Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY. DECEMBER 17, 1964 ihe Archdiocese of Atlanta GEORGIA BULLETIN SEBVINO GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHMM COUNTIES Official Organ of the Archidocese of Atlanta Published Every Week at the Decatur DeKalb News PUBLISHER- Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kieman 2699 Peachtree N. E. P. O. Box 11667 Northside Station Atlanta 5, Ga. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rev. Leonard F. X. Mayhew Member of the Catholic Press Association and Subscriber to N. C. W. C. News Service Telephone 231-1281 Second Class Permit at Altanta, Ga.' U. S. A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 Foriegn $6.50 Prior Restraint Last Sunday in churches and chapels throughout America, millions of Catholics renewed the pledge of the Legion of De cency. We are not so sure that this is the answer to the pres- sing problem of the increas ing production of unwholesome movies. Let's face it. Many people take the pledge and have no compunction in still at tending undesirable films. The Legion of Decency pledge is binding upon those who take it in good faith. It is better therefore, to remain silent than pledge to do something when our intentions are otherwise. Recently the American Bis hops' Committee on Motion Pic tures warned the country that there was an increasing ten dency on the part of movie makers to produce films which lay heavy emphasis on immor ality or amorality to the detri ment of community standards. Of special concern in this regard are our young people at whom these movies are especially ang led. The adolescent mind is sel dom mature enough to make a proper judgment. Yet, more and more, our young people are ask ed to make these judgments be cause of the apathy of their par ents and the brashness of their 1 educators. The situation has come to a sorry pass when the National Legion of Decency feels con strained to condemn an Ameri can movie. That this is unusual should give us some satisfac tion; but it also should give us concern-- this because it pro ves the need for some form of prior restraint or censorship in relation to movies. Whenever the movie industry is criticized, its spokesmen send up smoke screens about censor ship and denials of freedom of expression. Yet, any objective person reading the recent state ment on movies by the American Biships must agree that the Bis hops do not want censorship. They AN ALTAR BOY NAMED "SPECK" “Does he ever get a sore throat?’' would much prefer the industry to police itself. However, if there is no self-reform by the movie makers, more drastic alterna tives have to be sought to protect the people. Children are the main audiences for Hollywood produc ers and we all have to be con cerned because of it. There is a code of standards which Hollywood imposed upon it self. If producers will not do this in relation to current movies, why the hypocrisy in having the code? The present day themes which accent adultery, homosexuality, dope, and the like, are said to be designed as adult themes. However, let these Hollywood producers visit movie houses throughout the country. It is hard to find the adults. The places are crowded with impressionable teen-agers. Indeed, many movie house managers admit that adol escents form the bulk of the au dience at so-called adult films. An industry that can come up with so many bad movies and so few good ones, is really sick. Yet, there is always a howl when interested persons call for legislation to curb smut pro ductions, They claim that ma ture Americans don't need cen sorship. Alas, many theater own ers admit that few mature people will be seen inside their movie houses except on rare occas ions-- and only for a really great movie of significance. The bulk of movie house audiences these days are composed of immature teen-agers and so-called “intel lectual ' freedom lovers. The answer to Hollywood is going to be found in serious con structive opposition from both Catholic and non-Catholics. This opposition can take many forms. One of the most effective is for parents to clamp down on the movie going activities of thier children. Religious • education must be followed by religious action. Parents must inquire as to the Legion of Decency standing of the movies their children want to see. On any questionable movie in categories B to C there should be no ifs or buts. Immature per sons should not be allowed to view them. Even the category A3 re quires careful consideration be fore young people are permitted to attend them. The Church has a duty to warn against the moral dangers inhe rent in many of the movie pro ductions of today. Despite the film industry's code of stan dards, movies are getting worse instead of better. Naturally, if the industry will not police itself, the civil government has a duty to intervene in the interest of common good. This brings us to the point that if parents would only give greater supervision of their youngsters movie going, the movie industry would feel the effect in no time. Then, if they don’t want to go out of bus iness, they will have to elevate their standards. Legislation should be the last resort. How ever, we shouldn't be afraid to push for-it. All in the entertain ment industry should be remind ed of their obligation to insure that their art conforms with the precepts of the moral law. Anticipation GEORGIA PINES Georgia’s White Columns BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN Three hundred and forty-eight pages plus one hundred and twelve photographs go to make up one of the most interesting books on Georgia that I have read recently. The book, WHITE COLUMNS IN GEORGIA, first attracted my attention when I saw it sitting on a table in the home of a friend of mine. Naturally, with such a title, I immediat ely thought that the book concerned itself with Atlanta's radio station W S B which is popularly referred to as White Columns. However, the Book‘ is about what the title suggests: White Columns in Georgia. Published in 1952 by Rinehart & Co., the book was written by Medora Field Per- kerson. This, of course, is not intended to be a book review but I think you, the reader, will find the description of the book as contained on the cover as interesting as I did. "Romance by candlelight; a breath of scandal; coffee and pistols at dawn; war and history in the making. . . "THE BEAUTIFUL white- columned ante-bellum houses of Georgia are more than a tourist's dream. They are the South in its heyday. ..... "Georgia - the land of Mar garet Mitchell, Bobby Jones, Garden Clubbers, Talmadges, Junior Leaguers, Coca-Cola, Millionaires, alongside cotton farmers, Democrats- even Republicans! It’s a state where anything could happen and usually did, especially in its historic old houses. ". . . And the houses; the old red brick in Roswell, belonging to the inventor of the earl iest model of the sewing machine; in Jefferson where the first man to use ether in surgery lived; in Athens, where the first garden club in the world was organized "Old houses hold on to the people who have lived within their walls, and they hold on lon gest to those who have lived most vividly. Mrs. Perkerson has gathered them all— right down \o the most rambunctious family skeleton in a book of superb entertainment for all, from his torians to architects, from the most unrecon structed rebel to the hardiest. . . yankee." PROBABLY the most familiar pose in the whole book, as far as Georgians are concerned, is the photography of the columns on the Presi dent’s House at the University of Georgia in Athens. This naturally is the first picture which greets the reader! Homes still standing in Savannah, Covington, Colymbus, and Thomasville certainly portray the grandeur long since passed on but serve as a reminder" to us, of the present day, of the historic personages whofirst settled here and es tablished society. MADISON and Eatonton homes still remind us of the day when cotton was King. The old Governor’s mansion at Milledgeville, patterned after PalladiQ’s Villa in Italy, demonstrates the fact that a distinct culture existed in Geo rgia in an era which some historians today would like to d^scirbe as near savage. The home of Georgia’s first Legislature in Sav annah, where George Washington once stayed; the various homes Sherman "appropriated" on his march to the sea; Juliet Lowe’s home; Sapelo Island’s homes which entertained two Presi dents of the United States; Martha Berry’s home in Rome; Sidney Lanier’s birthplace; the boy hood home of artist Lamar Dodd in La Grange; Henry Grady’s home in Athens; the Confederate homes in and around Washington are but a few of the pictures in the book which played an in tegral part in the history which goes to make up Georgia. A CORN barn now serves as the club house at the Sea Island golf course and a smoke house is now the golf shop at the Peachtree Golf Club. Some homes are preserved by the original own er’s descendents, others are maintained by the government because of their historic value, a few are kept-up by historical societies and still others are present day homes of Georgia mil lionaires. Only one is missing! A White Columned home which once served as the headquarters for the K K K and was purchased by the late Archbishop O’Hara to serve as the rectory for Atlanta's Cathedral staff! ELECTION EXAMPLE Your World And Mine BY GARY MacEOIN On election day last month, I visited a number of polling places in the company of a group of Latin American politicians and opinion makers. We saw a wide range of social, economic and racial situations. But there was one common fac tor which impressed them deeply and favorably. It was the organization to ensure quick, free and tamper-proff expression of the voter’s preference. / Similar groups of politicians journalists, educators and other jfR moulders of world affairs were W simultaneously observing our f i mlJm' elections in various parts of the ! mt country. They had come here unc * er Httle publicized but ex- tremely important programs deisgned to give other count ries, especially those new to the ways of democracy, the benefit of our expe rience, They also serve to dissipate misunder standings about us and give others a better picture of our institutions. THE STATE Department plans and supervises some of these programs. Others are carried out by citizen organizations representing labor, business, or Church-related groups, sometimes with funds from the State Department, sometimes wholly or partly a*t their own expense. This variety of sponsorship reflects the range of ini tiative in our society. For those from coun tries where official auspices mean propaganda, it gives assurance that they are seeing things as they really are. My Latin American friends were particularly impressed by the atmosphere of informality and friendliness at the polling places. "This has been your bitterest election in more than thirty years." one said. "We have been to locations known to beheavilyRepublican, others heavily < Democratic others mixed. Nowhere have I seen a sign of bad feeling, still less intimidation. It is a tribute to your sense of law." THEY WERE also impressed by the citizen participation in the election machinery. Our CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 ACCOMODATIONS Court Rules On Rights BY GERARD E. SHERRY Monday’s momentous Supreme Court ruling up holding the constitutionality of the Public Ac commodation section of the Civil Rights Bill should clear the air and reduce civic tensions. It should settle once and for all the ludicrous argument that property rights are absolute. We have said all along that neither from a moral nor a strictly legal view point could individual property rights take precedence over community rights in defense of the com mon good. Monday’s ruling also struck down the convictions of three sit-in demonstrators in widely separated areas of the south. This decision will also have an effect on the outcome of thousands of other cases pending— almost 3,000 in the country. Geor gia, of course, was the site of the first challenge to the Public Accommodations section after the Civil Rights Bill was signed in July. The Heart of Atlanta Motel in Atlanta challenged it and the Supreme Court struck down the challenge, which also involved a Birmingham Alabama restaurant. REAPINGS AT RANDOM THE SUPREME Court, no doubt, will come in for some criticism as a result of this latest ruling. Its members will be called Socialists and Communists: they will be castigated as hav ing destroyed property rights, individual rights; they will be accused of defaming the Consti tution and usurping their function. Indeed, the nine Justices of the Supreme Court will come in for a great round of denunciation by the pillars of democracy — those patriots who defend their own individual rights at the expense of anyone else’s. These rabble rousing flag wavers seem especially attuned to justifying second class citizenship for our Negro citizens. What can be noted about Monday’s ruling is that it was unanimous. This means that even those Justices whom the "patriots" have not labelled Communist or Socialist went along with the rest of their colleagues in agreeing that the Section under dispute conformed to the Constitution. This should pull the rug from un der some of the critics, but not all. It is tragic that there are still people who would rather create tensions and disorder than apply the American principle of freedom to all. THE NECESSITY for Federal intervention in the field of Civil Rights was never more ob vious than it was last week, when twenty Miss- „ w issippians arrested in connection with the mur der of three Civil Rights workers had their cases/ dismissed by a local U. S. Commissioner, in a legal move said to be unprecedented. There is also the fact that no one has yet been con victed for the murder of Medgar Evers, also in Mississippi; nobody has as yet been con victed for the burnings of Negro churches and the murder of four Negro children in Alabama. The list of unpunished crimes which have been perpetrated against our Negro citizens in the South is a matter of shame for us all. No use blaming the F. B. I. They don’t try people. They investigate. It’s up to others to pursue the appli cation of justice. The F. B. I. can only do so much and they have certainly done a good in vestigative job in Mississippi. If only those whites who are vehemently op posed to the Civil Rights legislation could view it from the side of the Negro. Despite Federal intervention, the Negro sees his brothers and his friends beaten and murdered with nothing, apparently, being done about it. Let those who glibly write off these Civil Rights murders as part of the price to be paid for justice read the au topsy on the bodies of those discovered in Mis sissippi. It is revealing for it confirms the callous savagery of the lynch law, composed— it is said by some— of loyal, patriotic southern gentlemen. The real Southerners, who are the real gentlemen, know better. I am glad to say that I have not met one informed, educated gentleman of the South who is not revolted by the happenings in Mississippi. THE SOUTH has the opportunity to show the rest of the country that, despite the past, there art men of good will, of both conservative and liberal persuasion, who are prepared to put the country above pride and prejudice; who are actively working among their fellow citizens, calling for a halt to hate of the Negro minority; who are actively working to assisfthe Negro to his rightful place in the community. We wili need laws when and where men fail to exer cise justice, but the main work is in the hearts of individuals. Willing compliance with the law of the land — especially now that by unani mous consent the Supreme Court has approved the Public Accommodations section of the Civil Rights Act— is obviously the only sound and sensible answer. The die-hards who persist in fool-hardy defiance of the law mark only themselves and decry the often-quoted expression of mature democracy in these United States. We hope that no one reading this column will think for a moment that we hate anyone. Even the confirmed segregationist must command our prayerful concern and understanding. All we suggest is that those who find it hard to love a difference of pigment dwell on the fact that the Image and Likeness of God knows no color nor chosen ract.