The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-25
By PAUL HARRISON

Dy GAOA AA1AAAhkADoN New York-Pistol shots punctu- ated the jungle rhythms of Harlem
 jazz bands the other night. Flames cast wildly dancing shadows among the Lindy hoppers, in the hot spots. Up and down Lenox and Seventh Avenues the roar of mobs changed Harlem's song of hi-de-ho into an ominous systeria. When the crisis had passed, and a hundred ambulances had clang~ ed away with white and black men shot and stabbed and stoned, red sun rose over the black belt and revealed the other side of the pic
 ture that thrill-seeKing, pleasure bent white folks see.
 Thte red sun looked down or
 the hungariest. unhealthiest, most depression-ridden section of New York City. Daylight dispels all glamor of the region, although
 outwardly it seems still an Eden compared to the filthy squalor of the lower east side. Yet concealed behind those rows of old brown stones-relics of day of fine homes, famous casinos, race tracks and beer gardens-reign misery and despair and, now and then, desperation.
 Few Good Incomes.
 Harlem usually looks happy enough at night. Almost affluent, with Seventh Avenue a tree-lined boulevard, many a man and his gal in bright clothes, many shiny
 automobile parked at the curbs. There's laughter and music Ill Harlem, but the gaiety of hundreds is the mask of hundreds of thou- sands.
 The Urban League, q welfart organization, estimates that of the 250,000 Negroes in Harlem, only 12,500 are employed. The figure
 would be doubted, though, by any ono who had prowled the region
 on an yearly morning, watching the throngs of workers enter the
 downtown subwayS. {. Of course there are relatively few who live in developments such
 us the Paul Lawrence Dunbar d.
 partments. a Rockefeller develop
 ment, and go to secretarial or pro-
 fessional jobs each day. A race
 proud and scholarly Negro OHar-
 ward. 190S), once told me he knew
 of no more than dozen Harlem ties with incomes of $5,000 a year.
 Legitimate incomes. he meant, ad-
 hitting there are scores of com-
 paratiyely wealthy gamblers and
 racketeers.
 CrOwding Up.
 But 1t is true that most of liar lem is jobless. and that much of
 it's lawlessness Is due to its pow
 erty. The rent situation has driv-
 en four and five families to live
 together in apartments of as many
 rooms, and has resulted in even
 less conventional arrangements be-
 tween groups of girls and men. When rent can't be met with wag-
 es, there's always the expedient of the trent party"
 Stroll through the black belt by day and you'll see swarms of un- attended youngster, most of them
 wearing keys on strings around their necks. These are the "latch- key children" put on the streets
 early each morning by their work ing mothers, collected again at
 night. If child becomes i'll. or is injured. some stranger may take
 it to its home and put 1t to bed : 6CthUN5 1b0GhACs
 Although its face is of varying. degrees of darkness, Harlem is one of the most cosmopolitan sections of Manhattan. In neighboring quar- ters live Negroes representing many parts of the world--black Mohammedans. blacks who speak only French. Portuguese or Span ish. American Negroes dislike ali the foreigners particularly those from the West Indies. There have been numerous all-Negro race riots in the district. ae West Indians seem to be the chief trouble makers in Harlem. They comprise a majority of the radical agitators, such as those who precipitated the recent riots. They are leaders in movements to patronize only the stores which employ Negroes. They are the soap box speakers who point out that, white men own most of the Har- lem tenements and stores, operate most of the larger night clubs and saloons, control the best Negro orchestas and conduct the major rackets especially the lucrative numbers game.
 And that's the other side of the usual picture of hi-de-ho Harlem. 1t looks pretty black.