The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-20
REPUBLICANS OF
 CARPET BAG |LK
 ANTICIPATE FEAST
Harding's Hint for Black and Tan Commission Gives Me- gro Lovers In Congress
 Chance to Ply Trade
By HUGH W. ROBERTS Washington Bureau The Age-HeraId
 800 Davidson Building

By HUGH W. ROBERTS
 Washington Bureau The Age-HeraId 800 Davidson Building
 Washington, April 1S.-(Special.) When President Harding, in his mes sage to Congress, advocated the ap- pOintment of black and tan commis- sion to study the subject of lynching, it was a mooted question as to whether he was entirely serious. This doubt has been partially eliminated.
 When Representative Dayton of Delaware republican. immediately following the statement of the Presi- dent, introduced bill putting the | general idea into effect, it was not regarded as probable that he was act | ing in response to a personal sugges- | ton of the President. But since Sena- | tor Medill Mccormick of Illinois fol- I lowed suit, that action was regarded as something more than an indicating straw in the wind. For Mccormick is | thought to stand very high in the fa- l vor of the President.
 | If the President is actually in favor of such a measure, nothing earthly can prevent it's passage. The Congress is not only overwhelmingly republi- can, but it also is overwhelmingly re- sponsive to the executive hint. It is very doubtful that Woodrow Wilson had B greater hold on Congress dur ing his first administration than Hard | ing has today.
 CREATES NEW JOB
 The Mccormick bill is more liberal | bill than that of the Delaware rep l resentative. It provides for the ap-
 pointment of commission of five men, only one of whom, he to serve as secretary, will receive a salary, the amount being $5,000 per annum. It is provided that the work shall be com
 pleted in 1922. Nothing is said re- gardng the completion of the person mel of the commission.
 The Layton message also pro- | vides for a commission of five i members, three of whom are to be l negroes, and each of whom is to draw $5,OOO per annum during the | existence of the commission. If the | commission Is formed in accord ance with the Layton idea, and two
 
 ! serve with three negroes, it, of course, will be dominated by ne- | grOes who will control the majOri- | ty voting strength.
 | In addition to lynching, the com | mission, under the terms of the Lay | ton bill, would study economies and credits as applied to the negro popu- lation of the country, and would in- | terest itself in the elimination of bol- 1-l,a T sA1. II. negro mentality has not been able, up to the present time, to grasp. DISMAL OUTLOOK Democrats in Congress, while know | ing that the President, like all other good citizens of the United States, de- | plores lynchings and the crimes which l cause lynchings, and would eliminate the practice were he able. do not en- | tertain for a moment the idea that he would voluntarily sponsor any enter prise capable of working the mischief ] that the proposed black and tan"
 commission would work. And yet, in 1 their opinion, he has inadvertently
 given that element in Congress which
 would go any limit to berate the south, a fine opportunity to ply their
 trade There is no question, but that such an element is in existence. | For Representative Madden of H.
 linois, who represents the Hinky Dink
 district of Chicago, and is dependent l for reelection on a citizenship the majority of which is colored, is again attempting to tickle his constituency | by the introduction of ti-southern
 measures. His bill which would pre- l vent railroads engaged in interstate
 commerce from offering separate ac- | comm odation for the whites and blacks, has already been referred to in ethis correspondence.
 THE DYER PLAN | Representative Dyer of Missouri has
 measure which would make a man
 found guilty of having participated in. I a mob subject to the moose of hang man, and which would deprive state | courts of Jurisdiction in mob cases. | And there are other men with like ideas, ard there are other bills of the same general character.
 Regarding the Presidents sugges- ton of a commission to study lynch ing, democrats readily express them selves, Representative Crisp of Geor- | gia, declares the suggestion silly" | Senator Heflin of Alabama, declaring | that the states can satisfactorily ad- | minister their criminal statutes, sug- | gests that the only method of elimi- hating lynching, is found in the elimi- nation of the 'unspeakable crime
 which causes it.''
 | And this difference of opinion be- l tween all democrats and certain re-
 publicans may precipitate one of the
 interesting struggles of the regular | session of Congress