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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1941)
opinions March of Events comments THE OMAHA GUIDE Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday, June 21, 1941 Page Seven THE OMAHA GUIDE A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER Published Every Saturday at 2418 20 Grant St OMAHA, NEBRASKA I PHONE WEbster 1517 Entered as Second Class Matter Maxell 15. 1927, at the Post Office at Omaha, Nebraska, under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. H. J. Ford, — — — Pres. Mrs. Flurna Coope^, — — Vice Pies. C. C. Galloway, — Publisher and Acting Editor Boyd V. Galloway, — Sec’v and Treas. SUBSCRIPTION RATE IN OMAHA One Year — — — — S2.00 Six Months — — — $1.25 Three Months — — — .75 One Month — — — — .25 SUBSCRIPTION RATE OUT OF TOWN One Year — — — — $2 50 Six Months — — — — $1.50 Three Months — — — $1.00 One Month — — -- — .40 All NevJs Copy of Churches and all organizat ions must be in our -office not later than 1 : 00 p. m. Monday for current issue. All Advertising Copy or Paid Articles not later than Wednesday noon, pro ceeding date of issue, to insure publication. TWO FIREMEN Attention has been called to the Herman Lewis case in this paper sev eral times. And we have been insist ing upon a fair deal for Lewis. We believe he is being persecuted; that other firemen in his company have committed offenses far greater than any Lewis has ever committed. But Lewis has been suspended and charg es have been filed against him with the City Council. Shortly after Lewis w^as suspend ed another fireman was suspended for being drunk on duty; but no charg es wTere filed against him, although this is not the first offense. Why? But Lewis had committed no offense against the lawrs or rules of the Fire Department, but he was brutally beat en by police officers, thrown in jail and fined on twro charges by Judge John W. Battin. We are citizens and taxpayers of Omaha, Herman Lewis is a home-own er and taxpayer. And why stage a raid on his private home and use the result of that raid as an excuse for the charges filed against him. Besides, the convictions? before John Battin have been appealed to the District Court. And before they were heard on appeal, dismissal charges were fil ed against Lewis, using the convict ions? as a basis for such charges. Why the hurry, Commissioner Korisko and Chief Olson? It all adds up to prejudice and fa voritism and injustice toward Lewis. The whole case smells and is offensive to the fairminded people of a free com munity. RAILROAD COMPANIES More has been written about rail roads than any other form of trans portation. Uusually, what has been written was uncomplimentary. Not very long ago, a survey was made among Colored men now engag ed in the practice of law, medicine and dentistry, and it was found that sev enty percent of them during their school days had worked for railroad companies in vacation periods. Heads of the commissary depart ments of the various railroads often would write to Colored colleges and universities and offer employment. And, often, after graduation, the same roads would employ these men so that they might “earn a stake” on which to begin their professional careers. Some times, too, men have remained with the railroads and made careers in their service. Older men in the service of the railroads have also done their full part bv these young men. They have taught them the work through the years, year after year, all over the country as they have entered the ser vice of the roads. And they, and the officials of the railroad companies, have been made more content with life through the consciousness that they helped these young colored men to pre pare themselves for a larger service to their fellows and their country. Much remains to be done by the railroads for their colored workers, but much has been done already. We want the officials of the rail roads to know that we have not been unmindful of the helpful things they have done. Enough has been written about their sins. POOR SIDEWALKS The sidewalks in the Negro com munity are in a very bad state of re pair. In many places they are below the level required by ordinance and pools of water after rains fill them to a depth of twelve to fourteen inches and render them unusable. We suggest to Commissioner Harry Trustin that he take time off and drive around a bit and see what is needed and then correct what needs correcting. An inspector might make practical and helpful suggestions to the property owners, without working a hardship on anyone. NEGRO TEACHERS Last year when the list of teach ers was published as approved by the Board of Education, two Negroes were among them. They were both assigned to the department of phys ical education, one to Long school and the other to Howard Kennedy. In ad dition to the two teachers, Mrs. Bobbie Turner Davis was employed by the School Board in the service of Vocat ional Guidance. Additional teachers should be added. Applicants include persons who hold advanced degrees as well as arts and science degrees. One applic ant holds a Master of Arts degree from Nebraska University and has several credits on his doctor’s degree at the University of California at Berkley. The policy of the board is now settled as to employment of Negro teachers. We would like to see the Board of Education pursue their pol icy by increasing the number of tea chers this year. That action would help all around. NIGHT LAW SCHOOLS A controversy is raging in this state about legal standards and Night Law Schools; about rich schools and poor schools; about the right of poor boys to acquire a legal education and afterwards practice law in the courts of this state. The American Bar Association, composed of and dominated by corpor ation lawyers for the most part, has set up standards for the admission of attorneys. Our State Supreme Court has adopted the standards fixed by the American Bar Association. The plan provides that before a law school can be accredited so as to admit graduat es to take examinations, a certain number of full time professors must be employed; the law library must contain a certain number of volumes and the courses of study must conform to a certain standard. And one other requirement is made; the law school must have assets of $100,000.00, in fac ilities, such as buildings, books, class rooms and other equipment. under this standard, wealth is predominant. A poor boy is thus shut out from this field and probably, with him, a future Chife Justice of the Uni ted States or a President of the Unit ed States. This means, of course, that many men will be deprived of a legal educ ation who otherwise would acquire it. Let us suppose that only the sons of the wealthy or well to do had be come lawyers in the past. In that case many of the ablest lawyers would have been excluded. In that case, Senator James F. Byrnes and Attorney Gener al Robert H. Jackson, who have just been appointed to the United States Supreme Court, could not have been admitted to practice law in Nebraska; could not even have taken the bar ex amination. This is still a people's govern ment. And if our Constitution per mtis any agency of the people to set up a system based upon wealth, the sooner it is amended the better. We want Dean Elmer E. Thom as to fight this matter through to ult imate victory. For if Elmer Thomas is for it, it is right and just. STEADY THERE! (by Ruth Taylor) Have you ever been caught In a panic stricken crowd? If you have, you will never forget the experience. I was on an overcrowded, overbalanc ed boat one time when I was a child and I remember the blind panic of the crowd as the ship listed heavily. They rushed from orte side to anothei^-push ing and crowding, hysteria rising rap idly as the panic spread and the vessel listed more heavily with each surge of the mob. Then, just when it seemed the ship would overturn with the next rush— a man jumped up on the rail and cried out in a calm determined voice, “Steady, there!” The surging crowd stood still for a moment. And in that pause he told them that if they Jtept their heads, they would be safe. They must stand quietly where they were and then cooperate in order to keep the balance of the boat until the capt ain could bring it to shore again. The crowd steadied to his calm counsel and the vessel came safely to its dock. In this hour of international strife an dnational turmoil, we need men who can cry “Steady ,there!”, who can recognize the danger, and plan the way to face it. But even more than this we need people everywhere who can stand steady in the face of im pending disaster, and avert it because they know the value of cooperation and will not be led into blind panic; who can wait until they know the facts and who then can take their proper places in the fight so as to assist the leaders at the helm to bring the ship of state to shore. Even though danger threatens, even though the clouds grow darker, and the storm draws closer, it has not broken. There is no need for panic in this country—now—or later. We must hold steady. Resolution is needed and also work and sacrifice for the all out task of defense. A false sense of security or undue optimism is dangerous—but we must not slip into the corresponding fault of the pessim ism that accepts the w^orst as an estab lished fact—the pessimism that ends in disruptive panic. We must hold steady against those subversive forces who try to a rouse suspicion and fear and whip them into the unthinking, unreasoning terror that sends the crowd into wild rout. Over three hundred years ago— John Bunyan wrote in his “Holy War” “For here lay the excellent wisdom of him that built Mansoul, that the wTalls could never be broken down nor hurt by the most mighty adverse potentate unless the townsmen gave consent there to.” Steady there! That is the immed iate task for all of us. PRAYER AND BROTHERHOOD (by Dr. Charles Stelzle) The “Lord’s Prayer” is familiar to nearly every man, woman and child in this country. It is used on public occasions when a prayer suitable to all classes, and people of all religious be iefs, is desired. But there probably isn’t one person in a thousand who realizes what he is asking for when he presents its petitions. No man can pray this prayer for himself alone. It is a social prayer. There isn’t a single “I” or “my” in it. * Notice the way it begins: Our Fa ther—not my Father. And here are its principal peti tions : “Give US this day OUR daily bread” “Forgive US OUR trespasses” “Lead US not into temptation” “Deliver US from evil” If the spirit of this prayer were accepted we would have the solution of most of our social problems; wars would cease unemployment would be largely taken care of; human hatred would disappear. Suppose, for example, that the man who prayed for daily bread was deeply concerned about his neighbor also getting his daily bread? Nobody would go hungry. Suppose that the man who asked for forgiveness was anxious that oth ers should also be forgiven? It would eliminate hatred. As a matter of fact, the only comment Jesus made upon the prayer which He taught His disciples was this: “If we forgive not men their trespasses, how can your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses?” The man who prays for “deliver ance from evil”, must take care that he does not lead others into tempta tion. The next time you offer this pray er to the Almighty, stop and ask your self—^Am I including my neighbor in this prayer?” If not, you might better quit, because your voice will reach no higher than your own lips. A CALL FOR ACTION (Continued from page six) can count on our support, and we lend them $50,000,000 to stabilize their cur rency. But no other help can even ap proximate the help that an embargo on oil and metals to Japan would give to China. Why don’t we establish an em bargo? Because, say the appeasers, Japan would seize the Dutch East In dies if we embargoed oil. (The ap peasers had other reasons that satisfi ed them just as well in the days before Holland was overrun by the Nazis.) And the oil companies would lose a lot of business. And anyhow we are not at war with Japan, and an embargo would be looked upon as an unfriendly act. So the reasons pile up, and Japan, is able without our active help, to go on conquering China and preparing to conquer the Dutch Indies and the Phil ippines and the rest of the Pacific ter ritories, and ultimately to fight us. We send food to France, and up to the day of Petain’s capitulation we continued the pretense that the men of Vichy were the rulers of a nation in stead of the agents of a conqueror. We have tried, by a diplomatic concession here and a food ship there, to buy Vichy out of the clutches of the Germ an Armistice Commission and the German army. No wonder even the recipients of our bounty sneer at our “humanitarian” gestures. Those ges tures are contemptible because they are neither honest charity nor success ful strategy. We send food to Franco’s Spain. An important American diplomat in Central America said solemnly to me a month ago: “Thank heaven our State Department has the sense to discrim inate between the Axis dictators and Franco. Spain deserves our sympathy and help, and Franco, after all, is a gentleman.” I tried to remind him of the hundreds of thousands of Spanish Republicans tortured, executed, or shut up in jail. I mentioned the pres ence in Spain of uncounted Nazi a gents and soldiers and the German guns at Ceuta and Algeciras. He was unconvinced. Spain was a victim not an accomplice; we could win its good will and save it from the clutches of the Axis. And when the Nazis on the spot and their Spanish supporters ush er in the German troops for the occu pation of Gibraltar and Spain’s bases on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic this American diplomat and his hund red counterparts in the musty offices of the State Department will be shock ed as they were shocked the other day by Vichy’s capitulation—and when they have recovered, it may be too late to keep the Nazis out of the Azores and the Canary Isands. It all goes together, because it is a state of mind. You placate Hitler and Mussolini and Franco and the Jap anese. You prefer soft-words to hard ones, and words to acts. You try to buy what you dare not command. You refuse to recognize facts when they are uncomfortable; and you always prefer diplomatic maneuvers to sturdy resistance. Now it is over. The gentlemen of Vichy, whose robes of office have won such unctuous admiration, are finally admitted to be stark naked even by the .bemused officials in Washington. Nothing is left for us but the necessity to act, and to plan our actions in the light of one cold, shining fact. In Eur ope we have only Hitler to deal with. There are Frenchmen left, and no doubt 90 percent of them hate Hitler with an intensity we cannot even im agine. But there is no France. There are Spaniards, but no Spain. These and the other lands that have been con quered and occupied are no longer na tions; they are raw materials and fac tories and above all bases; and they be long to Adolph Hitler. Our job is immeasurably difficult and absolutely inescapable. We can no longer dodge and prepare ourselves to act at some remove in the future. Our job to combine today with Great Britain—and with every existing anti Nazi element in every country—to de feat Hitler by all the forces at our joint disposal. If this means sending an army to England or Africa we must do it. Certainly it does not mean that now. We have no army ready to send, and if we had, the sending of it would interfere with tasks that nSed doing immediately and at top speed. But it may mean supplying warships and planes, both to protect the goods we ship to Britain and to prevent the Naz is from seizing new strategic points of attacks. Specifically it may mean col laborating with the British fleet and the forces of General de Gaulle to oc cupy the Portguese and French islands and the French African ports before the Germans get there. It means, too, producing goods for the war faster than we have done or thought we could possibly do. It surely means using American ships to carry those goods to the fighting fronts; and this in turn makes it nec essary to wipe out the last legalistic pretense of “neutrality” that stands in the way of our full aid. It means freezing the credits of the Axis powers and ruthlessly preventing goods from reaching them, by whatever round a bout routes. It means breaking off diplomatic relations, which no longer serve even as a useful source of inform ation, and throwing out the agents of our acknowledged enemies. Perhaps more than all, it means carrying on an imaginative political war, in which we make use of every anti-fascist group and individual still free in any country on earth; giving them encouragement and support—and arms, where possible It means, in short, an acceptance of the total meaning of total war and this, I am afraid, demands a revolutionary change in Washington. The appease ment state of mind must be blasted out of the places of power or the fascists will win the battles of the future as they have won every major battle in the past. But this we need not allow. We, the citizens of a free republic, can end the policy of dodging and cringing. We have only to say what we want-out loud and in one voice.