COMMENTS EDITORIAL PAGE opinions |
THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street,
Omaha, Nebraska
Phones: WEbster 1517 or 1518
Altered as Second Class Matter March 15. 1927, at the Postoffice at
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Race prejudice mast go. The Fatherhood of God and the Brother
hood of Man must prevail. These are the only principles which will
stand the acid test of good.
All News Copy of Churches and all Organizations must be In our
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ing date of issue, to insure publication. _
..EDITORIALS..
Lynching—A National Evil
Demands A National Remedy
By KELLY MILLER
*
The Inslit ii <■ of Public Opinion hi a nation wide poll sough*!
to determine die atfi ude of American people on tdite^ advisabi!
ity of Federal ne ion for lynching. The returns Showed 72 per
i cent favored such action by the national poverninen*, while
1 28 per cent opposed i . It was somewfhat suVprising. (although
greatly gratifying, to no e tluit 57 per <*ent of Southerners in
his poll upheld iw.ervtn ion of national authority in opposi
tion to this na ional evil
liynching is a peculiar Ainer
ieaji a'roeity which prevails no
where else among civilized or
semicivilized people. Its preva
lenoe is not dm? primarily ti
1ho presence of a large number
of Negroeh in otiV1 section of
the country. Tn Brazil and in^
hte West Indies the Negro eon
1 ingent forms a larger pari of
the general population than in
the United IShateti. They also
represent a lower status of ed
ueafnin and culture, and vet,
in these countries lynching is
unknown ntwT the inhabitants
learn of it only front the Ainer
man press During the past bO
years over hree thousand Ant
erieen citizens have been tour
dered bv blood thirsty mobs.
At leas* fifteen hundred white
men and women have been vie
tints of the rone and torch. Tf
not a single Negro had been
lynched this atrocious iniquity
would still s‘nin and stigmat
ize the fair name of our belov
ed country in the eyes of the
world.
Neither can it he claimed, ns
is too often attempted, lvn'e.h
ine is confined to the Southern
States. Tf not a single person,
white or black, had been lynch
off in dhe South in the last 50
yen,rs. hundreds of victims in
other sections of the country,
would cause the na'ion anxious
concern. Every state in the Un
ion with the exception of four
or five of the New England
States, has had its soil stained
with human blood at the hands
of the murderous mob. The
Mot has spread throughout the
whole nation, and lilce the
heth’s hands, will not out.
Tf according; to Abraham Lin
eoln’a dictum flhis nafion can
not remain half slave and half
free his dav. it cannot now
continue hnilf lvr.oh ridden and
half lvtieh free. Tf some sneer
lne foreitm erifie should auh
stitute 'Land of lvnoticrs’ for
‘Sweet land of liber*v’ in our
national anthem we wonld have
nnlv onr erruosomp nnstime to
Marne. America is the most law
wntdd. Lvnehingr is hut the eli
max of lawlessness. Tf this na
tion does not destroy lawless
nesR, rtf which lyiichingr is the
master crime, lawlessness will
destroy the nation.
Determined patriotism and
enlightened sta'csnumalup are
resolved that this nation must
be lynch free. They must, there
fore, adopt effective means of
bringing about this eonsuina
tion, devoutly to be wished.
For fifty years we have quib
bled over the responsibility be
tween state and federal an. h
ority while three thousand Am
erican citizens, white and col
ored, men and women, have fall
on prey to the blood thirsty
mob. State action has proven
to be utterly ineffective to deal
with lynching, as with human
slavery and kidnapping. When
tho blood of thousands of vie
tims of mob murder cry out to
God from the ground there is
little time or patience for quib
tiling ovetr constitutional .juris
diction. The malady is nation
wide; the diseasp is systema ic
and the remedy to be effective
wide spread as the disease with
‘must be us deep seated and as
which it is calculated to cope.
If state authority is unequal to
t’he task, then Federal iuterven
tion beeoints inevitable, else
our statesmanship and patriot
ism must s|taiid appalled and
paralyzed.
There seems to be a disposi
tion on the part of politicians,
North and South, Democrat or
Republican, to exploit this tra
gic situation to woo the Negro
vote on the one hand, or to jus
tify its suppression on the oth
er. Both of these attitudts are
equally reprehensible. This is
but playing ^politics with hu
mam misery in its aeutest form.
The provincial pilitfrians who
are now seeding to defetat the
pending Anti Lynching Bill on
the plea of States Ripftts and
local sovereignity are the heirs
and assigns of their anti slave
ry prototypes who sought to
defeat the fundamental rights
of human nature under the
same pita. Bu(t they are fore
doomed to failure now. as then.
Senator William E. Borah,
who ranks as the highest con
stitutional authority in eithtr
House of Congress, is the spear
bead upon which opposition to
the pending Anti Lynch Bill
chiefly relies. He has lent the
great weight of his authority
against all anti lynching mens
ures which have been before
Congress for the past twenty
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j Children In Court
| By Judge Malcolm Hatfield
Following a hearing in juvenile
court this week, two groups of
parents learned to their amaze
ment that they themselves were
partly responsible for their child
ren being disobedient.
A careful investigation by a
court officer previous to the hear
ing revealed the following:
The parents of the first child
continually bickered with each
j other over the type of discipline tto
be; administered. If the father
gave a command, the mother in
variably countermanded it and
took the side of the child.
The parents of the second child
frequently threatened the young
ster with a whipping but never
carried out their threats. On sever
al occasions they sent their daugh
ter to go to bed because she mis
behaved when guests were present!
After the visitors departed, they
contradicted themselves and per
mitted her to got up.
So long as parents countermand
their own orders or fail to carry
out a warning they can expect dis- 1
obedience. When children do not
Learn obedience in the home, there
is very little the school can do to
correct them. Eventually they are
brought into court and must pay
the penalty for the failure of their
parents to teach them obedience.
—— ■ o
Youth Foreriner Ahead
While sitting at home Monday ,
afternoon and listening to a pro
gram coming through station
WAAW, my interest was focused
on a program which had been an
nounced as the Four Rockets of
Rhythm. The rendition of this
quartette as heard, Monday after
noon at 4:45 were indeed entertain
ing. fitted with rhythm and sweet
ness displaying a wealth of tone,
quality that any music loving in
dividual wli enjoy. |
So interested was 1 in their abil- (
ity. I sought them out and found
them to be four local boys, namely:
Jfohn Capleton. basso; Jesse Car
ter, baritone; Richard Turner, sec
ond tenor and Richard Gibson, first
■tenor, one of whom plays a guitar.
Upon further questioning them
I found that they have appeared
at the following places where they
were received enthusiastictlly.
Peony Park and the Broadway
theatre, Council Bluffs; Paxton
hotel, Jim Bell's Harlem and Mis
souri Valley.
Their record was so impressive
that they were sought out by the
WAAW radio station to appear
on Its spot program and may be
hrard every Monday afternoon at
4:45 p. m.
In order that we may help these
young men, I urge every reader to
listen in every Monday evening at
4:45 p. m. over station WAAW', of
which I am sure you will do. Spend
one cent to help them on their way
to success by dropping a postal
card in the mail box addressed to
the station over which they may be
heard telling the management how
much you enjoy the program now
rendered by the Four Rockets of
Rhythm.
years, on the ground that they
have been without! constitution
al warrant. Wb are disposed to
question the genuineness and
sincerety of th|s robust Ameri
can patriot and statesman. He
is known to be as deeply oppos
ed to lynching and all forms of
lawlessness as ar.y Ameviean
in poh'ic or private life. H is
most unfoirtunate, therefore,
that this distingUjisbed states
nan has chosen to lend the
weight p? his great prestige
and authority towards defeat
ing the VanNuys Wagner bill,
although he fully recognizes
the end aimed at is just and
righteous altogether. He would
be rendering a far greater ser
vice to his country and human
ity if he would give his great
legal talent to devising a mea
sure to meeting constitutional
objections rasher than opposing
the pending bill because of its
alleged unconstitutionally. In
I the moral crisis which now eon
fronts the nation one ounce of
(constructive proposal is worth
a ton of erudite negation.
An Echo
From My Den
By S. E. Gilbert
■ '■ ... • —---S'
As I sit here in my den with pen
in hand, meditating as it were,
there comes to my mind the fact
that black America now faces one
of the greatest economic crisis of
all times.
In this period of economic chaos
there is a need for every organized
group within the race to play a
part in the breaking up of this
chaotic condition. Thanks be to
Gad that theme now exists such
stalwart organizations as the Na
tional Negro Congress, CIO, N. A.
A. C. P., Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters, Workers Alliance, all
striking at the very rootn of the
condition that unless its growth
is atppped will strangle civilization
into oblivon.
But as I think of those stalwart
organizations, I also think of the
church, that organization which in
t?he words of Bishop Noah W.
Williams, spoken as he addressed
the Missouri A. M. E. conference
last week, said "that the church
must wake up, realize its respon
sibility in the present economic
crisis and help find jobs for the un
employed ”
The intrepid clergyman said that
business and professional people
Whose own prosperity depends on
the prosperity of the working
class, should join hands with the
church and aid in its nation wide
economic program.
The dstinguished prelate declar
ed, ‘ I wish to speak loud enough
not only for our fifth Episcopal
district to hear, but for the entire
African Methodist Episcopal
church to hear, that at the bottom
of our social and moral and religi
ous life is our economic security.
We must have a ministerial leader
ship who will be socially minded
and able to organize the religious
forces and help them to find a way
out.
Our whole missionary and edu
cational program at least our
home fields should he thrown en
[ tirely behind preparation for a
type of ministerial leadership that
is intelligent consecrated and has
imagination and the spirit of ad
venture and self sacrifice. I tell
you the church must help the peo
pie find a way to make a living.
Bishop Williams, who by his
stand, is taking his rightful place
among the emancipators of the
Negro from economic slavery, fur
ther stated: “That the time has
come when the church must look
forward toward the economic well
being of our yotuth. I mean by
that,” he declared, ‘‘that the church
must help the people to secure, self
respecting jobs.” In his call for a
united front on the part of the
chaurcih, he concluded his epoch
making address by saying, “We
have the most tremendous pro
blems before us, and it is no time
to be fighting within our own
ranks. It s going to take all of us
to stem the tide.”
Fellow citizens the echo of this
great speech should fall on the
ears of every minister regardless
of demoninatiom. If, the churches
are to materially and spiritually
survive, the ministers must unite
the forces of religion and build ra
cial pride and racial interest. To
the extent that the host of church
members will realize that they
must help create jabs for one an
other by spending their money in
places where they can visualize re
turn through the avenue of ermploy
ment.
The Omaha Council of the Na
tional Negro Congress, an organi
zation seeking to develop a power
ful collective voice through the
federation and integration of ex
isting Negro organisations and
progressive forces, behind crucial
issues affecting Negro people in
order that Artti Negro and reac
tionary social trends may be ar
rested and beaten back and defin
ite and substantial gains of the
rights of the Negro people may be
achieved, invite every minister in
Omaha to head the clarion call of
Bishop Williams, and unite with
them in a battle to the finish in
Omaha.
Had a Tasta of It
Missionary—And do you know
nothing whatsoever of religion, my
poor fellow.
Educated Cannibal—Well, we had
a taste of It with the last mission
ary.—Pearson's Weekly.
Impending Passage
Of Farm Bill
(Continued from Page 1)
ample, his action in having the
1935 speech against the Costigan
Wagner bill of the then Senator
Hugo L. Black, now a Justice of
the United States Supreme Court,
served to remind many senators
wh<| voted for Senator Black’s
confirmation in ignorance of his
Ku Kluz Klan affiliation that they
can, by making a vigorous fight
and voting for the anti-lynching
bill, prove to 'their constituents
and country at large that they
have not changed their fundamen
tal attitude toward protection of
minority groups.
There is also widespread com
ment uposn the action of Senator
William Bankhead of Alabama who
while Senator Smith of South Car.
olina was attacking the bill, mov
ed over to a seat near Senator
Smith to inquire ‘how many votes
do you thing this t anti-lynching
bill would get if niggers didn’t
vote?” While Senator Bankhead’s
purpose was obvious, his question
served to remind senators and
spectators how olosely involved in
the question of lynching is dis
franchisement. It was in the
course of this same speech that he
referred repeatedly to the Negro
as “an inferior race’’ though in
tlie printed version of the Con
gressional Record, Mr. Smith de
leted this Insulting phrase.
King of Utah Apparently Opposed
It has become apparent that
Senator William H. King, of Utah,
is definitely opposed to the anti
lynching bill though he had indic
ated previously that he was mild
ly favorable. Throughout the fili
bustorers when they faltered or
seemed to be running out of ar
guments designed to prolong the
filibuster.
The most vicious attacks of the
filibuster were made by Senator
Connally. On one occasion when
Senator Wagner had left the floor
of the Senate for a few minutes,
Senator Connally seized upon the
occasion to rise and express re
gret “that the junior senator
from New York is not here—I sup
pose he is out in the corridor talk
ing to some fellow.” As he uttered
these words, Senator Connally
! picked up a book with a black
| cover whicih was lying on his desk
! and held it up so that all members
I of the Senate and especially the
press gallery could see it. Per
haps the most helpful service ren
dered to the anti-lynching bill by
Senator Connally was his intemper
ate attack on the placard placed
a= an exhibit in the Senate cham
ber by Senator Bennett C. Clark
which contained photographs of
i the barbaric Duck Hill, Miss, blow
torch lynching of last April- This
i exhibit had hung on the wall of
the Senate during the debate last
I August on the anti-lynching bill
I and, had also been hanging there
throughout the first five days of
the recent filibuster. No newspaper
or other notice had been taken of
the placard until Senator Connal
ly's attack upon its presence there
and Senator Cark's vigorous defen
se of his placing the exhibit in the
Senate chamber. As a result of
this passage-at arms, newspapers
throughout the country featured
the exhibit—most of them on the
first page and many newspapers,
including the New York Sun, car
ried photographic reproductions of
the striking exhibit. _
Publicity Widespread
At no time in the many years of
agitation for federal aritUynchlng
legislation has the volume of news,
editorial, magazine and radio pu
bkrity reached the heights caused
by the impending passage of the
bill. The Nation, famous weekly
magazine, published in its issue of
November 27th and article by Vir
ginus Dabney, editor of the Rich
mond, Va. Times-Dispatch, entit
led: “Dixie ^Rejects Lynching.”
Liberty, with a circulation of ap
proximately three million, publish
es in its December 4th issue an
article by the famous American
writer Will Irwin, bearing the title
‘ They Lynched the Wrong Man.’’
Time, The weekly news magazine,
devdtes an entire page of its issue
for November 29th to the filibus
ter while News-Week also devotes
in an illustrated article consider
abe space to the discussion. The
Time article is cleverly illustrated
with a photograph of Senator Con
naliy smoking a cigar as he stands
under a Senate sign bearing the
The Housing Problem
in American Cities f
By Dr. T. Earl Sullenger,
Head of the Department of Sociology,
University of Omaha
Housing reform isn’t a new social phenomenon. It goes
back to the code of Hammurabi written in 2000 B. C. for it's
earliest consideration. In about 1000 B. C. China beoama
housing conscious. Therefore we see that the problem is not
new, but the modern emphasis is somewhat new.
The sociologist is interested in*
this new emphasis. He sees the
problem from the standpoint of its
influences on the life of the people
who live in houses below the norm
of decent living conditions. Re
gions of poor housing are generally
referred to as blighted areas, which
are charactens
[ ed by over*
crowded condi
tions, dilapidat
ed houses, ex
cessive crime
rate, poverty, ve
nereal diseases,
social degenera
tion, and deter
ioration. Such
Dr. isUtatn areas are some
times referred to as foci of infec
tion, where all of the social path
ologies are more or less concentrat
ed.
• Research has shown that these
areas cost the city six times as
much to maintain as other areas of
equal size. Blighted areas allowed
to get worse become slums when
located in the heart of*the city and
shanty-towns when on the outskirts
of the city.
There are two kinds of slums.
First, slums that "got that -vay”,
and second, slums that "started
that way”.
Cost Is Burden
The social cost of bad housing
cannot be adequately measured, but
the economic cost is becoming an
enormous burden mi the tax pays*.
Realisation of the problem aw be
comprehended only by research and
clear presentation of the social'
evils.
What can be done to meet the
situation ? Razing of thv. old housee
and construction of low-coat bouses
seems to be a hopeful approach te
the solution of the problem. The*e
are three kinds of people who are
interested in low cost housing: the
people who live in it, the people
who make money from providing it
and the people who think something
should be done about it.
All Are Active
All of these groups are really be
coming active. Private enterpns-Sj
have aided the situation in many
industrial centers, but such aid does'
not reach the average b Ugh tec res- (
idential urban area. Many metro
politan, state, regional and national
planning agencies are seriously con
sidering this problem. The Feder
al Government has over 60 such
projects under its direction. Gov
ernmental aid in such countries as
England, the Scandinavian oeun
tries, and Germany has proven sac-1
cessful, but it remains to be seen y
how it will succeed in the Vnited'
States.
It is too early to pred' t what the
social results of the rehabilitation
now being undertaken will be. The
gratifying fact is that public policy ^
is no longer standing still, but 1*4
moving forward.
words “No Smoking Please.”
Negro Vote Dominant Factor
At no time in recent years has
i the Negro vote been so dominant
in the minds of members of the
Senate due to the emphasis by the
filibustered upon the charge that
supporters of the bill are advocat
ing it solely because of fear of re
: prisals from Negro voters. This
charge is bitterly resented by
many of the senatod who are sup
porting the bill because they hon
estly oppose lynching. But constant
| repetition of the charge has kept
alive and made more potent than
! ever before 'the importance of the
Negro vote in state and national
elections. This realization was in
creased during the filibuster by
publication of a syndicated article
by General Hugh S. Johnson, which
was used as the basis of an attack
on the bill by Senator Charles O.
Andrews of Florida and in which
General Johnson pointed out that
| the Negro vote in certain pivotal
! states is “now large enough to
swing any close election.and
( some of those states are large en
! ough to be necessary in any na
tional election.” General Johnson’s
i charge that an anti lynching bill is
i part of a movement to centralize
authority in Washington for the
purpose of forming a “federal dic
tatorship based on discontents of
all kinds,” has created bitter re
sentment here among members of
the Senate, who are supporting the
anti-lynching bill and throughout
the country.
Upon conclusion of the farm bill,
it is reported here that attempts
will be made to call up some other
bill other than the anti-lynching
bill despite the explicit wording of
the special order making the Wag
ner-Van Nuys bill the first order
of the Senate after the farm bill.
It is not believed here that these
efforts will succeed particularly be
cause Senator Aiben W, Barkley,
majority leader of the Senate, has
unequivocally and repeatedly ser
ved notice upon the Senate that it
must vote upon the anti-lynching
bill in accordance with the Sen
ate’s special order. But telegrams,
letters, and personal calls upon
senators urging them to stand
firm against a filibuster and to
oppose any and all efforts to post
pone action upon or to emasculate
the bill is of utmost importance
Appreciation should also be ex
pressed to those senators who are
fighting for the bill. Tremendous
pressure will be brought upon some
meml ers of the Senate to abandon
effort to get a vote on the bill and
! to vote to displace the bill with
' other measures. Words from “back
home’’ against such a course will
be most helpful in causing them to
[ resist such pressure.
the low down
---from-—
HICKORY GROVE
It kinda seems like every time
you turn around, yor will run ac
ross somebody who is makin’ him
sell a living, m
some nice way
and easy way, or
geltin’ himself |
eiected on some
idea that sounds
great, but eaves
in righr, prompt.^
thereaftei.
And the ducks!
who peddled!
lightenin' rods, 50 years ago, t(hey
are in the kindergarten, when you
think about how people are gottia'
organized now, for something or r
Other, on this side or that and dig
gin’ up due6 by the million. And
the fellers collectin’ the dues, they
don’t wear checkered suits, but are
sanctimonious persons, and they
live in grand houses, and they are
just about ready—all the time—to
make everything rosy and great
for everybody. They are just about
ready, but not quite*—and then
some more dues are due.
And with so many schools, and
everybody goin’ *tii they are any
way 15, ft looks like the suckers
would become extinct—Hke a cigar
Store Indian.
But without suckers, we would
ho sunk, and look what would hap
pen to our psychoanalysts, and the
fan dancers—and who would take
mud baths. And the forgotten man,
he would have to quit business;
Yours, with the law down,
JO SERRA
Liberian Club To
Have Bathinsr Beach
Monrovia, Liberia, Nov. 28
(ANP)—The Monrovia country
club has acquired two and three
quarters acres of ocean front pro
perty situated on the Moaxovia
Sinker road. Plans have been
drawn for the erection of a club
house and the construction of ten
nis courts and a swimming pool.
The club was organized in January
nst and its progress is indicative of
the general development and im
provement which marks Liberian
history this year under the able ^
leadership of the present ftdmWB
tration.