The Gazette

The New Deal Riddled
BY DR. EMMETT J. SCOTT, ASSISTANT PUBLICITY DIRECTOR OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE.

Relief For Needy, Not Politicians-Failure Of New Deal Shown-"Jim-Crowism"—Labor Act Color Bar-A Strong Statement.
Washington, D. C.-While it is true that a large number of colored men have been placed in executive relationship in Government agencies, it still remains true, in my opinion, that many of these men, as well as thousands and thousands of others, outside of public office, have not been slow to recognize the fact that, despite such dramatic gestures as have been made, the race, itself, taken as a whole, actually has remained relatively outside the limits of New Deal processes. Whatever small gains have been made, have been more than over-balanced, swamped, as it were, by the inequities of administration. The Second National Conference on the Problems of the Negro and Negro Youth unsparingly called attention to glaring discriminations and mischievous tendencies in the agencies. In the case of one of them, the Conference noted "a tendency to use Federal funds for purposes of fixing residential patterns according to local prejudices, thereby establishing segregated areas and racial ghettos." -reference being made to the Federal Housing Administration. Many similar instances of glaring discrimination were pointed out. Particularly, failure to appoint Colored men to positions in administrative and policy-making bodies, where the greatest influence and wisdom are most necessary to safeguard minority rights.

Kept Out of Private Industry.

There has been no effort made to integrate Negroes into private industry. The great masses of Colored people still remain "reliefers" or "dolees."

In the field of Relief Administration, the Second Conference on Negro Problems pointed out that "experience has shown that Relief Administrators in many states and municipalities either lack sympathetic understanding of the problems of minority groups, or as desirous of preventing Negroes from equitably sharing the benefits of relief programs'. I need not point out, of course, the most recent discriminatory action of the Secretary of War in refusing to set aside, sums of money to be made available that Negro Youth may take its proper place in the various armed services of the Government, at a time when the menace of war may be all but impending. Discrimination and segregation of Negro citizens in the armed forces of the government are still rampant. In their evaluation of so-called New Deal "benefits", I believe Negro Americans are cultivating a long-range vision, and that they are just as much opposed to centralized administrative machinery for partisan purposes as other groups of forward-looking citizens. The chief "allurement" upon which the New Deal seems to be depending for Negro support is "relief"

Relief For Needy, Not Politicians.

I believe that Negro Americans believe, and insist, that relief should be administered for the needy, and not for politicians as has been so largely true in the past. If the Negro people are to have a solid, industrial foundation they cannot accept a philosophy which accepts relief as a cure for unemployment. Further, I cannot believe that a mere subsistence level is what Americans without regard to race, creed or color desire. I insist that what Negro Americans need and desire are steady jobs with decent American wages. If these fail them, practically everything fails. Enlightened intelligence resents placid acceptance of relief as a necessary palliative for unemployment. It certainly remains true, as of this date, that with all of the billions spent during the last six and one-half years, the American economic machinery "has stalled on dead center", as the New Deal-dominated Monopoly Committee has recently pointed out. So much then for argument, if argument be needed. It is not necessary for me to characterize the failure of the New Deal Administration in so far as they relate to our Colored population.

Failure of New Deal Shown.

"The New Deal has done little to end color discrimination but a great deal to prolong it. Beginning with the NRA it bowed to the will of the reactionary south both inside and outside the south. It had a wonderful opportunity to show America how the Negro ought to be treated, but it lost this opportunity through cowardice and political opportunism. Most Americans would have approved a Square Deal Policy, but instead the southern tail wagged the Democratic dog. "For the Negro, the New Deal has been the Old Deal in new clothes. With powers almost as great as those of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini, the Democratic Administration has winked at discrimination in NRA, FHA, PWA, CCC, WPA, and a dozen other alphabetical set-ups. Worse, it has helped spread jim-crowism over the country where it had never before existed, and Negro New Deal officeholders have approved of it by silence or hollow apology.

"Washington, D. C., is as jim-crow as ever, if not more so, but no single word of criticism has come from Mr. Roosevelt. He has expressed shock over the beating of Jews abroad, but not over lynching of Negroes at home. Mr. Roosevelt could have at least deplored the fact that Negroes are pariahs within the shadow of the White House, but he preferred to make speeches condemning the dictators for doing the same thing to Jews, Catholics and others abroad.

"The President embarked enthusiastically upon an intra-party political campaign against Democrats refusing to endorse his New Deal politics, but evidently approves of Senators and Congressman who endorse the Old Deal of Negro persecution. He has yet to voice any criticism of flagrant color discrimination in relief and other New Deal set-ups.

Remains Silent on Jim Crow.

"The President has a wonderful opportunity to teach America an object lesson in fair play toward a loyal minority. If this was impractical in the North, East and West, he could at least have said something. He chose to remain silent although supplied with documentary evidence of color discrimination in almost every New Deal set-up.

"That Negroes, both in the North and in the South are disappointed with the New Deal. Economic and labor conditions are worse, fundamentally, than at any time since Emancipation. In the South, the New Deal crop control policy has thrown millions out of work, and evicted them from their cabins in the cotton fields, thereby causing privation and starvation, for which the Government provides only meager relief that barely holds body and soul together.

Cites Color Bar on Labor Act.

"Now comes the Labor Union Movement, under the National Labor Relations Act, which gives fifty-one percent of the workers in a given plant the right to form a union, which becomes the sole bargaining agency for all the workers in said plant. Most of the labor unions have the color bar and discriminatory practices against Negroes. The closed shop agreement with employers is causing the wholesale replacement of Negroes on practically all jobs, including railroads, cotton industries, cafes and hotels in all sections of the country.

Hires a Few, Replaces Others.

"I find that in Government employment, even at Washington, Negroes are being replaced as messengers, elevator operators, janitors, etc. Aside from dole jobs (WPA), about the biggest thing New Dealers are doing for Negro employment is the hiring of some few Negroes in strategic positions to travel over the country and picture Utopias to the working class of Negroes, if they will only continue to be loyal to the New Deal.

"I am thoroughly convinced that the great majority of Negroes, even in the North, are disgusted with such promises, which have failed to materialize. They are realizing that industrial conditions are going from bad to worse

With these words from a prominent newspaper that helped elect the New Deal, and from a leader of better labor conditions, ringing in their ears, it rather occurs to me to say that thoughtful Colored Americans will keep in mind these strictures, and will, in my opinion, want to find their way back to a party of which it may be said, that at least it has always stood for the basic principles of American democracy; and, that not a single discriminatory, repressive or disfranchising law; not a single jim-crow law; not a single peonage law; not a single Government regulation setting up regional wage differentials, has ever been passed by any state dominated by Republican public opinion, or by any Republican administration at Washington

(Dr.) Emmett J. Scott.