, 1952-05-22
IT Can Be Done

NEW YORK, Observation-Disclosures of the human
race can be extremely ingenious at getting along when
demands it. Although there are many who deny
that individuals of different backgrounds can get along
amicably, there is overwhelming evidence that proves
they can. A striking example is found in the case of two
churches in San Francisco.
A Negro Presbyterian congregation at 1776 Ellis
Street had a problem because their building was toosmall.
A white Presbyterian congregation at Page and Webster
had a church building much too large for their fifty
members. While services at the white church, with their
fifty members, were being held in a small chapel adJoln-
ing the church, the Negro pensioners were oVerfloWhg
their small building.
The members from the two churches met and dis
cussed their mutual problems. Since each group could
make worthwhile contribution toward the welfare of the
other, they proceeded to do SO. They united. The white
Pensioners of Westminster and the Negro par1sheners
of Westminster and the Negro Pensioners from Hope
Church voted 100 per cent for the merger.
The 35-year-old Rev. Mr.. Halves is minister of the
merged church. The Rev. Chadsey, 27-year-old white min
lister, is the assistant.
Another example of people of different nationalities
and diverse interests getting along, occurred in 1915 at
St. Adams Hospital. World War II was nearing an end.
Service men were war-weary and longing to get home to
see their loved ones. st. Adams Hospital was the center
from which they could be discharged after physicians
and psychologists pronounced them fit.
Many of the service men were rough, tough, incon-
siderate fellows. There were white southerners from Sec
tons that were very anti-Negro. There were Negroes who
rebelled against everything the south stands for. Often
these fellows would be sharing twin hunks and talking
about their dislikes to each other. When young strongwi1-
ed youngsters of such opposite backgrounds are forced
to share hunks, one might expect violence. Yet, therehave
been no reports of any violence or any Incidents result,
ing from such proximity.
Necessity demanded that these individuals curtai
their acquired aversions toward each other. They did il
with a smoothness that is worthy of imitation. If they hao
not curtailed and controlled themselves, they would have
had to spend extra time at st. Adams.
More than any other one thing, man is interested il
surviving. If the masses of people of the earth are ever
convinced that their survival and progress depend upor
their living in a world where no one is exploited, handica1
ped, or held down, the millennium will have been reach
ed.
Those who have caught a vision of what the worle
would be like if all people used their intelligence to ge
along, should pass that vision on to others.
IF two churches of different races can merge thei
congregations for a common good, the races of the eartl
can unite their efforts for a common good. If thousands O.
unrestrained youths, reared in a society that encouraged
antipathy among them, can get along together in the arm
ed forces, they can do it in business.
Those people in power who are afraid of civil right
and FEPC because of possible friction among racialgroup
should look around. They would see that members Of tn,
human race can get along when necessity demands it.
HARRY DOR GAVE HIS LIFE WILL YOU
GIVE YOUR NAACP MEMBERSHIP?