The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19??, March 20, 1937, 674 Edition, Page SIX, Image 6
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street, TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION ¥2.00 PER YEAR -i , m (i* HHH't' - Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God and the Brother hood of .Man must prevail. These are the only principles which will •lai d the acid test of good. All Nows Capy of Churches and all Organisations must be in our sffice not later than 6’.00 p. m. Monday for current issue. All Adver tfeing Copy or Paid Articles not later than Wedneaday noon, preceed tng date of issue, to Insure publication. PROS AND CONS OF THE SUPREME COURT CONTROVERSY .. .. The quest ion of changing the Supreme Court to conform to the wishes of President Roosevelt has assumed a « age . controverfcfirtl bi'ftefkcss rtneqwalcd in the record of o'Ur country. Otfr own state senator FMward 11. Htirke, a member of’ the President's political fidnil/bad this to na^ in regard t» the President's tudent Hflcindl»'>*1 f was tooW\ misleading, exagger ated abd (tml'itiuidcd riratle* tighiiiM the Nnprxnne (dourt." An 1 tltlier Herinlofy also a 'rtibtnbfir'of the President*n party,Ittoyul S. '".'tlftpetfiml'lof'MeW Yorh, joiHcit vrilluiho tioimtor.iroin Nwhrofckn •'iytoHentirigi'Mi* I 'rhU debit 2w earn s on t too tii wt the ^ up remfri Court was wtjidnsiAllir. fiorunc rogratMknfwUuindcifl’fwth* Wntd/'fii dust 'clfcl^uHesotlod otlj la v'fiifllq J,nn fiifisn rj©x On the other hand we find Attorney General HAh?h*‘ S., ,f,'Cun!iiffn7s VHc i^kl/WGIfyr.'illit’H iW the'-IVesM debt,’* ftrtW^ti.S^nWirfhWi ‘VWtf-'iM errimeiittil machinery lias gotten out of bnFftMtt#,' that bah-ftic^ .',Vn»k,V'fl^t)P(»d,^Fi«WW.1t *• a f ) j fiftfl T/ta*} 'j ibiuO ,ili rftiw o«k t»tn Y'al* o'jHw is" . . o T'oM « Congressman Arthur W. Mitchell, the only Negro.inem (ber.in (Jqggrt^, rlh^ tU^uae of .ijje, President and char* ‘ ges that the Supreme Court 1 ‘struck down every congressional effort to improve the lot of black America”. Just where we are headed in this ipaey sided,controversy Is yet to be seen. ^ et after all is said and done the destiny of all American people now hangs in a balance and the ultimate outcome must be determined by careful consideration of all the facts involved and out of a judgment void of political expediency. If the scale of good judgment leans toward the Reorganization Plan of Pres ident Roosevelt let us, as Negroes, stand with him, while on the other hand, if the scale of good judgment leans against such a plan, then take a stand. O) ■ ii'ii'i t ,f| J D MTU 11:1.1 .. ji-.-t , j , THE HIGH COST OF LIVING It lias been a long time since we have heard much about old man High Coat of Living, He has been listed among the miss ing (and well lost) for lo these many years. But if you. have good ears and apply them to some intent listening, you'll hear him knocking faintly at your door today. This old man would like very much to conig in and make himself at home. He. would like to sit down at your table, and eat a. big part of your every IM?1* to borrow your, clothes and jyear them out, to take a chunk of your rent money, an* pocket it for his incidental pleasures. - • In-his knock at the door there are soma definite warnings. What can be dope toprevenfr inflated credits.and prices from precip itating another Crash rniist be^ done. Economies of mass produc tion as in the modern auto-building and of mass distribu tion such as the direct-to-consumer technique of large retailers, must not b© sabotaged by legislative fiat, because these meth ods tend to keep prices low. ___ And here is a tip for the consumer. Now is the time to buy. Now is the time to stock up on clothes and household goods. For experts agree that general price levies which now am up some 23 percent since 1933, are certain to go higher. How much higher, we don’t know. Perhaps old man High Cost of Living himself won’t gain entrance, but merely one of his small children. Maybe the economists can bar the door. All that the rest of us can do, is hope. — CHILD LABOR —*~*^nr"rT^li¥aiTmn in • - rnii -n-- ..T.n - T 11.11 * J * UL * U. 1 , — rmiuMmirr-i n_._ | . Nationwide polls have indicated that almost eighty per cent of the populace favors the Child Labor Amendment. It was passed by two-thirds of both, houses of Congress. It has been ratified by twenty-eight states. -— Surely the yut-of-tune states can no longer turn deaf cars tjo the popular will Surely the eight needed will hear ii soon. Themis no sound argument against the simple truth that 4hii4feib > should b* jn school working Ion li nn- in Olfactories and gertHfgipot nSUre th.in a mere pit it. And there lan be lilfle objection ljp the method oi IvUinual diiiug^pfcgpused and proceeding in the waj Anxiously, hopefully, we wait for eight states to act. prescribed by the founding fathers. VIEWr'Cf CIAL UNDER * ST O ( ler’s Digest) Adi vered by Mrs. W* IF. M^haJYey^>n The. occasion of Mite cldfflftg urlh^ slufly Qr tne3 jlneesk,; ‘‘Rrefpue ho Racial -Cpi derstanding. ” This study was jmhde by the missionary society of tlie Methodist Church, at Mendenrall, Mississippi. The subject this fall is perhaps the most important home inis sion,.study wuln^e had for a number oi year*. j^equt^TUve enlarge our vision through our sturfy book and are inspired‘to la rger giving, but usually mere | is not much we can do person-1 «JTy._Z This is our fiftieth year of home mission worltyffUT “Home* Mission Jubilee Year,” is the opportune time to study/*The American Negro.’ Th^ need to-1 day is to know our American Negroes better. The two races in the South are so linked to gether that wba,t is good fort one is good for the other. Then too, he is our neighbor; our re sponsibility; our obligation toj be not only just but generous in 1 our treatment of him. In God s Bight ev.ery human, being i s sacred—-one of His 1 children- Christ ianity admits no 1 uther basis of firnn&n teltdious. < Bishop Dobbs said reeT’rrt|y St 1 conference, “There can be nod brotherhood* of' man'-* vrtftttfrtt 1 the fatherhood of God..-This, relationship was beautifully ex-.i amplified in the life of Jesus^j I'lirist. He taught, and lived it.' * f> would be like Him we,. must be willing to" accept" aft j races "TiheluffiiH* THnnWCTH|a n', NegroJTBrSPwatHers. * j i er4**'(i Christ lms con? k to tl«^ , we want Qtl justice for , all pcop 1 0 evW>*vrliere. To lQvc ; . v b % tm der stood others bettor. Realizing we knew- very little about our neighbor we hnf.e been studying about him; not the lowest, unambitious type, but the Christian, educated Ne gro. “The American Negro” is the topic for our fall mission study in our couneil, in our Mis sissippi Conference, and in our local misionary society. "We have used many books, periodicals and other material J in connection with our text ^ books. “The Preface to Race, Relations” by Dr. Charles S. Johnson, himself a Negro..AVe have studied t 1 The history of the Negro in Africa. 2. Slaver}! and its effect on whites and Negroes. 8, Race relations and preju dices. s * 4. Social factors. 5. Dqhor, iqdqstiy and econ omical status. 6. Contributions!. 7. The basis of a new or .Christian relationship and what we can do about it. Social equality was not an issue in this study. We now un derstand better that the Negro wants— 1. Race integrity. 2. The right to be a respect ed citizen. 3. The right to be educated. 4. The right to economic free dom. Up until this t^ne w® *,ave made the color line a horizon tal one, with the white man a bove and the Negro below. Now we have tilted the color line in a vertical position, with equal rights and opportunities extend ed to those on either side of it. |You can play a tune of sorts on | the white keys on a piano, you can play a tune of sprts on the j black keys, hut for harmony you must use both the black and white. As with the piano, so with people. >The interest of the women of .our missionary society in the istudy Jins been very vital and 1 ibelieve the serious study of the | topic will help to bring aboil' and to Ininas of misunderstanding re ifertfmg our brothers it*^tlrhr r/ij/e**, Wo-i^of look upon, them as brothers and love them as ClrtiNtikiit. ’f : i It U pur desire tjo.lify up all^ who need* our help and to strive il> gi.vfe' thoui Slnh, oppfjripni , ties for growth and develop-( mentis will enable thet^o Lit , coniei mjWligesiit. construcuve,1 CJubiiaiij cttfzons 'of'ibur {fonh niTtiiu^^tat^and worltlf We of this missionary group now see in our homes, in our^ work, in our schools, Xrt onr f \ • * church ami in our community,; opportunities for service to ourj fellowman. We now realize that we cannot have close fellowship with Christ and live apart from fiur fellowen. There is an ob ligation on our part to hjnve something within our lives that Bill help to meet the needs of o her people. For us generally, the result } fthii study hah been a more frank and less embarrassed aC* ’eptnnce of the fact of race and , mr differences,,but with a grow ng conviction that the differ- 1 >pcfsSrave no vital and inherent leaning. With, this study has come a1 fa ^hek-Wit the hid-! loo heAUties of NegroJife, there - : j v* •><■« . jj » ■ . s less apology for race and ttie social jmpJic;^0f race' itatus; there is more confident. . iclf-pyprossion and a deep shar nof the whole culture of Am: i£ ‘P^clftiiV^Vd at: i ude of the mind concerning our leighbor—which ^lcpns^i grcat; mrtrespejrt fop personality* erl rn»<'i«\lv •■'Neirro per f wality. | :het'K bf nil attitude of sympa thy and good will; there is a ’ lesire for peace and justice, As a result of these things, surveys are being made in 1. Social conditions affecting^ the Negro. 2. Poor educational facilities 3. Psychological reaction to t discrimination and enforced in- ( hibitions. We are now willing to cooperate with all under | standing. We are welcoming the cours es offered on race relations iw our leading colleges and uni versitics. We have already started a lo cal betterment program, a part of which was as follows: We sent a delegate to the Ne gro Leadership .Training School and since her rutum we have cooperated with her in organ izing a ootnrtiunfty club. We helped, her organize a Friday night Bible Class, taught by some of our women, in which to teach the teachers the Sun day School lesson for the f°l- j owing Sunday. These women say it is the most satipfying work they have ever attempted. We have contributed on the cost of paint for the local Ne gro church. We have plans to light street corners in the Negro section of our town. To help beautify the school grounds. To furnish recreation for the children. To see fair wages and hours for the workers. There are many things that we would like to do and hope to help them do. One thing " ® can do is to be friendly with all people, especially our ^efro workers. Friendships broaden our horizons, widen the n*uh of our lives and makes them richer, fuller and more holy. Booker T. Washington is not ed for saying, “Cast down your buckets whore you are.” So we '.are'trying to east it down, mi" intr friends in every manly w ay 'of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded. ';i4 ittf'i* 4» •reVi • :-qpt. SR.VBN?¥ YEARS QF HOWARD j (>tr Msn'fh ,-2n<t Howard univers ity celebrated the seventieth year , o/j .exisUrfo^ I, wajKfcbffe years , old when this institution was organ . iz*d- - f matTicvlatv'd VfJH; student in. my seventeenth year- As man 1 and boy, student and teacher, 55 |*years of my ;life an interwoi«i hip, the l'<«0»!#nd vS&*f of th;alp|A> Instituti&i of higher learning. Dp hng this* time I li*i»e derive-dOWwi and contributed little. All of my five children earned their Bachel or's degree in the ,Al©a Mater of their father. I have two grand children who are now matriculated in the School of Music. I was born six months after the Emancipation Proclamation was is sued and was redeemed from the stigma f a slave’s birth by the be-; noficence of Chat great humane j document, I take my life, therefore, as a yardstick to measure the pro gress of the colored race from the date of its freedom to the present time. In a more special sense, my span of life measures the scholastic advancement of the race from the zero point of illiteracy to the de gree of intelligence it has attain ed. My auto-biography, now under preparation, will trace in parallel columns these three lines of deve lopment But I mu»t limit the few words of this release to the origin, grow th, present position apd future prospects of Howard university, the ^premier institution of higher learning for the Negro race. When L entered, the university ine crest of the missionary wave bud, reached flood, tj.dtj imps had begun to cb|>.. in Mediately after, the, wu. ,«ar frts" nation, ip a>pagm of virtue, v. as carried to the 'top of the Mt. rt im»in there for only. rrvwpent. Thence, it must descend to the font of pe mountain and ijujc with the grosser affairs of life. In that spa sm of virtue, Fisk, IJo.wflrd, At lanta, Lincoln, Shaw and a host of Negro sclbools and collegs were Approved standard of European The Negro is not a menace to America. He has proven hirn- J self worthy of confidence. He has been and may continue to be a blessing. In the years that ar eto come he needs the help of those who have voices of in fluence. He needs also that we rmove unnecessary harriers to his way and give hint a chance to demonstrate that under God h eis a man and can play a man’s part. Some of the verses from the Bible which have come to have a new meaning to us as a re sult of this study of the Ameri can as thele: “ Have we not all Pirn Father? Hath not opq God created ust "Why do we deal treacherously every man a gainst his brother f—Malachi 2 10. “God had made of one II nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.”—Acts 17:24 and 26. I wat to conclude this talk with a poem which echoes all of our feelings: IF SOME DAY -* If some day I should meet my Lord Upon the street, or at some pea sant’s board And should see with great surprise That his skin were yellow and slanting his eyes, Would there any great difference be To find that my Lord were thus unlke me? I Or, if, upon a quiet country road I should meet hm where the trees are bowed. If his skin were brown and his eyes a darker shade, Would I falter? Would I be afraid j To own him my Lord and closer I draw To him whom my heart adores? Oh, I like eyes of blue, and hair of chestnut brown, I like to think his skin was white, that thus He came down To win this wicked world from sin, To cure my soul, to let me his King dom in. But if of visage brown or darker skin, Is he not my Lord? Is he less oi kin? —By F. Y. .Taggers, In the N. Y- Christian Advocate born. Faith and audacity birth. The north faith in •abilities s'JTutions, based upon the latest a! .'f ia' s v. la si f !rlv;;r" 11a.i whdcd t through the stygian * aa'l*. I ness of igiyyance since creations dawn. ‘Snch' WuMinle audacity* the world has never seer}. Tran; iOi joi jbo na , I How far has their, fait!} been I'jtwtfifled life the chief* "queryi which | this generation of the benefited i r eo must answer. The work of the amdi'is » finishes!. They have ssm lMm labor to rew ard Rey nold* of LinCpln, Ware of Atlanta, Falcon of BiddTe,' Cravath of Fisk, Tupper of Shaw, Armstrong of Hampton and Howard of Howard look down from above upon the works which they planted in faith and watered with their tears and allowed with the yearnings of their soul. Shall we let them live and die in vain? They were succeeded by a generation of less faith who have greater belief in money than in men. The spiritual degeneration of the age reflected in the Work which they left behind them. In stitutions which they founded have been greatly magnified in bricks, mortar and sflone- On passing through jthese magnifident cam puses one is constrained to ex claim “Master, whati stones and buildings are these?” But, alas, the voice of caution whispers in our ears “Unless these structures shall be consecrated to the pur pose of the founders, there shall not be left one stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down.” Statistically, the higher education of the Negro has more than justi fied itself. In grounds and build ings, libraries, laboratories, student body and technically equipped fa-j culties ?he progress has far' oat swept the fondest ...dream of the founders, but has tha spirit kept pace with the material expansion? The pur-pose of the foundors jof Howard university and tfyese other institutions was to develop aj?d lead, them to the promised land which they visymed lay before them. Have they kept the faith?, Are they inspired by the fore-glimpse of triumph, vouchsafed to the founders? Negro graduates of Howard, Fisk, Atlanta and Lincoln hear ye these words. Last June there stood upon the Commencement platforms two thousand Negro graduates with college diplomas in tiheir hands- Of these Howard university turned out over three hundred. Have these graduates the requisite moral and spiritual energy and intellectual resourcefulness to command the spiritual, moral, political, industrial economic and social estate wrapped up in the needs and necessities of twelve million Negroes who look to them for guidance? And to you of the present gen eration of teachers and leaders in to whose hands the tutelage of those youths is committed: are you equipping them with the faith, with intellectual and moral energy and I inspiring them with audacity and courage requisite to the great task? I am unable to say yes, but unwilling to say no. I would give the adviepr which Hamlphrgave to his mother: “Assume virtue, if you , have it not-’* But, you say, this effusion is but the garrility of the septuagen aian, who, like the nine old men on our Supreme Bench, ought to be relegated to the limbo of si lence- But as I stand upon the emin nce that looks backward over a vista of seventy years of Howard and higher educational endeavor, I cannot hold my peace. At such a crisis as t!his in the upper life of the Negro race, I am constrained to feel that if men would hold their peace, the stones would cry out. Kelly Miller -o WPA TENANCY REPORT By Floyd J. Calvin A report on “Landlord and Ten ant on the Cotton Plantation," just released by WPA Adminis trator Harry L. Hopkins, “based on | visits to 646 typical plantations, interviews with more than 6,000 tenant farmers, and the examina I tion of relief and AAA records, re veals that the problems of the Ne gro cotton grower are unquestion ■ ably more vexing, than those of ! his white neighbor. Reasons given . for the existence of this situation are: (1) that Negroes are restrict ed in their opportunity to purchase land in desirable sections, (2) that J they have been able to build up only a few proprietorships to plan tation size, (3) that they have less 'frequent opportunities to leave one farm for another than do white i -- tp".... An EcflOjry^ From My Den Bv R Gilbert * Ad f ait h^e idf'irllh f*'1} fj jpeditjnting, .as it, ve^e there comes'to miftd fhe lamentable -fact that ,^re ie need in Oma^a of more race respect “SELF RF SPECT COMES FROM SELFSUP I’QStll^ The plight of ouyp people even in Ipmes o# prosperity e||g gosts a strange yet vfery sad atory. A stdry which if told in prtper tempo will leave no doubt in the mind dur hgsij friends of tfiose who are .truly. solicitous of our Welfare, -that there nlnst & func tional defect or perhaps an irrem ediable weafcttets'sotftewhefref in the organization of our being. We are persecuted socially and economically as well as prostituted politically, ye| most of us, 16,000 strong, think of it, stand by uncoor dinated, helpless like a herd of dumb animals. I can hear some saying, well, what can we do? We are not able to sustain ourselves economic ally and we are noti sufficiently strong numerically to batter down the doors of prejudice which shut of many opportunities tb us. We lack this, we lack that and thou sands of other things, So convinced are we of our inaptitude that many are waiting for someone to come forth with a magic formula that will solve all our problems. I admit that we lack a great many things and paramount among them I should include solidarity, courage, self reepedt and common, sftnse. These are facts, and facts ire hot always pleasant "But by -what my sterious force are we kept asunder ? Why is it that the same myst&rious force is ineffective :with Jews- in that it fails to keep thehv apart ? Quoting Radbj Stephen ik^^ise of New York white addregmng t,he graduating class of 'Howard. p^i.Ver sity in li)^8: “Your race jjna my race are the Uwp down ^ trodden races of the universe The differ ence being that my race learned the value of cooperation and your "race has no). If the Jews have been successful in fighting racial ob stacles, itf is because they had the foresight to band themselves in to a homogeneous whole out of which emerge an exclusive concen trated economic policy which mak es them independent and self sus taining. They have not begged for alms at one door and prayed for mercy at another. No instead they support one another; they patronize their own stores their own restau rants, their own tabernacles and if you please their own schools and newspapers After years of personal sacrifice add privations they are today an economic force that cannot be dis counted without endangering the basic structure of our national ec onomic life. Of course all of this did not take place in a day. It could not. It required sortie years ^ of consistent mobilization of inter ests with an unbending will and indefatigable courage to ^sustain the toilers against the onslaught of local, national, and international intrigue and discrimination. Whereas witjh us it has been a master of hope and prayer. Left alone, we probably would exter minate ourselves either through in terceno slaughter or by starvation due to inability to utilize the boun ties of nature. Other races have mapped out the course of self re spect and eventual independence. We decry our own establish ments; we discount the efforts of our own mpn who are fighting for an economic foothold. In Omaha we spend annually over 110,000,000, ninety-five cents out of every dol lar is spent with the other race and five cents with our own. At this rate it will take thousands of years for the Negro of Omaha to reach the economic status that rightful should be theirs. I know that there ara miary things which under our present financial status cannot be produced, but why can’t we support those things which we can produce? Afttr all the salva tion of our race will come from within and not from without -o-■ fanners, and (4) that the stand ard of their schools are almost in- | | variably lower than those of white I schools.” That the WPA is co-operating I with other Federal agencies to im ' prove the condition of tbe tenant farmers, black and wft:±e; is jcom ; mendable. If the Suprels* Court i will but fall in line, everyubiug (will be well. ■'■*•*-1