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niTOUAU
rhe views expressed in these columns
necessarily a reflection of the policy
are those of the writer and not
of The Voice —Pub
Can We Afford the Luxury of Slums?
Satan, while chatting to a com
panion, stated that of all the evils,
discouragement was the greatest—
that if he could discourage a man,
he could control him today, to
morrow and always.
Slums and the cause lor them
are the Satans in our modern age. ^
A broad definition of the word
“slum” means sub-standard hous
ing. Over 400 such houses exist in.
Lincoln according to the 1950 re-,
port by the Lincoln Housing Au
thority.
Slums are the product of
poverty, and the effect of poor'
people crowding together. As far
as the Negroes are concerned, '
slums are one part of the price
we pay ror discrimination. Dis
crimination as pertains to limiting
Negroes to a certain area in the1
city and restrictive covenants to1
prevent Negroes from renting or
buying outside of this area.
There is another kind of dis-J
crimination that causes slums.
Negro and white job patterns are1
an example. Consider the follow- j
ing jobs ranging from bottom to
top: Service and labor, factory!
workers, clerical-sales, etc.,'
craftmen-fcremen, etc., proprie
tors - managers - officials, profes
sional and semi-professional. The;
Urban League’s study revealed
that the white pattern shows the
largest number of jobs at the
middle levels. If this were true
for Negroes, too, it would do a
great deal to wipe out slum
rentals, and the high price we pay
for continuing them.
But it is not—the Negro pattern
shows the largest number of jobs
at the lowest levels. Low-paying
jobs among Negroes perpetuate
crowding. Crowding in slum areas
perpetuates high rents paid by
Negroes, giving them proportion
ately less to spend for other things
—which in turn perpetuates the
slum conditions that are costly to
'the budgets of all of us. When
| Negroes are restricted to low-pay
ing jobs by job discrimination, a
vicious circle is created.
After all has been said and
printed about slums, some people
have the audacity to believe thatj
we can continue with the same;
policy toward housing. They see,
several ‘‘for rent” signs and a few|
new houses and proclaim that all ■
is well—continue as you are.
Can we afford the evil of dis
:ouragement and the luxury of j
slums?
Who pays for sums anyway? j
Landlords don’t pay for it. Negroes
don’t pay for it, except in the coin
of misery. WE ALL PAY—IN
DOLLARS AND CENTS.
How can we prevent slums? By
making it possible for people who1,
live there to move out; end job
discrimination in business and in
dustry: let the Negro earn more <
money in better jobs.
Elmo Roper, public opinion ex-1
pert, estimates the nation loses'
$6,000,000,000 yearly because of
job discrimination because of
color. Lester Granger, Executive
Director, National Urban League,
^aid the death of approximately
50,000 American Negroes in 1944
was due to prejudice and discrim
ination. World political conditions
make it mandatory that the United
States take positive steps to show
that our democratic philosophy ap
plies equally as well to our mi
norities as it does to the majority
'group.
Slums and job discrimination
are not only heartless and waste
ful, but are a dead-end street.
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Delegates to Congress
The first man ever to repre
sent Nebraska in Congress was
Napoleon Bonaparte Giddings,
elected December 12, 1854, as the
first delegate from Nebraska ter
ritory in a hotly-contested, five
way election which clearly re
vealed the bitter partisanship
characterizing Nebraska’s early
early politics.
Gidding’s principal opponent
was Hadley D. Johnson, who had
'been elected (but not seated)
j delegates from the provisional
territory of Nebraska. Others
were Bird B. Chapman, who
would succeed Giddings as dele
gate; Joseph Tyson, who plugged
for land reform in his campaign;
and A. W. Hollister, who received
votes only in Dodge County, but
who got all of the votes cast
there—all 14 of them.
Giddings was a carpet-bag poli
tician typical of many who held
office in the early days of Ne
braska territory. At the time of
his election, he nominally was a
resident of Nebraska City. Actu
ally, he resided in Savannah, Mo.,
and came to Nebraska only a
couple of weeks prior to the elec-j
tion. Indeed, it was generally be
lieved that the fact that he was
from Missouri was the strongest
point in his favor in the river
counties south of the Platte where
he found most of his strength.
Because of a change in the elec
tion laws, requiring a new dele
gate to be elected in the autumn
of 1855, Giddings served only
about two months in Con
gress. He was admitted to the
House of Representatives Janu
ary 5, 1855, and the Congress ad
journed March 4. During that
time he introduced bills to estab
lish post roads and land offices,
I to protect the proprietors of towns
in their town sites, and to pro
vide for surveying, marking and
.opening roads in Nebraska. He
I made one speech — a very short
jone—urging Congress to allow the
legislatures of Kansas and Ne
braska the right to designate
where their territorial capitals
should be located.
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I Pressure of NAACP Is Forcing
Va. to Improve Negro Schools
BY CARTER JEWEL
RICHMOND, Va. (ANP). Pres
sure from the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People through courts suits on
school equalization has forced
many localities in Virginia to im
prove school buildings and other
facilities for the education of Ne
groes.
Richmond will have a new $1,
500,000 new Negro high school in
the Churchill section possibly by
the opening of the 1951-52 school
year. The Maggie Walker High
school on Lombardy street and
I Baker school on Baker street, both
erected in recent years, are mod
ern structures.
Just last weeK the school board
of Petersburg made an inspection
tour of the new $950,000 Peabody
High school which is complete ex
cept for a few minor details. Supt.
of Schools John D. Meade said
dedicatory exercises would be held
later in the year.
Classes will begin in the build
ing in September with about 500
pupils attending complete acad
emic and shop programs along
with courses in home economics
'and commercial subjects.
Plans were recently drawn for
a new $76,000 Negro elementary
school in the Campstella section
of Norfolk. To be built on Cypress
street near a large Negro hous
ing project, the school will con
tain 18 class and auxiliary rooms.
This school is the sixth project
P"“. ' .■—
of Norfolk school board’s $11,
000,000 building program.
Although members of the Bed
jford county school board agreed
that a new Negro high school is
needed now, they decided last
week against hasty action. Mem
bers voted to follow Lynchburg’s
example and awaits a U.S. Su
preme court in the segregation
case before proceeding with its
expansion plans.
Dowell J. Howard, state super
intendent of schools, disclosed re
cently that of $40,496,212 already
planned for state school projects
$13,965,228 will be spent on Ne
gro school buildings. Howard
said.
“This is good evidence that the
localities are making every pos
sible effort to bring colored school
facilities to an equal basis with
white schools.
“You must remember that Ne
gro pupils comprise only 26 per
cent of our total enrollment."
| New school construction over
the next four years, including ad
ditions, is expected to cost $229,
357,912, Howard said. Of this
amount, he explained, $68,723,891
will be spent on Negro schools.
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