Nebraska Newspapers

    LARGESTACCREDITED NEGRO NEWSPAPER^WEST^OF^CHICAGOANDNORTH OF KANSAS CITY —MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED NEGRO PRESS
Uncter Act of March 8, 1874—Business Pkne-^WE. ^lf3’ Nebraska Saturday, Dec. 19, 1942 Our 15th Year, No. 45 City Edition, 5c Copy
Union Services
To Start Jan. 3rd
AT ST. JOHN AME. CHURCH
The Annual Union Services will
begin at St. John AME. Church cn
Sunday evening, January 3, 1943 at
7:30 p. m. All churches of the city
■are cordially invited and urged to
participate in these services- The
participating ministers are hoping
the unon services shall bring about
a great spiritual awakening in the
city. The devotional services are
to begin each Sunday evening at 7
o’clock. The Rev. E. F. Ridley,
pastor of St. John Church will pre
side and the Rev. clarence C. Rey
nolds and choir of Clair Chapel
Church will have charge of the ser
vices January 3, 1943.
BATTLING SENEGALESE JOIN ALLIED ARMY
IN AFRICA- ameft-born negro, ebouse
’ RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR AID
From the land of Battling Siki—
French West Africa—the United
Nations’ armies stood reinforced
this week by tens of thousands of1
the most feared and effective sold
iers of modern warfare, .the dread
ed Senegalese.
Almost legendary fgures in the
first World War, where they were
Used as “shock troops” against the
Germans, the sharp-shooting .bolo
wielding Senegalese arie now align
ed with scores of battalions of oth
er colonial troops fightng under the
banner of the free French.
Although the full strength of the
Senegalese force has not been an
nounced. approximately 50,000 of
these troops were believed station
-ed at Dakar alone when the align
ment of the French West Africa
with the United Nations was ann
ounced recently. These were chief,
ly Senegalese volunteers, directed
by French officers and rated with
the Moroccans among the best fight
ing men in Africa.
This Stroke of their supporting
the Allies cause was engineered by
Felix Eboue, American-born Negro
governor of the Chad province. A
native of French Guiana on the
South American coast, and a bril
liant graduate of French school.
Ebouse was the first of the colonial
administrators to defy the new
Vichy Government and announce
the determination of Africa to
fight for a Free France. His dec
(Continued on pagegqgP4)
3usy With the
War Effort, Too
Eddie Cantor's chief
cook and bottle
washer on his NBC
program, Hattie
McDaniel, a one ot
Hollywood's busiest
stars when it comes
to entertaining the
boys in the service.
A member ot the
AWVS, the “Oscar’
winner is tilling In
every spare moment
staging shows toi
Negro troops sta
tioned in California.
HATTIE McDANIEI
EDDIE ANDERSON
Lillian Randolph,
the "Creat Cilder
sleeve's” maid on
the weekly NBC
Sunday series ot
the same name. Is
another ot Holly
wood Radio City
plfyers busy enter
taining soldiers sta
tioned in ana
around Los Ango
las. Despite her ra
dio and screen ac
tivities. the colored
performer also finds
time to have week
ly dinners at her
home for lonesome
Negro troops.
, fddle (Rochester)
Anderson, heckler
ot lack Benny over
NBC every Sunday,
has been Instru
mental in Interest
ing several ot the
motion picture stars
in producing 45
minute 16 mm.
tilms to be sent to
bur soldiers on for
eign soil. These
semi-short subjects
are to be written
especially for such
release and will in
clude most ot the
nrominent radio and
film names in Hol
lywood. r
1
LILLIAN RANDOLPH
GET READY FOR NEW
POINT RATIONING
SYSTEM IN JANUARY
Oet ready for the new point rat
ioning system after the first of the
year OPA announced that War Ra
tion Book No. 2 containing coup
ons of graduated values will go to
every American soon after January
1. Meats are expected to be one of
the first to go under the poili.f ra
tioning system, with other commod
ities to follow as requirements of
the armed forces grow.
• ••
OPA NEW POINT SYSTEM
INITIATED IN N. Y. CITY
A program of education in the
new OPA point rationing system
was initiated in New York City this
week by Miss Frances H. Williams,
Senior Consumer Relations Officer
of the Department of Information,
Office of Price Administration.
Between December 8-14, Miss Wil
liams conferred with officials of
the National Urban League, the Na
tional Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People .the Depart
ment of Church Social Relations,
Women's Division of the Methodist
Church, and the National Boards of
the YMCA and YWCA.
These groups discussed their
participation in an education camp
paign designed to inform Negro Or
ganizations and groups of the func
tioning of the point rationing sys
tem. Similar conferences will be
held later in various key cities Of
the country.
Early in 1943 all consumers will
receive War Ration Book Two for
the purchase of goods to be ration
ed under the pint system.
Point-rationing is a method of
regulating the sale of a group of
similar commodities which can be
substituted for one another in act
ual use. To cite an example, three
products of which there is no short
age—oatmeal, cornflakes and grits,
are related commodities which can
be substituted for each other in
daily diets.
Point rationing will not replace
straight coupon rationing on sugar
gasoline ,and coffee, since these are
standarized dommoditvs ,Usually
of one quality, with no widely used
substituted affording an alternate
choice
Cnder the point rationing system
consumers will be able to buy any
of the commodities in a group of
similar commodities with the smc
ration coupons. Everyone will be
entitled tc use a certain number of
points each month cut of War Ra
tion Book Two .to buy the comm
odities in the group. Purchases
may 1* made in any store but the
new tav'nn book must be used.
Each commodity in the group of
similar types, like cereals, will be
assigned a “point value’’ by the
Government. A low point value
will be given to the commodity
which is most plentiful as compar
ed with the usual supply and de
mand fo rit- If commodities afe
chosen having a low-point value,
the shopper will get more for her
DR. HAWKINS
TO HEAD
NAACP LOCAL
Dr. A. L. Hawkins, prominent
doctor of our cjty, was elected Pres,
of the local branch of the NAACP.
Sunday, Dec. 13th at Zion Baptist
Church. Arthur B. McCaw is the re
tiring President.
W. L. Myers, was reelected as
Treasurer. Mrs- John Albert Will
iams. Secy, Mrs. H. Bush, 1st Vice
Pres., Rev. F. C. Williams, 2nd Vice
Pres.
ration than if the points were used
on high-point commodities.
Point rationing gives consumers
all the freedom of choice possible in
wartime- They can choose those
commodities in the group which
they prefer and which they can af
ford. And they can spend their
points any way they like.
Point rationing will assure con
sumers a fair share of the commod
ities in the rationed group. Like
other rationing programs, it will
prevent persons from “chisleing”
on their neighbors fair share.
Rationing is necessary in order
to supply our fighting rorces with
the things they need ...to assure
everyone of his fair share of essen
tial goods which have become
scarce because o fthe war—and to
help win the war!
FAILS TO MENTION HE WAS
FIRST AMERICAN TO LAND
IN AFRICAN
Napoleon Edward Taylor, 31 year
old Negro private of Baltimore,
Maryland, who was the first mem
ber of the American Expeditionary
Force to land in Africa, failed to
even mention that distinction in,
his first letter from there to his
family, received last week, it was
learned Friday.
“Enjoying the best of health and
these beautiful hot days in Africa.
Surprised?”, was the only reference
he made to the landing.
“We were worried,” Mrs. Mamie
Johnson and Mrs. Fanny Underwood
his aunt and grandmother who rec
eived the letter said, “because it
was the first mail we have had from
Napoleon since early August. When
we were told yesterday that he led
the Americans ashore in Liberia,
June 17 ,we naturally were trriUei
and proud of our boy. Napoleon is
a modest boy.”
“He just couldn't wait until he
joined up. Although he was engag
ed to be married, he enlisted first in
January, and married the next
month. He received his training at
Camp Meade, and was thrilled a
bout being in the service.”
Private Taylor won his distinc
tion in Africa because he was the
first man in line aboard the first of
a series of canvass-topped lighters
which carried several detachments
of Negro troops across the most
treacherous sandbar on the West
African coast and landed them on
the Liberian shore, according to re
ports.
Major C. S. Ward, for whom Pri
vate Taylor is orderly, urged him
to memorize a one sentence greet
ing to Liberians as he landed. As
soon as he landed, Taylor did ex
actly that. He proclaimed:
‘‘Liberian—we are here to join
hands and fight together until this
world is free of tyrannical dicta
torships. ”#
HAMPTON GRAD IN
‘‘LOOK” PHOTOS
Hampton Institute. Va.,—Readers
of Look magazine for December 1
learned this week that the young
lady photographed in that issue,
demonstrating the food values of
brewer’s yeast at Cornell Univers
ity. is Miss Barbara Bond of Day
tona Beach. Fla., a graduate of
Hampton Institute.
AEF Racial Friction
reduced - ■ Mrs. Roosevlt
DEAN' DIXON, NEGRO SYM
PHONIC CONDUCTOR
GUEST SPEAKER AT “ARTS
TO RUSSIA WEEK” DINNER
Dean Dixon, famous Negro sym
phonic conductor told an ‘‘Arts to
Russia Week” dinner in honor of
Charles Chaplin, Thursday, Dec. 3,
at the Hotel Pennsylvania, in New
York, that America can thank Rus
sia for “a plan which is annihilat
ing the Nazis.”
The dinner was sponsored by the
Arts Committee for Russian War
Relief and was attended by over
1000 persons prominent in the art.
stage music, dance, radio and lit
«
erary worldos, gathered to honor
Chaplin who according to the spon
soring committee, is a symbol of the
artist fighting ‘‘to keep culture and
arts in a world of free peoples.”
Dixon, one of the leading speak
ers at the dinner, said:
‘‘When we find that in some coun
tries our artists say: “We can’t com
-
pose—we can't write—conditions
are in such a flux on all sides of
us”, ,. .and yet, in between duty as
a fire-warden and in between bomb
ings, Shotakovich is able to com
pose one of our greatest works, his
Seventh Symphony, what does it
mean?
‘‘It is not an exceptional thing.
The Russians are not different from
us. It is something that starts way
down deep; it is something you can
not pin down. But when we realizo
that here is a country in which art
ists let no wars, barbarians’ bombs,
or destruction .interrupt their art,
we find the makings of a great peo
ple.
“Here is a country that is being
beseiged,” he continued, “a countiy
where barbarians are trying to an
nihilate everything, and yet they
give Us great art. This is some
thing to be very thankful for. .and
we musicians are indeed thankful.”
Dixon told the diners that he
stood before them in a two-fold cap
acity_..that of a musician and
that of a member of a minority
group.
“From the standpoint of a repres
entative of a minority group ” he
said, “I look to Russia as a great,
a marvelous country. Why? They
are showing us brotherhood, a hu
, man spirit such as we of other coun
tries have been reaching out for in
ail civilization. Russia is showing
us how millions of peoples of dif
ferent cultures can live and pros
per and create great art together.
This is a plan to annihilate the
Nazi philosophy which we can thank
Russia for.”
Dixon paid tribute to the purpose
of the dinner, saying, ‘H is a great
thing to be doing."
“The help we give to Russia will
be returned to us in many forms,”
he said “It will be returned to us
in great art. great science, great
philosophy and certainly in ireedoin
from Nazi i arbarianism T.et us car
ry on this w'ork of aid to Russia.
<-holeheartedly ind enthusiastically.
LINCOLN U. PROFESSOR
ON ST. LOUS TOWN HALL
Mr. Ernest Kalbala. instructor of
Sociology at Lincoln University was
guest speaker for the “Town Hall'
of the St. Louis YMCA. Dpcembei
4. 5, 6. speaking on the “Africa To
day, Our Second Front”.
He made several guest appear
ances including a 15 minute inter
view over station WIL. and talks
of the various phases of Africa's
place in the present war pictures
before “Town Hall” groups.
Mr. Kalibala, a native of Africa,
has been teaching at Lincoln since
.- ---.—— (
1940.
‘‘FOUR FREEDOMS VICTORY
BOND RALLY” DEC. 14 JAN’. 16
Durham, N C..—Completion of
plans for the ‘‘Four Freedoms Vic
tory Bond Rally,” to be conducted
from December 14 to January 16 by
members of the Naional Negro Life
Insurance Association have been an
nounced by Asa T. Spaulding, presi
dent of the organization.
The campaign is being projected
in anticipation of the holiday Sea
son when thousands of thrifty cit
izens will transform their Christ
mas savings into cash and thous
ands of others will receive their an
nual bonuses from the industrial
and commercial concerns by which
they are employed.
‘‘In determining to hold this five
weeks campaign we were prompted
by two objectives,” declared Presi
dent Spaulding. ‘We want to make
America, including Negro America,
War Bond-conscious and through
that War-conscious, and we want to
teach our people the value of thrift
After the war the United States
will need thrifty citizens in all/
walks of life and as there is no
better method for saving than thru !
VV'ar Bonds and Stamps the Nation- ‘
al Negro Life Insurance Associat
ion membership decided to conduct
this campaign as one of its contri- ■
butions to the War effort.”
LUCKY STRIKE MAKERS
WITHDRAW ANTI-NEGRO
BRAND NAME
New York, N. Y.—The sale of a
pipe tobacco obnoxiously labeled..
“Nigger Hair” was discontinued I
this week following formal protest
made by the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People to George Washington Hill
Jr., Vice President of the American.
Tobacco Company, 111 Fifth Ave.,
Tht American Tobacco Compa ny I
which distributed the tobacco in a
number of North Western states
including Oregon, Washington and
Wsiconsin is also the distributor of
Lucky Strike Cigarettes. The sec
tions in which the pipe tobacco is
sold are areas sparsely populated
by Negroes.
Answering the protest George W.
Whitesides, counsel to the Tobacco
Company .said: “I may inform you
that immediately upon the receipt
of the communication calling our
attention to the objection to the use
of a certain brand name that was
originated back in 1878 and subse
quently acquired by the American
Tobacco Co-, the brand name was
immediately discontinued, as in
deed was another brand-name which
it was discovered had the sam?i
basis of objection. Neither of these,
brands is largely or widely distrib
uted. The American Tobacco Com
pany will not continue the use of
any such name as to reflect upon
the Negro race and we are pleased
to advise you of our prompt action
in this matter.”
LEND-LEASE AID TO
ETHIOPIA
Declaring that “the defense of E
thiopia is vital to the defense of
the United States," President Roose
velt has ordered lend-lease aid ex
tended to the Government of Eth
iopia, the White House announced.
HEADS WAR TRAINING COURSE
Hampton Institute, Va„—Jeffer
son D. Davis has been appointed
supervisor of the war training
courses (formerly known as Nation
I al Defense courses) at Hampton In
stitute. it was announced.
V ♦
? NAACP SAYS THAT IT
DOES NOT DOUBT
HER STATEMENT
“But from all indications
they shall keep eternal
vigilance on this matter’’
Gen. Davis Criticized
Washington, D. C.—In a confer
ence at the White House on Decem
lst to discuss the recnt reports of
the treatment of Negro soldiers a
broad, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevlt ex
presed to Walter White, the Exe
cutive Secretary of the NAACP her
ofenj fiction that Brigadier-General
Benjamin O. Davis had done well
in his efforts toward lessening the
tension between Negro and white
soldiers in the American Expedit
ionary Forces stationed in the Brit
ish Isles- Mrs. Roosevelt said that,
friction created by prejudiced Sou
thern whites had been somewhat
eased. In answer Mr. "White stat
ed that while the NAACP did not
disagere with Mrs. Roosevelt con
cerning .the value of eGneral Davis’
investigation, there could however
be no slackening on the part of iho
Association in the protest against
the establishment of the- Souhern
Jim CrOwism abroad. The attacks
made and propaganda spread by
white officers in England, Australia
and other parts of the world, to
which Negroes have been sent and
the United States, must be regarded
as one of the gravest of all prob
lems and one which the NAACP
will continue to fight.
Commenting on General Davis’
report the December 5th issue of
The Nation said, ‘‘Perhaps General
Davis did not get around as much
as he should have or perhaps he
did not consider it wise to make an
issue of the matter at this time.
An ugly and dangerous situation
does exist and it impairs the effic
iency of the troops and depresses
the morale of the entire Negro pop
ulation, already near the breaking
point.”
In recent months controversy
conoerning the introduction of Am
erican prejudice has also run high
in the English press.
A letter from a soldier which ap
peared in the fall issue of the Eng
lish magazine The New Deader
stated: “A talk was given to us yes
terday by our detachment officer.
During the talk he explained that
he had to bring to our notice the
contents of a letter written by the
Bridgadier. The leter said that in
the absence of any ruling from a
higher authority it had been decid
ed to circularize a suggested set
•f rules which would assist the
troops in their relationship with
any Negro soldiers. It was under
standable that Higher Authority
had not rushed to any decision on
the subject requiring so much tact
but it had been possible to get a
line on probable decisions by study
ing various comments contained in
correspondence and reports from
conferences- These were set down
as a list of suggestions. There was
no hint that they were to be taken
as orders... except in the firct
case which forbade members of the
ATS. to associate with colored
troops. I do not remember all the
details or their sequence but some
have stuck and the effect on the
whole of this letter was to cause
a certain amount of bewilderment
and scorn among those who heard
it. I nother words. English troops
were asked that their natural
friendliness toward visitors be ton
ed down in the case of Negroes.
j Leaves to Join
| Her Husband
MRS. N. B. BREWER
WILL BE GREATLY MISSED
IN THE RELIGIOUS AND
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES HERE
MRS. GRAY BREWER, who was
recently married to Rev. N. B
Brewer, left the City Wednesday,
Dec. 16 for her new home in Coffey
ville, Kansas, 708 E. 5th St.
Mrs. Brewer, a prominent and ac
tive member of Cleaves Temple
Church, is the first of our group in
the state to receive a Leadership
Training Diploma from The Inter
national Council of Religious Educ-[
ation. She has taught Leadership j
Training Classes in the Paseo
School of Leadership Training of
the Kansas-jMisSouri Conferences |
at intervals for a number of years,
and has taught Adult Education,
classes here for 7 years. She has
supervised and taught in Vocation |
Church schools here also.
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ;
The letter stated quite definitely
that Negro troops should not be al
lowed in the canteens, entertain
ment and dances organized for H.
M. forces.”
The British War Commentary has
this to say: ‘‘The attitude of the
population toward American troops
confirms the peace-time experience's
In the villages and towns Black
troops have been received with
sympathy by the people, shopkeep
ers often declaring that they pre
fer them to the white Amencan
troops because they are kinder and
more polite.”
1943 SPINGARN MED AL
NOMIN ATIONS OPEN
New York, N. Y.Nominations
are now open for the 1943 Spingarn
Medalist the NAACP announced
this week. Any one may submit
rhe name of a person considered
to be worthy of recognition and
send it tc the National Off.ce of
(he NAACP. at 69 Fifth A/e-rne.
The Spingarn Medal Award was n
s-itutea in 1914 rj;- the late J. E.
Suingarn. then chairman of ihe
Board of Direct Its Of the N AACP
\\h - gave annually- until his death
in 1939 a gold medal “to be award
ed for the highest and noblest a
Lhievement by an American Negro
during the preceding year or years.
A fund sufficient to continue the
award was set up by his will. The
Spingarn Medal Award Committee
which will meet in January includ
es: Dr. John Haynes Holmes, Dr.
Mordecai W. Johnson, Mrs. Mary
McLeOd Bethune, Dr. Buell, W. Gal
lagher, Supreme Court Justice
Frank Murphy, Dr. William Allen
Neilson and three additional mem
bers to be elected at the December
14th NAACP Board meeting.
The 1942 recipient of the medal
was A. Philip Randolph, president
of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters.
Encourage your white neighbors to subscribe:
to THE OMAHA GUIDE and learn what the dark-;
er one tenth of the American population is think-:
ing and doing.
^ *|A ^ ^ ^ ^ A A A 4AAAAA444A A A * *^^^ * * ^ jXTU\A.
Harmoniously they work together
to feed our Nation and Allies
EXPERT BUTCHERS, NEGRO AND WHITE,
work together in this department of Swift and Co.,
preparing hams and bacon for use throughout the
United Nations. More than 2,000 Negroes are( em
ployed at the huge packing plant in the Stockyards
area.
Swift Firm Is One
Of Major Employers
Since nobody doubts that an armv
travels on its stomach, meat pack
'ng takes a place beside the manu
facture of guns and shells as an es
sential war industry. Chicago as
world center of the meat packing
business, therefore contributes not
only to the welfare of the Army but
also sends life-sustaining meat and
meat by-produc.ts to the civilian
populations of the various United
Nations.
Negroes have been employed in
DEVELOPING CHILD CARE
PROGRAM MONEY GRANTS
Grants of money to help carry out
state plans for developing child
care programs for children of work
ing mothers in three states, New
Jersey, Missouri and Arkansas,
were announced by Manpower Chr
man Paul V. McNutt, for the Officj
of Defense Health and Welfare Cer
vices, of which he is Director. Mr.
McNutt also approved the stato
plans.
The grants are: Arkansas $4,290,
New Jersey $2700, Missouri $3875.
The money comes from the ?400,0c0
allotted to the ODHWS by the Pres
dent for coordination and develop
ment of wartime child care servic
es. These grants are available to
state departments of education Or
welfare for the employment of sal
aries and travel expenditures for a
state supervisor and one or more as
-sistants in each state, whose dut
ies will be to aid in providing day
care facilities to comm unites in
which a large number of women
with children are employed or are
soon to be employed.
AIRFORCE RECRUITS NEGRO
WOMEN MECHANICS
Fort Worth, Texas— Following
the announced Army Air Force pol
icy to mobilize all available civil
ian man pow’er and “keep ’em fly
ing” the Tarrant Feld Sub Depot
here announced this week its first
class of Negro women mechanics.
Eight women ranging in age from
17 to 30 all from the Fort Worth
area have been recruited through
the United States Employment Ser
vice and are receiving their initial
instruction from Lt. E. P. Baeh
tell. Additional women are to be
hired as quickly as possible to
form a school unit which will be
sent to Duncan Field, San Antonio,
Texas, for advance training. Every
“mechanic learner" as the recruits
are called is paid $75 a month dur
ing the 3 months training period
following which they will receive
the salary for the Civil Service po
sition to which they are assign? d.
‘‘Mechanic learners” receive in
structions which qualifies them to
become sheet metal workers, lathe
operators, electrical inspectors, pat
tern makers, engine mechanics
the whole field of aeroplane mech
anical work. It is the civilian
crews of mechanics who will in the
future be neeponsible for all major
repair and maintenance work on
Army Air Corps planes in Contin
ental United States.
The Army Air Force mechanics
whose places they take will thus be
released for over-seas duty in com
bat areas. According to Capt. Gil
bert. commanding officer, the init
ial group of colored “mechanic learn
era” at Tarrant Sub-Depot are of
“very high calibre’, each having at
least, a high school education and
several are college trained.
J
the large plants in the Chicago area
since meat packing became a major
industry. Today, and for a good
many years past, they are found in
both the skilled /md semi-skilled
categories as well as at the unskill
ed jobs.
WORK IN SPECIAL LINES
One of the major employers of
Negro labor is Swift and Co., one of
the larger meat packers*out in the
famed stockyards district. This
past July, out of a roster of approx
imately 5,400 manual workers, there
were 2,039 Negroes at the Swift
plant. This is considerably more
than were employed there at the
corresponding time in 1941. it is
true of Negroes as it is of other
races and nationalities working
there that the total number fluct
uates with the seasonal demands of
the industry and the type of volume
being handled.
Although they' are at work ir,
most departments the majority of
the Swift and Co., Negro person
nel are in the cattle, sheep and hog
dressing sections and their subsid
iary departments, soap, table ready
meats, smoked meats, pork trim
ming, curing cellars, refinery de
partments, cold storage and the by
product departments.
Obviously, with more than 2.000
Negro workers, many have made
outstanding records and have been
in the company employ for many
years.
One of the oldest is Joseph Shor
es who last ospring started his for
ty-third year at the plant. He has
been a Swift and Co. worker since
April 1900. leaving for a short time
in 1904 but returning the following
year. Starting as a teamster, Shor
es, now 64 has been a chauffeur
since 1939. ’
HE'S A SHIPPING CLERK
Another old employee is AJ Wall
who started work in 1902, quit 16
years later and then returned per. u
anently in 1919. Beginning in the
machine shop, he is now a lathe
hand. Andrew Cantrell, hired in
1906, is now a florman and backer
while Walter Sheridan, on the pay
roll for 35 years, has been a store
room clerk for much of this period.
J. W. Crocker began work with
the company in 1918. He quit after
a short period of time and re-en
tered the service Oct. 5, 1920. Start
ing as a laborer Crocker has now
worked himself up to the position
of department shipping and dis
crepancy clerk.
Ernest Crooke has had continu
ous service with the company since
early in 1917. He began as a lab
orer in beef dressing and has now
| reached a point where he is adapt
t ed to most of the skilled work on
| the dressing floor.
An assistant foreman in the soap
factory, James Johnson has worked
continuously for Swift since 1913
after being hired first in 1908 and
afterward leaving. Robert Hack
ley, taken on in 1918, is an evapor
ator man and Phil Weightman, with
the plant 12 years during the rush
season in 1941 acted as an instruc
tor and all-around butcher in tho
hog dressing department.
As is customary in most Chicago
i plants, Negroes are integrated thru
out instead of being separated into
special units- Thus far, Swift exe
cutives say they have encountei-edi
no particular problems of racial
friction and believe that while at
work there may be less friction at
the company than is to be found in
the community outside of employ-*
ment activities.
Many Negroes are union members
with several serving on various
committies of their labor organis
ations and occupying official posi
tions in the adminstration of union
affairs.