St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-01-19

awards, notable among them the Pr
not bar Negroes from competition.
But Negroes all along have either
denied themselves or been denied
by circumstances or situations the
opportunity and growth that comes
from friendly striving for perfec-
ton and betterment in their chosen
profession.
This lack could be shared or
blamed on several causes, among
them, failure in the past of Negro
publishers to get together and Gre
ate more interest in the job on the
part of their editorial workers and
failure of the Negro reporter and
newspaper person to sell his wares
sufficiently to interest outsiders in
setting up an annual award that
would take note of improvements
in writing, handling, and reporting
on various matters of general in
terest.
However, in the case of the Wen
dell Willkie Award, there seems to
be some cause for concern because
of the very nature in which the
committee has been set up and the
persons comprising it. Into this
situation one can read, if one were
of suspicious and careful leanings,
reasonable cause to scratch the
head. To sum it all up, the COM
mittee includes several southern
white editors of whom many have
been decorated with the badge of
liberalism. However, with this
badge of liberalism goes unan-
swered, in many instances, just how
far the recipients of such honor
would be willing to go in testing
their beliefs and their reactions on
the race problem.
ONLY TWO NEGROES
Only two Negroes appear in the
imposing list of regional and hon.
orary committees which pass judg-
ment on what is best in Negro
news reporting. They are DR..
Charming Tobias, secretary of col
ored work in the national Y.M.C.A.,
and DR.. W. E. B. Dubois, director
of special research for the NAACP.
Members of the regional staff are
Marshall Field, publisher and edi-
tor of the Chicago Sun and owner
also of the newspaper, PM, pub
lished in New York City; Paul Bel
lamy of the Cleveland Plain Deal
er; Marquis Childs, Washington
columnist; Virginius Dabley of the
Richmond Times Dispatch; George
Cornish of the New York Herald
Tribune; Palmer Hoyt of the Port
land Oregonian; Louis H. Lyons of
the Boston Globe; Ralph McGill of
the Atlanta Constitution; Basil L.
Walters of the Detroit Free Press;
and Harrington Kimberley of the
Altus, Oklahoma Times-Democrat.
Honorary representatives are DR..
Douglas S. Freeman, editor of the
Richmond News-Leader; Mark F.
Etheridge, publisher of the Louis
vile Courier-Journal; DR.. Frank
Aybelett, director of the Institute
for Advanced Study of Princeton
University; DR.. Robert G. Sproul
of the University of California;
Carl Van Doran, the author; and
Mrs. Eugene Meyer of Washington,
who expressed concern in her ar
ticles on the fighting policy of the
Negro press.
DR.. Freeman announced the set
ting up of the Wendell Willkie
Awards along with Mark Etheridge
who is chairman of the committee
of journalists. Awards will be
made in the month of October. The
regional committee will first con-
slider entries and then pass them
on to the honorary staff to make
the final selection.
No Active Negro Press Members
The cause for alarm with which
the whole thing is viewed here is
based on the fact that in the list
are no active members Of the Ne
gro press who are working in
either the capacity of an editor or
working reporter. DR.. Dubois,
while his n years are resplendent
with accomplishments in literature
and higher education, plus long
service on the firing line for full
indignation and equality for the
Negro people, is nevertheless not
newspaper man as the average
working reporter on the Negro
press would view it. Neither is