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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1944)
largest Accredited Negro Kewspafi er West of Chicago and North of KC Saturday, Sept. 2,1944^ OUR 17th YEAR, No. 30 Entered as 2nd class matter at Post-oftice. Omaha, Nebr., Under Act of March 8, 1874. Publishing Offices at 2420 Grant Street, Omaha. Nebr Negro Units Speed Supplies to Front in France Elks Convene in Chicaqo;Reeled Finley Wilson BALLOT IS YOUR MOST POWERFUL WEAPON. (BY EARL BROWN) for Continental Features The most powerful weapon, we, as Negro citizens, possess with which to fight for our rights are our ballots. That this is so clearly indicated by the extreme efforts both the Repub lican and Democratic parties are mak ing to win a majority of them on election day, November 7. For the politicians know better than anyone else that our votes may be the decid ing ones come November 7. It is, indeed, possible, that they will deter mine who will occupy the White House for the next four years:— Roosevelt or Dewey. To possess something, however, and not use it for your own and others’ benefit is worse than not to possess it at all. And this is the situation with thousands of Negro voters:— they can vote, if they want to, but they are too indifferent to register and later cast their ballots. These slackers not only harm themselves by ■ failing to register and vote, but they also hurt their whole race. They are useless as a company of soldiers a sleep at the front with their rifles full of bullets and the .enemy shoot ing at them. There are approximately two mil lion Negro voters living above the Mason-Dixon line and thousands more below it. Yet, in no election up to now have more than about fifty percent of them voted. Usualy the percentage is much less. Though the Democrats, Republicans and other political organizations such as the CIO Political Action Commit tee, are active in getting both colored and white people to register so they can vote on election day, the responsi bility of registering and voting rests primarily upon the voters themselves. No one should depend upon another person to remind him or assist him in exercising his sovereign power-to vote—if he knows how to go about doing it. This is particularly true of the Negro voters this year, because they have more at stake in this elec tion than ever before. As a matter of fact, our future de pends upon the men elected to office this year more than in any election since 1860, when Lincoln’s election sounded the end of slavery in Amer ica. And it must be remembered that there are men running for office this time on both the Republican and Dem ocratic tickets who are as unalterably opposed to the things we stand for and the things we know we must have, if we are to become completely integrat ed into this nation, as the men who championed slavery in 1860. Though we have made some gains during the war, we must protect them and fight for more and more. If we did otherwise, we would not be wor thy of the things we demand and hrigftully deserve as citizens of the U. S. For example, we must work and fight for the welfare, protection and security of the three-quarters of a million colored men and women in the armed services, especially when they return from battle. We must fight to keep the jobs we have gained in private industry; and we must fight to see that we get better and more housing, more educational opportunit ies, and better health provisions. In truth, we must fight for all the things that will make us and other American citizens economically se cure and culturally better off in a thousand ways. Tht most effective way for us to fight is backing the candidates for of fice—any and all offices—whom we believe will work to help put over the things we are fighting for. Fortun ately, there are men and women runn ing for office who will plump for the thgins we want and need. We must help elect to Congress and to state offices the men and women who are our friends and who will sponsor and work for the kind of leg islation—the kind of democracy—we are guaranteed by the Constitution but have never been able to enjoy. But the kind of men and women we want to see in office cannot win, un less we register and vote for them. It is easy for anyone to find out how to register and vote, if he does n’t know how. Almost any school teacher, lawyer, preacher, Urban Lea gue secretary or NAACP president, if there is one in your city, will be algd to tell anybody how to go about it. All one has to do is to ask either one of them. Of course, you may 10,000 DELEGATES ATTEND ELKS’ MEETING. by Ted IVat son Chicago, (CNS)— Approximatley 10,000 delgeates stormed Chicago last week to attend the 45th annual national convention of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, which opened Saturday afternoon, August 19th Rev. J, C. Austin, pastor of Pil grim Baptist church, delivered the baccalureate sermon and also preach ed the regular sermon Sunday at his own church. The Daughter Elk con vened at Parkway Community house at 51st and South Parkway. A ggantic bond rally running thru August 26th was a regular feature of the convention and educational con gress. Grand exalted ruler J. Fin ley Wilson of Washington, DC., pre sided over the massive meeting which say many new ideas conceived per taining to society and education along with bosting civic pride for the dur ation. The conventoin parade which was held Tuesday, was headed by Bill (Bojangles) Robinson, famous tap dancer, who has led every par ade for the past twenty-five years. The parade started at 2 pm. and mov ed northward on South Parkway to 35th street, then disbanded after pass ing the reviewing stand. NAACP SUES IN VOTE REGrISTRAT’ON CASE. Birmingham, Ala.,—Argument was heard August 21 on the motion to dismiss the complaint of W. L. Pat terson, charging denial of vote regis tration by the Alabama Board of Registration. Special NAACP De fense Counsel, Thurgood Marshall and Arthur Shores, represented the plaintiff. In the complaint which was filed almost two years ago, Mr. Patterson alleges registration was denied him solely on the basis of race or color, and that despite the fact he answered all questions correctly concerning his qualification and filled in the requir ed application blank, the Board re fused to register him. Pointed out also is the policy of the Board clerks in filling out applications for whites and denal of this service to Negroes. A declaratory judgement for ’$5,000 was asked by attorneys for the plain tiff who maintained that the suit was based upon violations of the3 United States Constitution and federal stat utes, and as such was the type of case to be decided by a federal court. Mr. Marshall, pleaded that while the registrars were state officials, the naute of the complaint involved infrac tion specifically of the 14th amend ment. “We do not attck the laws of Alabama,” Marshall said, “only the administrtion of the law in this part icular case.” He quoted a Supreme Court justice who in an opinion on a case involving parallel charges con sidered administration of such a law “with an evil eye and unequal hand falls athwart the 14th amendment.” MAUPIN’S COTTAGE LUNCH NOW IN NEW HOME. WITH BETTER ACCOMMO DATIONS, FASTER SERVICE EFFICIENT HELP Mrs. Maupin, one of our wide awake and progressive business wom en, began a restaurant business Sept. 4, 1942 then operating at 1922 North 24th street. At this beginning she had no employees but at the end of six month's time, had one and at the first of the year had two—by the middle of 1943, had three and begin ning in ,44 had four. From this lo cation she built up a worthwhile bus iness and in time was able to buy thi present property at 2015 North 24th Street which under the expert guid ance, architectural and masonry work manship of Mr. W. F. Center the property was made over into the de lightful .showplace that it now is. Mrs. Maupin opened her new lunch room Saturday, August 26th and she is now able to serve more people with better accommodations, faster service, and with very efficient help. “We hope to start at the bottom and build up and we shall appreciate everyone's patronage,” says Mrs. Maupin with her courteous and friendly smile. also ask any Democratic or Republic an party worker ho wto go about reg istering and voting. He will, indeed, be glad to help you. The important thins, however, are to register now, or when the time comes, and vote on election day. For whom you vote is your business and yours alone. It’s something you must decide for yourself. But if you can’t vote on election day because you failed to register, or if you don’t vote even though you did register, you will hurt yourself, your children, your race and your country. . You were given your ballot to use. (Use it. It’s your front line and most i potent weapon. /. Finley Wilson, Grand Exalted Ruler of the Elks received a tremend Receives - ous hand as his car passed through th tremend OUS cr0Zl^ °f 200,000 during the Aug 2 TTfl.nH parade in Chicago. The reeled An a the great Elk Leader by acca'mation for his 23rd term, indicates the high esteem he holds in hearts of h:s con stituency. PPNS. j: Elkdom’s !| Twin 11 Queens !! Bojangles Leads Huge Parade Bill “Bojangles" Robinson, world j celebrated tap dancer leading the four I hour Elk's parade dozen beautiful \ South Parkway Boulez’ard in Chicago | on Tuesday, August 22. The parade was witnessed by a throng of 200,000 and is said to hove been the most colorful in years. PPNS. After much confusion on the part of a surly audience, the . Misses Dor othy M. Jones, 4518 Calumet Ave., left and Mary Jeanne Ballord, 4254 South Parkway were both crowned Queen of the Elks National Bathing Beauty Contest by the Grand Exalted Ruler, J. Finley Wilson. The coron ation was the climax of the Elks Grand Ball which was held at the 8th Regiment Thursday, August 24 in Chicago. Miss Ballord is a “Fisk ite” and was sponsored by Greater Chicago Lodge, No. 954, while Miss Jones, a university of 111., student was backed by Greater Ft. Dearborn lodge No. 444. (PPNS). TO CONTINUE DES MOINES Wac BAND New York—In a letter to Walter White, NAACP Secr~*ar \ the War Department announced its decision to continue activation of the WAC band at Desmoines, Iowa. Inquiry into the situation was made following a wire to Secretary Stim son urging reconsideration of the plan t odisband the unit. Rescinding of the order was based on the evalu ation of the Commanding Officer at the WAC Training Center who con siders the band an excellent morale agency and has requested its contin uation. Subscribe Today! ANNIVERSARY STARTS. We wish to announce that our an niversary starts Friday Sept. 1st at 8:3'J pm. and will continue nightly for 10 nights. Everyone is welcome to come and feast with us. Also on Saturday Sept. 2nd, we are celebrat-1 ing our pastor’s birthday. Come and join in with us and let us have a good time in the Lord. Prophet Hess, Pastor, 2734 Blondo street. _... .. MIXED UP FIGHT. A four-way fight that ended with two frends as antagonists Monday night resulted in $1 fines Tuesday GOOD CONDUCT FOR EVERY YEAR IN SERVICE.... Guaducanal , South Pacific—Cor pora! Joshua Foster, of Omaha, Neb., has been in the South Pacific with an Engineer Organization since early January, this year. The husband of Mr... Willie Mae Foster, 2626 Cald well St., Omaha, the corporal entered the army March 15, 1941 and receiv ed his basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas. In his present organization, Corporal Foster is a construction fore man. A brother, Corporal Louis Foster, is somewhere in the Europ ean theatre. Prior to entering the service, Corporal Foster was employ ed at, the Fontenelle Hotel, Omaha. He played professional basepall, his last cluy being the Texas Black Spi ders, and is at present a star memper of an Island team. He has run a cross several friends from civilian life in this theatre. Corporal Foster has a good con duct medal to show for each year of serpice and has been in the cavalry as well as the Engineers. morning in police court for Stella Williams, 23 of 2608 Patrick avenue, and Mabel Pollard, 20, of 1513% N. 24th street. The two told Judge Den -nis O’Brien they were attacked by two other women but got befuddled so that hen police appeared they were fighting each other. JITTERBUGS ARE HERE TO STAY New York (C) ranted that the jit terbugs are here to stay, the nation’s teachers are trying to refine it none, theless. According to Dorothy Don elson, convention manager of the Na tional Assn, of Dancing, a lot of the violent gymnastics have been taken out of the dance but many a teacher over the country is suffering from fallen arches trying to figure out mild substitute steps. New Recorder of Deeds v-oiigrcssman William I.. Dawson, assistant chairman of the Democratic National Committee is shown above congratulating Dr. Marshall Shepard of Philadelphia who was appointed last week by President Roosevelt to the office of Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia. Dr. Shep ard, who is shown on the right is pastor of the Mt. Olivet Tabernacle Baptist Church of Philadelphia and a nationally known Democratic lead er. He succeeds the late Dr. Wil liam J. Tompkins in the $8,000 post. Continental Photo—. Only Vigorous Action Will Aid Fepc. Continuin’ RIGHTS, BENEFITS PAMPHLETS TO BE ISSUED TO VETS Veterans of the present war will be informed of their rights and benefits through a United States Government pamphelt, first of its kind prepared by the Retraining and Reemployment Administration of the Office of War Mobilization, the Office of War Information reported. Scheduled for release August 22, 1944, some 2,500,000 copies of the first edition of the booklet, “Your Rights and Your Benefits, a Handy Guide for Veterans of the Armed Forces and their Dependents,” will be distributed to veterans by the armed forces, and by the local offices of Federal agencies: After copies of the booklet are put into circulation this month, all veterans will receive copies at Army and Navy discharge centers when they are discharged!. Veterans who have already been discharged will be able to obtain cop ies of the guide book from draft boards, offices of the Veteran’s ad ministration, local offices of the United States Employment Service of the War Manpower Commission or community veterans’ information cen ters. Among the subjects discussed in the guide book are: mustering-out pay government insurance; ways of ob taining new jobs; old jobs, govern ment employment; apprentice or vo cational training; unemployment bent fits; home, farm or business loans; hospital care, medical attention; dis ability pension; care in national sold iers’ home ; legal protection; assist ance with special problems ; back pay claims; review of discharge or retire ment rulings; wearing of lapel buttons wearing of uniform after discharge. The guide book advises veterans that within five days after discharge they must report in person or by let ter to their draft boards: that if they desire to return to their old jobs they must apply for reinstatement within 40 days after discharge. They are told where to get the answers to their questions, and what records, includ ing serial number, discharge papers, disability claim number and draft card, will be required if they apply for benefits. The booklet tells veterans that : Depending on length of service and honorable conditions of discharge, they will automatically receive mus tering-out-pay of from $100 to $300. All veterans discharged under hon orable conditions are entitled to from five to 10 points preference in U. S. Civil Service examinations. To cover temporary periods of un employment, financial help is avail able through State or Federal sourc es ; the Federal program, for those' not eligible under a State program,1 provides an allowance of $20 a week for from four weeks to a total limit of 52 weeks, depending on length of service. For those with service-connected disabilities that are ocupational handi caps and who otherwise meet the le gal requirements, the Veterans Ad ministration will supply training, and a pension of $80 a month for single veterans, $90 for the married, with added allowances for each child and dependent parent. Three types of loans, including loans for farm and business equip I ment, may be obtained through the Veterans Administration under cer tain conditions. The Veterans Administration will provide for education of veterans whose education was interrupted, the term for study to be based on length of service. Expenses of tuition and fees up to $500 per year in accordance with controlling legislation will be al lowed. Veterans discharged with disabilit ies due to service may be entitled to disability benefits, including pensions, which run from $11.50 per month for a 10 percent disability up to $115 per month for total disability. The Veterans Administration will supply hospitalization, and free trans portation to hospitals, for eligible veterans who require hospital care for disabilities ir.cured in the service; and for those whose illness is not due to service, if beds are available and eli gible veterans are not able to pay hospital costs themselves. Veterans may wear their uniforms from the place of discharge to their homes, under certain conditions. They may also wear uniforms on ceermon Washington, DC.,—Senator Dennis Shavez (Dem. New Mexico) and sponsor of the Senate Bill for a perm anent FEPC, S2048 announced that he had been appointed chairman of a sub-committee of the senate Educa tion and Labor committee to hold a hearing on his bill to establish a per manent FEPC. Senator Chavez indicated clearly, he dees not inetnd to hold more than I 3 days of hearings before the Senate. The NAACP is reliably informed that the Senate will not convene a gain until after the election unless pressure of public opinoin causes members of Congress to know that it would be politically inadvisable to remain in recess. As it appears now the hearings scheduled by Senator Chavez will be no more than mere “window-dress ing” as no defntie action will be tak en by the committee before the elec tion. This comes as"a blow to those who had hopes that the major polit ical parties would do something about this grave issue, especially since the House Labor Committee which held hearings on the Dawson-Scanlon-La Follette Bill in June me and voted today that it would no* resume hear ings or take any action on the House Bill until after the November election Only unremitting and vigorous pro tests from constituents to their Sen ators insisting on passage of the per manent FEPC now and not at some future date after the election, can prevent this unseemingly procedure. REPORT THEFT OF $697.00 Cash and jewelry valued at $697 was reported stolen Wednesday by Mrs. John Wlker of 2721 Parker St. The loot: $75 in silver dollars, $67 in dimes, $3.50 in pennies, and two I $25 war bonds and jewelry. SUFFERS FROM HEAT; DIES Mr. Orson C. Hunter, 44 years of 1123 Pacific street, died Wednesday August 23rd at a local hospital. Mr. Hunter suffered a heat attack while on a roofing job the first of the month and grew steadily worse until his passing. Mr. Hunter had been a j resident of Omaha for forty years and was a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church. He is survived by a daughter, Miss Merica Hunter, mother, Mrs. Chester Smith, three aunts, Mrs. Margarete Ransom, Mrs. Idella Gardner, all of Omaha, Mrs. Nina Ransom, uncle Mr. John Ran som, of Fort Worth, Texas. The Rosary was recited Sunday evening at The Thomas Funeral Home and funeral services were held Monday morning from St. Benedict's Catholic Church with Father Joseph R. Moylan, S. J., officiating. Burial at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. ial occasions, when they wear the uni form of the highest rank or grade they held during the war. Cited for Clean Physical Condition Coolnel Clarence W. Richmond, (white) Their Commanding Officer, Served Under Gen. Bcnj. Davis in the 9th Cavalry. (BY LEWIS GANNETT) SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE — Aug. 21 (Delayed)—If you go out onto the ships in Cherbourg Harbor you look down into the cavernous holds of Liberty ships and see the a mazing miscellany of supplies that keeps an army going being unloaded by colored soldiers. You see colored soldiers rigging the crates onto the swarms of ‘ducks’ that chug back and forth, and colored soldiers driving those weird amphib ious craft—boats with a spare tire on deck—out of the water, up a ramp and away. Colored soldiers man winches as the ungainly LST. maneuver their way up to the tracks across which flat cars are transferred directly to the French railway lines. And you see thousands of black faces behind the steering wheels of the endless convoys of trucks, tanks, trailers, gun carriages, and weapons carriers which make the front line advances possible. The of ficial figure, is that 9 percent of the American troops in France are col ored, which is close to the proportion of the civilian population at home, but in Normandy it looks like more— a lot more. Barrage Balloon Handlers. Negro units handle the silvery bar rage balloons that protect the landing beaches, and have been handling them since D Day. They are stringing tel ephone wires throughout liberated France. They drive the fire trucks armed with foam smothering chem icals which are sometimes the only indication to a layman that a gasoline or ammunition dump is just behind a hedgerow. American Negroes are doing the oduple-quick job of building base hospitals behind the front. The_y mount anti-aircraft batteries. Their field artillery units are at the front and they guard German prisoners One sometimes suspects that an offic er with an cfUthopolical sense of hum or selected the coal-black boys who, w:th rifles on their shoulders, march as guards besides the straggling lines of tired Henenvolk prisoners that you see everywhere on the French roads. Afro-American soldiers also mount guard over the gangs of Germans who have volunteered—for extra pay—to do pick and shovel work about the base hospitals and to clear the rubble covered roads of St. Lo and other heavily bombarded towns. I have just spent three days on a lour of inspection that covered some 500 miles in various sectors of France with Brigadier General Benjamin. O. Davis, the only colored general in the American Army, and his aide, Major Homer B. Roberts, of Chicago. Gen eral Davis, incidentally, is the father of Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who graduated tenth it* his class at West Point and is now in command of a fighter group of four squadrons on the Italian front. General Davis entered the United States Army in 1896 and has been in it ever since. He has a long, strong memory, and in virtually every en campment he recognizes officers — and occasionally non-coms—with whom he has served in China or the Philippines, on the Meican border or in one of several dozen American (Continued on Page EW 2) -I