MARCH of EVENTS .wjvawavwanwwA it i* I Q i wrwvw.w.w.w.v.
:- II | | H | ——- CITY and NATIONAL
_Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday, Sept. 22, 1934_ g€V€ n
I
I
Published every Omaha Guide Pub
lishing Company, Inc.
Ent®-«1 as Second Class Matter Mterch 15, 1927 at the Post Office at Omaha.
Nebraska u.ider the Act ot Congress of March 3, 1879.
Terms of subcription . . 12 00 per year.
‘VV-V/.V.V.VAV.W.V.W.V.V.V.W.V.W.V.V.V.V.V
*: •:
I EDITORIAL l
$ - i
VsV.W.V.\V.V«V.V.V.V.V.W-%VW.%V.V.V«V.V.VV*
The Most Abominable Racket
The mild, persuasive, vet most pernicious and abominable rack*
et<*er is the Negro pan-handling politician, who practices his nefar
ious art upon the political candidates, who should know better thar
to give serious consideration to the glib tongue of these racketeers
who wear silken gloves to hide a horny hand, who are not what they
profess to be, but are rather “ehislcrs and grafters of the first order;
some even so audacious as to use the title of “Reverend,’- and a
mythical church to further their greedy ends, bringing condemna
tion oh the race generally and an honest ;ind upright ministry into
disrepute. Are we to permit these racketeers to bring a striving race
into ignomy and disgrace, ever blocking our progress to proper
race recognition?
It is of no avail to stand idly by and watch the harmful offense
being committed. The tactics and schemes of those pan-handlers*
are known from beginning to end, from bringing the church and
ministry into unfavorable light by soliciting for mythcal churches and
mythical church activities to house meetings, that are never held,
for the famous program racket.
The “program racket” as practiced by the pan-handler” who
leads the candidate to believe that he, the pairhandler, carries great
political influence among the Negro voters, seems to be the “King
Bee” as a money maker for the pan’hander. The pan-handler gen*
eraHy approaches the candidate, soliciting an ad on a program to
be printed for some auspicious and entirely fancied affair to be
held in the near future, at which affair there will be a large number
of voters, offering space from fifty cents to ten dollars, depending
upon the size wanted by the candidate. All candidates having been
canvassed and fleeced for as much as possible on the spot or hv
a promise to pay upon delivery of the program, the pan-handler then
hies himself to a printer and has enough programs printed to supply
• one to each of his advertisers, who have promised to pay on delivery,
if all candidates pay in advance, there are no programs printed.
The pan-ha.idler pats himself on his slimy back and says, “Well
done, my boy, now for the house meeting rally.
These ingrates must he fought within and without the race.
They are retarding our progress, and delaying the recognition that
w-e are fighting for. We must make known their practices, and our
opposition to their pan-handling methods.
They promise to deliver the Negro vote for a price, an impossible
thing to do with an enlightened Negro electorate. It is time the
office seeker should know that the Negro vote may he had only by
proper recognition by way of employment ami appointments to pub
lic office.
IIow long must we be tormented and our progress impeded
by these pan*haudling politicans with their most abominable rackets?
Underlying Causes of Crime
Reprint From The Omaha Bee
“We are determined to continue the campaign and get at the
UNDERLYING CAUSES of crime.”
The foregoing sentence was uttered by Homer S. Cummings,
attorney general of the United States.
It was prompted by tile arrest in Chicago of a lawyer, a for
mer prosecutor, accused by federal investigators of harboring the
Dillinger gang,even to the extent of providing office seclusion in
which robberies were planned !
A grand jury has been impaneled to examine the substance
of the charge. Pending court action, comment on the case in ques"
tion would be out of place.
Right now the important fact about the attorney general’s dec
laration is that it evidently puts the federal government definite
ly into action against the notorious alliances of criminals and criminal
lawyers and grafting local politicians which are and have been
among the chief “underlying causes’’ of our era of violent crime and
racketeering.
As the attorney general further phrases the purpose:
“We will seize those who PROFIT BY CRIME without tak
ing any risks.”
Insofar as it goes—and may it go far, indeed !^-the federal
campaign meets a demand for law enforcement By LAW ENFORCE
MENT OFFICIALS which the Ilearst newspapers have been mak
ing insistently for month and years.
As the public very well knows, public officials everywhere
have been prone to offer exeusses for NOT ENFORCING the law,
instead of ENFORCING IT.
Crime conditions, we were told by men in official life, were
“due to the indifference of the Amei'iean people.’’
Gangsters and blackmailers could not be prosecuted because
“terrorized witnesses” would not testify.
In a signed editorial published on Sept. 2, 1933, William Rail’
dolph Hearst pointed out plainly the speciousness of these pleas.
Mr. Heart wrote:
“Existing criminal conditions are NOT due to the indiffer
ence of the Amercan people. They are due to the inefficiency of
American government.”
In this connection, a phase of the attorney general’s campaign
is to be a series of crime conferences in Wahington in December,
in order to gain the “confidence ad cooperation” of the public in
the war on crime. Mr. Cummings explained:
. ‘ The. hearia§s ^ he open to the public. To the hearings we
snail invite heads of metropoltan poliqe departments, university1
I men interested in criminology, heads of all government agencies
dealing with crime and all others who we think may aid.”
There ean be no quarrel with this idea, so long as the govern
ment’s campaign does not BREAK DOWN into a series of mere
conferences. For conferences are necessary to arouse the public.
As Mr. Hearst said in his editorial:
“The American public is SUFFICIENTLY AROUSED over
the criminal situation. There is NOW a strong public sentiment over
THE FAILURE OF GOVERNMENT TO ENFORCE THE LAW.’’
Uniting federal, state and local agencies behind aggressive law
enforcement efforts on a nation-wide scale will be constructive action.
But the federal government must continue in the role of leader
ship, and the federal government is ON THE RIGHT TRACK in
running down not only Criminals, but also the “respectable allies
of criminals.
Very lately, the bar associations have shown some disposition
to aid in riding the legal profession of lawyer-criminals.
The government should hold them to this duty. ^
And also, when ferretng out. for punishment the LAWYER
FRIENDS of chronic crooks, let the government not overlook the
other “underlying cause’’ of crime—the PREI iVTORY LOCAL
IV-MTICIAXS, in office and out, without whose protection and
connivance few if any of our criminal rackets could e ther ex st or
continue.
Small Hope for Will’s Hope
WHILE FLYING OVER HOOVER DAM ON A
RECENT AIR TRIP FROM CHICAGO TO THE COAST
WILL ROGERS DROPPED OFF HISS DAILY MES
SAGE TO NEWSPAPERS. ONE OF HIS REMARKS
WAS:
“KOPE THEY DON’T IRRIGATE MORE
LAND SO THEY CAN RAISE MORE THINGS THEY
CAN’T SELL, AND WILL HAVE TO PLOW UP MORE
ROWS, KILL MORE PIGS TO KEEP ‘EM FROM BE
COMIN’ HOGS.”
OUR POLITICIANS STILL TALK GLIBLY OF
POURING NEW MILLIONS WTO IRRIGATION
SCHEMES TO MAKE MORE FARMS OUT OF WASTE
LAND IN DESERTS. THUS BOOSTING OVER PRO
DUCTION OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS, WHICH AN
OTHER GROUP OF POLITICIANS WILL EXPECT
THE TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR, TO BRING ABOUT
FARM RELIEF.
LEADERSHIP
BY ANDREW STUART
Every time there is an election,
candidates who want the Negro
votes, goes to some of them, that
they think has some influence and
ask them for their support. In
many cases the candidate is pronr
ised more votes than there are Ne
groes in the state. If they fail to
win the election and see that the
Negro districts did not go 100%
for them, they blame every Negro
in the state for what those po
litically minded indivduals have
promised. If they are elected and
some Negro goes to some of them
to remind them of their promises,
they tell them that they have paid
Rev. So & So, or some other per
son ; and show him a receipt for
the amount of money that they
sometimes ask. What do your peo
ple want out there, meaning North
Omaha? Why don’t you people
get together? Have you no
leaders? I admit that these are
hard questions to answer. In the
first place they seek the support
of those who cannot deliver it.
If they can make the candidates
hould receive credit a ..,issssse
think that they are leaders. They
should receive credit as good
salesmen. A little investigation on
the part of the candidate would
save lots of trouble. We have Ne
groes who are self-supporting,
who do not want political jobs,
and do not have one. For instance,
such men as Dr. Wesley Jones, Dr.
J. II. Hutton, Dr. G. B. Lennox,
Messers. R. C. Price, William
Haynes. Tom Mahamitt, Rev. J. F.
Black. 2520 “J” St., and many
others too numerous to mention.
These gentlemen are members of
the Democratic and Republican
parties. And if consulted would
give correct information.
PLAIN TALK ON WAR ANB
FASCISM
BY WILLIAM B. SPOFFORD
Editor of The Witness, Episcopal
Church Weekly - Secretary of the
Church League for Industrial Demo
cracy
A lot of smart people are writing
these days on the Choice Before Us,
but it seems to me that few of them
get down to brass tacks. They all
know that the world is in a mess and
that changes are inevitable. But
most of them are looking for an easy
way out.
As a well-known writer said, peo
ple are willing to do anything for
the workers but get off their backs.
So toray we find mild reforms advo
cated by all sorts of people I was
talking with one of them the other;
day. He was arguing his head off
about the permanence of the present
economic order, slightly reformed;
but ended the convention by saying
“Well, whatever happens I am set- I
i boueht the farm the other day so
that if things smash completely I
I can raise potatoes and turnips and at
least eat.” That is the amount of
confidence that he has in the reform
ed capitalism which he was defend
ing so delligerently.
The simple fact is that the pre
sent order is washed up. There is
! no possible way for the present-rul
, ers to maintain their power short of
dictatorship and capitalist dictator
ship means Fascism- And Fascism
doesn’t mean fundamentally Jew
baiting Black or Brown Shirts,, cas
tor oil and all the rest of the silly
business that we read about in the
papeys as bad as those secondary
characteristics certainly are. It means
the limiting of production by the
owners of the machines and the star
vation of the great masses of the
people in order that their profitsys
tera may be maintained a while long
er. *!t means even worse than that—
it means War for part of their pro
gram is to seek expert markets for
the goods denic-d the staming mil
lions.
Economically we have the begin
ning of Fascism here in the United
States- Codes are limiting produc
tion and the government is ordering
the farmers ta bum theeir wheat,
plow under their cotton, and kill their
little pigs. Why? Because people
have no need of these things? Not
people in order that their profit sys
tem can be maintained only if there
is a scariity of goods, and the mas
ters are determined that there shall
be profits even if it means starvation;
and misery for the vast majority..
We are suckers if we. allow them
to get away with it, and by “we” I
mean everyone, for all but the very'
few on top are going to suffer more;
and more as this thing develops. It i
means, first of all, starvation. it
means further the suppression of all
liberties and the enslavement of man
kind. The churches will become the j
handmaid of the state, just as they.
have been made to buckle under in
the Fascist countries of Europe. All
who prize religious freedom must op
pose Fascism. Educators are enslav
ed—witness what has happened to
them in Germany and Italy. Trade
Unions will be put out of business.
Civil liberties will most certainly be
ruthlessly denied, with anyone dar
ing to express an opinion displeasing
to the masters either killed or thrown
into a concentration camp or prison.
All of us—Christians, Jews, Athe
ists, Conservatives, Liberals and Rad
icals—must fight this thing before it
developes any further. The way to
fight it is, first of all to understand
the economic forces that are driving
us rapidly in that direcion. The only
ultimate escape, I believe, is into a
new social order. There we will find
not starvation but plenty for all;
not dread of destitution in old age
but the assurance of security^ not
the denial of all that makes life worth
the living but the releasing of pow
ers in man that makes for the free
and abundant life.
PROVERBS AND PARABLES
“Taking the Will for fhe Deed”
by A. B. MANN
(For the Literary Service Bureau)
Frequently ?s this axiom glibily
quoted and very often misapplied. ]t
means that if an individual desires
to do a thing worthwhile, perform a
noble deed or render a needed serv
ice, and is hindered because of in
superable d iff cavities, he should be
given the same credit as if he had
accomplish what he wilied to do.
But it is a misapplication to use this
maxim to excuse indolence and neg
ligence.
The saying is honestly used only
when a person has striven earnestly
end found it '.iposy'VIe t, accomp
lish what was desired c . ! what was
will :i rn such a case and from an
e: i .at point of view, the individual
i" entitl'd to 'he i:\rs credit as if
the deed had been performed.
SHOULD STRIKERS SHARE
*
by • A ADAMS
(for The L;teray Service Bureau)
Thousands of men have given up
work and gone out on a strike.
Now comes the question as to wheth
er! or not they are entitled to share
emergency relief. There are two
sides tjo* this question. ?(jme who
KVhate’er may be your pain or loss:
are in sympathy with the strikers
contend that they are forced to do
this, hence, they should have support
while they fight against unjust cap
italism- But this view seems un. i
reasonable
The other view, and the more log
ical one, is that since these people
deliberately give up the employment j
which affordd them a living, it
would be manifestly wrong to take
money from the taxpayers of the na
tion tc sap port them while in idle
ness.
These capitalists are citizens.
They are large property holders.
They pay heavy income taxes, prop
erty taxes and taxes for the privil
ege of conducting their business.
Should the money of these industrial
ists go to support the men who are
fighting them? Should they be re
quired to maintain me* w'ho force
the closing of their industries and
the cessation of their revenue, and
who will not hestate to commit ar
son, sabotage and even murder, to
accomplish their ends?
It seems unreasonable and unjust
to impose on these citizens and sup
porters of the nation- If the direc
tors of relief compel this injustice
they will do sr in the interest of pol
itics and against the pmeiples of
justice and equity.
__
E0STBR5AL OF THE WEEK
(From the Bristol, Va- “Hearld
C urier,” ‘September 2, 1934)
Another Closed Lynching Incident
A recent dispatch from Nashville
carried the discouraging information
that the Davidson County Grand Jury
had reported a “no time bill” follow
ing its investigation of the kidnap
ping and lynching of Cordie Cheek,
young Negro whose body was found
hanging from a tree n Morgan County
last December- cn other words, the
Grand Jury failed to indict any person
in connection with that lynching. This
probably closed the incident.
The time of which this Negro was
accused was an attempted attack on
a white girl in Maury County. The
Grand Jury of that county, after in
quiring into the charge, declined to
indict Cheek and he was released,
from jail at Nashville, where he had
been sent pending the investigation.
But that might or the night following ‘
was done to death by a mob. The
Davidson County Grand Jury investi- i
gated the case because it was report-'
ed that Cheek was abducted from a
home in that county.
The lynching of Cheek under any j
circumstances would have been a law
less and indefensible act. His lynch
ng after a Grand Jury had failed to
indict himf was an outrage w'hi,ch
stirred the indignation of all right
thinking people, including Governor j
McAlister and other responsible au
theories who announced that every ef
fort would be made to apprehend the
members of the mob and bring them
to account. Doubtless those efforts
were made, but it now appears that
this is another lynching for which no
one will be punished.
Thus is presented one more argu
ment for the enactment of the Fed-!
ral anti-lynching bill now pending in
Congress. The measure was offered
because lynching mobs long had oper-,
ated with impunity, and it will be
passed because mobs continue to op- j
erate with impunity. After its enact
ment mob murder will become more
hazardous. Were this bill now a law
the members of the mob that lynched
Cordie Cheek probably would be
found.
— M— I - ' ' ..
EDITORIAL OF THE WEEK_
(from the risto! (Term ) Herald r. ur
ier, August 15, 1931)
TW O MORE LYNCH INGS
There has been a double lynching
in Benton County. Mississippi. The
outrage was perpetrated by two sep
arate mobs but the victims were
hanged to the same tree. Both were
Negroes who were accused of the mur
der of a white man nore than a year
ago.
he trial of the two Negroes was t •
have star ed Monday in Circuit Court
at Ashland. They had been confined
in different jails in other parts of the
country and officers were taking
tb ; , to Ashland. In each case the
t fi< ers w ere stopped by a d«*z- a or
moto masked men, the prisoners w'ere
seized and the motes came togethr
and put 'hem to dea'h.
For these lynehings, a« for all others
ers there was no defense or excuse.
The Negroes were in the. hands of the
law and on their way to court, cf they
weie guilty, there could have been no
doubt as to the fate that was in s: >iv
for them. If they were no guilty,
they had us much right to li\e as oth
er innocent men.
T1 e sheriff says he is going to do
h.i; hest to find the guilty parties and'
the District Attorn?y tays he is going
to see that a rigid investigation is'
made. These statements sound fam
iliar. Two more accused persons have
teen deprived of life without due pi< •
cess of law, in violation of all the
principles of justice and of the Am
e'ican Constitution, and it may be too
much to hope that somefl it;g will be
done about it.
That is why Congress wriil yet, and
probably at an early day, enact a j
Federal anfi-lynchihg law. It is pro
tested that such legislation would in- •
fring on State rights. But States have
nt) right to bow to mob rule and if they ,
and their Governors are so strongly
agefinst a Federal law designed to pre
vent and to punish mob murders they
can make it unnecessary as well as u«- j
desirable.
I
WINGS
• •
Over WASHINGTON
Ey Len De Caux
Federated Press
WASHIN6TG0N— (FP) _ The
next time you read the newspaper
jargon about “strikers breaking
into a riot,” just stop and check
up. What is this “rioting” that
tills the papers? What causes it?
Who killed and how does it hap
pen ?
* * *
Take the textile strike. 'Pwelve
persons killed in. less than two
weeks and many more injured in
many street battles. Who are
they? All but one or two are
strikers or strike sympathizers,
flow are they killed? Nearly all
are shot in the back. Who does
the killing? Company gunmen
(deputized and armed to break
up pieketing), police or National
Guardsmen.
± * *
How does it all start? To read
the accounts in newspapers which
dare not offend rich advertisers
and owners, oe mightn imagine
that the strikers suddenly “break
into a riot-’ by running backwards
into the bullets and bayonets of
the “preservers of peace.”
V V *
What actually happens? Any
conscientious reporter who has
covered a number of such “labor;
riots,’ whether they involve
strikers, demonstrating unem
ployed, farmers or any other
under-dogs, will recognize that
most of them follow a certain
pattern.
* V *
On the one side, in nearly every
case, are the rich and powerful,
weak in numbers but mighty in
the armed resources that money
power places at their disposal. On
the other side are the poor,
without arms, without money and
political power, but mighty in
numbers and in an aroused sense
of burning resentment.
* * *
How do these two forces come
to clash? The poor seek to mobil
ize their chief weapon, the power
of numbers and solidarity, in self
defense against oppression
(whether this take the form of
low wages, inadequate relief or
what not). They go on strike,
they picket, they meet in mass
demonstrations.
* * *
Immediately the rich are panic
stricken. They call upon all the
political power and armed force
which their money can command.
At Honea Path, S. C., the mill
owners had strikebreakers arm
" ■ '' 1 "■ 1 ' ■ -.- ' ■ « %
ed and deputized. In Rhode
Isand and many other states,
National (Juardsmen were called
out to aid the police, and federal
troops are called as a last resort.
* * *
So large groups of strikers, un
armed, pcucciul :n intent, but de
termined to demontrate the pow
er of their numbers in bringing
out their fellows on strike, sud
denly find them selves confront
ed with formidable armed forces.
"Who fires the first shot or the
strikers the first blow* Seldom,
if ever, is it the strikers or the
unemployed, for the gun-power is
all on the other side.
* * *
Usually the police, the troops
or the deputized company gun
men make some provocative move,
or some stoolpigeon makes it for
them. Then the slaughter begins.
The workers have only rocks or
such other improvised weapons as
they can pick up to defend them
sel ves: the agents of the rich have
rifles, machine gnus, gas bombs
c’d every weapon of modern war
fare, the bravery shown by tur
armed workers is amazing. In
battle after battle, American
workers have refused to be cowed
into submission by almost over
whelming armed force.
* Jr
lb - '
Where lies the crux of the
whole question ? Obviously in the
control or armed force. If the
strikers or the unemployed had
the guns, if the police, militia and
federal troops were on ther side*,
there would be no bloodshed. The
supposed aw of democracy that
the will of the majority should
prevail would take its natural
course. But it is precisely the
fear that the majorty would have
their way if undeterred by vio'
lence, that drives the rich pane
stricken to bloody suppression of
the aroused masses.
* * *
Which side controls the armed
forces fNo theoretical arguments
are needed to answer this ques*
tion, Every shooting, every kill*
ing, every battle of every strke
or demonstration shows police,
deputies, state militia, federal
troops in action against labor.
That’s why hardened reporters
gasped with surpirsc when 1'. T.
W. leaders in Washington sug*
gested that the president call out
federal troops on the side of the
strikers. It sounded completely
absurd to them. And the next
day the same strike leaders were
having to protest that federal
arms were being used against the
strikers by National Guardsmen,
and having to place the final re
sponsibility directly on the federal
authorities.
* * #
Federal responsibility was ad
mitted in 1929 by the legal div
ision of the IT. S. War Dept. After
protest from the American Fed
eration of Labor against state
militia attacks on Elizabethton,
Tenn., strikers, t aidvised Sec. of
War Good that federal arms and
equipment should only be used
when state militia were acting as
national guards and not as state
police. w
*44 /
And ironically enough, a few
days after U. T. W. eaders had
suggested use of federa troops,
these troops were in fact mobiliz
ed for call to Rhode Island, but
at the instigation of mill owners
had not at labor request nor for
use on labor’s side.
DARING DEATH IN MOTOR CARS
By R. A. Adams
(For The Llteerary Service Bureau)
They are spooning. They were in
a motor car. It was night. The car
was parked on Highway 40, the most
dangerous highway in America, and
the lights were out. The car was
not far down the hill. Another car
dashed down the hill at fifty miles
an hour and crashed into the rear
of the parker car. It was thrown in
to a ditch and caught fire.
The spooners were crushed,
mangled and burned. Both are
dead, and the young people in the
death car will never forget their ex
periences as they struggled to re
lease the boy and girl from, the burn
ing car.
When those young people parked
their car on the highway and turned
off the lights, they were daring
death and thousands do this almost
every day. Driving while under in
fluence of rum, driving with one hand
on the wheel and the other arm
around a girl, driving at reckless
speed, passing cars on grades, driv
ing with defective steering gears and
defective brakes raeng when it is
raining and the road is slippery, all
are different phases of the folly of »
daring death in motor cars. But
death will not always take the dare,
as the daily records show.