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r THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION For 96 Years The South's Standard Newspaper 1- l, • ' ' • RALPH McGILL, Publisher Established June 16, 1868 Issued da ll y except New Year' s, July ~. La bor Day, Thanks1Uv1ng ana 1,;anstmas . Secona-ciass postage pa id at Atlanta , Georgia . The Atla nta Constitution (mornin g) , a nd The Atlanta .Journal (evening), and The Atlanta Cons titution and The ,Atlanta J ournal (Sunday), publis hed by Atlanta News)>• Pers, Inc., 10 Forsyth St., Atlanta , Georgia, · Page 4 EUGENE PATTERSON, Editor Hoqie-delivered s ubscription r a tes: Morning and Sunday. or evening and Sunday. l week. 50c. Morning or evening dail y only. l week, 30c. Morning. eve n.ins: and Sunday (1 3 issues), 1 week, 80c. Subscription prices by mail on r equest. Single copies: DailY, Sc ; Sunday, 20c, plus 3% saJes tax on sales and del iveries made within th e slate of Georgia. FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1963 r ·here Are Right and Wrong Reasons
For Opposing the Civil Rights Bill
Sen. Richard B . Russell's origin al op p osition to t he P resident's civil r ights bill
belabor ed t he pr oposed cure--legisla tion
- but ignored the ill-€xistence of Neg ro
grievances.
In a televi ion i nterview h e h as now
, stated t hat h e is "well aware that we're
, livin g in a social revolution." It seems to
us this a step forward by h im toward the
higher ground of recogn izing th at a p ro blem exi ts.
The other half of the question still
remains, h owever : What t o do about t he
problem?
Th e opponents of the President's bill
' in Congress w ill not have a stron g arg u' ment if-though t hey recognize exi stence
of the national problem he i trying t o
cope with-they avoid an y resp onsibility
of th eir own for helpin g olve it.
Much of t he Sou thern congressional
opposition to t he bill is ba sed on ju t
such an aveidance of responsibility, emptying the arguments to a large extent.
The implication is th at even though a
problem is conceded to exist, the Southerner in Congress is willing to block the
P r esident's effort to do omething abo ut
it while in turn offerin g the alternative
of doing nothing about it.
It i:eems to us this p os ition is 180
degr ees opposed and 100 per cent weake r than the position taken by the Boar d
of the Atlanta Ch a mber of Commerce in
i1s own r esolu tion opposing p assage of
~e P resident's bill.
* *
The Chamber opposition is b ased
neith er on den ying that a problem exi ts
n or upon the altern ative of doin g nothing
a bout solvin g it. On . t he contrary, the
Ch amber couples its opposition to the
legi lation with a specific and fort hright
alternative solu tion-volun tary p rogress
in stead of com pelled progre s.
Li ke Sen . Russell, the Chamber
~ oard fo und tl-1.e pu blic accommodations
portion of the bill to be " particularly objectionable" b ecause it would b ring intru sion of futther federal reg ulation int o
private property.
But unli ke Sen. Rus ell, t he Chamber Boar d reiterated an alternative t o the
legisla tion; it appealed " t o all businesses
soliciting bu sine s from the general public to do so without regard to race, color
or creed ," solving volu ntarily a p roblem
w hose sol ution it does not want t o see
federally com pelled.
A tlanta itself is an example of a city
t hat does not need the P re ident's pro posed law because it is recognizing the
p roblem and solving it voluntaril y. T his,
it seems t o u s, is the right reason for opposing the p ublic accommodations bill.
If the Southern opposit ion to the bill
in Congress would move up to this position which has already been taken at
home, then i t seems to us the arguments
would be geeatly strengthened, the solution of racial problems would be considerably advanced , and the dignit · and
r eputation of the South would be better
served.
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