Evening star., 1948-12-10
.City'sLeaders
Blamed for Rise
Interrogation
Only Congress Can
Correct Situation,
Committee Reports

MARYLAND APPEALS Court Rules
Restrictive Covenants Invalid.
Page B-1.
APPEALS COURT Here Asked to
Admit Negroes to White Schools.
Page B-1.
A committee of 80 members
from many parts of the country
asserted today that segregation
in Washington is the result of a
calculated policy pursued by the
leaders of the community as a
matter of good business"
The committee - the National
Committee on Segregation in the
Nations Capital-said in a 9l-page
printed report that segregation is
more stringent today than it was
half a century ago. It said that
only Congress, using its powers lin
behalf of the Nation and the Ma
tion's principles" can restore WASH
ington "to its original destiny"
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Among the charges the committee
made are these:
That Negroes are herded into
ghettoes and made to pay for their
own exclusion as the result of the
practices of businessmen and bank
ers seeking profit.
Their life expectancy, as the re-
suit of the conditions under which
they live, is less than that of whites
and less than that of Negroes else
where.
They are segregated in hospitals
in inferior accommodations.
They are excluded from most Jobs
just as they are excluded from
downtown theaters and restaurants.
The District Government forces
them to accept a servant status in
employment and the same Is true in
most Federal .offces.
Schools for their children are
inferior to those for whites. White
universities, with the exception of
Catholic University, discriminate
against them.
That when the flag of the United
States goes up on city playground
in the Capital today, children are
forced apart by color. When the
flag of the United States goes down,
they play together without bigotry."
The color line is drawn in re-
ligion and in religious institutions
The Citizens Associations are the
"front-line shock troops" in Negro
exclusion.
13 From ID. C. on Committee
The committee is headed by
George N. Shuster, president Of
Hunter College, New York. Thir-
teen of its members are listed as
residents of Washington.
DR.. Shuster gave President Tru-
man copy of the report today. He
told reporters the President said he
would read it with interest"
DR.. Shuster also said % field work.
ers were responsible for prepara-
ton of the report.
The committees headquarters is
listed as Chicago.
Concerning the forces behind seq
regation here, the committee SAYS:
1T is not in the field of spon-
tsneouS human relationships that
trouble occurs in Washington, but
on a high policy level where the
segregation of the Negro is planned
as a matter of good business and
orc mo do Il, +bo lsa;.I
OF his equal right to own property.
1T is not the poor whites who
set the pattern, but men of ac-
knowledged culture and refinement.
the leaders of the community"
Benevolent Dictatorship
Special interests" which keep the
Negro down are represented by the
Board of Trade, the committee
states. 1t says:
Officially the city is run as a
benevolent dictatorship by three
Commissioners appointed by the
President. But ,unofficially it is
run by the friends of court the
dominant real estate, commercial
and financial interests formally
organized as the Board of Trade"
A statement, when the Board of
Trade. cracks the whip. the Dis
trict Government jumps" is ascribed
in footnote to the Congressional
Record. The statement was made
by Representative Deane of North
Carolina during debate on the Dis
trict Home Rule bill, which the
Board of Trade opposed
The report itself quotes Mr..
Deane:
This organization (the Board Of
Trade), glorified chamber of COM
merce. represent the business, bank
ing and, to some extent, the pro-
fessional interests in Washington.
1t has a membership of about 5000
only about ! per cent of the popu-
lation of the District. A substantial
number of this membership live out
side the District. The Board OF
Trade, by any standard of measure
ment, is he most powerful single or
ganization in Washington. Its
board of directors numbering 40
powerful men determine its policies
and actions"
Only One Argument.
To this the segregation COM
mittee adds:
These are the special interests
which have planned the segrega-
ton of Negroes In housing. jobs,
theaters, restaurants, parks and
Fairgrounds. For the most part,
they are satisfied with the status
quo. There is only one argument
on which minority government can
be maintained in the Capital, and
every one knows what it is-the
necessity of keeping down the
Negro"
The report says there may exist
law which protects the equal
rights of the Negro in some res
poets. 1t says that, in 1872, the
then existing elected Assembly OF
the District (the so-called "feather-
duster legislation passed a law giv-
ing Negroes equal rights in restau-
rants, hotels, Barber shops and other
public places, and setting stiff pen"
alties for violations.
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