The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-08-06
NEGROES MAY USE
. CITY AUDITORIUM
Race Segregation Law Does Not
Prohibit, Says Ander-
son.
COMMITTEE MAY ACT AGAIN
Inspector Beck's Position Is
Not Endorsed by City
Attorney.

No clause of the vonderlehr race
use OF the City Auditorium by colored
statement made yesterday by Acting
City Attorney George Wayne Ander-
son. Colonel Anderson said that the
statement made to the Council Com
mittee on Grounds and Buildings that
the City Attorneys office had ruled
against the use of the building by ne!
groes was unauthorized
Two weeks ago Maggie L. Walker
applied to the Committee on Grounds
and Buildings for the use of the audi
torium an Angus, l6 for a meeting
stated TO be for the moral and fnan-
cial uplift of the colored people of the
city. No admission fee was to be
ing was TO be lecture by DR.. Walter
Brooks. OF Washington city, on The
possibilities Of the Negro Race" Adj
! mission to reserved seats was to have
oesn by card issued BY the Indepen-
cent order of st. Luke to colored citi-
"ens and to such white citizens a ex-
pressed interest in the progress of the
colored race. About 700 or 500 such
I cards would be issued after which the
doors were to be opened to the gem
eral public.
hech n Letter To NOninn.
Inc committee referred the whole
matter TO Mr.. Beck after a desultory
discussion of the advisability of al
; lowing negroes to use the auditorium
AZ a meeting of the committee las.
Ihursday night Mr. Beck reported
that he had sent to the applicant the
,oli0wing letter, his stand in the mat
ter having, he stated. the approval of
the City Attorney, although no formal
opinion had been rendered:
~, :, July IS, 1911.
Mrs; Maggie L. Walker. 800 st. James
Replying 10 yours of this date. with
attached application for the use Of
the CITY Auditorium on August Is. 1911,
l peg TO say that this application is
rejected. and that you cannot have
the use OF this building on account
OF the ordinance approved April IT,.
iLsll. which forbids the use of build :
| pie when the majority of all the
white.
Trusting this decision will cause
may be able to secure a hall in some
I locality where this objection cannot
be raised. remain.
Yours truly,
49, Building Inspector"
The committee tacitly approved Mr..
BECK S action, though the question was
raised whether such ruling would
not prevent the holding of the annual
Colored High School commencement in
me City Auditorium. Some members
.nonsht the school Board had special
rights in the building which the com
mittee could not override: others that
since the grant in that instance was
10 a white board the law would not
aaPpiy. TO which some one answered
mat the applicant might get a white
agent to apply for her
Whit Ordinance Provides.
Section of the segregation ordi-
1nDrnNed
which Mr.: Beck makes MS ruling. and
which City Attorney Anderson says
VIII not warrant any such construction,
reads as follows:
"2. That it shall be unlawful for
| any colored person to occupy as a resi-
| dence. or to establish and maintain
| as place of public assembly. any
house upon any street or alley be-
a greater number of houses are oc-
cupied as residences by white people
! than are occupied as residences by
colored people
Ing City Attorney, Maggie Walker does
not propose to establish and main
tam any place of public assembly"
| she asks the use OF one maintained
by the city for the benefit OF all tax
payers. The general ordinances gov
erning the use of the City Auditorium
leave large discretionary powers to
the Committee on Grounds and Build
ings. which has let the building free
to some and charged prices varying
from $40 to $50 to others Whether
the committee has the right to re-
, fuse outright is problematical. In this
| instance IL seems 10 have shuffled it's
problem on Mr. Beck, and he in turn
has intrenched himself behind a law
! which the Acting City Attorney says
VIII hear no such construction. Wheth-
er the colored people will get the
use OF the Auditorium or not remains
to be seen.