BUYERS' GUIDE by Clarence H. Peacock |
There are many unemployed
young Colored men and women that
have within them the capacity for a
great business success, which could be
realized if they would start at the bot
tom and build a business for themsel
ves.
Mail order advertising and selling
is a field which has been overlooked
by many competent Negro business
men. Mail order concerns spend over
$500,000 a year for advertising. This
is a field wlhich offers an excellent op
portunity for our people to do business
not only among ourselves and the Na
tional Negro market, but in all mar
kets.
Many of the large White compan
ies and a number of the successful Ne
gro enterprises had their beginning in
the mail order field. An example of
these business successes is the Mine.
C. J. Walker Company and the manu
facturers of the Black and White pro
ducts.
One great advantage in the mail
order field is that it is not necessary
to have an office as the business can
be run directly from your own home.
Those of our readers who are interest
ed in manufacturing cosmetics, polish
ses, washing compounds, food products
etc. and marketing them by mail are
invited to write to me in care of this
column for further information.
I will be 'glad to refer you to a
gencies who make no charge, except
for the cost of advertising, for prepar
ing your copy and literature or for
consultation. The advertising manag
er of this paper will be glad to discuss
with you the low cost of advertising
such products. In many cases mail
order businesses have been started
with as little as $7.00 which went for
the copy that brought in the first or
ders.
There are in this country at the
present time, approximately 1,800 mail
order firms that operate from the
homes. These firms do a flourishing
business year in and year out. Glance
over any of your favorite newspapers
or magazines and the columns of this
newspaper and you wall find advertis
ing that is appealing for mail orders.
If you can’t find a job make one.
Here is an opportunity for you to gain
economic security by establishing
“_I
your own business and building for the
future. For greater economic secur
ity continue to read our newspapers
and to buy their advertised products.
Make A
I
for
Y ourself
THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St,
Omaha, Nebraska
Phone WEbster 1617 -
Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927,
at the Post Office at Omaha, Nebr., under
Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YEAR
All News Copy of Chrurches and add Organi
zations must be in our office not later than
6:00 p. m. Monday for curren issue. All Adver
tising Copy or Paid Articles not later than,
Wednesday noon, preceeding date of issue, to
insure publication.
Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of
God and the Brotherhood of Man must prevail.
These are the only principles whil will stand'
the acid test of good.
EDITORIALS
— GENIUS OF THE NEGRO
In three hundred years of con
tact with civilization, representatives
of the Negro race have become profic
ient in every line of human effort—
oratory, poetry, medicine, music, lit
• erature, law, agriculture, statesman
ship, war. In those three hundred
years the Negro race has leaped over
that vast chasm which separates the
lower order from the highest type of
civilization. No other race on the
earth ever accomplished such a feat.
It took the Arfglo-Saxons more than
twenty centuries to achieve the same
results. Pushkin the renowned Rus
sian poet; Dumas, the celebrated
French novelist; and Douglass, the
famous American orator are among
the most distinguished representatives
of the black race. But they w^ere not
pure-blooded Negroes and those who
decry the talent of the Ethiopian at
tribute the genius of these men to their
Caucasian lineage rather than to their
African blood.
But Toussaint L’Ouverture, the
military genius of Haiti; and Phyllis
Wheatley, the Black Daughter of the
Sun, and Blind Tom, the renowned
musical phenomenon—was it Caucas*
ian lineage that made them great?
Not so! Not a drop of white blood
ran in their veins. These celebrated
characters were of pure Ethiopian or
igin, their faces were black as mid
night, and their progenitors were un
tutored—yet they disclosed genius of
the very highest order, particularly
L’Ouverture and Blind Tom.
The celebrated Haytian patriot,
born a slave, of pure blooded African
parents, displayed military capacity
w'hich not only defied the armies of
England and Spain, but baffled the
genius of Napoleon. Toussaint was
one of the most dazzling military fig
ures of the world; but that was not
all. He possessed other remarkable
talents and was a statesman of the
loftiest type. In an eloquent pane
gyrie pronounced upon L’Ouverture
by Wendell Phillips, that famous orat
or placed the name of the Negro in
the niche of fame above the names of
Napoleon, Cromwell and Washington.
Everyone Will not concur in this ex
travagance, but one must concede that
the famous Haytian was brilliant, wise
gentle, noble, human, honest, upright,
patriotic. At last he fell by perfidy—
the victim of Caucasion treachery.
Phyllis Wheatley was born in the
jungles of Africa. She was kidnap
ped when a naked little girl only eight
years old and ruthlessly torn from her
native hut in the midst of the birds
and butterflies and blossoms of her
tropic hr>me. She was taken across
the ocean three thousand miles away
to America and sold like a beast at
public auction in the slave market of
the Caucasians. But the soul and in
spiration of a poet were concealed be
neath the coal black skin of this Ethio
pian. When she had been in touch
with civilization only about six years,
that is to say, when she was fourteen
years of age, she began to write vers
es—remarkable verses. Her Caucas
ian masters were kind to her and as
sisted her to get an education. Soon
she attracted widespread attention'.
At last the white race on two contin
ents paid, her homage and the most
learned scholars and celebrated writ
ers of the world were forced to ac
knowledge her a poetess of distinction
and a woman of letters and genius.
Blmd Tom s Talents —
Blind Tom was born sightless and
nearly idiotic. Yet deep in the recess
es of his benighted mind was planted
a most marvelous spark of genius—
genius inherited, perhaps from some
civilized black ancestor who had lived
in the heart of Africa ten thousand
years ago. Without learning or cap
acity to get learning, unable to read
or write and scarcely able to tell his
own name, this remarkable character,
after listening once to the mot diffic
ult and complicated classical music,
could sit down at the piano and exe
cute the piece as perfectly as the most
accomplished master. He is said to
have memorized five thousand pieces
of music, including many works of the
greatest composers.
How can the phenomenal talents
of these three remarkable characters
be accounted for? Toussaint L’Ouv
erture was a military genius. Phyl
lis Wheatley was a literary marvel.
Blind Tom was a musical prodigy.
Where did these surpassing attributes
of civilization come from? How can
they be explained except upon the hy
pothesis that these characters were
atavisms leaping back over centuries
and millenniums to an epoch of high
civilization in the lost ages of Africa?
— THE ONLY WAY
While it is a miserable feeling for
one to have to bear in mind continual
ly that he is constantly on trial, the Ne
gro must realize that he has to win his
way. Nobody will do this for him.
Such has been the history of all op
pressed people. The Negro must
make friends of his enemies; and those
of other races, who are neutral with
respect to the race he must bring a
round to the liberal point of view.
While others are daily trying to turn
them against us we should be equally
as diligent in' combating such efforts.
As a rule we never think seriously
of losing ground in the social and eco
nomic spheres until the thing has act
ually happened. We are too much
inclined to go through the World like
children playing and never thinking
about the noise they are making until
it has gone to the extent that others
annoyed thereby drive them away. We
go off then to ourselves, either to a
buse our foes or to express ourselves
vociferously in one of our usual where
as_therefore—be—it—resolved meet
ings.
There are numerous instances of
Negroes who endeavor to win friends
in other races, but unfortunately the
methods used are productive of more
harm than good. Most of such efforts
are no more than begging, cringing, or
pleading for mercy. Such confessions
of —weakness do us much injury.
Others observing us in this attitude
lose whatever respect they have had
for us. Real men will always have
contempt for beggars and cowards.
The only way for the Negro to
win the respect of —others is through
real worth. Then, he must not cringe.
He must not cower. He must become
just as clean, just as industrious, just
as thrifty, and just as upright as any
others in the community. He must
not ask for opportunity; he must make
it. He must not beg for liberty; he
must demand it as a man equal in
worth to others of the social order.
LABOR’S WORST ENEMY
Is opportunity being closed to the
youth of America? That is the logic
al question that arises when the facts
surrounding many recent labor con
troversies are investigated.
In an astonishing number of occu
pations, ranging all the way from semi
skilled to highly skilled labor, union
membership is absolutely essential to
obtaining employment in a “free”
country. The closed —shop rules su
preme. Furthermore, the “closed
union” has lately put in its appearance.
That is, the union refuses to take more
members, on the grounds that it now
has all the members for whom work
can be found. Thus, the young man
looking for a job is confronted by the
fact that he cannot get a job unless he
joins a union—and that the union will
not accept him, even though he can
afford the initiation fee, which in some
cases is very high—$200 for example.
To make matters worse, the sen
iority’ question has now been brought
up, and was a major issue in the San
Francisco department store strike.
Workers demand unions that are clos
ed to new members; that employers
choose from the existing membership,
and that the seniority system control
promotions. A young worker, there
fore, can hardly get work, or if he does
and has exceptional ability, he is held
back l^y an inflexible rule which makes
age or tenure of service the main ar
biter for advancement.
That state of affairs is reaction,
not progress. And, if carried far
enough, the honest union and the am
bitious working man will find that a
so-called labor movement which closes
opportunity to the young, and makes
the employer impotent in selecting
help, will be their own worst enemy.
WHFiLN THE FARMER PROSPERS
When the farmers of a rural com
munity prosper so do the business
men,” says the Dairymen’s League
News. ‘‘When a farmer is not pros
perous, goods lie on the shelves and
the village merchant finds business is
very, very dull.”
That’s one of the reasons why
progressive business men favor the
agricultural cooperative marketing
movement. Moving farm crops on a
business basis means more prosperous
farmers—and that means more pros
perous local and national business and
industry.
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