times from Corpus Christi, Texas • 14

vv it Is Hollings a New Southern Breed? Slje'f'kriiidlfr-ttimcs Editorials SUNDAY MARCH 16 10 fc- i 1 He voted against civil rights bills and many social welfare programs and he spoke out for sharp cuts in federal spending He opposed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first Negro associate justice of the Supreme Court But the shedding of his conservative image this year may prove to have been more politically astute than politically risky for the South of today Is far different from the South of a few years ago New industries have brought in northerners There are plush resorts and military reservations Ana the Negro has become a major source of votes making up nearly 25 per cent of the electorate in South Carolina alone Some measure of this change can be seen in the thousands of letters and telegrams that have flooded into office in recent weeks The vast majority are favorable made me proud to be a southerner" one South Carolinian wrote This theme pride in a new South in a seemingly new kind of southern politician is echoed again and again in fetters from those still living there and those who long fled in what many of them plaintively described as "utter frustration" Many southerners sent carbon copies of their letters to their own senators Already Sen Herman Talmadge a Georgia Democrat has indicated he will launch a hunger crusade in his own state Other senators have hinted they may do the same To those who speculate aloud over his motives Hollings has a stock reply He is doing it he says because for the first time he feels free to do it "Thank the Lord for a six-year term!" he said fervently leaning back in a big leather chair in his cluttered office As governor he said he concentrated on getting more jobs for those able to work And during his two-year Senate term he always had his eye on re-election I'd done this then folks would have said just he said wryly thought it was just part of the campaign" But re-elected last November to his first six-year term he now feels he has time "to stay around for a while and get some things done" By MARJORIE HUNTER Ntw Ytffc Tkiwi Ntwl ttrvic WASHINGTON few months before his death Sen Robert Kennedy passed the word that he was thinking of touring hunger pockets in South Carolina His old friend Sen Finest Hollings D-SC quickly took him aside the sake don't" Hollings pleaded set us back 10 yean I'm already working on this" It was no idle promise Last month Hollings appeared before a special Senate committee and said quietly: is hunger in South Carolina There is substantial hunger I have seen it with my own eyes" Here perhaps was a new voice from the South a dynamic young politician destroying once and for all the old myths as he described the stark poverty that he and other southerners had seen and smelled for a lifetime but had been loathe to admit In a South beset with racial troubles championing the cause of the poor particularly the black poor might seem politically risky Furthermore angered by what they consider federal meddling over civil rights and handouts to the lazy many conservative Democrats have flocked to the Republican party in areas of the south here scarcely a few years ago the word Republican was akin to sin Why then did he do it? Until recently there had been little In 47-year-old Fritz Rollings' record as senator to suggest that he would one day attempt to lead a crusade against hunger He had been considered a reasonably moderate southern governor (1958-1963) attracting new industry to his state increasing teacher salaries and imploring compliance with desegregation orders He had been one of a small handful of young southern politicians who supported John bid for the presidential nomination a move that he believes cost him a Senate scat in the 1962 election But elected to the Senate in 1966 to fill a two-year unexpired term he became virtually indistinguishable from his arch-conservative southern colleagues both Democratic and Republican Vicious Circle Barnes Runs Senate With an Iron Fist a new state university and dental Fresh Water From Oceans Would Solve Problems By JON FORI) Caller-Times Special Correspondent AUSTIN A mighty power play Is shaping Barn lnditati Frldav he Is thinking in up in the State Senate which could swing into lerms spending which would increase the another drive for a bob-tailed annual budget size of Smiths Ux program million to $50 Fairer Process Important as it is to press Congress for constitutional reform of the presidential election system equal concern should be sustained for making the presidential nominating process more democratic Hie latter is a slow tricky and difficult business but gratifyingly the two major parties now appear seriously engaged in overhauling national conventions and particularly assuring fairer delegate representation of rank-in-file party memberships As prescribed by the 1968 Democratic National Convention a Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection headed by Sen George McGovern of South Dakota is investigating undemocratic party practices and seeking to bring pressures for reform on state legislatures and stale party organizations State laws and party rules in many instances must be changed to assure fair convention representation The new Republican national chairman who will take office in April Rep Rogers Morton of Maryland is reported ready to name a GOP task force for the same purpose He is also expected to accept the invitation of Democratic National Chairman Fred I la iris Oklahoma senator to set up a bipartisan or joint advisory committee of academic experts on nomination reforms In a number of states in both parties national committee delegations arc handpicked by local party bosses often much too far in advance of the conventions Such delegations are a distorted reflection of opinion in the state and local party memberships There are various roads to reform including state presidential primaries or reorganized local and state convention systems The final check now lies with the next national presidential nominating conventions which have the power to seat or reject state delegations Whether and how that power may be used will depend on who controls the conventions Meanwhile there is another pressure for party reform If the presidential nominating process is not sufficiently improved by the parties and states by 1972 if either national convention then allows disgraceful misrepresentation public opinion subsequently may compel Congress to seek reforms by federal statute And in any party rules or state laws affecting the nomination and election of the president and vice president Congress has that constitutional power however reluctant it may be to use It Regional Cooperation One of the most effective advances In crime control in Texas is likely to be through regional planning and cooperation in law enforcement Expectable is a vast Improvement over the present nonsystem of fragmentation of police powers in metropolitan areas Hie Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 currently is channeling $830350 for planning and $13 million for action grants to this state Texas' share of what the current Congress is considering next year would be $1 million for planning and $11 million for action Hiat federal matching aid (to states and localities) is 90-10 in planning and 60-40 for action The statewide planning and coordination is under the governor's Texas Criminal Justice Council Hiis council Is looking mainly to the regional planning commissions and councils of government In 21 regions set up by former Gov John Connally to coordinate the federally aided planning and action at the local level The pioneering effort here has been made by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (in the 10-county Dallas-Fort Worth area) It has already had an expert study made by the Texas Research League and established a North Central Texas Regional Police Academy in Arlington Other regional agencies such as the Coastal Bend Regional Planning Commission undoubtedly will draw on that experience in their own efforts Regional police cooperation particularlv has a highly promising potential The st-orcs of subdivisions with police powers plus state and federal agencies can make a much more effective offensive against crime by joining hands in such matters as a communications system record-keeping computer center police training equipment purchasing criminal intelligence laboratory services detention and correctional institutions and strategic planning Furthermore regional planning and coordination in conventional crime control also may provide more effective organization for riot-handling disaster emergencies and civil defense The region may well become the working unit in future crime control and single-year (or postponed) tax bill Gov John Connally resorted to that device two years ago when his tax program was successfully bombed out by lobbyists The temptation to put off the unpleasant was too great even for those who knew better Under different circumstances this year II Gov Ben Barnes a cemented-in exponent of annual legislative sessions appears to be figuring the same call may work again The field Is set up this way: Gov Preston Smith's scheme in cut the new tax Nil $716 million by grabbing revenue bound for the permanent school fund has been twice torpedoed by opinions of Atty Gen Crawford Martin Smith's tax program that never stood much of a chance anyway must be patched up with a supplemental recommendation which he plans to deliver to a joint session Wednesday or Thursday If what he has to say now isn't a lot better than he offered a month earlier the Legislature is likely to buy no more than a small part of it (Staff members insist the governor still a few Much of his supplemental message was prepared In anticipation of Martin's latest knockout punch) Machinery la the House where Ux bills must originate is grinding slowly The Senate by contrast under Barnes who may make lron-fisted former Lt Gov Ben Ramsey look like the president of the permissive league is bursting with a kind of frenetic activity mown to soldiers of a bygone war as "hurry up and Barnes Friday told newsmen he is determined to have a budget bill on the Senate floor by the last week in March A highly-significant million Hiis means a tax hill in the $312 million range and some predict if the Senate gets its way the total could be closer to $340 million Faced with raising that kind of money it would not lie at all surprising if legislators snapped up any opportunity to delay the showdown or to pay on the installment plan Look for Barnes and other annual session advocates to be ready with the one-year plan at the first show of deadlock over a monster biennial tax bill And that may not be long in coming This time the governor who like a lot of folks feels the legislature meets too often now be advocating single-year budgeting Bui he may end up with no other choice Quirk Ones Confirmation of William Blakemore II of Midland to Texas Public Safely Commission remains in doubt Senators oppose the Blakemore appointment (by Connally) for a variety of private reasons none of which has much to do with Blakemore Some are trying to flash PSC Chairman Cliff Cassidy a warning to stop bypassing Director Wilson Speir in department management Others are miffed at law enforcement policies in their areas and one or two are sore because their contacts with public safety have gone ignored The cold war between (TSO Ijee) optometrists and the single-office eye-glass fitters may be thawing a little due to mediation efforts of Gov Smith Hie way things stand now appointments from either faction to the SUte Board of Optometry can never get Senate confirmation and the board hasn't met for tiro years Chains fear most a board ban on advertising Tourists are overrunning the Govemor'a Mansion Recently one went so far as to jump in a bed upstairs to have his picture made by his buddy John Stokes executive director of state GOP headquarters will be leaving soon to re-enter private law practice Frank Erwin of Austin will remain on the University of Texas Board of Regents even if Gov Smith determines Connally made the appointment improperly While By HANS A SUTER PHl) ILml CMMultlnf cftaniltt ictonttot termer taac authority comervatian) Although the planet we Inhabit is called Earth and we associate with the term "earth" a solid dry substance three-fourths of our planet rest below a thick blanket of salt water On the average this water is 965 per cent pure only 35 parts out of 100 parts of ocean water are solid salts mainly sodium chloride the common salt which we put cm our food as a condiment Unfortunately this relatively small amount of salts In sea water makes it unsuitable for most uses which we humans associate with water Sea water cannot be used for irrigation Most plants are susceptible to damage by salt and if the plants (: can withstand exposure to salt for a short period agricultural soils suffer severely when contacted with salt water Louisiana rice farmers learned a a lesson when they supplemented Irrigation water for their fields with sea water during a drought period In the 1920's Industries try to stay away from sea water because in the presence of air sea water is an extremely corrosive agent The rusty car bodies of those who regularly frequent Padre and Mustang Islands attest to this fact We humans cannot drink sea water directly Death by thirst of ship wreck victims is a hard to understand paradox by people unfamiliar with the sea The oceans are Immense reservoirs of water from which all fresh water of our earth is derived Every day the heat from the sun evaporates a layer of water on the average about one tenth of an inch thick The water vapor rises into the atmosphere forms into clouds and finally falls down as rain supplying our thirsty planet with life giving water Eventually this rain water returns to the sea keeping the levels of the oceans constant In the process of returning to the sea the once pure rain water picks up wastes of our civilization as well as soluble materials from our soils Through the gradual but perpetual addition of soluble materials to ihe oceans the salinity of the water slowly increases Because of this hydrological cycle we are assured of a never-ending supply of fresh water It has been estimated that the daily rainfall collected over land areas amounts to 30000 gallons for each of the 3 billion inhabitants of the world We Americans use presently some 360 billion gallons per day or 1800 gallons for each man woman and child This figure includes all uses of fresh water: Industrial agricultural and municipal To say that we are running out of fresh water is at least premature However certain areas of our planet art rather deficient in water while other parts of the earth have an overabundance of rainfall Here technology enters into the picture and man since the dawn of civilization has practiced water collecting by building dama or other structures capable of retaining surplus water With advancing population man is inhabiting more and more areas which until recently were unsuitable for human habitation Often the most important commodity lacking in such areas is a reliable supply of fresh water Here la the Coastal Bend we live la a semi-arid region next to the Gulf of Mexico with an unlimited salt water supply at our door Several industrial processes are available to produce fresh water from the sea To date the limiting factor in this endeavor is economics This means that no new scientific principles must be discovered to effectively desalinate sea water but applied engineering research is required to lower the costs of the processes Presently some five desalination plants built by the Office of Saline Water a branch of the US Department of the Interim' produce water in the price range of $050 to 100 per 1000 gallons None of the existing plants has a capacity to produce more than (me million gallons per day Although the cost of desalinated water is considerably higher than the cost of today's municipal water in metropolitan areas it can be expected that larger production rates and more efficient operation will lower the cost of fresh water from sea water has been estimated that a desalination plant operated in conjunction with an electric power plant could produce fresh water at 23 emits per 1000 gallons Comparing this price with the price of treated municipal water (not raw river water) the price differential is rather small Fresh water from the sea offers many advantages over the river water in our area Foremost the supply and dependable yield are practically unlimited A water supply from the sea would' make us independent of the weather with its intermittent drought seasons In addition desalinated water is soft This would mean an economy in our soap bill as well as fewer repairs to faucets and hot water heaters Pipes would remain in use longer because there would be no scale build-up Last but not least fresh water produced by a distillation process from sea water would be free of industrial pollutants of agricultural run-off fact is that while it will be substantially larger awaiting a reply from the attorney general on smmnriatiftna rommnwnriatinn validity of Connaliy's appointment of a Securities Board member Smith is mulling whether to ask a direct opinion on whether the former governor should have left selection of key college regents to his successor Jim Allison who had been sounding out Congressman George chances in a US Senate race has accepted a National GOP Committee post Some see that as a sign the soundings were not encouraging Comment of a House Appropriations Committee member questioned on status of the budget bill: "We done a damned thing since the hearings" (which ended four weeks ago)l'S Sen Ralph Yarborough faced with a re-election romp next year is putting out copies of all his statements in Austin as well as Washington than appropriations recommendations it will be shorn of funds for new institutions included even in the lean Legislative Budget Board draft Hie lieutenant governor said the new facilities must stand separately in individual bills because he wants to be sure each legislator understands just how much each item wul cost in new tax money This is roughly translated in polite political terminology as to get lawmakers who want something desperately for their districts to vole for the leadership7 tax program None other than Gov Smith himself Is among those who conceivably could be subject to this kind of Smith is as gung-ho for the Texas Tech Medical School in Lubbock as San Antonio Interests are by way of exam- Personal Integrity Is Key To Growth By HAROLD BLAKE WALKER (Minuter First Presbyterian Church Evanston III) Corpus Cliristi Caller-Times cv try Sjodav Soturoay and holiday owning KM Laar Bread-ray Ccrpu Cn-it Ton iwa by Th Calr-Tm FuDlitting Co SKOnd roil yvngo pa at Ceram Chrutj Tai 1 iTVM Managing Editor orSrJSlu Advarlling "oiroctar Circulation Manogar Jonwi Cawlitd Monaqar Manager Ponni Production Manoger Philip Gerer Public Services Member of the Associated Press The Aiser aterTpr is entitled eciuiteeivkr fh me fee publication of a-l local nes printed rtVipoper aVwHaa A newt aiipafcntf SUBSCRIPTION RATES AfAlL RATE5: yGfvng ani jjj 4 pvjnfni to the United Slates he was sometimes tormented by newspaper reporters and photographers On one occasion he 1 a at the airport of a midwestem city and ran off tha runway in order to avoid hitting photographers who had preempted the runway In the landing the tail skid of plane was damaged What annoyed Lindbergh was that Instead of being penalized for violating airport regulations the photographers got better pictures and reporters turned the accident they had caused into news They said Lindbergh had landed too fast Lindbergh then put his finger on the real problem namely that the absence of commitment to accuracy made the newsmen easy victims of the pressure to get a story one way or another As he put il is secondary to circulation a thing to be sacrificed when occasion arises to a degree depending on ihe Mandards or each newspaper" He went on to say "But accuracy is vital to my sense of values Every aviator knows that if mechanics are inaccurate aircraft crash If pilots are inaccurate they get lost sometimes killed In my profession life itself depends on accuracy" Unhappily without dedication to accuracy and to integrity life is imperiled If reporters or photographers violate the rules of accuracy and integrity they mislead us all If they distort news In the interests of circulation they cannot be trusted The same truth holds for radio and television coverage of the news "Accuracy is vital" in any valid standard of values Samuel Goldwin onetime motion picture mogul noted back in 1951 that motion picture advertising had come to the point of disminish-ing returns because it was intent on deceiving the public by the constant use of words like "sensational" "epic" Words he said had lost their power 1o persuade or have any meaning whatever" He added significantly "misleading advertising has reached the point where it is now self-defeating" Possibly il should he said that commitment In accuracy ami integrity is as necessary in advertising as in newspaper reporting other wise advertising becomes self-defeating because it breeds mistrust We honor both ourselves and others when w-e are dedicated to accuracy and integrity in all things He can be trusted when we are loyal to the advice of Pulnnius who said This above all: To thine own self be true And It must follow as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man A handful of diabolical men not satisfied with taking the lives of Louis XVI of France and his beautiful queen determined to make a monster of their son the prince They surrounded the lad with men ana women wno tried to flood his mind with vile thoughts and to place on his lips foul words They did not succeed "I can do what you ask" he insisted I was horn to I a king" In a very real sense each of us is to be a king" not of course to wear the livery of royalty nr to hold a scepter of power but born In honor accuracy and integrity and to be kingly in character and so finable to do what is false nr unkind inconsiderate nr unjust to any man Itel Th CSuuga T'lhiPt Nr Ymk hrw Srndicnlc lor The question makes Sammy run?" is one we need to address to ourselves What makes me run? or on the other hand what keeps me from running at all? In the absence of worthy motives and inner spiritual commitments we are simply other directed We run where we are pushed and do what the Romans do The woman who was described as wgue without and all vague within" was an easy mark for "the new morality" With no great motives or vital devotions we drift hither and yon driven by whatever i may blow Without worthy commitments we are victims of outside pressures rushing to fill the vacuum The point was suggested in a round-about way by Tharles Lindbergh after his thrilling flight across the Atlantic from New York to Pans in the Spirit of Sf Louis When he returned WALKER ly and morning end Sunday 50 rer-i a wee Sunday SO cents a wee' mei an evening and Sunday 70 cec's ore Caller-Times Phone Numbers: Want Ads '2-9101 All Other Depis TU3-4341 rr.