COMMENTS EDITORIAL PAGE OPINIONS
iiti t air r t ■* > > * *'*
..EDITORIALS..
^ THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street,
Omaha, Nebraska
Phones: WEbster 1617 or 1618
Entered as Second Class Matter March 16. 1927, at the Poatoffice al
Omaha, Neb., underAct of Congress of March 3, 1879.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 12.00 PER TEAR
Race prejudice must go. T he Fatherhood of God and the Brother
hood of Man must prevail. These are the only principles which will
ttaad the acid test of good.
All News Capy of Churches and all Organizations must be in oui
office not later than 6:00 p. m. Monday for current issue. All Adver
tising Copy or Paid Articles not later than Wednesday noon, proceed
Ing date of issue, to insure publication.
WE REVERSE OURSELVES
(From The Danville (Va.) Register)
When a mob of 100 white men seize two Negoes in Miss
issippi, haul them in a bus to the scene of a murder they had
just denied committing, and torture them to death by searing
their bodies with a blow torch, congressmen with legalistic
minds can still get up in the House of Representatives to argue
that an antilynching 1 >fj 1 constitutes an unconstitutional iuva
sion of tlw* rights of states.
On the morning of the very day two men were fiendishly
murdered near Duck Hill, Miss., an editorial appeared in this
paper reiterating our opinion that though the objectives of the
antilynchilng bill pending in congross were commendable, we
did not believe that tjhe enactment of such a law would curb
the evil. ,
But though we still hold these doubts, we herewith re
verse ourselves completely and call upon the Congress of the
United States to take any action whicth in its opinion gives any
promise of checking such barbarism of the South. It is no long
er a question of what w0 think. So long as t(ijy considerable
group of men believe that a plan they propose has any chance
of preventing such fiendish acta or punishing such fiends, we
will hereafter throw whatever influence we have behind theiir
plan.
And we call on every fair minded mam and every warm
hearted woman among our more than 10,000 readers, who are
proud that they are Southerners, to join us in doing our part
to remove this stigma from the South. Today, if you do not rel
ish the stencil of burning flesh and do not enjoy the wereams
of tortured men, telegraph or w'rite Hon. Thoma^p O. Burch,
Member of Congress from the Fifth1 Virginia Ilistriit, and the
ITon. Carter Class and the Hon. Harry F. Byrd, Senators of
Virginia, and ask them to support the Cavngan Bill or any oth
or bill which offers n'ny hope of preventing lynchings.
Tell them that the honor of the South is more import
ant than the rights of the Southern States,
Tell them the South earnestly implores the Federal Oov
eminent to do what the Southern States have failed in doing.
Tell .t,hem the Southern people are decent and honest and
human nnd not fiends as a Mississippi mob represented them.
Tell them that a blow torch has convinced you, as it. con
vinccd The Register, that representatives of a disgraced South
should how their heads in Congress and vote in favor of the
most drastic anti lynching bill submitted.
NEGRO STRIKE PHENOMENON
(By William Pickens for A N P)
__In Ohicago, as elsewhere, colored mothers, like other
mothers, are hired to be wot nurses and to suckle babies whose
own mothers are unable to nurse them. But these colored moth
ers had reoenly to go on strike because they found tha,t. white
women were being paid at. a higher rate to give ,their milk than
the colored women. This was an absolutely excuseless discrim
ination, with economic repressive aims solely; for many of the
most noted white men of American history were nurtured in
infancy outlie milk of black women. Colored women have never
been known to give inferior milk. Nobody would be silly enough
to propose such a discrimination among the cattle of the field;
that milk from a black' herd should bo sold a,t a lower figure
than milk from a white herd. Humans may be sane toward low
er animals and insane toward each other. Which reminds me
that when Frederick Douglass and othe Nego Abolitionist agi
tators were visiting in Janesville, Wis., the hotel put; the color
ed men at a separatetable in the dining room; whereupon Doug
white horses and black horses eating out of tl\e same trough in
lass; who had just been out to the hotel stables where he ‘*saW
peace,” remarked: “From which I conclude that the horses of
Janesville are more civilized than its people.**
Another Negro strike phenomenon is illustrated by the
recent case in Cairo, 111., There a body of relief strikers, DO
per cent Negroid, went for a “sif down" in ,the relief headqular
ters. What happened! Well, ,the officers of law and order and
the “possess" of citizens simply marched in and made the “sit
downers" “git up." That shows what officers can do when Ne
groes violate the rules; in other words, it proves what offi
cers c-an do when they want to do it.
American police, sheriffs and courts would within 30
days devel op the beat technique for handling mobs and lynch
ers inn the history of the world, if a few foolhardy black mobs
would just start; out and try to lynch white people.
So, whatf Selah! \
1 KELLY MILLER
I SAYS
GAVAGAN ANTI LYNCHING
BILL SPLITS DEMOCRAT
PARTY
The Gavagan Anti Lynching
Bill has passed the House of
Representatives by un over
whelming majority, composed
chiefly of Northern Dtmoeratic
votes. The split of the northern
and southern Democrats on the
issue follows the same line of
cleavage which has continued
to thrust the country apart ever
since the adoption of the cons
.ti tut ion.
The place of the Negro in
the body politic has been the
bone of contention. The Mason
and Dixon Line was traced by
.two famous British surveyors
(from the Deleware Ray to the
| Ohio River. Thence it was push
| ed along the Ohio to the Miss
issippi River by ,the ordinance
of 1784, and was extended still
further to the Pacific Ocean by
I the Missouri Compromises of
1820 and 1850: this isothermal
line drawn across the continent
haa taken on great political sig
nificance.
AntilyncJiing legislation in the
very nature of the case, ahould
be actuated by moral rather
than political consideration. Un
less Democracy destroys the
mob, the mob will destroy de
mocracy.
Unfortunately, the nnti lynch
ing bill is made to assume the
appearance of race legislation.
Those who support it are moti
rated largely by the .thought
that they are rendering a favor
to the Negro race instead of to
the national existence, but as
a matter of fact the Negro, tho
more numerous victims of the
mob spirit, is by no means i.ts
only victim: More than 1500
'yhite men and women have been
lynched and burned at the
stake by tho maddened mob in
the past fifty years. If not a
single Negro had been lynched
in the meantime, the enormith
of this evil should be the chief
concern of national legislation.
Whenever action of any kind
involving the Negro is broach
ed, the South reverts to its trn
ditional attitude of negation
and assumes the doctrine of
states1 rights and local self gov
eminent as its protective phil
osopny.
Lynching, unlike its twin in
iquity, kidnapping, is not np
proached in the national spirit,
but its condemnation or condo
nation follows fixed geographic
boundary. Lynching does not
constitute a political issue be
tween the two great major par
ties, The Democrats of the
North and the Republicans of
that section are of one favor
able mind on .this question. On
the contrary, the Democrats of
the South and the lily white Re
publicans of .that section are
likewise of one unfavorable opin
ion. The lily white Republicans
of Virginia exclude the Negro
from participation in their par
ty conventions as effectively as
do the Democrats of Texas by
their white primaries.
The Dyer Anti lynching bill
and the Gavagan Bill have both
passed the House of Represent
atives by a practically solid
northern vote, composed of both
Democrats and Republicans as
against the solid opposition of
he southern vote, composed
mainly of Democrats. Both the
Dyer Bill and the CoatiganWag
ner Bill were defeated by the
southern senators who resorted
to filibustering .tactics for that
purpose. The Gavtigan Bill may
be headed for the same fate.
J My virtue of the more libera
! rule of the senate, a few detei
mined senators can defeat an\
measure to which they are ur
alterably opposed.
The sponsors of the Coatigau
Wagner Bill committed the er
rqr of first submitting it to fhe
senate, thus depriving the house
of representatives of register
ing the attitude of the prepon
derant majority of .the Ameri
can people on the necessity of
I ridding the nation of a nation
I al atrocity. If an yfeasible mea
1 sure to put down lynching and
mob violence ever comes square
| ly before the senate for a vote,
! it will pass that body by the
■ same overwhelming majority
i as it passed ,the house, and by
'substantially the same nonparti
sail vote, so far as the northern
stutes are concerned.
From the days of the recon
struction ,to the World War,
the southern wing has constitu
ted the controlling factor of the
Democratic Marty, but since
the election of 1932, the nor.th
ern wing has gained the ascend
ancy, which is reflected in par
ty alignment on the anti lynch
ing bill. In both houses of the
present congress, the northern
Democrats are twice as numer
ous an their southern copati
sans. r
Because of the historical at
titude of the two great parties
towards the Negro's political
status, the race has clung to
the Republican party, which it
has bowed down to and wor
shipped as the man Friday, did.
his ma&ter’s gun which had res
cued him from a situation of
great peril.
For fullly a generation the
Negro was considered a traitor
who deserved the GOP for a
Democatic adversary as much
as one who gives aid and abet
meat to the enemies during a
time of war.
The triumph of .the Democrat
ic party under Cleveland, Wil
son and Roosevelt has gradual
ly opened t lie Negro’s eyes to
the actuality of the political sit
nation When he looks about him
and applies the acid test of rea
son instead of the touchstone of
emotions to the political situn
tion, he finds there exists no
discernable difference between
Republican and Democrat ex
eept as they are influenced by
geography. The vote on the Gav
agnn Bill clearly demonstrates
this proposition.
As soon as the Negro voters
arrived at the stage of self eon
sciousness they began to align
.themselves with the party, men
and measures, whiih promised
the greatest advantage and ad
Calvin9s Digest
By Floyd J. Calvin
Benny Goodman
Seeing is believing; and this
writer saw Benny Goodman,
famed “swing" maestro broad
cast on the "Jqck Oakie Col
lege" program for Camel cig
arettea at the CBS broadcast
theatre, 54th street and Broad
way, New York, Tuesday from
9 30 to 10:30 p. m. The remark
able thing about this boadrcast
was .that Goodman, a young
white man who is admittedly
on top, is so democratic and tol
cnant that he carries as an in
tegral part of his oganization,
two colored youths—Teddy Wil
son, wizard of the piano, and
Lyonel Hampton, vibraphone
expert.
There has been some criticism
of Mr. Goodman's arrangement
and adaptation of certain songs
blit we are willing to overlook
a good many things after see
ing the lesson this young man
is teaching America, on race re
la t ions.
This was our first time to see
a coast to coast broadcast, with
vancement to ^he race and na
tion, regardless of traditional
partisan endearment or animos
ity.
The drift began with a northern
migration brought on by the
World War. The effective Ne
gro vote in the North began to
split more and more evenly be
tween the two parties. Many
Negroes cast tlieir ballot for
Davis against Coolidge; many
more for A1 Smith against Her
bcrt Hoover; and still more for
Itoosevelt against Hoover. The
drift to Roosevelt against Lan
| don assumed the proportions of
a landslide.
In the last two elections the
overwhelming majority of the
Negro votes wereeast for Roose
volt and the New Deal. If the
OOP ever hopes to regain its
former Negro following it will
have to formulate a new appeal,
different from that upon which
it has relied since the days of
reconstruction. It must outbid
the Democrats in wooing his
support.
The New Deal lias effected re
markable changes in political
attitude and alignment The Re
publican party which tradition
ally upheld strong federal auth
ority against the claims of state
rights, has now reversed itself
in the opposite direction. The
southern Democrats have out
stripped their northern copart
isans in tho opposite direction;
m «
ISSUlMMUl
AMERICAS FIRST LADY OF
SWlN'B. FEATURED WITH
CHICK WEBB £ HIS BAND
ON RADIO WITH JUAND UEANANK2
HECORDED wWi BENNY 6000MAN
m MILLS BROTHERS
.TFDDY WILSON MOTHERS
I | A PRODUCTS
^ Of AMATEUR
BAILEY RITE IN HARLEM
THE PAESENTTAP DANCE STAR AT tfJ \SUL‘"m<J
COTTON CLUB RipUctcl (1l(L Qoltnso* ® itv- iKTONmam nmoma
part of the program coming
from New York and the other
from Hollywood, Calif. As Good
rnaji “stands by“ and then
goes “on the air“ with his two
colored coworkers, and as all
America “eeits it up“ in mil
lions of homes, and the audi
ence in the broadcast .theatre
“brings down the house11 with
applause after seeing the two
colored lads perform, £t is
enough to make one hopeful
that the future bolds lugger
and better things for Negro
youth.
Marian Anderson’s Rise
The story of the rise of Mar
ian Anderson is now being told
on all sides. The latest and most
thrilling account fo found in
the New York Post—a special
feature article by Michael Mok,
who tells how Miss Anderson
came up from humble eireum
stances in her Philadelphia
home, to her present world re
nown. In fact, it wins only twel
ve years ago that Mi*s Ander
son had won in a competition
which started her definitely on
the road to fame.
We are getting a new set of
heroes, and we are proud. Ne
gro youth is taking its place in
the present scheme of things:
Joe Lonis, Jesse Owens, Fred
D. Patterson, William H. Has
tie, Hubert T. Delany, Marian
Anderson, Jane Bolin, Elsie Aus
tin, and many others. It is well
that we furnish new evidence
of our ability, as a group, to
achieve.
President Rhoads Upheld
We are happy to note a pub
lie statement signed by several
individuals, appearing in ,the
Houston Informer which says
in part: “President Joseph H.
Rhoads lias spent eight success
ful years at Bishop College. IIe
came to the college following
the administration of members
of the white race who had led
us successfully for 48 years.
This humble son of (lie Negro
race who Avas educated at Bis'
[ hop College stepped out upon!
the scene and took the task!
* ith courage, dignity and honor- j
During his administration we]
have seen many changes and de •
-:
out while ike South lias revers j
td itself on economic policies, it
still maintans stubborn atti
tude on states’ rights and local
Sovereignty so far as the Negro
is concerned. But the wiser
minds of the South know fully,
well that this section must eitli
er keep step with the liberal
movements which are sweeping
throughout the nation and the
world, or be left behind in its
provincial isolation.
By slow stages toward en
lightened policy, the South lias
been led to approve and to ap
plaud the 13th amendment,
abolishing slavery. It has tar
dily accepted the overthrow of
the doctrine proclaimed in the
Dred Scott decision. It still
balks at the 14th and 15th
amendments, intended to place
the Negro on terms of political
and civil equality with the rest
of the nation. It was unfortu
nate that the acid test was ap
plied to this essentially moral
question. It puts the South on
the wrong side of the moral
equation.
Democracy will stultify itself
unless, or until mob rule is des
troyed a^id ibroadly epeakirtg
until all sections of the coun
try cheerfully acknowledge that
the Negro is entitled to equal
rights under the law, and to the
equal protection of the law,
jAn Echo
| _
jFrom My Den
* By s. E. Gilbert
As I sit here in my den, med
itating as it were, there is still
ringing in my ear the echo of
the Third Annual Spring Mu
sical, which was innate in the
mind o£ Mr. L, L. McVay and
for three years has indeed been
a. tremeuduous success.
Sunday it was my privilege
to observe this young man in
all his splendor, as he went
about his work. His sincerity of
purpose was indeed exemplified
in his response to perhaps the
greatest ovation that has ever
been given an individual in Oin
aha, when 1500 black Ameri
cans sang the name of McVay
to the tune of “Blessed Be the
Tide” so vehemently, that lit
erally the walls of Pilgrim Bap
list church rocked in the spirit
of praise to a greiat man, one
who had the vision to bring in
to being a project designed ac
cording to his own response;
“Folks 1 will be satisfied if by
these services there can be
brought about between the
choirs of Omaha, harmony and
a spirit of goodwill toward all
mankind.” Closing lie uttered,
“Forget McVay and strive to
carry oat a spirit of harmony.
To me this statement, com
ing from the originator of such
a ‘colossal affair, was indeed a
crowning climax to the most
wonderful song program of the
season, proving that a man can
render an invaluable service to
the community in whioh he
lives in an unselfish way. May
McVay continue to work with
a spirit of unselfishness and by
his work be able to realize the
propagating of such a spirit in
to the lives of every black Arner
iean in Omaha.
vclopments take place. The col
lege has grown with the times.
The Oscar A. Fuller Memorial
Hall has been dedicated to our
services. The gymnasium which
brings pleasure to thousands of
college and high school students
as well \as friends of athletics
was erected in 1935. The cam
pus has been converted into a
veritable garden of flowers..
“Again under the adminis
tration of President Rhoads, the
School of Religion has become
an outstanding feature of the
college.
“President Rhoads is a for
ward moving character and he
stands for all that Is best for
humanity."
This testimonial ,to the worth
of President Rhoads as an ex
ecutive and educator with vis
ion is .timely and true. No one
should be allowed to besmirch
this record of constructive ser
vice.
Honoring Irving H. McDuffie
The United Govenment Em
ployes of Wasliington, D. C.,
hqwe seen fit to honor Mr.
Irving Henry McDuffie, person
al aide ,fo President Roosevelt.
Judge Ormond W. Scott and
Dr. Wm. J. Thompkins, Record
er of Deeds, were among those
attending the testimonial and
banquet to this White House at
tache.
We are pleased to see mem
bers of our group who are closs
to the * * powers that be'' accord
ed due and ju*t recognition and
appreciation. Often they render
the race as a whole greates
service than any but a few even
know about. This is true in th«
case of both Mr. and Mrs. Ms
Duffie.
