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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.
S. J. Ford, — — — Pres.
Mrs. Flurna Coo pel, — — Vice Pres.
C. C. Galloway, — Publisher and Acting Editor
Boyd V. Galloway, —. Sec’v and Treas.
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All News 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.
1—^————«
AFTER THE WAR, WHAT?
The United States, Great Britain
and Russia are committed to the task
of ridding the world of Nazi tyranny.
How? Certainly not by conferences at
sea, nor by speeches or any other
means than force.
That the war should be won by the
three great powers, we all agree. And
we think they will win it. And after
the war has been won by them, how
will they settle the myriad problems
which will follow in the train of war.
Thus far these powers are comm
itted to restore national boundaries
changed by aggression, without any of
the powers seeking territorial gains.
They are agreed, too, on the proposit
ion of improvement of the condition of
all workers so as to prvide social sec
urity for all men everywhere.
Our hope is that whatever solu
tion may be arrived at, it will be inclu
sive and just for all men of all races
and creeds and colors, and that exploit
ation of men and women will cease,
and that all men will be aided in their
aspiration to reach a higher standard
of living. If these things come to all
men after the war, no matter what
price has been paid for them in blood
and treasure and tears, all sacrifices
will not have been made in vain.
DR. VALURAZ B. SPRATLIN
Dr. Valuraz B. Spratlin, Head of
the Department of Romance Languag
es at Howard University, is one of the
most remarkable men of our time.
When a child he was stricken with in
fantile paralysis. His physican gave
him but a few years to live. He was
forbidden to read, but to satisfy him,
he was permitted to attend grade
school classes and listen to other pu
pils recite. He finished grade and high
school with honors at the head of his
class. From the University of Denver
he was graduated with the highest
honors. And at Middleberry Univers
ity in Vermont, where he received his
degree of Doctor of Modern Languag
es, and at the University of Madrid,
Spain, where he studied for several
years, ha won distinction. Three years
ago, he spent a year in South Amer
ica studying the Spanish background
there. He has written and published
two books one dealing with a Spanish
Negro scholar and the other with a
Spanish Negro Painter, whose works
of art rival those of Valesquez.
It is not too much to say that Dr.
Spratlin is the foremost student the
race has produced here in America in
the Spanish field.
His has been an example of well
nigh sublime courage through which
he rose from the brink of the grave to
the heights in a special field.
We submit that relatively, Dr.
Spratlin has travelled further than has
President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
John M. Langston, former Virgin
ia Congressman, was the grand uncle
of Langston Hughes, the poet and au
thor. *
whose illness overtook him long after
he had reached his majority.
We present Dr. Spratlin as Amer
ica’s finest example of courage.
THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY
BULLETIN
Howard University has recently
published a pictorial bulletin illustrat
ing the scope of the work being done
at that institution as it enters upon its
75th year of racial and national serv
ice.
Among the more important
things listed are facts showing 65 mem
bers of the faculty possess their doc
torates. Compared with the whole
number of men and women in the coun
try who hold such degrees, there is
nothing remarkable about it, but when
one recalls that fifty years ago, we had
but two or three Negroes who had
doctorates, the fact becomes important
One other fact was noteworthy;— 95
per cent of all the Negro lawyers in
the United States are graduates of
Howard University.
The physical equipment under the
presidency of Dr. Mordercai Johnson,
has grown tremendously. Howard
University is the only university am
ong Negroes in this country. There
are many excellent colleges, but none
meets the requirements of a univers
ity, save Howard.
It is not an expensive school to
attend. Tuition is $150.00 per year,
room rent about $10.00 per month and
board in the cafeteria is $18.00 per
month. For 9 months at the Univers
ity, the expense for bare necessities
averages, not including clothes, travel
expenses and extras, about $405.00 per
year. This does not include books and
working equipment. The total requir
ed for all purposes would not exceed
$S00.00 annually.
Negroes should send as many of
their children as possible to Howard
University. It is not only a great seat
of learning, but it is the center of as
piration to all Negro youth who would
enter upon the pathway of service
which leads to the heights of human en
deavor.
The Howard University Bulletin
has rendered a splendid service thru
its last pictorial number.
• _
Fritz Thyssen Denounces Hitler
Fritz Thyssen, former German
Industrialist, who backed Hitler on his
rise to power, now laments his contri
bution to Hitler. And for good reas
on. Thyssen was deprived of his es
tates in Germany and all his wealth an
industries and would have been depriv
ed of his head, if Hitler’s Gestapo
could have laid hold of him.
Mr. Thyssen presents his case a
gamst Hitler in Liberty Magazine. It
is a good story.
****
Employment has grown apace in
defense industries since the March on
Washington was organized by Rand
olph and others.
* * * *
Watch onr paper, it will soon
have good news for you about one of
our own.
***♦
PREPARE YOUR LAWNS
Prepare your lawns now for Spring
Sow your grass seed next month and
next year your lawn will be alright.
Help your neighbor.
****
A shortage on information often
results in a “longage” of argument.
LABOR &
INDUSTRY
(by George F. McCray for ANP)
THE LABOR-SOUTH CIVIL
WAR NOT A WHITE FOLKS
FIGHT. UNION NEGRO CO
OPERATION FOR DEMOC
RACY
111 the congress of the United
States last week, the CIO and the
AFL. won another impressive vic
tory in the long civil war between
the south and the ©rganzed labor
movement. The fight centered a
round a house vote on a conference
report approving the revised am
endment to the Selective Service
act. This amendment as passed
by the senate and very slightly
modified in conference would, in
the opinion of Bill Green, of the
AFL. “Impose a condition of in
voluntary servitude upon labor”.
Phil Murray of CIO. charged
the legislation: “is not intended to
exercise any compulsion upon man
agement, but only against labor.
Thus the AFL. and the CIO. at
tained an effective degree of unity
on a matter affecting their mut
ual interests.
After various representatives
had been properly “button holed”
by labor spokesmen, the house
smashed the attack on the unions
by a vote of 255 to 114. Republi
cans, Democrats voted against the
measure.
When the results of the con
test were announced, Rep. Martin
Dies stated “Now that the Republi
cans have gone over to the CIO.
maybe I better start investigating
'em”.
NOT JUST A WHITE
FOLKS FIGHT
To many Negroes, north and
south, the struggle over the re
vised Connally amendment to the
Selective Service act will seem like
a “white folks” fight in which the
darker brother has little interest.
But as a matter of fact, the fight
strikes at the very root of our pol
itical and economic problems in the
south
An analysis of the vote revealed
that 72 of 78 representatives from
Southern states having poll tax
restrictions on the right to vote,
were in favor of the legislation to
place labor “in involuntary serv
itude”. It is not mere coincidence
that in Jthe states which sent these
men to congress, Negroes enjoy,
as a matter of right, few of the
privileges and immunities of Am
erican citizenship.
UNIONS AND NEGROES
IN SAME BOAT
These men and the industrial,
commercial and plantation powers
they represent are bitterly oppos
ed to unions for the same reason!
they disfranchise Negro and poor
white labor in the south. They
want an almost absolute control
over the labor force in their dis
tricts
These same men and the unions
know that this control is safe so
long as workers in these areas are
not able to vote. Likewise every
Negro in the south with the brain
of an ant knows that the fight for
civil liberties, better education,
public sanitation, health facilities
housing and the very security of
life and property depend upon our
winning the right to vote.
THE CHURHILL- STALIN
GET TOGETHER
Our right to vote will come only
when the American people with
our help insist upon equality of
suffrage in the United States. The
trade unions, particularly the CIO
are in the forefront of this fight.
It should be no more difficult to
make common cause with the CIO
and the AFL. than it was for a
Tory government in England to
make common cause with Comm
unist Russia. We too are fighting
for our lives.
TICKET FOR THE CHARIOT
(by A. H. WEILER)
(from The N. Y. Timeh)
In this year of stress the chanc
es are that Broadway’s movie go
ers are not likely to see “Mystery
In Swing”. Nor is it likely that
they will care, for that matter.
But tonight, some four miles nortn
of Times quare, a representative
quota of Harlem’s citizens, seat
ed in the Odeon and Renaissance
Theatres and at the Harlem Opera
House, are probably enjoying the
House, are probably enjoying the
seventy minutes of this all-Negrot
mystery-musical. And, it is the
especial mdtier of Jack Goldberg
to keep that gentry’s interest un
flagging, for it is under the Gold
berg aegis that a vast portion of
the all-Negro film production has
been nurtured.
Mr. Goldberg, whose fifty-one
years sit lightly on a lanky frame,
which is topped by a wavy, black
pompadour, was volubly enthusi
ast about the past, present and
future of his field, when visited
the other forenoon. A native Ne .
Yorker, in whose speech the local
idiom and inflection are unmistak
able, Mr. Goldberg became a figur
ative handmaiden to the Negro
Thespis some fifteen years ago
when he ended a long association
with the Loew’s Circuit and began
to book and manage Negro legiti
mate^ burlesque apd vaudqville
ftalent and also to film silent Negro
movies.
On Poverty Row
Until recently his pictures have
been producted in studios in New
Jersey, Florida or on any available
lot in Hollywood’s “poverty row,”
he explained. The six to eight fea
tures released each year through.
International Roadsshows. Inc., the
Goldberg distributing company,
cost about $20,000 and usually
gross twice that amount. These
films, he estimates, play to a
weekly audience of 400.000 in ap
proximately 500 theatres in the
East, South, California and, lately.
Latin and South America. Shoot
ing of the films generally takes
about seven days with a full crew
of white camera men, directors and
technical oassistants.
Rarely are name stars used, al
though Mr. Goldberg has produced
some films with Bill Robinson,
Clarence Muse and Flourney Mil
ler of the team of Miller and Lyles.
Principal earns in the vicinity of
$100 per week, while supporting
players leverage- about $60 per
week. But for entrepreneur Gold
berg, Whose producing problems
run tthe gamut from script to fin
ancing, /year—round availability
of studio, casts and technicians,
has been, up to now, his prime
bugaboo. “Take the past season,
ken Strings
for instance,” he said. *’ ‘Double
Deal,’ ‘Mystery In Swing’ and
‘Broken Strings’ I made in Holly
wood; ‘Sunday Sinners’ and ‘Mur
der on Lenox Avenue’ were done
in Florida, and ‘Paradise in Har
lem’ was filmed at Fort Lee, New
Jersey.”
Hope Springs Eternal
Now, it seems, he has cause for
more roseate hopes. Whjen Mr.
Goldberg begins production in Sep
tember on “America’s Tenth Man"
and a fifteen-Chapter all-Negro
serial, “The Crimson Claw,” they
will mark his first productions in
hfs new petrmanent quarters in
Miami—a two-block square erst
while Negro amusement park, com
plete with a swimming pool, which
already has been transformed into
the Liberty Citty Motion Picture
Studios, Inc., of which he is pres
ident.
Concurrent with the acquisition
of his studio has been the charter
ing in Florida last month of the
Lincoln Motion Picture Association
which will eventually serve as a
creative center for the develop
ment of Negro films and screen
talent through a scholarship fund
to be raised by local Negro organ
izations. Working hand in hand
with professionals should not only
d velop native professional tech
nical talents, of which there are
practically none, but the studio al
so would serve as a direct outlet
for those talents when they mat
ured.
Further explaining the innate
contentment derived from his task
Mr. Goldberg declared that Negro
actors were highly amendable to
suggestion. “In fifteen years I’ve
never needed a contract with any
of them and I’ve never had a mis
understanding or loud word with
them. That’s my record and thats
history,” he added. And, it seems
too, that if he continues to avoid
the dice, watermelon and razor
cliches (vclhSch his audiences em
phatically dislike) that inevitable
Sweet Chariot will have to provide
room eventually for an honorary
passenger.
AGRICULTURAL NOTES
(Selected From Reports of Negro
Extension Workers)
Negro business and professional
men of Macon, Georgia, have been
assisting 4-H Club members in
Bibb County to start and operate
poultry projects. These men ad
vance funds to the Club members
and receive two-fifths of the chicks
when they reach the fryer stage.
May Belle Tomas, member of
the Huffsmith 4-H Club in Harris
County, Texas, was awarded the
Gold Medal for being the best all
around 4-H girl in the State for
the year. Preserttation was made
at Prairie View College during the
annual 4-H Encampment and
Short Course. Miss Thomas sel
ected Bedroom Improvement as
her project for the year.
Emery C. Thomas, Negro Coun
ty Agent at Dublin, Georgia, con
ducts each Fall after harvest time,
an Annual Harness Repair Day.
Last year over 200 bridles, which
had been tied up with wire and
strings, were properly repaired
and a new skill added for fthe far
mers vfho participated.
Two hundred Negro farmers
from 10 counties of the Northern
District of Texas recently atend
ed a Cotton Insect Control Dem
onstration. Arrangements for the
demonstration were made by H- S.
Estelle, District Agent for Exten
sion work among Negroes and of
ficials of the East Texas Chamber
of Commerce.
During a recent meeting of
white Texas farmers held at the
State A&M College at College
Station, John H. Williams, Negro
District Extension Agent at Prai
rie View College was invited ti
give a demonsitration in meat cutt
ing. Also an expert in leather
work, Mr. Williams taught the
subject during the 1941 Summer
School at Tuskegee nstitute.
In reporting on the Cotton Mat
tress making pregram in Macon
County! Alabama, for 1940, Mrs.
Laura R. Daly, Home Demonstra
tion Agen|t says that 1967 famil
ies received cotton and ticking for
making a matress. “Of that num
ber” says she, “only 77 families
had income during the year of $300
or over and 11 percent were own
ers, 42 percent and 47 percent
sharecroppers or wage hands”.
aced with the uncertainty of
having sufficient funds to continue
his education, Leroy Wilson, a stu
dent at Beach High School in Sav
annah, Georgia, borrowed $10 in
1939 and started a poultry pro
ject. The Principal of the school
turned over his own garage to the
energetic youngster who in turn,
built for his use a brooder with
v old bricks and clay. Wilson is
now1 pursuing his education at
Georgia State College and con
tinues to raise chicks for sale.
Latest reports show that he main
tains an average flock of over 400
birds and receives a steady income
to defray his expenses.
FATALITY RECORD DEPENDS
UPON US ALL
The Omaha Guide, 2418 Grant
Omaha, Nebraska,
Dear Editor:
Highway crashes in July left
Nebraska’s road strewn with the
lives of 36 people. Not since Oct
ober of 1937—forty-five months a
go—have we suffered the disas
trous effects of losing that many
lives. Then 41 died!
More than a life a day was sac
rificed in those July accidents.
Unfortunately our record must
show that 25 Nebraska counties,
including Dougl&s County, were
affected by those experiences. Six
persons had died by July 13. 28
other names' were added to the
death list in the last nineteen days.
Certainly there must be some
thought or effort given to stem
the tide. We have all been cau
tioned against the expected in
crease in accident frequency dur
ing this season. In view of the
record which lies ahead as a chal
lenge, we again call upon every
one to travel safely. We cannot
by any means replace the lives of
the 129 who have died. But we
can all do our share to prevent fur
ther accident losses. The Nebras
ka motor vehicle fatality record
depends on all of us.
Yours very truly,
Department of Law Enforce
ment and Public Safety,
R. T. Schrein,
Capt. Nebr. Safety Patro.
Dark Laughter .... by ol harrington
^ v *
if, •" Js'S
* ' ■ - ***&*
“Them chicks over there are as sharp
as a tack, Boots, but dig the lunch box
them beat chicks is got over here.”
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