THE NEGRO

Numbered among our population are some 12,000,000 colored people.  Under our Constitution their rights are just as sacred as those of any other citizen.  It is both a public and a private duty to protect those rights.  The Congress ought to exercise all its powers of prevention and punishment against the hideous crime of lynching, of which the negroes are by no means the sole sufferers, but for which they furnish a majority of the victims.

Already a considerable sum is appropriated to give the negroes vocational training in agriculture.  About half a million dollars is recommended for medical courses at Howard University to help contribute to the education of 500 colored doctors needed each year.  On account of the integration of large numbers into industrial centers, it has been proposed that a commission be created, composed of members from both races, to formulate a better policy for mutual understanding and confidence.  Such an effort is to be commended.  Everyone would rejoice in the accomplishment of the results which it seeks.  But it is well to recognize that these difficulties are to a large extent local problems which must be worked out by the mutual forbearance and human kindness of each community.  Such a method gives much more promise of a real remedy than outside interference.

CIVIL SERVICE

The maintenance and extension of the classified civil service is exceedingly important.  There are nearly 550,000 persons in the executive civil service drawing about $700,000,000 of yearly compensation.  Four-fifths of these are in the classified service.  This method of selection of the employees of the United States is especially desirable for the Post Office Department.  The Civil Service Commission has recommended that postmasters at first, second, and third class offices be classified.  Such action, accompanied by a repeal of the four-year term of office, would undoubtedly be an improvement.  I also recommend that the field force for prohibition enforcement be brought within the classified civil service without covering in the present membership.  The best method for selecting public servants is the merit system.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS

Many of the departments in Washington need better housing facilities.  Some are so crowded that their work is impeded, others are so scattered that they lose their identity.  While I do not favor at this time a general public building law, I believe it is now necessary, in accordance with plans already sanctioned for a unified and orderly system for the development of this city, to begin the carrying out of those plans by authorizing the erection of three or four buildings most urgently needed by an annual appropriation of $5,000,000.

REGULATORY LEGISLATION