The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 150

Stukmamt mm mm mm aw Male THE KANSAS CITY STAR Founded September 18 1880 by William Rockhill Nelson The Kansas City Star Company Owner and Publisher MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press exclusively is entitled to use fbr republication of all local news published herein as well as all AP dispatches (Copyright The Kansas City Star 1972) Sunday December 3 1972 Principle longer necessary to bite off a cigar aid spit it shirt front The may havo don us did in tho Romans St BUI Vaughan at Sitter ef The iter No 77 Tbte of us wte Vol the world before that time was vastly different from what It baa bean since Happy tea thinker who has found wprWV himself a watershed The trouble la that all th host ones site the -itmtobUktt- Of course it redly doesn't matter I moan you art not going to got a jter tea world la bettor or wo no chair at a prestigious college by JaJSadtop0rtaBt tWn tht lt htl Nobody can argue with a atraight face that the world we knew before tag the world teat tee combustion angina or movable type or teo airplane have had in impact ttejo psalters jmm wi thing point Waiting for the President to Assure US Minorities More elegant men end of the cigar with nipper attached to tee watch When It was no longer necessary watch chain disappeared and did tha pocket watch to be replaced by the wristwatch and similar affete flummery have already been brought to almost attention tudy an-other nuisances lUu to March for potato in tea tida of human affair you want to give ua ictoIarHhl for Christmaa mate it a turning tL Lv Careers havo been built on such revelation aa teat tea Invention of the cotton gin or the assembly line or air-conditioning changed Watery One a student gets an insight of this magnitude ho can ait back in Ml library and write who! bookshelves on the subject Pick anything you want the dosing of the frontier the discovery that the earth rotates around teo sun instead of vice versa if have it right the germ theory Big Idea or asphalt roads All you need to do is build upon it as a foundation underlying an explanation of what haa happened since These events are called watersheds Those of you who remember the invention of the wheel will agree that PPned in ttel? Well ft The gold watch and chain and cigar flgura apt your snippers wore symbols of power and few established aiAitfciteteorteo rucravrmt happened in MM? Well that one era ended and gone have been drifting 1932 is tha same as the world today And what lot of things own watershed crystal clear another began when cigars no longer required biting Some may call it coincidence but that is the easy way but I admit that th logical edifice I Intend to erect to prove my thesis Is not completed Even If it were I tell you until I get a few hundred thou In foundation money to work on it Perhaps the trend toward a more docile mala began when it was no The fact that I have not 00 much as a PhD to my haa may bo directly attributable to th fact that I have never been able to discern a watershed to call my very own Until now that la Th other day a little note in the newspaper reminded me (it had slipped my mind) that 40 years ago the prepunctu had been introduced to what was than the civilized world It was thought of as a major punch-through No longer need the smoker bite the it just cigar on uncharted seas When ward bosaea chewed the ends off their cigars there was no Naw Politics and when Prexy snipped Ms cheroot with a jeweled snipper campus unrest was unheard of Also before 1932 the girls were prettier steak was cheaper and tn general I felt a great deal better than I do today I)onTt tell me not the sign of a watershed Mansion Has Stood the Test of Time Lyndon Johnson's years in the White House were the great period of legislation The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodations and by employers and unions The Voting Rights Act of 1965 put federal examiners in the South and vastly increased black voter registration in that region In 1968 a third act prohibited discrimination in housing Although Johnson could never project the leadership qualities of the Kennedys he nevertheless was the man who got things done with his actions based on the clear evidence that blacks no longer were content to accept second-class citizenship The middle 60s and the end of the Johnson years also brought the urban riots which alarmed a great many white Americans and put the cause of civil rights and desegregation in a different perspective Some of the excesses of the late 1960s undoubtedly contributed to the Nixon victory of 1968 People were tired frightened and bored all at the same time of news stories of protest and pictures filling the television screen of people occupying campuses and shouting demands and insisting on welfare not as a necessity but as a right In 1969 after his election Richard Nixon said he wanted to change his reputation of indifference to black goals He admitted that he was suspect and expressed regret Thereafter came a new emphasis on black capitalism and appointments to government pasts of responsibility At the executive level (with salaries starting at $38000) the Republicans have 150 blacks compared to 63 at the high-water mark of the Johnson administration There are seven Negroes at good jobs in the White House compared to two previously In subcabinet assistant secretary and there are nine now compared to three previously The general counsel of the Treasury Department is a Negro and so is a legal counsel of the Department of Transportation George Haley of Kansas City Kansas Sam Jackson is an assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development Judge Benjamin Hooks is the first black member ever of the Federal Communications Commission Robert Wheeler formerly of Kansas City is an important man in Health Education and Welfare Mainstream the Goal Negroes who are in the administration and speak for it say that the goal is to lift minorities into the mainstream of American life They point to a 700-million-dollar budget for minority business enterprise as opposed to 200 million under the Democrats In short they say the administration is doing instead of talking that it is not raising false hopes but pushing hard against the retreating barrier of intolerance Still many blacks see Nixon in terms of a Southern strategy Chicanos see the administration as an oppressive force catering only to the whites of the middle-class suburbs Richard Nixon of all people does not want to go down in history as the man who solved our problems abroad only to return home to find that a rotten renter had collapsed about his head But the time has come for presidential words to set out goals It is not enough for Republicans to repeat: what we do pay attention to what we talk Talk cannot be dismissed What the President says is important to all his people He cannot inveigh against bussing express a hope that the Supreme Court deal with de facto real estate segregation fire the leading spokesman for equality from the Civil Rights Commission and otherwise seem insensitive to normal human hopes without appearing to have small interest in the future of from 10 to 15 per cent of his people Mr Nixon has brought Americans to a new level of confidence in world affairs in his first administration His job for the second four years is at home He needs to convince close to 30 million black and that they still have a part of the action For the first time in decades minorities in principally see in Washington an administration difficult for many of them to identify with positively Some regard the Nixon regime as indifferent at best Others see it as actively hostile to the aspirations of minorities Whether this is a fair assessment can be debated But the feeling is very real Underlining the uneasiness of many Negroes and to some extent the Chicanos or Mexican-Americans is the feeling that they are now outside the processes of government and influence Although the Nixon share of the black vote apparently rose between 1968 and 1972 there can be little doubt that the Nixon landslide was achieved with inconsequential support from black organized sources Senator Brooke of Massachusetts is a Republican but all the blacks in the House of Representatives are Democrats Most of the articulate black leadership and public figures seemed to support McGovern although there were exceptions If blacks should tend increasingly to vote as a bloc it is apparent after 1972 that even an overwhelming black vote for one presidential candidate cannot determine the outcome if the national tide is running the other way Thus the future ability to influence events would seem to rest with the degree of independence minorities can retain If thev become whollv identified u'ith one party they will have little effect on either party The one take teir support for granted while the other will assume that there is a natural antipathy that cannot be countered by good works of any sort Task for Leaders Yet the burden of removing fences and allaying suspicion rests with those in power and most especially the leadership Despite common interests the minority vote and more specifically the black vote is not a monolithic unit that can be delivered In recent years it has tended to be Democratic mainly for economic reasons just as it once was Republican because of the Civil War and Reconstruction Blacks cannot he effectively herded about bv political leaders to vote in unison because like other Americans they have varied concerns in various situations Nevertheless a pattern of Democratic favor has emerged in recent decades broken only by the Eisenhower years The administrations of Franklin Roosevelt were identified with the Struggle up from the depression and permanent benefits for low income many of them Negroes The general Deal philosophy continued through the Truman years and segregation came to an end in the armed forces In the second term of Dwight Eisenhower the first Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction became law (1957) It created a Civil Rights Commission and authorized the Attorney General tn bring suit when an individual was deprived of voting rights Te Himax came when Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock's Central High School Little Rock was a turning point of history These were the years when the civil rights movement was coming to full flower Federal support continued through the administrations of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson although many acts of Congress were bipartisan matters with Republicans often playing basic roles Little was accomplished in the Kennedy years in the way of legislation But there was vigorous executive action including the 1962 order barring discrimination in federally assisted housing By this time white violence against blacks in the South was shocking the nation A Kennedy civil rights hill considerably broadened was submitted ih June 1963 The confrontations with George Wallace in Alabama and federal backbone at other flash points of friction in school desegregation created a pattern Kennedy was eloquent in his pleas for human understanding and tolerance: In a word he transmitted the image of a President who cared and was trying Practically he might have been more effective in a second term But that was not to be located and renovated the house occupied the site of the present Kansas City Museum of History and Science Bef Old Dan and Dick stand harnessed and ready to go in front of the red-brick Victorian residence of Judge William Hockaday Wallace built in 1887 Before it was re ore By Mrs Sam Ray A historic Kansas City homa that once wag moved to a naw location and waa changed completely in outward appearance was purchased recently by the Kansas City Museum of History and Science Association for future expansion of the museum At the time the picture at the right was taken in the early 1890s the red-brick Victorian residence of Judge William Hockaday Wallace occupied the site of the present museum of Gladstone Boulevard There was no Gladstone Boulevard then and th street address was Scarritt and Hawthorne Scarritt became Gladstone Kansas first boulevard when paving was completed in 1897 Hawthorne at the left side of the old mansion photograph was a short street running south to St John It was paved with round cedar blocks When Gladstone was built Hawthorne was closed and today the old thoroughfare is covered with grassy lawns and homes The building purchased by the museum association Is hardly recognizable as the original Wallace home for it was long ago moved across the street north of its original site to 3200 Norledge turret removed exterior brick facing removed enlarged and the entire structure covered with building stone This improvement and move were made when A Long purchased the entire 3200 block on Gladstone with the stipulation that the Wallace home and two other residences on the block would be moved to other locations Long needed the block for his 72-room mansion stables and cottage for the horse handler The three residences were all moved to nearby lots House relocation was a common practice at the turn of the century and the redbrick 3-story Wallace home suffered no damage either to the structure or its furnishings when the move was made It took almost three years and a reported $75000 before the house was completed at the new location The first guests after the move were five ministers who were here for the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church Judge Wallace had made a trip to Atlanta to extend the invitation Childhood Memories The Wallace children Mary Chiles and William live in the Kansas City area today William near Summit and Mary Chiles (Mrs John Hill) with her husband at the Vista Del Rio Memories of their childhood home before and after the move have been revived since the museum purchase became known Mary was born at the old location and was married in the new The comfortable home was theirs through childhood and young adulthood and Judge Wallace continued living there after the death of Mrs Wallace in 1936 Judge Wallace died later in October of the same year On a tour of the premises last week Mrs Hill was pleased at the usable condition of the home and of the little change in fine old woodwork crystal prism light fixtures the seven fireplaces with their original carved mantles and leaded glass windows and doors Tho large sleeping porch was added she recalls while she and her mother were on a trip to Europe She explained: "Father and brother would be in the house at night but mother relish the idea of leaving the house alone daytimes so she arranged for Mr Johnson an excellent 1 When A Long purchased the entire 3200 block on what is now Gladstone Boulevard Judge Wallace moved his home to 3200 Norledge enlarged the structure and covered the exterior with stone The building as it appears here was recently purchased by the Kansas City Museum of History and Science Association Mrs Atlas could stay" she recalled was our faithful servant of many years and stayed on and cooked for Mr group while they were The Wallace family took their bags and went to Independence to stay with grandmother Chiles while Sunday and his party were in their home was in May and as Kansas City springs often are the weather Mrs Hill said turned cold suddenly and Mr Sunday phoned mother at Independence that more covers were needed for bedding Mother hurried down to Emery Bird and bought wool blankets so many that I remember we never needed another wool blanket day labor laws and dosing saloons on Sundays When the old domicile of this honored and respected judge opens its doors next spring it will be to the public Tentative plans are in the making for administrative offices costume storage art and exhibits a natural history center and classrooms and a full-fledged nature center for children as well as for adults The wooded stretches of Kessler Park lie conveniently adjacent next door west The museum library eventually occupying a large part of the first floor will house part of the city archives and old city plats and directories and part of the historically valuable collection of the late George Fuller Green Floyd Workman owner of the property the last three years has made extensive repairs and is proud of the fact that the large building is now easier to heat and that previous gas bills for $200 are now reduced to about half that amount It is a great acquisition for the museum for in addition to its distinguished background there is plenty of interior space four huge floors of it as well as space for parking with little traffic in the area Above all there is the expansive view of the wide Missouri valley north as far as Liberty in Clav Countv and west to Kansas City Kansas and th Kaw Mrs Hill has the letter Mr Sunday wrote her mother after leaving Kansas City He declared the stay in the Wallace home was most pleasant peaceful and quiet and the view of the Missouri Valley from their rooms most sightly of any occupied on our A finished third floor has two ballrooms two bedrooms rooms and bath Stationary wood benches still encircle the ballrooms They were once covered with long velvet cushions it was raining or the weather too bad the young guests often came in through the ground level (basement) double doors on the recalls Mrs Hill The huge 4-story stone structure shelters the entrance there and at one time kept stacked firewood dry were seven fireplaces In the house and the one in the library was in use almost every day of the Mrs Hill said Versatile Site The comfortable old home has seen births deaths marriages change of location nursing-home patients and youthful students of a trade school Long ago it may have heard tales of violence for Judge Wallace as prosecuting attorney for Jackson County was fearless in his three years of tracking down and convicting the James gang Judge Wallace was also responsible for enforcing Sun stoaemason to come every day to cut and shape stone brought from his brother Albert's stone quarry By the time we returned at the end of summer a great pile of cut stone was ready to build the new The huge library fireplace near the reception hall is unchanged with its oak mantle matching the beamed oak ceiling and a picture window and bookshelves with glass doors on three sides of the room (This room will be used again as a library for the museum) Tall sliding doors in the walls of all rooms on the first floor make it possible to open the entire floor for one large area They are still in place and remind Mary Hill of her wedding day when these doors were pushed back and 200 guests mingled freely and uncrowded Visiting Evangelist A great winding staircase leads to the second floor with bedroom views from the windows that rival those of a wooded lodge They bring memories to Mrs Hill of the time Judge Wallace was asked if Billy Sunday the evangelist and his party of 40 could use the house during their stay in Kansas City The evangelistic services were to be held in a tent tabernacle on nearby Admiral Boulevard agreed to let Mr Sunday have the house if Washington Cunningham A JUDGE WALLACE.