Mammy Denies Kidnapping Ward
Search for Marjorie Delbridge Leaves Disappearance a Mystery.
Mrs. Brock Through
2. INTENSIVE STUDY OF CHICAGO NEWSPAPERS
A careful study of the three selected white daily papers was made covering 1918, the year preceding the riot, to note relative space, prominence, importance, and the type of articles on racial matters. During the year 534 articles appeared on racial matters distributed among the three papers as follows:
| No. Items | |
|---|---|
| Chicago Daily Tribune | 253 |
| Chicago Herald-Examiner | 157 |
| Chicago Daily News | 124 |
| Total | 534 |
| Subject | "Tribune" | "Herald-Examiner" | "News" | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Articles | Amount of Space in Inches | No. of Articles | Amount of Space in Inches | No. of Articles | Amount of Space in Inches | Articles | Space | |
| Crime and vice | 70 | 231 | 58 | 181 | 21 | 122 | 149 | 534 |
| Soldiers, war work | 33 | 136 | 21 | 88 | 28 | 196 | 82 | 420 |
| Politics | 21 | 78 | 12 | 28 | 14 | 63 | 47 | 169 |
| Riots | 15 | 80 | 5 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 103 |
| Lynchings | 24 | 57 | 15 | 43 | 4 | 21 | 43 | 121 |
| Editorials | 6 | 34 | 8 | 67 | 6 | 28 | 20 | 129 |
| Organizations and movements | 13 | 25 | 8 | 22 | 4 | 27 | 25 | 75 |
| Housing | 12 | 28 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 46 |
| Personal and miscellaneous | 15 | 35 | 5 | 16 | 5 | 33 | 25 | 85 |
| Industry, labor | 11 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 14 | 47 |
| Athletic, sports | 8 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 24 |
| Letters to editor and "Voice of People" | 13 | 107 | 9 | 30 | 21 | 34 | 43 | 171 |
| Migration | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 126 | 11 | 130 |
| Propaganda | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Race relations | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9 |
| Radicalism | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 10 |
| Guide post | 0 | 0 | 4 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 59 |
| Intermarriage | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Education | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Segregation | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| Social service | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Theatrical | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Most of the published information concerning the Negro and issues involving him magnifies his crimes and mistakes beyond all reasonable proportions. The Chicago public is aware of the sentiment against morons created by the newspaper practice of calling persons who attack women or girls morons—an unscientific classification, of course, since all who attack women are not morons. Negroes frequently say that if each crime committed by a "red-headed" man were listed as a crime committed by a "red-headed" man, a sentiment would soon be created sufficiently hostile to provoke prejudice against all red-headed men.
In 1918 there were more than 90,000 Negroes in Chicago. Practically all of the more serious crimes in this group, especially those involving whites and Negroes, were given publicity. This simple notation of crimes may be a part of the routine of journalism. It does not, however, explain the obvious appeal to passion found in many of them or even the prominence given to articles of a certain type. Crimes, riots, intermarriage, lynchings, and radicalism were the subjects of articles which, in their repetition and accumulative significance, presented a disproportionately unfavorable aspect of the Negro population.
The Chicago Tribune published, in 1918, 145 articles which, because of their emphasis on crimes, clashes, political corruption, and efforts to "invade white neighborhoods" definitely placed Negroes in an unfavorable light. Of this number, twenty-three appeared on the first page of the first section and twenty on the first page of the second section. It also published eighty-four articles dealing with Negro soldiers, sports, industry, and personalities, which, aside from flippancy in treatment, did not place Negroes in an unfavorable light. Of this number, two were on the first page of the first section and three on the first page of the second section. The relative length of articles indicates another possible effect on the public. The unfavorable 145 articles contained 487 inches of printed matter, while the less colorful items contained 223 inches.
Front-page space amounting to eleven inches was given to favorable articles, and 158 inches to unfavorable. Of the articles concerning Negro soldiers appearing on the first page, four of the eleven inches concerned a report that two Negro soldiers had been killed following a dispute at Camp Merritt between a white sergeant and a Negro trooper.