St. Paul recorder., 1944-09-29

acre section of Harlem now occu-
pied by aged industrial structures
and few dingy old law tenements.
Riverton will embrace 1850 apart
ments to house 34O0 persons cat an
average basic rental of approx
mately $3.50 a room a month"
Meanwhile, in the downtown Sec
tion of New York-a lily white Sec
tion-the Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Company, a large portion of
whose funds have come from poll
cies on the lives of Negroes
throughout the country, is pushing
its original plans for a lily white
"walled-city" named Stuyvesant
Town where a black person, minus
overalls, uniform, maids cap or
bucket and mop, will be an oddity
deserving of a place in the modern
museum of unheard of things.
The proposal to establish what,
in effect, is a jim-crow housing
project to help meet the oppressive
conditions confronting Negroes in
the busy metropolis of New York
City as to decent living quarters,
healthful and wholesome surround
ings in which to rear their children,
can be viewed from two points:
Q) remedy for a present and
pressing need and (2) a monument
to the incapacity of the Negro to
do things for himself.
Mixed Reaction Noted
When Mayor F. H. LaGuardia of
New York, in his weekly broadcast,
reported the official sanction for
the proposal of the Metropolitan
Life Insurance Company, it drew
a mixed reaction from Negro lead
ers in Harlem. Some took a deep
sigh of relief-happy at the idea of
vexing problem being solved at
no effort or expense to themselves,
and gave the proposal their wet
kisses of endorsement. Others is
sued statements that were more or
less guarded by verbal fences and
cautious shrting of the issues in
declaring that, while jim-crow is
to be deplored and while they are
unanimous in condemnation of the
project, it must be admitted that
the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company is easing a danger-stud-
ded situation, etc.
Let's glance at the Metropolitan
Life Insurance Company for a mo-
ment: Many stories float around,
some factual-some idle rumor-
to the effect that this industrial
giant got its beginnings on the
nickel premiums sold to unlettered
Negroes throughout the South at
the close of the Civil War. The
record shows that the National
Union Life and Lend Insurance
Company was formed in 1866 in
the South presumably to help re-
habilitate the thousands who were
maladjusted because of that war.
In 1866 the National Union Life
and Lend had split which saw two
companies being formed-the Ma
tlonal Life Insurance Company and
the National Travellers Insurance
Company, the latter which accepted
only accident premiums. In 1857
the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company was formed and has
fiourished since that time.
Built on Slave Money
The barber shop historians and
street corner soothsayers have it
that the Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Company, capitalizing on the
ignorance and credulity of newly
liberated slaves, built a tremendous
backlog on the hard earned pen
MES and nickels of these friendless.
exploited people. Whatever the
truth in this connection, it might
be said that the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Company has grown tre-
mendously (16 billion a year.. one
billion of which is on Negroes) over
the intervening years. It is said to
be attempting to get rid Of its
Negro policy holders (from which
it collects 12 million dollars a year)