NEWS CONFERENCE 367

there are militant people in the black community who are lenient,
who are very intelligent, who are very well motivated and who act
with restraint. I don't put Rap Brown in that category. Anyone who
has listened to this tape would agree with me that the characterization
of the President of the United States as some honky, the characteriza-
tion of Abraham Lincoln as a person who really didn't care about
black people, the characterization of George Washington as a slave
owner, is less than a fair analysis of those individuals.

Q. On a more parochial point, the head of the Baltimore County
Liquor Board with whom you had a meeting today was quoted after-
wards that pinballs are not a matter of extreme urgency in the county.
Would you comment on this?

A. No, I certainly didn't want to indicate to the Liquor Board that
I'm trying to direct them in what they do. I never have wanted to,
because my original statement in regard to the pinball machines was
qualified by a statement that I don't control them. I don't want to
push them into taking action that they don't think is appropriate. The
purpose of our meeting today was for me to bring them to date on
what I knew about the subject, and the fact was that I was expressing
a very strong personal opinion which I don't think I'm going to
change. Now, I asked them to investigate it carefully and arrive at an
independent conclusion. And if their conclusion is different than my
conclusion, I'm not going to begin criticizing them or putting pressure
on them, but I wanted to see that they were in possession of the facts.

Q. Governor, did you accept an honorary membership in the Police
Union?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Does that signify your approval of the union?

A. I have no objections to the Police Union or to the Fraternal Order
of Police or to any other labor organization that conducts itself in the
proper fashion toward its members. I think they are entitled to or-
ganize.

Q. Governor, could you discuss a little more what your full-scale
plans are for dealing with the Baltimore problem, going beyond
simply the backlog, the WPA—black community problem?

A. I can't do it today, because we are still in the process of evolving
exactly how we are going to attack this thing on a definitive basis,
but I expect that within a week, maybe within a few days, we'll have
a better idea of exactly what actions we are going to take.