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THE OMAHA GUIDE
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Published Every Saturday at 2418 20 Grant St
OMAHA, NEBRASKA
PHONE WEbster 1517
Entered as Second Class Matter Manch 15. 1927, at
the Post Office at Omaha, Nebraska, under Act of
Congress of March 3, 1879.
H. J. Ford, — — — Pres.
Mrs. Flurna Coopei, — — Vice Pres.
C. C. Galloway, —■ Publisher and Acting Editor
Boyd V. Galloway. — Sec’y and Treas.
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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.
THE MARCH ON W ASHINGTON
Mr. A. Philip Randolph, the bril
liant and dynamic labor leader, has
organized a “March on Washington”
to protest the practice of discrimin
ation against Negro workers in Def
ense Industries and their exclusion
from them. Organizations reaching
every element of Negro life, have join
ed in the plan and it is expected fifty
thousand Negroes will move on Wash
ington. It is the culmination of a long
fight made by leading Negroes and
their papers throughout the country
to save America from herself by forc
ing utilization of the vast productive
labor of the LOYAL TENTH of the
nation’s population. Partly as a re
sult of the threatened “March on Wash
ington”, President Roosevelt has de
nounced discrimination against Ne
gro workers in Defense Industries and
has ordered their employment. Mrs.
Roosevelt since she cannot stop it has
joined it. Secretaries Stimson and
Knox of the War and Navy Depart
ments respectively, have invited Mr.
Randolph to Washington for A CON
FERENCE. That denotes progress,
for it has been but three months when
Secretary of War Stimson was asked
to ban discrimination in his depart
ment, he testily replied that such agit
ation interferes with National Def
ense. To this the NAACP. rejoined:
“We have just begun to fight”.
More power to you, Mr. Rand
olph. May your tribe increase.
FORD SIGNS UNION SHOP
CONTRACT
Last week The Ford Motor Com
pany at Detroit, Michigan, signed a
contract with the U. A. W.-CIO Union
which included the check off under
which the company collects the dues
and pays them to the union.
During the recent election in the
Ford plant to determine whether the A
F. of L. or the CIO. should be the bar
gaining agent, each branch of organ
ized labor sought the support of the
Negro employees. This vote w7as the
balance of pow^er. It went largely to
the CIO. and the CIO. won the election
Nowr the CIO. has signed a con
tract with Ford. And thus comes to a
close of industrial strife in a great
manufacturing company.
This new relation between Ford
and the workers w7as as sure to come as
tomorrow. And while Ford was a
great man in the production field his
view's did not conceive of workers as
men. They w7ere things to be ordered
and directed as so much force.
Happily, this is now7 in the past.
And just as Ford was foremost in the
past in paying the highest wages and
selling the cheapest automobile, we be
lieve he will now become the best ex
ample and exemplar of relations be
tween employer and worker in the
world.
Congratulations, John L. Lewis
and co-workers for the National good.
You have been fair to all workers
through the passing years. And in
that future w7hieh stretches out before
America, wThat you say and what you
do will mean ultimate victory or de
feat.
We congratulate The Ford Motor
Company, also. It has made to Amer
ica and the world a marvelous contri
bution in mass production, high wrages
and reasonably good working condit
ions. Good wishes to all of you.
DR. MARIAN ANDERSON
Temple University last wreek con
ferred the degree of Doctor of Music
upon Marian Anderson,, honoring her
for her world-wide reputation and ac
complishments in music. And in thus
honoring Dr. Anderson they have hon
ored themselves.
Among the Colored People of the
United States today, Dr. Marian An
derson is the number one apostle of
interracial goodwill.
THE STATE OF GEORGIA
Walter D. Cocking, Dean of the
School of Education of the University
of Georgia, in 1939, suggested that a
school be established for both white
and Negro students, to be taught larg
ely by professors from the University
of Georgia Education Department and
where they would practice together an
study educational, Social ,economic,
financial and health problems.
Now, a demand has been made
upon theGovernor of Georgia to dis
miss Dr. Cocking because he favors
education in its true sense and as it
is given in free American communit
ies. The Governor is against Dean
Cocking, but he was reelected by the
Board of Regents of the University of
Georgia by a vote of eight to seven.
That vote is the most enlightened vote
taken in Georgia in several generat
ions.
The hill billies and hoe toters of
Georgia will doubtless force the gov
ernor to dismiss Dean Cocking and
prove he bows to the wishes of the
backward elements of his state. But
the incident proves that there is hope
for the redemption of Georgia from
its long night of ignorance.
And let us not forget to thank
Dean Walter Cocking for his fine con
tribution to American Eduction in the
deep, dark SOUTH.
RUSSIA!
Hitler has invaded Russia. Rus
sia is the present day enigma. Hitler
wants the rich Ukraine, indeed must
have it, if he is to maintain his hold on
Europe.
What can Russia do against the
mechanized Germans? Napoleon dic
tated terms of peace to a Czar of Rus
sia on a river raft more than a century
ago, yet the dull, but cunning Musco
vite was not conquered and proved
that none is invincible. Hitler’s prob
lem is but little different from Nap
oleon’s, Nor is Stalin more or less a
fraid of Hitler than was the Czar of
Napoleon’s time afraid of him.
If Russia cannot hold the Uk
raine, Russia cannot survive within or
without the axis orbit. If she holds
by force, Germany will speedily suc
cumb. But all this takes time. Ger
many realizes the vital part Russia
will play in the coming years. And
until Russia is securely bound, Hitler
will not attempt to irtvade England.
Watch Russia!
FIELDS OF GOLD
The wheat yield this year promis
es to be very large. In our sister stat
es hereabouts and in our own, soon
will be seen oceans of “waving gold”
in many fields upon hundreds of
farms. And as you travel the country
side within a radius of one hundred
miles of Omaha, you will see whence
comes the food to feed half the world.
And the corn, the tall corn, of Io
wa, and other states will be abundant
for all normal needs and more. For
this we are thankful.
All other edible foods are equally
abundant, for which we may gladly
utter a prayer and a hope.
THE HERMAN LEWIS CASE
Week after week we have been
writing about the Herman Lewis case.
We have been saying that his home
was entered by Omaha police officers
without legal right and while there
brutally beat Mr. Lewis. And Rich
ard Jepsen, Police Commissioner has
done nothing about it. Because of
this, Lewis has been suspended and
Chief Olson and Walter Korisko seek
to have him dismissed from the fire
department of Omaha.
Who sent these officers into that
home without a warrant? And after
they were inside whither they had
pushed their way, why did they ass
ault Lewis immediately after he had
called his attorney. The Attorney ad
vised Lewis that the officers could not
arrest his housekeeper without a war
rant for a misdemeanor, if they had
not seen the act committed. Lewis so
informed the officers, and when he did
so he was brutally assaulted with a sap
and a gun butt and his head was split
open in several places and blood was
splashed over the walls and floor. Not
of the officers’ home; not of a public
place, but of Lewis’ own home, where
he lived with his two infant children.
Are the officers whom we pay to
attend to law enforcement, entering
religious and moral fields? Do they
think it is their function to regulate
morals? What expferiences have they
had in the field of religion and morals
that fit them to regulate private hom
es without legal process.
We here and now remind the Mun
icipal Judges and the City Commis
sioners that the Fourteenth Amend
ment to the Constitution of the United
States is binding upon them; it is the
supreme law of the land and must be
respected. Policemen should be in
structed accordingly.
DUTY OR RIGHTS?
(by Dr. Charles Stelzle)
Since the birth of the American
Republic, we have accepted as supreme
the doctrine of “the right of liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.” In our
system of jurisprudence, and in our
treatises upon statecraft and sociology
the emphasis has been upon the ‘rights’
of mankind. We have been hearing
about the rights of the child, the rights
of women, the rights of capital, the
rights of labor, civil rights and politic -
al rights.
In the Bible, however, there is
practically no reference to the rights
of manl. The emphasis there is upon
“duty”. When the strong oppress the
weak, we immediately cry out that
there has been a transgression of
rights. The Bible declares that the
law of brotherhood has been violated.
Does this mean that we are to do
nothing—to simply wait until the op
pressor, whoever he may be, sees his
duty? Not at all. Whenever an in
fringement of right, a neglect of duty
occurs—it should be brought to the dir
ect attention of the individual, group
or nation involved and an opportunity
given to correct the commission or om
ission. If this is not done, steps should
be taken to see that it is stopped and
the “rights” are upheld and the “dut
ies” enforced.
Human] rights will never suffer
if human duties be performed. Duty
then, and not rights, is the supreme
need of the hour. For the doing nf
one’s full duty will carry one farther
along than the mere granting of an
other’s rights. Gradually, men are
coming to learn this important truth.
Man demands justice, and he is right.
But God demands more than justice—
His Imperative is Love. And “love is
the fulfilling of the law.”
A PLEA FOR THE CHILDREN
(by Ruth Taylor)
“Lord, give to men who are old and
rougher
The things that little children suffer,
And let keep bright arid undefiled
The young years of the little child.”
John Masefield.
America was founded by earnest
men and women who wanted freedom
to bring up their families according to
the light which was given them—to af
ford their children better opportunit
ies to grow in strength and wisdom.
The principle of true democracy is ex
pressive of this idea— the growth of
the family, the collection of families
into onie state, with the good of the ma
jority the will of the state. Religion
throughout the ages has emphasized
the family as a unit in its striving to
ward spiritual aspirations. The basis
of virtually all religions is the father
hood of God and the brotherhood of
man.
The solution of the problems of
the world today will be the task of the
children who are the men and women
of tomorrow. The only real aid that
can be given them for their tremend
ous task is the finest type of education
and instruction that is available.
It has been said that the advant
age of the American school system is
the habits it has inculcated in the
children— the teaching of children
from all sorts of homes that when
they enter the class room they are on a
basis of equality with every other
child in the room—Protestant, Catholic
or Jew, Negro, White or Mongolian—
that there the only superiority is sup
eriority of brains, of concentration, of
willingness to work. They have to
learn to get along with other children
-^which is the best training for getting
along with people when they go out in
to the world. As in life, if they can’t
keep up—no matter what the reason—
they drop back into another class.
Rain or shine they are expected to be
at school in their appointed places at
their appointed time. They learn that
there are certain things that one can't
get out of—and they learn that alibis
do not courit.
Hate and prejudice are the alibis
of adults—they must not become a
habit with children If a hatred of
any group or class is traced back to its
source it will prove to be an alibi- for
some lack or neglect or laziness A
child who has learned to suffer, though
it may lose self confidence and courage
may be brought out of its fog—but a
child who has learned to hate is scar
red for life. Hatred is an acid, corros
ive, perpetrating—leaving great scars
which never again will be normal.
The great tragedy of the persecu
tions abroad is not so much what those
who have been physically hurt by them
have endured, great as their suffer
ings may have been,, but what the per
secutions have done to the persecutors
How can children trained to hatred, to
betrayal to calumny from their earli’st
days ever become honorable men and
women, or citizens of any decent
world? The utter damning of the
children of the totalitarian states is
not only the greatest tragedy of today
but the greatest menace to the world
of tomorrow.
THE NEGRO FARMER AND
AGRICULTURAL PREPAREDNESS
(by Albon L. Holsey, Field Officer
AAA for ANP.)
The Negro consumer has a def
inite stake in the programs in which
Negro farmers are so actively parti
cipating.
Our government has taken pre
cautionary steps to prevent that spec
ulation in food products which was so
prevalent in the first World war and
which so heavily bore down upon the
purses of middle class and low income
groups.
Iu announcing the program of
the department of agriculture to in
crease supplies of certain food prod
ucts, Sec. Claude R. Wickard said:
“Should unwarranted speculation
drive prices up to unduly high levels
at any time, the supplies in the hands
of the government will be released to
stabilize prices and maintain them at
reasonable levels. Under this ever
normal food program, consumers will
be protected and farmers will benefit
by selling more products at fairer pric
es than those that have prevailed dur
ing the past few years.”
Farmers are requested by Sec.
Wickard to increase pork and dairy
production and enlarge poultry flocks.
In turn for the farmers' intensive
cooperation in this plan, the depart
ment will stabilize prices by making
purchases in the open market for the
next two years “at levels approximate
ly as follows: hogs, $9 per hundred
weight; butter, 31c per pound; chick
ens, 15c pound and eggs, 22c per doz
en.”
The 654,000 Negro farm operators
in the 10 cotton-producing states are,
therefore, an important factor in the
development of this program to build
up adequate reserves of food.
» Negro extension workers, FSA
leaders, vocational agriculture teach
ers and others are emphasizing the im
portance of the AAA which provides
extra payments and inducements for
reducing cotton acreages and stepping
up the production of food for the fam
ily and feed for hogs, cows, chickens
and work stock.
E. A. Miller, assistant to director,
southern division, AAA, while on a re
cent tour of the south told Negro> farm
groups that “food grown on your
farms for family use helps to insure;
the nation’s food reserves because such
families do not have to tap the supplies
which flow through regular trade chan
nels for urban and other non-produc
ing families.”
So effective has been the educat
ional work of the AAA and other agen
cies in showing farmers the advantag
es of cummunity planning and cooper
ation for better balanced crops, that
such appeals as those of Sec. Wickard
find immediate and willing response.
A typical instance is reported by
Sanford H. Lee, Negro county agent
at Macon, Ga. In speaking of a coun
ty-wide drive for building home made
brooder houses for baby chicks he says
that the local FSA office is helping to
finance the projects and that through
the interest of the camp commander
“material for most of these brooders
was donated from the scrap piles at
Camp Wheeler.”
E. P. Smith, Negro county agent
at Ocala, Fla., reports that since the
home garden program is so effectively
organized in his county, he is now co
operating in the development of a city
defense garden program with 26 Ne
gro city families already enrolled.
Of such is the spirit of patriots.
“WHAT NOW, GRADUATE?”
(Continued from Page Four)
job, you will be asked for references,
especially from the last place wrhert
you worked. If your last employei
will not recommend you, your chance*
of getting another job will be mucl
poorer.
It may be you cannot undo all th<
habits and attitudes learned in th»
years you have been in school, but yoi
can at least re-examine your philos
ephy of life, your plan for the future
check and double check them, and tall
with people who have had experience
so that you will be prepared to get an<
hold that job!