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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1935)
. . . EDITORIALS . . . THE OMAHA GUIDE Published every Saturday at 24618-20 Grant Street., Omaha, Nebraska Phone WEbster 1750 t GAINES T. BRADFORD, - - Editor and Manager Entered as Second Class Mutter March 15, 1927, at the Post Of fiee at Omaha, Neb., undertheActof 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 prevail. These are the only priciples which will stand the acid test of good citizenship in time of peace, war and death. Omaha, Nebraska, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 193E French War Supplies To Italy The export and import of carbureted hydrogen have great ly increased in Rouen, and last week a whole cargo of fuel w«‘ sent to Naples. During one week 2,494 tons of steel were ex ported from Caen .France, to an Italian port. An agreement has been made between France and Italy for monthly ship ments of 10,000 tons of coal to total 120,000 tons. Farmers Against War And Fascism The South Dakota Farmers Union, the Minnesota Holiday Association, and the North Dakota Farmers Union, have de nounced war and fascism at their recent state conventions. They agreed to participate in the Third American Congress Against War and Fascism, January 3, 4 and 5, 1936, in Cleve land, Ohio, for which the cull has just been issued. Neutrality In Business The KIPLLNGER LETTER of October 5, in its advice to business interests said: “Despite neutrality, despite the prohi bition of export of war materials to contestants, there is plenty of room for war business.’' That these business interests ure involving the United States in the African conflict was revealed by the Dept, of Com merce figures of November 4th, which showed that oil ship ments to Italy increased 600% in August and September of 1935 as compared to the same two months last year. Another report in the N .Y .TIMES ,Nov. 10, 1935, indi > cates that these inteersts are using Egypt as a go-between for their exports. “In the first eight months of 1934 only nine Amici'ran trucks were re-exported from Egypt, while in the samp period of 1935 the total was 779. Gasoline amt kerosene re-exports in the year increased about 450%. “Most of these articles were shipped to Eritrea.' EDITORIAL OF THE WEEK (From the Brooklyn, N. Y. Citizen) Condonation of the lynching of two Negro boys in Texas by both the County Judge and the County Attorney “as an ex pression. of the will of the people’’ seems strange to us North erners. It is our conviction, that two such officials should de vote themselves to seeing the orderly process of the law being maintained. The fact that the two Negroes ,aged 15 and 10, who confessed attacking and killing a white girl ,could not be sentenced to death, but would be Jiable only to imprisonment until they came of age explains what impelled the Texus mob to wreak its vengeance. Lynching, however, is not in accord with our national ideals, the South notwithstanding. The only possible cure would seem to be a Federal anti-lynching law to he passed over the South's opposition. LIBERTY’S GUARANTEE The people of this country should each day offer thanks to the framers of our Constitution ,the document which guaran tees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. This is the greatest protection a free people have against the crushing had of officialism, bureaucracy, dietartorship and destruction of personal and property rights, aiul life itself, as we have seeu occur in foreign lands not blessed with a constitution such as ours. As one man, our people should resent any program to tamper with or weaken the busie principles of the United States Constitution . • The Coming: London Naval Conference Great Britain has invited France, Italy, Japan and the U. S. to participate in a naval conference at London, on Doe, 2, 1935. In view of the fact that these countries are nil engaged in increasing their naval strength, it is difficult to see how an agreement could be reached. American naval appropriations for 1936 reached 460 mil lion dollars. Japanese naval appropriations for 1935-36 is 529, 683,000 yen and for 1936-37 is expected to top 600 million yen. France has maintained its navy at a level equal to the combined strength of Italy and Germany. At the beginning of 1935 Italy possessed a total of 395.522 tonnage in service; Germany, 159, 190 tons, and France 555,042 tons. Great Britain has built her navy up to 1,188,284 tons against the U. S. tonnage of 1,084,910. Germany has been permitted to build her navy to 35L of the British sea strength, with a submarine tonnage of 45% of Brit ish strength. Japan and the U. S. are also engaged in a naval aviation expansion program. Japan expects to build 1,000 naval planes in 1937-38. The U. S. has recently appropriated $1,000,000 as a mail subsidy which will provide an “airplane across th'e Pacific via Hawaii, Midway, Guam, and the Philippines’' U. S. also expects to build up her naval aviation strength to 1,910 planes in 1939-41. TROOPS TO QUELL STRIKE INCREASE The use of National Guardsmen and state police agains! strikers and the unemployed is on the increase, it was revealec in figures made public recently by the Labor Research Associa tion. The militia was called out at least'2 times in 15 states ir • the first 10 months of 1935. Governor Eugene Talmadge oi Georgia takes first prize, having called out troops agains . strikers on five occasions. Governor R. L. Cochran of Nebras ka, Olin I). Johnson of South Caorlina, and Rubin Laffoon oi Kentucky ,havc each employed troops tw’ice in labor struggles Of the 15 governors to use troops 13 were Democrats and 3 Re publicans. In a year that witnessed some of the most bitter strikes ir a decade, 1934, Natioanl Guardsmen were employed 21 times ir 18 states by 14 Democratic governors, 3 Republicans, and on« Farmer- Laborite. In 1933 troops were used in only 10 labor disputes and 4 farm struggles in 11 states. Roads And Parks For The Poor Requirements for federal work relief projects, as stated by Comm. Hopkins are: 1. that the jobs be “quick and light,’’ and 2. that they must use a high proportion of direct labor, i ,e, labor on RELIEF JOBS, not labor in materials industrially produced which may be purchased for the project. This re sults Ln the exclusion of projects requiring the purchase of large amounts of steel and otehr durable material which have absorbed much uriion labor, but which would absorb little re lief labor. Another requirement not stated by Hopkins, but ob servable in the programs no wmade public is that jobs to pro duce COMMODITIES for the consumption of those on home re lief even though such jobs would reduce direct relief ,are re jected because of possible objections that would be raised by private industries making the same commodities for profit. A survey o fprojects approved to date for the entire U. S. shows them to be chiefly: landscaping, building of golf links, trout ponds ,ctc., park improvements, road and street work, with the last item lending all others combined. WFA bulletins on approved programs thus show that the products of cheap ro lief work will be improvements desirable to the upper and mid dle classes; but few, if any, will produce any urgently needed for subsistence of the needy . Italy Assumes The White Man’s Burden One of Mussolini’s first acts to “civilize” the captured Eth iopian population in the North was to force boys “between the ages of 8 and 15” to work on the roads (for the Italians) for two lire (16c) a day.—N. Y. Sun. Oct. 31. Mussolini’s method of civil izing is modeled on the British policy in Konya where there are 3,000,000 Africans. The greater number of these spend their lives in compulsory labor for the benefit of the 17.000 European settlers under a Brit ish-made law named the “Com pulsory Labor Ordinance.” The average family yearly in come hi Konya is less than if26 out of which a tax of $5 is paid by each owner of a hut and a poll tax of $3 is paid by all able males who are not hut owners. (The Eupropean popu lation is exempt from paying this tax.) In 1933, 8,561 persons were imprisoned for failure to pay taxes according to the of ficial Report of the Native Of fairs Department. Political ac tivity for unionization is pun ishable by imprisonment for long terms. “In Hhodosia, an other British territory, armed police recently shot and killed a number of African copper | workers who protested against 'raising the poll tax from 10 .to 15 shillings (a shilling is i about 25c).” _____ „ Things are happening in the i Prison and Reformatory here. Warden N. T. Harmon has been removed by the Board of Control, and Joseph O’Grady was made warden there is much gossip as to why the change was made. In the meantim'e Supt. Guss Miller of the Reformatory has died and IH. W. Jeperson was made Supt. j Charles A. Young captain of the guards for eight years resigned. Guss Miller was a real friend to ; tho colored youths who were so I unfortunate to become inmates. I am afraid he will be missed by our 1 race. INTERLUDE—1925 Now 1 am cooled of folly’s heart, My tides are at an ebb, And 1 no longer find it sweet To play fly to your web. Now I have back my heart again, My feet have sprouted wings; My tongu e imprisoned long in pain Unlocks itself and sings. —Counter Cullen. SONNET—1935 Some things incredible still believe, Not having seen yet testify them true, As verities caught in the mind’s quick seive Too fine and beautiful to trickle through: That somewhere lifting up his polished horn, While on lbs milky flanks the Sun’s hot glare Is cooled into a kiss, the Uni corn Exists, a beast from fable wrenched apart; One with the Phoenix and Lev* iathan. Vet doubt of tins so near me shakes my heart As myth nor saga never has nor can; That you arc worth these mighty aches 1 bear. This wound on wound, this tear on scalding tear. —Counter Cullen. Australia is expected t o none gold valued at 10 million pounds this year, a new high record .about one third more than last year. Three reversible blades with straight, curved and V-shaped edges are provided with a new scraping tool having a variety of uses. Virtually all varieties of 1 leather are now being made in i Argentina, 'its tanneries sup plying alhiostj the entire do mestic demand. THE WAY OUT (By Loren Miller) ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE None of the Liberty League’s 59 lawyers was present at the send-off meeting when Angelo Herndon left for the Georgia chain gang. There were a lot of other peo ple who weren’t present either, but the absence of the Liberty Leaguers was noticeable because of their avowed purpose of de fending every person whose con stitutional rights have been vio lated. The country is in a pretty bad way if the right to organize unemployed is a crime. I am sure that Mr. Oscar De Priest must have been saddened by the failure of the Liberty League to fly to Herndon’s de fense. The League’s roster re veals that it is rmade up of the very rich men whom he is fond of saying are the Negro’s very best friends. Jf the members don’t care any thing about the constitution, they ! should at least be exercised over the Injustice done to one of the lowly Negroes they are supposed to love so well. Legal Advice Free The League will probably argue that Herndon hasn’t invited them in, but then neither did the Balti more dentist who recently had the benefit of Liberty Leaguer John W. Davis’ counsel. The dentist admitted on the witness stand that he was somewhat surprised when Mr. Davis showed up in court as his lawyer; he said that he hadn’t paid the ex-presidential candidate a red cent. I know that the term red is a bad one but that is a matter for the npnts; I don’t set color styles for coins. mu mere is no use of making a mystery of the action of the League in defending a Baltimore dentist and in refusing to defend an organizer for the unemployed. After all, the quarrel in Balti more concerned private property; Mr. Davis showed up to help his pet corporations in their battle to invalidate the public Utilities Holding Comjpany Act. Glad He’s Gone It is perfectly natural that as an organization of wealthy men the League should be opposed to reforms that threaten their se curity. Why shouldn’t they be? They only cloak their concern over property rights with the con stitution in order to popularize their cause. They are glad to help them selves by pretending to help an obscure Baltimore dentist; they are just as glad to see Angelo Herndon go to the chain gang. He was a menace to them when he was organizing jobless whites and Negroes to demand better relief. That, I think, exposes the weak ness of Mr. De Priest’s case. If ho could see beyond his nose he could understand that rich men have to be concerned with their own interests. They talk about loving the low ly, but when they act it is in their own behalf. I don’t need to go to the census statistics to prove that Negroes aren’t rich. As a group we are poor and can’t ex pect rich men to defend or to help us. In The Same Boat. Anybody who is familiar with the Herndon case knows that his Jefense has been the work of or ganizations composed of working people. The chairman of the New Vork farewell meeting was a Gar ment Workers Union, organizer who disagrees violently with Herndon’s political views. Other speakers came from similar or ganizations and many of them are Just as convinced that Herndon is rlead wrong about politics. They pitched in to help fight Herndon’s battle because they know that what threatens a black working man also threatens white working men. It’s about time that more working men, Ne gro and white, were seeing the same point. If more of us had ; seen it sooner Herndon wouldn’t be in jail; If enough of us see it soon he will be out in the near fu ture. A motor boat invented by a Georgia resident is propelled by torpedo shaped rotors fitted with spiral fins on either side. A French inventor’s camera takes nine pictures on a plate or film only three and a half by four and three fourths inches. KELLY MILLER SAYS EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER President Eliot has stated that this is the first generation in the history of the human race which Is being educated without religion. The world awaits the results. Un til now the world relied upon re ligous dogma as the chief means of imparting morality. J once heard President Patton, of How ard University, say that laxity in theology is always followed by laxity in morality. Our educa tionalists have all but perfected an intelloctual pedagogy without religious incentive, at the ex pense of a moral pedagogy based upon the promptings of the soul. We educate the head and hands but leave to haphazzard and chance the education of the heart. Some wag of a wit once said that Charles Darwin had knocked hell out of religion. This is but a blunt and profane way of Expressing a significant and j serious truth. William Jennigs Bryan, the peerless apostle of the | eorpmon man, devoted hxs last days to combatting the doctrine | of evolution because it cut the nerve of religion. He could not bring himself to the reconcilia tion of the ages of rocks and the j Bock of Ages. No Einstein has yet arisen in the philosophis j world who can simplify and rec ! oncile science and religion and fuse them into a pedagogical formula which would grip the mind and imagination of the av erage youth of our day and gen eration. ■* wrote an essay lor one of our educational journals en titled “Moral Podagogy” in which I deplored the fact that we were unable to find a secular substi tute for sacred lore as a means of imparting morality and building up character in youth. The gap between education and character is growing deeper and wider as the doctrine of evolution has made all but universal head way. It is needless to attempt to combat the doctrine of evolu tion which forced itself upon us with all but axiomatic conviction. But the chief task devolves upon our educationalists—to find a moral pedagogy which can be maintained in harmony with the teachings of Darwin. Educational discussion today is concerned chiefly with curric ula with the sacred element either left out entirely or handled only with the little finger of the left hand. And yet the age-old ad moniions contains an overlasting fact and present truth: “keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” We are appalled at the plain facts of observation. Education and crime grow apace. Theft, graft, racketeering, lynching, burglarly, kidnapping and gang sterdom outrun our boasted edu cational statistics. We have lost the value of religious discipline but have gained nothing to take its place. Our schools are not on ly secular, but Pagan and Godless. The Roman Catholic Church, with logical consistency, cries aloud against our Godless schools which threaten the foundation of civili zation. The Mother Church still tries to safeguard the educational development of her own adhoronts by throwing around them the pro per religious influence. But this is almost impossible in the midst of a nonreligious-minded age. w n-nout turther developing this J theme along general lines, let me 1 hasten to apply the ill effects of a Godless education upon the mind ' of Negro youth. The Negro is basically a religious folk, motivat- * ed chiefly by a deep-seated spirit ual emotion. The Northern mis sionaries, who founded our schools and colleges, hypothecated the de velopment of the Negro upon this basis. They relied upon the spir- 1 itual dynamic as the chief agency of Negro uplift. Witn this end in i view, they brought to him the Bi ble in their right hand and the spelling book In their left. They sought to make education the handmaid of religion. In the earl ier days of Howard, Fisk, Atlanta and Lincoln Universities, the fa- ! culty would adjourn school for a week to conduct a revival of re ligion. There was more joy over one sinner who professed repen tance than over ninety-nine stu dents who got their lessons well. Those devoted apostles of human ity have done their work and gone to their reward. They have been succeeded by secular educators with more competent teaching and better facilities for Imparting the letter; but, alas, they lack the se-1 cret and method of onkindling the spirit. After fifty years of wide and careful observation, I am con vinced that the early educators did more to plant in the Negro the fundamental principles of char acter and to lay an enduring basis upon which the future of the race can be safely and securely built (than their present day successors whose chief reliance is upon an adequate and efficient secular dedagogy. While this shift from sacred to secular interests in education has played havoc with the minds of American youth in general, it has played double havoc with ambi tious Negro youth who have for saken things that look to Godward .and are engrossed in things which are of the earth earthly. When a boy in South Carolina, I used to . hear the white people say if you j want anything run into the ground let the Negro get hold of it. Our college youth have gotten hold of a smattering of science and phil osphy which has gone to the head and intoxicated the brain. Not being able to appraise and ap preciate the true value and func tion of science and religion, they have gone to the extremes of ag nosticism and irreverence. Langs | ton Hughes in his “Good-bye ! Christ” has more or less accurate ly expressed the mind of the av erage Negro intelligencsia: "A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep or taste not the Py erian spring.” rv rate which ia jusi/ tHiceniLg m to the equation of civilization for the first time, without the back ground or ballast of sobering ex perience, is apt to be swept off its feet and carried away with ev ery new fad and “ism” which I promises to upset ancient or ex isting order and reconstruct the world anew. The educators of Negro youth today are confronted with the most momentus problem in the history of the upward struggle of the race—how to develop in youth, placed in their charge, the funda mental character which will en able them to endure and withstand the stress and strain of an arro gant and intolerant civilization. The evil of the lack of moral education is lamentably manifest ing itself in the conduct of grad uates from our schools and col leges. I once heard the President of Howard University, the pre mier institution of higher Negro learning, say that not a single graduate of this institution could be found in jail or the peniten tiary. But, alas, too sad to relate, this can no longer be said either of this institution nor any other devoted to the higher education of Negro youth. Here in Washing ton we have the largest number of Negroes bearing collegiate and professional degrees to be found anywhere ift the world. Our court calendars are crowded and our prisons are well familiar with in mates bearing insigna of the high er learning. The same thing is true, in a greater or less degree, in all parts of the country. Negro doctors are too frequently accused and convicted of malpractice. Ne gro lawyers too often abuse their trust. The tu quoque argument that educated whites are similarly ac cused is no sufficient rejoinder. The number of educated Negro convicts is sadly out of proportion to the whites in the same category. Allowance must be made for the economic stress and strain which they have not the character to re sist. Let me hasten to say that I make no wholesale condemna tion. The vast majority of Ne groes with higher education are upright and well behaved citizens; but the majority is not sufficient. A few rotten apples will give an evil reputation to the whole bar rel. Harvard University must have fifty thousand graduates in the United States. It is so seldom that a single one of them is lodged in prison that when it becomes a matter of universal report and comment. Why cannot the same be said of graduates from Negro colleges and Universities? Our colleges and universities must find some method of imbu ing their students with the funda mental principles of character, or else— Kelly Miller. Sponge rubbe rinner tubes have ben invented for the tires of military and police automo biles to make them bullet proof. First aid outfits fo ruse in accidents have been installed on sign board posts along some English highways.
