St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1936-06-05
THIS WORLD
By Cecil E. Newman

Life feels much better.
Six months in ST.. Louis made US
appreciate the old Twin Cities
more. Not that we didn't like the
Missouri metropolis-we did. The
100000 Negroes forming 1850 of
the city's population are it's most
colorful and picturesque racial
group. There you see brothers
and sisters of Ham everywhere.
The men are handsome; the women
are beautiful with all shades of
complexion from blonde to deepest
ebony. There are some bad look
ing folks, but they seem few be-
cause st. Louis abounds in beauty
parlors and barber shops. st. Louis
women are chic, up to the minute in
style; the men dress well. st. Louis
has more Negro undertakers than
any other city of it's size. It seems
that in almost every block there is
a mortuary establishment.
Sunday funerals still are in
vogue. Only the highest lodge
dignitaries, however, are given the
large funerals with the military
bands of my Missouri childhood
days. The lodges turn out but
somehow the newer generations do
not take so readily to the mummery
and brass trimmings of lodges and
their parades.
St. Louis is by far the most in
teresting and contradictory Ameri-
can city in which I have resided
for any length of time. A large
professional class of doctors and
lawyers; a semi-professional group
of school teachers (some who earn
$500 per monthly plus growing
group of business men present a
picture of affluence and prosperity.
On the other hand, thousands of
folks are very poor. The $50 or
more churches exert a large in
fuence in the city. The usual col
lection of denominations are pres
ent. There are Negro Catholics in
large numbers. The Episcopalians
are numerous, but the M. Els,
A. M. E. lions, the Baptists and
the A. M. ELS are more so. Amidst
the seeming prosperity of the So
called upper classes, the observer
will see much abject poverty.
/ Thousands of st. Louis relief
clients were summarily removed
from relief rolls two months ago.
Since that time the hundreds of
whites and Negroes have banded
together in mass demonstrations to
force the powers that be to replace
the majority of those removed from
the rolls.
Parades and picket lines are
staged daily in front of various re-
lief offices. What rifles the SEN
sibilities of the middle class whites
who happen to have jobs is the fact
that these mass demonstrations
(familiar leftist phrase) of whites
and blacks are often led by
Negroes.
For several months these demon
strations have been going on. The
Negro press of the city (there are
four newspapers) have remained
strangely silent concerning the in
terracial movement of persons at
the bottom of the heap while play
ing up the slight interracial con-
facts of the "better classes" The
editorial and news policies of the
large Negro journals Of st. Louis
are guided largely by the advertis-
ers' wishes.
Nothing must be said to offend
the sensibilities of the advertiser.
In defense of the publishers it may
be said that payrolls cannot be met
on racial patriotism alone and
there is a long trail of forgotten
Negro journalists who labored for
an ungrateful - no unthinking,
Negro, without the reward of sup
mort.