1 THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St.
Omaha, Nebraska
Phone WEbster 1517
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
sations must be in our office not later than
5:00 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. t ___
Raco prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of
God and the Brotherhood of Alaa must prevail.
These are the only principles whil will stand
the acid test of good.__
EDITORIALS
NEGRO NEWSPAPERS
What are these vital factors in
life, of which Negroes must be made
aware and which would be lost sight
of were it not for the Negro news
paper?
First, their is the church; separate
organization and churches are the rule
in America. Knowledge regarding the
far flung activities of the Negro
church, touching as it does every sec
tion of the country and reaching even
into Africa, can be obtained only
through these special newspapers.
Second, Negro business; in particu
lar fields we have ventured into com
merce. In insurance, for example,
there are some 30 accredited compan
ies, owned and controlled, officered and
staffed by our racial group. These
companies employ 9,000 people, have
insurance in force amounting to $500,
000,000 and assets equalling 20 million
dollars. There are 24,701 retail busi
nesses owned and operated by this
group and scattered throughout the
north and south, whose sales for the
year aggregated $101,146,043.
The publicity, encouragement and
support which makes these enterprises
possible, the education of their client
ele, so that enough racial interest will
be engendered to encourage the devel
opement of such institutions, comes
principally from the Negro newspaper.
Third is the field of labor. The
greater proportion of Negro workers
are laborers. Faced by barriers erect
ed by organized labor, banned from
many unions on the basis of color, the
Negro faces the insuperable task of
trying to earn a living in a wrorld w-here
unemployment is rife and all but the
most meagre and menial opportunities
closed to him.
He turns to his newspapers in an
attempt to find information upon these
questions which face him. The most
effective method through wrhich the
Negro public is enabled to know of in
stances of gross discrimination against
the race or of violations of constitu
tional rights which occur in various
sections of the country but wdiich af
fect the group as a whole, is through
its newspaper. Without these organs
of information and were it not for the
united action on the part of organiz
ations and individuals which they make
it possible to marshall, the rights of
black Americans, so often trampled
upon, would have very limited protect
ion.
Politically, the Negro for decades
since his emancipation has been bound
to one party. The tradition of Abra
ham Lincoln and the dread spectre of
southern domination of the opposition
political organization were sufficient
to keep him in that political groove.
But a change has come about. The
defection which during recent years
has caused Negro voters by the hun
dreds of thousands to change their po
litical leanings was led by Negro news
papers. It is upon them that he must
depend for an evaluation of whatever
benefits the shift has brought. It is
his recent publications which must an
alyze the dangers inherent in the re
lief program upon which so many of
the race are compelled to depend. It is
these mediums which must point out
the wide variety of discriminations and
inequalities which exist in standards
and quality of relief and federal aid
as dispensed in various sections.
-0O0
REPRESENTATION
Dr. Lorenzo King, pastor of the
great St. Marks ML Church, New
York CLy was an aspirant for a seat
in the congress of the US. in the Nov.
8th election. He is said to have had the
backing of some of Harlem’s leading
forces, where an interesting situation
with regard to the congressional race
developed.
Dr. King has been a stellar attrac
tion for many years in the Methodist
Episcopal church and the fact that
such an upstanding character was
planning to expose the peoples cause in
congress fell with pleasant satisfaction
on the minds of colored citizens in
other sections of the country. A re
presentative in congress is elected, first
of all to represent his district, but all
representatives, whether in the house
or in the senate must interest them
selves in national issues as well. In the
case 01 a iNegro he is expected, even
by enemies of the Race to look out for
the constitional rights of the Negro.
This Doctor King is not only supreme
ly able and willing to do, but he had
thrown the weight of his ability and
influence so much in favor of his dis
advantage people in the church of his
choice that his championing of their
cause kept him from getting some of
the “plums” that otherwise might have
been his. Any honor, power or emolu
ment that might have given Doctor
King would have been richly deserved
and residents of Harlemas well as race
citizens in other parts of the country
wrould confidently look to him for full
representation along with the other
constituents of his district.
It was inevitable that Harlem
should at some time have the courage
and the organization to attempt the
election of a Negro to congress. The
concentration of Negroes in certain
“black belt” of our metropolitan cen
ters may yet serve to affect greatly the
condition of their brothers still bound
in the thralldom of the benighted South
if indeed the balance of power is not
influenced as to entirely liberate those
still subject to the political impotence
of the Southern mush; and it is thus
that an increase of political power for
the Negro of the north may mean the
political emancipation of the Negro
brother below the line.
It was of course unfortunate that
Dr. King should be running against a
man like Gavagan, the sponsor in the
lower house of the anti-lynching bill.
Mr. Gavagan has wrought well, even
tbo the bill did not pass. Negroes of
New York and elsewhere are grateful
for his service, which services were
rendered according to the wishes of
those who elected him. It is greatly to
be desired that there could be some
way to take advantage of the powers
of a man like Doctor King without
seeming ungrateful to Mr. Gavagan.
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DIVIDING THE VOTE
The close gubernatorial campaigns
in the states of Ohio, Pennslyvania and
New York caused attention to be fo
cused on the Negro vote, which proved
a deciding factor in many localities.
Never before was the wisdom of divid
ing our vote better demonstrated than
in the campaign that ended this week.
Prior to the advent of the New Deal
the Negroes had been overwhelmingly
supporters of the Republican party,
with the result that the GOP has gotten
careless and taken their support for
granted. Then the bulk of the vote
shifted to the Democrats party on its
promise to end the depression. After
six years, Negroes as well as whites
have come to realize that there is no
panacea, no easy road to prosperity,
and this new attitude was reflected in
a more even distribution of the Negro
vote between the two major parties.
We believe in the two party system
and the revitalized Republican party
as evidenced in this election will mean
a more vigorous campaign for the
presidency in 1940. And we think that
both parties will give more considera
tion to the Negro in these pivotal states
in the next year and a half.
ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
World War German song and slo
gan was “Deutschland Uber Alles.”
Today, in the opinion of many foreign
correspondents, the Third Reich could
be more or less justifiably placarded
with sings proudly reading “Hitler
uber Europe.” Six years ago Hitler was
generally regarded as a relatively
harmless sword wielder who had small
chance of getting anywhere with the
astounding program laid down in Mein
Kampf—the book he wrote in prison.
Today Hitler dominates the continent
to perhaps a greater degree than any
man since Napoleon, and a remarkable
number of the objectives detailed in
Mein Kampf have been achieved.
Furthermore, Hitler's bloodless at
tainment of Sudeten Czechoslovakia is
certainly one or the greatest triumphs
of what might be termed militant dip
lomacy, m tne history of tne modern
world. No military authorities think
that Germany could have won had Engrtu
land ana France held to their treati
and gone to war. But Hitler interpwe _
ters close to the situation say, deter-""
mined upon a great gamble. He knew
that France and England dreaded war,
and were horrified at the prospect of
what a great air attack would do to
their cities. He knew that a large seg
ment of their population agreed with
the Daladier-Chamberlain policy of
peace at any price, and that those who
wanted to take a stronger line, such as
Eden were apparently in the minority.
And so ie came logically to the conclu
sion that if he stuck to his demands
without compromise, the French and
British would talk a great deal, would
make threats—but also, w'hen the dead
line neared, wrould capitulate. The
great gamble won. The Fuehrer had’
guessed right.
It is of the highest significance that
at the final meeting between Hitler, his
ally Mussolini, Daladier and Chamber
lain, Germany got practically every
thing she demanded—including the de
mands that, a few days earlier, Eng
land and France had said they would
not grant. The French and British
ministers left Munich after approving
a plan that gave to Germany some of
the richest parts of Czechoslovakia and
left the little republic virtually inde
fensible from a military point of view'.
And the next day Hitler, with his con
fidence at its apex, said that he would
support the demands of Hungary and'
Poland for other Czech areas— and
there wras no important protest.
What has been the response to all
this? There is one school in this coun
try which praises the French-British
concessions. But it is a small school,
and the great bulk of commenators and'
newspapers have been bitter in their
denunciaeion of w hat they term a “sell
out” to the dictator that will inevitably
breed more serious troubles later on.
Washington correspondents say that
no one high in our state department
believes Hitler’s statement before—
during the Saar basin controversy, for
instance—and has always broken his
wrork. The general expert feeling is
that this is just the beginning—that he
will let a certain amount of time
elapse, ana’ then turn his attention to
other desired areas, sue has the rich
Ukraine ,and possibly, Alsace-Lorraine
with its great deposits of coal and iron
—two essential materials the Reich al
most entirely lacks a present.
BUYER'S GUIDE by Clarence H. Peacock |
Each year the schools and colleges
throughout the country turn out hun
dreds of young colored men and women
that have been trained' in the chemical
and allied sciences. Many of these
people have tried in vain to secure jobs
in industry and business in their chos
en fields The Negro market offers
many great and varied opportunities
to people of their training and quali
fications in the manufacture, retailing
and merchandising of chemical pro
ducts.
Undoubtedly, many of these young
men and' women have within them ca
pacities for a great business. Negro
business needs more educated and
highly trained people, people that are
capable of developing a high degree of
business efficiency. It is through com
petition and business efficiency that
Negro business will find its way into
the larger field of national competition.
The following will indicate the de
gree to which the Negro market for
chemical products has been and may
be developed.
It is estimated that Colored people
spend over $28,000,000 annually for
paints; $132,000,000 for gasoline and
oil; $4,000,000 for cosmetics; $6,000,000
for proprietary medicines and $2,000,
000 for toothpaste.
Within c?pr groupjs, we have the
following number of potential buyers
of chemical products. $18,293 paint
ers, glaziers, varnshers and enamelers;
34,263 barbers, hair dressers and mani
curists; 2,964 undertakers; 545 photo
graphers; 1,482 druggist; 361 assayers
and metallurgists and 38 owners of
chemical factories.
An example of the outstanding Col
ored business successes is this field, is
the Madame C J. Walker company and
the Poro College of Beauty Culture.
The Madame C. J, Walker business re
present an annual outlay of over $30,
000,000 and gives employment to over
15,000 women in beauty parlors and
toiiet article manufacturing. The Poro
business and College of Beauty Culture
founded by Mrs. Annie Malone, repre
sents an investment of well over a mil
lion dollars.
For economic security read our
Colored papers and buy their advertis
ed products.