Minneapolis spokesman., 1939-01-06
White Fireman
Gets Place At
Station No. 9
ACTION ENDS SEPARATE
NEGRO COMPANY AND
SEGREGATION

been appointed recently to Fire
Station No. 9, Marion and Ed
mund Streets, partial victory has
been won by citizens interested in
maintaining the place, according to
Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., Execu-
tive Secretary of the st. Paul Ur-
ban League.
The primary objective of the
Citizens Committee which ap-
preached the Commissioner of
Safety and the Fire Chief, recently,
was to see that the jobs of the men
already at work at the station were
safeguarded by keeping the staff
up to the regular number of per-
sons required to operate the sta
tion.
Committee Sought Negro Fireman
Also, the committee sought to
have Negro fireman appointed to
the staff and one of the present
men elevated to the captaincy to
fill the post vacated by the death
of Captain VIM. F. Davenport.
Those present at the meeting were
Samuel L. Ransom, the Rev. Gerald
L. Hayden, Miss 1. Myrtle Garden,
W. S. Butler, John M. Patton,
Cecil Newman and Mr.. Mitchell, Jr.
Chief William ]. Sudeith, in re-
sponse to questioning at that time,
stated that the vacancy would be
held until colored eligible, on the
list, could be reached for appoint
ment to this position. G. H. Bar
fuss, Commissioner of Safety, in
his turn stated that he did not see
any legal way in which a colored
elegible on the Police list, from
which Fire Department appoint
ments are now being made, could
be appointed to the post of fire
man at the station.
The Commissioner expressed the
view that under Civil Service Rules
persons ahead of the colored eligi-
BILE could not waive in his favor eK-
cept that they lose their status by
so doing.
Corporation Counsel Tries To Help
Through the Corporation Coun-
sci, the Committee established the
ruling that since the men were be-
ing selected from the Police list
for service in the Fire Department,
the regulations cited by the Com
missioner would not affect them.
White Captain Appointed
This ruling paved the way for
the appointment of the colored
eligible but then the Department
indicated that the whites ahead of
the eligible would not waive in his
favor and were willing to go to
the station manned by the colored
firemen. Instead of appointing
white fireman from the Police list,
however, the Department filled the
vacant captaincy with Harry Scott,
white, who was top man on the
recently established list of per-
sons eligible for captaincies in the
Fire Department.
Men Gain Advantage
This week Mr.. Mitchell expressed
the opinion that while it is regret
table that the existing vacancy
could not be filled by promoting
one of the colored firemen and
adding an additional man for ordi-
nary service, still the men at the
station have gained some ad-
vantage from the move.
He pointed out that prior to the
Committees interest in the station
men who were entitled to days off
could not get them because of the
staff shortage. He also indicated
that it became necessary for the
Fire Department to close the sta
ton for one shift in order to ease
the work pressure on the men. 1t
is his opinion that if the station
had continued to operate on this
plan of one shift activity it would
have eventually been proved to be
unnecessary as part OF the fire
force of the city.
Negro Eligibles Suffered Before
His argument is that in previous
years this station was regarded as
the one place to which colored fire
men could be sent. There have
been times, he said, when men
eligible for captaincies did not get
them simply because it was not
the custom to mix the races in the
Fire Department. He quoted the
following statement from Commis-
sioner Barfuss as a reason for be-
lieving that the principle Of fol-
lowing Civil Service lists in regu-
lar order has now been established:
"I very much regret that we
were unable to reach the Negro
eligible by having those ahead OF