THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St.
Omaha, Nebraska
Phone WEbster 1517
Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1S2<,
at the Post Office at Omaha, Nebr., under
Act of Congress of March 3, 1870.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YEAR
All News Copy of Chrurches and add Organi
zations must be in our office not later than
5:00 p. m. Monday for currcn issue. All Adver
tising Copy or Paid Articles not later than
Wednesday noon, preeeeding date of issue, to
insure publication. ______
Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of
God and the Rrotherhood of Man must prevail.
These are the only principles whil will stand
the acid test of good.
EDITORIALS
-oOo
WINGS OVER JORDAN
(by Claude R. Barnett, ANP)
There are two forces foremost in
the development of the economic, social
and spiritual life of the twelve million
Negroes living in the United States.
These are the Negro church and the
Negro newspapers. The church, by vir
tue of its intimate and direct approach
and its long and effective service,
stands first. Next in in fluence and im
portance is the newspaper.
To those not familiar with our ra
cial life, the extent and scope of this
section of the country’s press, edited
and printed tjy colored people for color
ed people, may be surprising: for it
forms the largely purely “class” group
of publications being produced by any
one racial minority in America. The Je
wish group of some 70 papers is next.
There are more than 300 publica
tions of various types published by Ne
groes. Roughly about 150 are secular
newspapers, issued weekly. The others
are magazines, religious, fraternal or
educational publications devoted to
some special cause. There is one daily,
published in Atlanta, Ga.
What has brought about the need
for these separate papers? What is
their function?
There are twelve million black citi
zens in the United States who live what
might be termd a dual existence!—a
circumstance develops as a result of
color and race. This great multitude
lives and thinks first as Americans—
but, faced on every hand by disadvan
tages, based chiefly on color, they look
upon the world through a glass
darkly—always forced to consider its
foibles and activities from another
viewpoint, that of Negro Americans as
well.
The daily papers which chronicle
the world’s happenings rarely give
space to the achievements and progress
being made by these darker Americans
—who live so often apart—segregated,
I
if not unconsidered. Custom has de
creed that the principal space devoted
by the general news sections of daily
newspapers to the doings of Negroes
shall be given over to reports of either
crime or comedy. That is why so many
people regard most Negroes as crimi
nally inclined or as simply funny. This
belief springs from the type of news
w hich is constantly served them.
In order, therefore, to learn what
constructive developments are going
on among his owrn people—in order to
get a viewpoint of national and world
events as they may effect his own par
ticular and proscribed environment,
the Negro reads first the daily for their
general infomation, and then these
special publications, which make a bus
iness of reporting the economic, social
religious, sporting and political affairs
of the wrorld as they occur in relation
to this somew'hat separate existence
which he is forced to live.
Today our papers are more nearly
carriers of news. They still voice the
protests of the group and lead the van
in fighting for civil right, — they
serve to paint a complete picture of ra
cial progress as wrell.
_#
CYNICAL ATTITUDE
• • • i
A cynical attitude it was, the one
shown by Judge E. L. Walker of Rust
on, Louisiana, scene of the sixth lynch
ing of a Negro this year, when he ac
cepted the report of a special grand
jury summoned to investigate the
crime which stated that it did not have
sufficient evidence to return indict
ments.
The most recent victim, W\ C. Wil
liams, age 19, was seized by mob of
more than 1,000, hanged to a pine tree
in the woods near Ruston after which
his body was riddled with bullets and
burned. One member of the mob tried
to kick out the flames so that William’s
fingerprints could be taken and com
pared with those found on an automo
bile which held the body of a murder
ed white man, for whose death Wil
liams was lynched. The local sheriff,
Bryan Thigpen, reported that he had
rushed to the woods to plead with the
mob to turn the Negro boy over to him
after he heard of his capture, but that
the leader of the lynchers threatened
to shoot the boy on the spot if the of
ficer tried to take him by force.
Despite these facts, Judge Walker
announced that he felt the special
grand jury in returning its verdict on
October 19, had “thoroughly and con
scientiously investigated the matters”
submitted to it and “fully and honor
ably discharged” its duty.
The five other Negro victims of
lynch law murder this year are Wash
Adams, at Columbus, Miss., July 10,
beaten to death; Tom Green, shot and
burned at Rolling Fork, Miss., July 6;
Claude Banks, shot to death at Canton,
Miss., July 21; John Dukes, shot and
burned at Arabi, Ga., July 9; Otis Price
throat cut and shot at Perry, Fla., Aug
ust *b —Washington Tribune,
A REPORT ON LIFE INSURANCE
Impartiality and a relentless search
for facts characterize the activities of
the Twentieth Century Fund. There
fore it is always interesting to note its
reports on various industries and pro
blems. Here is what it says of life in
surance: “Of all the major classes of
private credit institutions, life insur
ance companies—were least disturbed
by the depression, in spite of an in
crease in policy loans in the worst per
iod. Their growth was checked some
what at that time, but never was there
a serious shrinkage. Even though un
employment and bad business reduced
the flow of savings, the reputation of i
the insurance companies for solidity
attracted investors.”
The institution of life insurance,
like many other great human achieve
ments, is taken for granted. The se
curity it represents to millions of in
dividuals has become so familiar that
its social implications are submerged
in indifference. But it should not be
forgotten that the institution of life
insurance is another magnificent ex
ample of the manner in which private
enterprise has kept abreast of the
changing social and economic demands
of a nation.
--
CREATOR OF JOBS
The increase in residential const
ruction is one of the Very best signs
now dotting the economic horizon.
As an article in the Wall Street
Journal points out, of every dollar
spent for a home, almost 50 cents goes
for the purchase of materials—lumber,
bricks, fnetals, ceme(nt, etc. “These
figures,” in the words of the article,
“show clearly the tremendous impact
of building both employment and de
mand for goods, and consequently up
on the general business trend, and em
phasize the possible importance of the
present upturn in home building upon
the general economic welfare of the
country.
Furthermore, the labor created by
home building is far from being con
fined to the men actually employed up
on the job. The United States Hous
ing Authority says that indirect labor
actually benefits more than direct. It
estimates the direct labor time employ
ed for each dollar of expenditure, at
24 minutes, while indirect labor gets
36 minutes’ work per dollar.
From the standpoint of the pros
pective home owner, “build now” is no
idle slogan. There is an abundance of
capital ready to go into mortgages on
the homes of responsible builders. In
terest rates have been materially re
duced, and the time for paying off the
principal greatly extended. The man
who plans wisely, and doesn’t set his
heart on a dwelling beyond his means,
will usually find that he can own a far
better home for as little each month as
he nowr pays in rent.
More powrer to the residential con
struction movement. It is one of the
keys to real and sound recovery.
TAKING INVF/NTORY
When we find the going slow' and
realize that the upward road is always
getting harder instead of easier to as
cend, do wre stop and wmnder why? Do
we ever think to ask ourselves the ques
tion, “Am I going about this in the
right wn(y”? If we have not, now is
an excellent time to do so. We will
learn that the going is not as slow as it
seems and that the upward road is not
nearly as rocky as wTe believed it at
first.
Self confidence is that mighty lev
eler of the multitudinous hardships we
meet on our journey through life. It
along with the will to do, saves us from
the pits of failure and aids us to reach
the gates of success.
Business is showing considerable
vitality. Even when the war scare was
at its height, it didn’t go back a great
deal on the whole, though security pric
es sagged. Today, with business cer
tain that hostilities have been postpon
ed for some time, it is moving up
steadily.
There are some dark spots in the pic
ture, of course. One big one is the dil
emma of the railroads—the upshot of
the wage negotiations willl to a large
extent determine the immediate future
of this industry. In some areas labor
troubles remain an unsettling factor,
and there are rumors of more strikes
ahead. If these occurr on a large
scale, the entire outlook could be quick
lyl changed for the worse.
In the meantime, retail trade is im
proving in most parts of the country,
production is picking up in all lines of
raw manufactured goods, and con
struction is going forward. New life
in construction, as a matter of fact, is
ono of the very best of the business
omens.
Dentist: You yelled like a wild
rain—I though at least you had a lit
tle nerve
Patient (nursing jaw): I (M'lfatt’ll
find it in that tooth. i % f g H
__ £ i * § ?! *
BUYERS’ GUIDE by Clarence H. Peacock
7J4, '> —-:-——~——•
A number of the readers of this
column who are interetsted in going in
to business for themselves have made
inquiries concerning the opportunities
for Negroes in the retail automotive
field.
I would like to point out that, the
average yearly sales per store in the
automotive group is higher than any
other type of Negro retail business.
Motor vehicle dealers have an average
sale of $16,200 a year. Household ap
pliance stores come second with an av
erage yearly sale of $12,333. Lumber
and building material dealers are third
with an average annual sale of $9,333.
The depression has had little effect
on the number of stores operated by
Colored people in the retail automo
tive group. In 1929 there were 880
stores and in 1935 there were 779 stor
es run by Negroes. These 779 stores
have total sales amounting to $1,328,
000 a year, they employ more than 344
people and pay over $191,000 a year in
salaries.
In these United States there are
over 30,041,000 owners of pleasure
cars, these cars consume daily about
60,000,000 gallons of gasoline. There
are over 87,621 cars owned by Colored
people in the states along the Atlantic
coast from Maine to South Carolina.
North Carolina leads the other states
in the number of cars owned by Negro
es with 25,304 cars, South Carolina has
19,642, Pennsylvania has 18,897, New
York has 18,164 and Virginia has 15,
518.
Colored people spend over $132,000
000 annually for gasoline and oil, but
very little of this amount is returned
to Colored circles. There are only a
bout 783 filling stations operated by
Negroes in the entire country. The
total annual sales of these stores is ap
proximately $2,946,000 and the total
payroll for their 433 employees is over
$217,000 a year.
For those people that contemplate
going into business in this field, I
would like to bring to their attention
some of the mistakes made by a major
ity of Negro employers at the beginn
9 *
ing of their careers. These mistakes
were pointed out in an editorial in the
July issue of the Oportunity magazine.
Among the mistakes may be listed
these things:
1. They try to sell their goods
and services to Negroes on a basis of
color instead of merit. Instead of try
ing to improve their products and ser
vices, they spend too much time capit
alizing on color.
2. Too often Negro employers
fail to make intelligent studies of their
businesses to learn how they really
should be operated. Because of this
serious mistakes in operation are of
ten made.
3. They are short sighted and
selfish when it comes to paying fail
wages and providing job security.
I 4. Negro employers make a fat
al mistake when they fail to realize
that buyers of foods and services in
variably go to the place where they can
get the best products for their money.
5. They also charge as much as
other business men for their wares, yet
they often want their employees to
work for less.
To increase your employment op
portunities and the opportunities for
the race—patronize our Colored papers
and buy their advertised products.