EFENSE m - -
b„y Ma-rch of
S Events
OPINIONS COMMENTS
THE OMAHA GUIDE
A WEEKLY NEW'SPAPEk
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St
OMAHA, NEBRASKA
PHONE WEbster 1517
Entered as Second Class Matter Ma-x:h 15. 1027, at
the Post Office at Omaha, Nebraska, under Act of
Congress of March 3, 1879.
M. J. Ford, — — — Pres.
Mrs. Flurna Cooper, — — Vice Pies.
C. C. Galloway, — Publisher arid Acting Editor
Boyd V. Galloway. — Sec’v 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, pre
ceeding date of issue, to insure publication.
. . *
THE MODERNIZATION PLAN
The Douglas County Commiss
ioners are wrestling witn tne so-calied
modernization plan oi DoOKKeeping es
pecially m relation to tax records. The
plan, it seems does not have legal auth
orization, out is desired by a large ele
ment oi the larger tax payers, tne Tax
Payers League, some oi umana's news
papers and other important interests.
During the last session of the Ne
braska legislature, an enort was made
to enact a law legalizing the modern
ization plan. The law was not passed.
The people of Douglas county have not
expressed themselves on the matter at
the ballot box.
The Treasurer of Douglas county
insists he is following the law; that the
modernization plan, if followed by him
would jeopardize his bondsmen and his
own liberty. The County Clerk and
the Couhty Assessor take a similar
view.
f
Meanwhile, some of our newspa
pers are demanding that the modern
ization plan be revived. And like a
ringmaster in a circus, it has the offic
ials performing, except Otto Bauman,
who insists he intends to follow the law
i—that if the law is bad and stands in
the way of human progress or the con
venience of large property owners, it
should be repealed and an acceptable
law enacted. But as long as the law is
as it is, he must follow it.
Friday last the County Board
called in Mr. Paul Garrotto, Chief Dep
uty County Attorney, and he advised
the board that he thought the modern
ization plan should be tried out “with
in the law", with the cooperation of
the county officials affected by the
plan, namely, the Treasurer, Assessor
and County Clerk.
Many persons in Douglas County
suspect that this modernization plan is
a prelude to the county Manager Plan,
and that that PLAN will take the gov
ernment out of the hanlds of the peo
ple. This opinion is widely held and it
based upon observation of the work
ings of si^ch plans elsewhere.
The common people are feeling
very deeply now that if they count as
“cannon fodder”, they should count as
citizens.
JOHN L. LEWIS
The blitzkreig against John L.
Lewis, growing out of the strike of
coal miners in the “captive mines”,
reached an all-time ferocity. The news
papers ignored the fact that the ques
tion involved was primarily, in princ
iple, the right to strike. Because this
was involved John L. Lewis, tenacious
ly held his course.
And John L. Lewis, the friend of
all workers, black as well as white,
will win through in this instance as he
has done in so many others for all the
sons of toil.
One fact cannot be refuted: John
L. Lewis is the unfaltering friend of
Negroes. And we wonder if that fact
has not had something to do with the
vicious attacks made upon him by the
Metropolitan dailies of the country.
Ninety percent of the Negro wor
kers in the commonly accepted use of
that term, and one hundred percent of
them are hoping that only good may
Come to John L. Lewis whose religion
is HUMANITY and love of it, his
HIGH PRIEST.
HALLOWE’EN
The festival of fun which bears
the name of Hallowe’en, annually
brings out four or five hundred young
sters of the Negro Community, who
parade lip and down North 24th Street
and demonstrate how noisy and harm
lessly gay they can be for a few hours
on such an evening.
Last Friday the elements inter
fered and the “FUN FROLIC” was
transferred in doors where the merry
makers held their shows.
We know many white men and
women who come out this way to see
“the show” on Hallowe’en were disap
ppinted.
Come out next year, unless Hit
ler forbids it. The war may be over by
that time, and a rip roaring jamboree
may be in order.
Remember, the mask of fun you
see, hides many tragedies.
SABOTEURS PREFERRED
TO NEGROES
Admidst the hue and cry for Na
tional United and an all-out effort for
defense, the monster of COLOR PRE
JUDICE bulks large upon the scene.
A recent story from Baltimore, Md.,
describes the exploits of the FBI. in
tracking down and arresting a young
man of German descent whose special
ty was sabotaging parts of bombing
planes in the Martin Bomber plant at
Baltimore. When arrested, the young
man explained that he was crippling
the planes because he did not want
them used to injure the German peo
ple. In other words, the young man
was pro-German. When he was em
ployed at the plant no questions were
asked: he was “white” and, therefore,
preferred to non-white Americans.
While the young pro-Nazi and
many like him were being employed,
Negroes, about whose loyalty to Amer
ica there could be no doubt, stood at
the gates of the Martin’ Bomber plant,
begging for a chance to work. But the
management said no! Better a Nazi
bent on sabotage, than a loyal black
workman.
The incident at the Martin Bomb
er plant in Baltimore, is but one of hun
dreds throughout the land where trait
ors and wreckers are preferred to skill
ed black workers. Thus, it would seem
a majority of the whites in America
would rather hand the country over to
Hitler than give the Negro a chance to
work.
All this, and we are not engaged
in a “shooting war”. What will hap
pen when that time comes; when our
soldiers will be on the high seas and be
yond them, needing vitally the prod
ucts of our factories. The precent
trickle of sabotage will then become a
deluge, and the leaders in government
and industry who have placed color
prejudice above NATIONAL SECUR
ITY will rue the rui^s of their folly.
The Negroes themselves must be
awake to this danger to their country,
because their interests and security
are identical with those of the NA
TION. And, therefore, the men and
women who oppose including the Neg
roes in our all-out effort are the enem
ies of their country of civilization and
mankind.
They shout stop Hitler while they
employ Hitler agents in defense indus
tries whose duty it is to make such vic
tory impossible.
For our own safety, we had bet
ter recall and remember Washington’s
admonition during the American Rev
olution: None but AMERICANS ON
GUARD TONIGHT”. May we change
this splendid charge and say: LET A
MERICANS ONLY WORK IN OUR
FACTORIES FOR DEFENSE.
PRACTICAL DREAMERS
(by Ruth Taylor)
The present decade may be an
age of realism, and the time may call
for realistic thinking, as some men say.
But too often realism has meant stoop
ing to the mire, reflecting only the ugly
rather than reaching upwards toward
the beauty of the stars. Realism has
its value—’but the great things of life
have been done by the dreamers—by
those who looked ahead and then made
their dreams come true.
Thoreau once said: “If you have
built castles in the air, your work need
not be lost: that is where they should
be. Now put foundations under them”
This is the task confronting the
practical dreamers of today. They do
not deny the evil and ugliness abroad
in the world. They do, however, look
through and beyond and build, even if
only in visions, the world as it should
be—a place where all groups and indiv
iduals can and will recognize each oth
er’s rights as they recognize their own
obligations, where all peoples, regard
less of race or creed or color, can work
together in a spirit of cooperation, and
live together in mutual trust, friend
ship and brotherhood.
The dream of a world such as
this must be fulfilled. Firm foundat
ions must be built for it, if the world is
to emerge from the chaos which now
envelops it. We must begin to dream
now and to build now, for foundations
are not built all at once, but stone by
stone, slowly and laboriously. There
must be no defective material used,
nothing that will not stand the strain
and stress of the winter’s gales.
The foundation must be absolute jus
tice toward all—not justice according
to man’s deserts, but justice which af
fords to every living soul the opport
unity to build his life without fear, and
with freedom from want, to worship in
his own wa,y, and to hold his head up
as a free man.
Such a task will require the self
less devotion on the part of all those
who honestly desire a permanent peace
based on international understanding.
In our common reliance on one another
in a time crisis, we are linked together
as never before. Not only is there a
national unity developing steadily,
but there is a unity of thought and pur
pose among those whose interests in
clude the future as well as the present.
Now is the time for all dreamers to get
together and work to put a firm found
ation under their dreams for a better
world for all mankind.
NEGRO PARTICIPATING
ACTIVELY IN DEFENSE
SAVINGS PROGRAM
Washington, D. C.—The Americ
an Negro, both individually and thru
his organizations, is participating act
ively in the National Defense Savings
Program, according to information
reaching the Treasury Department.
Of 50 Negro insurance companies
of various types, in the United States,
more than 25 already have notified the
Treasury of initial purchases of De
fense Bonds amouriting to a total of
$469,074. Six of these companies
bought $50,000 worth of Series F and G
the maximum amount any corporation
is permited to buy in one year. They
are: Mammoth Life and Accident, Lou*
isville; Supreme Camp of American
Woodmen, Denver; Atlanta; Southern
Aid Society of Virginia, Richmond; N.
Carolina Mutual, Durham; and Univer
sal Life, Memphis.
The Federal Life Insurance Com*
pany of Washington, D. C. reported
purchasing $33,800. Other companies
include the Pilgrim Health and Life,
Augusta, Ga. and the Metropolitan.'
Funeral System Associations, Chicago
each $20,000; Virginia Mutual Benefit
Life, Richmond, $15,000; Domestic
Life and Accident, Louisville, $15,000.
Five companies reported purchas
es of $10,000 worth of Defense Bonds
each. They are: The Great Lakes Mu
tual, Detroit; Golden State Mutual Life
Los Angeles; United Mutual Benefit
Association, New York; Guaranty Life
Savannah; and Afro'American Life of
Jacksonville.
In Memphis the Negro Division of
the Defense Savings committee has
laid out for itself the following five*
point program: (1) Canvass all Negro
business houses to explain the allot
ment plan; (2) “Buy-a*Bond” Sunday;
(3) A speakers bureau to serve club
and lodge meetings; (4) School parad
es; <5> Distribution of posters and pla
cards, etc., by Negro Boy Scouts.
The Litchman chain of Negro
theatres in Washington, D. C. has in*
augurated the sale of Defense Savings
Stamps in their theatre lobbies, and a
notice on the screen asks patrons to
take their change in Defense Stamps.
Many business organizations,
churches and social clubs are actively
interested in promoting the sale of De
fense Bonds and Stamps, the reports
show. In addition, special meetings
designed to stimulate interest in the
Defense Savings Program have been
arranged in Cleveland, Columbus and
Cincinnati, 0., Indianapolis, Ind., Brad
dock, Pa., Durham and Greensboro, N,
c., St. Louis, Mo, St, Paul, Duluth and
Minneapolis, Minn,, Spjokanb, Seattle
and Tacoma, Wash., Portland, Ore.,
Stockton, Sacramento, Salinas, Venice
Los Angeles and Pasadena, calif., El
Paso, Texas; Pueblo, Colo, and Omaha,
Nebraska.
DEFENSE BOND QUIZ
Q. I cannlot find the word “De
fense” anywhere on the Defense Sav
ings Stamps I have bought. Are they
merely Postal Savings Stamps, or does
my money invested in these stamps go
into the Defense Program?
A. The money you use to purch
ase these Stamps goes indefinitely into
the Defense program. The Stamps
bear the words “America on Guard,”
which indicates that they are an inte
grad part of the Defense Program.
Q. What is the Treasury’s pur
pose in putting Defense Savings
Stamps on sale in retail stores through
out the Nation?
A. To make it as easy as possible
for Americans everywhere to buy
these Stamps, which, as everyone
knows, may be exchanged at many post
offices and banks for Defense Savings
Bonds.
Note.-To buy Defense Bonds
and Stamps, go to the nearest post of
fice, bank, or savings and loan assoc
iation ; or write to the Treasurer of
the United States, Washington, D. C.
Also Stamps now are on sale at most
retail stores.
Dark Laughter.. ol harrington
“Well Jest tell me this Bootsie—How tha devil can Hitler whup us with fij/
our great wealth”.