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\ P . A GE 4--THE SM YRN. A HERALD, THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 15 . 1966 . 1 EDITORIALS: Allen Showed Deep And Abiding Sens·e Of Responsibility Cobb Countians who have held a dim regard for Atl anta 's Mayor Ivan All en for several reasons, including a possible land gr ab acr oss the river into Cobb , did some s econd-gu essing la s t week and mus t have c ome t o the conclusi on that ' 'Ivan ain 't that T errible." The forthr ight, s c rappy, Atlanta - building

vlayor Allen proved his mettle twice in a row

a gains t for midable foes and earned nationwide r ec og niti on of his civic and p oliti cal c ou rage. Ivan Allen demons t ra ted a deep and abiding sense of resp ons ibility th at r eflected the herira ge from fva n Allen, Sr., a Whitfield County l ad who cam e t o Atlanta around the turn of the c entu ry a nd buil t one of the city's leading bus ines ses, became a civic and political leader , and now has retir ed t o an honored and respected senior citi zenship. T here were two phases of this Horatius at the Bridge " stand by Ivan Allen, ·Jr. The first cam e when the mayor met head-on the angry challeng e of a firefighters ' union assdciated with the dreaded Ji mmy Hoffa of the Teams ters, a11 outfit that plays rough. Allen and his City of Atlanta associates banned from the Fire Department those who would not work unless gr anted an immediate pay raise which Al len was unable to give legally, a nd the city began rec ruiting new personnel t o fill the gap. Then, s talking impassively into the m idst of an excited cr owd of Negroes incited by Snick ag ents, Ivan Allen proved that bravery - and dauntless courage form the most effective shield against danger. Into the teeth of the mob, the Mayor threw back the challenge to civic responsibility that must be met if firstclass citizenship is to be claimed. And he won. The promoters of the riot, leaders of Snick (SNCC), face serious charges and their organization has been abandoned and repudiated by calmer members of the Negro community. Only one more big fight needs to be won by Mayor Allen for a clean s weep of the c ivic honors , a nd in this one he iS somewhat stymied by two obstinate forces--the contractors on one hand and the carpenters' union on the other hand. He has no effective control over either side--onlY peaceful persuasion and sound argument. For nearly four months Atlanta building has been halted by the stubborn dispute, and such projects as the new auditorium a re peopled only by lone and tired pickets. Meanwhile, the economic-financial tight-m oney crisis has cut ciff the arteries feeding new money into the building field, and carpenters who eventually may go tb work under a new agr eement possibly can find that there will be no work after the current projects are finished, simply because inflation and tight-money have combined to cut off many new jobs. When and if the mayor wins this one by causing work to be resumed, he indeed will have · rivaled the feat of mighty Bobby Jones in eff~ting a grand s lam." P. S. - - HOLD T HE PR ESSES! T here was a slight backs et over the week-end, to the Ivan Allen triumph in the racial unrest, when Negro rioting flared up in the Georgia Baptist Hospital area on B oulevard. This mob scene occurred in the heart of _the Great Atlanta F ire dis aster section of five decades ag o, .an ar ea r a zed by fl ames. '.fhe area was rebuilt into an apartment-dominated residential r egion that in time passed through the usual phases of decline and decadence, until it became filled to overflowing with the colored popula tioo pushed by Urban Renewal and other factors, and now it rates as a new ghetto br slum area. Whether the· Allen-brought peace will endure remains to be determined, as calls go up for fresh demonstrat ions. I �