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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1943)
LARGEST ACCREDITED NEGRO NEWSPAPER WEST OF CHICAGO AND NORTH OF KANSAS CITY [ Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office. Omaha. Nebraska, _ —CITY EDITION iScitiirdciy 5 Dec* 18,1943 OL R 16th 1 EAR ^No. 45 price five cents Texas Democrats May Defy High Court Rulin' ‘93rd Bn tact/ says War Dept. worth of Good Reading. . Xhe report ‘-bat the' Ne« Tork j be-n broken UP Division ^ ed to guard and its units "^Uic coast, “has duty along the to ^ no basis m *■**• tne Adjutant General J W-I- to be broken up. « •> wrote <>«"• V;‘° •bis ^vl8l°nt^t undergoing “is at the Prese" at lhP California ir tensive training Wnile I Artsona advise cannot, tor tM nv ynt of the Plan9 tb.s Division. r>. -»artinent ha9 that suitable yoU Su bT made for lbis Unl* ^ tbe approprtate^ibne^ Coming Urban Conrnce Signify i cant —(BV ERNEST E. JOHNSON) — WASHINGTON. Dec. 14 (ANP>— The forthcoming conference here between officials of the National Urban League and the American Federation of Labor bears watch ing. in the opinion of many obser vers. The announcement was released last week by league officials in New York following an exchange of correspondence between execu tive secretary Lester B. Granger of the social work organization, and William Green, president of the la bor organization. While no specific objectives were j set forth in the announcement, it is not likely that the two groups would sit down at a table for the ! sole purpose of correcting state ments and positions attributed by one to the other. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that an a genda will be drawn up that should provide for a free and open dis cussion of how best Negroes may be organized into the labor move ment. It was during debate at the an nual AFL convention on the reso lution of A. Philip Randolph, Bro therhood of Sleeping Car Porters, seeking to establish a comm.tlee on discrimination in the federation that President Green declared that prominent Negro organizations had j repeatedly thwarted the efforts of the AFL in its organizing attempts among Negroes. “At International Harvester Com pany in Chicago,’’ he declare! to the convention, “we sought to or- j ganize these (NegrO) employes_.. I and found that the representative of the Urban league and the rep resentatives of the so-called Nation -al Association for the Advance ment of Colored People, and other representatives of Negro organiz ations in America, appeared in Chicago and oppesed the AFL rep resentatives in their effort to Or ganize the Negroes into the AFL. As a result," he added, “these Ne groes voted to stay out of the AFL’’ Green said that not only were they prevented from organizing Negroes, but that these groups en couraged Negroes to sign up with the Congress of Industrial Organ izations. It was the exceptions taken to , the Green statement by the Urban league that has brought about the j conferences. Fe dpeople doubt that the CIO shown more zeal in its organic ing drives among Negroes than has the AFL. The recent CIO conven tion reported some 500,000 Negroes on the books. In addition, it has two Negro members on the execu tive council, a national committee to abolish discrimination within its wn ranks, and a membership that is. on the whole, serious in its in tent to accord equal treatment to Negro fellow-workers. On the other hand, no satisfact ory figure is available as to the Negro membership in the AFT, The Sleeping Car Porters is the only International authorized, there is no anti-discrimination committee, and little concern on the part of the top-ranking officials to do any thing about wiping out the various constitutional and ritualistic bars to Negro membership. In short, there is much room for improve North Africa Unit’s ‘Pin-Upper’ I ____.* ■ BEAUTEOUS AND TALENTED SAVANNAH CHURCHILL ‘.he song chirping star of Benny Car ter's band now playing the West Coast, has been seleted as “pin upper" by Pfc. Bob Calloway and his 378th Engineering Battalion now stationed somewhere in No: th Africa. Plucked from a huge stack of photographs sent to this unit by Press Photo Service, Pfc. Calloway and the boys in his Unit, lost no time in making Miss Churchill their November “pin-up” girl. (Press Photo Service). _ ... V - - --- - ment. In the past, the primary efforts to break down the prejudiced alti tude of a number of affiliates of the federation have come from Randolph and his vice president, Milton Webster. They have been within the organization .as war, proper. But this has achieved nothing more than the heaping of insult upon these two men. Not without soundness also Lave been the attacks upon Randolph as the national director of the March on Wasihgnton movement. The objectives of the MOW have been thrown Up repeatedly to make him appear ‘'dangerous’’ or “irre sponsible’’. Irrespective of the merit of the argument, it has not helped the attainment of the basic labor objective. When Granger and his director of industrial relations. Julius A Thomas, sit down with Green and ~hi« aides, it should be in an atmos phere devoid of discrimination. The Urban league will, naturally, point out that it is not a labor or ganization nor is it trying to speak for labor. The league will want to make crystal clear that its chief interest is that Negro people who work do so under the most favor able conditions and for a wage compatible with others doing the similar work. Recognition of the fact that the league has a function to perform that complements the labor move ment was plainly evidenced at the recent annual conference in Chi cago where James B. Carey, secre tary-treasurer of the CIO, accept ed the key spot on the mass meet ing pogram that closed the con ference. The federation of labor, on the other hand, will doubtless cte what it calls its inability to control the autonomous internationals af filiated with it. It will claim that a relatively few affiliates actually bar Negroes and that in due couise even these bars will be lowered through education. If the thinking of the AFT- has been wrong on the subject, the Urban league, officials will have ' » opportunity to point out the flaws. FOr years its workers7 education program has done this on the lo- I cal level to the end that more and more Negroes have identified them selvs closely with the labor move ment- This then represents the first real approach to the problem from the top. Time was when the Urban league ' had to withstand the open cb t -go that invariably it betrayed the t st j interests of Negroes by discour.ig dg attempts at organization ; ;.d militance. If its acceptance Jf t hr ' challenge now does not make Cie-ir the new thinking in its role today, certainly the spoken word of William Green that the leagu'e has discriminated in favor of the CIO should give substant iation to the new thinkign in lea gue circles. JAPS CARE NOTHING ABOUT COLOR New York. Dec. 15 IANP) —‘ The Japs are not fighting a race war, they’re fighting a war for domin ation.” declared Ernest Ciarke. former New York musician who spent the past eight years in China Japan. Malaya and India, an! who was one of the American repatri ates who returned to this country on the Gripsholm exchange ship last week. Clarke was the oniy Negro aboard. Clarke emphasized the fact that the Japs have a great bitterness a gainst the American folk. He said | that as far as the Japs are concern ed an American is an American and skin color be damned. While in terned in Hong Kong, the travel j ler said he was treated all right as Ian individual, as were many of the j ther exchange prisoners, but t wasn't because of my color. ' ■ expla ned. | Since the war. Clarke said, -he Japs don’t trust the American Ne gro any more than they do any body else,” and they made it very plain to me that if they ever got hold of me again. I couldn't ex pect any leniency from them.” THE NEGRO MUST SHARE IN LABOR or Die...Hancock Tells Catholic Conference Richmond, Va., Dec. 12 (ANP)— While stressing the evil of the anti Negro attitude of organized labor. Dr. Gordon B. Hancock, professor of sociology at Virginia Union uni versity and Associated Negro Press columnist, told the Catholic Confer ence on Industrial Problems last week that unless race prejudice is killed, it wil destroy the NegTO race “We are entering on a very ser ious phase of race reations,” de clared Dr. Hnacock. “A definite effort is being made to limiti and restrict the Negro in his economic relations.’’ “Race prejudice must be destroy ed,’’ he emphasized. “It is bad enough on the social level—worse on the economic level- Unless race prejudice is killed, it will destroy the Negro race.’’ LABOR BARS NEGROES Kacia discrimination as practiced by organized labor is a national menace, Dr. Hancock pointed out. "Unless the Negro can become part of that labor he cannot live,’’ he said. ‘‘Whereas, the south is the na tion’s economic problem No. 1, the Negro is the south’s economic pro blem No. I," asserted Dr. Hancock. ‘ You can’t hold the Negro down without holding the south down. You can’t hold the south down without holding the nation down." While declaring that the AFT, is guilt ovf adopting a ' policy of ex clusiveness” toward Negro labor. Hancock said that the CIO had only slightly corrected this defect That the Negro is not seeking additional opportunities for inter marriage privileges was bnugfct out by Dr. Hancock. The idea that increased opportunities for Negroes might bring intermarriage between the races was entirely un founded, he declared. “The Negro is not seeking inter marriage. he is only seeking a share of the American Ul'k^.\ which he has helped to raise.” the professor asserted. Deploring the urbanization of the Negro race. Dr. Hancock Charged that the Negro was ex cluded from the benefits of econo my by the increasing industrializ ation of the south and the mechan ization of agriculture, which re quires technical training. NOTE RACE ENEMIES Enemies of the Negro were brought under fire when the Rev. John S. Cronin, S. S., professor of economics at the St. Mary's sem inary in Baltimore, told the con ference that the Negro today has “two great enemies”.._those in his own race and outside who would change the habits of a country and those who feel that continued in justice is its own justification. He has one group of friends_..those idealist who are realist enougn to know that change must be grad ual and that the evil Of several generations will not be blotted out in a day. Rev. Cronin remarked. Public support of the FEPC was urged by P. B. Young, editor of the journal and Guide Norfolk. “The postwar outlook of the Negro worker is also part of the whole prblem of race and color which is inextricably tied up with the outcome of this war and the de termination of peace at the end of | Quits Demo. Party Ex-Aledrman Earl B. Dickerscn, prominent Chicago Attorney, a member of the Executive Board of Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Co., and former Assistant Corpor ation Counsel of the City of Chi cago, announced this week th-cugi representatives of this publication that he will run on the Republican ticket for Congress from the 1st District of Illinois in the coming election. Mr. Dickerson made a fine record as alderman of the 2nd Ward and as a member of Presi dent Roosevelt’s Fair Employment Committee. Whether or not he has abandoned the Democratic Party of which he has been a mem ber for the past score of years ■was not learned from Mr. Dir.ke son. However, it is a common ru mor that he is through with the Demos forever. Press Photo Ser vice. our present global struggle,” the editor stated. ‘‘It is a problem that has transcended the boundar ies of the south. Destiny has made it national and international." JIM CROW UNION CASE YRC.UED ON PACIFIC COAST San Francisco, Calif. The case in wh;ch Negro workers at the Mar ineship yards are seeking a perm anent injunction restraining the Boilermakers’ union from inter fering with their employment was argued here Dec. 13 before Feder al Judge Michael J. Roche The case, scheduled for Decem ber 6, was postponed one week at Biddle Protests Failure of Federal Bar Assoc. To Accept Negro Member MAY OUIT Washington, Dec. 14 (ANP) Atty Gen. Francis Biddle intends to > quit the Federal Bar association because the group has neglected to accept a Negro to membership, an nounced his associates. If Biddle gets out of the association some oilier high-ranking Officials will also leave. The FBA .composed of some 1500 government lawyers, failed to ac cept Atty. Lewis R. Mehlinger of the claims division of the justice department, in which he has serv ed for 22 years. Biddle lauded the FBA in an ad dress in Boston last month for ad mitting a Negro to membership, and*at the same time he expressed regret that the federal association yet draws the color line. iii!imiiiiiiis!iimiiinium!niimii:ii:i the request of the. attorneys for tl.e Boilermakers' union. Among the attorneys who appeared at court were Anderson and Resntr, for Joseph James and 16 other workers: Thurgood Marshall, for the NAACP; and Bartley Crum for the National Lawyers Guild. The question at issue was whe ther an auxiliary jim crow union gives the same protection and pr'v- • lieges to Negro workers as the ‘ re gular” Boilermakers union. Marshall, appearing for the NA -ACP, argued that the jim crow auxiliary, a favorite device of AFL craft unions, was in reality a 'cap tive' lodge which has no power ex cept as it operates through the “white” local to which it is at tached. He asserted that Negro workers, therefore, were unprotec ted in their rights as workrs and could not be required to join the auxiliary as a condition to employ ment. Senate Action on Soldier Vote Bill is called Fraud Washington—Calling the Senate action on the soldier vote bill, which would leave the franchise for service men in the hands of \ the states, a ‘ shameless legislat ive graud,” the XAACP has urged upon House leaders the passage cf the original Worley bill, HR. ?436 not the “compromise version ' of the Worley bill. The Worley bill is identical with the Lucas-Greene bill which the Senate by-passed. It would give the federal government supervis ion over absentee balloting by men and women in the services. In telegrams to Majority Leader John W. McCormack and Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin, the XA ACP asked that the Rnakin substi- ! tute bill be defeated. ‘‘Only 7 state legislatures are scheduled to meet prior to 19-14 e lections,” said the XAACP wire, “while 41 legislatures are not due ! to meet until January, 1945, or la ter.” It was pointed out that 10 per _ui>ktfUted on page £j?“ 2l f) - If Primaries are Open to Negroes I ___________________ ELECTED PRES. County Clerks, Register Deeds, Nebr. Assn. JOHN SLAVIK, Douglas County Clerk, was unanimously elected. President of the Nebraska County Clerks and Register of Deeds As sociation at the annual meeting held here December 8th and yth. It is the first time that this hon or has been bestowed upon a Couniy Clerk of Douglas County. Mr. Slavik has efficiently con ducted the duties of County Clerk for the past three years. He is very popular in our community and has shown his appreciation of the fine support rendered him by ap pointing. during his term, Mr. J Dillard Crawford, Mrs. Lucy Mae Britt, Mr.s Ruth Lewis Payne, Miss Ethel Davis, Mrs. Clouu Scott, Mrs Susie Williams and Miss Beverly Stams. Fats Waller Found Dead One of U. S. Great ‘•Hot’* Musicians Kansas City. Mo.,—Thomas A. "Fats'' Waller, 39. famous Negro songwriter musician and actor was found dead aboard a train from California at Union station here Thursday morning. Waller was enroute east on a vacation trip. One of the great • hot'' musicians of this country, he was well known for such song nits "Ain’t Misbehaving,” Hon ■; ~uckle Rose’ and “Early to Bed.’ Waller was known as the nations No. 1 swing pianist, but he was more than that. He was the onlj jazz musician who ever played the organ at Notre Dame cathedral, Paris. When Jte toured Europe i» 1938 he drew record crowds. His own attitude toward jazz was simple. “I am nobody to get mighty a hout swing," he said. “It’s just a musical phase of our social life." Tile son of a minister, Waller was born in Greenwich Village ’in 1904 and at 10 was playing’ in school orchestras. He becam a New York theatre organist at 14 but his first breaks came when he played for rent parties in Harlem and met George Gershwin and oth er composers. By 1928 he was writing show music and had gain ed recognition not only in Tin Pan Alley but from musical authorities A fat. smiling man who ranged ® Dallas, Texas—Texas Democratic officials are worried over the pos sibility that the United States Su preme Court may rule that Negro es cannot be barred from the parly primaries, and already there is a hint that this ruling, if mad, will be defied. f A signed 3tory in the Dallas Morning News by Walter C. Horp aday quotes W. S. Bramlett, Dal las county Democratic cahirmau as saying: "If the Supreme Court rules Ne groes must be admitted, I will con tribute all my experience as a law yer and a Democrat to nullify that ruling, and I believe most county and state party leaders feel the same way. "The state committee can decide ; whether it will follow the ruling, and the coupty committee can fol I low the state committee’s instruc j It ions or exercise its own jndge ' ment.” The story asserts that in a few ! Texas counties Negroes out num j her the whites, but "local Demo crats could be expeeted to take care of the situtatlon in such elections, I as has been done in the past, if j Negroes attempt to participate in the primaries. State Chairman George A. But , ler has suggested that if the Court rules Negroes must be admitted to the primaries the party return to the convention system of choosing candidates. Jeff D. Stinson, described as a I "veteran Dallas county legislator,” is quoted by the reporter as doubt ing that the Democratic party will have legal authority to keep Ne groes out of conventions if the Su preme Court holds they cannot be barred from primaries. Editorially, The Dallas Timesi Herald approves the return to the convention system. although it does not touch the question cf Negroes voting: “As long as we have a primary that is, for all p-ac tical purposes, an official general election, no other party except that ruled by the nominal Democratic machine will have a chao'-e The primary does not really serve the interest of the people- It is useful only to the career politicians ar.d the demagogues.” TEXAS PRIMARY CASE REARM MENT. JAN. 10 Washington, DC..—The latest Texas white primary case, argued before the United States Supreme CouYt Nov. 10 and 12 by NAAt'P attorneys Thurgood Marshall and William H. Hastie, will be reargu ed January 10, according to an an nouncement by the court last week. The re-argument has been set because Gerald C.Ma nn, attorn-y general of Texas, has requested and been granted permission to fib a brief amicus curiae, and to pres ent an oral argument. At the first argument the state was not represented, nor did the attorneys for the defendant appear. The ia* ler were notified, but informed the court that they did not wish to appear. in weight from 250 to three hund red pounds, he had a grating bari tone that he Used for talking-sing ing accompaniment to his piano. He is survived by his wife Anita and three children. His home was in St. Albans. New" York. FOR GOOD ENJOYABLE READING SUBSCRIBE TODAY! DIGNITARIES ATTEND GRADUATION EXERCISES AT TUSKEGEE _• One of the most far-reaching and "vital to victory" graduation exercises yet to be held at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, was that of the last Venereal Disease Control Class which recently fin ished the prescribed course at this station. Great significance may be attached to this graduation as it was the climax to months of hard work dne by Lt- Col. Georg McDonald, founder of the V. D. Control program now Used through out the Army Air Forces. In rec ognition of the importance of the occasion, Col. D. D. Fitzgerald, Chief of Staff, Eastern Flying Training Command, the personal representative of Major General Thomas E. Hanley, Commanding General of the EFTC., delivered the principal address to the grad uates. Discussing Lt Col. Mc Donald’s work are (L to R) Capt E. Brown Singleton, Lt Col. Mc Donald, Director of the V'. D. Con trol School; Lt. Col. Richard Cunn ing, Post Surgeon; Col. Noel F Parrish, Commanding Officer, TA AF; and Col. D. D. FitzGerald. Chief of Staff, EFTC. Press Photc Service.