St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-12-10

tain Lands presiding. The question
now rests with Judge Lands and
his associates.
Your reporter was privileged to
be one of the committee from the
Negro Newspaper Publishers As
ISOLATION which was granted the
rare and unique distinction last Fri
day of being the first Negro group
in history to be given the chance to
air its views before the joint session
of the two leagues on whether
Negroes should be allowed to play
in organized baseball as Americans.
Opinions and announcements are
due on the issue from Judge Lands
and the owners and officials of or
ganized baseball.
While representatives of various
organizations, groups and indi-
viduals chafed in the corridors of
the swank Hotel Roosevelt, Judge
Lands in his familiar and charac-
teristic blunt manner, cleared the
room of all reporters and sports
writer's, before introducing John H.
Sengstacke, president of the AS
ISOLATION and publisher of the Chi
cago Defender, as spokesman for
the Negro Newspaper Publishers
Association.
Spokesman for the association
were Sengstacke, Ira F. Lewis of
the Pittsburgh Courier, and Howard
(Pat) Murphy of the Baltimore
Afro-American. Paul Robson, the
distinguished singer, actor, former
all-American and star of "Othello,"
the hit play now on Broadway, was
present as the guest of Judge Ian
dis. The publishers were also rep
resented by DIR. C. B. Powell, presi-
dent and editor of the Amsterdam
News; w. o. Walker of the Cleve-
land Call and Post, Louis En-
manuel Martin of the Michigan
Chronicle, Dan Burley, man
aging editor of the Amsterdam
News, and Wendell Smith, city edi-
tor of the Pittsburgh Courier, men,
bers of the advisory committee.
The publishers, granted what is
considered a unique privilege and
recognition, cashed in heavily on
the opportunity to let big league
baseball know just how Negroes
feel about the matter. They went
through the ordeal like big leaguers
and only the scorekeeper on the
issue can give the results, and the
scorekeeper is none other than the
august, ageing Judge Kenesaw
Mountain Lands who fined Stand
ard Oil all those millions so many
years ago and who has ruled base
ball with the iron hand of a despot
over two score years.
Specifically, the publishers de-
manded the following: (1) that
immediate steps be taken to ac-
cept qualified Negroes into the
framework of organized baseball;
(2) that the process by which
players are graduated from class
C, B, A, and AA, teams to positions
on major leagues be applied with
out prejudice or discrimination to
Negroes; (3) that the same system
by which players are selected from
schools, sandlots, semi-pro and
other clubs be used in selecting
colored players; and (4) that a
joint statement be issued by the
major leagues declaring that Ne
groes are eligible for trials and
permanent places on their respec-
tive teams.
None other than William Har-
ridge told white reporters that it
was one of the most interesting
phases of the 1913 winter meeting
of the leagues to meet and hear
such "clean-cut, tactful, straight
to-the-point colored gentlemen who
evidently knew what they were
after and had taken the proper
steps to get it." Judge W. G..
Branham, president of the National
Association of Professional Base
ball Leagues, on Thursday, issued
the statement that: "The chair
knows of no ruling discriminating
against the Negro. Our clubs may
employ whomever they please"
The publishers, knowing that
they were to some extent on the
spot, took steps to get off the spot
by presenting their case logically
and without lot of wasted words
and gestures. They were business
like in every action and won ap-
plause from such hard-bitten gentry
as Connie Mack, Clark Griffith,
Tom Yawker, Branch Hickey, Sam
Breadon and others who had ex-
pected a long "mister Cholly, how
come y'all so mean to US" spiel.
Strategy for the meeting was
mapped with the assistance Of Dan
Burley and Wendell Smith, both of
whom have been identified for years
with the long struggle to get the
Negro into the major leagues.
Statements were revised; words put
into strengthen this, words taken