St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-03-24
WASHINGTON POST DAILY
STRIKES AT HILTERIAN
TECHNIQUE

WASHlNGION, ID. &. (NNPA)
"A proposal to evict all Galley
dwellings" in the nations capital,
almost exclusively occupied by Ne
groes because of the housing short
age for Negro occupancy, and to
send the Negroes to neighboring
farms and eventually back to Afri-
ca was made by Senator Theodore
Bilbo 3D. of Mississippi, chairman
of the Senate District Committee,
last week. AS chairman of the
committee, Bilbo is virtually the
mayor" of Washington.
The suggestion has aroused deep
resentment on the part of both
white and Negro citizens of the
District, despite the claims of Bilbo
that he has received "mail pouches"
full of congratulatory letters as re-
suit of the proposal.
The Washington Post, in an edi-
torial, declared that Senator Bilbo
'has begun his career as District
mayor with all the finesse that
might be expected of a rhinoceros
in the National Gallery of Art"
His proposal was described as one
which creeks with prejudice, social
backwardness and Hitlerian tech
nique." 1t is Conceived in bigotry
and dedicated to the provocation of
racial animosities that are an OBJ
vious menace to the Nation" the
Post declared.
Bilbo based his proposal for evic-
ton of the alley jewellers on a Con-
gressional act creating the D. C.
Alley Dwelling Authority, which
originally set up a 1O-year period
for clearing out the alleys as dwell
ing places. The 10-year period ex-
pires on July 1, 1914. Bilbo said
he would enforce the provisions of
the act.
Congress, however, after enact
ing the law, failed to provide the
funds necessary for constructing
suitable housing to take care of this
slum-clearance project.
Assurances have been given by
other Senators - among them La
Toilette (Prog.) of Wisconsin, Bur-
ton (R.) of Ohio, and Taft (R.)
of Ohio-that the threatened July
eviction date would not materialize.
Senator Taft termed Bilbo's sug-
gestion as 'foolishness." He and
Senator Burton indicated that Con-
gress would grant an extension of
the dealine.
The record, however, reveals that
while Negroes are being forced be-
cause of housing shortage to oc-
cupy the alleys-giving rise to dis
ease and crime-there has been an
overbuilding of housing units for
whites which are now standing idle
and vacant.
Because of the pattern of segre-
cation in the Nations capital, these
vacant houses are denied to Ne
groes. Bilbo has made no sugges-
ton that they be used to house the
poor and needy families he seeks to
evict. Instead he says:
at is a notorious fact that great
hordes of criminal elements-unde-
sirables from States around the
District - are being unloaded in
Washington, and because of over
crowded conditions they find haven
in alleys and other blighted areas.
"My demands that the law clos
ing the alleys to human habitation
July be strictly enforced is hu-
mantarian move. I am the best
friend the Negro has. 1 want to
help him in a substantial way. I
want him to get into the habit of
moving so as to be ready for my
to West Africa"
In the meantime, the War Man.
power Commission has revealed
that housing for Negroes in Wash
ington is at such a critical stage
that it has recommended that no
more Negroes be brought here for
war work until the conditions are
ranoadiad