The Omaha guide., 1945-12-01

people to whom they appertain.
l am well acquaint with the hor-
rendous social results that have
been acclaimed as the inevitable
result of treating Negroes and
other minorities as if they were
human beings, let alone American
citizens entitled to the protection
of the law and the economic op-
portunities that our country af-
fords. 1 have had much
patience with such simulated fear
During my own lifetime, / have
seen great strides made in the di-
rection of a cessation from race
prejudice. In my Department,
people n employed on the basis
of their American citizenship and
their capacity to do the job that
there is to do. To my knowledge,
there have been no other consid-
erations. Men and women have
found that they could work toget-
her and use the cafeteria and din
ing rooms together without any
bad results, even imaginary ones.
Of course from the beginning
there were employees in some of
the lower salary grades who were
Negroes but there yer practical
ly none in the higher or profess
sional grades. 1 set about to cor
rect that. Interior has employed
Negro lawyers, architects and en-
gineers and men and women in
salary grades well above those
that were taken for granted as
constituting the only classes to
which Negroes might aspire. On
my recommendation President
Roosevelt appointed the first Ne
gro United States Judge in our
history, a man who vas justly re-
| spected and honored by Negroes
and whites alike, Judge William
H. HASTE, now Dean of the Law
School of Howard University
Judge HASTE was succeeded py
another man Of his race, Judge
Herman Moore of Chicago. TIL e
have been other appointments of
dignity, standing and emoluments
that have gone to Negroes.
1 count it as one of the great
privileges that has been mine to
preside at the Lincoln Memorial
that notable Sunday afternoon
when a great singer, great not
only because she is a member of
the Negro ace but great as a hu-
man being and superb as an art
list, Marion Anderson, who was
born and reared in this city of
Philadelphia, sang to an enormous
gathering Of $4,000 people, both
white and colored, who gathered
before the statue of the Great E.
m~ancipator.
You will remember that the Da-
| lighters of the American Revolu-
ton who, in that regard, were
more to be pitied than censored,
had denied her the use of Consti-
tuition Hall when another hall Of
adequate size was unobtainable.
So we simply moved out under
Gods bright sun and there she
poured fourth the most glorious
voice thSt I have ever listened to
in songs that held spell-bound the
| greatest audience that had ever
/ been assembled in Washington.
| AS an evidence that ever the OAR
is not impervious to ideas or i'm
hume to the principles which their
organization is supposed to corn
memorate ard glorIfy 1 might Say
that subsequently it invited Mar
ian Anderson to sing in Constitu-
ton Hall and accepted her condi-
ton that on enc should be barred
his race To be sure there has
Isbeen a more recent inexplicaOie
refusal by the same organization
to permit another Negro artist to
have Constitution Hall for a con-
cert but 1 for one do not believe
that this reversion TO type is more
than temporary J prefer to think
hat the Daughters u the Amer
ran Revolution, die-hard though
It may be on this Fundamental
and broadly social issue, will de-
eide such questions in the future
on their merits and not again per-
nit prejudice to sway a judgment
in a manner that does no credit to
the ancestors whom they worship
or to the principles &c which
those ancestors Struggled
Broad social movements that
are on their way generally tend
forward. There hay be brief re-
actions here and there for local
reasons but it is trrle with respect
to this country's acceptance of
the Negroes as American citizens
IS it is true generally Of sweeps
,.rogress can only DC, is forward.
The. Negro is well u his way to-
ward that equal opportunity that
is his by the written word but
which as a matter of fact for so
long and in so many instances was
unthinkingly and perhaps even
callously denied to him We have
no option except to live together
in this country and since this is
true the only sensible thing is to
learn to live together in content
ment and well-being. And this
can only be done if we recognize
and are prepared to defend at all
times the same rights in the Ne
grocs that we demand for ourscl-
YES while at the same time expect
ing of the Negroes and equally of
J ourselves a mig Ter standard of
| social behavior thon we have ever
held ourselves to in the past.
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TT PAYS TO LOOK WELL