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The complete platform of the American Vegetarian Party for 1964 is now in the process of formulation.

The nominees for President in 1964 will be: Symon Gould, of New York City, Director of the Health Guild; Vice President: Dr. Abraham Wolfson, Miami Beach, Fla.

DECLARATORY PLANK IN THE PLATFORM OF THE AMERICAN VEGETARIAN PARTY CONCERNING ITS POSITION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

In 1776, the Founding Fathers declared that "all men are created free and equal." There was no qualification in the Declaration of Independence in this respect as regards race, creed, or color when conferring this principle of equality on Americans. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States subsequently implemented this basic principle of the democratic concept of American citizenship through the enactment of the 14th and 15th amendments. Over 100 years ago, Abraham Lincoln electrified the civilized world with his pronouncement of the freedom-serving Emancipation Proclamation. The ideals and laws embodied in these documentary declarations and legal enunciations are accepted by all true liberty-loving and law-abiding Americans with the exception of certain sectors of our country which by virtue of race bias and distorted traditions refuse to abide by the spirit and letter of these enacted laws, denying thereby these rights to Negro Americans and citizens enjoyed by their fellow Americans. Such denial is manifest in varying degrees and in different forms, the passage of specially discriminatory and subhuman restrictive measures which abridge and curb and unjustly hinder the rights of Negro citizens to exercise their privilege of voting which is guaranteed to them by the Constitution to which they subscribe and the Federal Government the support of which they contribute in the form of loyalty and taxes. Such discriminatory practices are imposed on our Negro Americans through illegal subterfuges, often with the predisposed and biased cooperation of certain judicial representatives who see fit to counteract the obvious rights conferred on Negro citizens and thereby virtually nullify the law of the land which has been certified and endorsed by the highest courts after due deliberation on the part of these final courts of appeal and reason.

Such practices on the part of lesser authorities in southern sectors impose and degrade the Negro into the category of second-class citizenship and place him in the class previously disgraced by the presence of the untouchable elements in India which condition there has been eliminated through a progressive administration but which somehow in practice has been transferred to certain segments of southern Negro Americans in the South.

Therefore this continued imposition of inhuman restrictions and indignities on our fellow Americans is at complete variance with our basic democratic concepts and traditions and goes completely counter to any decent regard for simple, natural human relationships which should exist without question between all members of the human family and permit our Negro brethren to enjoy and exercise the same privileges of freedom, equality, and the inherent rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness vouchsafed to all Americans regardless of their race, mode of worship, origin, or the hue of their skin.

For over a century, our Negro compatriots have existed under oppressively degrading conditions in the South and to a degree these same discriminatory practices have been imposed upon them in varying degrees in the North as well. These immoral prohibitions and restrictions visited upon them with deliberate cruelty and without regard to their human sensitivities have had the effect of inflicting serious psychological and traumatic injuries upon the oppressed and the oppressors alike. Poll taxes, literacy tests of a specious character, herding on public carriers, closing of public schools, libraries, and recreational areas to their presence even though they pay taxes for the upkeep of such facilities, economic impositions, job limitations, etc., have exerted tremendous moral, physical, and economic damage of a vital nature in the lives of our Negro citizens especially in the South and have transferred and imbedded a profound hopelessness in the minds especially of the new generations of Negro youth who do not and cannot be expected to inherit and abide by the "slavery" concept or tradition which formed and crippled the lives and futures of their grandparents and their parents. Such conditions cannot be expected than otherwise create a revulsion and repulsion on the part of these scholasticallytrained Negroes who refuse to continue to inhabit a world and a category which

impresses these unbearable and insupportable conditions which no sensitive human being can or should tolerate, especially in the case of these young Negroes who are equally gifted, able, and talented intellectually, physically, spiritually, to undertake and discharge the principles and duties of American citizenry as decreed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States as well as the immortal document, the Declaration of Independence.

To Symon Gould (who was my first publisher):

A more ruthless and spirited realist

Could scarce be met with,

Nor a more constant idealist.
His astonishing vitality is excelled

Only by the nimbleness of his wit.

And the pluck and nonchalant gaiety of his heart.

He is a genius of the New York sidewalks,

As much at ease in the west

As in the east of his island city.

And through his veins runs quicksilver
And the ends of his magnetic fingers
Forever conjure gold dust to their tips
As it flies, like spring pollen, past his ears.

(Signed) LLEWELLYN POWYS,
Author of "Ebony and Ivory,"

"Thirteen Worthies," "Confessions of Two Brothers," etc.

To Whom It May Concern:

I hereby wish to set down for the information of anyone interested, the opinion I hold of Symon Gould and to add my testimony to that of his many friends in the newspaper, theatrical, film, and literary world, as well as in the vegetarian and natural health realms.

I have known Mr. Gould for over 40 years and have followed his career with admiration. He has been one of New York's really useful citizens, often working anonymously and behind the scenes for the cultural welfare of the town. From the time he originated and created the film-art movement in 1924, all through the sponsorship of the league for public discussion debates at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall (the predecessor of radio forums), right down the many years starting in 1920 during which time as an ardent bibliophile he has supplied the literary world with rare books and manuscripts gathered from the four corners of the world, as well as publisher of many worthy writers, Symon Gould has been patron, father-confessor, and friend of writing men and women from New York to Hollywood and all points east, west, north, and south.

BURNET HERSHEY,

Noted Journalist and Former President of the Overseas Club of America. "The artistic destiny of the screen is in the hands of the little cinema movement of which the Film Guild directed and originated by Symon Gould is the pioneer organization which has my full support."

To Whom It May Concern:

THEODORE DREISER (1929).

My acquaintance with Symon Gould covers a period of nearly a quarter of a century. I have always found him both from a business and social standpoint a man of the highest integrity and a clean man in thought, action, and speech. For his character I have the highest respect.

(Signed) BENJAMIN DE CASSERES, Celebrated Poet, Author, and Journalist.

"I consider Symon Gould one of the foremost exponents of natural healing and natural living. In my opinion, he is unequaled as a writer in placing before the public, with clarity and distinction, ideas and procedures which have done much to bring to ailing humanity a new understanding of the relationship between nutrition and disease and health and I am fortunate in counting him among my friends."

Dr. MAX WARMBRAND,

Author of "Encyclopedia of Natural Health.”

[Immediate release]

AMERICAN VEGETARIAN PARTY,
New York City.

While Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, Senator Goldwater, and Governor Romney as well as a few others are ruminating as to their Presidential aspirations, intentions, or declarations, Symon Gould, the 1960 White House hopeful of the American Vegetarian Party has already announced his candidacy for that high office for 1964.

In particular, Mr. Gould takes issue with President Kennedy because of his uncertain approach to the racial crisis in view of the forthright position which the American Vegetarian Party has always taken with regard to the conditions surrounding the Negro citizen socially, economically, and as Americans deserving of every opportunity for self-development without any element of discrimination. Mr. Gould calls upon President Kennedy to take a firmer leadership in the crucial race situation which bids fair to increase in intensity and explosiveness and which calls for daily attention by every means of nationwide communication so that the understanding and support of the Nation as a whole may be enlisted before the situation gets out of hand. His European trip, Mr. Gould avers, should be canceled at this time while this condition affecting 10 percent of our population may boil over into revolution of some sort.

Mr. Gould is journeying to Barcelona on June 14 on the SS Saturnia to deliver the principal address at the annual International Vegetarian Congress which will be dedicated to world peace primarily. One of the main planks in the perennial platform of the American Vegetarian Party calls for the appointment in all the Cabinets and Ministries of governments, of a secretary of peace whose function would be to promote the ideal of peace among all nations. Such officials should not be diplomats or politicians but be selected from among the philosophers and humanists of each nation so that in their contacts and meetings, these secretaries of peace would foster a worldwide, global viewpoint rather than the narrow nationalistic concepts now in vogue and in conflict.

The vice presidential candidate on the American Vegetarian Party is Dr. Abraham Wolfson, aged 83, who is considered one of the finest examples of intellectual and physical specimens despite his octogenarian status, as attested by his writings, lecturing, and general civic activities. The headquarters of the American Vegetarian Party is 353 West 48th Street, New York City.

PLATFORM OF THE AMERICAN VEGETARIAN PARTY, 1960

For President: Symon Gould, New York City, N.Y.; for Vice President: Dr. Christopher Gian-Cursio, Miami Beach, Fla.

PEACE

The philosophy of vegetarianism is synonymous with universal brotherhood and universal peace. Its fundamental principle of antikilling if internationally adopted would unconditionally eliminate wars. In furtherance of this antislaughter idea, vegetarians are opposed to the killing of animals for sustenance, sport, or style. Vegetarians contend that these barbaric practices in the name of "civilization" brutalize mankind and generates in human beings a blood-lust that ultimately finds its overall expression in annihilating fraticidal wars. Vegetarian ideals are rooted in an all-embracing reverence for all living entities. The pragmatic principles of vegetarianism are inspired by and directed by the inflexible laws of nature which mankind must and should accept as their guiding code and the eternal verities of existence on this planet. The American Vegetarian Party, emphasizes as it has for the past 12 years of its existence, that human beings must cease violating these natural laws to assure his continued presence which is now threatened by a hydrogen bomb holocaust in which as one eminent atomic authority predicts "none of us can count on having enough living to bury our dead." Nevertheless, despite this warning, missiles of intercontinental range are poised in all parts of the world awaiting a pushbutton signal ready to blot out civilization at the behest of little groups of willful men in high places motivated by material. istic, nationalistic, or ideological goals or concepts and embark on a campaign of global suicide. The American Vegetarian Party is unalterably opposed to such a contemplated cannibalistic sacrifice of youth on the fields of atomic warfare or mankind in cities and villages trapped by the inescapable effects of nuclear

weapons of destructive power which has increased more than a hundredfold in deadliness since the invention of the atom bomb. The happiness of the common man and the constant improvement of his living conditions should be the purpose of all governments and all their social and economic objectives should be subservient to man's natural needs.

PLENTY

The American Vegetarian Party supports and approves of all social concepts and projects which implement the program that is based on the humanitarian precept that no human being shall hunger, want for decent shelter or be without the simple necessities that will assure him and his family a normal, natural way of life. Vegetarians subscribe to the ethical principles that all natural resources upon which human life depend were intended for the equal use of all human beings in accord with their requirements. They should, therefore, be made available to them as equitable and rightful rewards for their proffered labor. The American Vegetarian Party maintains that the present maldistribution of resources in foodstuffs, clothing, housing which is witness to the fact that the greater part of the world's peoples suffer in varying degrees from tragic lacks in these categories of simple needs must continue to be a prime and ever-fruitful source of dissatisfactions with different types of government which discontent generates the hatreds that explode into civil strife, revolutions that eventually ripen into international conflicts. The social morality and economic corrective which would eliminate these unequal conditions that breed hostilities between classes of humans have been embodied in the humanitarian teachings and moral strictures of Buddha, Christ, Pythagoras, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Shelley, Tolstoy, Thoreau, Gandhi, Shaw, and others of equal eminence, all of whom are vegetarians with the exception of Jesus. In view of their viewpoints, it is high time that diplomats and political leaders should give way to philosophers and ethical guides if mankind is ever to reach a plane of living in amity with his fellow-beings which will confer upon him a dignified and decent place in the design of nature. Vegetarian agronomists have demonstrated that there is an abundance for all in the plenteous produce of this good earth if the vegetarian social concepts as enunciated by its exponents were incorporated as the fundamental procedures in national and international relationships and if peoples everywhere are permitted to fulfill their natural heritage in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in accord and concord with their simple needs and natural desires.

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,

Hon. WARREN G. MAGNUSON,
U.S. Senate,

Washington, D.C.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
Boston, August 12, 1963.

DEAR SENATOR MAGNUSON: Governor Peabody has asked me to reply to your letter requesting comment on public accommodations laws now in effect in Massachusetts; enclosed please find a statement which was solicited from and prepared by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

I hope that this reply is not too late to be of some help to the committee or as background material for future deliberations.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD L. BANKS, Secretary for Intergroup Affairs.

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,
COMMISSION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION,
Boston, July 22, 1963.

His Excellency ENDICOTT PEABODY,
Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Boston, Mass.

DEAR SIR: The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the agency established by law to administer the Massachusetts public accommodation statutes, has as a result of research and its own personal knowledge, made the following evaluation at your request.

It is of the opinion based upon fact and historical experience that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is probably in the incontrovertible position of being best qualified to comment upon the efficacy of public accommodations legislation directed toward the elimination of discrimination because of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Variant with the current trend of many States toward adopting some form of such legislation the Commonwealth enacted a public accommodations statute in 1865 which imposed a fine of $50 for discrimination in any licensed inn, public place of amusement, public conveyance, or public meeting because of religion, color, or race.

A statute was enacted in 1933 which prohibited owners, proprietors and those in control of places of public accommodation from publicly displaying or advertising information which discriminated against anyone because of religious sect, creed, class, race, color, denomination, or nationality.

In 1950 legislation was enacted providing for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, an administrative-adjudicative agency, to administer a law prohibiting the discrimination by places of public accommodations against persons because of their race, color, religion, or national origin. Amendment to this law in 1953 provided magnitudinous augmentation so as to cover nearly all places seeking public patronage.

The Massachusetts attorney general by an advisory opinion in 1959 added real estate agencies as places of public accommodation when he held wherein "'a place of public accommodation, resort or amusement within the meaning hereof (C. 272, S. 92A) shall be defined as and shall be deemed to include any place whether licensed or unlicensed, which is open to and accepts or solicits the patronage of the general public', real estate agencies fall within the statutory provision and come within the jurisdiction of the commission."

The commission has found in the administration of these public accommodations statutes and other civil rights legislation not cited hereinbefore that contrary to the arguments advanced by the adversaries, the experience of the Commonwealth has been one of complete encouragement and satisfaction. Every prophesy and reason advanced by the adversaries against such legislation have failed to materialize. There has been absolutely no racial strife nor incidents resulting from the enactment of these laws. There has been no loss of prestige or business, no injury nor detriment to the places of public accommodation. More significantly this legislation has produced a healthier, more wholesome atmosphere within the Commonwealth. It has diminished fear, hate, suspicion, and belligerence that is directed toward and exercised against minority groups. It has afforded additional dignity and respect for all of us. It has promoted improved health, safety, and morality rather than the evils of racial strife, ghettos, slums, disease, increased crime, and the other festering maladies that evolve from discrimination and segregation. It has insured freedom of movement. It has put the State government in the sound constitutional position of protecting the rights of all rather than the gravely untenable and unconstitutional position of enforcing and perpetuating social systems and practices which make for the degradation of some citizens through the denial of their civil rights.

Inasmuch as unqualified equality is one of the cherished aims of the American philosophy and the Founding Fathers of this country, it is an integral and fundamental part of the American tradition, and has been from the incipiency of the Declaration of Independence, that every possible effort be exerted at all times to ascertain that such equality exist and endure in fact with regard to all citizens.

Massachusetts, the State possessing more civil right legislation than any other, has found the public accommodation legislation to be invaluable in providing the assurance of true democratic practice as well as principle. Therefore, the commission emphatically and unreservedly recommends similar legislation on a Federal level.

Very truly yours,

OSWALD L. JORDAN, Acting Executive Secretary.

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