St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-10-27

In the last two weeks, howe
column briefly reasons why favor |
the election of Franklin Roosevelt |
over Thomas Dewey. Both para
graphs have been omitted in the
publication of my column. 1 realize
the position in which Mr.. Powell is
placed. He is in the employ of the
National Republican Committee
and evidently assumes that this en-
ployment includes the opinions of
all writers to his papers. think
in this respect he is making a seri-
Gus mistake. 1t ought not to be
possible for any political party to
buy a newspaper and certainly my
opinions are not for sale.
Being denied, therefore, the OPP
portunity to state my political
views in the Amsterdam News,
turn to the Peoples Voice. admit
in the beginning that the stand and
record for neither party and neither
candidate is entirely satisfactory to
me as an American Negro. The
organized race hatred and segrega-
ton practices of the South are still
powerful and prominent in the
Democratic Party. The Republican
Party has offered in the last fifty
years very little beyond unfulflled
promises. On the other hand, look
ing carefully at the record 1 feel
without the slightest doubt that
Franklin Roosevelt has done more
for the uplift and progress of the
American Negro than any president
since Abraham Lincoln.
list among his notable accom-
plishments:
The attempt to give the Negro a
square deal under the NRA;
The recognition of the necessity
of lifting the Negroes standard of
living and balancing his wide I'M
employment under the WPA;
The curling of banks and insur-
ing of small bank deposits;
The Federal Housing Authority
under which l myself have been
able to build home at reason
able rate of mortgage interest;
The recognition of the right of
labor to bargain for better wages
and better conditions of work;
The attempt to help the small
Southern farmer through the buy
ing of land, rural credit and rural
electrifcation;
The attack upon discrimination in
employment through the FEPC and
the backing of this through deci-
sive action in every part of the
country including Philadelphia;
Opposition to disfranchisement
through outspoken condemnation of
the Poll Tax through the white
primary decision of the Supreme
Court which Roosevelt reorganized;
The courteous social recognition
given to colored presidents of Haiti
and Liberia and to colored guests
in general at the White House;
The appointment of high class
of colored advisers to administra-
tive officials.
1 am quite aware that few of
these actions have been entirely
successful. There was deserved
criticism of the NRA and of the
FEPC. Many. of the political ad-
visers have resigned because their
advice went unheeded. Neverthe-
less, the Presidents part in these
things seems to me to have been
unassailable in its clearness of vi
sion and in the indication of his
wish. The President of the United
States is not all-powerful and
Franklin Roosevelt has been handi-
capped and hindered by the neces-
sity of not going so far as to lose
entirely the support of the South.
On the other hand, the forward
steps he has taken have liberalized
the South to a greater degree than
the acts of any recent president.
On the other hand, in the case of |
Mr.. Dewey, while I warmly applaud |
various individual political appoint
ments, 1 just as strongly condemn
his petty politics in the case of the
proposed state FEPC. He ap-
pointed high class committee and |
that committee prepared effective |
legislation but in order to avoid |
the criticism which such legislation |
would have brought in the presi- |
Dental campaign, Mr.. Dewey eff
fectively stopped its passage and
led thus to the resignation of the