St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-06-21

ONCI W luC kON- M
eminent branches l&SsAl -
of the War De-
partment began LAUTIER
moving into finished bays. One cafe
terra was opened. It was run by the
contractor, who had been feeding
his help from sheds nearby the con-
struction.
When the first Negro employees
of the War Department were shift
ed from the Munitions to the Penta-
gon building, they went to the cafe
terra for lunch. A company guard
told them they had to go around
TO the back of the cafeteria and be
served in a part Of the kitchen.
The employees objected. The
company guard hit one over the
head with a blackjack. The incident
was Immediately reported to Bill
HASTE, who was then the civilian
aide to the Secretary Of War. He,
in turn, Immediately took 1t up
with the office Of Secretary Of War
Henry L. Stimson.
Mr.. Stimson acted swiftly. He
ordered the company guards re-
moved and military policemen
placed on guard duty at the Penta-
gon and stated there would be no
race segregation in cafeterias. The
next day Negro employees went
into the cafeteria and ate without
incident. Ever since then they have
eaten Unfortunately at the six
employee cafeterias and the sew
eral lunch bars out there without
any difficulty.
But it was the bus situation
where Mr.. Stimson showed his met
tie. In the early days Of the Penta-
gon, the only buses running from
the District of Columbia to the
Pentagon building and to Boiling
Field, an Army Air Forces installa-
ton, were the Alexandria, Bancroft
& Washington and the Arnold Lines.
Each of these buses had posted in
the front a sign quoting the Vir-
ginia jimcrow law, and directing
Negroes to seat themselves from
the rear Of the bus and white pas
sengers to seat themselves from the
front.
Mr.. Stimson took the matter up
with the governor of Virginia and
the bus companies. Word was pass
ed down to HASTE that Negroes
travelling from Washington to the
Pentagon and from the Pentagon to
Washington would sit wherever
they pleased on buses, despite the
Virginia jimcrow law.
At first, there were incidents.
Drivers would stop their buses and
order Negro employees of the War
Department to take seats in the
rear. The employees reported these
incidents to Hastie's office and were
told to call the company offices and
report the facts. Soon the incidents
quit happening.
The Navy annex is beyond the
Pentagon in Arlington county. Ne
groes riding beyond the Pentagon
were required after the bus left
the Pentagon to move to back seats.
There were complaints and incl
dents involving Navy employees
who worked at the Navy annex.
Soon the bus drivers quit disturbing
them. Whether the late Secretary
of the Navy Frank Knox inter
vened in the matter is not known.
The one remaining stronghold of
jimcrowism on federal property in
the Virginia area adjacent to the
District of Columbia is at the Wash
ington National airport, which is
operated under the control of the
Administrator of the Civil Aero
nautics Administration, Commerce
Department. In case you may not
remember, the liberal Henry A.
Wallace is the Secretary Of Com
merce.
Explaining and deplaning Negro
passengers are not served in the
restaurant at the airport. Nor are
Negro sightseers. The flimsy ex-
cuse given is that the airport is in
the State of Virginia.
If Harold L. Ickes were the Sec
rotary of Commerce, the odds would
be 100 to l that the concessionaire
would serve Negroes or lose the
concession.
Incidentally, the airport received
an income of $113,234 from its food
concession in the last fiscal year.
It was built at a cost of approx
mately $14.OOO,OOO, not including
the cost of WPA labor. Congress
appropriates about 100000 a year
for its maintenance and operation.
But Negro taxpayers are barred
from eating in the restaurant.
Ever since its organization in
1910, the NAACP has campaigned
against color discrimination in any
form. But Leslie Perry, its legisla-
tive representative, maintains he
reserves the right to give what in
formation he chooses to certain
New York dailies and not to the
Negro press. Boy, page Walter
Whitel