Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-21
COLONEL A. R. LAYTON NAMED
TO HEAD GEORGIA ALUMNI
Address on Race Problem IS
Feature of "Alumni Day.
at University-BuiIding Is
Dedicated

ATHENS, Ga, June 19.-An adj
dress by Colonel A. II. Lawton, OF
Savannah, on the negro problem in
the south, announcement that Col
onel Lawton had been elected presl-
dent OF the association by its mem
bers who have been voting by mail
on TIE officers for the past two
months, a luncheon on Agricultural
College hill, at which time the ami
NAL husbandry building named for
SDr. Len G. Hardman was dedicat-
ed, and round of gaieties, featured
Alumni day. at the University
Of Georgia commencement Monday.
Davis Freeman, also of Savannah,
was named first vice president; II.
H. Gordon, Jr., Athens. second vice
president; Frank d. Foley, Column
bus. third vice president; DIR. Syl-
vanus Morris, Athens, secretary; w.
20. Payne, Athens, treasurer, and
DR.. Benjamin Vow. Lavonia, and
Wallace Miller, Columbus, tied for
one Of the places on the board of
managers. The tie will be settled by
the meeting of the alumni.
Colonel Lawton, who is vice presi-
dent of the Central of Georgia rail-
road, has just completed an exhaus-
tive survey of the negro question
and his address treated the subject
from every angle. He took occasion
to praise the work being done by
the Georgia Inter-racial council.
Among other things in his address
Colonel Lawton said:
DO you realize what a hard fate
it is 10 be a negro? Put yourself
in his place and imagine that
through no fault of yours, but mere
ly because your skin is black. you
are expected to go through life do
ing your share as a man, a citizen,
for yourself, your family, your COM
munity, your state and your coun-
try, with handicaps and restrictions
such as these: You are and may
not serve as a juror: You may not
be a clerk. You may work as a
porter or waiter on a sleeping car,
but never as a conductor or a stew
ard. You may. work with white men
as a skilled laborer at trades and
vocatiOns, but, however well you
may work, you have no hope of pro-
from many trades and crafts. You
are barred from he~principal labor
unions. You may be q locomotive
fireman but never an engineer.
Whatever your ability to pay, what
ever your dress, your habits, your
demeanors, you may never use the
best facilities provided for public en-
tertainment. These and many other
handicaps must be your lot and the
lot Of your children and your chill
dren's children from the cradle to
the grave. Imagine yourself so sit
uated, would you be content to &C.
cept it without question? Would
you cheerfully agree with those who
believe that it must ever be?
Problem Studied
He then called attention to the
one way in which in Georgia the
problem is seriously, earnestly be-
ing studied, through the offices of
the Commission on Inter Racial
Co. operation"-as in fourteen other
states of the union. He cited the
head of the Georgia organizations,
DR.. M. Ashby Jones, as a guarantee
of the safety of our most sacred
traditions" He told of the work
this commission is doing in each
Georgia county except where the
negro is not present in numbers.
The support and the cooperation of
all thinking citizens he solicited as
| the one way open to study the
question in Georgia and go as far
| in it's solution. He took occasion
to speak of some Of the obstacles
to this sane manner of going about
the business of effecting co-opera-
ton and understanding and SYM
pathetic work of the races, naming
the Association for the Advance
gan. The Crisis" with some other
leaders Of the negro press whose
! influence makes cooperation more
difficult He scored the Chicago
| Defender" as another conspicuous
exception to the rule of preaching
good will and cooperation as voiced
by many of the sane and earnest
negroes. He scored as another OBJ
stacle the office-seeker who panders
to base instincts of race prejudice
to further his own ends. He paid
his respects, too, to the K. K. X,
which denying hostility to the ne
gro, presents a serious obstacle to
those who are trying to bring about
better relations between the races.
The Dyer Bill
Speaking of the migration of the
negro he pointed out that frequent
ly the negro is not accorded fair
treatment by some white men in
business and sometimes does not
get justice in the courts. He ar
raigned lynch law in a powerful,
effective manner. but declared that
"ynching is not sectional crime
He pointed the. way to oppose the
Dyer bills passage and enforce
ment is to AROUSE an enlightened
public sentiment which will compel
such universal and impartial and
fearless administration of the law
and protection of the individual as
to make federal intervention clear
ly unnecessary and ineXcusable."
81 appeal to each of you for &C
tive aid in urging upon your COM
munity and your state fair and i'm
partial consideration Of this har-
assing problem; for study of it in
the light of today and not exclu-
sively in the light of tradition; fof
encoura cement and participation in
the work of the inter-racial COM
mission; and for a firm determine
ton as men and women on whom
the higher duty rests that no I'M
fair advantage >shall be taken of
our power, and that the negro shall
always receive that justice and fair
treatment which is his due, and
which we cannot withhold if we