Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-02-03
RACIAL AM|TY AIM
Of WORKERS HERE.
.,s Edmund Stirling Says Feel
ing at Present Is Tensest
in Sixty Years
FAULT NOT ONE OF COLOR

The inter racial feehhg nus NV u'e"
. ,,rso IN the United States for sixty
r,,rs as It Is now, nor has there ocen
III '". ,oed for inter racial understand
lug srob "a the belief Of Mrs. Edmund
ssrlips, OF 4517 Kingsessins avenue
srd a group of white and Negro men
a.S vomen thinkers who make up the
anu "nc;al Committee Of Philadelphia.
in1s nsto committee is an offspring. OF the
III l1nIIrnching committee which was
anu snnS nj Tho yearly meeting Of Friends
Io'TSf TSfteenth and Race streets In ielo:
o. e. ;ts members took up the study OF
Wh;nr WnShu; IN the United States they
EnsrdtS Esd hat seventy out Of eighty persons
i,ooSod ,ouTSu w were Negroes and they felt
E.o.sory EnS. to make a thoroug n study OF
,ntor.racial relations.
'Tbe situation throughput the cSnn-
..v is ia exceedingly tense" said Mrs:
strIing. 1.-The economic nerve Oh tne
South has been touched by the mlgrat,,oh MI ,
81 Negroes from that section: Ihe euu
Gated southern, man sees tnis ana 10
."odv 10 meet the Negro halfway IN
rsJos Jas oooin to get his help in industry.
IIu,, oony places OF the South, cduca-
,orni III faciiities have been greatly i'm
ornvnd and welfare work or value mas
started among the, Negroes.
mOnr committee in Philadelphia is
,roIons for future confidence between
,Ss races here. There is need for the
Joccionmcnt Of such confidence. There
;s red Negro party, a really dan
rrrous anarchistic group. 1t IS not the
majority. but 1t forms movement that
ahnrId be held in check. It's members are
doSNnt. revcngeful. They complacently
lax forward to riots and trouble. 1t Is
This we wish to prevent.
Chance for Understanding
"Uc feel there Is a splendid chance
,o reoch An understanding between the
roces--to bring about working rela.
lions. and to make for the betterment
NJ conditions for the Negro. Our COM
mittee is only two months old. At our
iost meeting we discussed segregation.
prominent and educated Negroes on the
committee told us their people preferred
living to themselves, having their own
tociai life, their own churches, schools
and meeting places. But in most dis
tricts where Negroes are expected to
live. housing conditions are so bad that
no decent Negroes want to live there.
How can there be uplift; how Gun you
expect them to be clean and decent when
you give them filthy places to dwell !?
There are fifteen ccolored schools
IN Philadelphia. where there are hun
dreds of Negro children. Negro popula-
tIon here has increased almost four times
as much as the white population, ac-
cordipg to reports from Washington,
for the last ten years. This IS due,
statiSticians believe, to the tact that
Philadelphia needed Negro workers as
laborers more during the last few
years than ever before. Many of the
Negro residents are home owners-hcre
10 stay, and they fill m important place
in our industrial life. With the halt
Of foreign immigration the need for
Negro labor has increased.
"Illiteracy Is decreasing in the Negro
race by jumps. Last year there were
1872 Negro graduates from our higher
colleges. When Negroes were ernanci-
pated 9S percent we're illiterate. In
1910 this percentage had decreased to
30. | do not know more recent figures,
but undoubtedly these last few years
have meant even greater progress. Nir-
tually all the educated colored folk re-
turn to help educate their own people.
They want to raise the standards for
their race. They do not want to inter-
marry with the white race.
Color Not Chief Objection
$50 many are apt to judge the whole
Negro race by It's servant and criminal
class. That is as unfair as judging our
own people by the lower classes. If you
came in contact with Negro artists,
poets, talented men and women gradu
ates OF Harvard or other higher col
leges, I believe color would not make
50 much difference.
The inter racial committee Of Phila-
delphia is not organized with the idea
OF radically changing conditions here. 1t
is to develop confidence and understand
ing among its Negro and white members
hrst. We hope these feelings will later
spread from our members to others and
gradually include all the thinking peo-
pie OF both races. We meet to discuss
freely difficult points Of race contact.
Segregation, education, welfare work,
Industrial relations, social rClations-all
'neSc are subjects of intense Importance.
something Of today's situation is
summed up by Daniel A. Brooks, Of this
city. He says Negroes of Pennsyl
'anta are united In the beliefs that the
migration of thousands of rural Ne
Foes into this state may inspire hostile
ana .prejudicial sentiment which, if un-
checked, may develop Into reactionary,
nasty ill-judged action; that Pennsyl-
vsnia is reaping only small fraction
ct The benefit that could be derived from
Me advent of these thousands IL oppor-
tGnites for industrial and agricultural
euucatlon, adjustment and placement
were provided for those above compul-
sory school age, in form available to
snu assimlable by persons unsChoolcd
Dut With practical experience that sue
ossiul administering of educational ad-
Vahtgagcs to the Negroes Of the state
can be accomplished only when Negro
representatives, are called into consul
Mtion on all educational discussion and
gwen partial responsibility for decisions
OF educational policy"