The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1919-08-19
Of. Frank Gardiner in New York
TimeS.)

many as the chief underlying cause or
the race riots in that city. The be-
stowal of political preferment. and
the license under which everything
went" in the Black Belt of the second
largest American city was the intiam-
mable part of the tinder which finally
set the city ablaze.
The influx of thousands Of negroes
from the south in the last three years
was contributing factor. Their ar
rival in an already congested district
made expansion necessary. Steadily
five miles through the heart of the
densely populated south side of Chi
cago, bulged out into what a few
years ago was choice residential dis
trict. This continuous encroachment
aroused protests and bitter feeling.
The advance guard of the colored
race which moved into white neigh
borhoods was the better class of ne
gro families, who sought to escape
the steady encroachment Of the unde-
sirable element of their own race.
They had no desire to antagonize
their white neighbors. Their relations
had always been friendly. But they
were between two fires. Pressing al
ways behind them was the influx Of q
iawless element of their own race.
Few OF the newcomers brought negro
women with them, and some Chicago
observers hold the absence of home
life among them partly accountable
for the present trouble.
Political Power.
The second ward in Chicago is the
heart of the Black Belt. Eighty per
cent of the voters in this ward are
black. White men represented this
ward in the city council until 1915,
but now both aldermen are negroes.
Two men control most of the negro
vote in Chicago. They are Congress-
man Martin b. Madden of the First
Illinois Distrist and George f. Hard
ing, former alderman, later state SEN
ator, and now city controller.
1t was the balance of power held by
the negroes and swung by Harding
that gave William Hale Thompson.
more widely known as pro-German
than for his kindnesses to negroes,
the nomination for mayor of Chicago
in the spring of 1915. Harding had
represented the second ward in Chi
cago for several years. He retired
and permitted Oscar De Priest, ne
gro, to be elected In return for this
favor the negroes swept the mayor
atty nomination into Thompson's lap.
Thompson won the nomination by a
margin of few hundred votes.
De Priest became one Of the chief
floor leaders in the city council for
the Thompson administration. His
public career was cut short by his in
dictment in connection with the al
legged collection of tribute in the
Black Belt. but he was later acquit-
ted. Another negro succeeded him.
Then the second ward negroes grew
bolder, demanded both seats in the
city council, and got them.
In his campaign for the nomination
and election in 1915 Thompson ca.
tered to the negro voters. After his
election he rewarded many of their
leaders with jobs.
SO openly did the Thompson crowd
treat with the negroes that somebody
dubbed the city hall "UncIe Tom S
Cabin One man caused handbills to
be pr !, setting forth a complete
cast -. characters, which included
Mayor Thompson and other city hall
jobholders, white and black. 1t got a
big laugh, which is Chicago's usual
gcod-natured way of disposing of her
problems.
Thompson had been mayor only a
short time when evidence was appar-
ent that there was no lid so far as the
Black Belt was concerned. From other
sections of the city white men and
women Of the old underworld, who
had experienced some long, lean
years. fiocked to the neighborhood.
White men bought saloons and cal
rets. and pushed negroes to the front
as their ostensible owners. Soon the
Black Belt became known as the dis
trict where everything went"
All-night cabarets were jammed
with whites and blacks until the
morning sun streaked the sky over
Lake Michigan. In other parts of the