^%V.,.W.V.,.V»V^.V^AS,.V.V.V.,.V.,.VJ,«W^/.,.V.V»,.V.W.WAVWWJ,A,.VWA,.,.,.,.V«
. . . EDITORIALS ...
-■«■■■■* a u a a a a a ■ a ■ ■ a a a aaBaaaaaaaBaaaaaaa*^
The Omaha Guide
Published every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St.,
Omaha, Neb.
Phone WEbster 1750
GAINES T. BRADFORD, Editor and Manager
Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927
at the Post Office at Omaha, Neb., under the Act
of Congress of March 3, 1879.
Terms of Subscription $2.00 per year
Race prejudice must go- The Fatherhood of
God and the Brotherhood of Man must pre
vail. These are the only principles which will
stand the acid test of good citizenship in time
of peace, war and death.
Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday, SEPTEMBER 28, 1935
NORDIC SUPERIORITY
-BAH
f|MIE fight is now over. There are many who have
received the results with joy and there are those
whose pride is buhied beneath the sod at the re
sults. 'Whatever the case may be there is one thing
certain and that is, the best man won and decisively
so.
The action of the throng that filled the
Yankee Stadium to its capacity was that of any
normal crowd. No outburst of any kind. The 1500
policemen looked silly trying to keep peace at this
peaceful fight. The much and oftimes mentioned
riot which Arthur Brisbane glorified in his columns
failed to materialize. The only riot in the park was
Joe Louis.
The true spirit of sportsmanship knows nc
color line and the residents of New York for the
greater part are people who recognize ability as
the outstanding quality and not color.
And where was the Nordic supremacy that so
many people claim is bound to win? Where was
the yellow streak that some poor fish said existed
in all Negro fighters? Those myths wrere exploded
Tuesday night and to the delight of the greater
k part of those 90,000 people. There is no Nordic
superiority and there is no yellow streak in the
Negro who has determination. Joe Louis will reign
as king of the heavyweights until the nordics bring
up a man who can lick him or wait until he gets
too old to fight.
PEACEJ)FFERS
fT'HE agreement between Mussolini and his cabinet
was that he would accept a mandate over Ethi
opia. But who offered him a mandate? Certainly
Tthiopia did not and the League would not dare
too knowing that the Ethiopians are great lovers
of their freedom.
It seems that the great man of Italy has tread
on dangerous grounds and now is left in a terrible
iJ.tuation. He wants to get out of war if possible
but he expected territorial grants from other pow
ers who were so anxious to maintain peace through
out the world. These powers instead are preparing
to war 011*111111 and this does not meet his ends. He
does not want war and does not need it.
England, France and powers of the Little
Entente surprised the dictator when they presented
a united front against Fascism! at Geneva last week.
The only course now left to pursue is to suddenly
discover that there is a shortage of men at home
to protect the women and gracefully order the
troops in East Africa back home. In that way no
one would dare suspect the mighty man of being
a coward.
He wants to civilize Ethiopia. There is a lot
that he could teach these people who are very re
lig.ous and peace loving. The oldest known civiliz
ation in the world and yet this country over run
with ignorance will take to task to civilize. The
good dictator w hile he is in the mood for civilizing
nations might invade Germany and stop the merci
less treatment of Jews, or he might invade the
Southern part of the United States and civilize the
ignorant whites who persecute another race. And
while he is at it go into South Africa and then to
India and do away with the damnable caste system.
Mexico’s peons would appreciate help too. His civ
ilization scheme is as honest as when two slickers
meet a country rube with a pocketful of money and
w ant to teach him a game.
IMAGINE THIS!
|N ITS annual meeting at New Orleans last week
the Southern Amateur Athletic Union voted for
withdrawal from the German Olympics in 1936
because of discrimination against Jews in Germany.
A part of the world where the most ignorant wretch
€< group 01 miserable human beings exist and with
nerve to blame another nation for discrimination.
, ... tVTS hard t0 conceive tdat those narrow minded
' hill billies, could see that discimination is a curse
/ and without true cause. The poor half starved
vv i’te from the south carries his prejudice with him.
feaWJ1 a Part °f him the same as his ™ugh
rr , blg feet- Wherever this trash S» met
I exhibits CTg:„rrar,°ther PlaCe he U"C0n8Ci0U8ly
very HehH ® *' ° n “ ,ri a *e u r Athletic Union will look
men from ‘the" h(; resolution Passed by the gentle
the south when it meets this fall. Ger
many has already notified the United States that
very little jn the way of protests can come from
__
this country. And the Germans are correct. To
live in a glass house means not to cast stones and
the Southerners who live in cages have nerve to cast
a cannons.
The southern gentlemen obviously take it that i
their prejudice is a fixture and that it is taken for
granted. Out of the goodness of their hearts they
cannot stand to see a man denied his rights and
want to stay out of Germany. The American Olym
phic team goes to Germany in the 1936 games and
will win as many first places as her men can gather.
The outstanding members of the team will be Ne
groes and few if any Southerners will be on the
team. It is for this reason that the generous men
of the South want to stay at home in 1936.
C C C AND THE ARMY
A LTIIOUGH America has announced her inten
* *• tions to remain neutral in any and all European
j affairs pertaining to wars does not mean that she is
not prepared to defend her borders from foreign
invasion. The horrors of the last war is indelibly
stamped on the minds of millions of American who
now realize that war does not pay, and so a neutral
course is wise.
The Civilian Conservation Corps with 600,000
young abled bodied men can be transformed into
fighting regiments on a moments notice. In many
camps they have discarded the axe for a gun. They
are trained and disciplined by army officers who
carry them through regular army routine. In this
manner our standing army has been increased with
out attracting the undue war fever that has invad
ed Eureopean countries.
A TORY FIELD DAY
¥T WAS a Tory field day Tuesday.
The biggest Tories shouted the loudest—in de
fense of the Constitution, the historic document that
was born in revolution and that proclaims the
rights of the masses to free speech, press sand as
semblage .!
It is indeed significant that on precisely the
same day that the flannel mouthed orators of the
American Liberty League and the various officers’
organizations shrieked their “defense’’ of the con
stitution, Tom Mooney in the California Supreme
Court.was denied certain legal rights requested by
his counsel.
Not a peep out of the defenders of the Constitu
tion on Mooney. Or on Scottsboro. On on Angelo
Herndon. Or on the growing vigilante terror
against strikers.
No, what they demanded 'is that the Roosevelt
administration cease any demagogic talk of amend
ing the Constitution and become even more reac
tionary than it is today. This was the real meaning
behind the speeches of the representatives of the
most reactionary circles of finance capital Tuesday.
Nor can the Roose\relt administration speak
with grace of the Constitution and constitutional
rights. The present administration has dealt some
heavy blows at the constitutional rights of the mass
es in the last three years. Not one responsible ad
ministration official has come, out against the whole
wave of recent anti-labor egisllation. On the con
trary, leading Roosevelt lights have been active in
pushing laws meant to hamstring labor.
The real defenders of the constitutional rights
ol the masses are. neither in the ultra-reactionary
American Liberty League nor the Roosevelt admin
istration. The defense of the few remaining demo
cratic* rights of the masses is the task of the vast
masses of the American people—the workers, farm
ers, intellectuals and lower middle class.
do the job of uniting these various sections of
the American people in one powerful party of work
ers and farmers as a bulwark against reaction, the
Communist Party is dedicated.—Daily Worker!
OFFENSIVE .AGAINST SIN
/^ENERAL Evangeline Booth of the Salvation
Army, has issued, a manifesto to the members
of organizations in ninety countries declaring a new
offensive against sin throughout the world. It may
be interesting to Guide readers to have a list of the
sins that General Booth thinks should be wiped out.
Her they are: greed, hypocrisy,, immorality, gamb
ling, blasphemy, malice, hatred, murder, threfts,
cant, jealousy, cowardice, fashion, pride, conceit!
selfishness and lying.
TRADEVAT HOME
'T'HE COMMERCIAL growth of a community de
1 pends largely upon the extent of the stocks kept
by its merchants. People do not go to towTn to buy
what the neighborhood merchants sell. Every
Northside citizen should buy everything at home
that vs possible. Dollars spent up town seldom get
back to the Northside for circulation
NOTES ANDCOMMENTS
Personally let us get on record right now among
those who can’t tell you what the people of the
United States are thinking.
Judging from some of the advertising we see
in National magazines there must be more mormons
in the United States than we suspected.
There are some people in the world who want
free food, free clothes, free lodging and everything
else free, but they are not as numerous as you might
think.
KELLY MILLER
„■ : "■'r"
_ .
NEGRO POLITICIANS
This volume, by Prof. Harold F.
Gosnell, Associate Professor of Poli
tical Science in the University of
Chicago, contains the first study we
have had of Negro politicians by a
competent authority in political sci
ence. There is an introduction by Dr.
Robert E. Park, Head of the Depart
ment of Sociology of the University
of Chicago, who gained intimate
knowledge of the Negro while serv
ing as literary advisor to the late
Booker T. Washington. There are a
lumber of illustrations of noted Ne
gro politicians, mainly local Chicago
:■ lebrities.
After a brief survey of the Negro’s
political activities in general, the
book confines itself to a close-up
study of Chicago Negro politicians.
* he battle ground was shifted from
South to North as the result of
Northward migration caused by the
boll weevil and the World War. These
migrants flocked to the large cities
where they found themselves segre
gated, in congested areas, by race
prejudice which was as effective in
the North as in the South although
it manifested itself in a different
form. The rapid growth of the Negro
population in the various Northern*
cities may be judged by Chicago
whose Negro contingent rose from
30,000 in 1900 to 234,000 in 1930. The
majority of these migrants were of
voting age. These black Chicago new
comers came mainly from the South
Central and South Western States
ard were at once made conscious of
their political strength in their new
environment. .Tt is curious to note
that the Chicago political leaders
were indigenous to the city and not
imported from the South. John R.
Lynch, the veteran Mississippi poli
tician, is the sole exception and he
took up residence in Chicago too late
for effective leadership.
Mayor Thompson may be regarded
as philosopher, guide and friend of
the Chicago Negro politician. He built
up a Republican organization in the
Windy City, after a mpdel of Tam
many hall which was as successful
and as corrupt as its New York pro
totype. Both the Chicago and the New
York organizations gave the Negro
a square deal and accorded him office
in proportion to his voting strength.
Under the tutelage of Big Bill
Thompson and Martin B. Madden,
the Negroes began at the foot of the
ladder and wgre encouraged to rise
to the highest places in their several
W ards and Distrcts. They were giv
en abundant patronage in City Hall
as basis for holding their black con
stituents in line. They were none too
scrupulous in use of this patronage.
Bishop A. J. Carey, of the A. M. E.
Church and Big Bill Thompson were
political buddies. The Mayor appoint
ed this emminent ecclesiast as Civil
Service Commissioner who died un
der indictment for malfeasance of
office. Negro aspirants desisted from
Congressional aspirations, long after
they had numerically dominated the
first District, out of deference to
Martin B. Madden, whose local and
national prominence qualified him to
serve his black constituents better
than any member of the race could
do. Negroes in Chicago filled places
of rank and importance, both ap
pointive and elective, in city and
state.
Immediately upon the death of
Congressman Madden, Oscar De
Friest was chosen as his successor.
The story of his political rise, from,
whitewasher to Congressman, is ty
pical of the political history of Chi
cago Negro politicians. Perhaps the
most significant event in the history
of American politics was the sudden
shift, in 1932, from the Republican
party to the Democratic party. This
tidal wave swept the city of Chicago'
and its Negro contiongent into the
Democratic ranks. Throughout the
North the Negro was transferred
from the Republican to the Demo
cratic camp. Oscar DePriest, the
rock-ribbed Republican, was supplant
ed by Arthur W. Mitchell, a convert
ed Republican, who had become a
staunch Democrat. But those who
think DePriest is a political corpse
had better follow the admonition of
Josh Billings who said that if he
were to preach a mule’s funeral ser
mon he would stand at the head.
A new thing under the political
sun occured in the DePriest-Mitchell
campaign in 1934. Two Negroes were
pitted against each other as the duly
chosfen candidates of their respective
parties. Mitchell triumphed over De
Priest because party discipline re
quires that all Democrats, white and
black, shall vote for the party nomi
nee. Mitchell was elected mainly by
white votes.
While Negroes constitute the over
whelming majority in three Chicago
Wards, yet relative to the white po
pulation, they are insignificant. This
is the surest guarantee that racial
disfranchisement will never be at
tempted in the North as it has been
in the South.
“Negro Politicians” though con
fined, in the main, to the City of
Chicago, is a model for all of the
large cities in the North with a con
siderable Negro contingency, where
there is no restriction as political pio
neers than in any other city. New
York has a much larger population
than Chicago but less political soli
darity and audacity. Congressman
THE WAY OUT
By Loren Miller
(Special to CNA)
PEACE AT ANY PRICE
Congressman Mitchell recently de
livered himself of theopinion that ev
erything the N. A. A. C. P. does is
vicious, a comment made to report
ers who queried him on his attitude
toward the graduate students. What
ever else may be said about Mr.
Mitchell’s observation it cannot bo
called surprising; it is certainly con
sonant with past performances.
From the first it has been plain
'hat the Chicago congressman is an
advocate of compromise. His theory
is that the way for Negroes to get
along s to acquiesce in discrimina
tions imposed upon them. He shuns
all actions that might embroil him
in a fight with those who have poli
tical and economic power and justi
fies himself on the ground that in
timo Negroes will be given their
rights in return for humility and non
resistance. Education of our enemies,
ho is fond of saying, will finally soft
en their hearts and solve our prob
lems. --
Two Peas In a Pod
Mr. Mitchell’s enemies are forever
comparing him with his predecessor,
Oscar DePriest, when they want to
picture him as a craven coward and
an Uncle Tom. They recall Mr. De
Priest’s assault on segregation in
the Capitol restaurant, and his brave
words against all'kinds of discrimina
tion. They remember his attacks on
fhe South and his castigation of
lynching. The inference is left that
Mr. DePriest was as brave as Mr.
Mitchell is cowardly.
As an opponent of Mr. Mitchell’s
theories I can never quite accept this
estimation, of Mr. DePriest. In fact,
I cling to the opinion that beneath the
surface the two are as alike as two
peas in a pod. It happened that while
Mr. Mitchell was castigating the N.
A. A. C. P. Mr. DePriest was assault
ing all suggestions to tax the rich
and. proclaiming them as our best
friends. Stripped of non-essentials
Mr. DePriest’s plea was that the rich
be permitted to pile up as large for
tune as possible without being ham
pered by taxes. They will return it
in charity and phlanthropy, he ar
gued.
Not a Chance
At first blush the argument sounds
plausible and it can be bolstered up
by recalling gifts the rich have made
to science or to Negro schools and
colleges. But its plausibility vanishes
when one stops to recall that the ac
cumulation of large fortunes is made
possible only at the expense of the
wage earner and the consumer. If
you own a factory, pay a low enough
wage and jack up prices high enough
you are bound to die rich. The other
sid of the matter is that your work
ei*s will die in poverty.
Negroes as a whole are wage earn
ers and they suffer when low wages
are paid. Nor are their problems solv
ed when the factory owner doles out
n part of his profits in philanthropy;
it’s a safe bet that he won’t give it
all back n any event. Not only are
the poor deprived of material com
forts, but, lacking economic power,
they are deprived of political and
civic rights and civic liberties. Sift
it down and you will -be driven to the
conclusion that Negroes are deprived
of their rights as a group because
they are poor.
Blind Alley
Mr. DePriest’s philosophy as enun
ciated in his latest speech is one that
will retain and accentuate the wealth
for the few and poverty for the many.
In other words, he is giving support
to a scheme that keeps Negroes pov
erty stricken and hence unable to se
cure those rights that h shouts they
should have. Mr. Mitchell is willing
to say that Negrots should not fight
for their rights. Mr. DePriest is will
ing to support a system that pre
vents them from securing those
rights. And what is the difference?
Neither the cowardly advice of Mr.
Mitchell nor the words-without-deeds
speeches of Mr. DePriest has value;
both nd in blind alleys. I am well
satisfied with Mr. DePriest’s retire
ment to private life and I suggest
that Mr. Mitchell be sen to join him
while the rest of us seek ways of
fighting for civil liberties and for
strength enough to enforce our right
to a decent place in America.
DePriest toured the large cities in
cluding New York, Philadelphia, Bal
timore, Cleveland, Detroit and St.
Louis and wrged the Negros to as
sort their racial independence and
dominate political units to which race
prejudice had assigned them as Chi
cago had shown the way. He called
upon them to elect their own Aider
men, State Legislators and members
of Congress whereever race predomi
nance justified it.
Thus Professor Gosnell has given
us Chicago as a model and quide post
for the Negro’s political life in the
large cities of the North. He does
not touch upon its repercussions up
on the Southern political situation. .
but the fact that two Negro Magi
strates were chosen on the Democrat
ic icket in a Southern city in the last
election is significan and suggestive.
Kelly Miller
WHAT, NO VIOLENCE?
(By Loren Miller)
The recent shooting of Huey
Long drew from President Roose
velt the remarkable statement
that the “spirit of violence is un
American and has no place in a
consideration of public affairs.’’
Although I am oppose to assassin
ation as a means of settling polit
cal disputes, I am sure that Mr
Roosevelt is dead wrong. The
truth is that violence has lone
occupied a very prominent place
n American public affairs.
The unfortunate Mr. Long him
elf got on top of the heap, and
I tayed there, by the practice of a
considerable amount of violence.
He never appeared in public with
| >ut his bodyguards who were
I-rone to set upon any person who
lappened to dissent from the sen
ator’s judgments on public ques
tions. What’s more, there is
some doubt that Mr. Long would
ever have been governor, or sen
ator, if large percentage of Louis
iana’s voters had not been dis
franchised by means that are
sometimes very violent.
YOU, TOO
Come to think of it, Mr. Roose
velt h'.mself owes his present posi
tion to the use of violence in pub
lie affairs. Voting, I suppose, is
a matter of public interest and
Negroes disfranchised throughout
the South. That same South de
livered jits entire electroal vote
to the Democratic party. Quib
blers may make the claim that
the disfranchisement is legal
and does not entail the use of
guns and fire. The objection isn’t
entirely accurate and wherever
too many Negoes show up at the
polls the landlords get pretty
busy w.th threats and bullets.
In any event the disfranchise
ment laws of the South were
written after the Ku Klux Klan
had kept up a reign of terror for
years. Only the hair-splitter can
pretend that lack of suffrage for
Negroes does not rest finnaly on
violence or the threat of violence.
What, I should like to ask, has
Mr. Roosevelt ever said by way
of condemnation of the kind of
violence that is so valuable to his
own political fortunes?
FAIRLY PUBLIC
In fact, it s so easy to think of
I examples of the use of violence in
American public affairs that it
im’t even a good game. I suppose
I “that when a Negro has been ar
rested and is in the custody of
public officials, there must be
some taint of a public affair
j about Americans to seize such
j Negroes and lynch them in a very
open manner. That has happened
twelve times already this year
j without exciting the president to
an open utterance.
Nor is the use of violence a
racial matter. The nation has |
been ridden with strikes ever1
since Mr. Roosevelt got into of- j
fice. Some of these strikes have
been pretty bloody affairs. The
public interest has been so affect
ed that in many instances the
militia, and in all cases the police}
have been placed on duty. I don’t j
know how many strikers have
been killed as a result, but death
on the picket line is fairly public
and fairly violent. And where
was Mr. Roosevelt?
I’M AGIN' IT
But I can understand Mr.
Roosevelt’s silence on those other
occasions. He didn’t think of
them as being violence because
those who rule us have been us
dng those kinds of repression so
|long that they seem the natural
things to do. They don’t even
seem like Violence. But then, eat
ing humans doesn’t seem unnat
ural to cannibals. And there was
a time during the world war
vhen killing Germans wasn’t eall
d violence at all, it was praised
s patriotism.
However, the killing of one of
fice holder always strikes other
office holders as a terrible mat
ter. That’s the time when those
jwho have winked and connived
at all sorts of violence get excit
ed. But as I was saying, I am
opposed to assassination too. In
fact, I’m so opposed to personal
violence of all kinds that I’m
quite wilL'ng to join all of those
who want to dg £W$lvtimt
whole pattern" of" violence by
which our present big-wage keeph
themselves m the places of power. |
MAXIE
MILLER
WRITES
(For the Literary Service Bureau)
(For advice, write to Maxie Mil
ler, care of Literary Service Bureau,
516 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City,
Kansas. For personal reply, send
self-addressed, stamped envelope.)
Woman of 40 Confesses—Circulated
a Cunning Lie About Sex Cohabita
ton Before Marrage—No Man Has
Such a Right—Woman Who Accedes
is a Fool—Let the Man Wait for the
Ceremony.
Maxie Miller: I am a woman 40
years old, and I want to make a con
fession. I was led to believe a man
had the right to demand sex associa
tion with a woman before marriage
to make sure she could be a wife, in
that way. I advised lots of girlg and
some of them got in trouble taking
my advice. Now I’m convinced I was
wrong and that a man has no .such
right. More than this, I know it is
dangerous. So, I'm sending this con
fession to you that you may send it
out to girls everywhere. And I hope
this will ease my own. conscience.—
Grace D.
Grace D.: Yes, you were wrong.
That old lie has been exposed time
after tin^e. No man has such a right
and a woman does such a thing at &
terrible risk. The man should be
made to wait.—Maxie Miller.
DO YOUR BEST
By R. A. ADAMS
(For the Literary Service Bureau)
If you perform the task assigned,
Though arduous, and not recoil,
Whether it be some noble deed,
Or just the ordinary toil,
When shall be judged the deeds of
men',
And human conduct be assayed,
Faithful to duty, you shall be
Of condemnation unafraid.
So, whatever m.ay be the task,
In all you may essay to do,
Devote the best that in you lies,
Bo unto duty ever true;
And it shall little matter when
May come the call, and end the race,
You’ll feel no terror when you meet
God, and your record, face to face.
WEEKLY SHORT
SERMON
Your Task
By Arthur B. Rhinow
(For the Literary Service Bureau) >
The other day I was reminded of
an incident of my childhood. My
mother and J were on a river steam
er going at a fair speed, when an
other, a faster boat, overtook us. To
my surprise and dismay we seemed
to be going backward as the other
boat gradually passed us,and I must
have looked dazed, regardless of ex
planations from fellow passengers.
But, though the other boat was fast
er than oui*s, we reached our desti
nation, nevertheless. How foolish it
would have been for our captain to
race with the other boat instead of
adhering strictly to his course.
Sometimes, in life, we seem to be
going backward when others “pass
us”. But if we stop eyeing the other
boat with a greening of the eye, and
concentrate upon our own ship, we
shall probably find that we arc hold
ing our own and doing well. Blessek
aro they that have found the work
they believe God wants them to ity
They will not envy others or indulge
in foolish racing; they will address
themselves to their own tasks with
wholeheartedness and joy. “Let oth
ers make more money or gain more
fame,” they say, “we have our work”.
ALTAVESTA
A GIRL’S PROBLEMS
By Videtta Ish
(For the Literary Service Bureau)
Alta Vesta to Her Father—No. 19
Dear Father:
Now that I am through writing
about these little bad girls, of the
girls with bad parents, I must w^ite
about some other girls. There are!
two of them. One is of our nice, but
her parents are very poor."! nreSH
her mother is poor bepausp-Th^c f#|
er ran off and left his \j;id: #1i<W'ke
four children. Ali’r^ Sherri' tftwger
than fhcuone.L^m - wit i
is jmst0 9* years “pI57 She jis shabby,
but her clothed "^fe^cfean. Most of
the girls w^l^galay .jfitfjSl^r. And
she cries when they treat her _that
way.
Now, anSl-BPshe
has good manniSJi 3KA %. good dis
posi&pn. J-? Iflca^ jflf^rf^T
Jo play with hejs^B^fe^lfae of the
>y wf.low.arywr..
Alta Vesta
