The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1920-12-29
.SOUTHERNERS
DENY CHARGES
Exciting Scenes at Committee
Hearing on Congressional
Reapportionment Bill.
ELECTION RIOTS REVIEWED
Witness Charges Ku Klux Klan
Intimidated Negro Voters
in Jacksonville.

@A v0ShoOAN1AC.
Washington, Dec. 29.-Charges by
representatives of the Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
tnat negroes are unlawfully prevented
from voting in the south led to some-
what exciting scenes today at the
nearing by the house census COM
mittee on the congressional reappor-
tionment bill.
Southern members of the commit
tee took issue with the witnesses. and
one OF them, Representative Bee.
democrat, of Texas, declared he was
tired" of states being ''insulted" on
the strength of hearsay evidence.
one or the spectators insisted on get
ting into the discussion, and Chair
man Siegel finally told him that IL he
aid not sit down he would have, to
Declaring that there was nothing
In the laws of the southern states dis
terminating agaiRst negro voters rep
resentatives from those states sug-
gested that the spokesmen Of the as
sociation take their compile It's of al
legged discrimination against negroes
70 the courts rather than to congress-
N Walter II. White. assistant secre-
tary' OF the association, presented
what he said was affidavits from cal
negroes in Jacksonville, Fla, who al
legged they were deprived of the right
10 vote in the November elections
We also said affidavits were being
sfa&thered from 1000 other negroes OF
that city who stood in line all day
election day without getting to vote,
although all were qualified.
jacksonville Affair
On the Saturday night preceding
the election, he charged. 1000 men,
bers of the .Ku-Klux Klan paraded
the streets of Jacksonville in an ef-
fort to frighten the negroes into keep
Ing away from the polls.
He also alleged that negro killed
in an election riot in Orange county,
Florida, was a qualified voter.
The allegations as to the Jackson
willie occurrence had been turned over
TO the department of justice, he said.
In the jacksonville cases, he said,
every possible" attempt was made
by the election officials to keep the
negroes from voting. He also told
the committee certain information
had been given him by the son OF
man who was member of the cnbi-
net of Gen. Grant, who, he added. told
him his life would be endangered If
his name became known.
why didn't you investigate. and see
If any white people were not allowed
to yote?" asked Representative Lar
sen, democrat, Georgia.
y The Witness said a letter signed by
the grand master Of the Ku Klux
Khan" OF Florida had been sent to a
voter in an attempt to intimidate him.
William Pickens, O negro, of New
York, field secretary of the associa-
tiop, said he was in Columbia. S. c.,
and found that negro women were be-
ing Disseminated against in the mat
ter of registration. Thirty-two of
them, he said. had sworn out war
rants against the registration officials
for such discrimination. Some, he
said, stood in line from am. to s
pm. and were rot able to get regis
tered. Teachers, he said were denied
the right of registration under the
educational clause of the state con-
stitution.
The election laws Of South Caro-
lima and other southern states. he
snid, were made to "squarep with the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth amend
ments of the federal Constitution, but
they were administered so as to keep
negroes from voting. Pickens said he
was a native Of South Carolina.
Admitted Il "Hearsay."
do you know any white people who
were refused the right to register In
South Carolina?'' asked Representative
Larsen. The witness replied he didn't
know" but said one white man had
been denied the right in Virginia be-
\ cause he was republican. Pressed
y for the name OF the man and the place.
NM finally admitted it was 'hearsay"
t-evidence.
Representative Milligan, democrat. of
Missouri. asked the witness II he had
seen any letter circulated In South Car
DINA relative to negro women voting.
He replied he had seen one written by
the president of a Greensboro college,
but denied knowledge Of any such let
ter being circulated by the Association
for the Advancement of Coiored People.
''Do you know anything about the ne
gro women crowding around the polls
IN Missouri on election day and keeping
the white women from voting?" Rep
resentative Mulligan continued. The
witness replied he didn't know"
tiega, Ala, in 1915 while teaching school
after the registration officials had seen
a white Judge who knew him. The Off
! cials. he said. told him they registered
! what negroes they wanted and that 1t
was not necessary for him to "go out
from here and blow about it"
1855 In One Georgia Town.
Answering the charges against Geor-
gia, Representative Larson said in his
home town 1866 negroes were regis
tered Pickens said he did not know
how many negroes voted In Georgia in
the last election, but contended they
were Disseminated against there.
Replying to a question from Repre-
sentative Brinson. democrat. of North
Carolina, the witness said conditions in
that state were better" than In many
of the other southern states.
Representative Aswell., democrat, of
Louisiana, said no southern states had
laws discriminating against negroes
and that all were given equal oppor-
tunity with other citizens OF voting
when they complied with the require
ments.
George Murray. an attorney OF Wash
ington, asked the committee to have
federal supervision of elections by ex-
tension OF the Gary act.
More representatives Of the Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Colored
People will be heard when the commit
"a. hearings tOnDrrONy