In its Pulitzer-prize expose of the Texas land scandal (TIME, March 7, 1955), the tiny (circ. 3,016) Cuero Record last year pointed up the sloth of the state's big-city dailies. Last week readers lamented the Record's display of its own seamy side: a front-page editorial urging reelection of one of the scandal's chief figures, U.S. Congressman John J. Bell.
In the investigation touched off by the Record, Representative Bell admitted that while serving in the state senate he accepted more than $27,000 in "legal fees" from promoters of high-profit veterans' land deals. He was indicted for conspiracy to defraud the state of...
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