Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 10

lO Saturday. June 11. 1960 DETROIT FREE PRESS DREW PEARSON Jack amid the Dragon More Sour Notes On That Band Tour Kennedy Finds He Really Didn't Slay It in West Virginia; Church Papers Show Religion Issue Is Alive BY DREW PEARSOX WASHINGTON Already stinging from a slap by the House Armed Services Committee, the Navy is about to be slapped on the other oheek for its handling of the Navy Band's recent South American tour which was marred by the deaths of 19 bandsmen on a flight to serenade President Eisenhower in Rio de Janeiro. Doing the cuffing will be Rep. John Moss, who has been investigating Said Commonweal: "The Marxists in Italy were clearly the main targets of the recent article in L'Os-servatore Romano; unfortunately, it is not the Marxists who are hurt when needless doubts are raised about the loyalty of Catholics to the Constitution of the United States." Commonweal said the United States ceased being a Roman Catholic mission country 50 years ago and that the Roman Catholic faith has been compatible with and flourished under the American system.

charges published in this column that the Navy tried to suppress the facts bout the tragic tour. The confidential report of his investigators is now in. Meanwhile, the Navy has ordered Capt. Herbert S. Schwab to conduct an "informal investigation" into band morale.

He assured this column that his purpose is not to retaliate against that the band's sudden presence in South America was in no way tied to President Eisenhower's good-will visit. They point out that Adm. Arleigh Burke, Navy chief, notified the American embassies along the President's route that the band would be available to play for him. THE ILL-FATED FLIGHT, the investigators found, was arranged by the American Ambassador, who asked Rear Adm. Edward Stephan, commander of the South Atlantic Fleet, to "send a 19-man orchestra unit back to Rio from Buenos Aires on Feb.

25, 1960, to play at a reception for the President of the United States and the President of Brazil." In fairness to the Navy, this column has now learned the White House Issued the orders that the band's tour should not be tied to the President's trip. The order was transmitted by Capt. E. P. Aurand, the President's Naval Aide.

The story of how the band members were pressured. into continuing the tour over their bitter protests was published in this column and subsequently denied by six hand-picked band members- at a press conference called by Comm. Brendler. Declare Moss's men: "Comm. Brendler chose the men to participate in the press conference on the basis of their seniority in the band and because he felt they would not say anything to jeopardize their naval careers.

"Those band members not participating in the press conference are of the opinion that the feelings of the band were misrepresented. Except by rumor, nonparticipants learned of the press conference only from the morning newspapers." Moss bandsmen who talked to reporters and Congressmen. THE NAVY had expected gentler treatment from the five Congressmen assigned by the Armed Services Committee to probe the band tour fiasco. Of the five. Rep.

Huddleston of Alabama, Stratton of New York, and Bates of Massachusetts are commanders in the Navy Reserve. So is Frank Slatinshek, special counsel assigned to handle the investigation. AH belong to the exclusive Capitol Hill reserve unit which the Navy takes on annual Junkets, usually to plush places. The Congressmen-officers are permitted to count this as "active duty." But not even these pro-Navy Congressmen could accept the Navy's repeated contention BY HILEY II. WARD Fra Press Rslitlon Writer All one has to do to know that the religious issue, despite the West Virginia vote, is very much alive is to read the religion magazines and reports from the' latest church conventions.

Sometimes the hostility is forthright, as in a resolution by the Southern Baptist Convention. Or it is less direct, as at the Augustana Lutheran Synod meeting in Rock Island, 111., this week. That body noted that "there are grounds for reasonable doubt" that a Roman Catholic President would be free of church influence in Government matters. COMING CLOSER to home, a Lutheran pastor, the Rev. O.

A. Gerken, formerly pastor of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Walled Lake, and pastor of a new congregation in Warren, writes in the June issue of the Michigan (Missouri Synod) Lutheran: "Although Senator Kennedy has made some surprising statements to the effect that his first re sponsibility as President would be to uphold the Constitution rather than heed the voice of his church, It has been our experience that the average Catholic lives in fear of disobeying his church. "And we are not so much afraid of the FIRST Roman Catholic President as we are of the FIFTH or SIXTH Catholic President." There are similar statements on the editorial pages of other state papers and national Protestant publications of established reputation, such as Christian Herald and Church Management. COMMONWEAL, a liberal Catholic magazine, recognizes that the issue is alive, too.

In its two latest issues, it spots three questions on politics and religion which it says must or should be troubling the Kennedy mind. The first is: Can Kennedy keep enough other issues alive to detract from the religious issue? If he can make enough noise on other matters, Commonweal says, then people will be less likely to rise to their old religious prejudices. Commonweal believes he can become more vocal on matters of national and foreign policy. The second question: Senator Kennedy Will Protestants or Roman Catholics vote by religious blocs? Commonweal doesn't anticipate strong bloc voting on either side. But if there is, the members of denominations keeping the religious issue alive (or even a fraction of that number) would be something to fear.

THE THIRD question: What unknown events might upset the apple cart before November? One such event has occurred to harm Kennedy. An unsigned editorial In the Vatican's newspaper, L'Ossen atore Romano, "put Senator Kennedy back on the griddle again," said Commonweal. The Vatican paper had said a Catholic official must remember that his first allegiance is to his church. ALTHOUGH Americans might agree on the surface that to vote along religious lines is an awful thing, what will the individual do in the secrecy of a voting booth Says Commonweal: "As a significant factor In the campaign, the religious issue may have been dealt a damaging blow in Vet Virginia, but it is still too early to offer the funeral oration. "A cursory glance at published and televised statements since the West Virginia elections will show that many people continue to raise the familiar doubts, to pose old questions "The discussions will continue up to the national elections in November." VICTOR RIESEL Hoffa Plans to Raid AFL-CIO Territory BY VICTOR RIESEL Whether it's iron nerves or Just a case of nerves is not quite certain, but Jimmie Hoffa appears to have declared open war on the land's national labor leaders.

Virtually unnoticed by the nation, he has begun raiding AFL-CIO territory. Hoffa's newest move is directed at the electrical field. His people in Louisville are demanding that they be recognized as the union for some 10,000 workers at General DR. LENOX HONORED Book Features Council Executive Electric's Appliance there. The firm how has a contract with Jim Carey's International Union of Electrical Workers.

Appliance Park is the center of GE's vast household appliance production. If Hoffa's Local 89 succeeds in ousting the Carey union, it will make a noise heard Dr. G. Merrill Lenox, executive director of the Detroit and Michigan Councils of Churches, is one of 12 American Baptists featured in a new book on church vocations. will roll on deep into AFL-CIO territory.

A series of victories would give the Teamster chief what he has tried to build for a long time a third labor federation with his 1.600,-000 truck drivers as the base. But Hoffa may lose. If he does, he will take his licking right out in the open. Such a loss would be a body blow to the carefully nurtured image of the invincible man. But in recent months Hoffa has been far from unbeatable.

He's lost a series of skirmishes with other labor leaders but they have been smaller battles. They escaped the headlines. Most of them have been lost to Paul Hall, head of the Seafarers International Union. In the first of these battles. Hall beat the Teamsters so badly in Puerto Rico that Hoffa called for the police and charged his people were intimidated.

There's a twist for you. IT HAPPENED two months ago at the Valencia-Baxt Express Co. in San Juan. The firm was under contract with Hall's union. Hoffa personally flew Into the island to take the company from the SIU.

There was a Labor Board election. The Teamsters got 64 votes to Hall's 106. Hall then challenged Hoffa to come on down into the streets. Hoffa didn't. Hall said the Teamsters were no match for the Seafarers.

"You can't," said Hall, "win a labor election from a penthouse suite in the La Concha Hotel." The other day Hall's union did it again in Puerto Rico. This time Hoffa wanted to take over the workers of the Maritime Trucking Co. The Teamsters got one vote to the Seafarers' 41. Nor did Hoffa's men do better in a Federal election covering the Pennsylvania Railroad's unlicensed tugboat deckhands. Hoffa tried to take them from Hall's union in the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk harbors.

The Teamsters received 95 votes. The Seafarers got 174. The book, "Summoned to Serve," is published this week The author. Miss Joan Thatcher, is a staff member of the American Board of Education and Publication. The book, according to its publisher, is designed to interest young people in church Mr.

Richard Meier to. I Ml f' by Judeon Press, Philadelphia. Other subjects of biographies in the book include a doctor, public 50 YEARS ON THE JOB 'round America's labor Hoffa world. Hoffa has swashbuckled, but never quite so daringly. If he succeeds in cracking the Electrical Workers' front, his prestige would swell.

For to take over the workers at GE's Appliance Park, Hoffa's union will have to run against Carey's union In an open election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. The board has set a preliminary hearing for later this month. Hoffa knows he'll have to buck the brightest strategists in the AFL-CIO. These are men who can match Hoffa surprise for surprise, and even muscle for muscle. The "giants" can't let Carey go it alone.

He's one of the eight men on the AFL-CIO Executive Committee the inner steering group of the labor federation. IF HOFFA succeeds in ripping this big bloc from Carey and his allies, the Teamsters relations direc tor, rural pas tor, director of radio-TV pro- Dr. Lenox grams, agricultural and medi cal missionaries, hospital ad Festival To Honor Acolytes Sunday is Acolyte Day for ministrator, a professor and a Lutherans To Honor Teacher religious drama leader. ST. CLAIR SHORES the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan.

Sponsored by the. Department of Boys Work of the Diocese, an annual Servers' and Acolytes' Festival will be held 4 p.m. Sunday in Trinity Baptists To Open Neiv Unit A teacher in the same Lutheran school for 50 years will be honored at 3:30 p.m. services June 19 at St. Thomas and St.

Peter Lutheran Church, 23801 Kelly at Stephens, East Detroit. He is Mr. Richard W. Meier, of 5751 Balfour, who has been associated with the St. Thomas and St.

Peter school since 1910. Church, Trumbull and Myrtle. In Washington Senators OK Neiv Funds To Speed Sky-Spy Program Mrs. Rosa Parks is to be aided by churches THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN' ABOUT 150 boys and mem bers of the clergy are expected to don their robes and vestments to take part in the procession and service. The speaker will be the Ven.

Charles Braidwood, Archdeacon of the Diocese of Michigan. Bethel Baptist Church. 24600 Little Mack, St. Clair Shores, will dedicate the first unit of a $750,000 building project 3 p.m. Sunday.

The $268,000 unit will replace the former church at Iroquois and Mack. Speaker will be the Rev. Negro Churches To Hail Heroine Of Bus Boycott Negro churches Sunday will come to the aid of a little seamstress who ran into problems when she moved from Montgomery, to Detroit. Mrs. Rosa Parks, by refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus back in December, 1955, sparked a battle for civil rights in Montgomery and other cities.

aircraft missile program and finance completion of Bomarc bases in Oregon and Washington. The measure would speed financing of nuclear powered submarines. Senator Dennis Chavez N.M.) said the committee rejected 17-4 a proposal by Senator Stuart Symington (D Mo.) to give the Air Force an additional $415 million to prepare for an airborne alert. The bill would give the Army $9,556,496,000, the Navy and the Air Force $17,433,636,000. The funds ersrs Administration expects to have reviewed all the cases of service-connection now on the books, most of them dating from World War H.

Limit Federal Aid For Road Building Secretary of Commerce Frederick H. Mueller announced ceilings on the amount of Federal aid the states may use for road building in the coming year. Mueller said the curbs were being- imposed for the second straight year in order to keep the road programs on a pay- Pr Pi-ms Win Services WASHINGTON The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $40,384,897,000 defense spending bill Friday after tacking on last-minute funds to speed the Samos "spy-in-the-sky" satellite program. The bill would give the armed forces $1,049,897,000 more than President Eisenhower's original budget, from which the Administration later trimmed 120 million. It would provide $1,047,030,000 more than the House voted previously.

a SENATE DEMOCRATIC Leader Lyndon B. Johnson chairman of the Senate Space Committee, and Senator John Stennis Miss.) led the successful drive for the SAMOS funds. The satellite SIR. MEIER, a native of Mt. Olive, 111., came to Detroit after his graduation from Teachers Seminary in Addison, I1L In 1925 he became principal of the St.

Peter School and of the combined school when the St. Peter School merged with St. Thomas In 1945. He continued as principal until 1952. Mr.

Meier is married and has three sons and one daughter, all in the Detroit area. Guest speaker for the service will be the Rev. William O. Leitz, pastor emeritus, St. Peter Lutheran Church, and brother-in-law of Mr.

Meier. Alcohol Report Due in Fall A program for counseling alcoholics may be included in the Episcopal seminary curriculum in the future, according to recommendations of the Episcopal Church's Joint Commission on Society and Alcohol. Concluding its sessions Saturday at Cranbrook House, Bloom field Hills, the Episcopal Church's Joint Commission on Society and Alcohol has delayed until fall to make a formal report. Harold Gieseke, secretary of education and publication for the North American Baptist General Conference. Among features of the building are a skylighted baptistry, a perforated wall glazed with blue, purple, and green cathedral glass.

Pastor of the church is the Rev. Herman Riffel. The new building is the fifth church home for the congregation since it was organized in 1894 as the First German Baptist Church of Detroit. She came to Detroit to give as-you-build basis. would provide armed forces of about the present size.

The Army would still field The states will be able to award contracts for two bil a speech in I95fi, ana returned to stay permanently in 1957. Her husband has only part-time work as a barber. Ill health has kept her from working in recent months. Both have been in the hospital in the last year. Mrs.

Parks' mother also lives with them. Ittend lion dollars of interstate superhighways during fiscal 1961, Mueller said. The remaining $873,613,000 will be available for primary, secondary and urban roads called the ABC program. Figures for Michigan were $30,473 for ABC roads, $73,135 for interstate highways. Services This Week at your own place of worship eventually will take over intelligence duties performed by the U-2 spy plane.

The committee voted 83.8 million dollars to speed work on SAMOS. It restored a cut made by the Senate military appropriations subcommittee in House-approved funds for the satellite and added $50 million more. It also overruled its subcommittee by voting an additional 125 million dollars for army modernization and providing $10 million to buy 10 Fairchild F-27 turboprop transport planes for the Air Force. This made the committee bill $218.8 million bigger than the subcommittee version. THE BILL also would provide funds to restore the pared- 14 combat divisions and related units.

The Marines would supply three divisions, plus three air wings. The Air Force would have about 95 combat wings and the Navy 817 commissioned ships, 382 of them warships. Disabled Vets Get Added Protection President Elsenhower signed into law a measure further safeguarding the rights of disabled veterans. There had been reports some of his advisers were urging him to veto it. Under the new law, veterans whose disabilities are held for 10 years to have been incurred In service cannot thereafter be deprived of their service-connected ratings except in cases of fraud.

The law goes into effect Jan. 1, 1962. By that date the Vet- CM. i MRS. PARKS will be honored at 6 p.m.

Sunday as "The Forgotten Woman" at the King Solomon Baptist Church, Fourteenth at Marquette. Representatives from 20 other churches are expected to be present, according to T. R. Jackson, a member of the King Solomon Baptist Church and chairman of the program committee of the Progressive Civic League which initiated the salute to Mrs. Parks.

Mrs. Parks and her husband and mother are now living In quarters furnished by the Bennett Pushes Fight for TV Curb Rep. John B. Bennett Mich.) contended that lobbying pressure by the broadcasting industry killed a move to put television-radio networks under Federal regulation. At the same time, Bennett said he will renew his fight to put the networks under licenses when a broadcasting reform bill comes up for consideration on the House floor.

down B-70 supersonic bomber PERFORATED walls are a feature of the new Bethel Baptist Church, St. Clair Shores, of which the Rev. Herman Riffel is pastor. League at 1930 West Grand I Boulevard. program, the a anti.