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Vol. 3, No. 12 1V3IM01 Lincoln 3, Nebraska Thursday, December 16. 1942
Johnston Relate
Of State Board of Control for SAC
By Charles M. Goolsby
“The Board of Control is a big business,” Mr. Forrest R.
** Johnston, Board member, told the Social Action Council
, Monday, Dec. 5. He acquainted the Council with the fact
s that the Board of Control employs about 2300 persons, has
about 8000 persons and about 30 city blocks of institutional
buildings (not including barns, etc.) in its care. Its annual
budget amounts to nearly $52,000,000 (plus the produce of
the several farms operated by institutions) most of which
goes for welfare services. He
pointed out that institutions for
mental health accounted for the
Board’s largest expenditures.
Three hospitals care for about
4,400 mental patients—Hastings,
1,711; Norfolk, 1,118 and Lincoln
State, 1,500. Conditions in the
hospitals are quite crowded with
waiting lists of about 40 in the
Hastings area, 60-70 in the Nor
folk area and about 300 in the
Lincoln State area which includes
both Lancaster and Douglas
counties. Counties are responsible
for the care of persons committed
to mental institutions until the
state can take them. At present
the Board has a $710,000 building
under construction at Lincoln
State which should be ready for
occupancy by summer. The build
ing is one being built with funds
from the mill-levy, which Mr.
Johnson termed “one of the best
things that have been done.”
There are now eight psychiatrists
(including junior psychiatrists) at
each of the hospitals. Many em
ployees are not able to live at
} the institutions because of a lack
of employee’s quarters.
In answer to questions, Mr.
Johnson said the persons con
fined at the penitentiary in need
of psychiatric help, on recom
mendation of a board of three doc
tors, may be transferred to men
tal hospitals by the Governor. So
far as he knew, inmates at the
pen work side by side, receive
the same pay and relative op
portunities to learn trades. He did
/ admit knowlege that Negro pris
oners are fed in the dining room
b where those on special diets are
I* served because there is not
enough room in the main dining
r hall for all, but did not know the
? history of such practices. (It
would seem though that crimes of
Negroes are not better or worse
than others and therefore there
should be little reason for such
practice.—Ed.).
Responsibilities of the Board
\ also include operation of the
it Orthopedic Hospital, School for
the Deaf and Blind, Soldiers and
Sailors Home, Grand Island;
Boys and Girls Training Schools
^ at Kearney and Geneva respect
ively, and others.
Following the talks and discus
sion, an information committee on
Public Welfare service was set up
a to aid the Council’s member or
• ganizations, as interested citizens,
in keeping abreast of the needs
and problems in that area.
Union Christmas
Service Planned
The Ministers’ Alliance will
sponsor an early Christmas serv
ice at Christ Temple church,
20th and U Streets at 7:00 a. m.
December 25. Rev. J. Brooks of
Quinn Chapel will bring the
Christmas message and music
will be furnished by combined
choirs. Rev. Trago T. Mc
Williams will be Master of
Ceremonies. All are invited and
welcome to the services.
—Courtesy The Lincoln Journal.
**..■. The Board of Control is
a big business."
Admit Israel
To U.N. Says
Dr. Bunche
PARIS. (ANP). Dr. Ralph J.
Bunche, acting United Nations
mediator in Palestine, requested
the United Nations to admit the
new nation of Israeli to the or
ganization. He also asked the UN
to request the Jews and Arabs
to confer with one another and
end the Palestine war.
Declaring it was possible that
the Arabs might be willing to
negotiate he said there was a
likelihood “that the Palestine
conflict may be quickly dis
solved and reasonably settled."
Speaking before the political
committee of the General Assem
bly, he pleaded to the Arabs rep
resentatives to act either through
the UN or directly with the
Israeli. If the UN, he added,
keeps the situation in check, war
in the Holy Land is not likely to
break out.
Mrs. Ida Curtis,
Ex-Lineolnite, Dies
Mrs. Ida Mae Curtis, 77, for
mer resident of Lincoln, passed
away Friday, Dec. 10 at 12:55 in
Oakland, Calif. She was the
widow of Mr. Austin Curtis, well
known railroad man who died
here in 1937.
Mrs. Curtis lived in Lincoln
24 years before moving away. The
family returned in 1931 and were
residents here until 1938 when
she moved to Oakland. Active in
church work, she organized the
Curtis Memorial Club at Newman
church here. •
Surviving are two daughters,
Mrs. Vella Ellis and Mrs. Novella
P. Brown, both of Oakland; a
niece, Mrs. Mabel Hawkins of
Chicago, a recent visitor in Lin
coln; one nephew, Wendell Curtis,
Lincoln, 2 grandsons, a grand
niece, a great grandniece and a
great grandnephew.
Funeral services were Tuesday
at 1:00 from Taylor Memorial
Methodist church in Oakland
where she was a member.
Judd To Ask
Citizenship
For AllinU.S.
WASHINGTON. (ANP). Con
gress will consider one of the least
publicized issues in President Tru
man’s civil rights program at its
next session.
This proposal to be presented
by Rep. Walter H. Judd (r., Minn.)
will call for the naturalization of
all persons in the United States
regardless of race. Under this bill
90,000 Orientals, mostly Japanese,
legally admitted to the United
States, will have a chance to be
come American citizens.
These immigrants will be able
to apply just as others do for
citizenship and be naturalized
after they pass the usual tests.
The proposal will call for the
admittance of 100 persons a year
from recognized independent
countries in Asiatic-Pacific area.
Another 100 of mixed racial origin
will also be allowed to emigrate
to the United States.
The passage of this proposal will
erase the last barirers of the
oriental exclusion acts which keep
most of the Asiatics out of Amer
ica. Chinese exclusion was re
pealed in 1943, and Filipino ex
clusion was repealed in 1946.
(Rep. Judd recently spoke at the
University of Nebraska’s religion
in Life Week.—Ed.)
_ __
Indiana Negro
Is Caucus Head
INDIANAPOLIS. (ANP). In
diana state representative James
Hunter of Lake county, a fifth
term democrat, was named party
caucus chairman at a pre-legisla
tive roundup held In Indianapolis.
Representative Hunter is from
East Chicago, Ind., and is known
for his impassioned oratory and
determined fighting ability.
This is the first time in Indiana
that a Negro has been named
party caucus chairman.
Jim Crow Is 4 A
Dead Duck’
—Me W illiams
CHICAGO. (ANP). Jim Crow
ism may be a “dead duck” by
1960, according to Carey McWil
liams, Los Angeles author, here
last week. Speaking before the
Sinai Temple forum, McWilliams
said:
“It is quite conceivable that by
1960 we might succeed in elimi
nating all forms of legally sanc
tioned discrimination.”
He based his belief upon the
idea that the “solid south is in the
process of disintegration and the
Negro vote in southern states has
increased. “Bold action can now
bring an end to the more outrage
ous forms of Jim Crow within
the next two decades,” he said.
Kiddies Visit
Fleta’s Radio Show
Sat urday morning Delores
Greene, 10, Joane Whitemon, 7
and Patricia Johnson, 4, were
guests of radio KFOR and the
Fleta’s Kiddie Show.
Joane recited “I’d Love to Be a
Christmas Tree,” Patricia sang
Rockabye Baby” and Delores
sang “Jingle Bells.” They were
chaperoned by Mrs. Virginia John
son.
American Churches Plan Closer
Union; Federal Council Told
American Way Still Before Bar
CINCINNATI. (ANP). The issues of justice and human
rights by protestants in secular life were climaxed at the
Federal Council of Churches of Christ in American con
vention here last week when Bishop C. C. Alleyne of the
AME Zion church declared in an address, “our American
way of life is yet before the bar of public opinion, and I fear
that in the broader realms of human brotherhood, of racial
amity, of social readjustment, and of an awakened respect
for the dignity of personality it may yet be found wanting.”
W. Gaeddert
Heads Social
Action Council
The Lincoln Social Action
Council held its regular monthly
meeting at 1417 “R” Street, Mon
day, Dec. 5. After hearing re
ports of committees, selection of
officers for the ensuing six
months took place.
The Committee on Restaurants
reported some progress in the
elimination of discriminatory
practices In local eating places.
The Mayfair Grill has reportedly
abandoned its practice of refusing
service to Negroes. To County
Attorney Frederick Wagener goes
credit for explaining these stat
utes to the management.
The committee on FEPC Pro
motion, headed by Mr. Ted Soren
sen, is still gathering facts on
discrimination in our state and
welcomes the receipt of any facts
on economic discriminations.
Later this month the committee
will publish a digest of its find
ings.
Heading the council for the next
six months will be Mr. Willard
Gaeddert, instructor in Physics at
the University of Nebraska and
a member of the American
Friends Society. Mr. Gaeddert
has been active in religious and
allied activities in Lincoln. Other
officers are Charles Goolsby,
Univ. YMCA, Vice-President; Ben
Jefferson, NAACP, Secretary;
Mrs. Anita Smith, Quinn Chapel,
Treasurer. Elected to the Execu
tive Committee were:
Dr. E. Z. Palmer
Mrs. Estelle Davis
Rabbi Jerome Kestenbaum
Mrs. Ned Darlington
Clyde Malone
Camilla Palmer
Rev'. Philip Schug
Roger Crossgrove
Appointed committee chairmen
are:
Steering: Joe Ishikawa
Fair Employment Practices Commission
promotion: Ted Sorensen.
Public Relations: Rev. Gordon Lippitt.
Speakers Bureau: Rev. John Lepke.
Representatives from the Amer
ican Legion Auxiliary and the
Railway Clerks were new at
tenders.
Force, Prairie View
In Bowl Game
PRAIRIE VIEW, Tex. (ANP).
Wilberforce State college has
been selected as the opponent of
the Prairie View Panthers in the
21st annual Prairie View Bowl
game that will be played in Hous
ton on New Year’s day. The
Prairie View Bowl is the second
oldest New Year’s day classic in
the nation, being exceeded only
by the Rose Bowl in age.
Local N.A.A.C.P.
Re-Elects Moody
Rev. Robert L. Moody Friday
night was re-elected president of
the Lincoln branch of the Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People. The
election and monthly business
In discussing "Christ s Way of
Life Versus the American Way of
Life,” Bishop Alleyne related, “I
often wonder whether Constantine
seeing the cross suspended in the
skies was in every truth an occa
sion of conquest by the cross. It
seems to have been Hellenized,
Romanized, paganized and later
Teutonized, and still later Anglo
Saxonized. As we have it today,
Americanized.”
“The church need not hesitate
to affirm the Communism of
Christ, for fear it will be associ
ated with those who believe the
Communism of the Soviets. There
are other ‘isms’ we in America
need to be fighting, such as, fas
c i sm, extreme individualism,
racism and militarism.”
Charles P. Taft, brother of Sen.
Robert Taft, and first layman to
be named president of the coun
cil, presided over the gathering
that represented 22 Protestant and
Three Greek Catholic churches
with a total of 28,000,000 members.
Leading churchmen, economists
and social workers in the nation
discussed such problems as the
church’s responsibility for older
people and displaced persons and
human rights, along with meas
ures to combat juvenile delin
quency, increase church member
ship and develop greater lay par
ticipation in church leadership.
The first part of the week, steps
were taken to speed formation of
a co-operative agency embracing
almost every Protestant denomi
nation which would be known as
the National Council of Churches
of Christ in the USA. This coun
cil, while .forcing the federal coun
cil to lose its identity, would bring
together a more co-operative
union of members on items of
common interest and concern.
However, as in the federal council,
each individual denomination
would retain its autonomy.
John Brown House
To Become Resort
By Alice A. Dunnigan
WASHINGTON. (ANP). The
house where John Brown kept
his men in the fall of 1859 will
j soon be converted into a moun
I tain summer resort available to
! all peoples, regardless to race,
I color, creed or national origin.
The 250-acre farm near Har
! pers Ferry, Md., has recently been
I purchased at cash price by J. Fin
j ley Wilson, grand exalted ruler,
| and Judge W. C. Hueston, educa
j tional commissioner of the Elks.
The Joseph Adamses
Are Parents
On Wednesday, Dec. 9, Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph Adams of 2221 “S'*
street, became the parents of a
fine boy. The newcomer, named
Joseph weighed in at 6 pounds,
12Vz ounces at St. Elizabeth hos
pital. Of course, he is a source
of joy since he is the Adamses
first son after two lovely daugh
ters. Now maybe Scoutmaster
Adams wili get that Eagie Seoul
he’s been after.