Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1942)
! LARGEST ACCREDITED NEGRO NEM'SPAPER WEST OF CHICAGO AND NORTH OF KANSAS CITY —MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED NEGRO PRESS Nebra^Saturday, Nov. 14,1942 Our 15thYearTNo- 40 City Edition,5c Copy Stress Need (or Using Negro Labor INDICTED FOR I NEGRO PEONAGE Attorney General Francis Biddle announces that a Federal Grand jury sitting in the southern district of Florida, at Tampa, returned an indictment on two counts charging the United States Sugar Corporat ion its personnel manager and three of its camp superintendents with conspiracy to hold Negro su gar cane workers in a condition of peonage, in violation of the Federal Civil Rights and Anti-Feonage sta tutes. Named as defendants were: Unit ed States Sugar Corporation; M. E. Von Mach, personnel manager, Clewiston. Florida; Evan Ward 51c Leod, superintendent. Bare Beach Plantation: Oliver H. Sheppard, su perintendent. South Shore Plantat ion; and a Mr. Neal, superintendent Miami Lochs Plantation. Count One of the indictment charg es that the defendants “injured, oppressed, threatened and intimidat ed ‘‘Negro field workers in the free exercise of their rights under the Thirteenth Amendment of the Con stitufion by holding them in in voluntary servitude. Count Two. charges a conspiracy to violate the eFderal Anti-Peonage statute. Maximum penalty under the first count (Section 51. Title 18. U. S. Code) is imprisonment for ten years and a fine of $5,000. Conviction on the second count (Sections 88 and 444 Title 18. U. S. Code) carries a maximum penalty of two years and a fine of $10,000. The indictment followed investig (continued on pag,et^“2) CHARLINE MAY, formerly of Falls City, Nebraska, Takes Charge of 7th Corp WAACs BEULAH ELLIS, FIRST RECRUIT JOINS WAACS This is to announce that Miss Beulah Ellis, the first girl of our race to volunteer for and be accept ed from this ui£triCt*as » frffcmber of’ the WAACS, has been called to act ive duty at Ft. DesMoines. Iowa. She is the daughter of Mrs. Eleanor Martin. 2714 North 25th St., Omaha. Negro Voter Electi’n Role UNDER RATED BY WHITE PRESS SAYS W HITE New York. N. Y.—Declaring that the Negro vote played a larger part in the 1942 elections than is rec ognized by the white dailies Walter White, Executive Secretary of the NAACP in a statement to the press said that the shift in a number of Congressional districts of Negro vo ters from the Democratic to the Re publican side is in large measure due to resentment against the dom ination of national policy on the Negro by the reactionary south. The mistreatment of Negro soldiers and civilians in the South particul arly, continuation of Jim Crow lam i nthe armed forces and war efforts generally .transfer of the Fair Em ployment Practice Committee from its independent status under the President to the War Manpower Commission and other evils mala Negroes sore enough to shift their political affiliations. Mr. White stated: “It is true that much of this is due to the attitude of voters gener ally to "throw the rascals out" when things do not go well. But it would be a serious mistake for the Republicans to believe that thev now have recaptured the Negroes' vote and will contnue to hold it no matter what they do. On too many fundamental issues, economic, mil itary and social, there has been an unholy alliance in Congress between Negro-hating Southern Democrats and reactionary Republicans who think of the Negro only when he is forced to around election time. ‘As the Norfolf Journal and Guile stated editorially on November 7 re garding the Republican Party's Ov ersight ir. adopting a ten point dec laration of policies and principles. Republican House leadership “miss ed the bus" when it insisted that capable and trained leaders be use 3 in the war effort, ‘‘regardless of party, group, class or section”, but did not include regardless of race, creed, or color.” “Negroes are learning the lessen of the shifting national and inter national forces and utilize their strategically located political strength wisely, unselfishly, and with complete independence. Only I FORT DES MOINES, I A. Novem 5 * ber 12—One of the two Negro Wom en's Army Auxiliary Corps Third Officers from Nebraska is returning this week t° her home state. She has teen asigned to t’>a Seventh C'.er/ice Command to do recruiting work. She is Thira Officer _barline J May, daughter of Mrs. Lois May of 141® Stone Street. Fat >9 City. Nebr. Officer May was indu ■ -•! into the Wo.iV' s army at Omaha o-l July 11. She ‘mmediately entered olficer candidate school at this Training Center. She was graduated in the first class of officer candidates on August 29. Following this, she was assigned to the 14th Company. 3rd Regiment, a company composed of Negro WAACs, where she did administra tive work. Officer May is a graduate of Ne braska Wesleyan University at Lin coln. class of 1942. She majored in sociology and psychology'. While there, she was a member of Psi Chi national honorary psychology frat ernity for men and women; and Phi Mamma Mu. national social Science fraternity, she was active in pub lic speaking, youth activities and n ter-racial work throughout the state. by so doing can he cause the polit ical leadership of al parties to know that the Negro voter, is alert intel ligent and is watching critically ev ery word and deed of the various political parties. “Test of the administration will be particuarly severe in that con gressmen from the poll tax states were able to return to the House and inasmuch as the Democrats are still the majority party their power has increaesd." picket War Manpower ummtssion Detroit, Mich.—Belittling the De troit NAACP's claim that the fact ( that less than 3 percent of the wo men employed here in war industr ies are Negroes as evidence of dis crimination Mayor Jeffries refused to issue any statement against the anti-Negro policies of local war plants. The conference with the Mayor took place while a picket line of 150 encircled the Boulevard biuldlng which houses the War Production Board and the War Manpower Coin mission. Regional director Cusn man of the WMC nformed an NA ACP committee that making of pol icy and the forcing of the employ ment of Negroes was not within the power of regional heads. The Detroit branch has declared its disapproval of the appointment of a former discriminating person nel manager of U. S. Rubber Comp- j any as new regional head of the i War Manpower Commission in this ' area. Urging that the NAACP National Office continue its fight to rem ove FEPC from the War Manpower Com : mission the Detroit branch stated i that inasmuch as “the War Man- ! power Commission cannot enforce its own policy it is inconceivable that WMC will allow FEPC to crack | | down on recalcitrant employers. Colored Girls Poetry Chosen for Yale Prize Proposal oud Prohibit Redcaps Tips Counting As Wages An amendment to the Fair Labor standards Act to prevent redcao's tips being counted as part of the 30 cents an hour minimum wage guar anteed them under the Act, was pro posed in a report Sent to the U. S Senate by L. Metcalfe Walling, ad ministrator of the Wage Hour ui-d Public Contracts Divisions of the U ,S. Department of Labor. The proposal was advanced in a report to the Senate on a survey of wages, hours and working condit ions for redcaps in railroad and terminal companies. The survey was ordered by the Senate in a res olution introduced by Senator El bert D. Thomas of Utah - > Importance of Mr. Waling’s sug gestion was seen in the fact -hat the amendment, as proposed, would prevent other industries covered bv the Act from adopting the "tips ac counting plan" which the railroad originated. “The record shows clearly tnat the ‘Accounting and Guam tee Plan operated in many instances to de prive redcaps-of the minimum rates guaranteed to them by the law^" Mr. Walling said in the re port. "Many redcaps who received less than the minimum wage in tips nevertheless reported that thoy had received the minimum wage, either under real or imagined in timidation from management, or out of fear that they would be dis charged or disciplined if their tips earnings did not meet at least the minimum wage level**. In 1940 this plan was replaced in most companies by the 10 cent a bag system, under which redcaps were employed on a straight wage basis and required to collect 10 ‘ cents a bag from passengers, which ! they turned over to their employ-1 era. This system created friction between redcaps and employers, the report indicated, because the red caps objected to turning over mon ey which semed to them to be in the nature of personal gratuities, and further because they thought the system reduced the tips or pay ments in excess of 10 cents whicn they received. Many of the problems arising out of this system have been solved by collective bargaining, the repovt said. Mr. Walling noted that the Wage and Hour Division had never questioned the legality of the 10 cents a bag plan. The proposed a mendment. he indicated, was aimed primarily at complete elimination of the "tips accounting plan.” FREEDOM IS MAJOR WAR ISSUE NOT RACE OR COLOR' SAYS DR. CALIYER Declaring that the major issue of this war is freedom, not race or col ! or. Dr. Ambrose CaBver, Senior Specialist in the Education of N._gr | oes. U. S. Office of Education, urged !all principals of Negro high schools I to organize Victory Corps in their i institutions so that Negro students ! may have an Opportunity to oartic ipate find share in the war effort In a letter mailed to more than 12.000 principals of Negro high schools. Dr. Caliver declared: •'While we must continue to com bat race and color prejudice and ills criminations, in our present effort to save democracy .we should keep ever before Us that the major issue Of this war W wiEEl KlM. . not race ! or color. Where ti.e latter have been made to appear as the mam issue they are Used merely as a smokescreen. When we win this I ;. ar and establ'su Freedom as tne animating principal of life, the prob lems of race and color which re n -.in ca nbe a talked » lh greater (Continued on page 3) Score DAR Stand On Anderson Concert In D. C. Washington. D C.—Scoring the : DAR for its lack of courage and A ! mericanism displayed by its refusal j to accept the "very modest ccndit i ions Miss Anderson in self respect (established for the acceptance of the DAR s invitation that she sing a benefit concert in Constitution j Hall" he XAACP told the President General of the Daughters of the A merican Revolction: ‘ Americans would have respecc^d the DAR more, even though they might not have agreed with the DAR’s decision to reject Miss An derson's terms, had the DAR not made the casuist and ridiculous ex cuse that other artists invited to sing in the series had not imposed any conditions. "There is no analogy in that, as far as we are able to learn, al] of the other artists who were invited are white, and there has been no ban on the appearance of white art ists whether they be Americans or foreign born, only Negro artists have been banned by the DAR from use of Constitution Hall. "It is very certain that the DAR and not Miss Anderson will suifer in public esteem by this decision of j the DAR at a time when the demo cratic process itself is in peril.” , IS FIRST OF RACE TO WIN' HONOR New Haven, Conn. (C) —Stephen Vincent Benet. eminent poet and judge of the Yale Series of Young er Poets, selected the first colored winner since the begining of the contest in 1919, when he praised the ! winner. Miss Margaret Walker of New Orleans. La. The Series honors poets who give promise of contributing literature for the future of America- Her title was ‘For My People.” It has been published by the Yale Univers ity press Mr. .Benet described it as the expression of the times writ ten in straightforward words con veying the '’controlled intensity of emotion” of this young poet. The tone of the poems in this collection is that of spiritual and folk songs. Mr. Benet said of her language: “Even when it is most modern it has something of the surge of bibl ical poetry And it is obvious that Miss Walker uses that language be cause it comes naturally to her and is part of her inheritance “A contemporary writer, living in a contemporary world, when she speaks of and for her people, older voices are mixed with hers, the voices of Methodist forbears and preachers who preached the Word, the anonymous voices of many who lived and were forgotten and yat out of bondage and hope made a lasting music. They are set for. voice and the blues, they could be sung as eaaily as spoken, and first and last, they are a part of our earth," Mr. Benet said. “I do know that, in this book she has spoken of her people s.> that all may listen. I think that is something for any poet to have done.” MANPOWER COMMISSION URGES WOMEN TO SEEK TRAINING FACILITIES MBS. DAVIS, MRS. HANGER. ACTIVE SORORS HERE Washington.—In a conference this week with officials of the Non Partisan Council on Public Affair.3, Mrs. Maudelle Bousefield, member of the Women's Advisory Board of the War Manpower Commission, urged race women to take advent age of present training opportunit ies. Mrs. Bousetieia, who arranged tne conference, is the only Negro mem ber of the Women's Advisory Boa'.d to the Manpower Commission and is a]so principal of Wendell Phillips High School, one of the largest high schools in Chicago, with a teaching staff of 128, only twelve of whom are colored, and an en rollment of more than 3,000 pupils. Council representatives told Mrs. Bousefield that race women had worked three hundred years for nothing and seventy five more for nearly nothing, and were fast be coming impatient with the employ ment situation. Mrs. Bousefield is interested in having colored women take immed iate advantage of training courses now offered, whether or not they feel immediate need for these skills. Channels through which inform ation on ‘training courses might j reach the public were also discussed such as the churches, religious and fraternal organizations, educational organizations, including parent teacher groups, and women’s clubs. Sorors active in this section of the National Non-Partisan Council on Public Affairs of the Alpha Kap ; pa Alpha Sorority are: lone Will iams Hanger and Robbie Turner I Davis. FLORIDA EDUCATION BOARD DISCLAIMS DISCRIMINATION RESPONSIBILITY Palm Beach. Fla.,—In the Palm Beach Teachers’ Salary Equaliza tion case which the NAACP is fight ing here and of which Charles Steb : bens is plaintiff .the defendants the Board of Education, have filed ad ditional deenses to the effect tha ‘ it is impossible for the Palm Beach County Board of Public Instruction to equalize the salaries of the Ne : KNOX, PATTERSON, McUTT, NELSON CALL ON INDUSTRY TO USE NEGRO America Needs Every Worker We need ships, airplan es, and powder to carry the war to the enemy. Ability, not color, Must determine who holds the welding torch, handl es the rivet gun, or mix es the chemicals. What’s Behind Discrimination? Ask emplyers why th§y don’t hire Negro es. They’ll give you a lot.of reasons: Negroes can’t do the work whites won’t work with them—the unions won’t have them. How valid are these objections7 Four major war agencies.the War Manpower Commission .the War P-oduction Board, the Navy md the Army., urged American war conirac' ors to hire moio Negro wokers •as a means of increasing war production. This action is stressed in a 13 page illustrated pamphlet "MAN POWER: One Tenth of a’Nation” issued by the War Manpower Com mission and sigusd hy Paul V. Mc Nutt. Chairman, WMC; Domld AJ. Nelson .Chairman. WPB; Frank Knox. Secretary of the Navy, and Robert P. Paterson as Acting Sec retary of War. The strongly wended pamphlet, which is be’ng mailed to more than 30,000 war production contractor^, reviews America's goals and tells employers: ‘‘You are going to need more wor kers of every kind, skilled, semi skilled and unskilled. You're go ing to need every worker ou can get. But labor is going to be short, ver yshort. That means that nc worker can be overlooked. It mean* that skilled workers' must not be wasted on unskilled jobs. It means that we must get our whole Istboi force to work, with every- man do ing a job that fits the limt of his skill and strength.” On the avilability of Negro work ers, the booklet points out: "There are 120,00c 000 white peo ple in this country There are al most 13.OOC.fiO0 Negroes. More than Z COO.000 of these .ireii.-an Negroes art workers. They are men and women of all skills a ad trades, in all parts of tbe countiy Over 650 COO of then, are already ecuipped for skilled and white collar work, and more are being trained daily.” Declaring that the whole nation pays the cost of discrimination, the pamphlet states: “Discrimination limits production because it keeps needed workers out of war plants: it keeps Skilled men on unskilled jobs: it creates artif icial labor shortages. "Every time you pass over a Ne gro worker, for no other reason than his color, either in hiring or in pomotion. you place one more ob stacle in the path of all-out produc tion.” Pointing out that “We are Using them but we are not using them e nough.” the booklet declares: ‘‘Negroes are being used today in all branches of war industry. in United States Navy yards, in arsen als. in Army cantonements and at naval bases, thousands of" skilled, and semi-skilled Negroes are at work---Before the Government tackled the problem, however, near ly three quarters of all our defense plants refused to hire Negroes ex cept as janitors. Many of those w ho did hire Negroes for industrial work confined them to jobs below their skills Can we afford to limit production—merely because of the color of a worker’s skin?” The booklet lists and analyzes four basic objections which some employers have raised to the employ . Continued on page SSr1 2) gro teachers for the reason that the money to pay teachers, both Negro and white is raised by taxa tion in the special tax school dis trict in which the particular teach er is employed and that the disfi bction of these taxes is fixed by the trustees of that district. The school board says further that they cannot prevent the dis crimination complained of by the plaintiff because it does not control the distribution of the funds of the special tax district as these funds are under the direction of the trus tees in each district. In Other words, the school board is attempting to hide behind the fact that Negro teachers in the schools of Palm Beach County are in some instances governed by Ne gro trustees. “MAt* POWER ‘ one-tenth of a nation This man works for the TVA—three letters that mean power. He’s a riveter, helping to build new electrical plants that put the punch into America's war production. You’ve got to turn more wheels, clamp down harder on more chunks of steel if you want to mold a fighting machine. Fvery bead of sweat on this man's brow means more electricity for new and greater war plants. He can smile proudly because he knows what his job means to America's war for freedom. _ TRAINED EYES AND SKILLED FINGERS L...... Precision to the thousandth of an inch is all-important in the manufacture of anti-aircraft guns. The slightest fault in construction may mean the difference between a hit and a miss on an enemy plane roaring overhead. That's why the trained eyes and skilled fingers of an inspector are one of the most crucial functions in the huge job of turning out the big guns we are placing on our coastal defenses and on all our oceangoing ships. Above, T. A. Floyd, one of Uncle Sam’s arsenal workers, checks for any 4 possible flaws in a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun. — i ! Encourage your white neighbors to subscribe i; ! ;to THE OMAHA GUIDE and learn what the dark- ! :er oiie tenth of the American population is think- :j mg and doing. Assault On Negro Woman In War Dept. HOUSTON BRANCH CONTRIBUT ES TO WASHINGTON BUREAU The NAACP received this week a gift of *176.70 f.-ora the Houston Texas, branch. In an accompany ing letter Henry Grayson, branch Secretary said the contribution was for the maintenance and work of the NAACP Washington Bureau. CHICAGO CHURCHES ACTIVE IN NAACP MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Chicago. 111.,—NAACP member ship drive here has received sub stantial impetus from local church es. Among the many churches par ticipating in the campaign have been the AME Zion churches who brought in more than *200 and th' Cosmopolitan Community Church which has recruited more than 700 members from its church rolls or 826. Rev. Evans, pastor of the Community Church 5249 S. Wabash avenue said at the church meetinc "If three Negroes can be lynched in one week in Mississippi we Ne groes Should on our knees join the one organization that is fighting lynching.” The recruited NAACP. members knelt at the alter to sign pledge cards. HAMPTON OBSERVING NATL. EDUCATION WEEK Hampton Institute. Va..—Hamp j ton Institute is observing Ame-i - j an Education Week this week, with a series of lectures and discussions centering around the general these: | ‘‘Education for Free Men.” which has been adopted by education sov ieties and institutions throughout the country- All events are open to the public. NAACP TAKES TAMPA TEACHER SALARY CASE Tampa. Fla.A pre-trial confer ence in the Tampa school teachers Salary case has been set for Novem ber 17th by counsel for the NAACP. 5 EXPOSED BY DC. BRANCH Washington, D. C.—within twen ty-five minutes after Lula Mae Rod well, an employee of the Famiiy Allowance and Allotment Branch of the War Department, was slapped by a male white employee repres entatives of the Washington Bur eau had arrived at the building and begun a first hand investigation of the incident. The Allowance and Allotment Branch, which moved its offices from Washington to Newark or. November 3, is in the process of as signing the several thousand em ployees who remained in Washing ton to new posts in the War Depa t ment- Long lines of anxious, tense clerks moved forward to recei ? | their assignment cards. A whita man immediately in front of At j | Rodwell complained about pushing i in the line and is alleged to nave asserted that If she pushed against him he was going to ‘‘knock ho. down.” As the line pushed forward Miss Rodwell was involuntarily thrust against her menacer. Be ] fore she could apologize, the man [ grabbed and pushed her, adminis j tering a resounding slap in her face The young lady and •"'witnesses were interviewed by representati\ cs of the Bureau and within the hour, a conference was had with Col. Har. old N. Gilbert. Acting Director of the Office of Dependency Benefits. At the conference were Mias Velma A. Smith, Director of Personnel, the Captain of the Guard, Messrs Perry and Reeves of the Washington Bur eau, and Roy Garvin of the D. C. Branch. It was agreed that the Department had little or no control over the circumstances which ga\> rise to the incident. A thorough investigation by the Department was. however, recommended with the view of disciplinary action a gainst the employee.