Monday, Jul. 19, 1954

"The Smartest in Dixie"

After a good deal of searching, a special committee of Louisiana legislators finally hit upon its own scheme for reversing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision against segregation in the public schools. The question of segregation, argued the committee, has nothing really to do with race at all. It is merely a way of promoting the "public health, morals, better education and the peace and good order in the state --and not because of race." Any attempt to end segregation, therefore, would be a violation of the state police power--and the Supreme Court did not even mention that. Last week, as Louisiana's house and senate passed bills dropping public-school segregation into the police-power category, one legislator sized up the sleazy plan for all: "The smartest in Dixie."

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