Desegregation Notes

sb Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Abraham Ribicoff decided last week to cut the aid in 1963 that the U.S.

now gives to segregated schools serving children whose parents live and work on federal property. These children will no longer be required to attend such "unsuitable" schools at federal expense. His goal: the first integration in Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina, where some 8,900 children may be affected.

sb The Justice Department moved up for "active consideration" a test lawsuit to desegregate schools now receiving federal aid because their enrollments have been "impacted," i.e., increased by the addition of a substantial number of children of federal workers. At stake is more than $250 million in federal aid now granted to schools attended by 1.6 million children, many in the South. The mere threat of a test case brought anguished cries from South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who labeled it "a flagrant act of economic blackmail."

sb In New Orleans, where Roman Catholic parochial schools have 48,000 students (compared with 93,000 in public schools), Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel, 85, eight years ago denounced segregation as "morally wrong and sinful." Last week the archdiocese announced that "all Catholic children" may now apply to all Catholic schools. Cried Political Boss Leander Perez, a segregationist and Roman Catholic: "What can the people do? They can stop putting their money in the collection plate and feeding those bishops and priests who are destroying our children."

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