UDALL ENTREATS MORMONS ON RACE

Bids Church Remove Curbs on Its Negro Members

By WALLACE TURNER

Special to The New York Times

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 18--A demand that the Mormon church immediately remove all restrictions on Negro members has been made by Stewart L. Udall, Secretary of the Interior.

Mr. Udall, a lifelong Mormon is a descendant of pioneer members of the church, whose formal name ts. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"This Issue must be resolved--and resolved not by pious moralistic platitudes but by clear and explicit pronouncements and decisions that come to grips with the imperious truths of the contemporary world," Mr. Udall said.

He made the comment in a letter to Dialogue, a magazine founded 18 months ago to provide avenues of discussion outside church control for devout Mormons.

The Mormons welcome persons of all races into membership, but they bar Negro members from membership in the priesthood orders to which virtually all adult male Mormons belong.

This effectively keeps Negroes from holding any position of leadership In the church, since service in the priesthood orders is the avenue for advancement. No Negro, for example, could hold the title of bishop and be the leader of. a Mormon congregation. Further, Negroes are set off from the close friendships created by working together in the projects supported by the priesthood orders.

Mr. Udall's letter was not solicited and arrived as a surprise about two months ago, said· Eugene England, one of two managing editors. Mr. England is on the staff at Stanford University here, as is G. Wesley Johnson, the other managing editor. The magazine is edited here and printed in Salt Lake City. It has about 7,500 circulation.

The Udall statement will be printed in the letters section of the summer, 1967, issue, Mr. England said. Mr. Johnson commented that "we will probably have a lively response." There are about 2.5 million Mormons.

Mr. Udall's comments were seen among observers sensitive to internal strains among the Latter-day Saints as creating new problems for Gov. George Romney's campaign for the Republication Presidential nomination.

In response to frequent questions and invitations to detail his personal views, the Michigan Governor, also a, member of a pioneer Mormon family, has avoided any criticism of the church position on Negro participation in church affairs. He has, however, been an outspoken advocate of civil rights.

Today, asked to comment on Mr. Udall's letter, Governor Romney issued a statement in Lansing, Mich. He said Mr. Udall's opnions were "written only as an expression of his viewpoint as a member of the church." The Governor went on:

"In light of the fact that church doctrine is not determined by the attitude and expression of the individual members or the leadership, he knows, as do all other informed members of my faith, that his method of accomplishing the religious object he seeks cannot serve any useful religious purpose."