National Reports
STOREY", "CHARLES O. LERCHE, BICKNELL EUBANKS, WALTER R.
NATIONAL REPORTS Crime and Corruption in Atlanta By Charles O. Lerche Jr. Atlanta Atlantans are fond of pointing out that their fair city is "free from organized crime." Of course, they mean...
...They had White attack Yarborough instead of Dies...
...The holdup got into the newspapers, complete with Hollywood-type details: The bandits wore black hoods, made off with $100,000...
...If it is small, there will be little aid for new factories, and industry is already moving to newer areas along with a significant part of the skilled labor and management personnel of the older communities...
...With the Democrats controlling the Senate by only one vote, this would have swung the balance of power to the GOP...
...he was called before the grand jury, testified, and since then has confined himself to cryptic comment...
...But Martin Dies, who draws heavily from the extreme conservative voters of Texas, especially in Dallas and other big-vote areas, wanted to move up from the House to the Senate...
...Many an Atlan-tan has been forced to admit to himself in recent weeks that organized crime, the plague of so many cities, seems to have invaded his home town...
...But to admit that there was a holdup might provoke inquiry into what was going on in the club at the time...
...As a representative of the American Municipal Association, Mayor Dilworth has pointed out that the Federal Government is spending $5 billion a year in farm subsidies, yet farmers produce only $13 billion a year...
...The aldermanic police committee looked into complaints of criminal influenco on the police, particularly involving discipline for patrolmen who were overzeulous in pursuing lottery operators, but gave the department: a clean hill of health...
...The lottery arrests, on the basis of photographic evidence compiled by the FBI, trapped four fairly notorious operators of the "bug...
...Senate seat is the result of unusual discipline among leaders of the liberal and labor bloc in the state's Democratic party and of a few unintentional assists from Texas conservatives...
...So, instead of effectively splitting the liberals, the conservatives helped to unite them...
...Texas Liberals Still Weak Despite Senatorial Victory By Bicknell Eubanks Dallas Ralph Yarborougii's recent victory in the race for Texas's vacant U.S...
...relative newcomers are totally baffled...
...Boost Aid to Cities By Walter R. Storey Philadelphia Mayor Richardson Dilworth has been warning President Eisenhower and members of Congress that there will be "ghost-town areas" in this city unless Federal funds are appropriated for redevelopment and industrial expansion...
...At best, therefore, it can be said that the liberal cause in Texas got a boost—but it is still a long way from the top...
...But conservative backers of Dies wanted White in this year's election, hoping he would draw heavily from the Yarborough supporters...
...The first incident was a blowup of the local numbers racket, involving the arrest of some important operators and a raid on their headquarters...
...After all this, however, the whole story lias come to a sudden end: nobodv will admit that there was a holdup, nohodv will make a complaint, and the police insist they won't mine without either e\ idence or a complaint...
...Moreover, when combined with that of Dies and a third conservative candidate who trailed far behind, Searcy Bracewell, it far outweighs the liberal votes for Yarborough, James Hart and John White...
...For some time, however, he has been in a dead-end political street, and he wants to go higher faster...
...They have low incomes and no skills," he added...
...But while Yarborough's victory can be rightly claimed by labor-liberal elements, it doesn't mean that Texas is any more liberal today than it was when Allan Shivers and Price Daniel defeated him in past Democratic Gubernatorial primaries...
...But there was considerable consternation that the drug traffic had reached such proportions...
...The Mayor has revealed that the Quaker City plans a slum-clearance and industrial-expansion program which is expected to cost §3 billion in the next 10 years...
...Another bill, backed by the President, calls for the expenditure of only $51 million...
...Running through all these stories are three basic threads...
...This development will be perhaps the largest of its kind in the country...
...A second common feature has been the equivocal policy of the local press...
...The narcotic arrests were a one-shot affair...
...One interesting point is that the very first story in the Atlanta Constitution, written by reporter Jack Nelson, was very detailed...
...And the conservatives themselves divided their own support among Dies, Hutcheson and Bracewell...
...Young, dynamic and brilliant, White has made an outstanding Texas Agriculture Commissioner...
...Philadelphia Mayor Urges U.S...
...and delayed pursuit by forcing the victims to disrobe and tangle their garments together in the middle of the floor...
...Only the most optimistic libera] could find a trend toward the liberal-labor cause in the final results...
...Conservatives moved in with funds and organization to try to "unstall" White's campaign, and Shivers's men—who had been behind the "old master" during his many years as unquestioned political leader of Texas—worked out what they thought would be good strategy...
...The illusory nature of the "liberal" victory becomes even more apparent when the campaign is analyzed and mistakes by conservatives show up as a major factor in swinging the election to Yarborough...
...I here is...
...The amount of money that will finally be appropriated is of great importance to Philadelphia and other older cities...
...The third story, as vet totally without official confirmation, is in many respects the most provocative...
...The theory that states and municipalities should solve these needs meets the hard fact that only Federal funds can help substantially, and local business interests demand such assistance...
...The storv of the narcotics arrests gave the names of those arrested and the arresting officers, but absolutely no detail- about" where and under what circumstance* the arre-ls took place...
...An obvious lack of cooperation between county and city officials has made the problem more tantalizing...
...The third and most recent is a report of a $100,000 holdup of a "private club" in Forsyth County, on the very fringes of the metropolitan area...
...First, the type of crime involved in each case is one that requires large-scale organization—lotteries, narcotics and gambling, ft strains credulity to argue that these three—highly organized in all other cities with crime problems—are merely spontaneous local operations in Atlanta...
...The movie film revealed that their garage headquarters had been repeatedly visited by Atlanta policemen...
...In his fourth try on a statewide basis, the onetime district judge from Austin has succeeded...
...Atlanta newspapers are not noted for crusading, but even for them the standard of reporting has been low...
...Of course, they mean crime committed by whites...
...His youth, they argued, and his strategic position as the state's top farm leader would be an unbeatable combination...
...since no crime is admitted, the police don't have to poke into matters that might prove embarrassing to many people...
...They were announced in the press, caused a little discussion, and disappeared from the news...
...The Mayor and many other big-city chief executives favor an all-out attack on urban problems because cities need funds to train unskilled employees and find jobs for them...
...But the strategy backfired...
...He saw his opportunity in the special Senate election but got no response from the liberals...
...Statements by officials are reprinted in full...
...One outcome of the stor\ has been a flood of reports that a large number of "private clulis" are operating in rural areas surrounding Atlanta...
...Local and state governments lack the tax powers to meet such urgent problems as housing, transportation, and attracting more modem industries...
...where law enforcement is less stringent...
...Atlanta is growing up, and crime is a part of its maturity...
...By way of illustration, let me point out that last year we advertised for 400 laborers for snow removal...
...This alienated much of White's usual strength among liberals and angered farmers in East and West Texas, who have always supported the Agriculture Commissioner but have also been strong backers of Yarborough...
...This leads to the third common thread in the pattern: Each successive incident has increased popular suspicion of the local police force to the point where many people are becoming deeply concerned...
...The city has plans drawn up to redevelop large unused industrial areas in north Philadelphia and at its huge international airport if Federal funds for urban redevelopment are made available...
...Dilworth has been working actively in support of the Democratic bill proposing $325 million in Federal aid for depressed areas...
...The latest step has been the impaneling of a Federal grand jury to investigate the whole problem, and Atlanta is expecting many more curious disclosures...
...To deal with it requires something more than the general Atlanta reaction of either shocked horror or total unbelief...
...Nevertheless, neither Hart nor White could get their campaigns off the ground...
...They wanted him to wait and run for Governor four years hence...
...Ten thousand showed up...
...A metropolitan area with a million people and large industrial payrolls is a lure that seems to have brought professionals to the scene...
...three times, he lost in statewide campaigns...
...Charges of corruption and cover-ups began to fly back and forth...
...A final twist is afforded by the fact that the whole business is going on during a municipal primary campaign in which Mayor William Hartsfield is trying for his fourth term and is being forced to defend his police chief against the charges of his opponent...
...A look at their unsuccessful attempt to use liberal John White, who made a surprisingly poor showing, illustrates this point...
...What most Atlantans miss is the fact that organized crime is part of the .pattern of urban life in many ptos of America today...
...There is some resentment at the FBI, whose entry into the lottery and narcotics problems brought both to public notice...
...the findings of the paper's own reporters are telescoped into almost meaningless communiques...
...The police picked up a ear stolen from one of the alleged victims, and a black hood was found on the floor...
...What seems to be needed is a wholehearted attack on the link between government and the syndicates, and that is what is proving to be so difficult today...
...He ran second in the race...
...And even the conservative Philadelphia Evening Bulletin insists that "such Federal help would not be a simple handout, but more accurately a pump-priming...
...The Mayor's arguments dramatize the need for planning at the national level to meet the needs of the huge population now living in urban areas...
...If a much smaller sum is given to help cities remove blight and attract new industry, substantial benefits would be achieved because the nation's major cities produce $70 billion of the national income...
...Three times, Yarborough tried to be Governor...
...Chamber of Commerce has opposed an extensive Federal program of this kind, the Pennsylvania Railroad and prominent local banking and business interests want such aid...
...The lottery stories were too big to keep quiet, but they have been reported in riddles...
...In this case, they decided to stick by Yarborough...
...Each has its peculiar aspects...
...Hutcheson was a good third, however, getting more than 200,000 votes...
...A county grand jury indicted eleven police officers, but this did not quiet the rumbling...
...The election drew national attention when it appeared that the Republicans, due to the vast number of Democrats on the ballot, might be able to push through with Thad Hutcheson, a personable Houston attorney...
...Now the police force is in disrepute, the Mayor is in political trouble (though he'll probably win), and the city is getting a great deal of bad publicity...
...As long as one of the robbery victims (assuming there was one) doesn't lose his temper and make a formal complaint, the whole matter seems safely buried...
...Philadelphia is also planning to build homes and factories in Eastwick in its southwestern area, with a combination of public and private funds: there is room here for a few tens of thousands more people and for light industry...
...Mayor Dilworth has cited the fact that 25,000 migrant workers, mostly from the South, settle in this city every year...
...Yarborough will have to repay the liberals...
...Long-time Atlan-tans possibly can catch ail the veiled allusions with which the stories are filled and perhaps can understand the real facts that are hinted at...
...They backed him with a strong campaign, although two other worthy liberals also were among the 20-odd candidates in the special April 2 election to choose a Senatorial successor to Price Daniel...
...Talk about criminal connections with the solicitor's office, the police force, and city and county governments has come into the open...
...furthermore, no evidence that the newspapers are following up the club-holdup storv in anv wav...
...Hutcheson's vote shows that the Republicans do appeal to a large bloc of Texans...
...it has been followed by some evidence and many claims of corruption in the police department...
...Daniel resigned his Senate seat last January when he became Governor of the Lone Star State...
...James Hart, who is not a sensational Texas political figure but has developed as a serious, potent contender in the liberal cause, was already in the race...
...the high incidence of Negro crime, apparently, doesn't besmirch the city s reputation...
...The second was the arrest of about a dozen narcotics peddlers by the FBI...
...Lately, however, three separate incidents have set Atlantans to wondering just how free their home actually is of syndicated crime and its frequent companion, municipal corruption...
...Before Washington got into the act, some people insist, Atlanta was "handling" the problem in its own way: No arrests were being made, the reported crime rate stayed low, and "nice people" never were aware of any crime...
...While the U.S...
Vol. 40 • May 1957 • No. 18
