The Augusta Courier

TALMAGE VOICES OPPOSITION TO EFFORTS TO DESTROY SOUTH'S TRADITIONAL PATTERN OF SEGREGATION

Governor Breaks Silence On Issue Forced By Negroes In Irwin School Case

On Saturday, October 22nd, Governor Talmadge declared that Georgia will never submit to the destruction of the pattern of segregation.

He stated that Georgia "will never submit to one inch of encroachment on our traditional pattern of segregation."

For the first time since he has been Governor he broke his silence on the racial issue and in a statewide broadcast attacked a suit brought by eighteen negroes in Irwin County seeking to either destroy the public school system in this State or force the mixing and mingling of the races in the schoolrooms of Georgia.

This suit will be heard in the District Court of the United States at Valdosta on the 10th day of November. Eighteen adult negroes have brought the suit as next friends of negro students and contend that the County school board and the County school superintendent of Irwin County have denied negroes school buildings, equipment and teachers equal to that furnished the white children.

Talmadge called the action "the first effort directly made upon the segregation laws of Georgia and other Southern States by an iniquitous organization known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."

Talmadge said his administration will fight the suit in the courts, before public opinion, in Congress and "hand to hand, with all our weapons, and we will never submit to one inch of encroachment on our traditional pattern of segregation".

The suit he continued is a move by disgruntled agitators from Northern States to destroy all that the far-seeing white and Negro people have accomplished in progress in the last ten generations.

"Besides this, it is a boring from within, for the first time, to destroy our American government and to lay the groundwork for the ultimate establishment of a Communistic state in this country."

"These agitators financed by the radical fringe of the East know we cannot furnish either white or Negro school children identical facilities overnight. This does not make any difference to them. What they are looking forward to is moving Negro children into the nearest and most convenient white school."

Talmadge said that if the segregation laws are broken up "it would fit in with their plans to abolish segregation on street cars, railways, bus lines, restaurants, churches, theatres, athletic fields and everywhere else."

The suit in Irwin County marches hand in hand with the general pattern of the nationwide campaign to destroy segregation... (Continued on page three)
Governor Breaks Silence On Issue Forced By Negroes In Irwin School Case
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tion in the public schools and everywhere else.

In Congress the so-called civil rights bills are pending, including the FEPC bill, and this program has the backing of President Truman and the leadership of the Democratic Party and the leadership of the Republican Party.

The administration has announced that this program will be backed in Congress for passage in January, 1950.

In addition to this the Department of Justice in Washington has recently filed a motion in the Supreme Court of the United States asking that Court to overrule the doctrine to which it has adhered for more than fifty years.

The doctrine sought to be overruled is what is known as the "separate but equal" facilities. Under the doctrine of maintaining separate but equal facilities the Supreme Court has held that segregation in the public schools in the South is legal and that segregation on the buses, trains, hotels, dining rooms, etc., has been legal.

And now the President's newly appointed Attorney General, J. Howard McGrath, goes before the Supreme Court of the United States and asks that Court to destroy a doctrine which the Court for more than fifty years has declared to be the law of the land.

Governor Talmadge's outburst against the Irwin County suit comes as an expression of his disgust at the concerted effort of those who would use the negro for political purposes to destroy the pattern of segregation and the very civilization of the South.

STRICTLY PERSONAL
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We can't rub out the fact that the per capita income of the people of this State is only $971 dollars and the average of the nation is 1410 dollars. The people of most States have at least 1500 or 1600 dollars for every man, woman and child in the State.

Unfortunately the earning power of the people of every State is in direct proportion to the educational level of the people. The people of every State earn in direct proportion to the amount of money they spend on education.

There is another situation that is hastening this crisis in the schools. That is the suit brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People against the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education of Irwin County, Georgia.

It took us a long time to get our public officials to realize the dangers in this suit. We called it to their attention on several occasions before they did wake up.

At first the Attorney General threw up his hands and said the State wasn't interested and he would have nothing to do with it.

Then the Board of Education turned down a plea from the County Superintendent of Schools of Irwin County to help in the suit. The State Board of Education showed no interest whatsoever.

When this happened we couldn't help but step out and tell the people about the dangers of this suit.

I am delighted to know that when it was brought to the attention of Governor Talmadge that he employed special counsel and ordered the State to help defend this suit.

If the negroes win this suit it will wreck the public school system in this State. The negroes had a similar suit in King George County in Virginia last year and they won it and a Federal Judge came very near putting the whole Board of Education of that county in jail for contempt of Court.

The Supreme Court of the United States has upheld separate schools for whites and negroes on the theory that they could be separate if they were equal. Of course, we all know that we do not at this time have equal facilities in every respect.

But I believe this case can be defended. I say that because I know that more progress has been made in the negro schools in the last forty years than has been made in the white schools.

We have gone a long ways in our school development and the white people have had to pay the bills for both the white children and the negro children. The negroes have been an economic liability so far as government is concerned.

I believe if these facts are brought to the attention of the Court and we go further and show that we have plans for the future which will give improved services in both the white and negro schools that this case can be won. I say to you frankly that it cannot be won unless we have plans for the future and convince the Court that as a State we are sincere in our plans.

Anticipating that this question would come the Legislature has passed the Minimum Foundation Program for Education and had this plan been financed we would not now be forced to be defending this suit.

The Minimum Foundation Program for Education fully financed is a complete defense to such suits.

Now the Minimum Foundation Program doesn't mean that there will be the same kind of buildings for the two races or that white and colored teachers will receive the same pay. Up to a certain point there is uniformity. After that funds are provided which can be spent in the discretion of the County Boards of Education.

Teachers' salaries above this point can be fixed on a basis of education, the training and experience of the teachers, the responsibilities of the job and the individual worth of the teacher.

The Minimum Foundation Program for Education is a workable plan and is one which will give us a complete defense to the suit brought by the negroes in Irwin County and is a plan which maintains the pattern of segregation.

Under the present situation were the negroes to win the Irwin County suit it would not materially help the negroes. It would pull the white (Continued on Page Four)