Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-09-23
Racial Commission
RenOrts Findings


patience between the white and negro
races, a remedy that necessarily is
slow and which can come completely
only after the disappearance of pref
udce, are recommended in the report
Of the commission on racial relations,
appointed by former Gov. Frank 0.
Lowden soon after the Chicago race
riot in July, 1919.
Chosen to study means of prevent
ing future clashes between the two
races more than three years ago and
to promote means of better under
standing, the commission made fifty
nine recommendations, among them
the following:
That police and militia work out a
control of race riots: that police and
deputy sheriffs and militia be so
distributed as adequately to protect
both races in white and negro neigh
borhoods.
Negroes are more commonly ar
rested, subject to police identification
and convicted than white offenders.
vi NloCliIC tllCS 6CACldii
are held and convicted on more seri-
Gus charges and given longer SEN
fences We point out that these
practices and tendencies are not only
unfair to negroes but weaken the
machinery of justice and produce
misleading statistics Of negro crime
I'VE recommend that police pay
VT oft 20 noI &C. !,
letic clubs" on the South Side which
we have found to be fruitful source
of race conflict and that when race
conflict arises or is imminent, the
members and meeting places of such
clubs be searched for arms and that,
if deemed necessary, such clubs be
closed" The commission declared
such clubs were a contributing fac
tor to the race riot of July, 1919.
I'VE recommend that the most
stringent means possible be applied
to control the importation. sale and
possession of firearms and other
deadly weapons.
1--WE recommend that the authori-
ties exercise their powers to condemn
and raze all houses unfit for human
habitation, enforce health and SAM
tary laws and regulations in the care
and upkeep of streets and alleys and
the collection of rubbish and gar
tage in areas Of negro residence.
where the commission has found
these matters to be shamefully ne
elected
I'VE recommend that In the areas
where the main part of the negro
population lives. school buildings,
equipment and teaching forces be
provided which shall be at least equal
to the average standard for the city,
that night schools and community
centers be established in sections not
now adequately provided with such
facilities and that truant officers give
attention to school attendance by the
children of negro families migrating
from the south.
There must be more and better
housing to accommodate the great
increase in negro population which
was at the rate of 14S per cent from
1910 to 1920. This situation will be
made worse by methods tending to-
ward forcible segregation of exclu-
sion of negroes"
The commission in its report de-
clared the members were convinced
that the moral responsibility for
race riOting does not rest upon hood
lums alone, but also upon all citizens.
white or negro, who sanction force
or violence in inter racial relations
or who do not condemn and combat
the spirit of racial hatred thus ex-
pressed
The commission membership, COM
posed of six white and six negro
members. was as follows: Edgar A.
Bancroft. William Scott Bond. Ed
ward Osgood Brown, Harry Eugene
Kelly. Victor F. Lawson, julius
Rosenwald, representing the white
people; Robert S. Abbott, George
Cleveland Hall. George H. Jackson,
Edward H. Morris, Adelbert H. Rob-
erts, Lacey Kirk Williams, represent.
ing the negro people. DR.. Francis w.
Shepardson for a time acted as chair
man and later was appointed vice
chairman.
Centuries OF the negro slave trade
and of slavery as an institution have
created, and are often deemed to
justify, the deep-s seated prejudice