St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1962-03-02

istradon to search out race dis
elimination in federal government
and correct the condition. The
theory being that the government
has more right to insist that priv
ate industry, especially those with
federal contracts quit discriminat-
DRY hiring and employment policies
If the government itself comes
with clean hands-something it
doesn't have today, in the Post
Office department or any other
federal department.
Railroad Employment Continues
Decline
In the 1920s and for years be-
fore, the railroads were a major
source of employment for Negro
male workers in the Twin Cities.
The Pullman Co., operator of
sleeping car service for years until
the Interstate Commerce commits |
sion and courts forced the firm to
get rid of its sleeping car service
and confine itself to its railroad
car manufacturing business.
At one time, there were over
400 men employed in the Twin
Cities as Pullman sleeping car
pOrters. The Great Northern,
Northern Pacific, 500 Line, Rock
Island, Chicago Northwestern
and Omaha lines employed sew
eral hundred men as walters,
car attendants (pOrters) and
cooks.
In those days railroad executives
at a certain level had their own
private cars in which they travelled
up and down the system inspect
ing the systems, often entertain
ing big shippers and big stock
holders. Serving these private car
were the aristocracy of the walters
and cooks, private car men, who
were assigned to these special cars,
which were homes" on wheels.
Most of this type of employment
is gone forever, for most of the
private cars have disappeared from
the rails.
The Great Northern, Northern
Pacific and Rock Island still have
dining car crews on their trans
continental trains but every year
the number grows less.
The Northwestern has only a
fraction of the Negro employees it
formerly had. Milwaukee dining
car and sleeping car men are Chi
cago based, but declining in num-
Der.
While Negroes had a monopoly
on this type of railroad employ
ment chiefly because the railroads
and railway brotherhoods conspir-
ed to keep them out Of other BRAN
Ches of the service such as brake
men, conductors, switchmen, track
men, tower operators, etc, the
monopoly proved a boomerang
when air plane travel reduced pas
senger travel. The roads still have
to use other classes of employees to
move the freight trains.
In other areas of the country
there is a large core of Negro
labor employed in the coach yards,
az car cleaners, car inspectors, ETC.,
but in Minnesota this was not and
is not so. The lone exception ap-
pears to have been the Milwaukee
R.R. round house in Minneapolis.
In neither of these cities are Ne
groes found working as freight
UNDERGRADUATES jobs in many
other metropolitan areas.
With almost every road in the
area trying to consolidate and give
just as little passenger service as
1t can, the day Of the railroader,
Negro railroader that isis about
over.
In 1861, there was definitely no
progress among Negroes in the
railroad industry. Those still en-
ployed enjoy many benefits that
were not enjoyed by their pred
ecessors years ago, but Negro din
ing car walters and porters are
still woefully underpaid for the
hours, and away-from-home-for
days sacrifices they make.
Negroes continue to advance in
the skilled tabor field in construc-
ton work both in building con-
struction and highways. For over
a year construction went down and
last summer the construction job
bonanza didn't open up but there
are indications that in the coming
year Negro workers who are car
penters, cement finishers, brick
layers will find work here.
Negroes are still pretty much
excluded from the electricians I'M