The Wilmington morning star., 1946-06-16
Must Accept Reality Or
Lose Past Progress,
Sociologist Says

CHAPEL HILL, June 15.-P-
In facing a United States supreme
court decision that invalidated Jim
Crow laws as they apply to inter-
state commerce, the south must
choose Immediately between stom-
aching an unpleasant reality and
making the best of it, or trying to
combat it and thereby risk the loss
Of three-quarters of a century of
social and economic progress, DR..
Howard w. Odum, head of the So
GEOLOGY department at the univer-
yity of North Carolina, told the
Durham Morning Herald today. He
said he thought the south would
make the best of the situation.
"The South" he observed, must
be pretty good. or else it wouldn't
have so many crises testing its
stamina and stability Whom the
Lord Loveth, he chastenetA.' This
Is a time, now, for the South to
show now good it is; to hold steady
and not lose poise. Let the South
at this time-facing a court deci-
sioa which skaters custom and
tradition-do a little more and a
little better, if it can, even than
the rest of the world" He pointed
out that racial tension in the south
is but one aspect Of a world cur
rently experiencing unusual ten
sion between different groups; la
Dor and labor, labor and manage
ment, different races, America and
Russia"
Odum - who for more than a
quarter Of a century has made an
intensive study of southern prob
ems. including race relations - is
Kenan professor of sociology at the
University OF North Carolina and
h. u ne sociology Department.;
editor of Social Forces; founder
aha ~. many ye5rs director of the
in~i,ute for research in social
science at the University OF North
Ld1oLua; ana author Of a score Of
sociological studies including the
southern regions of the United
States" He served as a member
of President Hoover's commission
on recent social trends" In 1945
he was given the Bernays award
by the Federal council of the
churches of Christ in America, race
relations department, for out
standing achievement in Negro
White relations in the United Stat
es."
The South STANDS today on the
thIts-old OF a new greatness, DR..
C'dum said, and because that is
so, the manne in which the south
ern people accept the new crisis
Ito them) of the i~nvalidation of
Jim Grow" laws will be a major
factor in deciding whether the
southern people will cross that
threshold into an RI of great Gull
ture and prosperity, or will retreat
into isolation and repression. "Iso-
lation and secession cannot make
sense from any viewpoint" DR..
Odum warned. THE South can
ac4A-ese greatness or it can possibly
destroy itself"
DR.. Odum continued:
.-4e IS general agreement
among all people IN the South that
we now have the greatest opport-
unity for the development of re-
sources we nave ever knoWn-the
greatest opportunity yet for in
creased wealth, a well balanced
economy, and for making n of
the most outstanding contributions
to the American nation.
"In so far as the South thinks
about it, the South is agreed
that nothing must interfere with
this great purpose.
The attainment of the ideals and
dreams OF the South cannot be
acl4eved IN a framework of isola-
ton, seciionalism, bitterness. The
South is and always must be a
great part OF the nation, and not
something apart from it.
The recent decision of the sup
rene court invalidating a Virginia
law requiring segregation Of races
in buses in interstate commerce
is a reality-the South now faces
a fact ano not a theory-and the
South must accept it and adjust to
it as a new reality. The decision
was almost unanimous, and so far
as I know, the great majority OF
constitutional LAWYERS agree that