St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1934-08-31
HERE and
THERE
By W. M. Smith

l was sitting alone in the office
one evening last week, when the
door was suddenly pushed open; an
unkempt youth (white) entered
without ceremony and asked, "Say,
Mister, can you let fellow have a
dime for a cup of coffee?"
The City Mission, community
fund supported organization, makes
it unnecessary for any man to beg
for a cup of coffee, or a full meal
for that matter. / didn't give the
dime. Yet, many and many time
l have broken the community fund
injunction not to give money in
this way. 1 had just been reading
Ed. HOwe's comments on begging
Gin his "Howe About" column pub
lished in this paper), and I was
feeling somewhat vexed, because
n tie six inches Howe used in his
comment half of it had been de-
voted to the glaring faults of poor
underpaid Florida Negroes who
annoyed him by begging. And,
naturally, 1 did not give that white
beggar a dime.
Begging is just as bad in Min
nesota as in Florida. In either
place it is equally disagreeable,
be the beggar black or white.
I was not perturbed because Mr..
Howe was annoyed by black beg
gars, but 1 was provoked that he
should make it appear that all Ne
groes were beggars. 1 would BE-
equally justified in thinking that
all white people were beggars be
cause of the times without NAM
Der one of them has asked me fol
hand out.
Mr.. Howe might have remem-
bered, too, that Florida and the en-
tire south supports the attempt tc
make beggars of the whole Negro
group. Even the NRA has no.
been able to keep it from the diff
ferential wage scale favoring
whites, and the appOrtionment for
Negro education is SO evidently I'M
fair it should scar the conscience
Of the nation.
Workers, black and white, must
have equal and, living wages for
the same type of work; Negroes
must be permitted the opportunity
to do any and all kinds of work for
which they are prepared, just as
they were forced to do before tn
war. Education must be made
equally available to all group
without regard for the amount OF
direct taxes any group pays.
When this is done there will b
10 more begging Negroes. Unit
It is done it will be demanded by
Negroes called radical" because
like Lincoln, they believe, nothing
is settled, until it is settled right.
People have their own reasons
for coming late to church, or to
public entertainments of one kin
or another. Without knowing thes
reasons one can not quarrel witt
the habit. But folks who do COM
or time have their rights; anon
them, not to be disturbed by thos~
who choose to come late. There
fore abate the nuisance of the fel
low who comes in walking on the
fiat of his feet like an elephant
on parade and making as muct
fuss, drawing all eyes his way, in
terrupting the speaker or the must
or what not, instead of walking o.
his toes, softly, making his late
entry as unobtrusive as possible.
Comment has frequently beer
made of the folly of small commun-
ties like those of Minneapolis an
st. Paul giving so many programs
on the same day or evening. They
must count upon the support of
the same group of people for their
success, yet make it impossible be-
caNse the same people can't be If
two places at once. A case il
point comes to mind in the excel
lent programs given in Mime
apolis last Sunday. One Of these
programs was attended by moro
than 800 persons most of whom. /
am sure, would have gladly
gone to the other two had it been
physically possible.
A remedy for some of this
would appear to lie with the Twin
City Ministers Alliance which