St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1939-11-24

uIC" Il1AAloCA1 SAOCCs AOO4
the best Judge in the city of New
York" His success in his three
years on various city magistrate
benches has resulted from his fair
and humanitarian decisions.
Magistrate Paige was born Al
years ago in a squaid little shack
on the outskirts of Montgomery,
Ala. His father died when Myles
was two, leaving a wife and six
children. Mrs. Paige had cow
and garden, and young Myles de-
livered vegetables and milk in
Montgomery. When he was seven
his mother got job as a matron
at st. Joseph's, a small Catholic
college. Myles became interested
in the religion and became Cath
Ollie when he was Ia, but his mother
didn't embrace the faith until a few
years ago.
A year later the boy who is now
making $4,000 year got a $5-a-
week job as elevator boy in Mont
gomery's biggest department store.
He became a salesman, the only
Negro in such a position in the
store, and saved his money. He
went to Howard university, made
a fine scholastic record, and was a
star end on the grid team.
Worked as Pullman Porter
Realizing that opportunity for a
Negro was in the North, he enrolled
at Columbia to study law. Through
the cooperation of the N. Y. Cen
trail and Columbia officials he man.
aged to get through school, making
his expenses as a Pullman porter.
In 1924 he got his law degree and
in. the following year received his
masters degree in law and was adj
mitted to the bar.
The same year he got an appoint
ment to the attorney generals Of
fee in New York. In 1886 Mayor
LaGuardia recognized his abilities
and made him a city magistrate.
Now the poor Negro boy from
Montgomery is a highly-respected,
well-paid man, with a fine home in
Harlem. He is married and has
two children. He attends the
Church of the Resurrection, belongs
to many Catholic and inter-racial
organizations, and was once active
on the Catholic Worker.
Myles Paige is the kind of man
you naturally want to meet. So
you find out he's sitting for week
on the bench at the West Side night
court in a tough section and you go
up there. You climb some creak-
ing stairs, ask for Judge Paige, and
find that he will see you, but only
for a few minutes, because he is
due on the bench.
So you go in, A tall, handsome
Negro motions you to seat. He's
glad to see you. You ask him
about his work and he starts telling
you with that soft drawl you could
listen to all night. He tells you
about his life-then he tells you
about Harlem.
"We've got a serious problem uT
there as in all underprivileged sec.
tions," he says, mot only there but
all over the world. Basically, it's
economic. That, perhaps, can be
overcome. But more than anything
else we need the support OF the
newspapers. Harlem has beer
libeled by the press as well as BY
Individuals don't believe inten'
tionally by the papers, however
But wish the press could realize
the harm it's doing to the majority
of my race when it puts Negro
into the headlines of a crime story
The papers don't seem to recognize
that a more heinous crime may
have been committed by an Irish
man, a Jew, or an Italian. They
don't mention his race"
Church Must Aid Negro
When you ask him about the fu
ture of Catholicism among Ne
groes, he says: "The Church mus
take a more active program. 1
must treat the Negro the same a
every other man. In the past tn
Church has been driving them ava!
by it's neglect. In our own arch
diocese we've been too lax. But j
looks as if Archbishop Spellmal
has the right idea. He's alread!
taken many active steps in improv
ing the Church's position in Har
lem. He recognizes the problem