Newspaper Page Text
Official
Newspaper .For
The Diocese Of
Savannah - Atlanta
Vol. 37, No. 3.
Divisive Charge
Hurled At Schools
Called ‘Reckless’
HARTFORD, Conn., (NC) —
Richai’d Joyce Smith, a mem
ber of the Connecticut State
Board of' Education, has brand
ed as “reckless” a charge by a
member of a suburban school
board that the fundamental tenet
of Connecticut’s n o jh - public
schools is “division.”
Mr. Smith, a Southport at
torney, said he was shocked at
the statement made by Sigmand
Adler of the Rocky Hill school
board.
In an address last April before
the Connecticut Association of
Independent Schools, Mr. Smith
said operation of non-public
schools afforded substantial re
lief to the state’s taxpayers. He
suggested that children attend
ing such schools be given at
public expense all services which
the Supreme Court has ruled
constitutional and which last
year’s White House Conference
on Education recommended be
furnished them.
Mr. Adler charged that as a
member of the State Education
Board Mr. Smith was out of or
der in “pleading the cause of the
non-public schools.”
“Any division of our people—
ethnic, economic, social, religi
ous—is unchristian and unde
mocratic,” said Mr. Adler. “The
most divisive force in our socie
ty is religion, and here you are,
a member of a body that has in
its charge the most democratic
institutions this or any other
country knows, pleading to di
vert money to institutions whose
fundamental tenet is division.”
Mr. Smith declared that “no
one familiar with the accepted
canons of statuory construction
would contend that the State
Board of Education is restricted
... to public schools.” He said
the legislature “did not intend
that the board should ignore the
substantial activities of private
and parochial schools simply be
cause it is given special ad
ministrative duties with respect
to the public schools.”
Referring to Mr. Adler’s critic
ism of religion and of parochial
schools, the Southport attorney
declared that “divisive is a word
coined by those who would like
to suppress private and parochial
schools and establish a single,
standardized, lock-step system of
state schools which all children
would be compelled to attend,
Mr. Smith said he was not,
as Mr. Adler claimed, advocating
that money needed for the pub
lic schools be diverted to non
public schools.
“My interest,” he said, “in
limited aid for Connecticut chil
dren attending private and pa
rochial schools is in no sense a
derogation of public schools.
Rather, it is based upon a firm
conviction that unless a Russian
type of compulsion is to be ap
plied, an ever increasing number
of American families will wish
their children to attend private
and parochial, schools, so that
public and private schools will
always be working side by side
to educate the children of the
state. If that be true, the recog
nition of this partnership should
be reflected in the fiscal policies
of our local and state govern
ments.” ,
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Georgians Irre
spective of Creed”
MONROE, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1956. 10c Per Copy — $3 a Year
Congressmen Mark Protest, Demand Halt
To Sale 0! Pornography At Overseas PXs;
Armed Services Committees Are Alerted
(N. C. W. C. News Service) ✓
Quick-breaking developments show mounting displeasure over the spectacle of a Government agency peddling
smut to youths: . ....
1. Protests in increasing numbers were being received by official Washington, criticizing the Department ot the
Defense for permitting military post exchanges overseas to sell indecent and offensive magazines and books to service per
sonnel. . ....
2. More and more Senators and Congressmen began to show an active interest in the situation.
BISHOP SHEEN OFFICIATES—Auxiliary Bishop Fulton J.
Sheen of New York congratulates his nephew, Fulton J. Sheen, II,
23, of LaGrange, 111., on occasion of his marriage to Miss Virginia
Allison, 22, a school teacher of Lyons, 111. Young Sheen is sta
tioned in the Army at Ft. Benning, Ga. As a wedding present
Bishop Sheen presented the bride with a ring that belonged to
his mother.—(NC Photos).
Dr. M. J. Goglia New President
ATLANTA, Ga.—Dr. Mario J.
Goglia, a member of Christ the
King Parish, and Regents Profes
sor of Mechanical Engineering at
the Georgia Institute of Tech
nology, was installed as presi
dent of the Georgia Tech Chap
ter of Sigma Xi, national hon
orary research society.
Dr. Goglia succeeded Dr. Jos
eph P. Vidosic, a member of
Sacred Heart Parish ana Geor
gia Tech Professor of Mechanical
Engineering.
In addition to his election the
new Sigma Xi president receiv
ed a certificate and prize of $100
for a research paper published
during the year. His latest text
book on thermodynamics, co-
authored with Dr. R. L. Sweigert
of Georgia Tech, is being used in
engineering colleges throughout
the country.
A native of Hoboken, N. J.,
he studied mechanical engineer
ing at the Stevens Institute of
Technology, receiving the de
grees of M. E. in 1937 and M.S.
in 1941. After completing addi
tional work in 1948 at Pui'due
University, he was granted a
Ph.D. From 1938 to 1947, he
taught and did research work at
the University of Illinois. Dur
ing World War II, he worked
on various important research
projects for the office of Scien
tific Research and Development.
Dr. Goglia joined the faculty
of Georgia Tech in 1948 as a pro
fessor. In 1955, the Board of
Regents of the University Sys
tem of Georgia recognized his
important contributions to en
gineering education and research
by his appointment as Regents
Professor.
He is married to Juanita Dix
on and has two children David,
12, and Rozanne, 10. They re
side at 2732 Atwood Road N, E.,
Atlanta.
3. The Armed Services Com
mittees of the Senate and House
of Representatives were both
alerted to conditions, and the
staffs of both began collecting
all pertinent material for possible
committee action.
4. A spokesman for the Na
tional Council of Catholic Men
called for the proper authorities
to scrutinize the procedure by
which* books, magazines and
comics are purchased for mili
tary post exchanges, beginning
with the allocation of funds for
this purpose.
5. A statement issued by the
Army and Air Force Exchange
Service Headquarters was ques
tioned on several fronts, and
promptly brought indignant
charges of “buck-passing.”
6. The solicitor of the U.S.
Post Office Department in
Washington, said that his office
would be glad to advise the Ex
change Service headquarters on
the mailability of any matter,
if brought to its attention.
7. Some 60,000 member of the
Knights of Columbus throughout
Ohio have launched a letter,
writing campaign demanding
that Congress call an immediate
halt to the sale of smutty litera
ture at PXs overseas.
The presence of pornographic
books on the magazine racks of
post exchanges in Japan and
Korea was revealed by Catholic
papers throughout the United
States in a story written by
Father Patrick O’Connor, S.S.C.,
veteran Far East correspondent
of the N.C.W.C. News Service.
“The magazines sold in Japan
and Korea by Japan Central Ex
change,” the official statement
by the Exchange Service head
quarters said, “are selected by
Japan Central Exchange and
purchased by headquarters Ar
my and Air Force Exchange
Service in New York City.
“They are shipped to the Far
East by second class mail on
receipt of requisitions specifying
quantities and titles of magazines
to be procured. This could not
be accomplished if these maga
zines did not comply with the
postal regulations which forbid
the shipment of pornographic
literature through the U.S. mails.
“The magazines stocked in
these exchanges are representa
tives of the nationally distribut
ed magazines in the United
States newsstand circulation.”
Shown this statement, A. Mc
Gregor Goff, solicitor for the
Post Office Department told the
N.C.W.C. News Service that
“whatever the Post Office De
partment is able to do in ex
cluding non-mailable matter
from; being shipped to post ex
changes, this would not relieve
from responsibility those charg
ed with the selection of maga
zines to be sold in the PXs.”
Amazed that the Exchange
Service headquarters statement
offered no promise of an inves
tigation or improvement of the
situation brought to their atten
tion, Martin Work of Washing
ton, executive director of the
National Council of Catholic
Men, said the proper authorities
“should study the purchase of
books, magazines and comics for
military post exchanges, begin
ning with the allocation of funds
for this purpose. They should re
quire as a condition for their
approval definite assurance that
all such publications be screen
ed by the appropriate agency
and measured against the basic
moral principles that underly our
society.”
Continuing his criticism, of the
statement, Mr. Work, who rep
resents some 9,000 affiliated
Catholic men’s groups with a
membership of 8,000,000 said
“the military have completely
evaded the issue by attempt
ing to shift its responsibility.”
“It is just another classic ex
ample of the old military game
of buck-passing,” Mr. Work con
tended. “When are they going to
become mature enough to meet
issues head on. J ’
“The fact of the matter is.”
the NCCM director charged,
“that the military and no one
else is responsible for what is
in our PXs. Even though there
were no postal regulations, they
would still be responsible.
“The chaplains of the Armed
Forces dedicate their lives to
protecting the spiritual and
moral welfare of our boys, only
to find their work undermined
by the insidious influence of
publications supplied and dis
tributed by other military agen
cies.”
Others who protested said the
statement outlining the position
of the Army and Air Force Ex
change Service headquarters at
tempted to excuse what is being
done on the ground that some
one else is doing it and failed to
mention the principal objection,
which is that an agency of the
U.S. government is in the busi
ness of peddling printed filth.
There was an air of increasing
concern evident as word of the
smut peddling spread on Capitol
Hill.
Some Senators and Repre
sentatives have already received
numerous indignant letters of
protest, and more and more legis
lators were beginning to hear
from constituents.
The Armed Services commit-
(Continued on Page Three)