COMMENTS EDITORIAL PAGE OPINIONS j THE OMAHA GUIDE Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street, Omaha, Nebraska Phones: VVEbster 1617 or 1618 Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927. at the Postoffice at Omana. Neb., underAct of Congress of March 3, 1879. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION S2.00 PER YEAR Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God and the Brother hood of Man must prevail. These are the only principles which will imi.d the acid test of pood. All News Copy of Churches and all Organisations must he in our »ff, e not later tnan 6:0u p. m. Monday tot current issue. All Adver tising Copy or Paid Articles not later than Wednesday noon, proceed ing date of issue, to insure publication. « .#.-aa- • • .a-.o—o-^—o»»o--o---o--o-^-o-»—^^*"1 I,. EDIT O RIALS.. 1 ^ 9 >|[# t # -a<-a-a->a--a--a-a->a-a* a-••a>>a--* 'a--a- % a--a'-a--a—a--a-a*.a-.a--a'-a-a-a-a'-a--a'-a..a— Borah—What Does He Stand For? By Louis L. Redding—Reyrint from The Orisis, March 1930 li would seem from this nnalvsis of the senator from Idaho, that Negro citizens can place little dependence in him a., a statesman nml none at all in him ns n man having niiy conception of the hopes, ambitions and rights of Negro Americans On the 25th Infantry In the popular mind the Constitution fs associated chiefly! with the great rights freedom of religion, freedom of speech I and mi^cimbly, trial by jury enunciated in the Hill of Rights. So greatly did sedition, espionage n(nd syndicalism statutes hedge those rights during the World War and the post-war period of hysterica,1 chauvinism ushered in by the Legion and the white-hooded knights of the flamingcross, that by merely calling Attention to the existence of the Hill of Righto public men were likely to w*in for themselves the encomium “liberal”— always of uncertain signification in the United State*. As a >nof<"$jod believer in the Constitution and, therefore, a “lib eral.” Borah, : drive lioine the implications of the principle in .the practical I sphere has at. least twice boon presented to Borah in the Ben- 1 ate. On August 13, 1906, in the town of Brownsville, Texas, r.., race riot occurred in which a battalion of the Twenty-fifth Reg intent (Negro) of the United States Infantry was involved. Boon j afterwards, President Roosevelt besmirched his reputation for square-dealing by dismissing, arbitrarily and without) trial, the entire vatallion,without honor, and disqualifying its members from future military or civil service. Subsequently Senator Foraker of Okioiutodiioed in the Senate a bill to facilitate re enlist,nent of the dismissed soldiers. As tt eounterthrust, "SoH ntor Warren of Missouri presented a bill requiring the men, as a condition precedent to being permitted to reenlist, to prove their innocence to the satisfaction of .the hostile President who Had already judged them guilty and dishonorably discharged them. Borah, then a neophyte in the Senate, for this was in Ap ril, 1908, arose to speak on .the Warner bill. To the President's inconsiderate action in punching the entire battaliom without ascertainment of guilt, Borah gave his fl(rm approval. Said he “There can be no question in my mind, as to the necessity of eradicating the cancerous growth even at the expense of some healthy flesh around.” As to the fresh injustice of the Warner proposal, he said not a word. In His opinion, the conduct, of the Boldiers merited short Bhriftl and he denounced it as “trea son, not techiaally so, but morally, aggravated treason.” In vivil camtraijt wiih his sanctioning the -dismissal of the soldiers without trial, was his stand for Secretary Denby. By hia own admissions, tjae lattter appeared guilty either of con spiring with Secretary Fall, Sinclair, et tad-, in a scheme to des poil the Government) of valuable naval oil reserves or, at fie least, of gross stupidity apad incompetency in 'offjre. When a resolution was offered in the Senate advising President Coolidge “that it is the sense of Congress that the President should im mediacy request tiie resignation of the secretary of the nanry,” Borah vocierursly opposed it. Here he declared himself in fa vor of “an arraingment before the proper tribunal, a trial.” He said “In my opinion, impeachment is the only way by which we can lawfully and constitutionally proceed in this matter.” Of curse, Mr. Borah knew that because impeachment constitu tionally would have to originate in .the House, which was heav ily Republican and partisan, there was no real chance of im peachmcntt Mr. Borah, too. mu*t have been aware of the spaciousness ofhis argument that the Dtenby resolution was not constitutional: itj was only an airing of the opinion of the Setr ate, which nothing in the Constitution inhibits. The stratagem was a transparent shield for Secretary Denby. In fashioning this shield. Senator Borah displayed a nice sensitivity toward a principle of justice the violation of which in the Warner mea sure requiring the humble Negro infantrymen to prove their innocence to a President; who had prejudged them, provoked from him no compliment- he inveiglird agninstnassing the Denby resolution on the ground that in doing so ,tjhP Senators would be expressing an opinion as to the case and would tihus “unfit” .themselves as Denby's judges if im pdaehmot should be insti tuted, t-rm—rr . ■ „. - - - - - v (Continued Next Week)) BROUZE Standouts £llen .nUinllllUllhH, —— WILLIE BRYANT TMI 01.CHEST1LA ISADS*., STAVTSD OUT »N THE TUI ATM M THE AGE OF 9 %y stums cawd> AND 1>01> IN THE. OLD £» A AVJT> THEATRE. IN C MIC ASO. . •. «. fek. AMERICAS LEADING CGNTTLALTO. ACCLAIMED DV CHI TICS AS HAVING THE « LATEST VOICE IN HUNDRED VEAP.S- . ► - wim ELLINGTON LUCES TO COMPOSE IN H IS DAT HE DEE AND LATE AT NIGHT. HIS GPTATEST COMPOSITIONS VNCPT. W/PlTTOI LONG AT TCP; DEOTIME.EVEN TOP. . NPW VOAIAEPS .. •. c 18}7 IBTItHiiAtIJilAL MgCRO Tr.VSt 1i KELLY MILLER SAYS IS INDEPENDENT RACIAL ECONOMY POSSIBLE Mr. Ira Lewis, managing editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, writes mo concerning a statement in one of my recent releases to the effect that the Negro is no more willing and nble today to support higher institutions of learning than he was fifty years ngo. This statement arouses in his mind the query: hither are we drifting economical stationary, or drifting backward? i he issue which he raises is of suolj serous significance that » i have decided to b.sse several re- I leases upon It. The regrettable split in the NAACP was precipitated by the unwillingness of that militant or ganization to relax its militancy for political and civil rights and de vote a greater part of its attention to economic nnd industrial well being. Dr. \V. E. B. DuBois, who created the growth upon which the NAACP has thrived, insisted that the demands of the times require a switch from agitation for ab stract rights t o contruct a program of economic interest. itiKo no iieeci wnat ye shall eat, what yo shall drink, or where-with all ye shall be clothed,” is applic able only to the sanctified few who have withdrawn themselves from tho affairs of this world and con secrated themselves to the spiritual affairs of the world to come. Some one has said that you cannot eat the Constitution; neither can we .eat political rights or the doctrine of equality; but eat we must In fact, we live in an exacting econ omic age. The prevailing philoso phy of our day and generation is expressed in a nutshell—“Man ist vasmnn isst,"—-Man is what man eats. Our energies should be divid ed in proper proportion between the theoretical and the practical. Dr. PuBois' philosophy that the Negro should establish his own in tra-racial economy is subject to severe limitation. It is impossible for any submerged minority to do this. The Catholic in this country cannot establish an independent economy based on religion. Jews never undertake to conduct busi ness for Jews only. Women who constitute half of our population, would fail utterly in attempting to establish a feminine economy. It is only where the Negro is com pletely segregated that he may hope to operate small establish meats for his own group. Evan there, he is hopelessly out-classed if the business world with its great er resources and resourcefulness should enter into competition. To a limited extent only, the. Ne gro is permitted to combine or compete with the economic system; race prejudice forbids. The effort, several years ago, to employ col ored clerks and salesman in stores operated by Jews in Negro dis tricts in Chicago, has succeeded to an encouraging degree; but the Ne gro nowhere has the ability to “beat the Jews" tn catering to his own needs and necessities. It is only where the white man’s race pre judice and pride do not permit him to conduce Negro business that the Negro makes considerabe headway. The Negro barber is the most suc cessful business man in the race because the white barber does not deign to compete with him. like wise the Negro undertaker enjoys a large measure of success for the same reason; but even in these lines the Negro performs the mani pulatory end of the business, equip ment and supplies are furnished by white dealers. Negro business almost always is limited to sumptuary pursuits such as catering to the appetite or de corating the person. He rarely en gages in general business, such as drv goods, hardware, furnishing and general supplies. If any large Negro congregation in New York, Philadelphia, Balti more or Chicago should give their [pastor $200 to equip himself from hat to shoes and from overcoat in ward, stipulating that he must deal with members of his own race only, he would haVe to return the money unexpended. This illustration pic torializes the actual business back wardness of the race. By reason of his lack of resour ces, and experience, he is wholly unable to compete with aggrega tion of capital as required by the syndicated and the chain stores. As the bulk of our business is absorb ed by the syndicated enterprises, the Negro is eliminated from the process. A few decades ago any person with a few hundred dollars could open a grocery store busi ness and make a living for himself and family, but this is no longer so, since the grocery business has become organized and syndicated. The Negro’s only hope is to induce chain stores to employ Negro clerks in neighborhoods catering exclu sively to Negro customers. I used to believe, and still hope to a degree, that the Negro will find opportunity on the farm as a self-proprietor, but since the farm ing industry has become so belitt led and hardpressed, the Negro's chances even in this field arc ra pidly dwindling. If the cotton picker should prove successful, the, Negro would be excluded from the only occupation in the South m which he nas an indispensable plaoe I not wish to paint the picture more gloomy than the facts before us. Tne Negro is essentially a handworker and a day laborer, de pendent more anl more upon large aggregation of capital and indus trial organization. No immediate hope of escape for this is seen as long as race prejudice which has become a part of the masses of the American people operates with pre sent degree of severity. DELINQUENT SUBSCRIBERS—PLEASE NOTICE The postoffice department does not permit the delivery of papers to delinquent subscribers. If your payments are not up to date, please mail or bring amount due to The Guide office or call WEB1517 for representative: Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated' TSie Management 1 Testimony of H, J. Ford at Labor Committee Hearing on Connery Black Wage-liour Bill-June 14 We believe that the sponsors of the wage-hour bill now under con sideration were actuated by desire to do the greatest good to the greatest number of persons, and not to willfully do harm to any class or group of American citi zens. But in their zeal to do good they have overlooked a condition which will operate to tho disad vantage of the minority group in our midst—the Negro worker. We arc hopeful, however, that in call ing your attention to the defects as we see them it will make pos sible such changes that will ren der the bill fair to the minority group without affecting its lofty purpose, if this is possible to do it isn’t so much what the bill says, but the things that the bill fails to say are the things that hurt. We are, thwefore, registering our ob jection to the bill in its present form and suggesting several rem edial changes for your considera tion. General Hugh S. Johnson in a recent article) characterizes the bill as "a mess of words obscuring the absence of any standard, and limit or any rule at all—and a oomplete passing of the busk to a board with plenary power.” With the purposing of so stabil izing the wage level that the liv ing conditons of the working peo ple of America will be improved, the bill should demand the general support of Jhe masses, but the man ner in wMch these ends are to be attained well concerns the vari ous criticisms directed against it by those who have taken time to study the provsions of the bill in its present form. Custom, actuated by prejudice and race hatred, has decreed a low salary for the Negro worker. As a result, Negroes in large numbers inhabit tenement houses and alley dwllings. A proven economic theory is that slums, tenement houses and alley dwellings are the result of low wages* Section ,V-(a) of the i reposed bill empowers a Board in establishing a minimum wage to ■ take into account the cost of living, which would lower the wage level of the above-mentioned Negroes, whose living conditions are al ready low because of low .jvages. This provision should bo stricken from the bill. The stabilization of wages should tend also to stabilize living conditions and not penalize the poor by keeping them poor Every Negro who works will be affected unsatisfactorily, except in a few cases in the extreme North. In the servioe trades exempted which number ovor one half million according to a Census Bureau com pilation hundreds of thousands of Negroes are employed and of course, received a low salary. The wage and hour stabilization of the proposed bill will naturally cause an increase in price of the every day necessities of life. Workers in these exempted trades and millions in the agriculture group, will be hard hit by an increase in price and no increase in wage. Section V- (a) further states that in establishing a minimum fair wage the Board shall take, into account “all other relevant circum stances affecting the value of ser vice or class of service rendered-” This clause could be stretched to cover anything the regional advis ory board might care to recommend and our experience with some lo cal advisory boards cause us to look forward with alarm to what might happen to Negroes In the South. lha same section empowers the Beard te classify employees in es tablishing a fair minimum wage. This clause could be used to place Negroes and white men doing the same kind of work, in a different classification with the Negro, of course, receiving a lower salary. Could the Negro enter a grocery store and state his classification and get a loaf of bread cheaper than his white co-worker? We sug gest that the bill so read that no classification be made because of race or color of the worker. Concerning the Labor Standards Onfers, Section 12-(C) a labor or der may contato such terms and conditions as the Board may eon '*»!«:• necessary or appropriate to prevent the established minimum wage becoming the maximum wage and to prevent the discharge or re duction in wages of employees re ceiving more than the established minmum wa^e. We suggest bn amendment to prevent the dis charge of employees receiving less than the establshed minimum wage. Their lack of ruling in NRA caused many Negroes in the South to be discharged rather than pay th«ea the established wage. We suggest that there be no geo graphical or sectional wage differ entials or no employee class dif ferentials based on race or color. A fair standard wage should not 1*» based on hourly wages. The wage will make it possible for em ployers to reduce the hours per week to fit an desired weekly or monthly salary. We suggest that as a substitute, there be a mini mum annual pay rate -o If AnEcho t 1 iFrom iMy Den *| By S. E. Gilbert In keeping with my belief as a DEN DWELLER it is with plea sure that this week ,1 relinguish my pen and ink to youth and thus I bring to you the prepared annual address of Henry Levells, President of the Critic Chib, an address upon the subject of ‘Sacrificial Service.' acrifical Service Youth should dream dreams and see visions, but to stop there is but to fail miserably. There is no thing wrong in building castles in the air if you have cords strong enough to bring them to the ground and to tie them there. In Athens there was a temple called Honor, built of polished marble, wide and high and noble. The floor mirrored the dome resplendent with gold, the whole an inspiration and a song. Every Athenian youth desired to enter this wonderful edifice, but there was but one entrance and that through another temple called Virtue. Unlike the temple of Hon or, the temple Virtue was low and narrow. Whoever would enjoy the beauties and glories of honor must undergo the hardships of virtue. The lesson is plain. There is no royal road to success, although success itself is royal. The lone missionary ministering to the piti able leper colony of the South Sea Islands, the watchful sentinel pac ing his icy beat ‘mid Alpine frost,’ the faithful and zealous physician pressing his way through the dark and black night to save the life of a humble peasant, alike with others in every walk of life who forget self and suffering for humanity’s sake are shining examples of the truest and noblest service. Not for gold nor sounding brass, not for purple nor glittering tinsel, not for praise nor hollow flattery; but for the sake of Him who so loved us that He gave His life for us, while we were yet Hts enemies, are we constrained to make the supreme. Some have failed because they feared to die. Life with cowardice and compromise is to be despised, while the death of the martyr for truth and righteous has been the dream and goal of the world’s im mortals. But let us leave the dome, sun crowned and beautiful as it is and examine that timber which is the very foundation of the building No building such as we have in mind can be quite so strong and grand as we desire without some where in its foundation rests an other timber, visible and solid. We speak of love of our organiza tion—Patriotism it is called. The winds that blow, the rains that fall, th* sunshine and the snow, the skies that smile or frown in turn, forest and field, beach, brook, or dale, paved street or grassy sod, whatever there may be, where the eyes of infancy first open to the light, that place called Home is the dearest spot in all the world. Rocks and surfs, jungle and desert, ice cliff and burning sand may defy us, but we rejoice to contend with them. Inequalities and injustices may trammel us but we tear them asunder; prejudice and discrimina tion may confront us, we may be cast, down but never overwhelmed, So let us examine the walls of our building, may its foundations for ever rest on truth and may its vo ice fail not to be heard. |THE LOW DOWN - from-—I HICKORY GROVE J The Omaha Guide with this issue begins publication of a brand new weekly feature, “The Low Down from Hickory Grove," by Jo Serra. We have been looking Jo over the last few weeks and like this way he says thing and believe eur read ers will thank us for the privilege ox Jo’s homely philosophy, even if they might not always agree with him. We asked Jb to tell us something about his own history or record or whatever he might call it, and he sent us the following: “The boss says to me, Jo, he says, maybe somebody will happen to have a little time on their hands, and will pick up the paper and may be read one of your writings so it might not be a bad idea if we told 'em something about where you come from and who you are and why, and etc. So I says sure, I’ll tell you everything. I like to please people, so if the boss or anybody else wants to read what I’m goin’ to say, why, doggone, I’ll feel good about it. “I recon, I’d ought to kinds’ start in and tell you where, I was born, so I’ll tell you. I was raised there on a farm in Illinois—wore boots and waded mud to Hickory Grove school in the winter time and had a slick time all summer goin’ bare footed. “Well, after awhile I moaiod out there through Texas and California and then to Kansas, and before I woke up, I was married to one of those gals out there in Topeka. Then I had to really go to work. You know though, I gotta’ admit that I wouldn’t even have got to first base if it hadn’t been for this here gal. Here’s how it happened. I got to scribblin’ stuff around on the baoks of envelopes and places, and one day the Mrs. she picked up one of these goofy things and didn’t have anything else to do, so she dun ‘er off on the typewriter. Mrs. Jo is a slick typist and also a slick cook, too. “Well, this stuff she copied got printed pome place, somehow or other old envelope with my writin’ other and then she nuntod up an on, and copied it too. That’s how this stuff got started. So, any head way I’ve made, well, the credit be longs to this here Kansas gal. Any guy that wants to write, all he’s gotta’ do, is just get himself a wife who’s a steno and can read writin’ that you can’t read yourself after it’s cold, and you are all set. “Now, since you all know every thing about me, I’d bo plumb tick led to have you all write and tell me about yourself too, just like I been tell in’ everything about my own self. But before I finish up, I want to tell you about my politics. My mother she was one of these here Republicans just like my grandfather, and my father he was from Indiana, so of course he was a burnt-in the cork Democrat. Then this gal I married out there in To peeka and I still have her, and two boys and a daugnter-in-law, this gal was a Populist. “So I’m kind of a merger or something or a blend maybe— kind of a Democrat-Populist-Re publican hybrid, as you might say. So if any of you can figure out what my politics might be, I wish you’d write me about that too, ‘cause I' kinda up a tree myself. “Yours, with the low-down, Jo Serra" Drink Pepsi-Cola A few bottles of Pepsi-Cola in your ice box, chilled, ready for ser ving, will make entertaining easy, because Pepsi-Cola is a popular drink. Pepsi-Cola is a beverage that children as well as adults can en joy, and it won’t overtax you pocket book. You will find it most eco nomical. The big, double-size, 12 ounce bottle costs only five cents. You can be sure of its purity, quality, and fine rich flavor. The delicious coca flavor, combined with sparkling life, makes it a fine drink at any time. It’s just right with pretzels, pop corn, sandwiches, or cookies. Ask for it by name. Pepsi-Cola is not to be confused with any other beverage. Pepsi Cola has been sold continuously for more than thirty years.