DEWEY SETS FORTH EIOHT-POINT PLAN - -STORY BELOW
LARGEST ACCREDITED NEGRO NEWSPAPER WEST OF CHICAGO AND NORTH OF KANSAS CITY
Entered .s second cu» M.tter at po.t office, Omaha. Nebr., under Act of March «. 1874. Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday, March 9, 1940 Volume Twelve Number 51
Business Phone WE. 1517 9 9 * 1 1
NEGRO NEWSPAPER PRESS REPRESENTATIVES AND PUBLISHERS
HOLD CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO
Twenty-eight publishers and ex
ecutives repiresenthig 21 weekly
papers from New York to Nebras
ka met in Chicago for three days
last week and organized the Negro
Newspaper Publishers association.
This picture, taken during the con
ference, l-epresents what is prob
ably the largest group of Negi‘0
publishers ever to gather at one
time. First row, left to i*ight, Miss
Fannie McConnell, conference
stenographer; William L. Sherrill,
assistant editor, Michigan Chron
icle; Rev. J. C. Robinson, editor A.
M.E. Church Review; Jacob R. Tip
per, publisher Chicago World; Mrs.
Marian Downer, manager, Chicago
office Pittsburgh Courier; Anth
ony Overton, publisher, Chicago
Bee; Cecil E. Newman, publisher,
Minneapolis Spokesman; Frank
Stanley, editor, Louisville Defend
er; Russell Cowans, Detroit Trib
une. Second row* Charles Estelle
business manager, Pittsburgh Ex
aminer; D. Arnett Murphy, vice
president, Afro-American; John H.
Sengstacke, general manager Chi
cago Defender; Otto F. Rohadfox,
sports editor, Syracuse Progress
ive Herald; G. James Fleming, ed
itorial consultant, Philadelphia
Tribune; Lewis O. Swingler, man
ager, Memphis World; James B.
Morris, publisher, Iowa Bystander;
Mrs. Frank La Staff, home econo
mist; J. A. G. LaValle, Washing
ton, D. C. Third Row: Thomas W.
Young, business manager, Journal
and Guide; A. N. Fields, Chicago
office, Pittsburgh Courier; C. A.
Franklin, publisher Kansas City
Call; Joseph B. Brown Jr., publish
er, Postal Alliance; Louis E. Mar
tin, editor, Michigan Chronicle;; G.
C. DeJoie Jr., managing editor,
Louisiana Weekly; Augustus G.
Shields, adyertising manager, Mem
phis World and C. C. Galloway,
publisher, Omaha Guide.—Gushin
iere photo.
Sengstacke Heads New Negro News
paper Ass’n.; The Guide A Member
CHICAGO, 111.—Twenty-eight publish-"
ers and executives representing 21 papers
from New York to Nebraska organized the
Negro Newspaper Publishers Assoc, and
elected John H. Sengstacke, general manager
of the Chicago Defender, its first president in
a three-day conference which closed here
Saturday, March 2.
--
Chief topic of discussion was
national advertising Machinery for
making an exhaustive survey of
the Negro market was set in mot
ion. Later this data will be drama
tized and presented to the large
advertisers and their agencies.
D. Arnett Murphy, advertising
manager of the Afro-American,
Baltimore, Md., and C. A. Franklin,
publisher of the Kansas City Call,
conducted panel discussions on this
subject. .
Elon G. Borton, president of the
Chicago Federated Advertising
club, addressed the meeting Friday
He discussed the means by which
Negro papers could more effect
ively penetrate the national adv
ertising field.
Panels on editorial policy were
conducted by Mr. Sengstacke and
Thomas W. Young, business man
ager of the Journal and Guide,
Norfolk, Va.
A publishers’ information com
mittee was designated to compile
facts on issues affecting the gen
eral welfare of the race, and to
disseminate that information to
the member papers.
The group also adopted a reso
lution favoring the formation of a
non-profit newsgathering organiz
ation controlled by the publishers.
The Saturday meeting, devoted
to “building our business,” was
presided over by G. James Flem
ing, representing the Philadelphia
Tribune.
in the permanent organization
plan adopted, membership will be
restricted to “independent, secular
newspapers sold to the general
reading public.” Representatives
admitted to sessions must be cor
porate officers or business mana
gers of the member newspapers.
Other officers elected are Thom
as W. Young, Norfolk Journal and
Guide, secretary-treasurer; D. Ar
nett Murphy, Baltimore Afro-Am-!
erican, eastern vice president; Ja-!
cob R. Tipper, publisher of the |
Chicago World, midwestern vice
president; Frank L. Stanley, edi
tor of the Louisville Defender,
southern vice-president, and C. A.
Franklin, publisher of the Kansas
City Call, western vice president.
Chicago again was chosen as the
next meeting place. The date, to
be designated by the president, will
be between February 1 and 15,
1941.
Others attending the sessions
were Russell J. Cowans, Detroit
Tribune; Joseph B. Brown Jr.,
publisher of the Postal Alliance;
Cecil E. Newman, publisher of the
Minneapolis Spokesman; James B.
Morris, publisher of the (DesMoin
es) Iowa Bystander; C. C. Galloway
publisher of The Omaha (Nebr.)
Guide, Ivorey Cobb, publisher and
Charles Estelle, business manager
of the Pittsburgh Examiner.
Also Otto F. Rohadfox, sports
editor of the Syracuse (N. Y.) Pro
gressive Herald; Rev. J. G. Robin
son, editor of the AME. Church Re
view, Philadelphia; C. C. DeJoie,
Jr., managing editor of the Louisi
ana Weekly, New Orleans;; Lewis
O. Swingler, manager and August
us G. Shields, advertising manager
of the Memphis World; Anthony
Overton, publisher of the Chicago
Bee; Burton W. Lewis, publisher of
the Metropolitan Post, Chicago.
Also Louis E. Martin, editor
Samuel G. Phillips, advertising
manager, and William L. Sherrill,
assistant editor of the Michigan
Chronicle, Detroit;; Mrs. Marion
Downer, manager of the Chicago
office, Pittsburgh Courier, and
Dowdal H. Davis, advertising man
ager of the Kansas City Call.
Publishers Conference Pays Respect To
Memory of Robert S. Abbott
CHICAGO, March 6, (ANP) —
Representatives of many of the
nation’s leading Negro papers, ga
thered here in a national confer
ence called Thursday by John H.
Sengstacke, vice president and gen
' eral manager of the Chicago De
fender, took time out from opening
sessions to pay tribute to the
memory of Robert S. Abbott, edit
or of the Defender who died a few
; hours before the conference began.
Dewey Makes roundersDay Speech
LINCOLN, Nebr.-Thomas E. Dewey de
clared in a speech here Wednesday night, that “after
seven years of harrowing the country the New Deal
has not yet scratched the surface of the farm prob
lem” and added that under the present Administra
tion “politiculture has triumphed over agriculture.”
At the same time he set forth an eight-point
plan which he declared to be “part of any proper agri
cultural program, but only a part.”
Mr. Dewey, outstanding candidate for the
Republican nomination for President, spoke before a
Founders’ Day for Nebraska mass meeting in the col
iseum of the University of Nebraska, the speech
was broadcast over a National Broadcasting Comp
any network.
The eight-point plan outlined by Mr. Dewey
follows, in brief:
1. “Establish a fair parity be
tween agricultural prices and in
dustrial prices.”
This, he said, “is essential to the
well-being of the nation,” and can
be achieved in two ways—“by rais- j
ing agricultural prices,” and “by
reducing industrial prices.” He [
added that “the practical ideal is
a combination of both.”
2. “Provide government crop
loans at reasonable levels.”
Mr. Dewey said: “Agriculture,
like industry, is entitled to ade
quate credit. It is absolutely nec
essary to insure the orderly mar
keting of crops—Crop loans should
be part of the broad program to
restore balance prices between ag
riculture and industry.”
3. “Adopt a direct program of
soil conservation.”
He said: “Under the present Ad
ministration soil conservation has
been used as a devious method of
exercising crop control. The next1
Administration must see to it that
conservation ceases to be a subter
fuge for control. But it is not e
nough to check the waste of land
by erosion. The fertility of the
soil must be maintained and im
proved, with the assistance of gov
ernment funds.”
4. “Convert sub-marginal land
to more economic uses.”
5. “Extend the farm cooperat
ive movement.”
Mr. Dewey said: “Much can be
done by government to spread and
further this work and to protect
cooperatives from those who un
dermine them.”
6. “Continue and extend the
program for marketing agreem
ents.”
Citing the experience in New
York State where such agreements
are “bringing a better price for
dairy products,” Mr. Dewey add|
ed: “Government can do much to
advance the effectiveness of this
Noted Editor Robert S.
ABBOTT DIES
HEALTH WEEK SET FOK
MARCH 31—APRIL 7
Washington, March 6, (ANP) —
National Negro Health Week will
be observed this year during the
week of March 31-April 7, accord
ing to an announcement from the
United States Public Health Serv
ice.
......-____
program.”
7. “Preserve the American inar
ket for American agriculture.”
On this point, Mr. Dewey said
that “in seeking to expand our for
eign trade we must make no con
cessions which tend to depress do
mestic prices or subject our own
producers to tindair 'competition
from abroad. Agriculture is en
titled to the same protection as in
dustry enjoys.”
8. “Broaden research in the use
of agricultural products."
In this connection Mr. Dewey de
clared that “a research program of
fers a prospect not only of increas
ing the farmer’s market but of ex
panding our whole economy.” He
said this field “has as yet scarcely
been touched," and added that “if
the New Deal Administration” had
spent in agricultural research one
per cent of the money it has wast
ed, American agriulture would be
years further ahead today.
He went on: “and when we get
an Administration with which in
dustry can cooperate, I believe in
dustry alone will do more in this
field in one year than the New Deal
has done in seven.”
In setting forth his eight-point
plan, Mr. Dewey spoke as a man
“who was born and raised in a rur
al community in Michigan” and
whose “only savings are invested
in a farm." Before stating his
program he warned that he knows
“of no single scheme that will
solve the farm problem overnight,
and after he had enumerated the
various points and elaborated up
on them, he said.
“Those are, I believe, parts of
any proper agricultural program.
But they are only part. And they
will fail just as the New Deal has*
failed and just as surely unless
they are part of a larger program
to revive our whole national econ
omy.”
Mr. Dewey expressed his belief
that, in working toward a solution
of the farm problem;; “government
must first seek the advice of the
farmers rather than the advice of
cloistered theorists. Then it must
act on that advice.
And it must see that the farm
program fits into a consistent na
tional program. For the solution
will not be found on the farm alone
Fundamentally the solution lies in
once more achieving health, vital
ity and balance in our entire econ
omy.
“We cannot have a prosperous
agriculture amid a prostrate Am
erica. We cannot have a prosper
ous America with a prostrate agri
culture.”
Again attacking the New Deal
philosophy of despair, Mr. Dewey
said that “if any theory was ever
destroyed by the plainest facts, it
is this defeatist theory of the New
Deal.”
“It is not America that is stat
ic,” he said. “It is the New Deal
that is sterile.
“It is in default to the American
people. It is time to foreclose the
New Deal.”
In closing, Mr. Dewey said:
“My faith lies in the God-fearing
people who grow food, who fashion
the goods; who, by the lives they
live, serve their fellow men.
“My faith lies in 130 million free
Americans, free to produce, free to
live, and free to go forward again
to their own, their natural destiny”
^ FUNERAL MONDAY IN CHICAGO
Chicago, March 6 (AP)—Robert Seng-i
stacke Abbott, who built the Chicago Defen-. •
der into the first big newspaper owned by Ne-s
groes, is dead. f
In ill health for several years, and ini:
recent months confined to his mansion onj i
! South Parkway, the noted editor passed awayj}
jin his sleep at eight o'clock Thursday morn-.j
ing. He was 69 years old. , i
_-h
1 Funeral services were to be held
Monday at the Metropolitan Com
munity Church, with many notables
of both races in attendance. Rev.
Archibald Carey, assisted by Revs.
Evans and Bennett, were to offic
iate with burial in the Lincoln
cemetery.
It was on Nov. 24, 1870, that Mr.
Abbott was born at St. Simon’s is
land, near Savannah, Ga. The son
of slave parents, he was given
schooling at Savannah and in Claf
lin college and Hampton institute,
finishing the printing trade at the
latter institution and singing with
the glee club.
Coming to Chicago in 181)5 at lin
age of 25, he attended the Kent
college of law and received his
LLB. After practicing for a few
years in Gary, Ind., he abandoned
the profession and secured employ
ment as a printer with the ambit
ion of founding a newspaper to
fight segregation. His first ven
ture was a daily, but it did not last
long.
On May 5, 1905, there appeared
the first issue of the Defender. For
several years, during the struggle
to survive, it was published in the
living room of an apartment on
State street. From the start, Ab
bott carried on a bitter fight ag
ainst southern Negrophobes and
sought to encourage the race as a
whole.
Surrounding himself with able
men, he saw the Defender grow
phenomenally in 10 years. Then
came World War 1 and entry by
the United States into the conflict.
Abbott fought uncompromisingly
for the rights of Negro soldiers
and the colored southerner who
came north to work in industry.
His circulation grew by leaps and
bounds.
In 1921, when the Negroes who
went to France to fight for dem
ocracy had returned and were
fighting, with Abbott’s help, ag
ainst discrimination at home, the
Defender had grown to such pro
portions that it became necessary
to move to its present quarters on
Indiana avenue. Its circulation,
according to publisher’s figures,
was 205,000.
It is said that at its peak money
came in so swiftly from circulation
representatives that the clerks
tossed money orders into paper
boxes, counting them only when the
day’s last mail deliveries had b'jen
made.
oe that as it may, Abbott became
a millionaire. At that time he paid
himself a salary of $2,500 weekly.
This was in contrast with stories
of the editor’s early days of strug
gle, when he wore patched clothes,
went without food, and begged the
assistance of friends.
Twice he had to oust key workers
from the newspaper after he be
came convinced they were robbing
the business. The first major
shakeup was in 1924 and the last
was in 1934. Minor shakeups oc
curred frequently.
In the past 14 years, the rise of
other strong papers in key locat
ions cut into the Defender’s circu
lation and revenue. In 1931 he
launched the ill-fated Abbott’s
Monthly which, together with oth
er losses sustained by business gen
erally during the depression, ate in
r * s
to his reserve. During the past -
few years the Defender has been
fighting to regain much of the
ground lost in the past decade and
a half.
Always interested in the advan
cement of his race, Abbott was ac
tive in fields other than newspap
er. He made trips to Europe and
South America to bind together™
Negroes and natives of these for-S
eign lands. Here in the United"
States, he was awarded honoraryg
degrees by Morris Brown college^
and Wilberforce University. 2.
Had he desired, he could have re-*
ceived many political posts but heo
always declined. During World 0
War 1 he served as a speaker on^
various Liberty Loan drives, was!
an advisor to the Southside draft^j
board, and served on Gov. Lowdens*
©
Race Commission after the 1919-i
©
race riots. He was also a life**
o
member of the Art institute and
Historical society and received theg
highest honor of Kappa Alpha Psia
fraternity for distinguished serv-g
ice to his race. o
Mr. Abbott first married Helen.
Thornton of Athens, Ga., in 1918.jj
They were divorced in 193.3, Lately
he married the widow of Col. Fran-3
klin Dennison who survives him.3
Other survivors are his nephew,J
John H. Sengstacke, vice president?
and general manager of the De-j
fender; two sisters in Savannah,*
Miss Rebecca Sengstacke and Mrs.;
Eliza McKay, and two other neph-i
ews and four nieces in Chicago.
DR. CARVER ASKS SOUTHERN
AID FOR SCIENCE FOUND
ATION
Appeal Follows Donation of Life
Savings to Carry on Work—“I’m
Only a Trail Blazer for Those Who
Come After Me," He Says.
Tuskegee Institute, Ala., March
6, (ANP) Last Sunday, while
discussing his recently announced
donation of his life savings of $33,
000 for development of the George
Washington Carver* Foundation
here at Tuskegee Institute, Dr.
Carver said he hoped the South
would lead in contributions to the 1
proposed $2,000,000 foundation, as
its aim is “to serve all the people."
Dr. Carver, who for more than
0 years has been teaching and con
ducting his experiments at Tuske
gee, parachuted the lowly peanut
into a $60,000,000 industry and has
discovered over 300 practical uses
for the peanut, among them being
his now famed treatment for in
fantile paralysis.
I m only a trail blazer for those
who come after me,” declared the
76 year old scientist who, several
years ago, turned down the $60,000
a year offer of Henry Ford to
transfer his talents to the Ford
scientific laboratories at Dearborn.
The Carver foundation, when
completed, explained the scientist,
will include nine laboratories, three
for chemistry and one each devot- ;
ed to soils, bacteriology, botany,
plant breeding the physics. The
clinic for treatment of infantile
paralysis established at Tuskegee
Intitute by the national foundation
will also be included in the Carver
Foundation.