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VOLUME12 OMAHA, NEBRASKA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1935 NUMBER FORTY-ONE
EXPEL WHITE
CHAUVINIST
THIS WEEK
Communist Party Act
As Member Shows
Discrimination
harleivFproject
New York, Dec. 28,—For main
taining a “white chauvinist” (an
ti-Negro) attitude on a Federal
Negro Theater Project, Jerry
Werlin, white amateur actor, was
expelled from the Communist
party last week.
The action was taken after
Werlin had himself appointed
Senior Project supervisor of a Ne
gro Theater project which was
subsequently sponsored by the
Harlem Branch of the National
Urban League. The Communist
party held that Werlin should
have “fought for the appointment
of a Negro to this position.”
Communist Leader
Explains Action.
James W. Ford, Communist
leader and organizer of the Har
lem Communist party, in an inter
view given December 18th, made
the following statetment: “Werlin
placed himself at the head of the
Negro People’s Theater project
when he knew that there are
scores of Negroes of Harlem who
are qualified to hold leading posi
tions in the theater or in any oth
er enterprise. The ability and tal
ent of the Negro people is par
ticularly outstanding in the cul
tural field. Werlin went so far as
to repeat the trite, worn but
slander of the ruling class that it
is necessary to appoint whites in
executive and leading positions
because there were no Negroes
capable of filling such positions.
“Werlin as a Communist, should
have led in the fight against this
discrimination against Negroes.
He should have fought to have
Negroes in the leadership of a Ne
gro Theater Project. Instead of
this, he supported the policy of
discrimination against Negroes
and showed a very arrogant atti
tude toward the Negroes on the
project.”
Ford stated that the "commun
ist party is the leader of the fight
against every type of discrimina
tion against Negroes.” “The
Communist party will not toler
ate in its ranks a member who
practices the very evil which op
presses Negroes and which our
party seeks to destroy,” Ford con
tinued.
Harlem Dissatisfied.
Dissatisfaction spread over
Harlem as a result of Werlin’s
“arrogant assumption of leader
ship of a Negro Theater Project.”
Many leaders and organizations
withheld their support of the pro
ject, until ih had been placed un
der Negro leadership.
As a result of the numerous
protests sent to the project offi
cials, Werlin was removed and
eight of the nine leading execu
tive positions on the Project are
now held by Negroes. Werlin
was replaced by Carlton Moss,
talented young New York actor
and radio star. Moss has starred
In several Negro motion pictures.
On Dec. 18th, the District Com
mittee of the Comm)unist party
published a statement in the
‘Daily Worker,’ Communist organ,
which read in part as follows:
“Werlin is a ‘would-be’ artist
who seeks to use the desire of the
Negro people for cultural expres
sion for his own selfish p-^ises.
We brand him an enemy tb'
working class, and an en^ *"V of
tSie Negro people. The District
Committee expel Jerry Werlin
from the Communist party.”
BERNARD SQUIRES TOl
SUPERVISE NYA CITY
RECREATION SURVEY
No Scrap Iron
For Italy—Says
Crew Members
GO ON IT STRIKE
New York, Dec. 28.—Strike ac
tion against sending war cargo to
Italy spread to New York Harbor
when the entire crew of the S. S.
Spero, at Pier 7, Hoboken, N. J.,
refused to handle scrap iron for
the slaughter of Ethiopians.
Italy is buying scrap iron to
make shells. Beside the Spero,
three other ships are now loading
scrap iron in New York Harbor
despite the supposed embargo on
war goods.
Project Will Employ
Seventy Youths Of
Relief Families
WORK APPROVED
A project to conduct a City
wide suvery of the recreational,
religious, and leisure time ac
tivity facilities in Omaha was
* I
presented by Mr. Bernard E.
Squires, Executive Secretary of
the Urban League Community
Center of Omaha, to the State
Director of the National Youth
Administration. The project has
been approved and Mr. Squires
has been appointed to super
vise the project which will em
ploy about 70 young people an
swering the requirements of the
N. Y. A.
ELKS ELECT
OFFICERS
The Colored Elks elected offi
cers, class of 43, initiated from
October-November drive,—at -the
first regular meeting of Iroquois
Lodge No. 92 of the Improved
Benevolent Protective Elks of the
World, the following officers
were elected:
J. Elmer Gant, Exalted Ruler;
Roy M. White, Esteemed Leading
Knight; Edward Barnes, Esteemed
Loyal Knight; R. Brown, Es
teemed Lecturing Knight; Ed
ward Jones, Esq.; H. J. Johnosn,
Tyler; Dempsey Smith, Inner
Guard; Dr. Price Terrell, Secre
tary; C. N. Huey, Treasurer, and
Dr. W. D. Gooden, Physician.
Trustees: Paul S. Holliday, C.
B. Mayo, Geo. Hardy, Rev. F. J.
Black, Chaplain.
A Junior Herd of Elks of boys
between the ages of 12 and 18 are
being organized by Grand Organ
izer Harris, and sponsored by Iro
quois Lodge. The purpose of
which is to develope them physic
ally and mentally. Especially in
all phases of athletic activities.
The Junior Herd will be directly
under the supervision of Dr. Craig
Morris Executive Secretary; E.
B. Mayo, Treasurer, and Marty
Thomas, Director of athletics, as
sisted by an Advisory Board con
sisting of Dr. Craig Morris—
chairman; E. B. Squires, M. C.
James, Nat Hunter, Dr. W. D.
Gooden, C. B. Mayo, Marty
Thomas.
The election was conducted by
District Deputy Z. O. Mason.
A class of 25 candidates will be
initiated Wednesday night, Janu
ary 1st, at 8:00 p. m.
All agencies working with
young people have been handi
capped in, planning a recrea
tional program because of lack
of knowledge of existing facil
ities and activities. A project
of this kind will provide ac
curate and complete informa
tion concerning the whole re
creational system in Omaha.
With a directory of information
available, private agencies,
churches and schools will be
better able to improve and ex
pand their own programs
avoiding duplication, centraliz
ing activities and developing a
program which will more ade
quately meet the needs of the
young people.
After the information is se
cured and assembled, a compil
ed report will be furnished all
agencies, libraries and schools
through the Council of Social
Agencies, which will make
recommendations for an im
proved recreational program.
The Council will also appoint
a volunteer committee to make
additions and corrections peri
odically in order that the sur
vey may be kept current and
available for use at all times.
One of the valuable features
of this project is that it will
promote a better racial feeling
between Colored and White
people. About 14 per cent of th
persons employed will be Ne
groes. Mr. Squires will super
vise the project, which will be
housed in the Urban League
Community Center.
State Department
Asked About Italian
War Fund
—
New York, Dee. 28.—An in
quiry to Secretary Cordell Hull of
the Department of State as to
whether or not the collection of
funds in this country by Italian
Americans is not a violation of
the spirit of American neutrality
was made this week by the Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People.
The funds being collected by
Italians in America arc advertised
as going to the Italian Red Cross,
but in the publicity for a huge
mass meeting in New York City
last week, where a total of one
half million dollars was an
nounced, the statement was made
that the funds were for the
Jtalian Rer Cross ‘'and for other
purposes.” j
WOMAN
FREEZES
Omaha’s cold wave this week
claimed its first victim when Mrs.
Nome Smith, of 2039 North 21st
street, was found frozen to death
Wednesday morning in the rear of
1035 North 21st street.
Tuesday night she attended a
party at a friend’s house and left
for home shortly after midnight.
She was found the next morning
at 7 o’clock in the back yard.
Funeral arrangements are being
handled by Myers Funeral Home.
TEDDY HILE '
Qtefc'Mfeft leader and • fine musician . . plays
Baephone and clarinet superbly » ,
■ • a lyes, he's married) . • . had his own on
ebestra lor the past few yews and from what
At boy* «*j, he u» a ten swell fellow.,
For The New Year
By It. A. Adams
(For the Literary Service Bureau)
For all His blessings from
above,
So freely given,
For all His benefits, for which
We have not striven.
With hearts and voices in ac
cord,
We should give thanks unto the
Lord.
Such sentiments of gratitude
Our hearts should fill,
Amid the old year’s closing
hours,
That linger still;
For He’s been merciful and
kind,
While we were sinful, weak, and
blind.
And, if ’tis granted us to live
Through coming days,
The blessings of the Lord en
joy,
In devious ways,
Our thankfulness we should
express
Promoting human happiness.
Fascists Admit
Bombing Of An
American Hospital
Frame Negro To
Free White Merchant
Birmingham, Ala., Dec. 28.—
An unidentified Negro will be
charged with a double murder by
the lawyers defending George C.
Wade, feed and coal dealer
charged with the slaying of his
wife and foster daughter.
The attorneys indicated the
trend of their defense when they
tried to establish the fact that
Mrs. Wade had been receiving
“threatening letters” from a Ne
gro after her refusal to allow a
field next to her house to be used
as a Negro playground.
In order to free Wade, it is ap
parent that the officials intend to
pin the crime on a Negro.
Twenty Persons Meet
Death At Hands Of
Lynchers In Year
19 TN THE SOUTH
The backward state of Missis
sippi again leads the nation in
the lynching total for the year
1935 with seven victims of the
mob law. The information Is con
tained in the following release
from Tuskegee Institute.
Dear Sir:
I send you the following in
formation concerning lynchings
for the year 1935. I find accord
ing to the records compiled in the
Department of Records and Re
search of the Tuskegee Institute
that there were 20 persons
lynched in 1935. This is 5 more
than the number 15 for 1934; 8
less than the number 28 for 1933;
and 12 more than the number 8
for 1932. Thirteen of the per
sons lynched were in the hands of
the law; 6 were taken from, jails,
0 from officers of the law outside
of jails and 2 were shot to death
in a jail.
Geneva, Dec. 28.—The Italian
government admitted the bombing
of the American Seventh Day Ad
ventist hospital at Dessye, Ethi
opia, in a telegram to the League
of Nations. The communication,
in answer to Ethiopian charges
of the bombing madked hospitals
by Italian airmen, gave the lame
excuse that the government had
not been informed of the hospit
al’s existence.
The hospital was marked with a
large Red Cross visible from an
airplane flying above.
GALLOWAY
CONFINED
C. C. Galloway, business man
ager of the Omaha Guide is con
fined at the home of his nephew,
Boyd V. Galloway, at 2814 N.
28th street where he is suffering
from an attack of acute indiges
tion. He was taken ill at the plant
Thursday morning and a physician
summoned. His condition is not
serious and he is expected to be
out in a few days.
NAACP Protests
Late League Plan
For Ethiopians
CABLED GENEVA
New York, Dec. 28.—The
Prance-British terms for the
“settlement of the Italo-Ethlopian
war” were labelled “robber pro
posals” by Walter White, secre
tary of the National Association
ofr the Advancement of Colored
People in a cablegram he sent
this week to the League of Na
tions at Geneva.
Pointing out that the Hoare
Laval-Mussolini pact would lead
to greater disatser in the future,
White urged that the robber
agreement be rejected.
Hi's cablegram read:
‘‘Any settlement based on par
titioning Ethiopia may bring
temporary peace but will inevit
ably create a situation which will
lead to greater disatser. Eyes
o, darker races of world focused
on League. National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People, representing 100,000 Ne
gro and white Americans, submits
League would court suicide by en
dorsing robber proposals reward
ing shameless agression of Italy
upon Ethiopia. Urged uncom
promising opposition.”
Columbia Students
Pledge Support
To E t h i o p i a
New York, Dec. 28.—Two hun
dred Columbia students wen on
record as opposing Italian aggres
sion in Ethiopia at their fourth
Columbia Conference against war.
Pledging not to support the
United States in any war it might
conduct, the students resolved to
support labor actions such as
strikes and boycott, “if these ac
tions prevent or delay the coming
of war.”
MISSISSIPPI LEADS
NATION IN LYNCH
VICTIMS FOR 1935
There were 53 instances in
which officers of the law pre
vented lynchings. Nine of these
were in Northern and Western
States and 44 in Southern States.
In 42 of the instances the prison
ers were removed or the guards
augmented or other precautions
taken. In the 11 other instances,
armed force was used to repel the
would-be lynchers. A total of 84
persons, 17 white and 67 Negro,
were thus saved from death at the
hands of mobs.
Of the 20 persons lynched, 2
were white and 18 were Negro.
The offenses charged were: mur
der, 7; attempted rape, 3; rape,
3; altercation with man, 1; ac
tivity in share cropper organiz
ing, 1; attacking person, 1; tak
ing a prisoner from, officer of the
law, 1; killed by mob in search of
another person, 1; slapping a
woman, 1; communisteic activ
ity, 1.
The states in which lynchings
occurred and the number in each
state are as follows: California,
1; Florida, 2; Georgia, 2; Louisi
ana, 4; Mississippi, 7; North Caro
lina, 1; Tennessee, 1; Texas, 2.
Yours Very Truly,
F. D. Patterson
President.
ANTI-FASCIST GROUP
TO MEET DEC. 29TH
TO ELECT DELEGATE
) -
Congress To Be Held
In Cleveland, Ohio
January 3 to 5
IS AGAINST WAR
Tn support of the third Na
tion®] Congress of the American
Licague Against War and Fas
cism, Omnha is to have a con
ference which will be hold on
Sunday, December 29, at ^OO
p. m., at the old Woodman of
the World Hall, 1517% Capitol
Ave., near the Post office. Del
egates will he elected to attend
the National Congress in (''eve
land to be held January 3 to 5.
Local endorsers for this con
ference are:
Miss Helen W. Gauss, Social
Hon Kazlowsky. Attorney.
Settlem/emt Assoeijation.
Rev. Van Wagenon, Pilgrim
Congregational Church.
Rabbi Frederick Cohen,
Temple Israel.
Rabbi David WLce, Temple
Israel.
C. C. Galloway, Publisher.
Among the endorsers of the
National Congress ore:
Rev. John Haynes Holmes,
Community Church, New York
City; neywood Broun, Presi
dent, American Newspaper
Guild; Congressman Charles G.
Bfinderup, Representative, 4th
District, Nebraska; Dr. Israel
Goldstein, Congregation B’Nai
Jerusalem; Babette Deutseh,
Poet; Lord Marley, England;
Lincoln Stef fins, Journalist;
Prof. George S. Counts, Colum
bia University; Dr. Harry F.
Ward, Union Theological Sem
inary; Mauritz Hallgren, Balti
more Sun; as well as Cleveland
Labor Union; twenty-two The
ological Seminaries in the East;
City Council, Cleveland, Ohio;
and various Farm organiza
tions. Gen. Smedley G. Butler
will address the National Con
gress at Cleveland.
. Among the noted Negro en
dorsers are:
John P. Davis, National Ne
gro Congress; Paul Robeson,
rioted Actor and singer; Lang
ston Hughes, Poet and Dra
matist; Homer Brown, Penn.
State Representative, Pitts
burg head of NAACP; Theo
dore W, Berry, Cincinnati
Branch of NAACP; A Clayton
Powell, Jr., Abbysinian Bap
tist Church, N. Y.; Finley Wil
son, Grand Exalted Ruler of
Improved and Benevolent Ord
er of Elks of World; Rev. C. F.
Jenkins, Negro Minister, Pitts
burg.
The Secretary of the Commit
tee for the local Conference is
Mrs. M. A. Lund, 2020 Emmett
Street, who was a delegate to
the second Congress Against
War and Fascism held at Chi
cago in 1934, and was formerly
chairman of the Lincoln League
Against war and Fascism.