THE CJUOLOfIAN RALEIGH. N. C.. SATURDAY, JUKI I|. IM4 4 Editorial Viewpoint WORDS OF WORSHIP Repent and be baptised was the sermon of John the Baptist. John the Baptist could denounce but he had no good qualities of leadership. Re COuW criticise people for their sins, but he didn’t donstruet. He drew crowds who were willing to rtpent at his command, but be had no program Negro Legislator At Last ttaee we were almost convinced that it could not be done lor years to come, we hope that the election of William R. Crawford, Negro minister, to the N. C. State House of Repre sentatives from Foreyth County will convince Wake County voters that they accomplish a similar thing. With the election of Crawford to the State Ksqse of Representatives, we have the first Negro legislator since Reconstruction days. Crawford created a public image for himself by serving on the Winston-Salem Board of Negro Gangs Harming Us Tbs sporadic and turbulent gang attacks by _ ifttapOnsible Negroes upon passengers riding New York City subway trains will harm our eivil rights cause more than we estimate. Newspapers gave the incidents national pub licity in describing how bands of Negro thugs beat, knifed, robbed and terrorized whites of several subway trains and a Staten Island fer ryboat The white public is not interested in the cSuse of these outbursts. If so, they would no doubt find that these incidents of violence may be traceable to the frustration of youth in be- Mg proper education, housing and employ mtut. The United States has made miraculous Strides in the development of space flight and travel: in the near future, it is anticipated that we will put a man on the moon. All thia may be good, but the nation cannot afford to ignore or neglect the racial problems with their complex aspects. There must be dis cussion around conference tables by the lead aft of both races. Then the agreements, com promises, and solutions should be followed by appropriate action. It ia urgent that some thing be done about the problem. Meanwhile, regardless of the causes, the gangs have given the Negro an unsavory name throughout the nation. This state of affair* must be dealt with by militant leader* of the Methodists Appoint Commission The Wet tern North Carolina Methodist Con ference established last week a study and plan ning commission to explore opportunities for greater interracial understanding and coopera tion. Instructed to report next June on racial prob lems Involved and possible solutions, the com mission was authorised to confer with a similar eonWlisaian of the N. C. Negro Conference, a member of the Methodist Central Jurisdiction, which embraces Negro conferences and church es. It was encouraging to learn that the General Conference meeting in Pittsburgh, in April and May, suggested to white conferences that they absorb churches of the Central Negro Ju risdiction. This conference dispatched the following message to the North Carolina Negro Confer- “The Midway” In Retrospect It is often profitable to review the pages of history. So turn with u> to the Battle of Mid- Wiy which stopped the Japanese offensive tn World War II on June 4, 1942. Last week many of the veterans of this bat tle rfturned to the shores to review, if you please, the part that they had in it. Even Gen eral Dwight Eisenhower made his appearance to recall his military memories. The battle took place on Midway Island, a small island with “nothing but gooney birds and sand", about 1000 miles northwest of Ha waii. The Japanese wanted this island for two aaain reasons. First, the defenses of the Japan eae Home Islands had a gap directly to their east. This was shown in vivid fashion to the las liars of Japan by the Doolittle Raid on To kyo. Midway would plug the gap quite nicely. Secondly, the Japanese needed Midway as a stepping stone to conquer the rest of the Ha waiian Islands. It was important that this be dohe and the American fleet destroyed before tie industrial might of America would chance the odds in favor of the United Btatea. At this thpe. the Japanese had 10 carriers to America's far. The Japanese strategy was this: I. A amah force with two aircraft carriers ftmH bomb bases in the Aleutians and oceu v> py some islands; S. A large fores with four carriers would capture Midway; 3. The American fleet. In an attempt to de fMd or recapture Midway, would attack from fat Harbor and be sunk. - But the American aeperts had cracked the , fME NEGRO PRESS baHorrn that Am sataa can ha* fad ths worM asap him rm M and nsriiwiaf antagonisms when H acaords tt evary man 'faMtoas of race, color or amid, Me human and Jagai rights. Haring no man. MritlXi do atari—the Negro Prom arrives to help ovary man on tha firm ba- M far riff man are hurt as tong at anyone is haM bach. ter them after they were converted. The people waited for him to organise them Into some worth while and effective service, and he was no or ganiser. As a result his followers drifted away ahd his collapsed. Aldermen and city school board for ten years. Once before he ran for his present position on the Democratic ticket, but lost by nearly 800 votes. This suggests to us that if at Tint you don’t »ucceed, try again. When Crawford said. “Although I may be identified with a minority group, I feel that I can help all of the people," we believe that he will represent all of the people to the beat of his ability. May the Almighty bless him in his efforts to make good government better. . so-called Negro revolt. Plans and procedures mutt be put into effect to assist in curbing any future occurences of thia type of behavior. The late hflary McLeod Bethune urged the Negro "to be a Daniel and take the vow of courage”, but she wanted this courage tem pered with poise, oalmneaa, and dignity. She knew that gang behavior will get the race nowhere; and all her life, the controlled her behavior in order to maintain the respect of the people of the white group in this country. The unemployment of youth may explain in part what hat happened on the aubwaya. It has hem quoted often that “an idle brain is the devil’s workshop Busy people don’t have time to spread terror among a group of inno cent people. Naturally, city officials will attempt to curb these gangs by an effective police force. How ever, police action ia like cutting off the top of the peanut vine, but they should be aware that “deep are the roots” of this problem. Let us hope that our new leadership in the Negro revolt will devise ways to curb such out breaks. for if they can direct demonstrations and "freedom rides", they ought to be able to establish a movement to check this outlaw rear-guard action. If our leaders do not have the know-how to achieve this goal. then the Negro race will be forced to hang its head in shame. ence in session at Greensboro: “The ministers and laymen of the Western North Carolina Conference send most sincere greetings and prayerful best wishes to our Methodist brethren of the N. C. Conference. We look forward eagerly to a new era of co operative study and combined action as God opens doors for the same. We wish It to be known and demonstrated in this local# where we live together that the Methodist are one people. Not only will the report of the commis sion be anticipated, but it is hoped that the Methodists can unite as one body in Christ Jeaus for the implementation of the brother hood of men. May the church exemplify the right approach in dealing segregation a mortal blow. Japanese codes; so when the Japanese arrived at Midway, an American fleet of three carriers was waiting to the north of the island. In the resulting action the American carrier planes by luck caught the Japanese carriers as they were refueling plane* which had attacked Mid way itself. This enabled the Americans to set the Japanese carriers aflame with their bombs, and a burnt carrier is as bad aa a sunk carrier. A Japanese counter-attack sank the carrier “Yorktown." Since the loas of these four carriers meant the loss of all air cover, the Japanese were forc ed to call off the invasion of Midway. And since the lose of four carriers cut their carrier force by one half, the Japanese were never able to launch another big attack like this one. From there on. it was a losing battle for thr Japanese. If you recall, the results of this battle made it the moat decisive naval battle of the war. if not the moat decisive of any type during the war. Americans came within an inch of losing tile Battle of Midway and with it the entire Pacific. If Japan had used all of her carriers at Midway, instead of sending two off to the Aleutians, if the Japanese search aircraft had been a little more efficient, if the Americans had not caught the Japanese refueling, who knows what the outcome of the Pacific war might have been? It is indeed befitting at this time to pay hon or to the American heroes who died in fight, aa well as salute those who are survivors today. BUT ITS COLD! Here in Tallahassee, Florida, we have been complaining s bout the hot and dry weather. Ah, but thia morning! The rain started at 7:30 A M. while I waa washing my ear. Now at noon, I'm thinking of reaching for an overcoat—Can you ima gine that? Because of the type of soil, it does not take the sun long to dry up the rain fall. Although the weather is chilly, it ia re freshingly cool, or shall I say cold? FOR ONE CAT, TOO MUCH A black cat named Opal must have crossed her own path re cently. She had the bad luck to looee 383,333.33. That’s how much scratch her late mistress bequeathed her “for the lux urious care” of OpaL But other heirs of Amanda C. McHenry argued in the Court of Los Angeles recently that one-third of $360,000 is much more than is needed for the lifetime care even of some one with nine lives. The Judge argeed. SHREWD TRADER In Basildon, England, a school boy has turned out to ONLY IN AMERICA BY HARRY GOLDEN OUR PRESIDENTS HATE COURAGE Four Presidents of the Unit ad States have been killed In line of duty by bulleta. Each of these Presidents has been killed as dead by a bullet aa though it had been fired by an enemy soldier on the field of battle instead of bv an assassin. Had Linooln, Garfield, Mc- Kinley, and John F. Kennedy never been President of the Untied States, each would have had a long life and probably died otherwise than by a pistol or revolver bullet. Four more Presidents of the United States have had their Uvea attempted by men with knife or guns, each of these assailants hoping for success Instead of failure in his attack with Intent to kill one of our Fic*ld r BY EMORY G. DAVIS, D. D. (For the Associated Negro Press) FARE TO HEAVEN Over twenty years ago, while selling tickets for a church function to raise funds toward mortgage retirement, I went into the establishment of a Negro business man who had a reputation for supporting such causes. His response to my ap peal was, ‘‘lt’s costing too d much to send n— -r-s to heaven, and most of them are going to end up In hell anyhow.” In spite of his terse allega tion he did purchase some tickets. Then I was young and had not begun my min isterial career. I was shocked speechless by hie direct attack on church fund raising, and said nothing for several momenta, feeling embarrassed that I had chosen to solicit funds from a person with such an attitude. After 30 years or more In tn the ministry I’ve recently been reminded of this Incident in more ways than one. A recent editorial In RENEWAL, a publication of the Chicago City Missionary Society, by the editor, Stephen C. Rose, sought to speak to the matter of church and money tn an article entitled, “Where The Money Ooea.” The realistic approach to this sensitive matter again reminded me of the high cost of “ferrying” people to heaven over against the numbers of persona who are seemingly going the other way. And, you don't hear much talk anymore about heaven and hell. It Is easy to agree with Editor Rose that too much money “goes for needless frills, such as fancy buildings” and “for large educational fa cilities . . . used only one or two days a week,” when these expenditures are set over against what the church spends for home and foreign missions, overseas relief and for the relief of the poor and needy at its door. Baaed on the 1961 report of the National Coun cil of Churches, Mr. Rose cites these statistics: The average per member contributions are $54 per year for local church expenses which Includes ministers' salaries, maintenance and Investments In church buildings, and only sl3 per year for benevolence*—the ministry to the needy, etc. Es timating that 35% of benevolent funds are used “YOUNG LEADERS OF AFRICA” (EDITOR'S NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS: Col umns by Dean Garden B. Hancock add F. L. Prattis do not appear in this feature release. Mr. Prattis' column will be carried next week as usual. Mr. Hancock It ill and hla column will be resumed at a later date. We Invite your attention to the special feature on the “Young Leaden of Africa.” written by J. Henry Ran dall, AVP Foreign Editor, which follows. UNLIKE MOST OF THE WORLD. AFRICA IS NOT BURDENED WITH AGED LEADERS CHICAGO (ANP*— The recent death of India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a result of a second heart attack within 4 months, preoeeded by the death last April 38 of Sir A. Milton 8. Mar gal. prime minister of Sierra Leone, has focused attention upon the current crop of rulen through out the world, their agss, their respective normal longevities and Illnesses, and their possible suc cessors. if any. The leading nations of the world have been particularly Interested in the age statistics of their needs of state#—moet all of whom are In their 70'a Russia's Nikita Khrueehev celebrated his 70th birthday last month. France's Charles de Gaulle, at 73. la recuperating from a glandular operation. Red Chinas Mao Tbe-Tung and For mosa's Chiang Kal Shek are In their 70'e; Tito of Yugoslavia, at 73. Is 111. Ulbright in East Ger many Is a 71-year-old hypochondriac: Spain's Franco Is 73: Portugal's Salaar. 73. Moat of these rulers can be put under the broadly general heading of “Indispensable men primarily because there has been no definitely announced sucoeaeor for their respective offices should iUnset or death from natural causes leave a vacancy tn their chief executive'* office. A somewhat similar but purely technical, situ ation existed in the United States with the assas sination of the late John F. Kennedy. Though President Lyndon B. Johnson < who incidentally Is but a mere youngster at 56 compared to other world leaders, even though he has suffered a mild heart setsure) stepped quickly Into the void, there has and still la some question about the line of succession that perhaps will be a hot political item In future days One continent which presently does not have the problem of “age.” perhaps with two amep tiona. Is Africa. The two exceptions are Emperor Haile of Ethiopia, who Is 73; and Prime Minister Jomo Kenyan# of Kenya, who admits to batng shout that same age. The average age of the current Affrican rulers is 53 yean, of 47 African beads at state or pos sible chats executives oendtna ¥lip*M* ,m * sob six are in their 60 s On the other hand, than la one who Is Just 3d yean old. Be is Priam Cants Una Bsrsog MMwwrfioi H. who la tipped to be come the that bead «f an tndspendent nation of Using Nehru* career ea chief esaoullve of India as an example