Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-09-24
BY CHARLES ALIEN

Eyes, but they are not asking for
a job" the witness said he replied,
explaining that the incident oc-
Cured on the Union Pacific Rail-
road
Charles II. Houston, counsel for
group of Negro railway labor
unions, read into the record a reply
to a complaint alleging discrimina-
ton against Negroes by the Nor
folk & Western Railroad. The rail-
road explained that under its own
rules and under an agreement
made in 1941 with the Brotherhood
Of Locomotive Firemen and En-
ginemen, the railroad was not hir-
ing Negro firemen.
The union agreement, the reply
declared, was made by the fire.
mems union with the Southeastern
carriers conference and the limita-
tons imposed on Negroes were
understood to be racial" The
definition of "non-promotable fire.
men," in the agreement, the letter
said, means Negroes"
The company, the letter con-
tinued, has not hired Negroes for
use as firemen since 1903 and had
never promoted Negro firemen to
be locomotive engineers for racial
reasons, cas- this complaint sur
misses"
In explanation of this refusal the
railroad said that locomotive en-
gineers give orders to firemen and
other crew members.
"The sentiment of the employees
of this company and of the public
in the territory in which it oper-
ates condemns the placing of Ne
groes in position of command over
white men," the letter added. THAT
sentiment controls the manage
ment."
Ray Abner, a white American,
general chairman of the Firemen
and Oilers Union on the Louisville
and Nashville Railroad, testified
that on this road Negroes were
hired only for laborers' work, al
though they were qualified as fire
men. This discrimination, he as
serted, went on despite the roads
pledge that it would show no par
TALLY in hiring or promotion.
Some of the Negro employees
now on the road, he said, were
more qualified for jobs as firemen
and helpers than the junior white
employees who are promoted to
these posts.
South of Nashville, he said, Ne
groes were promoted from laborer
to helper and there was no trouble
from white employees. He quoted
a company official as willing to
make Negro promotions through
out the lines "if the unions give
the go-ahead sign"
Henry A. Dawson, Negro fire.
man on the Atlantic Coast Line,
said that Negro fireman whose
service dated back to 1910 was
skipped over contrary to seniority
consideration when it came time to
man Diesel engines. A similar
thing happened to him, he said.
Negroes, he explained, were not
permitted to join the Brotherhood
Of Locomotive Firemen and En-
ginemen and the union refused to
handle their grievances. When he
began his service on the road in
1919, he said that IS per cent Of
the fremen were Negroes as
against one-third today.
Arthur Lewis Of Memphis, presi-
dent of the International Associa-
ton of Railway Employees, de-
clared that since Negro fremen
could not join the white firemen's
union many of the employed on the
Gulf and Ship Island Railroad paid
a white engineer $1.50 a month to
represent them on grievances they
had with the management.
B. W. Steel, a Negro fireman Of
Birmingham, Ala, who said he was
the oldest fireman on a division of
the Louisville & Nashville Railroad
with seniority dating to 1910, told
Of being displaced by a junior
white fireman from a crack pas
senger run which took two hours a
day and being denoted to a hand
firing engine which took sixteen
hours a day to make the daily COM
plement of 100 miles.