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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 1935)
EDITORIALS THE OMAHA GUIDE Published every Saturday at 24618-20 Grant Street., Omaha, Nebraska l’hone WEbster 1750 GAINES T. BRADFORD, - - Editor and Manager Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927, at the Post Of fice 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 enly priciples which will stand the acid test, of good citizenship in time of peace, war and death. THE LAVAL PLAN FAILED Outstanding news (effecting all nations comes from the of fice in the Quai d’Orsay, Paris, w<here 1*remier Laval of France and Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare of Great Britain auth ored a proposel that has set the world by its ears. Great Britain aryl France has led the League of Nations in seeking n solution to the Italian-Bthlopian embroilio. In the past, thcse; two nations ha\je taken the praiseworthy position of great, powers seeking to protect little ones. They have talked march about high principles, about fair-dealing, about justice. They luive donp u great deal to enlist world sympathy in favor of Ethiopia, and to cement it against Ttaly. It has been the common belief that they would go to any ends to protect Ethi opian sovereignty. It is for that reason that tire “deal” announced by Laval and Hoare caused so great a reverberation. Briefly and non teclmically described, it would give Italy either outright or virual control of two-thirds of Selassie's rich empire. Ethiopia would bo given certain things in exchange, notably a new sea port., but most commentators say they would really amount to little inasmuch as Italy would he in a position to dom inate Ethiopian affairs 100 per cent. So far as Ethiopian in dependence is concerned, the deal would seem to eliminate it entirely. Response to the announcement must have caused both Premier Lavul and Foreign Secretary Hoare to suffer a severe attack of nerves. The proposal had hardly gone out on the wires before protest began to pour in. In the French Chamber of Ueputies and the English House of Commons, members vir ulently denounced it. Newspapers followed suit, saying the deal violated every dietae of justice. Puplic feeling ran high in both countries. More important still is the attitude of the “little powers’* toward the (arrangement, making the League membership. They have most at stake in making the League a success, it being obvimjs, for instance, that England is far better able to defend itself from aggression than are Finland, Sweden, etc. As one newspaper writer said, “To all practial purposes, the peace plan rewarded fascist Italy for its atggrossion against Tthiopia." Small nations realize that on so,ne not-far-disant day they may be in the position Ethiopia is in now, with u big neighbor seek ing tot take over their territory. So, to these small liationb, the Ijaval-Hoare proposal is as unsavory as anything could be. Result is likely to be trouble inside the League, with small nations trying to wrest League leadership from England and France, vest it in other, less important nations. It is obvious that an internal battle of that sort would weaken the pow er of the Ijeague. Interesting sidelight on Muasolisi’s attitude is that he finds the Laval-Hoare proposal unsatisfactory because, even though it givie Italy so much, it still falls below his “minimum demands’’. The only inference to be made is that' Ro plans to go ahead, in. tho face of world opinion and sactions, will fight any or nil nations before giving in. Thus, new complications arise in Europe—and every one of these complications, producing as they do hatred, misunder standings and anger, augment the possibiltiy of a major war. It is for tliis reason that the Italian-Ethiopian trouble is of great interest to America, which would be critically affected by any major war. The American State Department still car ries on its careful, neutral policy—officials have, little to say, but cables are humming between Washington and our embassies and counsels Business Work recently said that “Roosevelt has decided to ask (the next C-ongress) for full discretion, not only as to commodities to be barred from export in war, but as to nations to which embargo should apply when the bigger war comes along and threatens to suck us in.’’ EDUCATION FASCIST AND NON-FASCIST Enrollment in Gentian universities before the Nazi regime was 103,000 in 1931 as compared to 82,000 in 1934 and 77,000 in 1935. Of all the applicants for German universitv c-d ucatlom in 1934, only 49 per cent of the men and 17 per cent of the women wore admitted. Also the school term has been reduced from 40 to 33 weeks per year. Whfen the Academy for Training of Teachers was opened in Bavaria this year, the Nazi press wrote, “The central point to the training of the German elementary Kehocft teacher will bo devotion to the Beader.” In Fascist Italy, the numh|er of university students decreas ed from 82,000 in 1927 to 31,500 in 1932. In contrast to these figures, university rolls in the U. S. S. R have increased from 143,000 in 1927 to 501,000 in 1933 In the U. S., in spite of the depression, tliie number grew from 821,000 in 1925 to990,000 in 1932. THE WAY OUT (By Loren Miller) The Devil Quotes Scripture Herbert Hoover, who is various ly remembered as an ex-president, a one-time great engineer, or the man who thought up a little game called properity-around-the-corner, ( is on record as wanting to “keep America American.’’ Mr. Hoover is the man who promised us a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage so it goes without saying that his pronouncements are to be taken with a grain of salt. I am sorry that he did not specify which of our traditions he proposes to re tain in his latest crusade for Americanism. There are some American tra ditons that I am quite willing to dispense with and some in which J do not want to keep America as American as it has always been. For example, lynching is a very American habit that could die without disturbing nve. There are others; I have never been an en thusiast for the American prac tice of permitting a minority to amass the wealth while the masses live in poverty nor have I ever lent support to discrimination, segregation and Jim Crow. Indifferent Champion. On the other hand, there are some American traditions that ought to be strengthened as well as retained: The right of free dom of speech and assemblage, religious and political freedom, the right to speedy and public trial and equality of opportunity for everybody—all of them, alas, more honored in the breach than the observance. I suppose that Mr. Hoover would be quite willing to be quoted as favoring the re tention of thes guarantees too. But even the devil, it is said, can quote scripture to suit his own purposes and Mr. Hoover’s rec ord shows that he has always been an indifferent champion of human rights. He has lent tac tict, if not open support to the imprisonment of Tom Mooney, The Scottsboro Boys went to prison during his regime without provoking a White House rebuke to the Alabama lynchers. Jim Crow laws never disturbed him. When the veterans gathered to pe tition him for a bonus, he turned his generals and guns loose on them and he opposes every relief measure as robbery of the treas ury. Soft Hearted. During his presidential term, Mr. Hoover did show he had a soft spot in his heart for the Barons of Big Business. His R. F.C. shoveled out $90,000,000 to his old friend, Charles G. Dawes; he engineered some pretty stiff tariffs to help out the profit makers. Long before he ever got into American politics he used American relief funds to defeat political movements 1 n Central Europe that were frowned on by our Wall Street Bankers. As an engineer in China and Africa he cracked down on coolie employees in a manner that shocked an Eng lish court. I suspect that Mr. Hoover’s newly found desire to keep Ameri ca American is all tied up with his yearning to protect these same business men. The average American has been convinced that his civil and political rights are in danger unless Big Business is curbed. It is plain that Big Busi ness has got hold of America and is using legal and constitutional forms to feather its own nest. Workingmen are beginning to say that som|ething drastic will have to be done. That alarms Mr. Hoover. There’s nothing un-American about this desire of the people to put a crimp in Big Business. The Declaration of Independence says that “whenever a government be comes destructive of (the right to life, libetry and the pursuit of happiness) it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.” Abraham Lincoln, who has some claim to being a great American, observed that “this government with its institutions belongs to the people; whenever they grow weary—they can exer cise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.” That’s plain enough and it seems to be good Americanism. But every time a change is even suggested Mr. Hoover and his friends tear their hair and shout that foreign Reds are undermin ing our institutions. They seem to think that exploitation and Americanism are synonomous. When they talk about keeping America American they mean they want to keep it safe for their own plundering. I won’t join Mr. Hoover’s crusade but I will lend my support to a movement to keep Mr. Hoover in Palo Alto. Automatic electric control has been invented to keep the water pan in a warm air furnace filled to maintain an even degree of humidity in a house. An Austrian aviator recently navigated a gliding plane from the Croydon airport near London to Paris, a distance of 210 miles, in less than five hours. Although it weighs less than two pounds a new electric grind ing tool has a speed of 60,000 revolutions a minute. New blades to replace old ones that become dull are supplied with a new knife intended for of fice or home use. Egypt exported 2,434,000 50 kilogram sacks of onions this year. PROVERBS AND PARABLES A Little Learning There is much of philosophy and of common sense in the axiom that runs “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” As usual thing, a little learning tends to make one proud, vain and arrogant, a spirit that hinders success. Pendantry makes one obnox ious, an object of disgust and ridi cule and stamps him as an indi vidual of little learning, for in variably people of great knowl edge are humble and approach able. The spirit of vanity and pride will alienate sympathy and friendship, too. So, it is better as admonished in this poem, to “drink deep of the Pierian Spring. Compressed air apparatus has been developed in South Africa | to blow diamonds out of crevices in surrounding earth. _ MAXIE MILLER WRITES | (For the Literary Service Bareaa) — (For the Literary Service Bureau) Man 24 and Ignorant—Girl 18 wants to Give Up Education and Marry Him—Better not, Girlie, You’ll Rue the Day If You Do— Let the Girl Gon on to School— She Would Get Tired of Such an .Ignorant Husband — Let Her Go to School, Jack, and You Try to Improve Your Own Mind. (For advice, write to Maxie Miiler, care of Literary Service Bureau, 516 Minn. Ave., Kansas City, Kansa. For personal reply, send self-addressed, stamped en velope.) Maxie Miller: I am 24 and love a girl 18. This girl loves me and wants to marry me, but her par ents won’t agree. I am a good boy, have no bad habits and a good job. These folks don’t think I’m educated enough for this girl but she thinks so. They say they want the girl to go off to school but I think that just a sham to keep me from marrying her. She is willing to run off and marry me. Would that be too very much bad? Please give me your best advice.—Jack. Jack: From your letter I see you have very little education, so my advice is that you try to im prove your own mind. This girl is just a foolish young thing or she would not think of giving up her education to marry, especially to one with no more education than you have. If you marry the girl it is almost certain that she’d get tired of you and leave you. Let her go to school, Jack, and try to I learn something yourself.—Maxie I Miller. GEORGIA JUSTICE AWAKENS! KELLY MILLER SAYS A BLACK GOD Father Divine has been called “Harlem’s God.” He came to Harlem from Alabama and bodly proclaimed himself as God Incarn ate in the flesh. There he soon 1 gathered around him a group of adherents and disciples who ac cepted him at his own self ap pralsment and who lived by every word which proceeded from h i s mouth. There have been many prophets in the history of relig ion who claimed inspiration from on “High.” The founders of new religious cults abound among all peoples in all lands and at all times. They are most apt to ap pear at the break down of exist ing regime and among people who are downcast and heavy laden. Where they find little hope in low grounds of sorrow in the world which is here and now, they glad ly seek escape in the promised land beyond the skies. They are easily persuaded to follow any leader, genuine or guileful, who claims to have heard the heavenly voice and caught the heavenly vis ion. Among the Negro people the appearance of such spiritual re formers as the late prophet Crowdy, Father Divine, and Elder Michaux show plainly a religious restlessness and dissatisfaction with the regular orthodox church es which are sadly failing to meet the spiritual needs of the masses. The holiness meetings and store front churches are both a chal lenge and a warning to our re ligious leaders that their mis sion is to reach and to save, even unto the utmost. Failing to do this, they need not be surprised that these new spiritual move ments are springing up all over the country. The Dec. 11th issue of the Christian Century contains an in teresting analysis of Father Di vine and his method by an under standing and sympathetic student of religious phenomona who, like the curious visitor to the church of the Village Parson, came to see but remained to pray. Father Di vine and the ardent disciples which he has gathered about him, represent a culture lag in the his tory of religion and take us back to the childhood stage when the human race was nearer the level of primitivity. It is true that Father Divine and his flock seem picturesque and bizzare and strike many onlookers as merely a bur lesque of religion, but this grows out of the fact that the setting is entirely out of harmony with the time, place and circumstances. I his anarchronous movement would seem to be more fitting in the heart of Africa than in the heart of Harlem. Instincts, among which religious feeling takes first rank, are imbedded in the sub stratem of human nature. The lower down we go, the easier it is stirred. For this reason, religion is always more ardently mani fested among the meek and low ly than among the high and mighty. Father Divine and his flock represent an interesting la boratory for the observation of religion in the making. They op erate on the psychological level not far above that of primitive man. Father Divine himself may be self-deluded in his divine pre sumption; but this does not neces sarily vitiate his genuineness and sincerity. For prophets and spir itual leaders of .all times have been considered “God-mad.” It was said of the Savior himself | that “The zeal of thy house has | eaten thee up.” Only those of shallow under- j standing and littleness of soul will look upon Father Divine and his movements with derision and scorn. He merely gives us a pic ture of a stage in the history of j religious evolution. A new religious dispensation always appeals to those who are weary and heavy laden, who look for a leader who will give them rest, ilt is precisely at this level of culture and among this type of people, that religious nianifestat tions are most apt to originate. This is not a question of race but of evolution. Father Divine has white as well as Negro adherents and desciples, all of whom are near to the same culture level. Jesus, who is the superlative representative of God embodied in the flesh, demanded of his so phisticated disciples that they “buffer little children to come unto Me; for of such is the King dom of Heaven.” And again, “Un less ye become as a little child, ye can in no wise enter the King dom of Heaven.” The proud and haughty individuals, nations and SERMONETTE By Arthur B. Rhinow (For the Literary Service Bureau) By Arthur B. Rhinow Some Time We’ll Understand (For the Literary Service Bureau) For years he worked during the day and spent his evenings in the class rooms of Cooper Union In stitute until he was awarded the degree of bachelor of science in chemistry. The double duty, no doubt, required strict application with no waste of time on frivo lous amusements; but the diploma opened the door to promotion, with brighter prospects to come. So he worked on, faithfully and hopefully, until a persistent cough sent him to the doctor who diagnosed tuberculosis. Then fol lowed years of fighting the dis ease, brave fighting in which he was supported by the love of his family, but finally we bowed our heads over his earthly remains. We wondered! Could this be the end? Did years of study and work just come to this? How often have not the bereaved in similar situations asked these questions, asked them with an guish in their souls. Indeed, can death be the end of all of man’s striving and suffering? Ever he strains and reaches out for some thing better, only to discover at last that he did not get what he wanted, only to realize at the end of his life that he has not lived enough. But still he reaches out, and finds in the very deBire a warrant for the life eternal. "More life” is the soul’s wist ful response to the dirge of death. And some day we shall understand the meaning of our disappointments here. To increase the production of wheat starch in Germany the gov ernment has reduced the import duty on that grain. Motor vehicles in use through out the world at the beginning of this year, it has been estimated, numbered 35,355,310, a n increase of 1,793,251 in a year. races who boast of their culture and civilization must needs divest themselves of much of their boasted culture and fall back upon an earlier and more primitive level of the child soul before they can experience the function and zest of spiritual exhiliration. Herein lies the Negro’s superla tive advantage for the spiritual leadership of this day and genera tion. It may not be deemed blasphemy to exhort the proud and mighty of our day and genera tion: “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, unless ye become as the Ne gro in soul disposition ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” But what of the disciples of Father Divine when they become disillusioned as to his Mossiah ship? Alas, this is the tragic contemplation which all religious movements must sooner or later confront. When research and curi osity of science found no place for the gods on Mt. Olympus, they were banished to the sky and giv en names among the stars. When the modern telescope found no place for them in the solar sys tem, Saturn, Jupiter and Juno, di vine personages who once lived among, and mingled with mortals were reduced to an abstraction of mythology and speculation. The unsophistocated child-like mind can only grasp things divine and spiritual when they assume em bodiment in fleshy form. Disollu sionment awaits them all. When the third and fourth generation of Father Divine’s disciples have been exposed to the educational opportunities of New York City and to the sophisticated life of that environment, will they hold to the simple faith and credulity of their more untutored and child like forebears ? Probably not. Such is the story of all religion. As the generations grow wiser they become less credulous, rever ent and devout. But in the mean time, Father Divine is bringing the true function of religion to submerged Harlem, a folk without employment or income. A group without outlook can only look upwards. Father Divine In his simple, unsophisticated way, is bringing succor to the suffering, solace to the sorrowing, and is preaching glad tydings to the poor. The common people hear him gladly. If the gospel which he brings to them soothes and sat isfies their unsophisticated souls for the day and hour, let that uf fice. The genuine student of re ligious life and evolution, as he observes Father Divine in opera tion, -will stop, listen and learn, but never laugh. Kelly Miller .V.V/.V.V.V.V.V.V.'/AV.VJ By A. B. Mann A Miss and a Mile