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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1935)
1 ... EDI!ORIALS . . . BUI __^-™ranr=»r7=wfT=«i^ni?^ir^nn^if^i?=nfFmrr=ni7Tiipnn=i!/?3iiiauauauauau5iu5njiJc3Jau3iuauc3ifauauau5iu THE OMAHA GUIDE Published every Saturday at 24618-20 Grant Street., Omaha, Nebraska Phone WEbster 1750 GAINES T. BRADFORD, - - Editor and Manager Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927, at the E°st Of fice at Omaha, Neb., underthcActof Congress of March 3, 1879. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YEAR Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God a*d 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, PEC. 14, 1W_ CONGRATULATIONS! Two noted members of the Tufts College faculty have rt* gigned their posts rather than submit to the Massachusetts teachers’ oath law. Arthur C. Loutt, nationally known geologist, »is one; Earl M. Winslow, head of the economies department, is the other. Though we know that this action is a form of protest which most teachers are unable to adopt for economic reasons, these two men are entitled to heartiest congratulations for thus dram atizing the issue of teachers’ rights.—New York Daily. NEGROES GET ADVANCED DEGREES Three Negroes are. completing work at the University of Ioww for doctor of philosophy degrees. Once this would have attracted attention but of late the race yearly tfnds new names added to the list of those who have attained this highest schol astic award. Edward A. Rouehet, who got his Ph. D. Hit Yale university in 1876, was the first Amernegro to break the ante helium myth that this race is incapable of higher education. Yet (it. is a fact that loiVvy many otherwise Intelligent whites look on the holder of such an honor with a lifted, half-doubting eytfbrow, TWO KINDS OF PREACHERS IV .phet Costonio ami Father Divine have rapidly mount ing totals of fo'lowrrs in New York. Contort'*! advocates boy cotting business until Negroes are hired in proportion to money spent by colored. Divine orders his followers to go to school, learn things, vote in a un't for the best candidate, become good citizens. Meanwhile many pastors build huge churches their congregations wan’t afford, sell starving and jobless Amor negroes on a “just reward” beyond the grave, get as much money as they can, and condemn Costonie and Divine. It is obvious winch type of program helps Aframerioa today. PROTEST LEAGUE’S OFFER The peace proposal advanced for the settlement, of the Italian-Ethiopian war was branded as “a robber proposal re warding shameless aggression of Italy*' in a cable sent today to the League of Nations at Geneva by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The cable signed by "Walter White, secretary, reads as follows: “Any settlement based on partitioning Ethiopia may bring temporary peace but wil linevitably create a situation which will lead to greater disaster. Eyes of darker rnces of world focussed on League. National Association for Advancement of Colored People representing one hundred thousand white and Negro Americans submits League would court suicide by endorsing robber proposals rewarding shameless aggression of Italy upon Ethiopia. Urges uncompromising opposition.” ‘GETTING AI.ONG’ WITHOUT RAILROAD Eighteen months ago «< railroad abandoned it* branch line between Sioux City, Iowa, and Wynot, Nebraska, a distance oif about 50 miles. The abandonment was made necessary by truck competition, which had caused the naiilroad to carry on opera tions on the branch line at a substantial loss for some time. The trucking concerns serving the area assured interested townspeople and farmers that they could entirely fill any trnnsr porftation need. This claim was taken into oomJ’deration by the Interstate Commerce Commission in permitting the aban donment. Here, according to the Minneapolis Grain and Feed Review are some of the results: First, grain shipped from the affected area to Sioux City, tjhencc to be sent east, was carried by railroads at three cents a bushel. Today the rate is 10 cents a bushel. Tn the days of the railroad, coal was laid down in the farth est town on the branch line for 20 cents a ton. Today the truck rate to close-in points is $2.00 a ton. Real estate values in the railroadUws area are at. new lows. Town homes that cost $4,000 cannot find buyers at $500. Farm values have dropped from 50 to 75 per cent. The branch Kne railroad paid $28,000 each year in taxes to local units of government. That sum has now been shifted to the remaining taxpayers. This is no argument against trucks, in their proper field. It simply illustrates the fact that those who think an erea can “get along without the railroad”, don’t know what they’re talk' ing about. U. S. Holds Balance Of Power In Oil Embargo (By Commentator on the Italo Ethiopian War Situation) New York City, Dec. 21, (CNA) —'The possibilities of stopping the oil supply to fascist Italy is placed squarely up to the United States, according to the latest de velopments around the threatened oil embargo agains the Mussolini regime. Although the League of Na tions, under sharp pressure from the Soviet Union which is backed by Rumania, is now nearing agreement on the oil embargo, the United States has thus far re fused its cooperation. Fifty-One Nations Threaten Embargo. If sanctions are extended to oil, it means that 61 nations in the League of Nations will immedi ately cut off shipments of oil to Italy. However, unless the coop eration of the United States is obtained, the embargo will be con siderably weakened. A large and steady stream of oil materials are necessary for Mussolini’s fascist invasion of Ethiopia. Already, Mussolini boasts that he has secured an oil contract with Standard Oil Company of the United States. Although Mr. Tcagle, president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey de nies that such an agreement has been made with the Mussolini regime, it is now well known that Francis Rickett, oil baron, is now enroute to Rome and Ethiopia. The ruiryor in official circles is that Mr. Rickett, who obtained the much discussed o i 1 concession from Ethiopia, is on his way to help Italy defeat the threatened oil shortage. Croat Britain is reluctant to apply oil sanctions because Eng | lish oil millionaires wish to reap huge profits on the sale of oil to ! Italy. Only the pressure of the British labor movement, the Eng- ! lish people and world opinion are forcing England to throw her' weight in support of the oil em bargo proposed by the Soviet i Union. English imperialism which has constantly threatened Italy’s war grab in Ethiopia, is interested only in preserving her own colon ial empire in Africa. The treat ment of the African Natives by the British imperialists in the Union of South Africa (British Colony) is notoriously brutal. THE WAY OUT (By Loren Miller) Historians agree that slavery In the United States was a pretty brutal business; there were thous ands of cases in which Individual slaves were nyurdered or maimed by overseers and plantation own ers. In the vast majority of cases the courts refused to punish masters guilty of what we call crimes against their slaves. There was some show of reason for that refusal, too. After all, slaves want to be free and you can’t keep them in bondage through honeyed words and kind nesses; guns and whips are much more effective. Since slavery was the prevail ing economic system of the South the slave-holders made the laws. Like all sensible nyen they made rules to suit their own purposes. The result was that the statutes were loaded against Negroes. And even where the law didn’t sanction outright murder of a slave the judge was apt to feel sympathetic toward a man who had shot down an “uppity” Ne gro. The judge might have to do the same thing himself the next week. Indignation. Northerners who were opposed to the slave system made a great deal over its brutality; every time an outrageous case came to their attention they leaped up to pro thest the guilty master’s soul to perdition. By the time of the Civil War, slavery was more brutal than it had ever been. The masters were haunted by the fear of slave re bellion and they had to get tough er with each passing year. Negroes and their firends ought to keep these hisorical facts in mind while they are cast ing about for ways to curb the treatment of descendants o f slaves in the present South. I think everybody can agree that the first aim of the southern land owners is to keep the Negro at work on the plantations and in he few factories where they work. Naturally the landlords and the industrialists want to pay wages as low as possible. Everything Goes. If the slaves objected to work ing for nothing free Negroes al so objected to working at starva tion stipends. The question fac ing those who boss the South is how to stifle this discontent. Everything is geared to that end. Negroes are kept ignorant, de nied the right to vote and in gen WAWWVWW/AVWyWrt \ PROVERBS \ 1 AND | ? PARABLES ? By A B. Mann A Miss and a Mile (For the Literary Service Bureau) The quotation Is: “A miss is as good as a mile.” The meaning is that it does not matter how near danger you may come, if it misses you, that is as good as if it were a nvle away. But this theory lends en couragement to carelessness, tak ng chances, failing to use precau tions. It mans “daring destiny,” when we should reserve for our selves the largest margin of safety. eral kept in their places. But that doesn’t always suffice; Ne groes get “uppity’ in spite of ig norance, dirt and poverty and lew and again they try to better their lot. The final answer of the land lords, like that of the old slave holder, is the resort to violence. Like their ancestors of before the war, the landlords make the laws and again they make them to suit their own ends and purposes. It isn’t true that southern laws provide for lynching or beating Negroes. But even where the law doesn’t sanction such ijirthrlght measures the judge is apt to feel sympathetic to a man who has shot or lynched an “uppity” Ne gro. The judge may have to do the same thing himself next week. Parallel Northerners and southerners who oppose Dixie brutality make a great deal over the horrors of lynching; every time an outrag eous ease comes to their attention they leap up to protect and con sign the lynchers’ souls to perdi tion. And repression grows every year. The landlords are haunted by a fear that the Negro may yet get out of hand; they have to get tougher every year. All of this, I think, points to the fact that if we are going to do anything about such cases as Herndon and Scottsboro, we have got to get down to brass tacks and realize that we will have to do more than point the finger of scorn and hatred at individual mobs and erring lynchers. I approve of protest against 'isolated cases of injustice but sputtering and fuming won’t do much good; what we have to see is that there are well defined con ditions that produce repression and brutality. We might as well quit treating symptoms and tackle the disease itself. Kelp Balance The Scales KELLY MILLER SAYS WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE NATIONAL NEGRO NON PARTISAN LEAGUE? This query is frequently put to me as President of this late lamented organization at the time of its demise. The National Ne gro Non-Partisan League was or ganized in December 1931, prior to the meeting of the National Republican and Democratic Con ventions. Its immediate purpose was to put before these two great political parties, in temperate terms, the just claims of the Ne gro, and to urge their incorpora tion in their respective platforms. The National Negro Non-Parti san League was sponsored and projected under the inspiration and leadership of Hon, Oscar De preist, the fearless and outspoken champion of Negro rights. Mr. DePreist was elected president, and the writer, secretary. Upon call of the promoters, an enthusi astic meeting assembled in the city of Washington, including delegates and representatives from various states and sections of the country. The organization was j formed amid enthusiasm and eclat such as was never before ! experienced at a race-wide politi cal meeting. The resolutions adopted, in my judgment, consti tute the greatest state paper ever issued by an assembly of colored leaders since emancipation. It was indeed the second Emancipation proclamation; emancipating the Negro from his emancipators. The chief object of this move ment was to wean the Negro from his traditional allegiance to a single party and to encourage him to base his claims broadly on pat riotic and constitutional grounds, I wholly without reference to parti san considerations. The welfare of no minority group can ever be safe and secure which rests upon the basis of a single party sup port. wnen the lyoo campaign got well under way, the leaders of this non-partisan movement, in political parlanco, got cold feet and, for the most part, reverted to their erstwhile party fold. The resolutions were never squarely presented to the National Con ventions of either party at their sessions in Chicago. Congressman DePreist, for rea- ' sons of political expediency, re signed from the presidency and prosecuted his campaign for re election from the first Congres sional District of Illinois, as a regular and normal, enthusiastic Republican. I was then chosen president by the executive com mittee. Throughout the campaign, ending in t h e defeat of Herbert Hoover and in the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the League functioned only through Its presi dent who acted rather in his per sonal rather than in his official capacity. There were absolutely no means or resources at my dis- j posal. My efforts were confined ; t o releases widely published ' throughout the Negro Press in all parts of the country. In a non partisan spirit, I pointed out that the best welfare of the Negro and of the nation was dependent upon the success of the “New Deal” in the then pending campaign. Both the nation and the Negro agreed in this judgment. Roosevelt was elected over his opponent by an unprecedented majority of which the Negro contributed his full share. ou mucn is msiory. nut wnat of the future? The work of the League has been accomplished. There is no longer any necessity for its existence. The Negro no longer looks to any particular party for his salvation. He thanks the Republican Party for its past favors, and denounces the by gone evil deeds of the Democratic opponents; but facing the future, he lets by-gones be by-gones. Whatever debt of gratitude he may have owed the “Grand Old Party” for its benefactions in the earlier days, has been paid by a generation of party fealty. As a matter of fact, hard and fast partisan lines no longer exist among white citizens. There was a time when each party had a body of political doctrine and ten- j eta which sharply differentiated the one from the other. The Re publican party believed in human rights, a strong centralized gov ernment to enforce these rights and a protective tariff as a means of national prosperity. On the other hand, the Democratic party was unfriendly or indiffer ent to equality of citizenship, ad vocated states rights and local sovereignty and espoused the SERMONETTE By Arthur B. Rhinov (For th« Literary Service Bureau) How Mnch Can You Afford to Lose (For the Literary Service Bureau) One day, when he was a tawny headed little fellow, he lost hi# penny and wept bitterly. Year# afterward, when his purse wa# wellfilled, he remembered the in cident of his childhood and snviled. “Oh, well,” he apologized, “I had reason to cry. That was all the money I had, and I couldn’t afford to lose it.” A little while after the recollec tion he lost a thousand dollars ia a speculation and felt sore. “I can't afford to lose that money,” he complained. Fortune smiled on him, how ever. His balances mounted. He became affluent. They called him “Lucky.” At times he would re view the past with an air of sat isfaction and wreaths of aromatic smoke. Now he could well afford to lose a thousand dollars. He would have plenty left. And as to the penny? He laughed, so that his secretary entered and asked whether he could do something for him. Then came the crash, the crush crash, and he was a poor man again. Bewildered and dazed he contemplated the ruins, and his meditations carried him deeper than ever before. He began to listen to listen to himself. doctrine of free trade. When Senator David Bennett Hill of New York declared—“I am a Democrat” this was a sufficient avowal of political faith and could not be mistaken or misun derstood. But such a declaration today would be wholly without meaning. Senator Borah, a pos sible Republican nominee, for the presidency, is much nearer in his political beliefs to Franklin D. Roosevelt than to Herbert Hoover. On the other hand, John W. Davis, former Democratic nominee, i s nearer to Hoover than he is to Roosevelt. The country is no longer divided between Republi cans and Democrats but between liberals and reactionaries, with Democrats and Republican* o* both sides of the line. Franklin D. Roosevelt with his "New Deal” has broken down tra ditional party lines. In the ensu ing camipaign no one will ask a voter whether he is a Democrat or Republican, but whether he does or does not uphold the policies of the “New Deal.” The old parti san labels are merely titular, without and present day meaning. When it comes to the Negro, the old political distinctions hav© ab solutely lost their meaning. I know only one outstanding, dynamic Negro Republican who, by intellectual convictions, as well as emotional persuasions, believes ardently and passionately in the tenets of the “Grand Old Party* at Its best, and vainly deludes himself with the hope that it will, some day, return to its former moral grandeur. The Hon. Perry W. Howard, National Committee man from Mississippi, bears that distinction. There are others who live on past hopes, but whose po litical effectiveness is a spent force. As for Negro Democrats, no such animal exists. The great majority of Negro political celeb rites have deserted the Republi can party during the past three years; but they have been moti vated merely by disappointment at the failure of the Republican party to live up to its pretentions. They are rrverely vindictive Demo crats. They do not profess to be Democrats b y intellectual under standing or conviction as do the doctrine and tenets of that party, nor do they have any passionate devotion to these tenets. As a matter of fact, no such tenets ex ist today. The Negro political contingent, i s therefore, shaping its political action about the is sues of the day and hour, catch ing the manners living as they rise. The great bulk of Negroes, I opine .will vote for Roosevelt and “New Deal” in the coming election. Not because they are Democrats or Republicans, but because they believe that the poli cies sponsored and espoused by President Roosevelt are better calculated to promote the welfare of the race and the nation than those promulgated by his political opposition. Many will yield to the flattering persuasion and decep tive promises of the olden-day regime. But, on the whole, the election of 1936 will find the Ne gro exercising his own judgment and voting for what he deems to be the best measures, man and movement. Kelly Miller.