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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JULY 6, 1957.
(Sty? SttUrtttt
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor
416 Eighth Street, Augusta, Ga.
Vol. 38 Saturday, July 6, 1957 No. 3
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOE 1955-1956
JOHN M. BRENNAN, Savannah President
E. M, HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. L. E. MOCK, Albany Vice-President
TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta Vice-President
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta V. P., Publicity
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus V. P., Activities
NICK CAMERIO, Macon - Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
8nd accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided by para
graph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations.
Member of N.C.W.C. News Service, the Catholic Press Association
bf the United States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National
Editorial Association.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop-
Bishop of Savannah, the Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta, and the
Right Reverend Abbot Ordinary of Belmont.
Bishop Keyes
Th Eighth Bishop of Savannah has celebrated the Golden
Jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. In quiet cere
monies in Washington, the Most Rev. Michael J. Keyes, S.M.,
marked the completion of 50 years of service as a teacher,
priest and Bishop.
To many Georgians, it hardly seems possible that twenty
years has passed since Bishop Keyes resigned the see of
Savannah due to ill health. Many changes have taken place
during this score of years. The Savannah Diocese became
known as the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. The See which
Bishop Keyes directed has been divided by the Holy See into
two dioceses with the erection of the Diocese of Atlanta last
year.
In no little way is the growth of the Church in Georgia
due to the efforts and accomplishments of Bishop Keyes
who was the Spiritual Shepherd of Georgia Catholics from
1922 to 1935.
Upon the retirement of Bishop Keyes in 1935 The Bulle
tin said editorially:
“The retirement of Bishop Keyes from his episcopal post
in Georgia will but serve to accentuate, if that be possible,
the love of his people, priests and religious for him. He has
left an impression on Georgia and on the Church and its
sons and daughters here that will remain for all time, he
has played a part in their lives, the memory of which will
be only strengthened and deepened by eternity.”
These words of yesterday mirror the feelings of today.
Catholics of Georgia rejoice with the Bishop as he celebrates
his Golden Jubilee.
L L'a3hiiigton / lewSietter . . .
TWO WARNINGS SOUNDED
IN CONNECTION WITH
DEALINGS WITH “REDS”
(By J. J. Gilbert)
WASHINGTON — This capital
is holding out two grave warn
ings, to the world. These are, one,
that Soviet Russia is still the im-
pacable enemy of the democratic
nations and, two, that Moscow is
not to be trusted.
To some, these may seem
anachronistic, in view of the dis
armament talks in London. Ac
tually, they could not be more
, timely.
There are in the Government
here officials who have made
careers'of the study of the Soviet
Union. They seek to know not
only what Moscow does, but why
it does it. They note the obvious
implications of every communist
move, and they strive to dig out
the hidden meanings.
These students of Soviet Rus
sian communism have steadily
warned this country and the
world not to be misled by the
“sweetness and light” generated
by the “smiling facade” policy
adopted by Khrushchev and Bul
ganin. They pose the question, Is
the Soviet Union still an enemy
dedicated to our destruction?, and
they answer it in the affirmative.
They advise, look closely and you
will see that only the tactic has
been changed. While Khrushchev
and Bulganni may seem to say
one thing to the outside world,
they warn, other Red leaders are
telling their own people at home
that “co-existence” with the
West means to communists
struggle and hostility.
Some people wondered why the
nations of the free world chose
this time to repudiate the 1953
Korean armistice agreement with
the communists. Weren’t
the disarmament talks in prog
ress in London, and didn’t this
look like a lack of confidence in
the Reds? The answer is “yes.”
It would seem a good guess is
that it was intended that way.
The clear meaning would seem
to be that any agreement arrived
at in London regarding the reduc
tion of armaments must include
some fool-proof system of inspec
tion.
Reportedly some of the top of
ficials, here:, hold varying views
as to the extent to which the
(Continued on Page Five)
Turmoil in Haiti
THIS WORLD OF OURS
(By Richard Pattee)
I have no idea how many read
ers may have followed at least
in a casual way the events that
have been producing turmoil and
confusion in the little republic of
Haiti in the West Indies. The
general press
has carried an
unusual
amount of com
ment on the
Haitian situa
tion since the
overthrow of
President Mag-
lorie a few
months a g o.
The succession
governments, the series of strikes
and lock-outs and the interven
tion of the army have all been
given due note in the story of
what must seem to most Ameri
cans as simply another revolu
tion in a banana republic which
apparently cannot achieve sta
bility.
The case of Haiti is uncom
monly interesting however. As
the only Negro republic in this
hemisphere and the first country
to become independent in Ameri
ca after the United States it has
a long and often tragic history
of convulsions, insurrections and
bloodshed. It has frequently
been scorned as a mass of blacks
scarcely out of slavery trying to
run a state and making a mess of
it.
The reality of what Haiti has
been and is cannot be reduced
to any such simple terms. To
be sure its history of 153 years
seems an intermiable repetition
of palace revolts, massacres and
earlier in this country armed
intervention from the United
States. But in the midst of this
confusion and chaos, this tragic
fall back into political anarchy,
there are certain thoughts that
are worth attention in connection
with Haiti and its background.
WHY ARMY INTERVENED
I confess a very old and abid
ing affection for the country that
stems from the fact that I spent
my honeymoon there long years
ago I have followed faithfully its
evolution Since then. I am bound
to-the little republic by a number
of very deep friendships, not the
least of which is that of Dantes
Bellegarde, who has been Haitian
ambassador to the United States
on almost every occasion when
a man of the highest caliber and
integrity was demanded. For this
reason the chaos of the last four
or five months seems to me in
teresting lessons in the need for
not passing snap judgements on
what transpires abroad.
The army in Haiti has inter
vened for the purpose of assuring
the country of order and the
chance to elect a proper president.
The cynics may say that this is
quite in the Latin American tra
dition and that sooner or later
the army man in charge of the
job will take over the presidency
himself. One of the most extra
ordinary things about Haiti
(which reveals how far the coun
try has come in the last thirty
years) is the fact that this is the
third time the army has acted,
not to seize power, but to pre
serve it for the legitimate au
thority to exercise.
In 1946 when Elie Lescot was
unhorsed, the army formed a tri
umvirate and governed for a
short time until control could be
handed over. Later still when
President Estime went' the way
of exile the army maintained or
der and nothing else until his
successor was inaugurated. Now
for the third time in the last
eleven years the army is serving
this purpose. It is eloquent tes
timony to the kind of military
force that exists in Haiti that this
high degree of self conrol has
been demonstrated three times
runing when the opportunities for
taking over the state were there.
CIVIC CONSCIENCE
Latin America has long suf
fered from military interference
in the political processes. Not al
ways has the high command dis
played the ability to reject choice
positions when the temptation
must have been very great. In
Argentina and Columbia which
by any standards are highly ad
vanced nations, temptation was
definitely not rejected. In Haiti,
its three million people (living
precariously on their part of the
island) have given evidence that
they have come a very long way
toward development of a civic
conscience which respects certain
basic rules without which no
people can survive except under
tyranny or the constant threat of
instability.
The Kremlin's Proposal for Suspension of H-Bomb Tests
THE BACKDROP
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
The Soviet Union’s latest pro
posal for a three-year suspension
of H-Bomb tests, with on-the-
ground inspection, may be a first
step toward the general disarm
ament agreement desired by the
Western pow
ers. On the oth
er hand, it may
be merely an
other clever
p r o p a g a nda
trick.
As we all
know, the dom
inant theme of
Soviet propaganda in the past
few years has been that Russia
ardently desires an end to the
armament race but her every
effort to bring it about has been
thwarted by the so-called capi
talist nations. And it may well
be that the proposal for suspen
sion of atomic tests is just an
other maneuver to put the West
in a bad light before the people
of the world, including our own,
who are worried about the bale
ful effects of atomic fall-out.
UNACCEPTABLE TERMS
On more than one occasion in
the past the Kremlin leaders
have led the Western powers up
the garden path by professing an
earnest desire for disarmament
and then backing away when the
Western statesmen evidenced a
willingness to talk business.
Always it turned out that the
Russians would enter into an
agreement only on terms the
Western powers could not accept
without increasing the threat to
their security. And each time
that the negotiations foundered
on the rock of Soviet intransi
gence) the Moscow.'propaganda
machine went into high gear try
ing to make the world believe
that it was the West that was in
sisting on keeping the arma
ments race going. The West, so
Moscow maintained, had to op
pose a reduction in arms pro
duction, for without heavy out
lay for military hardware the
capitalist system would collapse.
To take a fairly recent example,
only a few months ago the wily
schemers in the Kremlin pro
claimed their eagerness to dis
cuss President Eisenhower’s sug
gestion for “open skies” inspec
tion of defense and military pro
duction centers — a necessary
corrolary of any arms reduction
plan. They said they agreed with
Mr. Eisenhower in principle. But
when the time came for them to
spell, out what they really had
in mind, the insincerity of their
professed interest in an inspec
tion system became immediate
ly apparent.
For, as it turned out, what the
Russians did have in mind was a
plan that would expose a sub
stantial part of American arms
production facilities and defense
installations to the prying eyes
of Soviet inspection planes,
while keeping intact the wall
which shuts out Westerners from
the Russian heartland where the
chief Soviet arms production
centers are located. For the priv
ilege of ranging the skies over
Alaska and the western half of
the United States, the Russians
were willing to accord American
inspections planes the opportuni
ty to get a bird’s-eye view of the
barren wastes of northeastern
Siberia.
SUSPICION JUSTIFIED
■ The Kremlin leaders, of course,
knew full well when they made
their inspection proposal that it
could not be accepted by the
United States. In fact, an accept
ance was not what they wanted.
Their real objective was a rejec
tion by the United States so that
they could again portray this
country as the obstacle to gen
eral disarmament.
In view of Moscow’s tactics in
the past, it would seem that we
are justified in regarding with
suspicion this latest suggestion
for suspension of the H-bomb
tests. The Russians have been
carrying out tests of their own
for years. In fact, their largest
H-bomb explosions were set off
only a week or two before they
set up a great hue and cry about
tests the British planned to make
in the Pacific a few days later.
At the moment we clo not know
whether the Russians are willing
to permit the kind of inspection
that would be necessary to en
able the Western powers to de
termine whether an agi'eement to
suspend bomb tests was being
carried out. For as yet Moscow
has submitted nothing concrete
in writing to the Western gov
ernments.
Adequate inspection, of course,
is the crux of the proposed sus
pension plan. Neither the United
States nor any other Western
power would enter into such an
agreement without assurance of
full oportunity to observe how
the Russians were carrying out
their end of the bargain. And un
til we do know whether Moscow
is ready to meet the requirements
of the Western powers on this
point, we have no waj r of judg
ing whether its latest proposal is
a genuine move to spare the
world..further exposure to atomic
(Continued on Page.Five)