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.
