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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1933)
_ • Omaha, -Nebraska, Saturday, January 7, 1933. Page 3_ I*. • . ' •! Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street by f it K ' *M \1I A GUIDE PUBLISHING COMPANY, Incorporated Phone WEbster 1750 \ News Copy uiiiKt be in our office not later than Monday • n . and all Advertising Copy or Paid Articles, not iater than A t*D,«**day at Noon, . . S- i < l.i»*i .til matter, March 15, 1927, -at the Post « «i . , under the act of Congress of Mar. 3, 1879 -IlSi KIPTP »N RATES (Strictly in Advance! One Year. $2.00 Six Month* . 1-25 Three Months. 1-00 •SI..MS ,M p,s< RIPTION The Omaha Guide is issued weekly and " - : • to anv part of the United States for $2.00 per year .ni.tdi.sr: subscriptions (including postage) $2.50 in pti .ns including postage) $3.00 in ad , . . , a.: i* - 11 tions, $1.25. Trial Three months’ sription $1.00. Single copy, 5 cents. i.'A \i,> 1 • ii,o. -1' the name just as it appears on the .* ! b- >i: i v rli .-use please call our attention to ; ... * 4iv ■ the full address to which your paper has been sent. . A i >DRESS I t ordering a change of address, always Hi i new addresses. If the paper does not reach you guiarly. please notify us at once. ADVERTISING RATES.-Given upon application. GEM i TAX' Ks Send payment hy postal or express money order, . i _’:*;•( • I letter, bank check or stamps. > A DURESS - Send aii communications to The Omaha Guide • . sn,, Die, rimrated, 2418-20 Grant St.. Omaha, Nebr.. ♦ EDITORIALS! ♦ |j Colored Representation * • > *braska Legislature opened Tuesday, Jan Bar trd, the i ion. This time with Demo v■ r in r: >nty. we have our first Colored Democrat to ; < ii;e legislature, Johnnie Owen, who made a; .nipit -.-ion and was warmly received. - lection of Mr. Owens on a Democratic ticket >}-,i. s a turning point in history. I. i though Mr. Owen stands as the lone eagle, i . t he Colored citizens wish him all the suc jtrusl .him as their personal watchman on the wall. latent liiptist t hurrh, 22nd and Seward Sts.. h «!ny was indeed a banner Sun.' da;, i-e-ng the first Sunday and the f:r«t day of the New Year. All seeni «. .vc been strengthened at the Year** Ewe. watch meeting. Rev. (. . brought two stirring nies » . ,n the m< rning at the 11 ■ >YJ . irvio! and that evening at 8 5 m. Also the Lord’s supper was ad. mini ■ ter*-l We invite you to be present Sun. da>, Ji .uary 8th.- Rev. Anthony of tL grim Baptist Church in Topeka k . , will speak for us all day and errs me third Sunday, January 15th, Rev. Washington of Los Angeles, Calif, will preach for us. You will perhaps lie glad to know that Mr. William Cooper has been added to the Deacon Board. You are alway. welcome at Salem. Pie* .at Green Baptist 1 hurch, T. -W. Stevenson. Pastor. Mrs. King. Clerk, Mrs. £*>#. Reporter. . S. S h(,;ol, 9:30 a. at The teach r- and scholars were very glad t • have our same Supt. Vealand for an.'*her year. Services were held at 11 » .* m. and at 8:30 p. m. BYPU. : 0 ; with Supt. Milton presiding ' T5 * • . : >r a~ks that for this year ♦ I ’ members to try to attend Prayer Services. Zha Baptist Church, CIS Grant St., C. C, Harper. Pastor, J. R, Young. Asst. Pastor. Shirts Finished 8c V -a Finished out of Wet Wmah—Thrifty—R. D. L:au Bdles. EVANS LAUNDRY Phone - JA. 0243 I. W. Green, reporter. Sunday School, 9:30 a. m., H. L. Anderson, Supt. The morning service was preached by Rev. Young and a very large r wd for New Years. The evening st rvtee was preached by Rev. Will iam Hall and a large service served by ; lb v. J. R. Young. BYPU will be led by Group No. 2. Mr. Crawford, cap tain and a fine service was had New Y ar’.« eve at the watch meeting ser vice. Mt. Moriah Baptist Church 2tth and Ohio Sts., Rev. F. P. Jones, Pastor. ( tor, Sunday was Sunday was another great day at ’ Mt. .Moriah, beginning with the Sun. day school which was largely attend, eii K.tch class made their annual re- ' port which was versatisfactory, and 1 showed a marked progress in the j work of the Sunday school. The' V. >r.ship service at 11:00 o'clock was; a great service. The large congre- ] gat on demonstrated a spirit of great] r-ioicing throughout this period. The ; pastor preached a great*sermon, sub. “New Experiences” The Everyloyal Gr up rendered a very pleasing pro-, gram at the BYPU. hour. The Quar- j terlv Banquet w-as won by the Will-; ing Workers’ group. The annual re por: ;n this department also showed a 75 per cent gain in both attendance ] and finance. After another very ex. c.lient sermon by the pastor. Rev. i Jor.es. at 8:00 o’clock a very impres. siv- communion service was held. Onj Er day night the church. held their i • itmual business meeting where the r- port of the entire years work was made by each auxiliary and the church. These reports showed a r: irked progress during the past year in every department, and a great • v for the church. In the face of '■■r.r.ssion. and the many jobless a . r,g the membership the goal for. which they set out. at- the beginning f the year was reached, and much uise was given Rev. Jones for his • r-h-rful management and to the with him. On Saturday night watch loyal membership, who cooperated ! meeting was held with e. large num.; i her present. The evening was spent in , song and prayer, and expression? of gra'itude to God for His Gracious j blessings of the past year. ; Miss. River Slavery 1932 i ‘‘Slavery in its most trying days was j mild compared to the reign of terror ' inflicted upon these simple river j folks.”—from American Federation of Labor report published in American I Federationist, March, 1932. TO be sold down the river was the most terrifying fate that could befall ! a slave before the Civil War. Down j the river, hdpe ended. Only death of. I fered a release from brutal mistreat ment, brutal working conditions, and despair of ever coming away alive. That great river down which the slaves were sold is the scene of a new and terrible slavery today. The slav ery of 1932. like that before the Civil War, is rooted in the exploitation of black meats labor, the mistreatment of their bodies, and the denial to them of the primary decencies that civiliz. aion owes all human beings. It is practised on work undertaken, con trolled and financed by the United States Government, the' Mississippi Flood Control project* intended to curb the devastating floods of the Mississippi River over the adjacent land of the Delta states. Two investigations independently undertaken have reported and estab lished the facts beyond any reasonable doubt. One of these investigations, by representatives of the American Federation of Labor, is quoted from above. The other was made for the National Association for Advance ment of Colored People, during the summer of 1932, by Miss Helen Board man, a college graduate, former Red Cross relief worker who had been in charge of relief work in former Miss issippi flood disasters. What are the conditions which these two independent investigations have established? The federal government has accept ed bids of private contractors for the levee wo'rk to j>e done. Those private contractors, supposedly under govern ment supervision in the conduct of their wrork have been found guilty of the following misdeeds: 1. OVERWORK: Negroes on levee work in the private camps have been worked seven days a week for as much as 12 and in many cases 14 and ! 16 hours a day, and have been worked j at night in addition to overlong day time hours without one cent of over time pay. 2. UNDERPAYMENT: The rate of pay has been as low as ten cents an hour and even less and in a multi tude of authenticated cases the men have been summarily discharged without pay; have received only a fraction of the pay stipulated; and al most universally have been system-, atically robbed by charges for ice water, cook’s charges, and forced pur- j chases at company stores and com- j missaries where the prices are extor tionate. The almost invariable result j is that they have received little or nothing for their work. Examples of company store extortions are as fol lows: 12-lb. sack of flour 60 cents, regular price 30 cents; salt pork 15 cents, regular price 6 cents; cotton pants $2, regular price 98 cents; con densed milk 20 cents, regular price 8 cents. 2. BEATINGS: Men and women as wrell have been subject to brutal beatings by overseers. Levee workers are so terror-stricken that they would never even tell of the levee camp hor rors unless promised that their nam es would be withheld. “The attitude of many contractors toward their labor is exceedingly reminiscent of slavery at its worst,” says the NAA. CP. report. Actual hunger drives hu man beings to accept almost any bru tality to avert starvation. 4. UNSANITARY CONDITIONS: Crowded, floorless tents, filthy quar ters. no garbage disposal, no screens, in mosquito and malaria infested coun try. “A great deal of illness was ob served, chiefly malaria, flu and rheu matism.” 5. OVERCHARGING: “One con tractor expressed the attitude of all when he said that he did not expect to pay his labor anything above their maintenance. The I commissary sys tem enables them to carry this out.; In many instances, a commissary had no other reason for existence as there were stores within easy distance of the Qamps.” Trading at the comp any.owned commissary stores has been enforced with discharge or phys ical violence in cases of failure to do so. A minimum charge of $4.50 is assessed against workers in some camps for food, ice water, cooking, etc. The cooks in some cases are not .paid even after the deductions from ! the men’s wages. INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES FROM THE NAACP. REPORT “The w?eek previous to this visit two men were whipped for disobeying or | ders.” ! “For mattreses here are piles of: moss from the live-oaks or, in some cases, rags. The place is indescrib ably filthy and airless. The end of the building is divided off by corru gated metal and used as a pigpen.” “The sub-contractor, engineers and other white men on the job are arm ed with rifles and revolvers.” “There is no mosquito netting, no furniture of any kind but straw is furnished for the men to sleep on.” "A minimum of $4 a week is taken from their pay for the commissary and they are -obliged to trade there. They do not ask the prices charged for anything and are not answered if they ask. They get no itemized state ment. The boss-man tells them the amount due them in wages and the amount of their indebtedness at the commissary and gives them any a mount this reckoning allows them. One man said he received $1.50 after working five weeks and he knew the amount he had purchased at the com missary could have been bought at any store for $*3iOO. “When the investigator asked what they were paid the men and women in the group laughed and finally one man said: ‘You men what us gets' paid or what us works for?’ ” “On July 4th a man was knocked1 down and kicked because he had mis-! understood an order. He was dis. I charged and another man was dis charged .because he said it was un fair.” “Whippings occur daily.” “The week before this visit two men were whipped for refusing night work after working all day.” WAR DEPARTMENT’S ATTITUDE The War Department denied the | charges made by the A. F. of L. and disputed the facts presented by the | NAACP. Upon the Association’s in sistence that the facts be heard the War Department appointed a hearing in Washington for the NAACP. in vestigator from which the press was excluded. At this hearing questions were asked indicating that the War Department representative was will ing to adopt for the Department’s standard the slave working conditions 1 prevalent in that section. A War Department whitewash of| the charges was clearly indicated. A committee appointed just before elect ion by President Hoover to investigate the charges, was reported one month later as “without funds” or definite authorization to proceed. THE REMEDY Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York, informed of these atrocious slavery and peonage conditions, prom ised the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to in troduce a resolution calling for a U. S. Senate investigation and this resolu tion has been introduced. The NAA CP. has pledged 39 senators to sup port and vote for this resolution. You Can Help by writing to your Senator asking him to Back Up the W’agner Resolution, and Give It His1 Unqualified Support until these Con ditions are Exposed and Corrected. Moreover, the NAACP. will arrange to have introduced in Congress bills providing that the eight hour day and a minimum wage scale are to be en forced on the Mississippi levee work. Write Your Senators and Represent atives Urging them to Vote for such , Measures. Get your church, lodge, club and friends to do the same. WE NEED HELP IN THIS FIGHT If we can get decent wages and de cent working hours for the Negroes now working as virtual slaves on the Mississippi levee under U. S. Govern ment “supervision”, it would mean TEN MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR IN ADDED WAGES FOR 10 YEARS Moreover it would strike a blow at the peonage and slavery conditions now still accepted as normal in the Delta regions along the lower Miss 1 issippi River. We need funds to carry on this fight, We want to make more in vestigations and pile up the evidence j in such a way that the American peo- j pie can no longer ignore it. Hundreds of thousands of poor, helpless black men and women are now under this juggernaut of exploit ation and brutality. This fight is bigger than many a case where the l victim is a single individual. Here [ thousands upon thousands of human i beings are involved. A vital precedent is at stake. To I permit exploitation of colored work ! ers by the federal government would j encourage discrimination against | them in state, municipal and county S relief work projects where Negroes are by far the most grievous suffer ers in the terrible depression for they are not only the last to be hired but the first to lose thir jobs. On the other hand to establish that colored workers on government projects must be and are being paid a fair I wage and work under decent condi i tions, will be to safeguard the color ■ ed worker’s position not alone on the | Mississippi levee but everywhere else in the country. M ill you help fight the Mississippi Slavery of 1932 and help build oppor tunity for the Negro worker? |- — NAACP, P>9 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. Here’s my contribution of to help in this fight. Name _ Address _ NORTH SIDE “Y” ANNOUNCES NEW CLASSES “Parliamentary Law Class” Mrs. C. F. Behr, First Vice-Presi dent, Omaha Woman’s Club, will con- ' duct a class in “Parliamentary Law” at the North Side YWCA., beginning Thursday evening, January 12th, at seven-thirty o’clock. Mrs. Behr is well prepared, having served two years as ; head of the Parliamentary Law De partment of the Woman’s Club. The course is open to men and wo men, and will be held for. six weeks. There will be no charge. Adult Gymn Class Slim waistlines, trim figures for all wh# desire to wear the new lines! Your for the exercising at the North Side “Y”, beginning Friday evenings, January 13th, at seven-thirty sharp. Wear soft-soled shoes and loose cloth ing, suitable for gymnastic work. This class is for women and girls only There will be no charge! Louise Scott Gymn teacher. Conversational English To express one’s self intelligently and attractively is an art, and a nec essity in the business and social world today. The North Side “Y” is offering a six week’s course in “Conversational English”, beginning Tuesday evening, January 10th, at seven-thirty. Practical speaking in everyday English will be taught! Men and women may attend. There will be no charge! — NOTE i fell \ ; Washington BELIEVED IN THE POWER OF WANT-ADS T’ODAY. just as In George W ssAtnyroc^i * rime, tho sweet method of secarteg a ranter, a buyer an employe* oe tha wrtV f artery answer to nay other “t«l" la as “flea public oodee" of THAT want, and llva moot economical medium of gjrtef «W public notice of YOUB wanU Is the Vann WANT-AD DEPARTMENT Read The Omaha Guide FIFTY NEWSBOYS TO DELIVER The OMAHA GUIDE TO YOUR DOOR ROSS DRUG Store Prescriptions Carefully Filled! WE. 2770 Guide’s Platform ■ 1 ii m 19 Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man must prevail. These are the only principles which will stand the acid test of good citizenship in time of peace, war and death. v (1) We must have our pro-rata of employment in businesses to which we give our patronage, such as groc ery stores, laundries, furniture stores, department stores and coal companies, in fact- every concern which we sup port. We must give our citizens the chance to live res pectably. We are tired of educating our children and permitting them to remain economic slaves and enter in to lives of shame. (2) Our pro-rata of employment for the patronage to our public corporations such as railroad companies, the street car company, the Nebraska Power Company, the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company and other establishments which we are forced to support by right of franchise. Also our pro-rata of employment in re turn for the taxes we pay' in our city, county state and federal government. (3) To encourage the establishment of a first class hospital that we may get the best that there is in medical science from our doctors whom we know to be nearest us, also to encourage a high respect of them and encourage more of our girls to take nurse training. (4) A one hundred per cent deportment of our cit izens in our public or private places of business, especial ly on street cars. If we are to be respected we must act respectably, especially in public places where we are con stantly before the public’s eye. (5) A one hundred per cent membership in the Om aha branch of the NAACP. should be had to encourage the efforts put forth by the founders of the organization and to assist the general office to establish a five million dollar endowment fund to maintain operating expenses and to further the principles of the NAACP. All peo ple of all races must be educated up to a higher principle and a more thorough understanding of interracial rela tionship that our country may in reality be a government of the people, for the people and by the people in whole and not in part. (6) The re-establishment of the Christian Religion as Christ taught it, for the uplifting of mankind, elimin ating financial and personal gain. A practical Christian Religion, week day as well as Sunday. An attitude to ward our fellowman as a brother in order to establish a principle which will guide the destiny of each other’s children; our neighbor’s children today are our children tomorrow. (7) Courteous treatment in all places of business and the enforcement of the State Civil Right Law. (8) To encourage and assist in the establishment of the following financial institutions near 24th and Lake Streets: A building and loan association, a state bank, administering aid and assistance to our widows and children. (9) To encourage the erection of a one hundred thousand dollar Young Men’s Christian Association Building near 24th and Lake Streets. (10) To enlarge the Young Women’s Christian As sociation that it may supply sufficient dormitory accom modations. (11) To teach our citizens to live economically with in their earning capacity by printing in each issue a bud get system for various salaries. (12) To make Omaha a better city in which to live by inaugurating a more cosmopolitan spirit among our American citizens. (13 To put a stop to the Divorce Evil by passing a State law making the mistreatment of a wife or 3 hus band by either of them, a criminal offense to be decided ' by a jury, first offense, jail sentence of a short duration; from one to five years in the penitentiary. This, we be lieve will make men and women think before marrying, second offense, one of longer duration; third offense, (14) We must become owners of the city govern ment by paying a seemingly higher salary to those whom we employ to administer its affairs, a salary that will at and, also, a first-class trust company for the purpose of tract men of high calibre. National (1) Fight for a passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynch Bill and thus stop the shamful lynching of American citizens. (2) One of our citizens in the president’s cabinet. (3) Federal control of the educational system that every child must have a high school education. (4) Assist in the furtherance of research by our scientists and historians to prove that civilization was first founded in Africa. (5) Establish a political influence which will bring about our pro-rata of higher appointments made by our chief executives. (6) Stop graft in politics by passing a Federal Law making election day a legal holiday and compelling every American citizen of voting age to vote. (7) Prevent further wars by teaching the so-called white race that it is high time for them to quit fooling themselves about white supremacy with only three-tenths of the world’s population. They must be taught that color is due to climatic conditions. They must be taught that seven-tenths of the world’s population is made up of darker races. They must be taught that the rays of sun that blaze upon the equator and turn the skin brown do not affect the power of the brain any more than the cold ness of icy glaciers affect the brain of the white race; and that the darker races will not continue to be crushed by a money mad few\ If the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man are not welded into the hearts of this world’s family now, by teaching the principles laid down by our Saviour, it will be welded into the hearts of our ; children some day soon, on the bloodiest battlefields this j world has ever known. (8) Cut down congressional representation from the Southern States in proportion to the number of votes CQSt< The OMAHA GUIDE will put forth its best efforts to bring about the above 22 points with the assistance of | those who believe it is for the best interest of good Amer ican citizenship.
