Evening star., 1949-07-27
Race Dispute Keeps Thousands Despite Heat

the tangled swimming pool S1tua-
ton is keeping about 1000 per-
sons a day-a large percentage of
them children-from seeking re-
lief by going swimming.
There appears to be no pros
pect of an early change in the
situation.
Anacostia pool closed June 20
by order of Interior Secretary
Krug after a near riot between
white and colored swimmers, re-
mains closed. with no one ad-
vancing a guess when it will be
opened.
Mckinley pool, formerly used
by white persons. now is patron
lied almost entirely by colored
swimmers. The numbers using the
pool have fallen off substantially.
40 Tickets Yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon the Nc
Kinley Pool was busy. but far
from crowded. At $3.50 pm. the
number of tickets sold was given
as ITO. On the corresponding
date of last year the days at
tendance was 295. although the
2 pm. temperature was "a and
the day was cloudy.
Last Thursday after about three
weeks of conferences and meet
ings, representatives of the Dis
trict Recreation Board and of the
Interior Department sat down to
work out agreements under which
the recreation facilities, operated
by Interior through the National
Capital Parks, would be taken over
by the board.
The facilities in question include
the Anacostia and Mckinley pools
and four others. Taken up at
the meeting were problems over
the transfer of golf links. tennis
courts and other enterprises In
terror has here. But the question
Of the swimming pools was not
raised by the. Interior Depart
ment.
A. E. Demaray. associate di-
rector Of the National Park Ser
vice, in whose Office the confer
ence was held, said it was hoped
to get to the subject of the pools
at the next meeting. No date
has been set for the meeting.
Wender Wants Solution.
Harry s. Wender. Recreation
Board chairman, has expressed
many times the hope that the
board and Interior can really get
together and work out all the
problems.
As a preliminary to last Thurs
days meeting. the Recreation
Board had held meetings and
changed its bylaws as insisted on
by the Interior Department. A
bylaw providing for segregated
operations was eliminated. In
its place was adopted a dec
laration that 1t was the boards
policy to make every effort
toward the removal Of racial
segregation in public recreation,
consistent with the public interest
and orderly and effective admins
tration. IL. &s@ u
The nan article in the bylaws
was accepted by Secretary Krug.
The boafd, however, had made 1t
clear that, II it took over the ope-s
ration Of the six pools. It would
operate Mckinley, Anacostia. East
Potomac and Takoma Pools for
white persons and Francis and
Banneker pools for colored.
Mr.. k~ug also had stated that
his policy would not permit the
imposition Of segregation on any
facilities operating on q nonseg-
regated basis.
Segregation In Practice.
The six pools had been operated
on a nonsegregated policy. pro-
viding that whoever asked to buy
a ticket could do SO. As a matter Of
practice, however, Francis and
Banneker were patronized almost
exclusively by colored persons. and
the other four pools by white SWIM
mers.
This held true until In the latter
part of June, when the patronage
of Mckinley switched from white
to colored and the disturbance
took place ut Anacostia.
The pools are operated under
contract by Government Services,
Inc. for the National Capital
Parks.
Through June %, there was a
total of 15,707 paid admissions
about the same as last year-at
Anacostia. The pool was closed the
next day.
The GSI figures on attendance
show that last year, from June %
through July "a, Anacostia pool
had 1912 patrons. an average of
TAO a day.
In the seven days before the
disturbances at Anacostia this
year the attendance was running
at about 945 a day.
Patronage Gain at Mckinley.
At Mckinley, the attendance
through June "a Of this year had
totaled 7,475. This compares with
5,845 on the corresponding date of
1948. June "a is said by GSI to be
the last day when the patronage
was practically all white persons.
From June "a Of this year
through last Sunday, the latest
date for which GSI had tabulated
attendance figures, admissions at
Mckinley added up to 3,403. In
the corresponding period Of 1948,
the aggregate attendance was TO-
819. The decrease is 7,416, or an
average of 247 a day.
A GSI official said some former
patrons Of Mckinley and Ana
costa have been seen at other
pools, but because of the distances
involved the number is few.