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. Entered as Second Class Matter. June 9. 1947 at the Post Office at Lincoln,
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EDITORIALS
The views expressed in these columns
are those ol the writer and not necessarily
% reflection oi the policy ol The Voice.—
Pub.
BETWEEN THE LINES
Lacking in Leadership
By Dean Gordor B. Hancock
for ANP
The uncertainty and confusion
of the times make great leader
ship imperative. The nations are
standing confused at their Twen
tieth Century Babel with not
only a confusion of tongues but a
confusion of thought and thinking
on the graver issues that concern
our earthly salvation of damna
tion Security and peace are pos
ing questions that cry unto high ;
Heaven for answers; but there is
no certain voice and no positive
mandates save those which stem
from Calvary. But men today are
not turning toward the formula
ol Christ as they must if they
would not perish from the earth;
instead they are busy trying to
find “some other way.”
A powerful and far-sighted
leadership holds the only hope
that mankind can survive the
crisis that is already upon us. In
this critical day ot decisions of
destiny, we are floundering about
on the sea or abject dismay
and uncertainty. What is more,
there is no social or economic or
political John The Baptist crying
in our wilderness. The mediocrity
of current leadership is pathetic.
How we miss our lamented
Franklin Delano Roosevelt! When
the cat is away the rats come to
play; and it is even so when such
as Roosevelt leaves the scene. The
little political pigmies whose
voices were muffled before the
majesty of a Roosevelt come
rumbling out with a pathetic fury
under Truman who is feeling the
impact of a dreadful reaction
against Roosevelt whose power
lesser men feared.
Truman is not as bad as the
reactionary and lean Republicans
would have the world believe. He
is rather the victim of a cruel
circumstance that pits him against
the great Roosevelt background.
As we look today out upon the
nation we cannot see one towering
leadership figure. The most pow
erful leaders are obstructionists.
The men who could help Truman
put over a great and constructive
program are unequivocally com
mitted to obstructionism and ob
scurantism. It would be interest
ing to know just how far our
leadership is behind our follow
ership.
The defeat of President Tru
man’s civil rights proposals is
easily one of the great moral
tragedies of the Twentieth Cen
tury. It is not so much a defeat
for the Negro as for the nation
in the eyes of the world. Were it
not for the hope of invading our
exchequer by the nations, they
would hold our nation in derision.
They are quite willing to wink at
our blunders if we finance their
wink at so much per wink. But
divested of further hope to cash
in on their proffered friendship,
the nations show no inclination to
admire our proclivities to preach
one thing and practice another.
Our Congress is pathetic. It has
flaunted defiance at Truman and
gotten away with it. It has broken
faith with the people who elected
Truman over the protest of the
powers that be. But the great de
feat has not been for Truman but
for the nation which is losing
prestige in the eyes of the world.
Where would we stand in the es
timation of the world without our
stuffed pocket-book? The nation
today needs a powerful and far
visioned leadership.
Such leadership is sorely lack
ing. McCarthyism too sadely rep
resents far too large an area of
our national leadership. He had a
good point but he faltered in its
presentation. His was a case of
bad lawyer with a good case. This
nation cannot survive with a lead
ership too generally characterized
by straddling the fence with ear to
ground at the ;ame time. The
future of this nation is being
crucified on the cross of petty
politics.
When we turn from the national
picture to the racial one we find
the same lack of firm leadership.
Very seldom do we come across a
reputed N#gro leader who is will
ing to suffer for his convictions.
Nearly eleven-tenths of the so
called leadership is directioned
by what Negroes want instead of
what they need. Nobody wants to
breast the tide of opposition. Al
most everybody wants to be popu
lar with the crowds with their ac
clamations. It cannot be seriously
doubted that in the defeat of the
civil rights program of Truman
the race has suffered a major set
back. We need a great leadership
how to inspire the race. The race’s
current frustation demands hold
leadership. When the Congress of
the U.S.A. sides with our foes,
which is our next move?
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•TATI I1STOAICAL SOCIITY
Nebraska’s Governors—17
Charles H. Dietrich, elected gov
ernor in the bitter, close campaign
of 1900, served the shortest term
in the history of Nebraska—it
lasted only five months. Those
five months, though, were hectic
ones in state politics, and Gover
nor Dietrich probably was glad to
retreat to what must have seemed
like the comparative calm of the
United States Senate—but before
going into that, I’d like to give
you a little background on the
17th man to serve as governor of
the state or territory.
Governor Dietrich was born at
Aurora, 111., Nov. 26, 1852, the son
of one of the many Germans who
fled to America during the critical
year of 1848. He quit school at 12
years of age and went to work on
a farm. After four years as a farm
hand he got a job in a hardware
store. He soon gave this up and
went to Arkansas, where he was
promptly robbed of the money he
had saved to start in business for
himself.
Adding to his adventures, he
took part in the Black Hills Gold
Rush, locating the Aurora mine in
Hidden Treasure Gulch near
Deadwood in the spring of 1877.
The next year he sold his holdings
•and went back to Aurora. He was
not long for Aurora, however, be
cause the next year saw him in
Hastings, where he engaged in the
mercantile business and became
an important force in the com
munity’s development.
In 1900, when the Republicans
were looking for a way to break
the fusionist hold on the state,
they unanimously selected Dibt
rich as their standard bearer. The
fusionists renominated Gov. Wil
liam A. Poynter. As I indicated,
the race was bitter and closely
fought. The final tabulation gave
Dietrich the election by the slim
margin of 861 votes out of more
than 227,000 cast.
The legislature which convened
in January, 1901, had before it the
problem of electing two United
States senators, one for th^ reg
ular term and one to fill out the
term of Sen. M. L. Hayward, who
had died before taking office.
After a long and complicated
fight, which occupied the legisla
ture’s attention to the virtual ex
clusion of all other business for
almost three months, J. H. Mil
lard, Omaha banker, was selected
for the regular term, and Gov
ernor Dietrich, to fHl out Hay
ward’s term, to expire in 1905.
So Governor Dietrich resigned
on May 1, 1901, to become United
States senator. Although he had a
rather stormy career in the sen
ate, he did valuable pioneering
work in promoting the develop
ment of the beet sugar industry
and reclamation, both of vital im
portance to present-day Nebraska.
Governor Dietrich died at Has
tings, April 10, 1924, and is buried
in Parkview cemetery there. He
was an enthusiastic collector of
Alaskan and Philippine materials.
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After his death, his valuable col
lection was given the State His
torical society by his widow.
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