Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 6

6 DECATUR HERALD Decatur, Illinois, Monday, November 4, 1968 Effect on Election Appears Minimal Editorials Our Opinions Survey Shows Wallace Losing Strength in South Possibility Election Day: ELECTION TAV mnU fco a day of turmoil. Two organizations, the National Mobilization Comimttee to End the War in Vietnam and the Students for a Democratic Society, say their plans are made for a weekend of demonstrations, culminating with massive demonstrations at the polls in a number of plan to cap a day long series of demonstrations by massing around Republican Richard Nixon's Midtown headquarters to protest the (fraudulent' elections. "In Waverly, a draft-resistance group plans to gather in front of Hubert Con Con Attack Uninformed Wallace had been hurt by the selection of Gen. Curtis E. LeMay as his vice-presidential running mate and by the feeling that the Alabamian would have no control of Congress.

Also, there may be a growing suspicion that Wallace's old-line agents in Georgia, including Roy V. Harris of Augusta and former Gov. S. Marvin Griffin, may have local ambitions of their own. In Virginia, most sources questioned by the Times representative believe that Nixon has held his lead in the race for the state's 12 electoral votes and that if anyone has gained there it is Humphrey rather than Wallace.

Texas, the region's biggest prize with 25 electoral votes, is the only former Confederate state in which the vice president now is regarded as a major threat. Wallace appears to be running a poor third. With perhaps 37 to 40 per cent of the vote in Texas, the vice president is able to take advantage of a split in conservative ranks that gives roughly the same proportion to Nixon and from 20 to 26 per cent to Wallace. The Democrats are counting on party unity and newly committed support by figures such as Gov. John Connally, plus drives designed to turn out a heavy vote among Negroes and Mexican-Americans and to woo union membas from Wallace.

The Texas Republicans hope to swing the election in their favor by convincing the Wallace splinter groups that the third-party choice doesn't stand a chance. This is the main GOP line throughout the South. Unknown Despite the evdience of polls and analysts with years of experience in tracking Texas politics, there is a lingering fear of an unknowable "silent vote" that will blow in off the prairies on Nov. 5. In the North Wallace supporters may be more reluctant MacLeish Decries York woman answers a pollster's questions.

A GROUP from Winnetka is attempting to "save our state" by urging people to vote against calling a Constitutional Convention Tuesday. It is their contention that a convention of fellow citizens would do a number of awful things. They say "don't be conned into destroying state sovereignty, local government, neighborhood schools, private property, freedom of choice and control over taxes." Just how a convention which has to submit a document back to the people for a vote would be able to accomplish all of this is never made quite clear. As an example, there is the destruction" of the neighborhood schools. According to this group a convention would remove "local control, over financing of education by eliminating referendums on bond issues; increase taxes via backdoor referendums; and eliminate local elected schools boards." What's wrong with this analysis? Only one thing.

All these things can be done right now by the General Assembly by amending or repealing existing statutes. What about the abolition of private property? Obviously, anything can happen. But looking at this rationally, it is hard to conceive of a group of men or women, almost all of whom will have been nurtured from childhood on the sacredness cf private property, having anything to do with its abolition. This group talks abcut the horror cf annual sessions with no realization that the General Assembly has the authority to meet annually if it chooses. These persons look with ter Exchange Table By Walter Rugaber (C) 1968 New York Times Atlanta, Ga.

THE THIRD-PARTY presidential campaign mounted by former Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama has lost momentum in the region on which he is most heavily dependent, a survey by correspondents of the New York Time indicates. The prospect of Wallace storming out of the South with a victory substantial enough to snarl this year's elections even if the major party vote is closer than expected now appears implausible. In September, the former governor was considered ahead in states with some 91 electoral votes.

Today, he is said to hold a clear lead in states with only 45 electoral votes. The New York Times survey indicates that recent changes in voter sentiment have thrown the Tormer governor into uncommonly close races in a number of southern states. This apparent softening in the Wallace vote, reflected nationally by a decline of five percentage points in the most recent Gallup Poll, is difficult to chart and projections to election day are therefore hazardous. But Richard M. Nixon has clearly advanced his standing in areas held firmly by the third-party contestant less than two months ago, the survey suggests, and even Hubert H.

Humphrey's once-dead campaign has displayed new life. 11 -State Survey These impressions are based on soundings in each of the 11 states of the former Confederacy made by local newspaper men who are part-time reporters for the Times. Political leaders and typical voters were questioned last week. The Times correspondents report that Wallace remains unassailable in Alabama (10 electoral votes), Mississippi (7) and Louisiana (10). with comfortable leads in Arkansas (6) and Georgia (12).

Most Democratic candidates in Arkansas have avoided the presidential race, but Rep. Wilbur Mills, chairman of the ways and means Committee, began to speak up for Humphrey recently. Other supporters have emerged, and pictures of the vice president now appear at Democratic in Arkansas. The Wallace support in the state has dropped from a clear majority to about 40 per cent, souces say, but it seems in little danger of a further decline. In Georgia, a Republican agent said Nixon has pulled to within five percentage points of the third-party candidate, and Democratic officials speak of a growing voter sentiment for Humphrey.

James H. Gray, the state party chairman who left Chicago in a huff after the Democratic National Convention imposed a seating compromise with liberals, noted that "people are saying they may hold their nose and vote Democratic." Gray said he thought crucial states on the feeling that the former governor's backers are already committed and that his opponents have a better chance with the undecided. Also, they say the recent improvement in Humphrey's chances may drive some white voters to Nixon with the thought that continued support of Wallace could now permit the Democrats to win on a conservative division. Nixon Turn? Some political leaders in North Carolina, especially the Democrats, believe Wallace can obtain enough to win. But others are confident that middle and upper-class whites will turn to Nixon and tip the election.

in aoum Carolina, me Wallace forces concede that a drive on Nixon's behalf by Sen. Strom Thurmond has started A New to confess their allegiance. But in the South, where the former governor's views have more respectability, there is little reason to remain silent. On the contrary, the region has a long history of clamoring loudly for the most extreme candidate just before voting for someone else. Shifting allegiances have produced remarkably close divisions in the four remaining states of the region, North Carolina (13 electoral votes), South Carolina (8).

Tennessee (11) and Florida (14). Wallace had been the leader in all four, but now he must gather support from an undecided vote that also is accessible to the Republicans, and even the Democrats since some of the uncommited voters are Negroes. Some sources base part of the Wallace slippage in these Trend California over the brush-fire mountains and the building-lot deserts to the high plains and the great valley and the Alleghenies, turning the cornfields of Iowa brown as the backyards in Los Angeles and parching the autumn leaves in New England yellow instead of red. The voice you hear in the woods in an election November isn't Thoreau's in Concord anymore or Lincoln's in Springfield or Stevenson's i Chicago or Jsc': Kennedy's down on the Cape, but the Bircher candidate's in California shaking his can full of scorpions while the old ladies of every age and sex scream like heac-crazed crickets in the background. There Is something to be said for the metanhor: how otherwise explain the speech Wallace gives over and over Hood of 'Conservative' Changes in Turmoil a major cities Tuesday.

In the past, the promises of these organizations have not been empty, although they have not always been entirely accurate. 1 According to the Wall Street Journal: "In New York City, thousands of striking students and antiwar demonstrators ror on the possibility that the maximum state debt limit will be raised it is now $250,000 without asking themselves why Illinois' debt is now in the range of several hundred million dollars. Nor do they realize this is costing the taxpayer much more than it should since the state must pay higher interest rates for special financing. The whole tenor of the argument is that a Constitutional Convention would open the way for undesirable changes in state laws. The entire argument falls flat when it is realized that the General Assembly already has the authority to pass the laws which this group seems to fear.

Apparently these Winnetka residents have little faith in their fellow citizens who might be elected delegates to a Constitutional Convention. And also, it seems, they have little faith in the general public which would have to approve any constitution proposed by a convention before it became law. The present Illinois Constitution, which was adopted in 1370, is the third for the state. The other two were the ones of 1818 when the state was founded and 1848. The constitution of 1818 was drawn up by a convention but it was never presented to the people for approval or disapproval.

The constitutions of 1848 and 1870 were both drawn up by conventions and accepted by the voters in referendums. If the Illinois resident of 1848 and 1870 had been afraid to "risk" constitutional conventions and referendums, the state might still be operating under the Constitution of 1818. change has occurred in the sterile quest for "peace." The Communists have achieved their fundamental demand that we stop the bombing. What have we got in return? Not a thing that is visible. (Mr.

Johnson's) introduction of representatives of the South Vietnamese government into the Paris talks is as it should be, for the fate of their country is at stake. His offsetting concession that the seating should also encompass the so called National Liberation front, Hanoi's political arm in South Vietnam, gives subversion a dignity it does not Mr. Johnson has done nothing that he could not have done when the Paris talks began in May, or even when he announced March 31 that he would not seek the presidency St. Louis Globe- Democrat. President John son's unilateral concession, suspending bombing, naval and artillery attacks of North Vietnam, was made in a last -ditch effort to pry "peace negotiations" out of deadlock.

Few can doubt Mr Johnson wants a reasonable formula to end the war, wants that deeply, desperately. Perhaps his desperation has betrayed him into another of the eight of nine bombing halts already tried so So skeptically do American people view the new Johnson bombing halt that as much, or more, comment is heard over political implications of the order as over the prospects that it can promote a peace. It is impossible to be convinced timing of the President's decision was not tinged with politics. He made the announcement just four days before the with Democrat Hubert Humphrey trailing Republican Richard Bombing Humphrey's lakeshore home to burn draft cards and denounce the Democratic presidential hopeful. "In Chicago, demonstrators plan to stage an 'anti-election people's festival through the afternoon in Lincoln Park." Despite the deluge of "law and order" rhetoric of this presidential campaign, the right of groups of people to peacefully demonstrate should not be forgotten, even groups of students who have a reputation for getting carried away with their demonstrations.

It is well that the police stand ready for the demonstrations that are planned election day. They have a two fold job. For one thing, the police should ensure the right of the demonstrators to march peacefully within the bounds of the law. The police also should protect every eligible voter from any kind of intimidation verbal or physical as he casts his ballot. This is not to suggest that this dual task will be easy for the police.

It will not be. But a conscious effort on the part of law enforcement officers to recognize and deal with both sides of the matter will do as much as anything to see that election day is a day of free expression. IN THE HERALD 25 HEARS AGO TODAY The United Mine Workers and Secretary Ickes egreed last night on a wage contract ending the nation wide coal strike and providing 1.50 a day increase for soft coal miners. For the first time in Decatur history tennis enthusiasts will be able to play on indoor courts this winter if canvas strips to cover the floor at the Y.M.C.A. Annex can be found.

Whether this sudden bombing halt will rebound to the advantage of Mr. Humphrey at the Tuesday polls is pure may indeed prove a boomerang. If many independent voters think the President is playing politics in Vietnam, they will be angry and repudiate the Democratic nation ernestly hopes and prays something definite toward a peace agreement can come out of the latest Johnson St. Louis Post-Dispatch The prospect of serious negotiations to end the Vietnam war is so heartening to most Americans that there will be little inclination to question too closely the circumstances under which President Johnson has ordered an end to the air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam. One cannot help wondering why the' bombing could not have been halted six months ago, or a year ago, under the same conditions at those under which it is halted now.

The final answer will have to wait on Why he should be content to end the bombing now and not sooner, remainss a mystery. The important thing is that it is ended, and that the greatest single obstacle to serious negotiations for a cease fire and a settlement has been It seems evident that arms had to be twisted not only in Saigon but in the Pentagon. Mr. Johnson went to great lengths to assure the country that Gen. Abrams and the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved his decision, having assured him that it would not result in an increase in American American people are sick of this war, and it is up to their government to find a way out of it Four Newspapers View Halt By Archibald MacLeish (c) 1968 New York Times EDITOR'S NOTE: Archibald MacLeish, poet and playwright, served as librarian of Congress and assistant secretary of state in the Franklin D.

1 1 administration. EVERYONE AGREES that the country is swinging right: that the America), people are more conservative in 1968 than they were in 1964 and that they will probably be more conservative still in 1972. One of our crispest television commentators has even discovered a shift in the political jet-stream to explain the phenomenon. The sweep of the upper air, he says, is no longer from sophisticated east to provincial west but the other way around: the -minant draft flows from southern to cut into the third-party backing and that "we've got to work like the devil from here on in." Nixon is expected to win by a narrow margin in Tennessee. The projected line-up there is reflected not only in appraisals by political informants but also by the results of an old-style poll.

Sources in Florida believe that Wallace and Nixon are separated now by two to five percentage points. Some of these observers expect the Alabamian to lead, while others give the former vice president an edge. There has been no marked change in the leading issues in the South, with the largely racial tears encompassed in the "law and order" debates still the prime concern of most whites. personally but on the Warren court and, specifically, on those decisions of the Warren court which have applied the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment to the actual conditions of contemporary life. This i erpretation is doubtless right as far as it goes, but it doesn ot take the final step.

Fifteen years ago a Washington journalist quipped that if the Bill of Rights as it stands in the Constitution had been offered as new legislation to the Joe McCarthy Congress it would have been overwhelmingly rejected. The quip was bitter when it was made. After the Fortas incident it is no longer even a quip: it has the look of tragic truth. To speak of a swing right, a shift toward conservatism, therefore, is inexact. What we are witnessing is a swing away.

And what the country is swinging away from is not simply the political and moral position of the last 30 years but a constellation of ideas which have dominated American attitudes and beliefs from the beginning. To call this drift conservatism is to deceive ourselves about ourselves and about our destiny as a people. If we subordinate the rights of the individual citizen to the power of the state and the shouts of the majority we let self-government go, and if we let self-government go America will go with it. What will be left then of all that honor, all that labor, all that struggle? Nothing, I think, but the dry wind and the can of scorpions and the screaming. Tornadoes THE HEAVILY populated area of southern Illinois is estimated to have more severe tornadoes per unit of population than any other part of the United States.

The most disatrous of all time occurred there in 1925, with a loss of 742 lives. Geographic Center THE OGRAPHICAL center of the United Staes including Alaska and Hawaii, is in Butte County, S.D., 17 miles west of Castle Rock and 14 miles east of the junction of the borders of South Dakota, Montana and like ter. a crow's caw? Those bit- impotent, fanatic phrases were never learned in the old South or even in the new. They are borne on a dry wind from another country, and southern California is as good a guess as any. But, though the metaphor works, the theory doesn't.

It is doubtless true that the political climate is changing and it may well be true that the direction of change is that of the wind from southern California, but it is not true that the direction is conservative. Wallace's most passionate promise is to silence dissent by force his own fcrce or that of his automobile if necessary. But to silence dissent is not conservative in America whatever it may be in Russia or in Russian Czechoslovakia or in Franco Spain. On the contrary, the right of dissent is the fundamental constitutional right on which rests. Without it, as the men of the entire American systun 1789 precsived, majority rule could become majority tyranny and self-government might well turn into government by gang: Wallace's kind of gang at one moment; others later.

And if Wallace's direction is not conservative, neither is Nixon's. His slogan of "law and order" was chosen to blunt the Wallace appeal and its actual meaning is that constitutional provisions which have been interpreted to set the rights of individual citizens above the power cf the stte in certain crucial situations are to be reinterpreted to set the power of the state above the rights of the citizens. This may seem desirable to certain minds even to certain millions of minds but no one with a respect for the English language could call it conservative. It conserves neither the American Constitution nor the American tradition. Should such a reinterpretation be forced upon the courts by political pressure, the United States would become a radically different country.

And not for hippies and Negroes only. There are those, indeed, who would argue that it has already become a different country. The Senate resistance to the nomination of Justice Fortas was widely Interpreted as an attack not on him HERE ARE some differing points of view from St. Louis and Chicago newspapers about the halt in the bombing of North Vietnam. Chicago Sun-Times The bombing halt of North Vietnam that began yesterday (Friday) is the first step of a carefully drawn formula that could result in a steady escalation toward peace in Southeast Progress has been slow, chiefly because Hanoi has refused to agree to make any reciprocal action in return for a bombing halt and because the leaders in Hanoi and Saigon have refused to accept each other as legitimate political entities.

These barriers have been bypassed by a brilliant diplomatic The next step in the escalation toward peace a step Hanoi has volunteered it wants to talk about is to arrange a cease The pattern. cease -fire to a new government, is found in the Geneva Accord of 1954, which both sides agree is a soundly conceived and workable document. The road to peace is long and it promises to be difficult. The first step has been taken. To say that this step the bombing halt is a cynical political ploy to influence the election is to impugn the decency and purpose everyone who has worked and prayed for peace, from President Johnson on down.

Hanoi determined the timing, not President Johnson. Chicago Tribune President Johnson has bought a pig in a poke from the North Vietnamese Communists and is trying to sell it to the American people in an eleventh hour political fire There is not the slightest evidence from Hanoi or from the Communist negotiators in Paris that any significant LET'S SEE, YOU ARE PROBABLY, ALMOST, JUST ABOUT, APPROXIMATELY.