Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-01-22

second vice president of the st. Paul |
Branch Of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People, a telegram Of protest
against the indefinite postpone
ment Of the hearing Of the railroads
before President RooseveIt's Fair
Employment Practice Committee
(FEPC), was sent to President
Roosevelt Tuesday night by the st.
Paul Branch Of the NAACP. The
text Of the telegram sent by the
order Of the regular monthly meet
ing Of the st. Paul Branch is as
follows:
"The st. Paul Branch Of the |
NAACP, in meeting assembled |
tonight in the Halle @. Brown |
Community House, passed a mo-
ton in protest Of the action tax
en- by Manpower Commissioner
Paul v. McNutt in the indefinite |
postponement of the FEPC hear
ing Of the management of the |
railroads in connection with their |
policies of the discrimination |
against Negro workers. We urge |
you in your capacity as President |
of the United States and author
of Executive Order 1902 to use
all the powers at your command
to see to it that both the letter
and the spirit of Executive Or
der 1902 are carried out"
Before the motion to send the |
telegram of protest was adopted,
Rev. Clarence T. r. Nelson, presi-
dent of the st. Paul Branch, told |
the group about the visit of a COM
mittee of fifty people from various |
cities, including himself and Mr..
Irving Blumberg of Minneapolis, to |
see the head of the War Manpower |
Board, Commissioner Paul V. Nc
Mutt, in his office in Washington
last Friday, January Is, to protest
against the summary action in the
indefinite postponement of the hear
ings against the railroads by
FEPC."
According to Rev. Nelson-who
with Mr.. Blumberg was in Wash
ington as representatives of the
Twin Cities branches of the
NAACP, in urging a Congressional
investigation of the demotion of
former sergeant Samuel Reed at
Camp Lee and the discriminatory
practices against Negroes in the
armed forces-there were twenty
one people from Detroit, Michigan,
in the delegation that was granted |
an interview with Mr.. McNutt. !
There were other representatives
from New York City, Baltimore
and Washington in the delegation.
The delegation of fifty of which |
the Rev. Charles Hill, Baptist min
lister of Detroit and chairman of |
the Citizens Committee that led |
the fight in the Sojourner Truth |
Housing project fight last year, was
the chairman, were seated in a
conference room in the New Social |
Security Building at l p. m, for
the conference with Mr.. McNutt. |
Soon after one o'clock Mr.. Harper,
a deputy from Mr.. McNutt's office,
came into the conference room and !
announced that Mr.. McNutt had |
been detained in another conference
and that he would be in to see the
delegation as soon as possible. Mr..
Harper suggested that I'VE might
discuss very informally some Of the
questions that are in your minds,
while we are waiting for Mr.. Nc
Mutt"
Rev. Hill and two or three others
told Mr.. Harper that the delegation
had come to see Mr.. McNutt, who
had given the order postponing the
hearings and that 1--WE want to see
and talk to him." When Mr.. Har-
per insisted on opening the discus
sion, Rev. Nelson told him that he
and Mr.. Blumberg had come from
st. Paul and Minneapolis, Mime
sofa, and they, with the other men,
bers of the delegation, were not
interested in seeing or hearing any
body else but Mr.. McNutt at this
time.
The delegation was quite ada
mant, but evidently became the VIC
tins Of q trick. A man who had
come in with the delegation and
posing as a member Of the delega-
ton opened the discussion with Mr..
Harper by saying that he had to
leave and there are two or three
questions he wanted to ask. For
an hour and a half the committee
discussed the matter with Mr.. Har-
per, who made the analogy of a
mountain. Said he, 'if you come
to a mountain, what is the best way
to get to your destination beyond
the mountain-to go through the
mountain or around the mountain Z"
Mr.. Harper insisted that FEPC
had bitten off more than it could