The SPHINX | Spring May 1935 | Volume 20 | Number 4 193502004

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The SPHINX MAY, 1935

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OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 1934-1935 PRESIDENT—Dr. Chas. H. Wesley, Howard University, Washington, D. C. F I R S T V I C E - P R E S I D E N T —Chas. W. Greene, 304 Griffin Atlanta, Ga.

St., N. W.,

SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT—Thos. H. Henderson, 723 West Marshall St., Richmond, Va. T H I R D V I C E - P R E S I D E N T —Sidney A. Jones, Jr., 155 N. Clark Chicago, 111.

St.,

SECRETARY—Jos. H. B. Evans, 101 S St., N. W., Washington, D. C. TREASURER—Percival R. Piper, 18032 Wexford Ave., Detroit, Mich.

EDITOR O F S P H I N X — A r n e t t G. Lindsay, 11 N. Jefferson Louis, Mo.

Ave., St.

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION — Rayford W. Logan, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. GENERAL COUNSEL—Theodore M. Berry, 413 W. 5th, Cincinnati, Ohio.

MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE LAY MEMBERS— Dr. B. A. Rose, 402 So. Bank St., Dayton, Ohio.

Maynard P. Turner, Jr., 3916 Fairfax Ave., St. Louis, Mo. E. Oscar Woolfolk, Jr., Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. JEWELS— Dr. Henry A. Callis, Howard University, Washington, D. C. George B. Kelley, 1 113th St., Troy, N. Y. Nathaniel A. Murray, 150 You St., N. W., Washington, D. C. Robert H. Ogle, 1721 T St., N. W., Washington, D. C. Vertner W. Tandy, 221 W. 130th St., New York City.

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THE SPHINX Official Organ of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

VOLUME 20

THE

MAY. 1935

STAFF

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ARNETT G. LINDSAY 11 North Jefferson Avenue Saint Louis, Mo. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS R. P. WATTS Saint Louis, Mo. WILLIAM C. PYANT Evanston, 111.

MILTON S. J. WRIGHT Wilberforce University LOWELL H. BENNETT Fisk University ADVERTISING MANAGER J. ORVEL MITCHELL Saint Louis, Mo. LITERARY EDITOR JAMES A. SCOTT Saint Louis, Mo. ART EDITORS JOSEPH C. CARPENTER Saint Louis, Mo. KENNETH R. O'NEAL Iowa City, Iowa

IN

NUMBER 4

THIS

ISSUE Page

The Negro and the New Deal

2

Outline of the Duties and Activities of the Adviser on the Economic Status of Negroes in the Department of the Interior

3

Work of the Adviser on Negro Affairs of the U. S. Department of Commerce

4

Division of Negro Labor

5

Synthesis Made by the Director of Education of Various Documents Sent by Mr. Lawrence A. Oxley, Adviser on Negro Labor in the Department of Labor

5

Federal Emergency Relief Administration

6

Public Works Emergency Housing Corporation

12

()ther New Deal Agencies

13

Emergency Conservation Work

14

Agricultural Adjustment Administration

18

Farm Credit Administration

22

Federal Subsistence Homesteads Corporation

25

Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Lily-White Construction

. 28 30

JAMES D. PARKS Jefferson City, Mo.

The Federal Housing Project for Negroes—Nashville, Tennessee 32

FRAT FUN EDITOR DR. O. WILSON WINTERS Norristown, Pa.

The Negro Population in the Tennessee Valley Area. . 32

HISTORY EDITOR GEORGE A. SINGLETON Springfield, 111.

WHO'S WHO EDITOR GEORGE B. KELLY Troy, N. Y.

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE

Federal Housing Administration

33

1 Eome Owners' Loan Corporation

34

National Re-employment Service

35

Other New Deal Agencies

36 to 39

The Citizenship Campaign

40

The Go to High School—College Campaign

40

ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR

Entered as second class matter at the Post Office in St. Louis, Mo., and accepted for mailing at the Special Rate of Postage, as provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917.

Wellington . s a g a , . Printing Co.

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THE NEGRO AND THE NEW DEAL T h e Special Convention meeting in Chicago in August, 1(>34, authorized an investigation of the various Federal agencies established under the New Deal to determine, as Far as possible, what benefits the Negro is receiving from them, what benefits he is not receiving, and what steps can be taken to assure him a maximum of these benefits.

T h e Director of Education engaged a Special Investigator to conduct this investigation. T h e report given below is his own account of an investigation carried on almost daily from September, 1934, to J a n u a r y , 1935. It is believed that this is the first attempt made by any individual or organization to give a comprehensive picture of the Negro under the New Deal. The Director believes that the statements are accurate and that the picture given is a true one.

Because of the vital importance of certain agencies, statements arc- given from the offices concerned. If read in connection with the report of the Special Investigator, a more complete understanding of these offices will be obtained.

W h a t now can the Fraternity do about the situation?

Each Chapter should make a special study of this report to see how the situation in each community may be improved.

It would be helpful if each Chapter would conduct an investigation of conditions in its neighborhood. A large number of these local investigations would permit the F r a t e r n i t y to make a contribution to history, unparalleled in the annals aternities.

Brother Porter's cover shows vast funds being poured into industry with the Xegro in the picture hut somewhat apart from it and the Negro college man studying the whole situation.

R. W . L.

INTRODUCTION ON THE NEW DEAL New Deal legislation resulted in the establishing of fifty odd Federal emergency organizations which were formed for t h e specific purpose of alleviating the economic and agricultural emergency. Each of these agencies, however, varies considerably in extent and duties. Some of them have definite functional duties, while others act in only an advisory capacity. Many of them have been created directly by statute, while others have been set up by executive order of the President under general authority conferred on him by law. T h e existence of some is limited by s t a t u t e ; others have indefinite life.

It is to be remembered that the office of Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia is no New Deal creation : that a Negro was appointed as an Assistant Attorney General for the first time under a Republican Administration, but that this is the first time that a Negro Democrat has been appointed to this place; that the Division of Negro Labor in the Department of Labor was originally organized during President Wilson's Administration as the Bureau of N e g r o Economics and that the same has been continued through all succeeding administrations, although the present Division of N e g r o Labor probably is engaged in more activities with a larger personnel than h e r e t o f o r e ; that the office of Negro Advisor in the D e p a r t m e n t of Commerce existed under the former Republican Administration although it had neither this dignified title nor as many employees as now.

T h e number of appointments with high-sounding titles but with little, if any, administrative responsibility, gives, however, a very inadequate picture of the Negro under the New ToKit Number of White

Agency

IVUip

Agricultural Adjustment Administration Central Statistical Board Commodity Credit Corporation Emergency Conservation Workâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Office of the Director Farm Credit Administration Federal Aviation Commission Federal Communications Commission Federal I >eposit Insurance Corporation Federal Alcohol Board Federal Coordinator of Transportation Federal Emergency Relief Administration Public W o r k s Administration Federal Surplus Relief Corporation Federal H o m e Loan Bank Board Home ( t u n e r s ' Loan Corporation Federal Housing Administration 1 livision of Subsistence Homesteads National Emergency Council National Labor Relations Board National Mediation Board National Re-employment Service National Recovery Administration Nation.i~ Resources Board Petroleum Administration _. traction Finance Corporation Securities and Exchange Commission Soil Erosion Service Tennessee Valley Authority Total

loyeea in Washington

Offices 4,900 26 68 65 2,050 20 355 259 115 182 900 2,092 358 315 2,210 1,137 150 (Approx.)

79 52 19 2,969 275 100 (Approx.)

1,572 425 153 16 20,862

Grand Total. W h i t e Employes Grand Total, Negro Employes

Total Number of White Bmployeea in Field Offices 1,242 12 4,715 608

1,963 15,151 1,100

900 1,658 25 806 9,147 37,327 58,189 294

Total Number of Negroes in Washington Office 100 None 2 1 App. 20 None 6 17 1 None 19 Unable to get No 2 Unable to get No. Cnable to get No, Unable to get No 12 6 None None None 12 2 9 65 16 4 None 294

N O T E ; Those organizations for which the total number of Negro employees was unobtainable have very few Negro employees with the possible exception of the Public W o r k s Administration.

The Deal. A more complete picture may be obtained from a comparison of the total number of Negroes employed in the New Deal. This is particularly true because almost all of these jobs with the exception of a few in the F a r m Credit Administration are not under Classified Code Service, but are strictly patronage jabs. Even the jobs of camp superintendents and camp foremen, the most lucrative civilian jobs in the Civilian Conservation Corps, are patronage jobs, but Negroes are barred from holding any of them in allNegro CCC Camps. And the appointees to these jobs are named by Congressmen.

Therefore the following statement shows the number of white and Negro employees in the Washington offices; also the number of white employees in the field offices but there was no way of ascertaining the number of Negroes employed in the field offices. A comparison between the two totals will give a true picture of the whole situation: It is to be hoped purpose in showing obtained under the the Negroes' future

that this report will serve some useful just how many jobs the Negroes have New Deal and as a basis for analyzing share in New Deal benefits.

OUTLINE OF THE DUTIES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE ADVISER ON THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF NEGROES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR T h e Adviser on the Economic Status of Negroes in the D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior is responsible to the Secretary.

His duties are to acquaint the Secretary with the effect of the agencies of the D e p a r t m e n t upon Negroes, to suggest measures intended to increase the benefits to Negroes under the various programs administered by the Secretary, and to integrate Negroes into the activities of the Department and the Public W o r k s Administration. In doing these things he is in constant touch with the Divisions of the Department of the Interior and with the Office of the Secretary.

T h e Adviser is also a consultant to the Housing Division of the P u b l k Administration.

T h e Adviser urges the appointment of qualified Negroes by the Department of the Interior, he observes the degree to which Negroes are being employed by the agencies under the Secretary's control and reports the conditions to the Administrator; he develops suggested lines of approach to assure a g r e a t e r degree of participation by Negroes in the programs of the agencies.

T h e Adviser reviews all projects of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads affecting Negroes. His purpose is to develop a well-rounded and sound program of participation for colored Americans in this program. In connection with housing, the Adviser on the Economic Status of Negroes, urges the appointment of Negro technical men, the inclusion of Negroes on local housing committees, the use of Negro labor on projects, and the selection of qualified Negroes for local management. As a consultant to the Housing Division he is constantly in touch with the housing program and attempts to expand the number of projects developed in N e g r o slum areas.

T h e r e are also certain matters of routine, such as answering letters seeking information, receiving and following up complaints of racial discrimination, and maintaining old and opening new employment opportunities for Negroes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Robert C. Weaver.

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Additional Statement Concerning the Office of Adviser on Negro Affairs, Department of the Interior This additional statement was not sent by Dr. Robert Weaver, but was obtained from another source. It criticises the report of the Special Investigator of the Alpha Phi Alpha F r a t e r n i t y on the following g r o u n d s : First, Dr. W e a v e r was first appointed as Associate Adviser. Second. the Office did not oppose the Bricks projects. Third, t h e issue that agricultural projects were illegal came up in connection with a white project and Public W o r k s . Fourth. it is not true that Dr. F o r e m a n is still dictating.

This additional statement also contains a comment made

by Dr. Clark F o r e m a n that "It is wrong to consider thai advisers are merely rubber-stamps because they have no executive authority. Advisers can do much to fight segregation, discrimination and general injustice. T h e r e are numerous instances which I could cite, where foresight on the part of an adviser and a m e m o r a n d u m to the right person have greatly improved conditions. It is the work of the Adviser to find the right person, to send the right memorandum and where necessary, to pursue an intelligent follow-up. Of course there is always the chance that the memorandum will be offset by other conditions over which an Adviser has no control. Nevertheless, it is an important job and I believe that our office, during the past year, has caused the economic status of our Negro citizens to be improved in a good many different ways . . . ."

This additional statement also points out that the Office of the Adviser on Negro Affairs in the Department of Interior "fought for more appointments of Negro professional and technical men in Interior Department.

Appointed since this office set u p : Dr. Robert C. W e a v e r , economist, now Adviser on Negro Affairs, in the Secretary's Office; Mr. William Hastie, assistant solicitor; Mr. T h e o philus Mann, P W A legal staff; Mr. John A. Lankford, architect, P W A ; Mr. John I'. Miirchison, economist, nowAssociate to the Adviser on Negro .Affairs; 0 . Victor Cools and Jesse Otis, economists in the Subsistence Homesteads Division; Messrs. Alonzo Brown and Hilyard Robinson, architects in the Subsistence Homesteads Division; Mr. Joseph H . B. Evans, Administrative Assistant to the Manager of the Subsistence Homestead Division; a number of stenographers and secretaries."

Moreover, "A great many school houses for Negroes have been made possible by the Public W o r k s fund, and most of them were pushed by this office.

"This office caused the Secretary to issue an order in September, 1933, that there should be no discrimination in public works labor. Office has investigated and caused to be investigated many reports of discrimination. As the outcome of numerous conferences, correspondence, etc., have made it possible that in the new contracts, as typified by those of Housing Division, discrimination is definitely described and it is recpiired that in the case of skilled labor, a percentage of total payment (based on population data) be paid to Negroes. Thus in the first Federal bousing development, this provision is included in the specifications for Techwood (white, Atlanta) and University (colored, Atlanta) projects." [For somewhat similar action by the Adviser on Negro Labor in the Department of Labor, see page 5.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;R. W . L.] The additional statement continues: "The Adviser has been in constant touch with the development of the H o u s ing Division. A member of his staff visited some ten cities in relation to the housing program. Today, of some 34 projects of slum clearance planned, 14 are in N e g r o areas,

4

The

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2 in mixed areas and 18 in white areas. H a s been succesful in getting Negroes on local sponsoring committees for housing, and use of N e g r o architects ; so that there is one as an associate architect in Chicago, on South Side project, one in a Southern city's project and in one instance, Negro architects are chiefly to be employed on a project.

"In Subsistence Homesteads, Adviser has urged provision for Negro homesteaders and policy to the effect that racial segregation should not be spread by F e d e r a l developments, Racial make-up of projects should take on the nature of the problem area. Negroes should participate in well-rounded program of rural and urban developments.

"In employment—succeeded in offsetting displacement of N e g r o elevator o p e r a t o r s ; worked for proper reclassification and salary increases of messengers'.

"Survey of Negro white-collar and skilled workers—this office first suggested the study and had Mr. Joseph H. B. Evans loaned to this office, with two other men, to make the preliminary plans. H a s worked constantly, and is still working, on this study.

"In PYVA, Interior Adviser worked ceaselessly for approval of worthy projects sponsored by Negroes. T h e fact that some were not approved was due to technical and financial difficulties which this office or P W A could not change."

Finally, the additional statement declared that "much of the work of this office, to be effective, must be kept confidential."

istration officially appointed to this Group by the Cabinet Officer or Administrator). T h e Adviser on Negro Affairs has served as chairman of the subcommittee on labor, which rendered a report on the subject of Negro labor for the benefit of cabinet officers and administrative heads of the emergency setups.

6. Took up with the F E R A , H O I . C . R F C , C W A , P W A , FCA, CCC, and T r e a s u r y Department (in connection with public building construction") numerous complaints from Negroes as to discrimination many of which have been adjusted.

7. Acted in many instances as liaison between Negro business and the Bureaus and Divisions of the Department, for example—the National N e g r o Business League in its effort to make a r r a n g e m e n t s for loans to Negro business enterprises; numerous lecturers, writers, and teachers in the field of business seeking Census material dealing With the N e g r o ; Supplied the Interracial Goodwill Aviation Committee with the names of N e g r o aviators holding pilot licenses for their own use and for the use of a foreign government which might he disposed to utilize the services of such pilots; Facts concerning various commodities, such as coffee importations and grading, chemical imports with countries of origin, etc.—sent at request from the respective commodity divisions to further the purposes of some Negro business interests. T h e office co-operated with Messrs.

Anderson and F o r s y t h e (Atlantic City Negro air pilots) in seeking the services of the Bureau of Air Commerce in completing their plans for their flight to the Caribbean.

WORK OF THE ADVISER ON NEGRO AFFAIRS OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

8. T h e Adviser has, on the invitation of Governor H e r b e r t Lehman of New York, and with the approval of Secretary Roper, served for a \ ear as a member of the New Y o r k State Planning Hoard, being assigned to tiie subcommittee on Social Trends.

9. As a result of a memorandum to the Secretary. Mr. Roper, indicating directions in which efforts could be successfully employed in securing work for capable Negroes, positions were found for them in the following capacities: investigators in the Rent S u r v e y ; tabulators, card-punchers, and verifiers under the Bureau of the Census (maximum number employed at the time, 537); housing investigators and clerks. (An estimate of 1,000 persons employed is con servative.)

10. T o acquaint the Negro public with activities conducted by the Federal Government to improve the economic status of its citizens, publicity on the Department's services has been sent out through the D e p a r t m e n t ' s Press Intelligence Service and sixty-one ( F e b r u a r y 23, 1935) public addresses on the services available through governmental agencies have been made by the Adviser in many cities (North and South) along the Atlantic Seaboard and as far W e s t as Kansas City, Mo. 11. Letters of complaint concerning t r e a t m e n t of Negroes in connection with nursery schools, employment of Negro adult education teachers, admission of Negro youths to Civilian Conservation Corps' camps, employment of Negro relief workers, and the employment of Negro physicians in relief activities, were referred to the proper authorities in the department and administrations to which they pertained for appropriate action. (Reports of adjustments have been received in each case.)

T h e office of Adviser on Negro Affairs, established November 1, 1933, was t h e outcome of a conference of ten prominent Negroes called together in September, 1933, by the Honorable Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce, to advise with him on t h e action which might he taken by the Federal Government to advance the economic life of the American Negro. This Negro Advisory Committee, which was made permanent, recommended the instituting of such services as would increase the N e g r o consumer's purchasing power and stimulate Negro business.

Following is a summary of the work accomplished: 1. Preparation of a bibliography on Negro business.

2. Information furnished on request of which the following are t y p e s : Retail distribution and occupational statistics (census data furnished); N e g r o hotels; theaters and motion picture houses catering to colored p a t r o n a g e ; Negro newspapers and magazines; Negroes in the field of a e r o n a u t i c s ; Consumer co-operatives; Negro insurance companies; Code hearings affecting N e g r o industry and Negro w o r k e r s ; N e g r o consumers' purchasing p o w e r ; convention dates of Negro organizations; Small business t r e n d s ; N e g r o manufacturers.

3. Held a series of conferences with officials of the F a r m Credit Administration proposing methods to reach the Negro population with the newly established Federal Credit Union and with officials of the Federal Housing Administration for the same general purpose.

4. A r r a n g e m e n t s were made with the Press Intelligence Division to subscribe for eighteen N e g r o newspapers and periodicals in order that the editorial opinion of the N e g r o press might be available to the Government officials directing the Recovery program.

5. The office worked with the I n t e r d e p a r t m e n t a l Group concerned with the Special Problems of Negroes (representatives from each D e p a r t m e n t and Recovery Admin-

12. Y o u n g men planning to go into business or to seek certain unusual types of jobs have consulted the office for information concerning the N e g r o population in certain localities, lines of business operated by Negroes in fields in which they sought openings, and suggestions as to best approaches to be made in seeking their goals.

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13. Persons preparing articles or addresses on the Recovery services available to the Negro have been furnished with data or briefs.

To sum up in a few words the activities of the office of Adviser on Negro Affairs of the Department ><i Commerce, effort has been made to serve, as far as possible, as a liaison between the N e g r o group and such governmental agencies as the Adviser could reach t o assure the Negro citizens a fair share of those benefits offered by their government to restore adequate purchasing power, to increase economic security and to make of every citizen a full participant in the resources of our common national heritage. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Eugene Kinckle Jones.

DIVISION OF NEGRO LABOR This Division was set up and so designated by the present Secretary of Agriculture, but it is to be remembered that this office existed previously under a different name. There was established during the late President Wilson's administration an office in the D e p a r t m e n t of Labor known as the Bureau of Negro Economics and this office has continued up to the present time with the exception that its name has been changed and possibly has been given more to do and as a result has been given three more people in the office. This is not the first time that a Negro has headed this, office for colored men were in charge during the H a r d i n g and CooHdge administrations, although they apparently were not so active as the present head.

T h e peculiar thing about this Division is that it is in the D e p a r t m e n t of Labor and therefore has no official connection with any of the N e w Deal Agencies which have in many ways to do with the placing of large numbers of unemployed people. As an official (white) in tin- National Reemployment Office, an emergency organization set up in the United States Employment Service of the Department of Labor, told me, "the Chief Division of Negro Labor clears through me, but he has no administrative responbility" . W h e n he asked me. as I went into his office to interview him concerning the operation of the National Reemployment Office as regards the Negro, whether I had seen the Chief of the Division of Negro Labor. I replied. " W h a t is the use since he has no administrative responsibility as you have just told me".

However, I decided to telephone the Chief of Division of N e g r o Labor for an appointment to talk to him about tinactivities of his office, and he told me that I had first to get a letter of permission from the Secretary of Labor to interview him regarding the activities and functional duties of his office. Having interviewed officials of more than fifty odd New Deal Agencies, none of whom had required me first t o get a letter either from the Secretary or the head of his office before he would consent to tell me what his duties are so far as the Negro race is concerned in connection with the operation of these Xew Deal organizations, I concluded that I could not consistently follow the order given by the Chief of Labor Bureau. Therefore it would be quite unfair to him to make a report on his office without first having given him an opportunity to tell me about his office and in wdiat connection it functions with respect to Negro labor under the Xew Deal. The information that I did get about his office was received from those not in his office, but from white officials who are in position to know just what the Division of Negro Labor can and what it cannot do.

5

SYNTHESIS MADE BY THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION OF VARIOUS DOCUMENTS SENT BY MR. LAWRENCE A- OXLEY, ADVISER ON NEGRO LABOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR T h e function of the Adviser on Negro Labor in the Department of Labor "is to advise the Secretary and the directors and chiefs of the several bureaus and divisions of the department on matters relating to Negro wage earners, and to outline and promote plans for greater co-operation between Negro wage earners, employers, and white workers". Since Negroes "constitute one-tenth of the total population of the nation, and about one-seventh of the working population, it was reasonable and just that they should have representation in the Department of Labor when matters affecting them were being considered and decided A major objective of the program of the Negro division is the improvement of employment and labor conditions among millions of Negro wage l a r n e r s " . Ifence. the Adviser on Negro Labor has begun the preparation of data showing "firms which employ Negroes and the capacities in which they are employed". This survey should also "show the firms that employ Negroes and arc willing to employ more of them in the future".

Moreover, "various studies have been planned for the Division of Negro Labor, and they include the Negro in organized labor, wage differentials under the Codes, the Negro in Federal railway legislation, the Negro in the steel industry, the Negro in personal and domestic services, and the Negro in governmental service. . . . It is rumored that the head of this Division has asked the Secretary of Labor to have the President issue an executive order as to Public W o r k s Administration projects, so that the use of Negroes on such projects will be in proportion to the ratio of uneinployables in that particular locality. It is hoped that some such protection for the N e g r o will receive favorable action and that contractors that discriminate shall not have preference in the awards".

The activities of the Adviser on Negro Labor during the five months preceding August 24, 1934. were given as follows: "The chief of the division of Negro labor has visited a large number of strategic centers in many States where Negro workers' problems were of pressing importance, and at each of the places visited informal conference and interviews were held with representative white and Negro citizens. These interviews and conferences established the first points of sympathetic contact for co-operation in subsequent efforts to improve labor conditions and race relations.

As a direct result of these field trips it is believed that there is great need for a positive program for the Negro wage earner for the purpose oi increasing his morale and to secure co-operation of local leaders to stimulate Negro workers by improving their condition in such a way as to increase their efficiency. These program objectives could be realized through a series of State meetings or conferences of white employers, Negro wage earners, and white wage earners.

In each State the Governor, Commissioner of Labor Director of the U. S. Employment Service, the F E R A and 1'WW Administrators would be invited to be present or send a representative.

Type of Activities " T h e organization of co-operative committees of white and colored citizens in the States and localities where problems of Negro labor arise, due to the large numbers of Negro workers.

The

6

T h e development of a publicity or educational campaign t o create good feeling between the races and to have both white and Negro citizens understand and co-operate with t h e purpose and plans of the department."

FEDERAL EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION This most important emergency organization was created

by Public Act No. 15, 73d Congress, approved May 12, 1933, and cited as "Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Act of 1933" t o distinguish it from the "Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932", which was created by Public Act No. 302, 72d Congress, approved July 21, 1932, during former President Hoover's Administration. " E m e r g e n c y Relief and Construction Act of 1932" was an Act "to relieve the destitute, to broaden the lending powers of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and to create employment by providing for and

expediting a public-works program."

But the "Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Act of 1933", approved May 12, 1933, was an Act "to provide for co-operation by t h e Federal Government with the several States :md T e r r i tories and the District of Columbia, in relieving the hardships and suffering caused by unemployment, and for other purposes". U n d e r the 1932 Act, $300,000,000 was made available to the several States and Territories, to be used in furnishing relief and work relief to needy and distressed people, and in relieving hardship resulting from unemployment, but not more than Ifi per centum of such sum was to be available to any State or Territory. And litis money was lent In the Slules with interest at the rate of three per centum per annum.

T h e $500,000,000 made available under the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933, however, was to be disbursed to the several States and Territories as grantsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;outright giftsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to aid in meeting the costs of furnishing relief and work relief and in relieving the hardship and suffering caused by unemployment in the form of money, service, materials, a n d / o r commodities to provide the necessities of life to persons in need as result of the present emergency, a n d / o r to their dependents, whether resident, transient, or homeless.

This fund was divided into two parts. Under Section 4 (b) of the Act the first $250,000,000 was made available for g r a n t s to the States on the basis of $1 to $3 of public moneys expended for unemployment relief in the State for the preceding quarter. The second $250,000,000 under Section 4 (c) was set up as a discretionary fund, from which g r a n t s could be made to those States whose relief needs were so great, or whose financial resources w i r e so depleted t h a t grants were necessary in addition to those available under sub-section (b).

It was not long, however, before the Federal Relief Administration was forced to deviate from this procedure.

A recent statement made by the Federal Relief Administ r a t o r shows that the average contribution by all States is 34.4 per cent. Some States and localities have not been able to pay that much of their relief bill, while other States have paid more. T h e following table shows the highest and lowest percentages contributed by States and localities over the twenty-one m o n t h s ' period ended October 1, 1934:

Sphinx Percentage of State ami Local Contribution State Massachusetts . 66.7% Connecticut . . 65.9% Delaware 65.3% New York 51. % California 46.3% Illinois 32.7% Indiana 39. % Iowa 44.6% Kansas 36. % Michigan 27.7% Minnesota 25.2% Missouri 23.1% New J e r s e y . . . . 44.3% Ohio 33.3% Pennsylvania .. 35.4%

Percentage of State and Local State Contribution Texas 32.7% Wisconsin . . . . 28.7% Alabama 4. % Arkansas 3.2% Florida 2.9% Georgia 8.9% Kentucky 9.8% Louisiana 6. % Mississippi 9ofl% North Carolina.

6.1% South Carolina 1.4% Tennessee 2.6% Oregon 9.8% Virginia 16.2%

President Roosevelt recently announced that "unemployables" will be transferred back to the States themselves to look after without any g r a n t s from the Federal Government. A glance at the figures above makes one wonder what would then become of the Negro "unemployables" in Southern States. Authentic information received by this writer is that Negro "unemployables" were taken off t h e relief rolls in Arkansas more than a year ago. Fortunately, it has now been announced that the former policy will be adhered to, at least temporarily.

T h e r e is one special point that cannot be stated too often with emphasis and that is that all N e w Deal legislation (enacted since the inauguration of President Roosevelt) strictly adhered to the Stales-Rights principle; that after receiving Federal grants the States were left "to go their own way" and they did go their own way. Federal power has attempted to overrule local authority in the administration of local relief funds with respect to t h e Negro, except in one instance, when attention was called to the practice in certain Southern communities of employing white teachers to teach Negro students in the emergency education projects and a memorandum was sent out stating that Negro teachers should always be employed to teach Negro pupils and Negro adults in States maintaining segregated school programs for the two races. Even that memorandum affords the State authorities a loop-hole in the provision which says "The chief purpose of the emergency education program is to give employment to qualified teachers," attentention being called to the word "qualified". And several of the emergency educational projects called for people of specialized training in these particular fields in which there were but a very few colored people so qualified.

Before commenting on the result of my investigations of this all important emergency organization, I should like to quote a few excerpts from the reports of the Federal Relief Administrator with respect to Negroes. In one of his reports he states that "Negroes were on relief in almost twice as great a proportion to their numbers in the population as were whites, bul in a few Slates with large Negro population, the proportion of whites on relief exceeded that of Negroes.

In all cities with appreciable Negro population, the proportion of Negroes on relief greatly exceeded that of whites.

The percentage of the urban Negro population receiving relief was three limes that of the urban white population.

However, the rural Negro and rural while population showed almost the same percentage.

Very largely as a result of the high urban Negro rate, the urban rate for all races combined exceeded lite rural rate."

The report further states that in Mississippi. Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia, the proportion of whites on relief was greater than the comparable proportion of Negroes. In Tennessee, the two races received relief in

The equal proportions. T h e District of Columbia showed the greatest disproportion between the two races on relief (the percentage of Negroes being almost ten times that for whites), with Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Indiana also ranking high. In four States—Ohio, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania—more than 35 per cent of the Negroes were on relief. Of these, only Florida had more than 10 per cent whites on relief.

It must have been that this report was brought to the attention of the Editor of The Washington Daily News, a Scripps-Howard paper, for he detailed three of his reporters to make a detailed investigation of the relief situation in the District of Columbia. The findings of the investigation were published in a series of daily articles in The Washington Daily News, under the caption—six inches, heavy black type—"The Magnitude of Relief", with each article covering the entire front page. This investigation, as stated in the articles, revealed the fact that a total of 72,000 people out of a total population of 500,000 were on relief; that 76 per cent of those eases on relief were colored; that 39 per cent of the total colored population was on relief (four out of every t e n ) ; and that a little more than 4 per cent' of the whites was on relief.

Shortly after the publication of these articles I called upon the head officer of the Emergency Relief Administration for the District of Columbia, and she reiterated some of the foregoing facts relative to the number of Negroes on relief in the District of Columbia. I asked her to tell me, if she could, or tell me where I could find out. the number of Negroes employed in an administrative capacity in the administration of relief among Negroes in the District. I asked her whether she would consider case workers as performing an administrative function, and she said, "no"— "that their work was a service charge". .Thereupon I inquired whether she could tell me the total number of colored people employed in the headquarters and its branch offices in the Emergency Relief Administration for the District of Columbia, and she replied that she did not know, although she did know that there are eight hundred employed; yet she did not know how many of them are colored nor was there any way of finding out, so she said. She further said that every applicant was appointed on basis of qualification and not on the basis of color; that there are ninety-one colored case workers out of a total of 250 — a very good percentage she t h o u g h t ; that Negroes got a better break here in the District on account of H o w a r d University and w i d e a w a k e Negro newspapers. But the most startling statement made during the course of conversation was this : "Colored (she never used the word Negro) case workers do not like to work under a colored supervisor and the colored supervisor of case workers had come to her and asked her to speak to the case workers." Commenting on the reason for this, she said. "You know that so many of the case workers are from t h e South, who still have that idea of white superiority, a thing which makes it r a t h e r difficult for a colored supervisor." I was so struck by this statement that I concluded it best to close the interview, and so I left wondering if this latter statement is true, what education is doing for some of the younger Negroes.

T h e Federal Relief Emergency Administration was set up in May, 1933, and it was not until about December, 1933, that any thought was given to having a N e g r o representative placed in this all important emergency organization. T h e man, who was finally appointed, did not remain in his position very long: he resigned after a few months and went back to his former work without stating the reason for his

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7

resigning. W h e n he—a man most eminently qualified to fill the position—was appointed he was designated as Director of Negro W o r k . 1 do know that this man wanted to do some really constructive work because I called on him long before this investigation was thought of and we discussed at length his plans. This man had selected a tentative group of experienced welfare workers to co-operate with him in the prosecution of his duties—if he had been assigned any. Some of the people he had in mind he told me, and I knew of their experiences and achievements in welfare work in some of the largest cities in this country. W h e t h e r the refusal of the higher ups to allow this man to surround himself with these experts was the reason he resigned I cannot say. One commendable thing about this man is the fact that he had more courage than those w h o sponsored him for the position. It must have been preposterous in the eyes of the higher-ups in the Federal Relief E m e r g e n c y Administration to have a staff of well-trained Negro men and women performing any functions in connection with the administration of relief funds throughout the States. So what h a p pened? W h e n this man resigned, his assistant was named as his successor, but he did not succeed to the title of Director of Negro W o r k . H e was designated as the Colored Assistant in the Correspondence Division.

To do w h a t ? T o act as a receiving clerk of the complaints coming in from Negroes regarding the maladministration of relief funds on the part of the local authorities—not actually to see that these complaints were run down and the injustices eliminated, but to communicate first with the office of the State Administrator of the State within which t h e complaint or complaints originated and ask him to m a k e the investigation. N o Negro was to have the authority to make the investigation, but to ask the white official to look into the m a t t e r and if he should find the facts to be true to take the necessary action.

This "Assistant" has an assistant and there is a stenographer w h o probably serves also the man who some months ago was appointed to publicize only the good things that the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administration is doing for the Negroes. But, if this colored publicity man, because of his juxtaposition to the desk of the colored assistant in the Correspondence Division, were only allowed to publish some of t h e letters that are received from Negroes, especially in the South, a vastly different story would be told about Negro relief. T h a t is the extent of Negro representation in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, with the exception of the Specialist in Educational Relief for Negroes, his "Assistant" and stenographer. Of course there are some employed in the mailing room, but the total number of Negroes employed in the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administration in W a s h i n g t o n is nineteen out of a total of one thousand employees. Today there is no longer a Director of N e g r o W o r k in this most important emergency organization—only a clerk t o receive the complaints of Negroes and his assistant; a publicity man and a stenographer, all of whom occupy one office. In another office a r e the "Assistant" to the Specialist in Educational Relief for Negroes and his stenographers. W h a t this educational " Vsistant" does will be explained later under the E m e r gency Education P r o g r a m .

T h e r e are many phases of relief under the direction of the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administrator. A majority of them were initiated by him, such as W r ork Relief in Education, Rural Rehabilitation, W o m e n ' s W o r k P r o g r a m and Self-Help Associations. Direct Relief is nothing more than a "dole", a contribution in cash or in kind for which

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the recipient makes no return. W h e n this emergency organization was set up there were all kinds of conditions existing among the relief offices in the States and an effort was made at once to remedy this chaotic condition. In some Slates the Administration found relief administered in cash, in others through grocery o r d e r s ; some States had work relief projects, while others were making a forced labor system, such as was set up in the South when the Red Cross was administering relief to Negroes. Then in those States which did have work relief projects, there was discovered a wide variation in hourly rates of pay. W h e r e the hourly rate was in accord with the prevailing local rate, the number of hours per week was usually so small that the total relief granted was inadequate.

While the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administration was trying to work out a nation-wide work relief program, conditions kept getting worse and in October 1933, there were about 3,000,000 families, or over 13,000,000 persons unemployed. Cognizant of the acuteness of the relief situation and realizing that some unsual method would be necessary to meet the unemployment crisis of the approaching winter, the President authorized the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator to inaugurate the Civil W o r k s P r o g r a m on November IS, 1933. It was originally intended that this Civil W o r k s P r o g r a m was to end in the spring. T h e Civil W o r k s P r o g r a m provided work at once for 4,000,000 unemployed persons on short-time public projects, paying them wages at t h e current rate. T h e $400,000,000 released by t h e F e d e r a l E m e r g e n c y Relief Administration to finance the plan was distributed among the States and the District of Columbia.

All persons on w o r k relief rolls were then transferred to the Civil W o r k s Administration and those who were not on relief rolls but unemployed were given jobs through the office of the United States Employment Service. Then there was established the Civil W o r k s service program for those persons on relief who were not qualified for work that fell within the scope of the Civil W o r k s P r o g r a m proper. A large part of the work of the W o m e n ' s Division has been concerned with Civil W o r k s service projects. All types of projects were initiated for the purpose of giving both .'killed and unskilled unemployed persons work relief under the Civil W o r k s P r o g r a m .

T h e Federal Civil W o r k s Administration which had been created by Executive Order of the President on November 9, 1933, was suspended on M a r c h 31, 1934, and work divisions were organized throughout the country to continue in operation projects considered desirable. Persons employed in work divisions were selected on a basis of need, with not more than 24 hours of work a week, at a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour.

Emergency

Education

Program

On August 19, 1933, the Federal Relief Administrator authorized t h e use of funds of the F. E. R. A.—abbreviated designation for this organization—for the hiring of unemployed teachers. At first the employment of teachers was limited to rural schools that could not open in the fall because of depleted school funds, and for the teaching of adults who could not read or w r i t e ; but about the latter part of September of the same year, authority was given to extend the use of the F . E. R. A. funds to employ teachers for classes in general adult education and vocational education and classees for the rehabilitation of the pin sically handicapped. On October 23 the authorizations were further extended to cover the payment of qualified and unemployed teachers and other workers on relief who are

Sphinx needed to organize and conduct nursery schools under t h e control of public school systems.

At first the State departments of education, together with other legally constituted State educational officials, mapped out the educational program contemplated under "work r e l i e f and were assisted by the United States Office of Education and the Federal Board for Vocational Education T h e general purpose of "work relief" in education is to provide socially constructive activities to numerous other persons.

T h e number of teachers to be employed under this emergency education p r o g r a m was fixed at 40.0(H) for the entire country. "The individual quotas to the States and Territories were determined from the Civil W o r k s quotas. Since 40,000 is l/75th of 3,000,000, the quota assigned to each States is 1 /75th of the Civil W o r k s quota previously announced." If there were no secrecy as to the total number of teachers assigned to each State, I am at loss to account for the refusal of the Director of the Emergency Educational P r o g r a m to allow me to see the State quotas on record in his office—although he had agreed to let me see them until I told him in answer to his repeated inquiries what I wanted with them. W h e n I informed him that I wanted to find out how many colored teachers there are, he said: " W h y , don't you know Dr. Caliver?" (referring to the Specialist in Educational Relief for Negroes). "He has an office on this floor," he continued and immediately got up from his desk and requested me to accompany him to this gentleman's office. W h e n we got there, no one was in since it was lunch hour. T h e Director then said to me, "Dr. Caliver has a copy similar to mine and I am sure he will let you have it to abstract the figures you desire, and I wish you would give me that copy you have made". T h e Director had already permitted me to make copy from his office copy, because as aforesaid he did not know that I was colored or did not realize that I was trying to find out how m a n y colored persons were being employed in each S a t e under the emergency educational program.

Nevertheless I called upon the Specialist in Educational Relief for Negroes and told him the incident related above, but I could not ask him to give me data which his superior in office had denied me. This gave me an opportuunty to ask him how he first became identified with t h e emergency educational program and whether he had been drafted without any solicitation on his part. H e told me that as soon as he heard about the educational program he went over to the F. E. R. A. (he is an official of the Office of Education in the Department of the Interior) to make inquiries concerning the program in question; and that he just kept "butting in" until he was invited to come over and was given the office of Specialist in Educational Reliei for Negroes. Shortly thereafter he was given an assistant who helped in notifying the members of his Advisory Committee on Education for Negroes, all the college presidents, the Urban Leagues, the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W . C. A., the County and H o m e Demonstration Agents and many prominent colored leaders in all walks of life. H e told me that he mailed out over 40,000 pieces of literature and drew up a splendid summary of the emergency p r o g r a m and sent that out. T h e r e was no question that the Negroes were told about the emergency educational program. It was in December, 1933, t h a t Dr. Caliver was appointed by this Director of

Emergency Educational Program—which was about the time that the Federal Relief Administrator had announced t h a t $2,000,000 had been e a r m a r k e d to be spent every month

The in employing unemployed and qualified teachers to carry on the six different emergency educational projects.

I asked the Specialist in Educational Relief for Negroes whether colored teachers were getting an even hrcak, and he replied that the same disabilities that existed before the emergency educational program was started exist jiow.

However, he has endeavored to remedy these disabilities by bringing to the attention of the proper authorities any cases of discrepancies and injustices in the administration of the program as revealed through correspondence or otherwise, and that he has tried to keep unemployed teachers informed as to the necessary procedure to be followed in securing jobs under the emergency educational program.

Having not yet secured the data for which I was seeking, I decided to go to the Division of Research and Statistics where perhaps I might be successful. I asked to see tinstatistics compiled from the reports sent in by the States every month showing the number of teachers working in the various educational projects. In the first place, the monthly reports sent in by the State Relief Administrators do not break the figures down to show how many are colored and how many are whiteâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the reports showing only total figures for the persons working on each emergency educational project. However, I spent a whole afternoon in the statistical division copying the October, 1934, report for all the States, and this report gives the total number of persons in each State, segregated as to projects, and the wages and salaries paid under each of the projects for that m o n t h ; also the number of persons working in an administrative capacity and their salaries. But to give those figures here would not be of any material benefit nor help in determining the number of Negroes so employed in each State.

It was on December 6, 1933, that the Federal Relief Administrator announced that $2,000,000 per month had been e a r m a r k e d for emergency educational program. But this money is to be paid out only from August 1 to April 1, so the official in t h e Division of Research and Statistics informed me. H e also told me that a white educator out of N e w York had been into his office for the same purpose as I â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to find out how many N e g r o teachers were being employed. And to this date there are no available statistics.

It is true that a release was sent out stating that 10,636 colored teachers in rural schools had been employedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but there was an additional relief fund, separate from t h e original $2,000,000 per month allotment, made available by the Administrator around F e b r u a r y 2, 1934. And it was out of this additional fund t h a t these 10,636 colored teachers were paid. The Administrator in making this additional allocation said: "These additional funds are over and above the $2,000,000 per m o n t h at present allocated to the emergency educational programs, and will be under the same administrative set up as the other educational projects under the approved State plans." A n o t h e r thing to which attention may be called is the monthly salary to be paid teachers under these emergency educational programs. T h e monthly salaries were for the most cases fixed at $60.00 per month, but whether N e g r o teachers were paid this basic monthly salary cannot be stated. The office of Specilaist in Educational Relief for Negroes gets no reports from the Division of Research and Statistics showing the number of persons employed monthly, and no request has been made for any reports as to the number of Negroes employed in each State on each emergency educational project.

Two of the educational projects initiated by the Federal Relief Administrator required the services of people who

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had special training for these particular projects, namely, N u r s e r y Schools and W o r k e r s ' Education. In fact, t h e r e were then very few white people who had had this special kind of training.

In order to p r e p a r e teachers for W o r k e r s ' Education, sixteen training centers were established by the Federal Relief Administrator. There was one set up for colored teachers at Atlanta University, in Atlanta, Georgia, where forty colored teachers were given special training to fit them as teachers of W o r k e r s ' Education, and a similar school was conducted in Washington, D. C. At the present time t h e r e are Supervisors of W o r k e r s ' Education in the following sixteen S t a t e s : California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, N o r t h Dakota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

If an analysis is made of the following table, showing the total number of persons employed in W o r k e r s ' Education, it will be seen that very few Southern States have made any effort to develop this particular emergency educational project : State

Arizona Colorado Idaho Michigan Nevada N e w Mexico . . .

N o r t h Carolina .

Ohio Pennsylvania . . .

South Carolina .

Tennessee Utah W e s t Virginia ..

Wisconsin Wyoming

Total Number of Persons Working Under Workers' Education

2 10 4 33 1 1 5 9 4 73 11 6 43 5 6

Salaries

$ 201.50 272.42 171.00 369.50 114.00 100.00 222.50 474.32 313.60 3,590.54 616.00 232.00 1.893.24 195.00 303.64

T o t a l . ..

213 N o t e : This report is for October, 1934.

It might be well to mention now about the resident schools and educational camps for unemployed women. T h e r e have been resident schools for unemployed women in quite a few States, but they were operated from private funds. H o w ever, in May, 1934, the Federal Relief Administrator announced that "Federal relief funds, over and above all existing commitments, may be obtained for the establishment of certain types of resident schools and educational camps and unemployed women, provided the proposed schools meet certain requirements, and t h e State Relief Administrators are able to obtain suitable buildings and camp sites and equipment, rent free. Federal funds may be used in connection with schools for the maintenance of students, salaries of unemployed teachers and staff members at prevailing rates of pay, payment of qualified director, unkcep of buildings, classroom materials. During the past summer there were twenty-eight resident schools and summer camps for unemployed women. T w o of these camps were for unemployed colored women, one of which was located at Highland Beach, Maryland.

As regards the Nursery Schools, the procedure followed in getting this kind of emergency educational work started was somewhat different. In the first place there were only ten experts in the whole United States who were qualified to organize N u r s e r y Schools, and these ten people were sent around the United States with their salaries and expenses paid from a private g r a n t in order that they might organize and train people for Nursery Schools. These schools are operated in connection with the public schools, but they a r e

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not intended to displace the kindergarten. At the present time there are 1,582 Nursery Schools in the United States, on December 1, 1934, as follows : Alabama Arizona California Arkansas Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana

30 63 15 19 25 .

10 43 30 102 35 50 20 94 4 10 20 232 125 36 8 20 17

Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New J e r s e y New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio < )klahoma (tregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

IS 3 14 23 52 13 40 15 17 78 8 2 14 38 20 1 14 50 20 48 15 4

It can be readily seen that there are more of these schools than of W o r k e r s ' Schools. Just how many of these a r e N u r s e r y Schools for colored cannot be accurately stated.

I do know that there are eleven of these schools for colored children in Georia; five in the District of Columbia, where t h e r e is a colored supervisor; fifteen in N o r t h Carolina, and five in W e s t Virginia. Beginning the first of October, 1934, each State was to have a State Supervisor of Nursery Schools w h o did not have to be on the relief rolls in order to be eligible for the position.

Then there is the P a r e n t Education program for which provision was made in the State and local emergency education programs. In looking over the reports of the Division of Statistics, I found that only a few States had put much emphasis on P a r e n t Education, Michigan and W e s t Virginia showing greatest interest in the development of this phase of emergency education. Of course, the teachers of P a r e n t Education are not limited to unemployed teachers but include persons with a college education or professional experience, w h o have the respect and confidence of the community in which they live.

Attention is also called to the fact that the emergency education program called for employing teachers for adult education in prisons. Inasmuch as it takes persons with rare ability to conduct educational classes in prisons, it is quite likely that a large number are not so employed.

Then again opportunities were given relief teachers in rural communities to co-operate with the rural rehabilitation program of the Federal Relief Administration. Vocational teachers in agriculture and home economics were utilized in advancing the rural rehabilitation program.

So much publicity has been given about the Student-Aid p r o g r a m that it is not considered necessary to discuss it at length, except to say that this is one phase of the emergency education program in which Negroes apparently are showing a great deal of interest, although only about 4,000 colored students out of a total of 100,000 are receiving aid. It is known exactly how many colored students are receiving aid, but no one knows how m a n y are being employed as teachers in all the different emergency educational programs.

Rural Rehabilitation

Program

About March, 1934, the Federal Relief Administrator notified all State Relief Administrators to discontinue relief in rural areas and to sumbit plans for rural rehabilitation. T o carry out this particular program there was set up the Division of Rural Rehabilitation and Stranded Populations in charge of one of the Assistant Administrators.

T h e plan was to enable rural families on relief to become self-supporting. To determine the best and most rapid method of rehabilitating these families a survey was made of the entire country by six of the nation's outstanding sociologists (none of whom was colored), and their work was co-ordinated by the Director of Rural Social Organization, New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University.

T h e purposes of the survey were as follows: " T o classify rural families now receiving relief in terms of their likelihood of becoming self-supporting; to make an estimate of economic and social resources immediately available or potential, which might be used for rehabilitation of rural families; to collect information as to how the families receiving relief and the resources available now are being or may be associated so as to result in evental self-support for those now in distress; to make estimates of the extent to which local policies for granting relief play a part in determining the amount of relief given, and the composition of the population to which it is allowed."

Rural Rehabilitation Conferences were held in April, 1934, in W a s h i n g t o n , D. C , for New England and Middle Atlantic States, and in Indianapolis, Indiana, in May, of the same year, for M i d - W e s t e r n States. State Relief Administrators, State Directors of Extension Service, Directors of W o m e n ' s W o r k and representatives from the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and Emergency Relief Administration attended these conferences.

Immediately following these conferences the States began sending in their rural rehabilitation programs. I spent an entire afternoon in the office of the Rural Sociologist of the Division of Rural Rehabilitation and Stranded Populations going through the various State programs. I never saw so many diverse p r o g r a m s as were submitted by the different States. Most of the programs had been submitted by the Southern States, although I came across one from the State of Connecticut that attracted my attention. Inasmuch as the rural rehabilitation program included a program for "stranded populations", the State of Connecticut had submitted a program for rehabilitating the "stranded populations " of Ansonia, Derby, and Shelton, industrial cities of that State. In the program submitted the following was n o t e d : "Stranded industrial population is largely H u n garian, Poles, and Italians." N o mention was made of Negroes, of whom a large number live in Ansonia.

South Carolina's tentative program s t a t e d : "All to whom assistance is given are first approved by the County Social Service Organization as fit people with whom to work.

First list of clients comes from the present relief rolls.

Others who are eligible or are about to become eligible but are not on the rolls are investigated and those suitable certified by the Social Service authorities. After the Social Service Organization has made its certification, a local committee of substantial farmers must approve the clients. Then further after a client has been approved both by the Social Service and the Local Committee, he must still be approved by the rural rehabilitation authorities."

The Louisiana proposed program says : "A. Share Croppersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are not eligible for participation in the rural rehabilitation except for relocation or for treatment under a lease

The

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not less than one year on a tenant basis, on a given acreage of land, which a r r a n g e m e n t must be manifestly fair. B. Tenantsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are eligible for participation only after a satisfactory contract on a long-term lease has been made. C. Wage Handsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;eligible under the same conditions as tenants."

Planning Division of the Subsistence Homesteads, a real worth-while program for rural industrial communities might be accomplished for Negroes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; provided there would not exist two schools of t h o u g h t as to how and where they are to be established.

Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas submitted elaborate p r o grams. Alabama was the only State which had named one of its most prominent citizens, an outstanding Negro, as a member of its State Rural Rehabilitation Board.

F . E. R. A. Grants for Rural Rehabilitation through December 28, 1934, total $28,044,063 and allocated among the following States as hereinafter indicated:

Uniform procedures have now been established by the Federal Relief Administrator for all States. T h e r e was established in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration the Agricultural Rehabilitation Section to serve in co-ordinating the program of rural rehabilitation. Cases for rural rehabilitation are now selected or recommended by the Social Service Division of each State to the Rural Rehabilitation Division. These cases may receive either financial or advisory aid or both or neither. In order to carry out the financial and business transactions of rehabilitating individuals and families, a rural rehabilitation corporation has been established in twenty-one States. T h e functions of the rural rehabilitation corporation will be confined to holding title to or liens against all real property and advances made by the corporation; maintaining adequate accounts and records, including accounts receivable; receiving repayments of obligations and any other such legal or business transactions as are necessary for the proper conduct of the corporation within and in accordance with its charter.

Alabama $3,300,000 Arizona 47,000 Arkansas 1,740,000 California 14,000 Colorado 325,000 Connecticut 65.-i.i5 Delaware Dist. of Columbia Florida 900,000 Georgia 2,100,875 Idaho 224,040 Illinois 250.000 Indiana 200.000 Iowa 242,040 Kansas 538,395 Kentucky 60,000 Louisiana 2,104,463 Maine 300,000 Maryland Massachusetts . . .

83.930 Michigan 337,000 Mississippi 1.510,648 Missouri 791,650 Minnesota 380,220 Montana 43,200

Under the rural rehabilitation program rural families on relief are given an opportunity to buy land with cash advanced by the rural rehabilitation corporation and they are given thirty-five years in which to repay the money upon an amortized p l a n ; buildings, equipment and improvements, within a period covering lease or useful life; livestock, within a period of three y e a r s ; subsistence or any goods consumed in the course of a year, should be repaid within a year from date of advance. In general, maturities and amortization payments are set in accordance with estimated times of receipt of income of the client, either monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. The corporation retains title to or lien against all advances until paid for. T h e r e is no reason why Negroes, if given the opportunity under this plan, cannot rehabilitate themselves, especially since the Government supplies the cash to buy the land, the livestock, equipment and other necessities.

I was informed that out of the 600,000 rural families on relief at this date 116,000 families have been rehabilitated.

How many of them are colored can not be said. But since the administration of the funds under the rural rehabilitation program is in the hands of the State authorities, it is for them to decide who are eligible. Then, too, with no N e g r o occupying any sort of position in the Division of Rural Rehabilitation, there is no Negro representation in this particular Division of the Federal Relief Administration.

But if there were one or more and they had no more r e sponsibility than most of the others, it is as good that there a r e none.

There a r e fifty-three rural industrial communities for which land has been either bought or optioned. T h r e e of these rural industrial communities have families established on them. They are located at Woodlake, T e x a s ; Osceola, Arkansas, and Red House, W e s t Virginia. It is said that a rural industrial community for Negro families taken from relief rolls has been approved in Georgia and is approaching the stage of actual construction. Probably if young colored men of technical training were employed as they are in the

Nebraska $ 517,800 Nevada 97,000 New Hampshire .

84,000 New Jersey 116,904 New M exico 130,000 New York 60,569 North Carolina .. 1 ,250,000 N o r t h D a k o t a . ..

125,000 Ohio 1 ,562,000 Oklahoma 588,000 Oregon 137,000 Pennsylvania . . . .

30,000 Rhode Island . . . .

South Carolina . . 850.000 South D a k o t a . . . . 1,101,000 Tennessee 356,000 Texas 2,690,350 Utah 81,656 Vermont 257,000 Virginia 350,000 Washington 311,500 W e s t Virginia . . . 358,000 Wisconsin 500,000 Wyoming 221,000

The rural rehabilitation program was designed especially to help rural families to become self-supporting; and t h e rural families for whom rehabilitation is intended are those rural families who are not in position to get financial assistance because they have no collateral to offer as security for the money advanced them by any of the Government agencies functioning under the F a r m Credit Administration.

It is intended primarily for rural families that have nothing and for "stranded families" living in industrial communities that they have little hope or prospect of reemployment at a living wage in their present locations.

It is unquestionable that large numbers of Negro rural families and Negro "stranded" populations could be helped immeasurably, were there any definite program for the Negroes in America mapped out and vigorously prosecuted.

For what hope is there for people whose average monthly relief benefits are $9.79 per family in Kentucky, less than $10.00 per family per month in Tennessee, $10.00 per family per month in Mississippi, and $10.00 per family per month in Oklahoma? But in Louisiana, the average monthly benefit per family is $24.25, and if the Negroes are getting an even break they are being given more consideration in this m a n ner in Louisiana than in any other Southern State.

Transient P r o g r a m U n d e r Section 4 (c) of the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933, the Federal Relief Administrator is given authority to make additional g r a n t s to States applying therefor to "aid needy persons who have no legal settlement in any one State or community".

The transient division of the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Adiministration was set up in July, 1933, and the States advised of the availability of these funds and that a qualified person to act as State transient director (to be approved by t h e Administrator) should be appointed. In the beginning t h e States evidenced very little interest in this phase of the relief program and the Federal Relief Administrator was

12

The

forced to arouse the interest on the part of most States in the m a t t e r of transient relief.

Today there are State Transient Directors in every State in the country except Vermont. Practically all of these States have Reference Centers and T r e a t m e n t Centers and quite a few of t h e States have one or more transient Camps. T h e transients in the camps are engaged in many activities, such as repairing and maintenance of transient camps and shelters, cooking, cleaning, laundering, and clerical w o r k ; direction of recreational activities, t e a c h i n g ; working on farms and gardens, furniture m a k i n g ; sewing and repairing of s h o e s ; and many others.

T h e r e are separate Negro transient camps located in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Arizona, and Kentucky. T h e camp located at Bettsville, Maryland, has a colored supervisor and his assistant, both of whom are young university graduates, and they are doing a fine piece of work for the N e g r o transients at this camp.

T h e y have named the camp Camp Hopkins, in honor of th_Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administrator.

T h e most regrettable feature about the whole organization in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration is that there is no colored woman of experience, training, social welfare background, occupying any position. W h y there has been no thought given to N e g r o women's representation in this important organization is incomprehensible.

I wish to make this one point definitely clear, and that is t h e Federal Emergency Relief Administration does not expend money directly for relief p u r p o s e s ; its direct expenditures are for administrative purposes. Grants are made to the S t a t e Relief Agencies, which in turn disburse the money or allocate it to minor civil divisions. Control is exercised through a group of nine field examiners who have helped the State organizations to set up their books, and w h o advise the Administrator regarding conditions. If the State Administrator is unsatisfactory, the m a t t e r is reported to the Governor of the State. In only a few States has the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administrator appointed a Federal State Administrator.

Therefore it is plainly seen that the administration of relief funds given to each State by the Federal government is entirely in the hands of State and other local authorities: and that the Federal power has not been used to override local authority except in about two States, N o r t h Dakota and Oklahoma, where the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administration has direct supervision of the disbursement of relief funds.

PUBLIC WORKS EMERGENCY HOUSING CORPORATION This corporation was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on October 28, 1933, and an amended certificate of incorporation filed under the laws of the State of Delaware on November 21, 1933. It was authorized under Title 11, National Industrial Recovery Act (Public Act No. 67, 73d Congress, approved on J u n e 16, 1933) and by Executive Order of the President issued on November 29, 1933.

This corporation was formed primarly for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and operating housing projects for people in the lower-income groups. Low-cost housing and slum clearance projects are authorized under the Act with the view to provide low-rental, sanitary housing for lowerincome groups, for which modern, sanitary housing is not

S p h i n x available. These projects are to be undertaken, where substantial needs for housing exist and where these needs for housing cannot be met through the operations of limited dividend corporations, or where no properly constituted housing authority exists. T h e corporation does not m a k e loans.

A total of $150,000,000 was earmarked out of the Public W o r k s Administration's appropriation of $3,700,000,000 for t h e construction of slum clearance projects to be erected by the Government. T h e r e have been allocations of $19,155,487.46 for private projects to be erected by the limited dividend corporations.

U p to the present time $127,564,500 has been allocated or made available out of the total $150,000,000 earmarked for slum clearance, most of which has been budgeted t o approximately thirty-nine projects. Of these thirty-nine projects the Housing Division of the Public W o r k s Administration announces that money has been allocated for seven N e g r o slum clearance projects as hereinafter described: Location—Allotment

Status

CHICAGO—$25,000,000 — Out of this total allotment a "portion" will be used for a 35-acre project on South Side to accommodate 1,400 families.

Condemnation proceedings started.

ATLANTA—$2,100,000—To provide 617 living units to consist of 2 and 3-story flats and row houses.

Demolition of exi s t i n g buildings completed.

Condemnation proceedings started on J a n u a r y 18, 1935.

Demolition started.

CLEVELAND—$2,838,000 — T o cover the area bounded by Scoville and Woodland Avenues between Fortieth and Fifieth Streets.

INDIANAPOLIS—$3,000,000—To provide for 1,044 living units of 1, 2 and 3-story flat buildings and a p a r t ments.

CINCINNATI—$6,000,000—Out of this total allotment 1,950 living units will be built for both colored and white.

Option started.

work

DETROIT—$6,000,000—Total allotment for both colored and white projects. Size dependent upon extent of site acquired.

Option started.

work

MONGOMERY, ALA. — $320,000 — To provide 160 row houses.

W A S H I N G T O N , D. C—$4,300,000.

Demolition completed.

Canceled by P u b lic W o r k s Administrator because price of land too high.

T h e r e was set up in the Public W o r k Administration the Housing Division to carry through the Slum Clearance p r o gram, because most of the low-cost housing is being done by the limited dividend corporations which are private corporations which have borrowed the g r e a t e r part of their capital from the Public W o r k s Administration. T h e r e a r e eight of these limited dividend corporations—all of which are white—and they are engaged in constructing low-cost housing projects in N e w York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Alta Vista, Va. T h e r e a r e seven stages through which a project has to go before it is actually completed. First there is the initiating and recommending of the project; then the land acquisition at which time the site is selected and surveyed, photographed from an airplane, etc.; then the drawing of plans by archit e c t s ; condemnation proceedings; demolition; construction; management.

If there is anything about which even the Negroes w h o are supposed to occupy positions of importance in this organi-

The zation are kept in the dark, it is these projects for slum clearance. I base the foregoing statement on the strength of the fact that the office of "Adviser on the Economic Status of N e g r o e s " in the Public W o r k s Administration evidently did not know that the Cleveland, Ohio, project was strictly a segregated all-Negro project, because apparently there had been no protest registered by him; or if there had been, it must not have had the same force and effect as when this same office protested against segregated or all-Negro subsistence homesteads projects.

Not only is it a fact that the Negroes in the Housing Division not only do not know any of the details concerning Negro slum clearance projects, but there is not one Negro employed anywhere in the Housing Division who functions in any manner with the development of the Negro slum clearance projects. It is true that there is a colored attorney in t h e Legal Division to whom contracts are referred, and there is a N e g r o employed as architectural engineer who seemed to be proud of the fact that he was not employed to look after Negro projects, as he told me when I interviewed him to find out the nature of his duties. I have yet to find out what he does. In the offices where t h e white architects and architectural engineers are busy, they are working on blue prints and at drafting t a b l e s ; but I have yet to see the first blue print on the desk of the colored architectural engineer.

The situation is not only ridiculous, but lamentable. Negro projects are being initiated and not even the Negroes employed in the Housing Division know anything about them until the Press or Public Information Bureau is ready to announce them. Not only that, they are blind to the plans that are being drawn up at this time relative to the management of these slum clearance projects. And the Negroes in Cleveland did not know that the project there for them was an all-Negro segregated project until it was announced and condemnation proceedings had been started. Condemnation proceedings are the last step next to demolition and construction, and the Cleveland project had gone through lour stages as outlined above before it was known that the Government had approved a segregated project in Cleveland, Ohio.

S p h i n x

13

the Public W o r k s Administration told me that there is a N e g r o on the Architectural Committee in Chicago, but that he did not know of any others.

It is true that the slum clearance projects have been developed rather slowly because, no doubt, of land prices and the absence of adequate legal procedure for obtaining land from recalcitrant owners. Recently the United States District Judge at Louisville, Kentucky, held against the Government in a suit filed there by one of the land owners whose land the Government sought to condemn for a slum clearance project: and this project will have to await t h e outcome of the hearing before the Supreme Court of the United States to which tribunal the Government has appealed the Louisville action.

While in one of the offices of the Housing Division, I saw a chart called the Projects Status Chart, and on it I noted a slum clearance project for Negroes at Nashville, Tennessee, on which quite a bit of work apparently has been done. But before I could finish examining the chart one of the officials wanted to know for what purpose I was examining the said chart.

Possibly I may be allowed to venture a suggestion, and that is t h i s : Negroes should have more representation in the Housing Division of the Public W o r k s Administration.

PETROLEUM ADMINISTRATION This is an t m e r g e n c y organization created by Executive Order issued on July 14, 1933, and D e p a r t m e n t a l Order of the Department of the Interior, dated September 11, 1933, under authority of Public Act No. 67, 73d Congress, approved J u n e 16, 1933.

The purpose of this organization is to promote conservation of the petroleum resources of the United States and to stablize the petroleum industry by restricting production to the extent necessary to balance consumer demand for petroleum products, and by eliminating wasteful and unfair competitive practices. It is the duty of the Petroleum Administration to advise and m a k e recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior as the Administrator of the code of fair competition for the petroleum industry, and to perform such administrative functions as may be detailed to it by the Secretary of the Interior.

During one of my earlier interviews with the representative of the Public B t r e a u of Information of the Public W o r k s Administration concerning the first project for Cleveland, I asked him where the project was to be located in Cleveland. H e told me between Cedar and Central Avenues, Twentieth and Thirtieth Streets. I said t o him that this project evidently is a colored project and he replied that it is a white slum clearance project. I replied that more colored people are living in that area in Cleveland today than whites and I asked him whether there was to be a colored project.

I was then told that one was proposed for the area bounded

by Scoville and Woodland Avenues, Fortieth and Fiftieth Streets. I recalled that before I left Cleveland it was proposed to make Central Avenue (where there are many Negro places of business as well as residences) a boulevard from down-townâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;so that there will no doubt be a wide boulevard between the white slum clearance project and the colored one.

This Corporation was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on October 4, 1933. It is a non-profit Corporation with no capital stock and the incorporators and members are restricted to the persons holding the offices of Secretary of Agriculture, Federal Emergency Administrator of Public W o r k s and Federal Emergency Relief Administrator.

T h e r e arc a total of 4,055 employees in the Public W o r k s Administration, of whom 2,092 are in the W a s h i n g t o n office and 1,963 in the field offices. It can be plainly seen that these slum clearance projects no doubt necessitate the employment of a large number of people in those cities where projects are proposed, such as architects, lawyers and others.

The representative in the Public Bureau of Information of

T h e purpose of this Corporation is to bridge the gap between the destitute unemployed and surpluses of basic farm commodities. Its chief function is to purchase surplus commodities and distribute them in form of edible foodstuffs among the needy. This emergency organization distributes pork, beef, butter, cheese, grain, flour, fuel, bedding and other commodities required in caring for the destitute

Of the one hundred or more employees in this organization there are nine colored.

FEDERAL SURPLUS RELIEF CORPORATION

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The

Sphinx

unemployed. Allotments of surplus commodities are given to the needy on relief rolls in addition to the amounts of relief they are already receiving.

T h e distribution however, of the surplus commodities among persons on relief rolls is a State responsibility. T h e transportation of relief supplies to specified distribution centers within the States is paid for by the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation.

The State relief administrations are required to monthly reports giving the following information:

render

1. The number of families to whom commodity t i c k e t for each specified commodity were issued during the month.

2. T h e total quantity represented by commodity tickets for each specified commodity issued during the month.

A Land Division has been set up in the Corporation t<> work with the Department of Agriculture, the Department to the Interior and other interested Government agencies for the purchase of marginal lands in the United States and to carry forward a program for the resettlement of people now living on these lands.

There is a total of 338 employees in the General A d m i n i s trative offices of this organization in Washington. Two of them are colored, employed as messengers, who sit at the information desk as you enter the door of the building that houses this organization. O n e of the young colored men asked, during a conversation with him. "Do you think there is any chance of getting any more colored people employed in this office"?

EMERGENCY CONSERVATION WORK This emergency organization was authorized by Public Act No. 5, 73rd Congress, approved March 31, 1933, for the purpose of supervising the operation of the Civilian Conservation Corps forest camps established in accordance with the provisions of the aforesaid Act. An Executive Order issued on April 5, 1933. provided for the appointment of a Director of Emergency Conservation Work, who was authorized to select assistant directors and the necessary personnel for the carrying out of the work. T h e same Executive Order further provided that "the Secretary of W a r , the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Labor each shall appoint a representative and said representatives shall constitute an Advisory Council to the Director of Emergency Conservation Work". By this Executive Order co-operation between the Emergency Conservation W o r k and those four governmental agencies was established. At subsequent meetings between the Director of Emergency Conservation W o r k and members of the Advisory Council, the functions that could be best performed by the co-operating agencies were broadly mapped out.

Before discussing the organization and operations of the Civilian Conservation Corps, let us see who compose the Emergency Conservation Work Organisation.

T h e Executive Order authorizing t h e appointment of a Director also authorized said Director to select assistant directors and the necessary personnel for the carrying on of the work. The Director of E m e r g e n c y Conservation W o r k was called upon by a g r o u p of prominent, public-spirited Negroes of W a s h ington, D. C , immediately following the announcement of the passage of this Act, who requested the director to appoint a Xegro representative. H e refused to comply with their request.

T h e personnel today of the Emergency Conservation W o r k Organization is as follows: T h e Director, Secretary to the Director, two Assistant Directors, one Personal Assistant to the Director, Special Council, Special Assistant, Statistician, Safety Engineer, Chief Clerk, and members of the Advisory Council to the Director who a r e : Colonel of the United States Army, Department of W a r ; the Chief Forester, Forest Service; Department of Agriculture; the Director of United States Employment Service, D e p a r t m e n t of Labor, and the Director of National P a r k Service, D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior. And nowhere is there a Negro representative in this emergency organization. T h e total number of Negroes employed in the organization today is one out of a force of sixty-five, and he sits in the hall at a desk at the entrance of the Director's office, a sort of information desk.

Civilian Conservation Corps Organization T h e Act creating the Civilian Conservation Corps provided for the alleviation of the acute condition of widespread distress and unemployment now existing in the United States, and for the restoration of the country's depleted natural resources and advancement of an orderly program of useful public works. T h e Act further provided that those employed for the purpose of carrying out its provisions shall be citizens of the United States who are unemployed, "that no discrimination lie made on account of race, color or creed" (inserted upon request of former Representative D e P r i e s t ) , that all so employed shall be furnished shelter, subsistence, clothing, medical attention and hospitalization, cash allowance, and transporation.

Now let us see how the machinery for recruiting the "unemployed citizens" of the United States was set up.

T h e original enrollment was fixed at 250,000, who were citizens between the ages of 18 and 25, physically fit, unemployed, unmarried, having dependents, and who desired to allot a substantial part of their cash allowance ($30.00 per month) to these dependents.

As aforesaid the functions to be performed by the four governmental agencies designated to co-operate with the Director of Emergency Conservation W o r k were broadly mapped out at meetings between the Director and members of his Advisory Council.

The Department of Labor became responsible for the selection of all the men to be enrolled at the regular cash allowance of $30.00 a month, plus subsistence, clothing, etc., excepting the veterans' contingent, which is selected by the V e t e r a n s ' Administration. It will be explained later why the selection of enrollees at the regular cash allowance of $30.00 was limited to the Department of Labor. T h e Director of t h e United States Employment Service in the Department of Labor was given supervision over the selection of these enrollees mentioned above. T h e Director of the United States Employment Service designated an agency in each State, usually the State Relief Administration, to act as t h e representative of the Department of Labor in the selecion of the men within the State. The State Agency so designated was also informed of its quota and of the number of young men and of the minimum local experienced woodsmen who should be enrolled. The State Agency then established local quotas within the S t a t e and "made any other decisions regarding State policy and procedure, within t h e limits of the general policies laid down by the United States Department of Labor".

It should lie known that the Director of Conservation W o r k and members of his Advisory Council in mapping out the functions for each of the four government agencies

The

S p h i n x

co-operating with him did not agree upon any racial ratio as regards enrollment and that the Department of Labor through the Director of the United States Employment Service merely informed its State representative in charge of enrollment of its State quota and presumably left to his discretion and judgment as regards the proportionate number of N e g r o enrollees. This same group of prominent, public-spirited Negroes of Washington, D. C , called upon the Director of the United States Employment Service in the D e p a r t m e n t of Labor and requested him, as they had the Director of Emergency Conservation W o r k , to appoint a Negro for the purpose of seeing that the Negroes were given an equitable number of enrollees. This request was also refused. This Director, replying to the request, said: " W e have appointed people in the States to represent this office in the selection of enrollees who are honorable people and in whom we have utmost confidence as regards their fairness; and until it has been brought to our attention any specific charges, supported by proof, that there has been discrimination on account of race, color or creed, we cannot consider the appointment of a Negro representative in this office." And to this day there is no Negro representative in this office.

In the "Handbook for Agencies Selecting Men for E m e r gency Conservation W o r k " under the heading of "General P r o c e d u r e " appears the following: " T h e local agency r e views its relief lists and selects names of eligible men to be invited to apply. If the man desires to apply, he signs the application memorandum. T h e selecting agency approves tlie application, signs the certificate, and holds the document until the man is to go forward for enrollment."

The selection of enrollees in the State of Illinois was done by the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission, who appointed the County Welfare Bureau as its agent. In Chicago the supervisors of relief stations compiled the lists of available young men and notified them that they were eligible to enroll. A statement appearing in an issue of the Chicago Tribune at the time of the first enrollment period credited the examining physician at the Army conditioning cam]) with saying, "The nationalities predominant at the conditioning camp are Polish and Italians ; many Scandinavians and G e r m a n s ; a few Jews". Nothing was said concerning Negroes. New York City's quota was 7,500, and the H o m e Relief Bureau sent out 2.3IX) investigators with thousands of enrollment blanks. The investigators visited the families on relief and explained to them the purpose of the Civilian Conservation Corps and called for volunteers. But New York's quota was so slowly filled (referring to the first enrollment period) that it was decided to speed up the enrollment by accepting one thousand from the lists of Emergency W o r k Bureau. Thus the first Civilian Conservation Corps enrollment was accomplished for the first period. Just what the procedure was in each of the States regarding the opportunities given to colored young men to enroll cannot be stated here. These young men were not "drafted", but were "invited" to enroll after everything had been thoroughly explained to them.

T h e State full-strength quota for each State is as follows: Alabama 5,500 Arizona 1,000 Arkansas 3,750 California 11,500 Colorado 2,000 Connecticut 3,250 Delaware 500 Dist. of Columbia. . 1,000 Florida 3.000 Georgia 6.000

Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts

1,000 15,500 6,500 5,000 3,750 5.250 4,250 1,500 3,250 8.750

Michigan 9,750 Minnesota 5,250 Mississippi 4,000 Missouri 7,500 Montana 1,000 Nebraska , 2,750 Nevada 250 New H a m p s h i r e . . . .

1,000 New Jersey 8,250 New Mexico 750 New York 25,750 N o r t h Carolina 6,500 North Dakota 1.500 Ohio 13,500 Oklahoma 5,000

15 Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington W e s t Virginia Wisconsin W'yoming

2.000 19,500 1,500 3,500 1,500 5,250 11,750 1,000 750 5,000 3.250 3,500 6,000 500

Although the Civilian Conservation Corps, as its very name implies, is a civilian and not a military organization, the specialized knowledge and machinery of the Army in handling and caring for men was utilized for enrolling and preparing hundreds of thousands of civilians for a type of work unfamiliar to them. T h e Department of W a r ' s function i s : " T h e acceptance of the unemployed men selected by the D e p a r t m e n t of Labor or V e t e r a n s ' Administration; their assignment and transportation to reconditioning camps of the A r m y ; their enrollment; their physical conditioning for their future w o r k ; their transportation to work locations either as authorized units or groups of casuals; construction, command, administration, discipline, supply, sanitation, medical care, hospitalization, and welfare of Civilian Conservation Corps work c a m p s ; furnishing work details from the Civilian Conservation Corps to the representative of the department supervising the assigned tasks. Demobilization is a responsibility of the W a r Department."

The Department of Agriculture must recommend for or against all projects on State and private land (except State P a r k s ) and must supervise and assist State authorities in the conduct of all work clone on such projects. The Department of Agriculture, through its Forest Service, has charge of the appointment of camp superintendents and camp foremen in the camps under its supervision. Each camp has one civilian superintendent and ten foremen who may be married, over the age of twenty-five and who are paid $240.00 and $140.00, respectively, per month. The camp superintendent must be a man of technical training, but the foremen do not have to possess any special technical experienceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;merely know how to "boss". Inquiry was made at the Forest Service whether there are any Negro camp superintendents or Negro camp foremen, and the answer was "No". It was found out during the interview that at the beginning the Forest Service appointed its own camp superintendents and camp foremen, although Congressional pressure was being made for the privilege of appointing the camp superintendents and camp foremen ; the demand from the Congressmen was insistent and the pressure became so great that the Forest Service had to give in and allow the Congressmen to name the camp superintendents and camp foremen â&#x20AC;&#x201D; thus making these jobs " P a t r o n a g e Jobs". The Forest Service informed me that at the first the Congressmen named the superintendents and foremen irrespective of their Congressional Districts, but now their appointments are limited to only their own districts. The D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture is responsible for about eighty per cent of t h e work projects in the Civilian Camps.

The Department of the Interior is responsible for selection and planning of work projects on national and State parks.

T h e actual planning of work and technical supervision are in the hands of the National P a r k Service of the Department. In like manner the National P a r k Service is responsible for the appointment of the camp superintendents and

16

The

camp foremen in the camps under its supervision. Inquiry was made at t h e National P a r k Service whether there are any Xegro camp superintendents or N e g r o camp foremen in its camps, and the answer was "No". During the interview it was brought out that a protest had been made in the State of Ohio against the appointment of white camp superintendents and white foremen in all-Negro c a m p s ; that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored P e o ple had written in forcibly protesting against this discrimination on part of the Government (especially in view of the provision in the Act stating there "shall be no discrimination on account of race, color or c r e e d " ) ; that the m a t ter of appointing Negro camp superintendents and N e g r o camp foremen for all-Negro camps was discussed at a meeting of the Director of E m e r g e n c y Conservation W o r k and members of his Advisory Council and it was decided by them to refer the matter to the White House for action—and there has been no action on part of the White House. Information was requested whether the National Association for A d vancement of Colored People had made any further protest and the answer was "No". So the most lucrative jobs in the Civilian Conservation Corps forest camps are barred to Negro citizens of the United States.

Location and Personnel of CCC Camps There a r e nine Army Corps Areas in the United States and Civilian Conservation Camps are located in each of the nine corps a n a s for purposes incident to their operation.

T h e nine A r m y Corps Areas are as follows: First Corps Area — Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; Second Corps Area—New Jersey, Delaware, and New Y o r k ; Third Corps Area—Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and District of Columbia; F o u r t h Corps Area — N o r t h Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi; Fifth Corps Area—Ohio, W e s t Virginia, Indiana, and K e n t u c k y ; Sixth Corps Area—Illinois, Michigan, and W i s consin ; Seventh Corps Area—Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, South D a k o t a and Missouri; Eighth Corps Area—Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado.

New Mexico, Arizona, and W y o m i n g ; Ninth Corps Area— Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada, California, and Yellowstone P a r k in Wyoming.

There are Sixty-seven all-Negro Camps out of a total of 7,128 in operation today (figures given by the Director in his Radio Broadcast of October 24, 1934), and are located as follows in the corps areas as hereinafter indicated : First Corps Area None Second Corps Area . . . 5 Third Corps Area 26 Fourth Corps A r e a . . . IS Fifth Corps Area . . . . . . 8

Sixth Corps Area S Seventh Corps A r e a .

5 Eighth Corps A r e a . . None Ninth Corps Area 3

" T h e total authorized strength of the forest camps (CCC Camps) is 370,000," said the Director of Emergency Conservation W o r k in his Radio Broadcast of October 24, 1934, and the proposed quota for Negro Enrollees in allNegro CCC forest for the fourth and last enrollment period is 14,858. This does not necessarily mean that the total of Negro enrollees in all the CCC forest camps is only 14.858 out of a grand total of 370,000 because there are Negro enrollers in those camps located in States where there is no law against segregation, but how many, there is no way of knowing unless the Camp Commanders of these camps are consulted.

In each camp t h e r e is a company of two hundred men, although in a few of the companies there are two hundred and fifty men. All companies have White Captains and

Sphinx Lieutenants, even those in all-Negro camps. F r o m the ranks of the enrollees there are selected ten leaders who draw $45.00 a month each, and sixteen assistant leaders who receive $36.00 a month. T h e r e is also an educational adviser attached to each camp to organize and supervise classes for those enrollers who want to continue their education.

T h e educational program in the Civilian Conservation Corps was approved by the President, December 7, 1933. An educational Director was appointed by the Commissioner of Education, D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior, and assigned the task of mapping out a general educational program and the placing of camp educational advisers. At first no thought was given to the appointment of Negro educational adviser-. and in fact a great deal of opposition developed within the office of the Director of E m e r g e n c y Conservation W o r k and members of his Advisory Council against the appointment of Negro educational advisers on the ground that they would not get along with the officers. Finally, af'er much debating and discussing, it was agreed to appoint N e g r o educational advisers and then this was done only halfheartedly. During the third enrollment period, April, 1934, to September, 1934, there were only twenty-one Negro educational advisers w h o served twenty-four all-Negro companies; white educational advisers served the remaining forty-three companies out of a total of sixty-seven allNegro camps. T h e Negro educational advisers are appointed directly from the office of the Educational Director of CCC forest camps. Today there is a total of twenty-nine N e g r o educational advisers, although there is a total of sixty-seven all-Negro camps. I have been informed that even now encouragement is not given to the appointment of Negro educational advisers. T h e pay of the educational adviser is $1,980 a year. 1 There is also provision for the employment of clergymen at the rate of $30 per month, provided they agree in writing to conduct not less than one religious service per week in a camp and to m a k e those emergency visits which are required in extreme sickness and death. T h e Director of E m e r g e n c y Conservation W o r k determines the total number of remunerated clergymen and he fixes the number from any particular denomination.

W h e n e v e r it is necessary, the corps area commander may order to active duty officers of the Medical Reserve Corps at the rate of one captain and two lieutenants per 1,000 men enrolled in CCC camps. Officers of the Dental Reserve Corps or contract dental surgeons may be employed for service in reconditioning camps. W h e t h e r any N e g r o professional men have been so employed is not known. At the present time there are 162 nurses attached to the CCC camps, but whether any of them are colored no one seems to know.

Veterans' CCC Camps Executive Orders issued by the President on May 11, 1933, M a y 24. 1934, and June 7, 1933, authorized the enrollment of 25,000 war veterans, regardless of age or marital status.

Quotas were assigned to each State in proportion to the population of each State to the population of continental United States, and the managers of the regional offices and other facilities of the veterans' Administration, were given instructions to select men. a Since this report was written, the policj of appointing a N e g r o educational adviser to every All-Negro camp has been announced. Inasmuch as this report was circulated in manuscript form in W a s h i n g t o n before it was published. some persons feel that the report may not have been without effect in this connection.—R. W . L.

The

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There are now 154 Veterans' CCC Camps and seven of them are all-Negro camps with a total number of enrollees of 1,748 and the remainder of a grand total of 3,000 scattered in white Veterans' CCC Camps. T h e total number of 1,748 in All*-Negro Veterans' Camps was taken from a statement Riven me by the W a r Department, showing the number, post office address and the strength (colored and white) of each company of the Civilian Conservation Corps composed wholly or predominantly of veterans on August 31, 1934. According to the list given me the following table shows the location and number of enrollees in All-Negro V e t e r a n s ' Camps as of August 31, 1934: Number of Area

Camps

Post Office

First—Montpelier, Vermont I First—East Barre, Vermont I Second—Yaphank, New York I Third—Ft. George Meade, Maryland.

I Fourth—Hollister, North Carolina I F o u r t h — P i t t s b u r g Landing, T e n n e s s e e . .

I Fourth—Corinth, Mississippi I Fifth— Friendship, Ohio I Sixth—No All-Negro Companies in this Area.

Seventh—No All-Negro Companies in this Area.

Eighth—No All-Negro Companies in this Area.

Ninth—No All-Negro Companies in this Area.

Number of Enrolled 212 209 189 286* 179 177 186 213

" N O T E : The Camp at Ft. George Meade is a Supply Detachment and is not counted in reality as a Veterans' CCC Camp. There a n veterans in white companies in those areas where there are no allNegro companies.

D r o u g h t Relief Camps

In June, 1934, President Roosevelt authorized the selection of 50,000 additional men for Civilian Conservation Corps as an emergency measure in connection with drought relief, these men (except local experienced woodsmen) to be selected from the cities in the drought areas". Of these 50,000 men, 45,000 are young men between the ages of 18 and 25 years, and local experienced woodsmen and 5,000 veterans to be selected by the Veterans' Administration.

There were twenty-two States designated as being in t h e Drought Areas and are as follows: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, N o r t h Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. T h e r e a r e 173 Drought Relief Camps distributed a m o n g the foregoing States, but no N e g r o Drought Relief Camps. In fact, inquiry made at the Forest Service relative to the number of Negroes in camps in Drought Relief States brought these figures : California . .

Indiana

334 297 None Total 1

Mi issouri . . 660

None 29 None

T h e following statistics were compiled: Total No. Total No. Total No. Enrollees White CCC CCC All Total Number in All-Negro Camps Negro Camps White Enrollees Camps State 4 6,000 901 Alabama ...

30 0 3,800 ....

19 Arizona 7,800 206 1 Arkansas .. . . . . 39 15,200 0 76 California . . . .

4,600 0 ....

23 Colorado 3,200 0 Connecticut . . . . 14 0 400 0 2 Delaware .. . . . .

D i s t r i c t of 0 200 0 1 Columbia . . . .

439 5,000 2 ....

25 Florida 855 7.600 4 ....

38 Georgia 14,200 0 ....

71 Idaho 8,800 566 3 44 Illinois .... ....

432 4,800 2 ....

24 Indiana 4,400 0 ....

22

State

17

Total No. Total No. White CCC CCC AllCamps Negro Camps

Kansas 11 Kentucky 31 Louisiana . . . . . . 2 5 Maine 15 Marvland 13 Massachusetts . 33 Michigan 60 Minnesota 48 Mississippi 27 Missouri 21 Montana 18 Nebraska 7 Nevada 4 New Hampshire 13 New Jersey . . .

24 New Mexico . . 1 3 New York 66 N o r t h Carolina. 35 North D a k o t a . .

7 Ohio 37 Oklahoma 24 Oregon 39 Pennsylvania .96 Rhode Island . 3 South Carolina. 18 South Dakota . 1 8 Tennessee 58 Texas 42 Utah 10 Vermont 16 Washington . 4 1 W e s t Virginia . 2 0 Wisconsin 44 Wisconsin 44 Wyoming 19 Virginia 60

2 0 2 0 3 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 4 0 1 3 0 6 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14

Total No. Enrollees Total Number in All-Negro White Enrollees Camps

2,200 6,200 5,000 3,000 2,600 6,600 12,000 9,600 5,400 4,200 3,600 1,400 800 2,600 4,800 2,600 13,200 7,000 1,400 7,400 4,800 7,800 19,200 600 3,600 3,600 11,600 8,400 2,000 3,200 8,200 4,000 8,800 8 800 3,800 12,000

504 425 546 363 0 580 517

786 0 196 639 1.238 0 1,671 0 0 0 0 0

2,495

N O T E : T h e r e are some Negro enrollees in camps located in those States where there is no law requiring segregation, for instance, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and others.

The following statistics were compiled, showing the total number of Negroes who served in the World W a r , the total number in All-Negro CCC Camps and the total number of veterans in All-Negro V e t e r a n s ' CCC C a m p s : Total No. Negro Individuals Total No. Who Served in Negroes in AllState World War Negro CCC Camps 901 A l a b a m a . . . 28,918 0 210 Arizona . . . .

206 A r k a n s a s . . . 18,318 1.539 0 California . .

483 0 Colorado ...

1,245 0 Connecticut .

1,404 0 D e l a w a r e .. .

D i s t r i c t of 0 5,193 Columbia..

439 Florida ...

13^01 855 G e o r g i a . . . . 37,842 120 0 Idaho 566 11,245 Illinois 432 4,825 Indiana 1.009 0 Iowa 504 2,791 Kansas 0 12,584 Kentucky 425 L o u i s i a n a .. . 28,018 82 0 Maine 10.734 546 Marvland 0 M a s s a c h u s e t t s 1.714 2,606 363 M i c h i g a n .. .

0 619 Minnesota . .

196 N e w Y o r k . . 10,468 580 Missouri 10.287 152 517 Montana ...

685 0 Nebraska . .

0 33 Nevada 0 New Hampshire 43 786 5.393 New Jersey.

Total No. Negro Veterans in All-Negro Veterans' CCC Camps 0 10 0 49 0 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 365—Sup. Det. 0 0 0 189 0 0 0 0 0 0

The

18

Sphinx

Total No. Total No. Negro hniividnals Total Xo. Negro Veterans \\ li'i S< i vt:d in Negroes in Allin All*Negro State World War Xegro CCC Camps Veterans'CCC Camps New Mexico 99 0 0 New Y o r k . . 10,468 196 180 North Carolina . . 22,007 639 179 N o r t h Dakota 62 0 0 Ohio 10,009 1,238 246 Oklahoma ..

6.015 0 0 Oregon 120 0 0 Pennsylvania 15,100 1,671 0 Rhode Island 380 0 0 South Carolina.

26.617 0 0 South Dakota 104 0 0 Tennessee .. 18,046 0 177 Texas 33,447 0 0 Utah 87 0 0 Vermont . . .

58 0 430 Virginia . . . . 25,381 2,495 0 Washington 350 0 0 W e s t Virginia 4,606 0 0 Wisconsin . 3 8 0 0 0 Wyoming...

146 0 0 N O T E : Negro veterans are in white veterans' CCC Camps in the following States as hereinafter indicated: Arizona, 10; California, 49; Colorado, 2 ; Idaho, 5 ; Illinois, 234; Indiana, 104; Iowa, 20; Kansas, 99; Kentucky, 86; Massachusetts, 2 ; Michigan, 89; Nehraska, 2 ; New Mexico, 9 ; Oklahoma. 17; Oregon, 2 ; U t a h . 1; Washington, 2 ; W e s t Virginia, 48; Wisconsin, 8.

H e r e is the proposed quota for Negroes for the fourth enrollment period (October, 1934, to March, 19351 as given to me by an official in the office of the Educational Director of CCC C a m p s : Negro CCC Companies 4th Enrollment Period Type

Negro Enrollees

Veteran Scattered Junior Scattered Total Juniors (18-25)

1,366 847 13.358 1,500 14,858

invited to enroll, the question then is how many Negroes have been invited to enroll.

Of course, if Negroes had their proper ratio in these camps, there would be about 37,000 Negroes in them instead of 15,000.

AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ADMINISTRATION This organization is one of the first very important New Deal Agencies established by the Roosevelt Administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; very important because its functional duties directly affect the economic and social status of millions of Negroes who live in t h e South.

The Seventy-third Congress, in order to restore the purchasing power of American farmers to the level which it occupied in the five-year period immediately preceding the W o r l d W a r , during which period the national income was equitably balanced as between agriculture and other industry, passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act (Public Act No. 10, approved M a y 22, 1933).

The Agricultural Adjustment Act, therefore, in order to remedy these conditions, empowered the President through the Secretary of Agriculture and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration set up within the Department of Agriculture, to assist farmers in adjusting their production of certain basic commodities to meet effective demand without sacrificing income and to put into effect marketing agreements on agricultural commodities, designed to insure fair prices to producers, efficient and equitable distribution of the products, and protection for the consumers of the finished goods.

Number of Companies

7 67

74

Therefore the total number of All-Negro CCC Camps out of a total of 1,728 CCC Camps for the fourth and last enrollment period is 67, and the total quota of Negro enrollees in All-Negro Camps for the fourth period is 14,859 out of a grand total of 370,000 enrollees. As aforesaid there are some Negroes enrolled in some of the white camps, hut how many cannot be said because it was impossible to get the exact number. F o r that reason it cannot be definitely said what the total number of Negro enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps is. W e do know, however, that the majority of them are enrolled in the All-Negro Companies.

Figuring on the basis of approximately 15,000 Negroes enrolled for each enrollment period, it can be said that about 60,000 Negroes have been enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps since date of organization. Information that I received has placed the total number of Negro enrollees in all camps for each enrollment period at 15,000 from which it may be concluded that only a very few Negroes were enrolled in the white camps. T h e r e is no question but that every effort was made to put Negro enrollees in All-Negro CCC Camps. While in the State of Connecticut in October.

I made inquiry at the office of the State Director of Selection for CCC Camps as to the total number of colored men sent to CCC camps from the State of Connecticut, he said that he did not know, but a young white employee in the office had already told me "that there were only a very few colored". Since the applicants for the CCC camps were

The Agricultural Adjustment Administration, therefore, was established for the purpose of applying the powers and achieving the desired aims of the Adjustment Act. The Secretary of Agriculture appointed to head this organization an administrator who is aided in directing its activities by three assistant administrators. Each assistant also is director of one of the three divisions, the Commodities Division, the Division of Information, and the Division of Program Planning. The organization also includes a general counsel, who is director of the Legal Division ; a comptroller; director of the Finance Division; manager of the Cotton P o o l ; a special assistant in charge of Business Management : a special assistant in charge of a Co-ordination Office, and an economic adviserâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but no "Negro Adiviser" or "Adviser on the Economic Status of Negroes".

The Commodities Division is concerned with problems of production and distribution, both under production control contracts and licenses and marketing agreements. T h e r e are fourteen sections in this division as follows : Cattle and S h e e p ; Commodities P u r c h a s e ; Compliance; Corn and H o g s ; Cotton Processing and M a r k e t i n g ; Cotton Production ; D a i r y ; Field Investigation; General C r o p s ; Rice; Grain Processing; S u g a r ; Tobacco, and W h e a t .

T h e Division of Information is concerned with dissemination of information on the administration's activities. It also includes the Consumer's Counsel, whose functions a r e to protect consumers against pyramiding of processing t a x i s , profiteering and unfair charges imposed under the cover of adjustment of agricultural products. T h e r e are five sections in all in this division.

T h e Division of P r o g r a m Planning's functions consist of correlating adjustments of the various commodities into a unified program for the whole agricultural industry and

The

Sphinx

adapting the program to long-time needs. There are eight sections in this division.

T h e r e are four sections in the Office of Business M a n a g e m e n t ; eight in the Office of General Counsel; four in the Finance Division, and eleven in the Office of the Comptroller.

T h e foregoing description gives the complete set-up of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. W h a t representation the Negro has in this extensive organization will be discussed later.

The chief object of this Act, briefly stated, is "Price Parity". And price parity is to be achieved by reducing production through restriction of acreage, through marketing agreements, and through the purchase of surplus commodities and their removal from the market. The Act further "provides a method of giving financial assistance to farmers who co-operate with the Government in making necessary adjustments of production and are entitled to receive compensatory payments, based upon their volume of production. Non-co-operating producers are not entitled to such payments".

The general statement of the Act on adjustment of production i s : Section 8. In order to effectuate the delared policy, the Secretary shall have power— (1) T o provide for reduction in the acreage or reduction in t h e production for market, or both, of any basic agricultural commodity, through agreements with p r o ducers or by other voluntary methods, and to provide for rental or benefit payments in connection therewith or upon that part of any basic agricultural commodity required for domestic consumption, in such amount as the Secretary deems fair and reasonable, to be paid out of any moneys available for such payments."

It may then be seen that broad powers were conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture, with the approval of the President, "to make such regulations with the force and effect of law as may be necessary to carry out the powers vested in him by this title". In other words, the flexibility and mobility of the law makes it possible for the Secretary, through the Agricultural Adjustment A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , to change existing regulations or to issue new ones when the situation changes, without depending on Congressional action to amend the law itself.

U n d e r this Act reductions in acreage or production were accomplished by voluntary contracts on the part of the producers with the Secretary of Agriculture, the growers, as stated above, receiving a specified benefit payment or rental.

In case of cotton growers, two methods of compensatory payments for reduction of output for market were provided under the 1933 program, namely, a straight payment alone or a reduced payment plus an option to purchase Government owned cotton at six cents a pound. But the Bankhead Cotton Control Act (Public Act No. 169, 73d Congress.

April 21, 1934) set a maximum limit for cotton production, provided for allotment of production, and imposed on producers an ad valorem tax on marketing cotton above their allotment. This Act will be commented on at length later in this report. Then also an old valorem t a x was imposed on producers of tobacco in their m a r k e t i n g of this commodity in excess of allotments—(Public Act No. 483, June 28, 1934).

T h e basic agricultural commodities subject to the original Act a r e : wheat, cotton, field corn. hogs, rice, tobacco, and milk and its products. Cattle, peanuts, rye. flax, barley, and grain sorghum were added under Public Act No. 142, 73d Congress, April 7, 1934. Sugar beets and sugar cane were added under Public Act No. 213, 73d Congress, May 9, 1934.

19

T h e initial work of procuring the voluntary agreements with producers was to a great extent done through the County Agents of the State Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture, who organized voluntary local committees to assist them. Negro County Agents in the South were not allowed to procure the voluntary agreements with colored farmers. And in those counties where there had been no white County Agents—only colored agents—white men were appointed as County Agents to carry on this work a m o n g Negro farmers. One of the two Supervisors of Negro County Agents in this country—and there are only two— came to Washington and protested to the Administrator of t h e Agricultural Adjustment Administration against the policy adopted of using white County Agents in procuring voluntary agreements with colored farmers, but his protest did no good. T h e "States-Rights principle" was strictly adhered to in the administration of this Act as well as in the administration of all the Acts which created these fifty New Deal Agencies under the Roosevelt Administration.

T h e enforcement of compliance was done by local supervisors employed on a per diem basis and in this instance no Negroes were so employed. In the Field Investigation Service of the Commodities Division where investigators are employed to investigate cases where fraud is charged or suspected no Negroes are employed. Those cases are referred to the Commodities Division and investigations are made in the field to develop the facts and report them to the several sections of the Commodities Division for appropriate action. There arc sixteen field officers of the Feld Investigation Service to which investigators from the W a s h i n g ton office are assigned as needed to supplement the force regularly employed at these field offices.

T h e Office of Comptroller also maintains field offices for the purpose of auditing expenditures for drought relief and purchases for supplies removal, for examination of accounts in connection with marketing agreements covering milk, poultry and deciduous fruits; for the purpose of auditing the accounts of associations and organizations concerned with disposal of surplus wheat on the Pacific Coast and with the rice program in Louisiana. W h e t h e r any colored people have been given employment in these particular field offices cannot be stated.

The question naturally arises to what extent, if any, Negroes have benefited by the operations of the Agricultural Adjustment A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . H a v e thousands of Negro tenants and share-croppers lost their means of livelihood by virtue of the Government's cotton reduction program?

Reference is made to "Cotton" because more Negroes have been engaged in the production of cotton than any of the other basic agricultural commodities subject to the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. The rental and benefit payments have been in the main administered by local people, and whether the Negroes have received their just share is questionable, since there are no colored people employed in any administrative capacities in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, either in the Washington Office or in the Field Office.

There is no doubt but that the cotton planters in the acreage reduction program have taken their poorer land out of cotton production and have concentrated on their best land with the prospect of producing as much on the 60 per cent of their land as they normally grew on this land and the "40" per cent "rented" to the Government. The land—that is the "40" per cent withdrawn from production may under the Act be leased in large areas, by States or regions, or from individual owners and it may be used either

20

The

to produce crops that do not compete with other commodities of which there is a surplus, or be planted to soil-improving or erosion-preventing crops. T h e plantation owner may allow his tenants and share-croppers to live on the land rented to the Government or he may not. Naturally he would not need as many with 40 per cent of his land taken out of production. This is one aspect of the cotton reduction program. Now let us examine the Bankhead Cotton Control Act. T h e Rankhead Cotton Control Act was passed for the purpose of compelling growers, who had at first refused, to reduce the acreage under the Agricultural Adjustment Act. This Act does not in any way repeal the provisions set up under the Agricultural Adjustment Act in regard to the voluntary p r o g r a m involving cotton acreage reduction contracts, and the benefit payments provided under the individual cotton acreage reduction contracts, and the benefit payments provided under the individual contracts will he made. The Bankhead Act sets a maximum limit for cotton production, provides for allotment of cotton, and imposes on producers an ad valorem tax on marketing cotton above their allotment. T h e provisions of the Act were effective for the crop year from J u n e 1. 1934, to May 31, 1935, but they could be made effective for the crop year 1935-1936, if "the President finds that the economic emergency in cotton production and m a r k e t i n g will continue, or is likely to continue, and if the D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture finds that two-thirds of the producers favor its continuance". T h e Referendum among cotton producers was conducted by t h e Secretary of Agriculture and two-thirds of the cotton producers in each of the Southern States, except two, voted in favor of the continuation of the Act. This provision appears in the Bankhead Control Act, but is absent from the Agricultural Adjustment A c t : " T h e Secr e t a r y of Agriculture may make regulations protecting the interests of share-croppers and tenants in the making of allotments and the issuance of tax-exemption certificates under this Act." Attention is called to the word "may" in the foregoing provision.

Dr. Calvin B. Hoover, Professor of Economics at Duke University and economic adviser in the Department of Agriculture, made an independent study of the effect of the cotton acreage adjustment program upon the tenant farmer in t h e South, at the request of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. In his report he s a y s : "The cotton contract of 1934 provides for a benefit payment of 4J4 cents per pound upon the amount of cotton which would have been produced upon the a c r e age which the producer agrees to withdraw from production. T h e amount of acreage withdrawn from p r o duction is 40 per cent of the average amount of land in cotton production during the past five years. W h e r e t h e owner of a farm is also the operator, no problem arises in connection with the payment of this Al/i cents per pound of cotton which would have been produced on this acreage. W h e r e the farm is operated by a tenant, however, a difficult problem arises in connection with the division between the landowner and the tenant of the payment for acreage reduction. A cash tenant, by the terms of the contract, receives the entire amount of both the rental payment and the parity payment. T h e r e have been cases, however, in which landowners have drawn new leases with tenants renting for cash, by which tenants have been required to surrender all claims to rental benefits. T h e Agricultural Adjustment Administration has issued regulations against such practices and has refused to accept contracts from landlords who have made such leases whenever these practices have come to attention. The 1934 cotton contract provides in the case of 'managing share t e n a n t s ' t h a t the landowner shall receive one-half of the rental payment and

Sphinx one-fourth of the parity payment, while the tenant receives one-half of the rental payment and t h r e e fourths of the parity payment which the Government makes as compensation for land taken out of cultivation.

This means that the landlord receives 2 cents per pound based on the average production of cotton on the acres removed from cultivation, while the 'managing share tenant' receives 2y2 cents per pound. This division is obviously quite fair to this type of tenant. Much dissatisfaction has arisen in connection with the definition of the term 'managing share tenant'. No share-croppers are included in this category and by no means all share tenants. In the contract 'managing share tenant' is defined a s : 'A share tenant who furnishes the work, stock, equipment and labor used in the production of cotton and who manages the operation of this farm.'

There have been attempts on the part of landlords to exclude from the category of 'managing share tenants' even share tenants who are supervised to no greater extent than an occasional visit by the landloard. As will be explained later, it is in the interest of the landowner to have as few of his tenants as possible included in the category of 'managing share tenants'. Only cash tenants or 'managing share tenants' receive any part of the rental payments. Share-croppers receive one-half of the parity payments and share tenants not classed as 'managing share tenants' receive three-fourths of the parity payments. T h e parity payment is so small in the i ase of the average tenant that it is almost negligible.

This means that share-croppers receive from the Government Yi a cent per pound, while the landowner receive-.

4 cents per pound on the estimated amount of cotton which would have been produced on the land withdrawn from cultivation. This is in contrast with the 1933 contract, by terms of which it was intended that the sharecropper and the landowner share .equally in the compensation paid for cotton plowed up. In the 1933 'plow-up' campaign, however, the share-cropper had an investment of labor which he had expended in the production of the crop, and it seemed natural that he should be compensated for it. T h e benefit payments under the 1934 contract, on the other hand, were thought of primarily as rental payments for land withdrawn from cultivation, although in equity the share-cropper was entitled likewise to compensation for the labor which he was not allowed under the contract t o use to the same extent as formerly. The intermediate status of the share-cropper between that of the tenant and that of t h e agricultural laborer made it difficult to provide compensation for him. W h e n farms are operated by the landowner with the service of share-croppers or with the tenants who are not classed as 'managing share tenants', it is obvious that the landlord is liberally compensated for acreage withdrawn from production. . . .

"The share-cropper fares differently. If he had been tending fifteen acres of cotton with an average production of 174 pounds of cotton per acre, he would have received for his one-half of the cotton produced on these fifteen acres, the sum of $65.25 if cotton had been selling at 5 cents per pound, approximately t h e lowest price at which cotton sold during the depression. According to the 1934 cotton contract, the share-cropper w h o formerly produced fifteen acres would now produce nine acres of cotton if the landlord reduced his production 40 per cent ratably a m o n g his tenants as is provided for in the contract. At a price of 10 cents per pound, which is slightly less than the current price, the s h a r e cropper would receive $78.30 for his one-half of the production of nine acres. T o this must be added $5.22 which the share-cropper would receive as a parity payment from the Government. His total income would thus be $83.52 which can be compared with the $65.25 which he might have expected to obtain this year if there had been no recovery program. While t h e percentage of increase in cash income which a share-cropper receives is thus far less than that of the landowner, it is nevertheless true that the cash income of the share-cropper has not been reduced if the provisions of the contract are actually followed, but is instead increased somewhat.

The value of his cash income is reduced to some extent, however, by increases in the price of commodities with which the share-cropper is furnished. This method of dividing benefit payments between landlords and

The share-croppers and between landlords and share tenants who are not classed as 'managing share t e n ants' differs from the method of division of benefit payments in the wheat and corn-hog contracts where few share-croppers are involved. It also differs from the method of division used in the tobacco contract by the terms of which the share-cropper obtains a part of the rental payments as well as the parity payments. In these contracts the division of the benefit payments between landowners and tenants is in proportion to their interest in t h e crop. Thus a share-cropper in the tobacco contracts receives one-half of the amount of the benefit payments instead of one-ninth as in case of the cotton contract. T h e question naturally arises, why the cotton contract was so drawn that share-croppers and a considerable proportion of share tenants receive so much smaller a share of the benefit payments made by the Government in the case of the cotton contract than they do in the case of the other contracts.

It was argued in favor of making this contract that landowners could not be induced to sign the contract if they were not given a larger share of the rental benefits than landlords received in the case of the other acreage reductions contracts."

It is hoped that the Administrator of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration read this report very carefully and it is further hoped that the economic adviser of the Agriculture Department made an unbiased report to the Secretary of Agriculture. However, reference is made to that part of the "adviser's" report in which he said it was argued in favor of making this contract that landowners could not be induced to sign the contract if they were not given a larger share of the rental benefits than landlords received in t h e case of other acreage reduction contracts.

In the latter instance the landlord and the share-cropper shared equally in the compensation paid for the cotton "plowed up". At least t h e Government intended that the share-cropper should receive one-half, but the following article appearing in the Arkansas Gazette, published in Little Rock, Arkansas, on J a n u a r y 8, 1935, reads as follows: "Minturn W e s t and other share-croppers on the plantation of H. Norcross filed an appeal from a ruling of Poinsett Chancery Court which refused to g r a n t a restraining order to prevent their evictions. T h e share-croppers filed suit for a restraining order and for an order for distribution to them of their share of cotton acreage reduction benefits.

T h e Court sustained a demurrer filed by Norcross." T h e r e has been sent down into Mississippi County of Arkansas an a t t o r n e y from the Legal Division of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to make an investigation. And it is a known fact that many Negro share-croppers have not to this day received their share of cotton acreage reduction benefits.

W h e n the landlords or their representatives were making the argument in favor of the new contract, there was no Negro in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration occupying any position as "Negro Adviser", nor was there any white man acting as "Adviser" on the economic status of Negroes in this organization. Hence the poor Negro tenants and share-croppers had no one to argue their side of the case. Today this organization, tiie Agricultural Adjustment Administration, has absolutely no Negro representation in it other than a few employed as messengers, porters and card punchers in the office of the Comptroller, and these work at night over in the old Post Office Building. If there are any Negroes working in any of the offices of the Administration located in the South Building of the Agricultural Building, either as messengers or porters, they too, must work at night, for I have spent every day for one week, from three to four hours, walking up and down the different floors of the building on which are located the offices of the

Sphinx

21

Agricultural Adjustment Administration and I have yet to see the first colored messengerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;quite a contrast to the sight one sees over in the D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior where the offices of the Public W o r k s Administration are located.

There one does see quite a large complement of Negro messengers.

During a conversation with one of the officials in the office of the Business M a n a g e m e n t relative to the employment of any Negroes in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, I was informed by him that "No Negroes" are employed in any administrative capacity in this agency in Washington, and the few who may be classified as clerks employed in the office of the Comptroller are in reality card punchers.

T h e Assistant General Counsel in discussing the deplorable condition of the share-croppers in Arkansas, reminded me that an official had been sent down to make an investigation and t h a t this official "will get the true facts" and bring them back to W a s h i n g t o n ; then, altogether in contradiction, he remarked, "It would take ten million people to m a k e the investigations of the complaints coming in from the South".

Probably the investigation now being made by the Legal Division of the Administration will be productive of some good as far as the conditions in Arkansas are a result of the operations of the Agricultural Adjustment Act and ihe Bankhead Cotton Control Act â&#x20AC;&#x201D; t h a t is with respect to Negro share-croppers and t e n a n t s . 1 Senator Bankhead, of Alabama, who was the author of the Bankhead Cotton Control Act (Public Act No. 169, 73d Congress), has proposed a bill to alleviate the deplorable conditions extending among share-croppers and tenants as a result of the operations of his Cotton Control Act. T h e Bankhead proposal is to establish an agency similar to the H o m e Owners' Loan Corporation. Only tenants would be eligible for the loan to purchase lands already in cultivation. Loans would bear a low rate of interest and would be amortized over a period of 30 years.

At first the A. A. A. officials were very much concerned with the reports of rising resentment a m o n g Southern share-croppers and renters against them and the landlords because of the evil effects of the Bankhead Cotton Control Act and the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Consequently an a t t o r n e y of the Legal Division of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration was sent down into E a s t e r n A r k a n s a s to make an investigation of the alleged conditions of the share-croppers and renters.

Investigation made since the return of this Special Investigator leads me to conclude that no drastic change will result from h e r report.

The cause for all the trouble between the share-croppers and renters and the landlords is the interpretation placed upon t h e voluntary cotton c o n t r a c t ; or to state it more clearly the cause of the trouble is the manner in which this voluntary contract was drawn by the officials of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. This contract does not expressly provide that the landlords must retain share-croppers and renters on their places who were t h e r e when the landlords joined the cotton control p l a n ; the A. A. A. officials interpret this contract as meaning that the landlords were not to displace the tenants without ' I n spite of many requests the Secretary of Agriculture has refused to make public the report of Mrs. Mary Conner Myres, whom he had sent to investigate conditions in Arka nsas. It is generally believed that her report is even more revealing than the report just cited.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;R. W , L.

22

The

obtaining others to take their places, a tiling which was not done by the landlords. Nor was it enforced by the A. A. A. officials.

Negro share-croppers and tenants will not get fair and equitable treatment if this agency is created as proposed by Senator Bankhead, unless there is some member of the race appointed with authority to see that the N e g r o share-croppers and tenants a r e not denied the same opportunity to buy land as the white share-croppers and renters.

FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION This emergency organization was created by an Executive O r d e r of the President under general authority conferred on him by law. It is a consolidation of Federal F a r m Boards and Bureaus established under the Agricultural M a r keting Act of J u n e IS, 1929, and F a r m Loan Commissioner created by Act of July 17, 1916. This organization—the F a r m Credit Administration — was designed principally to consolidate within one agency powers and functions already existing and distributed among various ones, rather t h a n to create new ones, and in that it was designed to be permanent.

The direction of the F a r m Credit Administration is centered in one individual, the Governor of the F a r m Credit Administration, who is appointed by the President, by and with the advice of the Senate, for a term of six years.

There are three Deputy Governors appointed by the Governor. Below these there are four Commissioners appointed by the President, known as Land Bank Commissioner (formerly Farm Loan Commissioner), Production Credit Commissioner, Co-operative Bank Commissioner, and Intermediate Credit Commissioner. T h e F a r m Credit Administration also has undertaken to co-operate in the establishment of a nation-wide Federal Credit Union System, authorized by Public Act No. 467, 73d Congress, approved J u n e 26, 1934. This system was designed to establish a further market for securities of the United States and to make more available to people of small means credit for provident purposes.

The purpose of this organization is to provide a complete and co-ordinated credit system for agriculture by making available to farmers long-term, short-term, and intermediate credit in the form of farm mortgage, production and co-operative marketing loans. W i t h this end in view the F a r m Credit Administration was given supervision of twelve Federal Land Banks and the joint-stock land banks m a k ing long-term and first m o r t g a g e loans to f a r m e r s : the twelve Federal intermediate credit banks rediscount shortterm and agricultural and livestock paper and make direct loans to co-operative marketing and purchasing associations ; thirteen agricultural credit c o r p o r a t i o n s ; and the administration of emergency crop loans. T h e function of t h e F a r m Credit Association is to make advances for loans to farmers, fruit growers, producers and owners of livestock and crops, and loans to individuals to assist them in forming or increasing the capital stock of agricultural credit corporations, livestock-loan companies or a similar organization.

In investigating this emergency organization I found that there is a colored man, a nationally known educator, holding the position as "Assistant to the Governor", who, with his secretary and stenographer, has an office in the building that houses the F a r m Credit Administration. I made several visits to his office to ascertain the nature of his official

Sphinx duties. My impression is that he is a sort of a good-will ambassador and purveyor of publicity to the Negro farmers.

It is true that his office receives daily complaints from colored farmers relating their troubles and alleged mal-administration on the part of local authorities. Every effort is made by this colored representative to remedy any injustices practiced upon Negroes in the administration of the funds allocated to the F a r m Credit Administration for the purpose of making loans to farmers. Quite often his office receives complaints that have no direct relation to the activities of his office and he oftentimes contacts the emergency organization involved to see if the condition complained of may be remedied. In short, he is doing a great job, but his responare greatly limited because he has no administrative responsibility. H e makes observation tours to find out if Negro farmers are being treated fairly in the way of emergency crop loans; makes inquiries on his visit to the offices of the Federal Land Banks concerning applications filed by colored farmers for loans; contacts the County Farm Agents and H o m e Demonstration Agents for the purpose of having them write him about their observations regarding t r e a t ment of Negroes in their States by local officials of the F a r m Credit Administration; and makes public speeches in churches and wherever it is convenient and appropriate to inform the colored farmers of the country the benefits that are theirs under the F a r m Credit Administration.

Judging from abstracts of statements made by County Agents, a few of which are given here below, it is reasonable to believe that the office of "Assistant to the Governor" is doing some good. H e r e are some of the abstracts of s t a t e m e n t s : "Negro farmers in this county have been served well." " F a r m e r s in this country have had no trouble in securing loans, or, at least, I have heard of none. Some of the farmers in this county have received seed loans—I am not in position to tell you the number." "I have visited every township where Negro farmers are doing anything.

I have found four Negroes who really got their loans started and were later rejected. Most of the failures were due to too heavy incumbrances."

T h e r e are approximately 2.000 employes in this organization in the W a s h i n g t o n office and 4,715 in the field of whom 2,500 are employed in the Emergency Crop and Seed Loan Office. Besides the Negro "Assistant to the Governor" and the two ladies employed in his office, there are ten messengers employed and" they constitute t h e entire Negro personnel in the F a r m Credit Administration, a total of approximately fifteen out of 2,000 in the Washington office.

Executive Order 6134. May 18, 1933, provided that expert positions in the F a r m Credit Administration could be filled by non-competitive examination — then again Executive O r d e r 6758, J u n e 29, 1934, ordered that thereafter all a p pointments in the F a r m Credit Adiministration should be made in accordance with civil service rules except employees necessary for administration of emergency crop production loans.

Federal F a r m M o r t g a g e

Corporation

Public Act No. 88, 73d Congress, approved J a n u a r y 31, 1934, terminated t h e authority of the Federal Land Banks t o issue bonds guaranteed as to interest and created the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation. This Corporation has a capital of $200,000,000 subscribed by the Governor of the F a r m Credit Administration on behalf of the United States.

F o r the purpose of this subscription there are transferred to the Corporation the funds made available to and the mortgages and credit instruments taken in security by the L a n k Bank Commissioner under authority of the Emergency

The

Sphinx

F a r m Mortgage Act of 1933. T h e Corporation is authorized to issue bonds to the extent of $2,000,000,000 in order to finance the lending operations of Federal Land Banks. These bonds are guaranteed, principal and interest, by the United States. The Corporation lias three directors, the Secretary of the T r e a s u r y or an officer of the T r e a s u r y designated by h i m ; the Governor of the Farm Credit Administration, and the Land Bank Commissioner of the F a r m Credit Administration.

Bonds loaned by this Corporation in lieu of cash a r e exchangeable through Federal Reserve Banks, and a r e lawful security for fifteen-day borrowings by member banks of the Federal Reserve System. These bonds also are lawful investment (and may be accepted as security) for all fiduciary, trust, and public funds of which the deposit or investment is under authority or control of the Government.

Federal Intermediate Credit Banks T h e r e arc twelve of these banks which make loans that are intermediate between the usual maturities of short-term commercial b a n k loans and long-term farm mortgage loans.

These banks do not make loans directly to individual farmers and stockmen but extend credit to financing institutions, which make loans for agricultural and livestock production purposes. These banks also make direct loans to farmers' co-operative purchasing and m a r k e t i n g associations. These banks lend only to, or discount for, credit institutions or associations, such as State and National banks, savings banks and private co-operative agricultural credit corporations and livestock loan companies.

Section IS of the Federal F a r m M o r t g a g e Corporation Act (Public Act. No. 88, 73d Congress, approved J a n u a r y 31, 1934) established a revolving fund of $40,000,000 to purchase stock in the intermediate credit banks. This fund revolves because t h e F a r m Credit Administrator may increase or decrease the capital stock of the banks. Money received from retirement of stock is paid into the fund.

Federal Land Banks There are Federal Land Banks, intermediate credit banks, production credit corporations, and banks for co-operatives â&#x20AC;&#x201D;one eachâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in the following cities which are headquarters for the twelve districts into which the United States is divided: Springfield, M a s s . ; Baltimore, M d . : Columbia, S. C.; Louisville, Ky.; New Orleans, La.; St. Louis, Mo.; St. Paul, Minn.; Omaha, N e b . ; Wichita, K a n . ; Houston, T e x . ; Berkeley. Cal.. and Spokane, W a s h . These four different banks form one administrative unit.

Each Federal Land Bank has seven directors, one of whom is appointed by the Governor of the F a r m Credit Administration and the other three as follows: one by National Farm Associations and borrowers, one by production credit association, and one by borrowers from bank for co-operatives. T h e directors of each Federal Land Bank are exofficio directors of the federal intermediate credit bank, the production credit corporation and the bank for co-operatives in each district. The directors meet as the District Council of the F a r m Credit Administration. Co-ordination of activities is obtained through an executive office for the district called the General Agent, who is nominated by the Governor of the F a r m Credit Association and appointed by the District Council.

National F a r m Associations constitute the direct lending agency of the Federal Land Banks wherever they are organized. T h e y are supervised by the F a r m Credit Administration. T h e membership of each association is restricted to farmers who arc borrowers from the Federal Land Banks,

23

and no other persons are eligible as shareholders. The farmer-borrower who obtains a loan from a Federal Land Bank through a national farm loan association purchases stock in the association in the amount of five per cent of his loan. The amount necessary to pay for such stock may be included in the face amount of the loan obtained from the Federal Land Bank.

T h e National Farm Loan Association endorses and hecomes liable for the loan made to each of its members. The stock subscribed by each member is pledged with the association as collateral security to the loans endorsed by the association. T h e association in turn subscribes to an equal amount of stock in the Federal Land Hank, which stock is held as collateral. W h e n t h e borrower pays his loan in full, the bank retires its stock which was subscribed for by the association at t h e time the loan was made. If the association has met its obligations currently, the bank remits t h e proceeds of this stock to the association in cash. In such case, the borrower's stock in the association also is retired and the proceeds thereof paid to him or credited on his indebtedness, if any, to the association. If, on the other hand, t h e association has not met its obligations currently, it may be necessary for the bank to withhold all or a portion of the proceeds of its stock, and apply the same as a credit on the associations' indebtedness.

In localities where there are no local National F a r m Loan Associations through which the federal land is able to accept applications, the bank may make direct loans to farmers. T h e borrower w h o obtains a direct loan must subscribe for capital stock in t h e bank in t h e amount of $5 for each $100 or fraction thereof borrowed. A farmer who obtains a direct loan may agree in his m o r t g a g e that he will unite with other such borrowers to form an association when t h e r e are ten or more borrowers who have obtained direct loans from the bank aggregating not less than $20,000 and who reside in any locality which may, in the opinion of t h e Land Bank Commissioner, be conveniently covered by the charter of, and served by, a national farm loan association.

Upon the formation of the association there will be issued to each member capital stock in the association in an amount equal to the amount of stock which the farmer previously owned in the bank. Before the Federal Land Bank may make a loan, either through a national farm association or direct, the farm offered as security must be appraised by a land-bank appraiser appointed by the Land Bank Commissioner. T h e loans, generally, are repayable in semi-annual installments, although in some land-bank districts loans are made on an annual payment basis. Loans run from twenty to thirty odd years and interest thereon is 4l/2 per cent per annum.

Production Credit Corporations and Associations Public Act No. 75. 73d Congress, approved June 16, 1933, authorized the Governor of the F a r m Credit Administration to organize and charter twelve corporations to he known as "Production Credit Corporations".

On July 1, 1933, forty-one per cent of Commercial banks in the United States which had been doing business five years before had closed their doors and the volume of loans and discounts had decreased thirty-nine per cent. The worst part of the credit restriction occurred in agricultural sections where more than seventy per cent of the Commercial banks closed during the depression. T h a t is why these Production Credit Corporations and Associations were organizedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to fill the gap left by closed banks. T h u s was established a nation-wide production credit system available to every farming community in the United States. F r o m

24

The

September, 1933, to March, 1934, farmers were assisted in building a system of 650 local production credit associations, designed to make loans on crop and chattel security and serve as permanent sources of short-term credit.

In lending short-term money to farmers on a business basis through their own associations, t h e F a r m Credit Administration opened the discounting services of the Federal Intermediate Credit Banks t o thousands of farmers and livestock men, made production money available on a nation-wide basis at the lowest rates ever paid by farmers for this type of credit. Up to that time farmers some times paid more than fifteen per cent (Negroes paid as high as fifty per cent or more) for short-term credit from storekeepers and the establishment of the production credit associations throughout the Nation gave m a n y farmers opportunity to pay cash for their farm operating requirements.

These "Production Credit Associations" may be organized by ten or more farmers, desiring to borrow money under the provisions of the Act. Such individuals shall enter into articles of incorporation which shall specify in general terms the objects for which the association is formed and t h e powers t o be exercised by it in carrying out the functions conferred on it by the Act. Such articles shall be signed by the individuals uniting to form the association and a copy thereof shall be forwarded to the Production Credit Corporation of the district. T h e Governor of the F a r m Credit Administration may. for good cause shown, deny a charter to such individuals. Upon approval of such articles by the Governor, t h e association shall become as of the date of such approval a body corporate.

T h e stock of such associations shall be divided into shares of $5 e a c h ; and there shall be two classes of such s t o c k : (1) Class A stock which is to be held by Production Credit Corporations, and which may be purchased and held by investors, and (2) Class B stock which may be purchased only by farmer-borrowers from the association and individuals eligible to become borrowers. Class B stock only shall be entitled to voting rights but each holder of such stock shall be entitled to no more than one vote. Each holder of class B stock, within two years after he has ceased to be a borrower, shall exchange such class B stock at the fair book value (not to exceed par) thereof, as determined by the association, for class A stock. During such time as any Production Credit Corporation is a holder of any stock of any such association, the appointment or election of directors, the secretary-treasurer, and the loan committee of such association shall he subject to the approval of the President of the Production Credit Corporation and during such time any such director, secretary-treasurer, or other officer may, at any time, be removed by the President of the Production Credit Corporation.

Production Credit Associations make loans to farmers for general agricultural purposes and on such terms and conditions, at such rates of interest and with such security as may be prescribed by the Production Credit Corporation.

N o loan shall be made for a less amount than $5. nor shall a n y one borrower be indebted to the association at any one time in excess of 20 per centum of the capital and g u a r a n t y fund of the association or, if the loan is secured by collateral approval by the corporation, in an amount in excess of SO per centum of the capital and g u a r a n t y fund of the association. Borrowers shall be required to own at the time the loan is made, class B stock in an amount equal in fair book value (not to exceed p a r ) , as determined by the association, to $5 per $100 or fraction thereof of the amount of the loan. Such stock shall not be retired or canceled

Sphinx upon payment exchanged.

of

the

loan

but

may

be

transferred

or

I have been informed that t h e r e are no Negro P r o duction Credit Associations and there are no reliable data available as to the number of Negro farmers in the United States who are in t h e position to become members and who have done so. As may be seen from the foregoing, the Production Credit Associations are practically controlled and dominated by the Production Credit Corporations and it is questionable whether a group composed of only Negro farmers could get a charter for a Production Credit A s s o ciation. But those who are able to borrow from them are stockholders in them and have a right to vote and participate in the management of the association. A story is told of farmers in a Southern community who had assembled in answer to notice relative t o the formation of a P r o duction Credit Association in this particular community, and when the chairman of t h e meeting arose to call the meetin to order, he said, " W h a t are all you N doing here?"

It might be well to state t h a t Section 504 of the National Housing Act, approved J u n e 27, 1934, authorized the P r o duction Credit Association to make loans to farmers for the purpose of making home alterations, repairs, and improvements, to sell the paper representing such loans and to avail themselves of the 20 per cent insurance on such loans provided by the Federal Housing Administration.

Regional Agricultural Credit Corporations These corporations were created to meet the emergency conditions arising from the banking crisis of 1932 and 1933.

All of the capital stock was subscribed by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, there being $44,500,000 outstanding on December 31, 1933. Loans have been made to individual farmers secured by liens on personal property, the amount outstanding being $142,557,921.09 on November 30, 1933. Regional Credit Corporations are gradually being liquidated, their operations being taken over by Production Credit Associations.

Emergency Crop and Feed Loan* U n d e r Public Act No. 97, 73d Congress, approved F e b r u a r y 23. 1934, Congress made available $40,000,000 to farmers as emergency crop and feed loans. A similar appropriation has been asked for by the present 74th Congress.

Loans are made to only those farmers who cannot qualify for credit elsewhere, have justified the need for such credit and are co-operating with the production control program of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

Emergency Crop Loan offices, now employing 2,500 people, have been established to m a k e these loans which range from $25 to $250. Loans may not be used for the payment of existing debts, rent, taxes, or past due accounts. All funds are advanced to the borrower at the time the loan is made and not on a budget basis. No additional advances are made.

Loans may be made to a borrower before his crops are planted, provided a first lien may be taken on the crops growing or to be grown as security for the loan. However, in t h e case of loans to renters or share-croppers, the landlord will have to waive his claim to the rest or share of the crop. On the other hand, all tenants or share-croppers who are benefited from any loan to a landlord must waive their claims to the crops if the landlord is to receive a loan from the emergency crop loan fund. Again the poor share-cropper and tenant are placed at the mercy of so many merciless landlords.

The The Banks for Co-operatives Title 111 of Public Act No. 75, 73d Congress, authorized and directed the Governor of the F a r m Credit Administration to organize and charter a corporation to be known as t h e "Central Bank for Co-operatives" with its principal office in the District of Columbia and twelve banks for co-operatives in the twelve Federal land-bank cities to make physical facility loans, operating capital loans and effective merchandising.

T h e capital of the Central Bank is $50,000,000 and $5,000,000 for each of the regional banks, furnished by t h e United States through a revolving fund established by the former Federal F a r m Board as provided by the Agricultural M a r k e t i n g Act of June 15, 1919.

T h e banks for co-operatives are authorized to make loans to co-operative asssociations for any of the purposes set forth in the Agricultural M a r k e t i n g Act and its amendments ; and to the twelve regional banks and to discount the loans of the regional banks.

T h e Land Bank Commissioner T h e E m e r g e n c y F a r m M o r t g a g e Act of May 12, 1933, directs the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to advance the sum of $200,000,000 to the Land Bank Commissioner (formerly known as the F a r m Loan Commissioner) of the F a r m Credit Administration for making loans to individuals on security of first and second mortgages. These loans are made as a rule on security which is not eligible for loans by a Federal Land Bank.

T h e Land Bank Commissioner m tv make loans to farmers for the following p u r p o s e s : (a) T o provide funds [or refinancing any indebtedness, secured or unsecured, of the farmer; (b) T o provide working capital for farm operations ; (c) T o provide funds to enable any farmer to r e acquire farm property owned by him before foreclosure.

Most of the Commissioner's loans are for refinancing purposes. The Federal Land Banks and other m o r t g a g e lending institutions, as well as individuals, afford sources of credit to aid in the purchase of farms. However, they all require the borrower to have an equity in the farm.

If a borrower obtains a loan which represents a full 75 per cent of the amount of the security offered, such a loan must pay off all of the liens against such property.

After appraisal of the property offered as security, the farmer will be notified of the amount of the loan that may be granted. If the amount is inadequate to take care of t h e debts against the property, the farmer will have to get his creditors to agree to a scale-down of his debts to a point where he will have 25 per cent clear equity in his property.

Payments on the loans may be made annually or semiannually, as determined by the Commissioner, The law provides that during the first three years a loan is in effect. no payments are required on the principalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;loans to run forty years. At the expiration of this t h r e e - y e a r period, amortization payments on the principal, equal in amount, must be made with each interest payment which will extinguish the debt within the agreed period. In the case of first or second mortgage loans secured wholly by real property and made for the purpose of reducing or refinancing an existing mortgage, the agreed period within which the loan must be wholly repaid may be no greater than forty years. All other loans must be wholly repaid within an agreed period, not to exceed thirteen years.

Federal Credit Unions T h e Federal Credit Union Act was designed "to establish a further market for securities of the United States

Sphinx

25

and to m a k e more available to people of small means credit for provident purposes through a national system of cooperative credit, thereby helping to stabilize the credit structure of the United States".

Credit Unions are co-operative associations formed by people having a common bond of occupation for the purpose of promoting thrift and of creating sources of credit for provident or productive purposes. T h e Government makes no loans to individuals under the Federal Credit Union Act. Seven or more persons having a common bond of occupation or association and desire to organize a Federal Credit Union should designate one of their number to notify the Credit Union Section of the F a r m Credit Administration in W a s h i n g t o n of their attention. T h e r e must be, however, a potential membership of at least fifty persons. Information regarding the steps necessary to getting a Federal charter will be sent out from the W a s h i n g t o n office of the F a r m Credit Administration.

All credit unions are organized under State laws and for that reason it is necessary to find out whether the State, in which the organizing of a credit union is contemplated, has enacted adequate credit union laws. Probably the largest credit union now operating among government employees on a national scale is the Credit Union of Postal Employees. In private industry, one of the most successful and one of the largest credit unions is the one operated by the employees of A r m o u r Packing Company, of Chicago.

Illinois. I have been reliably informed that the man who passes on the loans in this particular union is a colored man who has held this position for a number of years.

People having a common school teachers, would make ing such credit unions in the that a T e a c h e r s ' Credit Union

bond of occupation, such as a splendid nucleus for startNegro race. It is understood has been organized in Atlanta.

FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE HOMESTEADS CORPORATION This corporation was organized under the laws of the State of Delaware as a subsidiary of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads. The Division of Subsistence H o m e steads was organized as a unit in the D e p a r t m e n t of t h e Interior, "subject to such special policies, rules and regulations as the Secretary, acting for the President, may prescribe". T h e Division of Subsistence Homesteads in the Department of the Interior Acts "as t h e administrative agency for the President and for the Secretary of the Interior to effectuate the purposes and policy of Section 208 of Title 11 of the National Industrial Recovery Act (Public Act No. 67. 73d Congress, approved J u n e 16, 1933)".

Section 208 of Title 11 of the National Recovery Act is as follows: "To provide for aiding the redistribution of the overbalance of population in industrial c e i r e r s , $25,000,000 is hereby made available to the President, to be used by him through such agencies as he may establish and under such regulations as he may make, for making loans for and otherwise aiding in the purchase of subsistence homesteads. T h e moneys collected as repayment of said loans shall constitute a revolving fund to be administered as directed by the President for the purposes of this section.

The approximate date of organization of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads in the Department of Interior was around August 1. 1933. The date of incorporation of Federal Subsistence Homstcads Corporation was November 21, 1933.

26

The

Attention is especially called to these two dates for the purpose of noting the progress made on Negro projects.

For the purpose of relating some history in connection with Negro representation in the administrative set-up of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads in the Department of the Interior, I shall digress from the main discussion of the performances of the Division of Subsistence H o m e steads so far as they relate to the Negro.

At the Rosenwald Conference held in Washington, D. C , in May, 1933, a definite outline proposing Negro representation in the New Deal was drawn up. As a result, t h e Rosenwald group went to the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, asking the appointment of a " N e g r o Adviser" in his department, since there was already or was to be a " N e g r o Adviser" in the Department of Commerce.

T h e Rosenwald representatives recommended two white men and one colored man to the Secretary of the D e p a r t ment of the Interior, one of whom was to be appointed by him as the "Negro Adviser" in his department. The Secretary chose the white man. who happened to come from Atlanta, Ga. Thus was set up in the Department of the Interior the office of Adviser on the Economic Status of Negroes, w h o is "attached to the Interior Department, where his duties entail special attention to the manner and extent to which Negroes a r e sharing in the results of the operation of the National Recovery Act". A very brilliant young colored man was soon thereafter appointed as "Assistant" in the office of "Adviser" and has recently been appointed as "Adviser", succeeding the white gentleman. Naturally the white man could not be referred to as the "Negro Adviser" which appellation has been used wherever a colored man holds a similar position. The office of "Adviser" in the Department of the Interior has played a very important part in connection with the Division of Subsistence H o m e s t e a d s as well as with other New Deal Agencies.

Even though this office was established where the "Adviser's duties entail special attention to the manner and extent to which Negroes are sharing in the results of the operation of the National Recovery Act", very slow progress was made in getting Negro Subsistence Homesteads projects Started. And even though two prominent colored men took the initiative and requested the General Education Board to pay some one to m a k e a study of available projects at Bricks, N. C , which had been offered (the people making the offer were not able to finance the study necessary and incidental to the establishment of a Subsistence Homestead Project', nothing, was as yet, being done by the Government for the Negroes. T h e General Education Board made the g r a n t and the study was made at Bricks, N. C . and a subsistence homestead project approved by the Division of S u b sistence Homesteads, or rather it was tentatively approved as will be disclosed later.

One of the white officials attached to the Division of Subsistence Homesteads, although there had been appointed an "Adviser on the Economic Status of Negroes", again p r o tested about nothing being done for colored people in connection with the developing of projects. It was then that the N e g r o Subsistence Homesteads Division came into being for the specific purpose of developing Negro projects. T h e white official in charge of this Division went to Bricks, N. C , and made an intensive study and investigation in an effort to get the project going. Two highly trained and thoroughly competent young colored men with college degrees also went down to Bricks, N. C , and worked on the project: later on, a young colored man of exceptional attainments and experience as an architect made a study of the proposed project

Sphinx at Bricks, N. C , and all of these men together with the white Director worked indefatigably for the ultimate success of the first Negro Subsistence Homestead Project. In order to speed up the work on Negro projects, two additional especially trained Negroes were appointed in the Negro Branch of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads in the Department of the Interior. These five young college men together with two young women employed as stenographers then comprised the N e g r o personnel.

It was about January, 1934, that the white official in charge of the Negro Branch of the Subsistence Division went down to Bricks, N. C , and that was about four months after the Division was set up in pursuance to Executive Order of the President.

Apparently this white specialist in charge of Negro work in the Subsistence Division was trying to do something according t o the following press dispatch of the Associated Negro Press under the date line of F e b r u a r y 11, 1934, which is as follows : "Dr. , of t h e D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior, Washington, D. C , spent several hours in Dallas.

Texas, F e b r u a r y 11, making a survey preliminary to starting one of the projects in the S t a t e for Negroes under the Division of Subsistence Homesteads. Dr. is in special charge of Negro W o r k in the Division." "The Doctor held a conference with Dr. , State Chairman of Texas EAC, for Negroes, who, together with the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce, was instrumental in getting him to come to Dallas with the view to getting projects of F a r m and Subsistence Homesteads started in Texas for Negroes. While Dr. is particularly interested in establishing a model Negro farming community in the State. he also desires to start a Negro Subsistence Homestead community near a large industrial center, if investigation shows t h e need."

It was not long before the Doctor in charge of the Negro W o r k in the Division and the white Adviser on the Economic status of Negroes were at variance regarding subsistence homestead projects for N e g r o e s ; the Doctor apparently was in favor of developing subsistence homestead projects for Negroes in accordance with the custom prevailing in the section of the United States where a project was proposed; the white "Adviser" vehemently protested against all-Negro subsistence homestead projects. T h e r e was not only a difference in opinion between these two relative to the racial aspects of the projects, but there also developed a divergence of opinion between the personnel in the Division of Subsistence Homesteads Division and the office of the "Adviser" as to the kind of projects to be developed. Those in the Negro Branch of the Subsistence Division having gone through the one hundred or more applications that had been filed by Negroes from all section of the United States, had selected the most meritorious ones and had gone to work collecting the necessary data p r e p a r a t o r y and necessary t o the initiating of a subsistence homestead project. Some of these projects that had been worked up and passed on to the office of the "Adviser" for his approval or his advice were projects of an agricultural nature. The sponsoring of agricultural projects by the Negro Branch, as it was originally called before it was abandoned and t h e colored personnel transferred in toto to the Planning Division where they are now, was rebuffed by the office of the "Adviser", who held that the Act and the Executive Orders specifically provided for "redistribution of the overbalance of population in industrial centers" and not in agricultural centers. At that time a ruling was requested regarding the interpretation of the Act with respect to agricultural pro-

The jects coming within tlie meaning of the Act, and a verbal opinion was given that agricultural projects did come within the meaning of the Act. However, in spite of this verbal opinion from the Attorney-General's office, the office of the "Adviser" refused to recede from the position that it had taken.

In the meantime an application had come in for a subsistence homestead project at Clarksdale Miss., and the Negro Branch submitted the plans of the proposed project to the "Adviser" for his approval or rejection. The " Vdviser" sent his then "Colored Assistant" down into the Mississippi Delta to make a personal investigation into this particular project and to come back and make his report.

T h e Assistant, in making his report, said: " T h e r e are two chief objections to the proposed Clarksdale project. In the first place, this office is extremely doubtful as to the possibilities of success of such a project in the Delta region, whether in Mississippi or any other State. However, in order to facilitate speedy action in regard to Negro participation in the program of the Subsistence H o m e s t e a d s Division, this office is willing to agree to anything which is sound and which involves the speeding of benefits to Negroes."

This proposed project at Clarksdale, Miss., was a farm project "designed to lead farm tenants into farm ownership and place stranded farmers in a small city on farms and thereby demonstrate a method of changing the tenant system through breaking up of the cotton plantations. The Delta Section of Mississippi and Arkansas is wholly agricultural. T h e rural population is largely black. Many Negroes have gone from the Delta Section because of the tenant system to the large cities where they have become stranded and increased the relief load. It is proposed in this project to prevent a movement from farms to urban centers. The stranded farmer problem is overly acute, but the tenant system that prevails in this section is pernicious and dangerous to the future economic prosperity of the entire area. . . .

There are in the city of Clarksdale, approximately, 100 stranded Negro farmer families. These families left the plantations because of the disadvantages of the tenant system and because they felt they could better themselves working in industries then existing in the cities. These families are eager to return to the farms if they can be assured that the evils of the tenant system can be controlled or eliminated".

This Clarksdale project had received the endorsement and approval of the Negro District Agent of the Extension W o r k in Agriculture and H o m e Economics for Mississippi, who said : " After inspecting the location which has been chosen for setting up a Subsistence Homestead Unit for Negroes in Coahoma County, and reading your brief, I am more convinced of the possibility of a unit in the Delta Section proving a success and a stimulant to Negroes to become home owners." T h e colored principal of Coahoma County Agricultural High School, in commenting on the proposed project, said: "Such a project, rightfully and justly managed in a section where the population is predominantly black will. I believe, prove the utter futility of the Tenant System of F a r m i n g and ultimately destroy it. If for no other reason than the ultimate destruction of the Tenant System of farming, thereby restoring to my people their self-reliance and self-respect, I assure you of our hearty co-operation."

But while the "Adviser" was reporting adversely on agricultural subsistence he evidently approved one at Tuskegee, Ala., where a project of three unitsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;two agricultural and one industrialâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;was under way since $200,000 had been allocated for the Tuskegee project.

It was in May, 1934, that the Clarksdale. Miss., project

Sphinx

27

had been submitted; but why the "Adviser" had not thought to submit t h e whole question of agricultural projects to the Solicitor-General's office for a written opinion cannot be stated. And it was not until six mouths from that date that the Solicitor-General gave a written opinion ruling out agricultural projects. His opinion had not been asked by the "Adviser", but by some of the officials in charge of white subsistence homestead projects, when the matter of selection of homesteaders for the project at l.uray, Ya., was being discussed.lt was then that this question was propounded of the Solicitor-General's office: "Under Section 208 of the National Industrial Recovery Act, may homesteader* Inselected for projects when such homesteaders do not reside in an industrial center within a recent p e r i o d ? " P r i o r to this ruling, there had already been developed two white agricultural projects, one in North Carolina and one in Georgia, and one was about to start in Mississippi.

Another Negro project on which a good deal of study had been given by the young colored men who are specialists in the Planning Division, was the Orangeburg. S. C , project, an agricultural project which had been worked up several months before the Solicitor-General gave his written opinion.

But his project apparently was abandoned because the office of the "Adviser" was not in favor of it.

With the Solicitor-General ruling out agricultural projects and the office of the "Adviser" being adverse to allNegro projects, the Planning Division of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads began looking over applications for a project that might meet with the approval of everyone.

It is to be recalled that while the apparent controversy was going on between the white specialist in charge of Negro W o r k and the white "Adviser", the matter was being debated in the Negro press, and as a result of certain publications the office in charge of the white specialist was abandoned and the colored personnel transferred to the Planning Division where they are now working.

T h e next project to reach any appreciable degree of progress, was a bi-racial project at Lackawanna. N. V., where the Bethelchem .Steel Company lias a large plant. Inasmuch as the fundamental basis for all projects is that of need, it was readily discerned by the colored specialist who had been sent to Lackawanna to investigate the proposed subsistence homestead project that the Negroes themselves were more in need of the project than the whites. But the housing authorities of Lackawanna would agree to a project only upon a racial population ratio, a thing which would have meant 8 per cent of Negro and 92 per cent white. W h e n this information was conveyed to the W a s h i n g t o n office, the officials flatly refused to approve such a project. A compromise, however, was reached with the Mayor and Housing Authorities of Lackawanna and the officials at Washington by agreeing to make the project IS per cent colored and eighty-five per cent white. But when the matter was again discussed in a round-table between the office of the "Negro Adviser" and officials of the Division ot Subsistence Homesteads, the Lackawanna project was completely turned down because it was not thought advisable for the Government to go on record as sponsoring bi-racial projects on a percentage basis, that is on a racial population ratio. Thus the Lackawanna project was abandoned.

The next project for Negroes and one that has r e a d i e d the stage for actual approval and allocation of funds is the one at Newport News, Ya. This project has the endorsement of Hampton Institute, but was held up because of some differences within the Division as to the location of the project. T h e site selected already is a few- miles out of the city

28

The

S p h i n x

of Newport News, but a site within the city limits proper is thought more desirable.

One of the colored specialists of the Planning Division was sent out to Indianapolis, Ind., to select a site for a project there, but he had no sooner returned to his office in W a s h i n g t o n when a letter came in protesting against t h e site selected for a N e g r o subsistence homestead project.

Another project for Negroes is now being worked up around Darby, Penn., a small town a few miles outside of Philadelphia. Then there was a N e g r o project proposed at Dayton, Ohio, but for some inexplicable reason this project is at a standstill.

Of course, it is to be understood that many factors enter into the perfecting of plans for a subsistence homesteads project. One is the prohibitive price put on land when it becomes known that the Government w a n t s to buy i t ; then t h e r e is the m a t t e r of getting water and electric current for the project, and the officials of these utilities have to be consulted as regards the cost; the school officials have to be consulted about schools, and many others. However a great deal of these facts and data are supposed to accompany the application, because they are asked for in t h e preliminary application.

T h e following article appeared in one of the W a s h i n g t o n daily p a p e r s : "Construction, the P W A ' S Subsistence H o m e stead Division said, has been started on 1,100 low-cost homes, each w-ith one t o thirty acres of land in thirty States. T h e projects are financed from a $25,000,000 allotment of which $5,000,000 has been spent in the purchase of sites and the starting of building. Altogether a total of $19,000,000 has been allocated. Money received in payments from buyers will be used for other projects. T h e homesteads, including land and construction costs, r a n g e between $2,000 and $4,000 in cost.

Chicken houses, stables, and other outbuildings are included.

T h e buyer has thirty years in which to pay at 3 per cent interest. An official said : 'The average cost to the buyer is $12.65 per month. This includes interest. While no down payment is required, such payments a r e acceptable. T h e most acceptable tenants and purchasers are those with independent incomes of $600 to $1,200 a year. This assures their ability not only to keep up payments, but to keep up their homes, and improve them, work the ground and in general improve conditions.'"

T h e next day after the appearance of this article, I went to the office of the white man w h o has charge of publicity for the Division of Subsistence Homesteads and asked him upon showing him the article, whether any of the 1,100 lowcost homes had been built for colored people, and he replied in t h e negative.

Today there is but one Negro family which is occupying a house built by the Subsistence Homesteads Division and that is on a white project known as the " W e s t m o r e l a n d H o m e s t e a d s " located, near Greensburg, Penn., a city thirty miles from Pittsburgh. This information was not received from the publicity man.

During my interview with him it was brought out that the racial problem was an added problem to the development of projects for N e g r o e s ; that one project, at Helena, Ark., had been turned down because the Division or the local people wanted t h e houses for Negroes to be built for less money t h a n those for the whites. $1,500,000 has been allocated to experiment with on a subsistence homestead project for white people, and already $600,000 has been spent on the experiment and yet one year and a half since the subsistence program was started not one

project for Negroes has reached the stage of actual construction.

T h e most redeeming feature is that there are in the Planning Division of Subsistence Homesteads more highly trained young colored men than in any other Division, Subvision or Branch of the fifty or more N e w Deal Agencies.

T w o of these men a r e in the Architectural Engineering Branch and three in the Planning Division. T h e r e are also three young colored women employed as stenographers and two colored messengers. And the most refreshing thing about the whole situation is that there is no segregation in this Division.

FEDERAL EMERGENCY ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC WORKS T h e Public W o r k s Administration was established on June 16, 1933, in accordance with Title 11, Public Act No. 67, 73d Congress. Executive Order of the President issued on July 8, 1933, terminated the temporary appointment of a Federal E m e r g e n c y Administrator of Public W o k s and appointed the Secretary of t h e Interior D e p a r t m e n t as Federal E m e r gency Administrator of Public W o r k s .

T h e purpose of this emergency organization is to reduce unemployment and to aid in the restoration of purchasing power through the construction of useful public works by providing allottments of funds for road building, Naval construction, rivers and harbors work, A r m y housing, public buildings, soil erosion control, forest conservation, irrigation, power development, water-works, sewer systems, electriclight plants, streets and highways, bridges, schools, hospitals, recreational facilities, railroad improvements, slum clearance, low-cost housing, and other w o r t h y projects. To effectuate this program, an original appropriation of $3,300,000,000 was made by Congress. An additional $400,000,000 was appropriated in the deficiency appropriation bill of 1934.

T h e Public W o r k s Administrator has complete supervision and direction of the Administration. H e is personally assisted by the Office of Investigations, two Administrative Assistants, the Labor Board of Review, the National Planning Board (superseded by the National Resources Board), and the General Counsel of the Administration as personal legal adviser.

All personnel appointments are made by the Administrator, through a division of appointments attached to his immediate staff. Directly under the Administrator is the Deputy Administrator, assisted by four Executive Assis'ants and by the Technical Board of Review which reports directly to the Administrator. T h e r e is an Executive Officer subordinate to the Deputy Administrator whose functions are to coordinate and regulate administrative procedure for all divisions and to act as Deputy Administrator in event of the Deputy Administrator's absence. The Executive Officer also has complete control of the administration of State offices; superintends purchases, personnel, mail, files and correspondence, accounting transportation and vouchers and pay rolls. Co-ordinate with the Administrative Division are the three examining divisions for non-federal projects, Legal, Finance, and E n g i n e e r i n g ; and the Projects Division, which co-ordinates the reports of the examining divisions and records and routes applications. Then there are also the Federal Projects Division; the Housing Division; the Division of Transportation Loans which receives and examines all applications for railroad loans; the Inspection Division; the Economics and Statistics Divisions. In the field organization there are ten regional advisers who assist t h e National Resources Board and the State Advirory Boards

The

S p h i n x

to which all projects must be submitted, except housing and transportation loans.

It required a great deal of time to investigate the multitudinous offices of the Public W o r k s Administration whose manifold duties and functions require the services of large numbers of experienced technicians in engineering, law, and finance as well as a large complement of stenographers and clerks. And I thought that if this is a New Deal for the Negro, certainly here is a splendid chance in which m a n y of our trained college men and women could find lucrative employment. At that time I was passing the room in which men were handling and examining blue prints and I stopped to see if there were a colored man in the group—but there was none. T h e n I came to the drafting room in which sat draftsmen and architects at drafting tables, drawing plans and preparing specifications, so I stopped again to see if perhaps there might be a colored man or woman at work here—but t h e r e was none. I kept on my observation tour until I came to the office of a colored man and I went in and had an interview with him. H e told me that he was an architectural engineer and that he had not been employed to handle merely Negro matters, but all matters of an architectural nature. Subsequent investigation, however, revealed the fact and there is a reason—that he does not handle matters or rather architectural and engineering m a t ters pertaining to Negro projects, but that he handles veryfew architectural matters of any kind, although he has a whole office to himself and his stenographer. Across the hall from him is the office of the colored a t t o r n e y in the Housing Division, who told me that he does not handle merely Negro contracts, but all contracts. H e , too, has a stenographer.

The most noticeable thing about the m a n y offices of the Housing Division is that they are all crowded with several officials, all of whom are busy, whereas these colored officials have large offices all to themselves and appear not any too busy, Surely, I said, there must be other colored s t e n o graphers in the Public W o r k s Administration besides the one in t h e office of the architectural engineer, the one in the office of the a t t o r n e y and the two in the office of the "Adviser" on the Economic Status of Negroes. I had not thought of those who might be holding clerical positions. Finally, I discovered a colored woman stenographer in the office of the Solicitor-General — not exactly in his office — but in the stenographic room, working beside white stenographers.

But the Solicitor-General's office is in the D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior. T h e r e is also in the Solicitor-General's office in t h e Department of the Interior, a very brilliant young colored a t t o r n e y who may function at times in connection

Location

Type

Cedartown, Ga Franklin County, Ky Shelby, N. C Fodice, T e x Decatur, Ala Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Industrial Recreational Center Versailles, M o

Addition to Negro Sc School Addition to S c h o o l . . .

School School

Richmond, Va

Recreation Building, Community Center Community Center ..

Community Center . .

N e g r o School Athletic Field School—Maintenance Faculty Residence . . .

Gymnasium

St. Louis, M o El Paso, Tex Athens. T e x San Antonio, T e x Beaumont, Tex Institute, W . Va A. & M. State School, Pine Bluff, Ark NOTE:

School School

29

with the Division of Subsistence Homesteads which is in the D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior, because very often legal m a t ters pertaining to the subsistence homesteads projects are submitted to the office of the Solicitor-General for written opinions. If there are any Negroes employed merely in a clerical capacity other than those I have mentioned who may serve in the dual capacity of clerk and stenographer, I could not locate them. It is true also that there is a large number of colored messengers employed in the Public W o r k s Administration, but they seem to comprise the majority of Negroes employed. However, it might be well to add that there are more trained young men and women in the Public W o r k s Administration and in the Division of Subsistence Homesteads than in all of the other New Deal Agencies together.

The next thing I wanted to know was the extent to which Negroes in this country have benefited by the $3,700,000,000 that had been appropriated for the Public W o r k s Administration by Congress. Of course I am cognizant of the fact that allotments from this appropriation were made to other New Deal Agencies, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, Tennessee Valley Authority, Civil W o r k s Administration and others. But I do knowthat the Administrator of Public W o r k s announced that on November 18, 1934, $998,593,183 had been allotted in loans and g r a n t s for more than 4,000 non-Federal projects up to November 1, 1934, and that $1,545,075 had been allotted, as of the same date, to Federal projects which comprise t h e major part of the whole program. It was also reported that approximately 2,000,000 men and women now are gainfully employed because of the public works construction prog r a m (exclusive of CCC and C W A ) either directly on building sites or on primary and secondary indirect and industrial employment created by activity at the the building sites; that those 2,000,000 gainfully employed men plus their dependents comprise a group of approximately 7,000,000 people who are now benefiting from expenditures on public works program, many of whom might otherwise be forced to apply for relief. H o w m a n y of these 2.000,000 gainfullyemployed on public works are colored, cannot be stated, but it is hoped that Negroes have their proportionate share.

T h e only statistics I could obtain relative to Negro nonFederal projects are given in the table below: It is known, therefore, from the foregoing statistics that $152,000 in loans and $105,000 in grants have been made Negro non-Federal projects out of the $998,593,183 the Administrator reports has been allotted in loans and grants

Loan

Grant

Disposition

$ 11,500 125,000 10,700 1,000 10,000

30% 30% 30% No Grant 30%

Approved 12/29/33 Approved Approved 12/29/34 Out Withdrawn

125.700 5,000

30% 30%

Withdrawn Approved 6/28/34 $4,940 Grant and Loai

52,000

No Grant 105.000

Out Approved 6/28/34 Out Out Out Out Approved Approved

70.000 35,600 31.300 13,000 41.000 65,000

30',

30% 30% 30% 30% 30%

T h e Grants are not repayabe and represent 30% of the cost of labor and material.

30

The

Sphinx

for more than 4,000 non-Federal projects up to November 1, 1934. Undoubtedly there have been more loans and g r a n t s made N e g r o non-Federal projects, but since there are no other statistics available nor any records kept of N e g r o non-Federal projects it cannot be definitely stated here the total amount in loans and g r a n t s that have been m a d e to date for Negro non-Federal projects.

With respect to Federal projects an examination of t h e Administrator's report reveals the following allotments for Negroes: Veterans' Hospital, Tuskegee Freedrnen's Hospital Washington, D. C I n t e r n e s ' Residences $58,000 General Repairs and Modernization. .. . 27,000

$30,000

social and economic rehabilitation which the T.V.A. projects.

Moreover it is also inevitable that the program cannot be successful without the integration of the large Negro segment into both the immediate and future plans of the T.V.A. Certainly no program to "displace haphazard, u n planned and uintegrated social and industrial development" in the region can proceed without inclusion of the Negro.

F o r it is the Negro who has been most exposed to the anti-social practices and economic exploitation which have retarded the development of the region.

For the Negro: Nothing

By John P. Davis and Charles Houston in T H E CRISIS, October, 1934. Appreciation is hereby expressed to T H E CRISIS for permission to reproduce this article.

Let us analyze the T.V.A. program. T h e T.V.A. is spending millions upon millions of dollars in the valley in construction projects. This has suddenly stimulated employment and created a temporary and limited prosperity. But looking beyond the day when this temporary and limited prosperity will peter out as the construction comes to an end, the T.V.A. is attempting to make the valley selfsustaining. It hopes t h a t its hydro-electric development of an ultimate pool of 3,000,000 horsepower of cheap electricity will cause a large scale industrial expansion along its transmissions lines, which in turn will start a chain of increased employment at living wages, a rise in purchasing power, more consumption of goods with attendant increase in the standard of living. It is attempting to show the way for an excess city population to go back to the farm with assurance of an adequate livelihood and comfortable homes by the development of domestic industry and small farming, as a balance between industry and agriculture. A special subsidiary corporation, the Electric H o m e and F a r m Authority, has been created by t h e T.V.A. with an initial working capital of $1,000,000, and a credit pool from the R.F.C. of $10,000,000, to produce and sell all m a n n e r of domestic electric appliances to the valley residents on the lowest posible instalment terms at reduced interest.

T h e greatest program of regional education ever attempted anywhere is being put in force. Model dairies, poultry farms, tree nurseries, garden farms, woodworking, automotive, metal and electrical shops, and a general agricultural training program either have been, or soon will be started out of public funds, designed to teach the T.V.A. w o r k e r s and other valley residents how to make an independent living combining industry and agriculture. T h e whites are being given every encouragement to take advantage of the educational opportunities, but last July when the a u t h o r s visited the region and asked what provision had been made for the instruction of Negroes, the answer was that nothing had been done and nothing definite p r o posed. T h e r e is no rehabilitation for the Negro.

Out of taxpayers' money the T.V.A. is building the model town of Norris, Tennessee, to contain a basic number of 500 families. T h e town is designed to house the permanent force at Norris D a m and those in charge of adjacent T.V.A. enterprises. No expense has been spared to make and p r e serve it as the ideal American community. Building and landscape architects; engineer specialists in land planning, building construction, highway, landscape, electrical and heating design ; together with recognized social and domestic science consultants were and still are employed without any limit on cost. T h r e e hundred thousand dollars has been allocated by the F.E.R.A. to start co-operative operations in the new community.

Lily White Town

W h e n one considers the position of the Negroes in the Tennessee River Basin, it is evident that more than any other segment of the population, they are in need of the

T h e families admitted t o the community are selected by the T.V.A. with the greatest care. T h e y are all white.

T h e authorities told us bluntly no Negroes would be per-

Experimental Station, D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture. Beltsville, Md

85,000 $19,000

In all probabality there are many more allotments for nonFederal as well as Federal projects for Negroes, but since no records a r e kept a full statement cannot be given in this report.

An amusing incident happened in connection with t h e investigation made of the Public W o r k s Administration. T h e following item appeared in the column of a political writer for one of t h e W a s h i n g t o n morning p a p e r s : Interesting Public W o r k s Plan. To build a summer resort on the Maryland South Shore for colored people and their families. Plan was highly favored until they discovered that a lawver, not of their race, was to get a cut of $100,000 for his "influence" in the matter.

T h e next day I went down to t h e Interior Building to t h e office of the representative in the Bureau of Public Information, from whom I had been getting news, and showed him the article mentioned above, and asked him to tell me where the project was to be located and all about it. H e read the article, but he did not know anything about it.

H e telephoned to several offices in the Housing Division and no one seemed to know anything about the project in question. It was a rather strange coincidence that the very next morning there appeared a complete story about t h e proposed project in that same political writer's column.

Except through the Housing Division the Public W o r k s Administration itself does not engage in construction work.

Public W o r k s Administration limits its work to making g r a n t s or loans and seeing that the g r a n t e e complies with the terms of the grant. In case of Federal projects, it is not so much a m a t t e r of security as desirability. After a project is approved. Public W o r k s Administration is through with it. T h e funds are made available to the organization concerned and are expended in accordance with its usual procedure.

In the case of non-Federal projects, more detailed investigation is required. Not only is it necessary to establish the social and economic desirability of the project and its physical feasibility, but there also must be taken into account the very important question of security. In projects undertaken by a State or any of its minor civil divisions, considerations must be given to the laws authorizing the borrowing of money.

LILY-WHITE CONSTRUCTION

The niitted to occupy houses in Norris, "Because Negroes do not fit into the program". Thus their position is that Negroes do not belong in the "ideal American community" built and maintained by public funds, in spite of the fact that there is not a town of 500 families in the entire T e n nessee River Basin (except perhaps in the extreme â&#x20AC;˘nountain sections) where Negroes and whites do not live side by side. Yet in Norris Negroes are excluded by agents of the Federal Government.

As one studies the operations of the T.V.A., one is struck by the fact that in almost every activity the Negro is either systematically excluded or else discreetly overlooked.

T h e Authority is bending over backwards not to give any offense to the traditions of the South. The N e g r o is completely excluded from the social rehabilitation program.

In all the public press releases of the T.V.A. the Negro is mentioned only once, and then simply in the capacity of labor. On March 14. 1934, the T.V.A. released a speech by F. W . Reeves, its director of personnel and training, in which Mr. Reeves said : "One of the things the authority is trying to accomplish in labor relations is to secure a fair deal for Negroes. At Muscle Shoals the population is 20'/c Negro.

Therefore, the Authority plans to employ Negroes in both skilled and unskilled labor positions up to 20% of the total employees in that area. No discrimination is made between races with reference t o wages paid or hours of work."

In other words, the only function that the Negro has in the T.V.A., the only recognition which the T.V.A. gives him, is as a labor commodity. And even this function is subject to certain exceptions.

The story goes that word came down from Washington that the T V . A. had to do something for the Negro. It was apparent that the Negro was going to get little or nothing from the other New Deal Agencies. The T.V.A. w a s ordered to make up the deficiency. W h a t did it do? It gave Negroes their "proportionate" share of employment, but not their "proportionate" share of the payroll. W h e n t h e authors made their visit last July, not a single Negro was employed on the "inside" or in a clerical or office position, except one assistant personnel officer at Norris Dam, M a x Bond.

Not a single Negro was employed as a foreman or higher.

By keeping all Negro employees on the lower levels of employment, the proportionate share of the payrolls was less t h a n one per cent of t h e total.

"Can't Mix Races" The authorities were asked if there was discrimination in employment. They first answered n o ; then they qualified by saying that they would not employ Negro artisans unless they could get enough for a c r e w ; t h a t they would not work a mixed crew of white and colored. But the "mixed crew" objection is simply a bogey to mask discrimination and keep Negroes out of jobs. On t h e night shift at the Joe W h e e l e r Dam the authors saw white and N e g r o drillers working on the same drill. The white worker was the driller; the Negro his helper. W h e n the white worker left the drill for any reason, the Negro helper would r u n it until he got back. Mixed crews work all over the South without any clash, except where somebody wants to keep Negroes out of jobs.

T h e authorities next told us that they were employing Negroes according to the trades in which they were customarily found in the valley: such as drillers, powder

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31

nien, concrete pourers. etc. In short, no attempt is made at educating the Negro or diversifying his skills; the T.V.A. aims to maintain the status quo. But even so, at Norris Dam the head cook in the N e g r o barracks last July was a white man ; and white carpenters were building the temporary cottages to house Negro workers who wanted to have their families with them.

According to official T.V.A. pronouncement there are no temporary cottages at N o r r i s ; but over in the woods, across the road from Norris, there are t e m p o r a r y barracks and cottages for N e g r o workers. T h e r e is a story behind this.

Originally it had been planned to have Norris Dam an allwhite project with white workers only. No provisions were made for Negro workers. But Negro resentment against the New Deal had reached such a point of disillusion and resentment t h a t the T.V.A. had to let down some of the bars, and N e g r o w o r k e r s were taken on at Norris Dam. T h e authors asked t h e authorities if a condition to admitting Negro families to the cottages would be that the w o r k e r s ' women folk would be expected to do domestic service for the white housewives of the model community of Norris.

T h e authorities said no, but the proof remains to be seen.

There is no complaint about labor relations in the actual construction work at the Dams except for the restriction of Negro employment to certain occupations and to the lower levels at that. T h e men work side by side without friction, going about their duties in the ordinary way.

Relentless Attack Needed T h e real complaint lies in the failure of the T.V.A. to incorporate the Negro as an integral part in its who'e economic and social rehabilitation program. The general attitude of the T.V.A. toward the N e g r o is that he is a harmless nuisance which has to be tolerated but which one cannot afford to encourage. Yet fundamentally no recovery program in the South can succeed without admitting the Negro to his full and equal share. If it is a question of increasing buying power, the South cannot raise itself very high as long as it keeps twenty-five per cent of its population on starvation wages. If it is a question of social rehabilitation and the standards of living, the South cannot be secure as long as one-fourth of its population is held in ignorance, squalor and disease. T h e South cannot keep its prejudice and have its prosperity too. And in T.V.A. the South is in the saddle.

Negroes must relentlessly attack and continue to attack discrimination in the T.V.A. with pitiless publicity, politically, at law. and with whatever other means are at their disposal.

If they can break discrimination in the T.V.A. and obtain for the Negro population of the Tennessee River Basin its lull share of the economic and social rehabilitation of the region, they will have made a great step forward. But only a step. For if the Negro population is to benefit by t h e cheap electricity produced and distributed by the T.V.A., it means t h a t the fight must go on to increase its purchasing power. T h e first must go on to get the Negro industrial worker increased recognition and income under the N R A and the N e g r o shareholder and farmer a larger share of his produce under the AAA. T h e s t a r k t r u t h is that the entire "New Deal" administration must be made to realize that the economic wage slavery and social suppression cursing the South today, are absolutely incompatible with a real return to prosperity.

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The THE FEDERAL HOUSING PROJECT FOR NEGROES窶年ASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

T h e Nashville Federal Housing Project for Negroes, which was begun about a year ago, is nearing the end of the first stage of development. It is estimated that by March 1st the purchase of the p r o p e r t y in the area selected for the project will be completed.

Studies of the N e g r o population of Nashville, by the Department of Social Science of Fisk University, have for long indicated the necessity for improvement of the social and housing conditions of the N e g r o population. T h e N e g r o mortality rate from communicable diseases which have traceable relationship to housing is from two to five times g r e a t e r than that for whites. At the same time the rate for whites is considerably above the average of the country as a w^hole. In 1930 the r a t e for typhoid fever was 9.9 for whites and 18.7 for N e g r o e s ; the tuberculosis r a t e 66.5 for whites and 282.4 for Negroes. These latter mentioned diseases are unmistakably bound up with inadequate housing and living conditions. Diseases avoidable through social education and improvement of surroundings are particularly in evidence. For instance, the mortality rate resulting from child birth for Negroes is more than three times t h a t of the whites. T h e death rate from syphilis is 13.05 for whites and 42.0 for Negroes. T h e infant mortality rate for Negroes is appalling.

T h e delinquency rate a m o n g Negroes is exceedingly high.

It is significant to note t h a t in this connection there is an almost complete lack of recreational facilities in the city for N e g r o children. Negroes constitute about 30 per cent of the population of the city but have access to only 1 per cent of the city's recreation and play space.

While these things have indicated, generally, the need for improvement in the social and economic conditions of the N e g r o element of the city, several studies bearing specifically upon housing have also been undertaken and completed by t h e Social Science Department, working with the City Planning and Zoning Commission and the Nashville Federal Housing Advisory Committee. T h e material made available by these studies afforded a basis for the selection of N a s h ville as one of the cities for a Federal low-cost housing p r o ject, and likewise a site for the project.

The project was launched in its first stage by t h e designation of the area for the new homes. In this selection such features as accessibility, that is, location with regard to transporation lines, trends in the shift of the N e g r o population within the city, permanence as a residential section, and location with respect to such accessory institutions as clinics, schools, e t c , were considered. The section selected is in the vicinity of Fisk University and M e h a r r y Medical College. T h e area includes the only N e g r o high school in the city. It lies between two arterial thoroughfares, and its northern and southern boundaries are two blocks from street car lines.

As a preliminary step to t h e acquisition of the p r o p e r t y involved in the area, a social study of the Negro families of the section was made. T h e study provided a considerable body of factual data concerning the present inhabitants of the area. T h e physical housing in this section was found to be considerably below the average for Negroes of the entire city.

W i t h the completion of the purchase of the p r o p e r t y in the area, the demolition of the old buildings will begin.

It is hoped that b y spring the actual building operations will be under way. W h e n completed, there will be p r o vided an unprecedented opportunity for a sound social

S p h i n x program based upon low-cost housing, and guided by t h e best standards of social practice.

THE NEGRO POPULATION IN THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AREA Charles S. Johnson, Fisk University T h e tragic seriousness of the plight of our economic o r g a n ization, both industrial and agricultural, has compelled tolerance and discussion and, indeed, some action in the direction of economic and social reorganization. A complex of factors has long w a r r a n t e d and finally prompted attention to our social structure. Modern technology has outstripped our culture in development. The social mechanism itself has been a dead and menacing weight.

Perhaps the boldest and, at the same time, the most encouraging of the programs a t t e m p t e d is the experiment in the Tennessee Valley. H e r e a vast engineering project, unlocking great reservoirs of cheap power, is proceeding hand in hand with social reorganization of a character equally unprecedented. In considering the present place and expectations of the N e g r o population in the Tennessee Valley Area, it is immediately clear that the problem is one which is almost wholly social and cultural. The traditional status of the Negro population has been marked by economic restriction amounting to exploitation. Just as significant, however, is the fact t h a t the factors sustaining this N e g r o status have operated in a peculiar manner to fix the status of a very large number of white w o r k e r s .

Within the 112 counties in the area are 2,335,907 whites and 268,048 Negroes. T h e N e g r o e s consitute 10.2 per cent of the total population but there has been a consistent decline in the proportion of Negroes for a period of forty years.

W i s e r than they knew, they have been deserting the wasted countryside and moving into the cities. Now that a saturation point has been reached, the stark situation of these Negroes becomes accentuated. One out of every four Negroes in the area was a resident in Nashville, C h a t t a n o o g a or Knoxville, with 18.9 per cent in the two cities of C h a t t a nooga and Knoxville alone. T h e concentration of N e g r o e s in cities in the Valley area is much g r e a t e r t h a n in the white population, and for good reasons. This urban trend, however, has not been from the sub-marginal lands alone, although they do show great losses in the percentage of Negro population. They have been deserting the rural areas generally.

T h r e e general indices consistently reflect Negro s t a t u s : education, health, and occupational distribution. F r o m Knox County in the City of Knoxville to a g r o u p of N o r t h Alabama counties, the illiteracy range is from 10 to 25 per cent. As is characteristic of the whole South, illiteracy correlates inversely with the amounts spent per pupil for Negro and white children, differing as much in one instance as $27.00 per child for teachers' salaries. Great variations also occur between sections listed in mortality statistics. T h e N e g r o death rate is almost twice t h a t of the white, and for tuberculosis the rate is a little over twice as great.

Since the turn of the century, there has been very little change in the occupational status of the Negroes in the area.

Three-fourths of the N e g r o w o r k e r s have remained in unskilled and semi-skilled occupations. At one time the Negroes as a heritage of slavery, held certain skilled positions in t h e cities. W i t h the change in the civil status of the N e g r o and the accompanying rise to political importance of the white workers, the Negro's place in crafts has been drastically restricted. Even before the depression direct displacement had begun. W i t h the further limitation of jobs

The the competition became hostile and the ousting of Negro workers from the more desirable jobs became a matter of blunt policy.

P a t t e r n s of city growth within the Valley reflect t h e lag in education, health, housing and general culture. As the lowest income group Negroes have inherited the least desirable housing. It is almost an impossibility, or at most it is quite difficult, for them either to improve the housing or move away from it. T h e whole problem of Negroes in urban areas, however, has another quite different aspect. Disorganization has followed the cultural shock of changing from rural to urban life. No less t h a n 70 per cent of the Negro population in the cities at present is due to migration. Because of the increased racial competition for jobs and the inevitable result to Negro workers who lack protection or ether aid in the struggle, many of these late migrants would r e t u r n if t h e r e were a prospect of subsistence in agriculture.

A relatively larger proportion of Negroes below the subsistence level, a smaller number of owners, higher mortality and illiteracy rates, and a higher rate of migration mark the problems in agriculture. Soil depletion and a surplus of staple crops have been in part responsible for these ills which only revolutionary planning and control in agriculture can adequately correct. T h e Tennessee Valley Area covers a wide r a n g e of types of agricluture, soil quality and products, and, interestingly enough, the distribution of the N e g r o population is very similar to the distribution throughout the United States. This fact gives added significance to the area as the testing ground for a social and economic experiment of nation-wide import.

The present crisis in agriculture is reflected in an increasing tenant class of both Negroes and whites. T h e transition from tenant to farm laborers, however, which is being forced in many cases, diminishes the slight security which the tenants had, by releasing the planter from all other security except paying a small amount on a casual basis. The operation of the Bankhead Bill threatens to crystallize the dislocation now in progress, and while it may help cotton prices for the planters, it will create a permanent standard class of dispossessed tenants. T h e Government relief measures, developed to relieve the farmer, have left the condition of the tenant unchanged because the funds have been applied by the planter to the t e n a n t s ' back debts, real or alleged. T h e new program in social experimentation must be carried forward on t h e basis of what is known of the physical and social character of the area.

Economists have pointed out that the limit of the frontier has been reached. This means substantially that the limit c>r expansion has been reached with respect to production and new m a r k e t s . It is conceivable t h a t t h e r e is a new frontier present in the millions of families which have not yet approximated the commonly approved material standards of the American culture. At least the theory can be tested. T h e experiment in the Tennessee Valley moves on this assumption, but it is immediately evident that it cannot proceed far without fully incorporating the Negro population into its social and economic scheme. This will have to come from motives of enlightened self-interest, if not from simple social justice.

Despite the excellence of the first planned social unit at Norris Dam, it escaped the justly challenging issue of race in its community organization. In the section of the Valley where the Negro population is greater, an experiment of some magnitude and significance has been begun. Negro workers constitute about 30 per cent of the labor, although they represent about 20 per cent of the population. At first

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they did only unskilled work. Gradually this is changing. At W h e e l e r Dam there are growing numbers of semi-skilled and skilled workers, and at Pickwick Landing Dam in N o r t h e r n Mississippi, on which work is soon to begin, a wider distribution of skill is both promised and expected.

One practical difficulty has been the locating of persons with experience in a particular skill. T h e educational level of t h e Negro recruits from the area for the work has averaged fourth grade. This is about three years below the average of the white men selected from the workers' applications. At W h e e l e r Dam one of the most valuable men. an expert "shooter" whose dynamite charges in the rock base for the dam, must be and are mathematically accurate in their effect, works by a curious, but fortunate, sense which he, because of his background, is not able to convert into a mathematical formula. If he could he would probably be an engineer.

The social demonstration includes the readjusting of social and racial attitudes quite as much as the reduction of mortality and crime. T h e special social problems affecting Negroes in the area as a whole, despite their apparent uniqueness, are at base a m a t t e r of attitudes, social institutions and customs. These problems cannot be treated in isolation. T h e y are a part of a broader social and economic situation, the reconstruction of which will affect the entire population of the South.

FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION Tin's is t h e most recently established New Deal Agency, having been created by Public Act No. 479. 73d Congress, approved J u n e 27, 1934. It is cited as the "National Housing Act".

T h e r e are five titles to this Act. but only the first three come within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Housing Administration. T h e functions and duties, however, of this organization are divided into two separate parts, namely, Title I, short-term program of housing renovation and modernization; Titles II and III, long-term plan of complete home financing.

This is also another New Deal organization which has been set-up to promote one of the low-cost housings programs inaugurated by President Roosevelt; the low-cost housing program of this agency differs from the other two now being promoted by the Federal Government, in that it is proposed to stimulate the expenditure of billions of private capital( in contrast to the other two which would use public funds) for renovation and new construction of single homes or groups of homes.

Incidentally, the President sees "Housing" as a means of re-employing large numbers of men out of work in the building trades.

Under Title I the Federal Housing Administrator is authorized to insure banks, trust companies, building and loan associations, installment lending companies, and other financial institutions, against losses sustained as a result of loans and advances of credit and purchases of obligations representing loans and advances made by the insured subsequent to the enactment of the National Housing Act and prior In January 1, 1936, for the purpose of financing alterations, repairs, and improvements upon real property. The Administrator is authorized to provide such msurance to financial institutions up to 20 per cent of the total amount of loans made for modernization or repair of property under the terms of the Act. No insurance granted shall be granted to any individual loan for repair or modernization in excess

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The

of $2,000. T h e Administrator is further authorized under Title I of the National Housing Act to make loans which are insured.

These "repair" and "modernization" loans are short-term loans running from two to five years as to maturity. T h e minimum amount of money lent under the short-term is $100 and the maximum is $2,000.

Title II of the National Housing Act creates a system of mutual m o r t g a g e insurance, under which certain mortgage investments, in the hands of approved mortgagees, may be granted a substantial insurance against loss. Amortized mortgages are the only type of mortgages eligible for insurance under the Act. T h e National Housing Act requires that mortgages eligible for insurance "have, or be held by, a mortgagee approved by t h e Administrator as responsible and able to service the mortgage properly".

Approved mortgagees must be confined to institutional investors and are initially confined further to corporate institutions (1) having succession, (2) subject to supervision by the governmental agency from which their charter powers are derived, (3) having a combined unimpaired capital and surplus of not less t h a n $100,000, of which at least $50,000 is unimpaired capital, (4) having a principal office in an urban community which has a trading area embracing a contiguous population of not less than 6,000, and, (S) the activity of which in the real estate mortgage field consists principally in lending their own funds. " T h e actual decision in any case as to whether a particular institution may be approved as responsible and able to service mortgages properly will be determined by the Federal Housing Administration upon proper application to it by the institution. Application should be made direct to the W a s h i n g t o n office of the F e d eral Housing Administration.

Section 203 (b) of t h e Act states that a mortgage, to be eligible for insurance, must "contain complete amortization provisions satisfactory to the Administrator requiring periodic payments by the mortgagor not in excess of his reasonable ability to pay as determined by the Administrator".

F u r t h e r m o r e the Administrator "must be satisfied that the periodic payments required of any mortgagor in any m o r t gage for insurance bear a proper relation to the income of the mortgagor before the m o r t g a g e m a y be declared eligible". T h e mortgagor's character, credit rating, his present and anticipated income, and the number of dependents for whom he must provide out of his income, are all taken into consideration before he is declared eligible.

Title III of the National Housing Act authorizes the Administrator to approve the incorporation of national m o r t g a g e associations empowered to purchase and sell first mortgages, and to borrow money t h r o u g h the issuance of bonds and other similar obligations.

E a c h national m o r t g a g e association must have a capital stock of not less than $5,000,000 and is authorized to borrow to an aggregate amount not exceeding ten times its capital stock, but not in excess of mortgages held by it.

T h e field force of the Housing Administration is in charge of ten regional directors, each of whom supervises the w o r k in a group of States, except N e w York which forms one of the regional units. T h e r e are also State district directors, w h o in some areas are subordinate to State Directors and in others, to regional directors.

Administrative Set-up An investigation was made of this emergency organization to ascertain if there were Negro representation in it, such as a "Negro Adviser". It was discovered that there are a

Sphinx very few colored employes in any capacity in this organization. Advice was given that the only way the total number of colored employed could be determined would be to go through all the applications and take out or count those applications which had pictures of Negroes on them. But additional inquiry revealed the fact that there are a few colored men employed as messengers. T h e total number of white employees in the Washington office of this organization is 1,137 and 1,100 in the field.

T o what extent Negro home-owners or rather home-buyers will be benefited by this particular New Deal legislation remains to be seen. If the benefit to be derived is no greater than under the H o m e Owners' Loan Corporation, it will be negligible. W h e t h e r any Negro banks are able to participate depends on whether there are any that have a combined unimpaired capital and surplus of not less than $100,000, of which $50,000 is unimpaired capitalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and then the bank will have to make application and be approved by the Federal Housing Administrator.

HOME OWNERS' LOAN CORPORATION The Federal H o m e Loan Bank Board under Section 4 of Public Act No. 43, 73d Congress, approved J u n e 13, 1933, was authorized and directed to organize the "Home Owners' Loan Corporation", with capital stock not to exceed $200,000,000. all of which stock was subscribed by the Secret a r y of Treasury with money advanced by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

T h e primary purpose of this organization was to relieve the financial stringency existing a m o n g millions of people who were trying to pay for their homes under adverse conditions. M a n y home-buyers were on the verge of losing their homes because of their inability to refinance existing trusts or mortgages thereon due to the depressed money market.

E v e r y one was to be given the opportunity to refinance his home through the H o m e Owners' Loan Corporation.

T o carry out this fine humanitarian purpose of President Roosevelt the H o m e Owners' Loan Corporation was authorized to make loans directly t o home owners to replace the existing mortgages as well as to provide funds to pay taxes and assessments and to make necessary repairs. T o secure the money to carry out this home-saving program the Corporation was also authorized to issue bonds to the extent of $2,000,000,000. On J u n e 27, 1934. however, the National H o u s ing Act authorized the issuance of bonds to an aggregate of $3,000,000,000; bonds to run for eighteen years (Public Act No. 43, 1933) with 4 per cent interest guaranteed. On March 1, 1934, it was recommended that the principal be guaranteed also and this was done by Public Act No. 178, 73d Congress, approved April 27, 1934. This same Act provides that not exceeding $200,000,000 shall be lent for repair, rehabilitation and modernization of dwellings secured by mortgages, but Section 506 (b) of the National Housing Act (Public Act No. 479, 73d Congress, approved J u n e 27, 1934) increased this amount to $300,000,000.

Adhering to the "State-rights principle" followed in p r a c tically all of the New Deal legislation the Corporation in accordance with the provisions of the Act creating it, set up field organizations along State lines, with a general office in each State, District of Columbia, and Hawaii. T h e r e a r e approximately 251 branch offices in addition to and s u b o r dinate to those of the State Managers. Thus was created the largest N e w Deal Agency as regards the number of employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;there being a total of 17,361 of whom 2,210 are in the W a s h i n g t o n office.

The Not seeing any colored employees around the W a s h ington office, I consequently made inquiry as to the total number (and in what capacity employed) of them employed.

After being referred from office to office to get the desired information, the job was given up as a hopeless task. It can be reliably said that a very, very few Negroes arc employed even as messengers in the Washington office of the H o m e Owners' Loan Corporation. By the W a s h i n g t o n office is meant the national office and not the local office or branch set up in the District of Columbia.

The Corporation has in each county an attorney and an appraiser who are employed on a fee basis. An effort was m a d e to find out the number of Negroes employed in either of these capacities, and advice was given that it was left to local authorities. H o w many Negro attorneys were employed cannot be definitely said, although I have personal knowledge of the employment of a young colored lawyer in Indianapolis, Ind., a prominent Democrat and a member of the State Legislature.

T h e Corporation has lent out all its money and is endeavoring to get an additional appropriation from the present Congress.

H o w many Negroes have been benefited by this Corporation can only be determined by a national inquiry a m o n g colored people, because there are no other ways of finding out. If the number so helped is to be compared with the number of colored persons given employment in the H o m e Owners' Loan Corporation, that number will be negligible.

NATIONAL REEMPLOYMENT SERVICE This emergency agency was created by Public Act No. 30, 73d Congress, approved June 6, 1933.

In order to understand clearly the functions of this organization, it is necessary to quote Title II, section 604, of Public Act No. 67, 73d Congress, approved June 16, 1933, which provides as follows: "That in the employment of labor in connection with any such project, preference shall be given where they are qualified, to ex-service men with dependents, and then in the following o r d e r : (A) to citizens of t h e United States and aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens, who are bona fide residents of the political subdivisions or county in which work is to be performed, and (B) to citizens of the United States and aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens, who are bona fide residents of the State, Territory, or district in which the w o r k is to be performed :| Provided, T h a t these preferences shall apply only where such labor is available and qualified to perform the work to which the employment relates . . ."

It is also necessary to quote from the bulletins of instructions issued by the Special Board of Public W o r k s dealing with Federal and non-Federal projects from which the Public W o r k s Administration was making funds available. Under the title "Employment Services" the rules and regulations so issued declared as follows: "To the fullest extent possible, labor required for the project and appropriate to be secured through the employment services shall be chosen from the lists of qualified workers submitted by local employment agencies designated by the United States Employment Service : Provided, however. T h a t union labor, skilled and u n skilled, shall not be required to register at such local employment agencies but, if such labor is desired by the employer, shall be secured in the customary ways through recognized union locals. In the event, however, that the employers who wish to employ union labor are not furnished with qualified

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union workers by the union locals which are authorized to furnish labor residing in the locality within forty-eight hours (Sunday and holidays excluded) after the request is filed by the employer, all labor shall be chosen from t h e lists of qualified workers submitted by local agencies designated by the United States Employment Service. In the selection of workers from lists prepared by such employment agencies and union locals, the labor preferences p r o vided in Section (A) of this paragraph 3 shall be observed, and preferences shall be given to those unemployed at the date of registration who, at the date of selection, have no other avilable employment."

In order to fill the employment needs of the Public W o r k s projects the Special Board of Public W o r k s allocated to the United States Employment Service, which had been recently established, a sum of money to be expended for national and administrative costs in setting up throughout the nation an adequate number of agencies to serve these Public W o r k projects. H e n c e the setting up of the National Reemployment Service as an emergency agency in tiie United States Employment Service.

T h e National Reemployment Service then appointed in each State and the District of Columbia, a State Reemployment Director with an adequate staff of two or more field supervisors, stenographers and clerks. It then became the duty of the State Reemployment Director to establish and maintain within his State the necessary number of local National Reemployment offices to serve Public W o r k s p r o jects and Bureau of Public Roads projects which were composed of construction of Federal highways in practically all of the forty-eight States.

In order to facilitate the placement of unemployed men on Public W o r k s and Bureau of Roads projects the notice of approval of a project is first sent to the national headquarters of the National Reemployment Service in the United States Employment Service. Accompanying the notice of approval is a statement of the location and nature of the project, the amount of money allocated to it, approximately the nature of work to be performed, and the agencyresponsible for the project. This information is then t r a n s mitted to every State Reemployment Director in the State in which the project is located. It was his duty then to establish an office adjacent to the project so that the unemployed might register and be classified as to occupational qualifications. T h e contractor of the project is notified of the location of the office which was to serve his project and he would present an employers' order at the designated office. and the employment office would refer the necessary workers as eligible under the Act of the contractor.

W h e r e there already existed a State employment office, the National Reemployment Service would not establish another office, but the Director of the United States Employment Service would designate the existing office to serve the projects.

W h e n the Civil W o r k s program was inaugurated in November, 1933, the number of reemployment offices increased from 1700 to 5,400, in order to afford greater opportunities for employment during the winter to a larger number of unemployed women and white-collar men. T h e number of employees in the existing reemployment offices before the Civil W o r k s program was started exceeded 4,000, but with the introduction of this program the number increased to 17,500. Because of the wide-spread publicity given the Civil W o r k s program, practically all of the unemployed in the

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nation registered at these reemployment offices and the w o r k of registering and classifying them required a larger administrative personnel.

W h e n the Civil W o r k s p r o g r a m was discontinued in March, 1934, the personnel of t h e reemployment offices was necessarily reduced in proportion to meet the reduced demands of the offices, and this was accomplished by reorganizing mi a district basis. T h e plan was t h a t a number of counties in a State should comprise a district and that at a central location in the district there should be a reemployment office from which men could be supplied for a Public W o r k s or Bureau of Roads project. By May, 1934, instead of 3,400 county offices there had been established 640 district offices and the personnel reduced from 17,500 to 5,000.

Simultaneously with the inauguration of the reemployment offices t h e r e was started a statistical service in conjunction with these offices, and through this statistical service the United States Employment Service of the Department of Labor was able to secure valuable data that it did not have and that have served a useful purpose.

T h e costs of operating these reemployment offices are met by g r a n t s to the States, based on population, matched by equal sums on the part of the States, for maintenance of these offices.

During an interview with one of the Assistant Directors in the United States Employment Service, relative to functions performed by any Negro in connection with the Reemployment Service, information was received that the Chief of the Division of N e g r o Labor in the D e p a r t m e n t of Labor "Clears through my office, but so far as his having any administrative duty, he has none". This same official asked me, had I seen the Chief of the Division of Negro Labor, and I replied : " W h a t is the need of my seeing him, since he has no administrative duties in connection with the functioning of the National Reemployment S e r v i c e ? " This office was extremely conspicuous by its scarcity of colored employees in any capacity.

Knowing that approximately 5,000 persons are employed in various capacities in the reemployment offices throughout the United States, inquiry was made as to whether any of the offices employed Negroes as clerks or stenographers, but no intelligent answer could be given. However, I decided to call on the Director of the Reemployment Office in the District of Columbia to ask how m a n y colored persons were employed in his office. The information received from him was that there are four colored interviewers and one colored clerk. T h e point, however, that he emphasized during my conversation with him was that it is true that t h e salaries t h a t the five colored employees are drawing are negligible compared with the benefits that thousands of Negroes a r e getting out of the officeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;placing t h e m in jobs. And yet, t h e Director of Welfare for the District of Columbia, in testifying recently before a Congressional Committee, said that t h e r e are 2,000 unemployed colored domestics in the city of W a s h i n g t o n . In order to find out the number of colored persons employed in these reemployment offices through the United States it would be necessary to contact the State Directors of each State. It is to be remembered that the Negroes employed in the W a s h i n g t o n office have permanent positions, because although they may be employed in the National Reemployment Service, they are actually in the United States Employment Service. W h e t h e r that situation obtains through the nation, I am not in position t o say.

S p h i n x COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC SECURITY This committee was established in pursuance to Executive O r d e r of the President of J u n e 29, 1934, consisting of the Secretary of Labor, Chairman, the Secretary of Treasury, the Attorney-General, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Federal E m e r g e n c y Relief Administrator.

T h e purpose for which this committee was created was to "study the entire problem of economic security for t h e individual and to report to the President its recommendations for legislation on this subject to be presented to the Seventy-fourth Congress. T h e scope of the committee's p r o gram is indicated by the following major studies: Unemployment insurance, provisions for old age security, provisions for meeting the economic risks of illness, public works as a means of economic security, employment opportunities, special measures for the economic security of children, dependency and relief, economic security for farmers and agricultural workers, handling and investment of reserve funds, administrative possibilities, and constitutional questions".

T h e committee was directed to appoint a Technical Board on Economic Security consisting of qualified representatives from the several departments and agencies of the F e d eral G o v e r n m e n t ; also authorized to appoint an Executive Director who shall have immediate charge of studies and investigations to be carried out under general direction of the Technical Board and who shall, with approval of the Board, appoint such additional staff as may be necessary.

T h e same order also made provision for the Advisory Council on Economic Security to assist the Committee on Economic Security "in the consideration of all matters coming within the scope of its investigations. T h e order provided that the original members of the Advisory Council shall be appointed by the President and t h a t additional members may be appointed from time to time by the Committee on Economic Security.

T h e Committee on Economic Security has rendered its report to the President with its recommendations concerning proposals for g r e a t e r economic security.

Neither on such an important committee nor on the Advisory Council of this committee is there any Negro r e p r e sentative in any capacity.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD This Board was established by President Roosevelt in August, 1933, upon the recommendation of the Administrator for Industrial Recovery for the purpose of adjusting controversies arising out of the g u a r a n t e e of the right of collective bargaining for all codes by Section 7 (a) of the N I R A Act. This Board, therefore, was to a large degree affiliated with the N R A .

On June 29, 1934, by Executive Order, the President abolished the National Labor Board, as this Board was originally called and created the National Labor Relations Board to be composed of three members. T h e Executive Order states that the N e w Board is created "in connection with the D e p a r t m e n t of Labor, but it is understood that it is not an integral part of the D e p a r t m e n t of Labor".

The offices of this Board are located in the Department of Labor Building.

Although the vital interests of thousands of Negroes are concerned with controversies coming before this Board,

The there is no Negro representation on this Board or in the office of this Board. In fact, there are no colored persons even employed in this officeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the total number of employees is 52.

NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD This Board was created by Public Act No. 442, 73d Congress, approved J u n e 21, 1934.

T h e purpose of this Board is to provide for the proinpl disposition of disputes arising between carriers and their employees. The Board is directed to carry out the following provisions of the A c t : (1) T o avoid any interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier engaged t h e r e i n ; (2) to forbid any limitation upon freedom of association among employees or any denial, as a condition of employment or otherwise, of the right to employees to join a labor organization; (3) to provide for the complete independence of carriers and of employees in the matter of selforganization to carry out the purposes of this A c t ; (4) to provide for the prompt and orderly settlement of disputes concerning r a t e of pay, rules, or working conditions; (5) to provide for the prompt and orderly settlement of all disputes growing out of grievances or out of the interpretations or application of agreements covering rates of pay, rules, or working conditions.

This Board replaces the old Board of Mediation, and it co-operates in the adjustment of disputes with the National Railroad Adjustment Board composed of eighteen representatives of the carriers and eighteen representatives of employees, created by Public Act No. 442.

The Red-Caps employed at the Union Station in W a s h ington, D. C , have filed a petition with the National Mediation Board, seeking relief from the niggardly conditions under which they are employedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and there is no Negro representative on this B o a r d ; neither are there any colored employees.

T h e office of this Board is located in the New Justice

Building.

RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION This Corporation was originally established during t h e Hoover Administration under Public Act No. 2, 72d Congress, approved J a n u a r y 22, 1932, and additional powers given it by Public Act No. 4, approved M a r c h 24, 1933; Public Act No. 35, approved J u n e 10, 1933; Public Act No. 51, approved J u n e 14, 1933; Public Act No. 84, approved J a n u a r y 20, 1934; and and Public Act No. 417, approved J u n e 19, 1934, all passed by the Seventy-third Congress.

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J u n e 1, 1934; to subscribe to preferred stock and purchase the capital notes of insurance companies; to provide for direct loans by Federal Reserve Banks to State banks and trust companies in certain cases; to make loans to railroads, drainage, levee, irrigation districts, and political subdivisions.

Negroes are employed only as messengers in this Corporation. There are approximately sixty colored men employed as messengers, janitors, elevator men, porters, and in the stock room. An effort was made to keep the colored messengers from using the elevators in delivering papers from office to officeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the building that houses this Corporation is over ten stories. T h e r e are no Negro accountants, attorneys, auditors, stenographers, adding machine operators nor clerks in this organization.

It might give an insight into the t h e operations of this great Corporation if a portion of the report of the Chairman of the Board of Directors to the President, Senators and Representatives of the Congress of the United States were quoted. T h e report reads in part as follows: "It is probably a safe assertion that everyone in the United States has been directly or indirectly benefited by the operations of the R F C . Some w h o have been especially benefited are : (1) T h e twenty million depositors in closed b a n k s ; (2) the depositors in all banks, and the country as a whole, through the strengthening of the capital of approximately one-half of all the banks in the c o u n t r y ; (3) those engaged in agricultural pursuits, through the many activities in their interest. including especially those small farmers whose taxes and w a t e r charges have been greatly reduced through loans to Irrigation and Drainage Districts; (4) the institutions to which more than 20,000 loans were made, and their c r e d i t o r s ; (5) trade and business generally through releasing for circulation all of these funds." " W i t h bank repair approximately completed, the objects which we believe still need especial assistance by the R F C (1) A continuation of commodity loans through the Commodity Credit Corporation; (2) nation-wide assistance to real estate mortgages ; (3) assistance to railroads on a secured basis; and (4) industrial loans for current needs and for modernization and replacement of plant and equipment, including in some instances composition of debts on a basis that will enable the borrower to continue operations."

This Corporation is in reality a "Federal Central Bank" although it is not given that appellation.

"A very large p a r t of our entire population has some direct or indirect interest in real estate, and anything that can be done toward restoring a sound loan value, or m a r k e t value, for real estate mortgages, will be helpful to a vast number of people. W e are convinced that this be done without cost to the taxpayer and with very little use of Government credit. W e do not want to encourage speculative lending, but would like to help people save their properties where it can be done without loss to the Government"

Its purpose is to provide aid for financial institutions; to aid in financing agriculture, commerce, and industry. The Corporation is authorized to make loans to banks, trust companies, credit union companies, building and loan associations, insurance companies, mortgage loan companies, Federal land banks, joint-stock land banks, Federal intermediate credit banks, agricultural credit corporations, livestock credit corporations, and, upon certain conditions, to make direct loans to small industries. It was further authorized under subsequent Acts of 1933 to make loans at any time prior to J a n u a r y 31, 1935, to public school authorities for the purpose of paying of teachers' salaries due prior to

It must be remembered that this is not one of the manyNew Deal organizations set up after the inauguration of President Roosevelt, but t h a t it was already functioning when Mr. Roosevelt took office. Quite a few Negro banks and insurance companies obtained loans from the Corporation during t h e Hoover Administration. H o w many of them have been able to secure loans since then will necessitate a minute examination of the reports of the Corporation. "It all depends on the security or securities offered for the Loan." This is not an charitable institution, but strictly a business one.

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NATIONAL RESOURCES BOARD This is another one of those emergency Boards set Executive Order of the President, under authority of A d No. 67, 73d Congress, dated J u n e 16, 1934. T h e tary of the Interior is Chairman of this Board and its are located in the Interior Building.

SOIL EROSION SERVICE up by Public Secreoffices

The function of this Board is to prepare (and it has already prepared) and present (has done so) to the President a program and plan of procedure dealing with the physical, social, governmental, and economic aspects of public policies for the development and use of land, water, and other national resources and such related subjects as may, from time to time, be referred to it by the President.

The Board was to devise a plan for the co-ordination of projects of Federal. State and local government a „ , i t h e proper division of responsibility and the fair division of

cost among the several governmental authorities.

The Executive Order creating this Board abolished the National Planning Board and the Committee on National Land Problems.

There are two colored men employed as messengers in the office of the Board.

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION fhis is another of the later N e w Deal Agencies, having been established under authority of Public Act No. 291, 73d Congress, approved J u n e 6, 1934.

The purpose of the Securities and Exchange Commission is to provide regulations of securities exchanges and of over-the-counter markets operating in interstate and foreign commerce and through the mails to prevent inequitable and unfair practices on such exchanges and markets, and for Other purposes set forth in the Act. It shall be the duty of the Commission to see that transactions in securities as commonly conducted upon securities exchanges and over-thecounter markets affected by a national public interest, making it necessary to provide for regulation and control oi such transactions, are assured the maintenance of fair and honest markets, thus also protecting the national credit and the Federal taxing power, and protecting and making more effective the national banking system and t h e Federal Reserve System. T h e Commission is authorized to bring charges in court against violators of the orders provided for the Act. The primary intent of the Act is to eliminate all gambling and unfair dealing in securities exchanges and over-the-counter markets. Some of the foregoing have been modified by the Seventy-fourth Congress now in session, The offices of tin's organization are in the old Interstate Commerce Building and it is the first and only building housing any of the New Deal Agencies that has a colored man as elevator starter as is seen in department stores.

There are 42? employees in this office in W a s h i n g t o n and out of these 425 the total number of colored employed is fifteen and they are employed as elevator starter, elevator operators, porters, janitors, firemen and maid. No doubt, because the building is one of the older Federal buildings in W a s h i n g t o n , it would he preferable to employ colored men to operate the large, unwieldy elevators.

There are no Negro Stock Exchanges to be regulated and for that reason there is no " N e g r o Adviser" in this organization.

This emergency organization was established August 25, 1933. by order of the Secretary of the Interior, under authority of Public Act No. 67, the National Industrial Recovery Act. T h e purpose of the Soil Erosion Service is to demonstrate to farmers and other land owners throughout the United States that disastrous erosion of soil can be brought under control.

This was another phase of work inaugurated under the New Deal for which there were very few trained men when the work was begun. Quite true, many men had specialized in agricultural sciences or kindred subjects, but not but a very few had been able to apply this theoretical knowledge in the field of scientific and practical erosion control. The Soil Erosion Service, therefore, in November, 1934, established a sort of new employment-instruction system—a dual system of opening a large number of jobs for unemployed college graduates and at the same time developing a trained personnel for the national soil conservation program—to be carried out in connection with its erosion control projects throughout the country.

This new employment-instruction system contemplated t h e immediate employment of approximately 1,000 young men who had specialized in agricultural sciences and who were to be given jobs for a six to eight-month period on a number of soil erosion projects already under way in various parts of the country. In conjunction with this work, they would be given a complete course of instruction, designed to equip them as specialists in the field of practical scientific erosion control.

During the six or eight-month period of combined work and study, the men received laborers' wages at regular P W A rate of forty to fifty cents an hour. They were utilized on jobs requiring a working knowledge of such subjects as agricultural engineering, agronomy, pasture management, forestry, and soils. No remuneration was given the trainees for the time devoted to instruction. Those who were considered qualified at the end of the training period would be given regular employment to sub-professional and subtechnical positions in the Soil Erosion Service as the openings occur.

Although the initial number of trainees was limited to 1,000, it is intended as the system expands to increase the number to 2,000 and to reduce also the eligibility requirements as to permit the employment of youths having only a partial college education, and, in exceptional cases, men with even less academic training who have natural ability. practical experience, and an understanding of the soil erosion problem.

The soil erosion program in no way restricts to men with a college background the employment opportunities afforded by soil conservation work under its direction. T h e type of employment offered college trainees will be of a highly specialized nature requiring a groundwork of technical knowledge and a willingness to undergo a definite course of study similar to the post-graduate scientific courses now given in universities, but of a more practical nature.

T h e employment-instruction system works in co-operation with the universities and college in each State. T h e authorities of these institutions will furnish the Regional Director of each Soil Erosion Service project with a list of recommended persons, from which the Regional Directors will select those w h o seem best qualified for the work.

The Selection of trainees will be left to the discretion of each Regional Director, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the Service.

There are now thirty-nine soil erosion control projects being conducted in the following S t a t e s : Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Texas, South Carolina, Washington, California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, North Carolina, W i s t Virginia, Louisiana, Nebraska, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York. Arizona, Colorado,, and South Dakota. In some of these States more than one project is being conducted.

T h e r e are fifty-one CCC camps assigned to Soil Erosion Service and the men in these camps do a large part of the labor on the soil erosion control projects. A large number of day laborers who, secured from offices of the National Re-employment Service, are also employed on these projects in addition to the men from the CCC camps.

Each projeet has a Regional Director and his administrative staff consisting of Chief Agricultural Engineer, Agronomist, Agricultural Extension Agent, chief clerk, stenographers and clerks. There are at the present time thirtytwo Regional Directors with administrative staffs of 806 persons. T h e total number of day laborers (excluding CCC men) is 3.479. The total number of employees in the main office in Washington is 53 of whom 4 are colored. It was impossible to find out the number of Negroes employed in the Regional offices or as day laborers on the projects.

It was impossible to ascertain what consideration is being given young colored college graduates or men with technical training as regards participation in the employment-instruction system of the Soil Erosion Service.

Since t h e r e is no Negro representation in the Washington office it is also impossible to determine to what extent the Negro farmers of this country are being given the opportunity to avail themselves of soil erosion control. Inasmuch as this work is done at no cost to the farmers themselves, it is hoped that as many Negro farm owners as possible are being given opportunity to improve their farm lands.

FEDERAL ALCOHOL CONTROL ADMINISTRATION This is one of those New Deal Agencies established for Government Administration. The purpose of this organization is "to administer, in co-operation with industry, the codes of fair competition promulgated under the National Industrial Recovery Act covering the production or sale of alcoholic beverages, except at retail. The administration investigates and studies the co-ordination of activities of the Government pertaining to taxation, control and regulation of alcohol and alcoholic beverages, and prescribing rules and regulations with respect to codes of fair competition, marketing agreements, and licenses".

The Justice tion in in the

offices of this organization are located in the New Building. There are 119 employees in this organizaWashington and one of them is colored who works stock-room.

FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK BOARD During former President Hoover's Administration there was created the Federal H o m e Land Bank Board under the Federal H o m e Loan Bank Act (Public Act No. 304, 72d Congress, approved July 22, 1932). This Act was amended under Public Act No. 43, 73d Congress, approved June 13,

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1933, and was cited " H o m e Owners' Loan Act of 1933" The latter Act provided for the creation of a H o m e Loan Bank Board consisting of five members, appointed by the President, for the terms of six years. Not m o r e than three members can belong to the same political party. " H o m e Owners' Loan Act of 1933'' also provided for the establishment of no less than eight nor more than twelve Home Loan Banks, each of which is confined to a definite territory fixed by the Board.

The twelve banks and their district numbers authorized by the Board are as follows: (1) Boston, Mass.—New England : (2) Newark, N. J.—New York, New Jersey, P u e r t o Rico, and Virgin Islands; (3) Pittsburgh, Penn.—Delaware, Pennsylvania, and W e s t Virginia; (-D Winston-Salem, N. C.—Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida and Georgia: (5) Cincinnati, Ohio—Kentucky, Ohio, and T e n n e s s e e : (6) Indianapolis, Ind., Michigan, and Indiana; (7) Evanston, 111.—Wisconsin and Illinois: (8) Des Moines, Iowa—North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri; (9) Little Rock Ark—Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and New M e x i c o ; (10) Topeka, Kan.—Kansas Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado: (11) Portland Ore.— M o n t a n a , Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah ; (12) L o s Angeles, Col.—Arizona California and Nevoda, T h e purpose is to lend money to building associations, savings banks, and similar institutions which are engaged primarily in making loans to home-owners ; the loans so made being secured by assignments of mortgages on homes held by t h e borrowing corporation and also being further secured by a lien on the stocvk subscribed by the b o r r o w ing corporation.

The stock in these banks is held entirely by the United States and by building associations or other institutions which are entitled to obtain loans from the banks.

T h e total number of employees is 315, none of whom is colored.

To All C h a p t e r s : In order best to carry out the duties of this office I am appointing chairmen of certain activities who will have complete charge of them. You will please address all communications concerning those activities to the Brothers indicated. They will acquaint you in the near future with their plans.

Brother Mack C. Spears, 1514 N o r t h Seventh Street, Kansas City, Kansas, is Chairman of the Citizenship Compaign. This is t h e main educational activity of the F r a ternity. Last year's campaign was a great success but we confidently look forward to improvement.

Brother Dr. J o h n W . Davis, 4 1 9 ^ Milam Street, Houston, Texas, is Chairman of the Go To High School—Goto College Campaign, which will be conducted by those Chapters which still feel that there is a need for it.

This office will continue t o direct the awards of fellowship and scholarships. Will you be good enough to emphasize in your meetings that we will award for the academic year. 1935-36, one fellowship in the sum of $900.00 and t h r e e scholarships (one in each jurisdiction) of one hundred dollars each? You will receive information concerning applications later, but in the meanwhile, please stress the fact

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thai the number of applications last year fell far short of what we bad expected. A number of applications will be sent to each chapter.

A special number of the "Sphinx" appearing early in 1935 will be devoted almost entirely to the activities of this office.

It will contain especially a report on the various federal agencies as they affect Negroes. A special investigator has collected some invaluable material for this issue. W e want you to look forward to it, give it as wide circulation as possible, and study in your chapter meetings plans to improve your community.

Above all, we want your helpful criticism and advice. T h e good name of the Fraternity rests largely upon our educational activities. Only through your co-operation can we maintain that leadership about which we like so much to boast.

RAYFORD W. LOGAN, Director of Education.

THE CITIZENSHIP CAMPAIGN April 28-May 4, 1935 T o All Chapters—Greetings : T h e week of April 28-May 4 has been set aside for the Fraternity's well-known educational campaign, "Education for Citizenship". Indications point to a bigger and more effective campaign by all the chapters. This year all chapters are urged to continue their efforts to drive home to the Negro the necessity of "actual participation in political affairs of the community". This purpose was set forth by our Director of Education in a release for the 1934 campaign. This year's campaign will be a perpetuation of the same principle.

The citizenship program is broad enough to permit everyone t o work for full participation without resorting to selfishness; it is flexible enough to allow each locality to work for the solution of its own peculiar problems. It is hoped that the early announcement of the date for the intensive campaign will enable chapters to carry on a p r o gram adapted to their needs.

I luring the period 1896 to 1924 the number of citizens of voting age who actually voted declined from 80.75 to 52.35 per cent. This decline has not been arrested. It is believed that if statistics were available on the N e g r o as a nonvoter they would be much more appalling.

Much of the non-voting is due to indifference and inertia.

In some cases people do not vote because they are not interested in the candidates. Greater participation in voting is less difficult to secure in communities interested in civic d e v e l o p m e n t T h e needs and interests of cities v a r y ; in one locality social relief or changes in methods of taxation may be paramount, while in another an amendment to the constitution may be uppermost.

In this citizenship campaign let us urge Negroes to vote and to cast their ballot as an intelligent citiz.en interested in the betterment of his community.

This office is pleased to announce the following Regional Directors: E a s t e r n — B r o t h e r Howard Long, 1112 Girard Street, Washington, D. C. Southeastern—Brother Karl Downs, Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Ga. Southwestern—Brother George V. Reeves, Prairie View College, Prairie, Texas.

Sphinx W e s t e r n — B r o t h e r Harold Brown, 2319 H i g h Street, Denver, Colo.

Fraternally yours, M A C K C. S P E A R S , Chairman of Citizenship Campaign.

GO TO HIGH SCHOOL—GO TO COLLEGE CAMPAIGN T h e Go T o High School—Go T o College Campaign is synonymous with the name Alpha Phi Alpha. T o those Chapters planning to conduct the campaign, I invite your earnest co-operation.

This year we plan to conduct the campaign at the same time the Citizenship Compaign is conducted — the week beginning April 28.

F r o m my experience, I have found that personal contact with students brings about the best results. Mass meetings serve a purpose but are generally poorly attended and often dampen the spirit of the participants. It should be the aim of the Chapters to guide and direct students along the lines of education for which they are best fitted. Ascertain, through personal contact, t h e training for which they a r e fitted and advise them as to what schools to attend and the best plans to pursue. M a k e contact with parents, talk to them about their children, study their environment and advise the parents. Such personal interest will be appreciated and p a r e n t s will generally follow your advice.

Let us adopt therefore, for our approaching campaign, the idea of personal contact as much as possible by carrying out some of the following ideas. (This office will be glad to furnish Chapters with a questionnaire or a list of books on orientation for advisors to suggest.

Chapters, of course, have latitude according to location and conditions.)

F o r obtaining the best results, I have divided the groups to be contacted into three classes: 1. Senior Students in High Schools.

2. Unemployed and out of High School Undergraduates.

3. Unemployed and out of College U n d e r g r a d u a t e s .

These groups can be contacted in the following m a n n e r : 1. Meeting of small groups of students with advisors— A. Formation of close personal contact by means suitable to the occasion.

B. Study of likes and dislikes.

C. Desires t o further education.

D. Particular type of training desired.

2. F r o m information received after complete analysis. make recommendation suitable to individual cases— A. T r y to acquaint students with local facilities for further study by means of F E R A .

3. Recorded index of students contacted for future r e f e r ence.

4. Results.

Our object should be not to encourage students to go to high school or college for the sake of going, but to aid them in securing places that a r e commensurate with their character, conduct and intellectual ability, so they can become useful and worthwhile citizens.

Let us strive then t o stress a few things well and m a k e our campaign a practical one, one of quality and not quantity. I will appreciate letters from those Chapters planning to conduct t h e campaign. F o r further information, address all letters to R r o t h e r John W . Davis, 4 1 9 ^ Milam Street, Houston, Texas.