The Miami News from Miami, Florida • 18

Miami daily News 77" OLDEPT PAPER IV MIAMI iullndra In RALPH McGILL Longs Elected To 3 Offices Earl Kemp Long's runaway victory In the recent Louisiara prnary raises to three the members of the ili tic ally -potenl TRENDS OF THE TIMES This Waiting For Godot: Our Own Blind Alley? They said Samuel Beckell'i "Waiting for Godot" was no good and no go and couldn't last It wasn't funny, first nighters jp JA JAMES M. COX President JAMES U. COX, JR, Vict-Praidenl D. J. MAHO.VEY, Publnhtr JAMES R.

BRUMBY, Gca. Mauftf HAGAN JOHN FOT BuatiKia Managrr WELCH I B. DILLARD Editor Circulation Duwtor BUGCEUN J. J. EBKRLE Dimtor producuoa Matuftr BSCRDTiON PRICES BY CARRIER AM) MAIL Year I Wlc.

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M. Na4 PROPOSING TO TAKE US FOR ANOTHER RIDE? LETTERS FROM OUR READERS GOP Is Riding On A Weak Theme Long family who hold important elective posts. Russell Billier Long is a U. S. senator, highly respected, able and cour ageuus.

He is Earl's nephew and son of the late Huey Long, Dr. George Long, brother of Earl, is U. S. representative from Louisiana's Eighth District. The maeio which IhP Long name holds for the McIU.

voters of Louisiana constitutes one of thi more amazing stories of American politics. After the assassination of Huey Long in September, 1935, the ruthless machine which Huey had created, and through which he had made himself the nation's only real dictator, oegan to lose some of its precision and assurance. One of the assets of the machine in what came to be called "The Gravy Days," was Earl Long. Grand juries and federal investigators tried hard. Bui no criminal charge was made to stick No indictments were returned agunst him Dozens and dozens of others were brought to court.

Many went to prison. Some committed suicide. But Earl Long came clear of it all. Many Frauds Charged Before the death of Huey Long the two brothers had been bitter Earl had referred to his brother as "bar" and worse. Once he denounced him before a congressional committee investigating election fraud.

The death bed saw the family together never again to be divided. After Huey'i passing the organization made Richard W. Leche governor and Earl lieutenant governor. In 1939 Leche resigned. Later he went to prison.

Earl Long served out the remainder of the storm-tossed term in which frauds ol millions were charged and proved including that involving the president of the state university who fled tu Canada under a cloud ef more than $300,001) missing monies. There was not, appatently, a single activity of government which had been free from corruption, most of it vast. Earl Long was defeated in the election of 1940 by Sam Jones, retorm candidate. Exposures cf brazen thievery during and after Huev Long's rule weie still going on Earl Long never involved. In 1944 he ran for lieutenant governor and was again defeated.

That seemed to be the last of the Longs But in 1948 he was back a winner. In that campaign Russell Long and Mrs Huey Long campaigned for him. During the intervening years he had taken a leaf from Huey's book, campaigning lustily and promising mightily, he lacks huey's fiery genius for invective, but he is not too far behind, at that. Elected to the legislature after the 1944 defeat, he opposed anti-closed shop bills and won the support of labor. The farmers were discontented, too.

Earl Long won in the run-off by a majority of almost a half-million votes. 41 Brass Bands Played The inauguration, to celebrate the return of a Long to the governor's mansion in Baton Rouge, was held in May of 1948 in the Louisiana State University stadium. For his friends who came out of the hills and bayous to see Huey's brother back in the saddle he provided the music from 41 brass bands and fed the multitude an es timated $100,000 worth of hot dogs, butter milk and soft drinks. That same year young Russell Long won an election to the U.S. Senate.

But in 1952 broken promises and new taxes caught up with Earl Long. Unable to succeed himself, he entered a candidate and campaigned for him. Robert Kennan pledged to eradicate Long's policies, won. That fall Gov. Kennan almost took Louisiana into the Eisenhower camp.

Earl Long's opposition helped prevent it. He supported Ta Tht Editor Of Th Miami News: The "peace, prosperity and progress" theme which the Republicans are polishing up for the presidential campaign could bear some refreshing punctuation to bolster weak connections. If they include Korea in the peace category, anyone with ordinary intelligence knows we have only an armed truce, which H. V. Kaltenborn described in his column in The Miami News soon after the ceasefire terms were signed as "The first de feat to befall American arms in the his tory of the and which the North Korean and Chinese Communists have ar rogantly, and with unchallenged defiance, proceeded to violate with impunity.

And all this, notwithstanding the baseless accusation during the 1952 presidential campaign that "the Democrats lack the will to fight for a victory in Korea." The present condition of our over-all strategy around ie world, and the diplomatic tension among some foreign embassies need no comment here, except to state that we throw the mantle of charity around the shoulders of the Secretary of State Dulles. During the last presidential campaign Mr. Eisenhower's speech writers endowed him with some very comprising vote-getting statements, samples of which were balancing the budget and maintaining the TVA at its highest efficiency for the benefit of the people of the seven states which it serves. Up to the present moment the budget has not been balanced. The TVA narrowly escaped strangulation from the Dixon-Yates cabal, Hell's Canyon public power has been surrendered to private monopolies, and the Secretary of the Interior is leasing the public domain for private exploitation and our national government is controlled and operated by the vested interests.

It should be an interesting spectacle to envision the administration in Washington making an attempt to alibi itself out of the SELECTIONS Friday, January 27, 1956 Th AwociuM Prau it printed a urn newspaper Let not your heart be troubled; St. France Facing Minority Rule A government by minority parties which together have the same number of votes as the Communists in the National Assembly appears to be shaping up in France. Guy Mollet, secretary general of the Socialist party, has been chosen to try to form the first government since the recent election of a new parliament. He is understood to be considering Pierre Mendes-France, former premier, for a top cabinet post, possibly foreign minister. Mollet's party has 94 votes; Men-des-France's wing of the Radical (really moderate) party has 57.

The Communists have 151 seats the same as the coalition which is to be called 'he Republican Front. The only way in which such a gov-'rnment can function is with the support of the Communists, Mollet has said he will offer the Communists no cabinet places and the Communists indicated they will support the Republican Front without becoming active participants. However, the Popular Republican party, predominately Catholic, has warned that a Republican Front government without Communists may soon become a Popular Front with them. That has always been the course of Communist participation in European politics. Whether or not the new government is directly under Communist influence, the outlook is not good for strong French co-operation with the anti-Communist West.

Mendes-France has been at best a lukewarm supporter of European unity. And a left-of-center government headed by Socialist Mollet, and including Mendes-France, will be a weaker one than the succession of weak governments since World War II. At worst France, may seek to pull away from her western alliances; at best, under the proposed government, she will be an ineffectual kind of a "neutral." Eisenhower Plea A Realistic One Those who have supported Democratic proposals for federal health insurance will be disappointed at President Eisenhower's nealth message to Congress yesterday. The President, temporarily at least abandoned his request for legislation for reinsurance by the government of health risks assumed by private insurance companies. The President's cunent stand is probably explainable on the ground that it is realistici Former President Truman, in the second volume of his memoirs now being published in Life magazine and The New York Times, recounts his unsuccessful battle for a federal health program which went far beyond anything Mr.

Eisenhower has suggested. Mr. Truman takes the stand that a large part of our population cannot afford adequate htalth care and that it is the duty of government, through an insurance plan to provide it. His proposals were assailed "'socialized medicine," although he points out that the doctors would still be independent agents and patients could pick their physicians just as do now. The President proposal for federal spending cf $126,525,000 for medical research is probably as much as he could hope to get in an election year, although many will oppose that on the thought he'd gft sore when 1 asked him if the could get by without vie for a few days but he's really pleasant r.bovt ff i I i 1 jn.t Mi THOMAS W.

Editor HOKE Manapnc It Advertiamg Sl We. Ho. I Daily-Sunday 45c 199 duly 30e 1.30 Published every day in Miami 30, Fla. at the new Coconut Grove playhouse said, and it told liu Diuiy emu at mauc uu sense It even lacked sex appeal. Not a lady there.

Just four men and a messenger boy. It was little but two bums gabbling nonsense on a stage with no scenery but a naked tret It was a boring waste of time. Anything as bad as that, it seemed to me, LOCKE should be worth seeing, if only to measure its merctririousness. On the last day of the run when all the rest had had their see and say, I summoned my courage and, choosing a seat well townrri the door, submitted to whatever punishment the stage and its denizens might have for me. It was as I had been warned.

Only the bare stage with a void for its background and its one bare tree was there, and, occupying it the two turns. Who were the waiters and what was this Godot they were waiting for? That was what the long talk was to be about. Estragon and Vladimir, down and out and dirty in body and in mind, had lost their way in the world and where were they to go? What were they to do? They as-ked each other and answered each oth er in talk and act that weighed on the watching mind. What all their asking came to was the same. Thev did not know, there was nothing they could do.

There was no place they could go. They could enly wait there for the day to end and tne night to fall and another dreary, weary day to come, all the time waiting for Godot. The cntics have been saying, there is no story here. It is not a story to sit hopeless, helpless through the dreary day, waiting for something to come tomorrow to point the nungry hours? What something? Fate Oblivion? Godot? And who is Godot? They do not know. Do we? The critics say right it isn't funny.

It is no more funny, though it bring here and there a laugh, than a child with its hand on a hot stove, a blind man falling in a well. "Waiting for Gdot," I have to agree, is nothing to see for fun. There is no fun there, no easy eat, drink and be merry. There is only the sadness of men wandering in the wilderness, unseeing the stars above them, waiting for Godot." Our unwillingness to bear with this "Waiting frr does it really mean that, rushing up our blind alleys, we are fleeing from -WALTER LOCKE THE ALSOPS The President Remains Aloof From Activity In His Behalf Washington, Jan. 27 The publicly missing piece in the Republican puzzle is very simple, decidedly curious and quite important enough to make the whole design look rather different.

In brief, all the busy political activity on the President's behalf is now being carried on wihout a shadow of positive authority from Dwight D. Eisenhower himself. State Delegations to the Republican Con vention ara being briskly organized in the Eisenhower name. The Citizens for Eisenncwcr are being called to the colors again With slight changes in make-up the old "Commodore the same body of men who directed the Eisenhower strategy in 1952 is now working hard to prepare for a second Eisenhower term. S.

ALSOP But the President himself, meanwhile is still holding perfectly aloof. He has not intervened to halt any, of this activity, as he could of course very easily do. But he has never approved any of it, either. In trying to interpret tne future, then, two big questions are dominant. Should one place more weight on the President's passive acceptance of such accomplished farts as the revival of the Citizens for Eisenhower? Or should one instead read the most meaning into the President's carefully non-committal aiuofness? Two incidents which show how the system actually works help to make thesn questions more concrete.

The first incident concerns the New Hampshire primary. There was broad agreement among the leaders of the Commodore group that it was essential to start the drama of the state primaries by organ izing a strong pro-Eisenhower delegation in New Hampshire. Thereupon informal warnings began to fly from the White House to the Commodore group. Influential members of the White House staf arpued that if the Pres ident's name were actuallv entered in the primary, tne effect might be to force Eisenhower's hand. It was fesred that if his hand was creed, the wtuM issue a statement taking himself out of the race for good and til.

There was serious hesitation becaune these warnings, but they were ignored in the end. The same pattern appears asin in the incident of the reveal of the Citizens for Eisenhower. Some weeks ago, former leaders cf the Citizens for Eisenhower went to the Picsident They wanted to circulate a letter calling the 1952 citizens into action again; and they wanted the President to approve it He replied that he could only approve the letter if the avowed object was to organize support for his policies and program; he would not approve a letter specifically seeking to organize support for bis candidacy. -JOSEPH AND STEWART ALSOP I' ntitlcd eacluelvely to tht uu lor publication of all the local newt aa all Ar tuauatcne. ye believe in God, believe also in me.

John 14:1 ground that private agencies can do the job. Also his recommendation of federal grants for medir al school construction meets a recognized need. After all, if the President can get any part of a program, which in what ever degree is highly controversial, he can count himself fortunate. People Nominate? Politicians Veto About this time four years ago here was much interest in the long-pending leform of the national political conventions that ha come to be known as the proposed national primary law. Since he ha been in Congress, Miami's George Smathers, first as a representative, then as a senator, has been the cn'ef sponsor of its passage.

However, this year, the year of the quadrennial conventions, there is less interest than there was lour years ago political leadership in both parties having cooled off a lot of enthusiasm. Under the national presidential primary idea, elections would be held the same day in all 48 states to choose each party's candidate for the White House. Smathers has argued the democratic way was to permit the rank-and-file members of the political parties to select the presidential (and vice presidential) nominees ts we" as to choose among the party's candidates. Both in 1953 and 1954. Smathers appeared before committees and fought hard for a constitutional amendment which would revise the entire election system.

Congressional Quarterly reports, the political professionals are discounting the chances ot such a new system. A high ranking Republican leader, who declined to be identified, said hp preferred the conversion system of nominations. "It may net be perfect," he said, 'but it has stood the test of time and works as well as anything we are likely to devise Florida Sen. Smatners himself has not been heard from recently on what efforts, if any can be made at this late date. One wonders if, after all the years since President Wilson first broached the idea, it is not time for the American people to make up their own minds then let the politicians know what they want! Somebody Profits From Slum Areas The Miami Long Range Plan, submitted to the City Commission in 1955 by the Planning Board, contains, among other provisions, a plan for clearing Miami of its slum areas.

Last week the Planning Board presented a report to the city manager which spells out steps the city must take in order to participate in federal aid earmarked for this purpose. This could be the beginning of a slum removal program in Miami's blighted areas. Federal loans and grants are available to communities which have developed workable programs for redevelopment of these areas. The residential area treatment element of the plan designates three particular sections of Miami as blighted because ct overcrowding dilapidation, lack of plumbing facilities and low value of the structures. These are the Central Negro area, Coconut Gove Negro area, and the Libeity City area.

Miami probably will find the groundwork leading to smm clearance no easier to tread than have other communities which have attempted it. Many of the problems we can expect to encounter are set forth in "Adventures of a Slum Fighter," a book by Atlanta businessman Charles F. Palmer. Palmer maintains that slums exist because "somebody gets the money." This famed 'slum fighter' recalls many struggle: f.um the early thirties to the pre-war years when he met similar opposition in various other communities. it most 'mportant, this book offers proof, based on actual experiences 'n this country and abroad, that slums eventually can be eliminated for the betterment of any community.

It offers new nope to Miami in the task that lies ahead. Wide Open Feeling Merriman Smith. United Press White Hou.e reporter, says that he and most of his colleagues covering President Eisenhower s'nee his heart attack "have a feeling that he will not seek reelection." That must be the same feeling that i has animated the ranks of the Demo- cratic candidates recent weeks. ft Letters Must Bear Not Necessarily For Publication The Writer's Name And Address maze of weasel words and pious platitudes uttered in behalf of the great common people. CHARLES BROWN Miami America Must Not Consider Giving In To Communists To The Editor Of The MUrnl Fewa: There can be no compromise with Communism.

The Communists want it that way and so should we. There can be no compromise with evil, yet we make the compromise and it makes us weak and fearful. Christ told us not to fear one who could take our life, but to fear one who could destroy our soul. The thing the Communist leaders fear and have admitted that can destroy their ideology is the influence of the lives of those who sincerely live Christ. The things they like in us are the evil things in our lives.

They play up these in their propaganda to prove to their people that the West is worse than the East, To make America strong, we, as individuals must henestly and sincerely live Christ and spread His teachings everywhere. Fear God, but nobody else. THOMAS J. BRACKETT Sarasota Show Willingness To Support Major League Ball In Miami To The Editor Of The Miami Newi: Now that we have baseball I think we should all turn out and show people like William J. Morten that we will support it.

Mr. Morten's letter reflects the negative thinking Miami sports writers have been showing all these years. Miami is a future major league town. Let's show everyone how well we can support a team in the International League. M.

MICHELSON Miami controversy about what the President should say to the voters of New Hampshire abouf putting his name in the state primary election. The President was ill-informed about the Life article. Every Ambassador in the capital was waiting to hear whether he actually had "decided to order a limited atomic war under certain circumstances in Manchuria and South China without informing the Congress or his allies. He did not answer the question. In fact, he admitted that he hadn't even read tne article.

This made him probably the only world statesman who hadn't read it, but at least it was an honest answer. Same with Ridgway's charges. He didn't know the facts. The issue was over one of his own State of the Union messages but he referred the whole thing to the Pentagon. He took the New Hampshire controversy head on.

He invited ether candidates to get into the primary. He urged the voters to consider all personalities. He states with astonishing candor that his health would never be as good as it was before his heart attack and hjs life "r.ust be carefully regulated to avoid excessive fatigue." So what did the Republicans do? They treated him to the biggest dinner party on record, raised a whopping big sum to re-elect him in 1956, and put the Citizens for Eisenhower organization back in business! What is back of all this? Why did the President make such a damaging and unnecessary confession about his health? Having made it, why is he stJl in doubt? And having heard it, why do the other RcpulJican leaders refuse even to discuss another candidate? The President made the statement because it is true, al he is an honest man. President Truthful About Health Because He Is An Honest Man Stevenson. Now Earl Long is back again with a no run-off primary victory.

The story of how he won without television is the next, and concluding, chapter. Sidewalk Sermons ROY L. SMITH Automobile license plates in the state of Arizona alternate between white numerals on black backgrounds and black numerals on white backgrounds. For the year 1955 the license plates bore black numbers. A movie was beiSg filmed on the desert near Tucson and for one of the scenes an automobile was needed, on which the license plates were plainly visible.

Because the picture was not to be produced until 1356 a special appeal was made to the state highway department for a license plate up-dated for 1956. Two very clever youngsters ho thought it was rather smart to steal a car made off with the auto without noticing that it bcre up-dated plates, and their oversight made it extremely simple for the police to spot the stolen seeds. It is said that a liar has to have a good memory, or he will trap himself with his lies, and by the same token a thia' has to be extremely clever to get away with thievery. Any youngster who has the wit and the intelligence to get away with a theft would find that honest endeavor would pay vastly better. It is for that reason that every thief can be classified as a dumbbell.

He is selling his talents on a market perpetually bad. And the more clues left lying out in the open the quicker the retribution. Honesty is something very much finer than a good policy. It is the only dependable one. (CupyrrtM 1" r-inri ef the ef Cbmt in the l.tA I A JAMES RESTON In The New York Times Washington The Republicans did everything but can-nonize President Eisenhower at the start of his fourth year in the White House, but, in a way, they forgot their best point.

He is not another Washington or Lincoln, as the party orators procla.med but an honest man who has proved that simple goodness is still a great force in national and world politics. In a city and a world tnat have lately been rewarding men for their bad qualities rather than their gooc qualities for slick-ness rather than genuineness, for glibness rather than sincerity, for appearance rather than for substance and character this just happens to be about tne most important contribution a public man can make. To puff him up into a genius, as his well-meaning partisan colleagues have been doing, blurs his true quality and denies him the satisfaction he wouid treasure the most. Tu'ib i the itaiidliGu that the American system of government will work under the leadership of a man who is faithful to the ord nary decencies and durable principles of American Me and that the people will instinctively prefer sucn a man to more brilliant and profound competitors. The success of nis simple honesty is startling, and overwhelms numerous other obvious defects.

The events of last week illustrate the point. He was involved in three controversies all at once: Secretary of State Dulles' interview in Life magazine; Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway's charge that the President had misled the country by implying that the 1954 defense program was supported by Ridgway; and the internal White House I.