St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-12-24
BOhanOn Slaps
Attempt to Halt
Mpls. Urban League

League Must Co." published in a
local weekly on Dec. 3.
A copy Of Bohanon's letter to the
attacking newspaper is reprinted
here.
Bohanon wrote:
To the Editor:
If your editorial of December 3,
THE Urban League Should Co."
had been written by a person who
was not of the Negro race, that per-
son would have been accused, and
rightly SO, Of being anti-Negro,
prejudiced and unwilling to even
permit any effort being made to-
ward righting many of the injus-
tees now practieed on Negroes. I
sincerely believe and think I know
that such is neither the attitude nor
the policy Of your paper. I must
believe, however, that the writer Of
the above mentioned editorial Is
either ignorant Of the broad ideals,
program and progress of the League
and the fundamental and basic
problems of the Negro in this cOun-
try which have given rise to the
National Urban League and other
Negro institutions, or else the
writer has "a fish to fry" and be-
lieves the League offers a good skill
let for the job. If the former is
true, then you should reconsider the
position taken in your editorial Of
December 3. If the latter is the case
then you should be courageous
enough to call a spade a spade,
make direct charges and call names.
The League is not perfect. The
same can be said Of our churches,
our places Of business, our news
papers, our schools and all of our
institutions. The arguments which
you gave as reasons why the Min
neapOlis League should be abolished
could readily be applied to every
League in the country. Your edi-
tOrial did, in effect, amount to such
a recommendation. It was a recon-
mendation, to which our President
Gas shown by his message to the
National Urban League Conference
in 1943) and many others in posi-
tons of national leadership could
not subscribe. Let us review the
merits Of your arguments for abOl-
ishing the League. You said:
1. "The Governors recently ap-
pointed Inter Racial Committee, the
FEPC and the War Labor Board
all carry on more effectively the
same program presumed to be the
reason for the League"
The work Of the Governors COM
mission is still in the future and
neither you nor I can evaluate its
program at this time. Ironically
enough, your paper ran a news
story on some Of the problems and
difficulties Of the FEPC Just below
your editorial. The FEPC, as you
know, is concerned only with those
industries and firms handling gov
eminent war contracts. The League
in each city and especially in Min
neapolis has had to be the unoffi-
cial complaining agency which has
brought to the attention Of the
FEPC discrimination in defense in
dustries. Presumably the FEPC
will be abolished when this war is
over. What bureau, agency or or
ganizatiOn do we have to continue
the fight in the postwar period?
Also the War Labor Board, as
its name indicates, is concerned only
with labor and industry ss it Is re-
lated to the war production. It is
not concerned with the Negro rs
such.
2. Regarding job clearances you
state:
"The United States Employment
Service office takes care of the fac
tory angle much more thoroughly
than an office Of the type located
at 24O Fourth Street South. AS for
other types-Miss Anne Smith
should be moved to Phyllis Wheat
ley House where domestic service
placement) it has always rightfully
belonged" "-nOt a month has
passed that someone has not called
Phyllis Wheatley for certain types
Of help and been referred to the
Urban League"
In spite of the good work being
done by the United States Employ
ment Service in the placing of Ne
grOes, the League still has to lay
the groundwork-namely-to con-
vince doubtful management that
Negro labor will be an asset and
not a liability to industry. After
this is done placement then becomes
more or less a mechanical job of
clearance and referral.
The fact that people seeking do
nestle help call Phyllis Wheatley
on occasion is no reason for trans
ferring an Urban League function
to a settlement house.
3. You also believe that the $5,607
now spent annually on the Urban
League program "cOuld be greater
utilized to relieve individual suffer-
ing"