Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1940-02-16

erations. Bridling at this state
ment, Connally asked the secretary
whether the nay vote of Senator
Hale, of Maine in 1888, could be
said to have been dishonest in mo-
tive. Whites reply to this was
that the Senate did not vote on
the bill in 1888, because filibuster
prevented vote, despite the fact
that a majority of the senators
wanted to vote on the bill.
Both of the major parties in the
United States were eager for the
Negro VOTE" he said, "the Repub-
licans trying frantically to win
back this vote, and the Democrats
exerting every effort to hold this
vote"
Challenged by Connally on the
question of the N. A. A. c. P.'s in
terest in gang killings, the AssO-
cations secretary replied that the
organization was not attempting to
have a bill passed which would COW
er the whole gamut of crime in the
United States. Questioned specifi-
cally about gang killings in New
York City, Mr.. White contrasted
the activity of police agencies in
tracking down gangster killers
with the apathy with which police
agencies have treated the culprits
responsible for lynchings.
During 1899 in New York City,"
he said, "the police department re-
ported 291 homicides but pointed
out there were 248 arrests, AZ con-
victions, and 1872 persons still I'M
der indictment awaiting trial" He
set this picture over against the
500 to 1000 persons who took part
in eleven lynchings between 1887
and the end of 1889, with only one
arrest and not a single conviction
of the perpetrators of these crimes.
Hitler and Lynching
Arthur B. Spingarn, recently
elected president of the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, in a prepared
statement, quoted directly from
Adolph Hitler's newspaper, the
"Volkischer Beobachter," of Janu-
airy %, 1889, which chides the
United States vaunted display of
democracy with a report of the
1888 anti-lynching filibuster in the
Senate. An excerpt from this
paper regarded as Hitler's personal
mouthpiece, reads as follows:
For weeks, three old gentlemen
fought in the American Senate
against the anti-lynching bill,
which includes that policemen who
let people snatch their prisoners
away, should be punished. They
go at their fight, their obstruction,
with all parliamentary means.
Zone Senator threatened to talk
for weeks. Others lectured about
the genesis of the human being
and quoted for hours scientific and
entertaining books. And then
again the old gentlemen behaved
like silly babies. They shout and
yell and push and whistle"
Connally received a retort from
the N. A. A. C. P. president that
brought applause from the audi
ence, when he asked Mr.. Spingarn
whether he knew personally these
things about which he was testify
ing. The witness responded:
"The Senator states that he is
a native of Texas. But the Sena-
tor, of course, could not state this
of his own knowledge that he is a
native of Texas. He knew this
simply because his parents told
him."
Testifying on the law involved
in the passage of a federal anti
lynching bill, Dean William H.
HASTE, of the Howard university
law school, was responsible for
keeping Senator Connally abso-
lutely quiet, while he read a pre-
pared statement. When Dean
HASTE had finished, Connally did
not ask a single question. The
Senator from Texas attempted to
be unconcerned about the legal
aspects of lynching, by ostenta-
tiously reckoning to two friends
in the audience, inviting them to
come to the rostrum, and then en-
gaging them in conversation,
throughout Dean Hastie's testi-