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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1947)
I Future Is Yours *** i What Are Yon Doing About It? | (Presented ns a Special Service to Negro Youth hy The OMAll.V | OUIDE in Cooperation with the National Urban Leugue’s Vocational | | Opportunity Campaign.) The Stories Of Two Accountants —one near enough to the top to look back and tell how he planned his future. ; —the other an excellent example of a good beginning. CHAUKCEY L. CHRISTIAN—CPA One in e*ery 1 11 person* in the United States is an Ac countant—almost one million men and women. But only 17,000 of these are registered Certified Public Accountants: the examination, in every state of the nation is one of the rtiffest. Cliauncey L. Chdistian is among the very few Ne groes who have qualified. He was the first Negro in Ken tucky, 22 years ago. One of the highest categories in the Accountng field is “management control.” At thepresent moment, Mr. Chris tian has the respoibility for handling the finances of Gale Agencies a New York City managing and booking firm do ing a yearly business totaling several million dollars, and for the management of its 30 staff members. Before coming to New York, Mr. Christian was chief figu ring erpert behind-the-scenes of million-dollar construction company—owned and operated by Negroes where swift ness and accuracy in accounting was a main pivot around which the company's success turned, efficient cost figuring wisely figured bids, and close budgeting swept the company through job after job. Itt was the omly Negro company re ceiving contracts from the federal government for building post offices which it erected in cities in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey and New York. It received federal contracts for defense housing in Louisville, Kentucky; for a SI,500,000 housing job in Balti more; and a 82,000,000 defense project inWash., D. C. With the war slump in construction work, Mr. Christian came to New York. At about the same time Gale Agencies decided to bring Negro executives into the firm and had turned to the Urban League of Greater New \ork for gui dance in the selection of an Accountant. Mr. Christian was rcommended and in the three years of association with the organiation has ben encouraged, in his position as control ler, to exploit his capabilities fully. lie takes away the doubt and mystery oi competing anu winning in the American business world. “Color may be a handicap,” he says, but it is not a barri er. It is obvious that a Negro must ‘do a better job’—but then anybody should ‘do a better job’ if he wants to get a head.” Although born in New York, Mr. Christian went south at an early age to live with his grandmother in Richmond, Vir erini;i1 where he finished high school, and attended V irginia Business School and Union University. His first real job was that of clerk for the Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Inc., a successful Negro company, he received his first real commercial aspirations. Finding he was a long way from knowing all he should in Accounting, he began to study at night. His next job was at Tuskegee Institute where taught bookkeeping and other business subjects, and later made Assistant to the Director of Industries—but he kept study ing, spending most of his spare moments in the library. “He kept studying” was like a refrain in young Christian’s life. Even after leaving Tuskegee to take a job as an Ac eountin (moving subsequently to Louisville, Kentucky) he continued to “burn midnight oil.” In addition to his work he became “figuring master” for many of the new enter prises in Louisville, most often Negro businseses Not only did he design and install accounting and business systems, but he trained personnel as well. In 1925 he took his exa mination for CPA. Mr. Christian, who has been described as one of the most ta lented accountants and tax consultants in the country, is a secure, confident American citizen. “Many of the problems facing Negro boys and girls are solved by proper technical training and determined effort, “he explains. There is nothing difficult about it—” This man who is reaching the top in his field, would be very pleased with John A. Cooper, Accountant, United Nations —a young veteran, on his first real accountin job. Early in 1946, shortly after his army discharge, John Cooper packed away his khaki, put on his civilian suit and visited the USES offices in New York Gty. He wanted a job as an accountant. He had no “pull”, no “contacts.” He was a trained Accountant, asking for a job on his ability to do it. W hen he was told by the nterviewer that an ac countant was needed at the United Nations headquarters, he went right away. He didn’t stop to ask himself, “Will they want a Negro Accountant. Can I do the job. How will they treat me. Suppose,.. Maybe.. Perhaps..” He remembered his four good years at Morehouse College where he majored in business Administration and Account ing; the practice work he’d had during the last two years there with a CPA firm in Atlanta; his part-time job as a stu dent with the firm; the special auditing job he’d done; and the extra study in Cost Accounting he’d had through the Armed Forces Institute, while he was in the army. Chauncey Christian would have laughed with* contentment had he been along withjohn that morning. He would have said: “There are a million Accountants in America—and to look at him, unruffled, confident, you’d think there was just one.” At the United Nations, John Cooper s job is Accountant in the Budget Control Section of the Administrative and Fi nance Division. He is one Negro among 25 other persons— French, Norwegian. Dutch, Canadian Filipino Australian. Sponsored by one of his Accountant eoRegues, he is a mem ber of the National Assocation of Cost Accountants, a profes sional organization which allows him to keep up with the new developments in his field. For John Cooper this is just beginning. He’s got a lot of plans, and he is losing no time. Along with his job, bis as sociation with other persons in his field, he has enrolled in a New York CPA School for evening classes. He is continu ing to do something about his future. “THE FUTURE IS YOURS—PLAN AND PREPARE!” Read The Greater Omaha Guide! -EVERY WEEK! .... 1 EDITORIAL i NORTH 24TH STREET The people who reside in the Near Northside community and who must of a necessity use North Twenty-fourth street as their main thoroughfare, indeed have a sorry avenue to [ do business upon. The pavement along this street is in a deplorable condi j tion. Holes filled with slushy, melting snow is in evidence I — - everywhere dirty paper, bottles and other debris litters the street. Slowly, very slowly, does the trash-filled sewers carry off drenching down-pours. Icy conditions prevail in front of scores of vacant lota. These and other conditions present a challenge to the busi ness men and civic-minded people of the community. There is no logical reason why one viewing Twenty-fourth Street North from Cuming, might exclaim in disgust “What A Shanty Town!” Strategically located mid-city, the Avenue, as it is known to its many corner-posing, after-dark luminaries, who, blazing ly utter without any discretion whatsoever, foul words of a kind, only their ilk could possess might well be a thor oughfare that the citizens of this community would be proud of-it might well be a thoroughfare, clean, free from hazards of limb and health, lined with progressive business locations, owned, operated, managed and staffed by courte ous, efficient persons such as those found at the Electronic Sales — Service Store, owned by Lieut. Harry Buford, the Sharp Inn, owned by Mr. Leonard Glenn, The Carver Sav ings & Loan Assn., Johnson’s Drug Store and many others. W ill the Citizens accept the Challenge that is theirs or in despair, let it die??? THE COMMON DEFENSE by Rev. Wm. Kernan HUMAN RIGHTS The Human Rights of the United Nation is currently eng aged in writng a preamble to a proposed Internatonal Bill of Human Rights. Americans may wonder why there should be any difficulty about that. They remember Jefferson’s words in the pre amble to the Virginia Declaration of Rights, “that all men are born equally free and independent and have certan inherent natural rights, of wliieh they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity.” They remember Hamilton’s an serw to Dr. Seabury, “The particular aim of society is to pro tect individuals in the enjoyment of those absolute rights which were vested in them by the immutable laws of nature.” Why, then, should it be an arduous task to draw up a Bill of Rights for the United Nations. It is because another idea man today possesses the minds of many, and competes with the principleof human rights which has found root in America. It is the totalitarian idea which disregards men as free in dividuals and sees them only as part of a mass—a race, a class, a religion. It is the idea which denies that men as in dividuals have any rights whatsoever against the State. It is the idea which accounts for the cruel and inhuman persecu lion of the Jews by the Nazis, the deportation of slave labor- j ers, liquidation of opposition parties by the Communists. It is the idea expressed by the Yugoslavian representative j on the United Nations Human Rights Commission. > As sum med up by the American representative on that Commission. He said that “in many of the Bills of Human Rights which had been presented for study the emphasis was wrong be cause it was based on the rights of individuals, whereas the new trends in the world made it impossible to consider indi viduals except collectively.” This is the idea which has already enslaved millions—des troyed millions—and today threatens the freedom of mil lions more. It is an un-Christian, and un-American idea. That is exiomatic and admitted. But when we in this country refuse to judge our fellow- j Americans on their merits as individuals—irrespective of j their race, class creed, or color—when we exclude them from our schools and colleges, our neighborhoods and factories— and sometimes even our churches—we are giving allegiance to the un-American idea by regarding men in the mass rather than as individuals. We are leading our strength to the un American idea which is today competing everywhere with the American idea for controlling the minds of men. W e are helping to create an atmosphere can live and grow strong. America needs great purpose—vigor in pursuing it—in nothing more than this: to embrace and hold fast to her an cient principle of individual human rights and, in accordance with it, to put an end to racial and religious discvrimination; and to raise a standard of human rigths which all the wise and honest of the world will acclaim. Excerpts From The Nation’s Magazines. THE NEGRO DIGEST Said former Governor Ellis Gibbs Arnall of Georgia, well known sou thern liberal, “The Colored man, be he Japanese, Chinese, Indian or Negro, is the natural enemy of the white man, in the same way that the tiger is the natural enemy of the lamb.” Speaking further Mr. Arnall said, “I have seen Negroes all my life, and it has never occur red to me that there was anything tigerish about them. Some of those I knew were exceptionally shrewd, businessmen, some were teachers, some were sharecroppers, some were prideful farm owners. A few ‘white man's niggers’, I disliked instinctively, in the same way that I dislike scalawags, quislings and the stink of cheap moonshine li quor in a Saturday night crowd:.... they were a little mephitic and a little vulpine as they played the role of Uriah Heep in blackface, but they were not tigerish.” Uttering what many black and white Americans have dared to say .OUR GUEST Column (Edited by VERNA P. HARRIS) j farm policy and . urban bigotry (By BENTON 3. STRONG, E«lit*r Nutiomil Union Farmer) DENVER-- . ' Just what has national farm pol icy to do with the minority prob lems in many of our cities? Remote as the two may seem, j die uucwu; inter- related, ant ||j an understanding jf of that fact i: k quite important. ■ As a recent im H migrant to Denver || after many year: p in the South, I wa: fl surprised to findj * that the strongest- j racial prejudices g in this city are di-s|; rected against Mex leans and Japan- " ' | ese, and not against Kenton J. strung Negroes. That does not mean that there is no discrimin ation against the latter. There is. But I fear that I see even some elements in the colored race parti cipating in discriminations against Latin-Americans and Orientals. The Mexicans and Japanese are Denver’s newcomers. These late comers offer economic competition in the labor field to the old settled population, Including Negroes, and this condition has, as usual, given rise to tensions which sometimes flare into violence. The situation in Denver is very largely an outgrowth of an agri cultural matter. A majority of the Latins came here originally as farm workers, to help harvest the sugar beet crop. Many of them lacked funds to get home when the harvest ended Some settled voluntarily. Many of the Japanese, removed by the Gov- j emment from the West Coast dur ing the war, likewise came to the irrigation farming areas to find seasonal farm work and a subsis tence. When the harvest was over they could not go beak West. They moved to town. Most of these new residents in this area were either recruited to come to the sugar beet filds to help meet a national emergency, or were ordered away from their homes on the Pacific Coast. They now want nothing but security, | like all the rest of us. The problem will not be solved by hot tempers. We can prevent it from becoming increasingly in tense by intelligent action on a land policy in the United States. We should stop the trend toward large commercial farms, which re cruit and move migrant workers, and then cast them off. We should encourage owner-operated family farms throughout America, and western lands should be developed only on such a pattern. The Sou thern plantations, as cotton be comes mechanized, should be sim-; ilarly converted to give people se-1 curity on the land, rather than to | drive them into cities and other [ areas. Meantime, a realization of why j the man next door is next door is essential to eliminate our preju dices and our tendency to attach blame to people who are actually themselves victims of undesirable social and economic forces. lUnHHMIHmillllNIlHHIMimilUMIflltllttUIIIHWMMtlHIIIMIIIItUIMIMUItUlimMUIIMNIMRiNftl Ellis Amall declared there is no Negro problem, although the Am erican Negro .has a problem. In many respects it is a problem com mon to all minority groups any where in this or any other country. • • SURVEY GRAPHIC— SEGREGATION. THE PATTERN OF A FAILURE There is an old heresy in Amer ica which claims the privilege of aggressive race prejudice as one of the inalienable rights of the indiv idual. That is a popular argument among race reactionaries today. It has great currency in the South, especially among political leaders. But is also turns up from time to time in the malice of certain news paper columnists who reach nation al audiences. As a nation, we have expended valuable energies in perpetuating the wasteful and sterile luxury of biracial institutions. We have wasted the human resources of Negro Americans by submitting them to a relentless system of frustrations and rejection; we have wasted resources of the whole nation in the enforcement and justification of that system. The way things stand along our racial frontiers on any particular day may look grim enough as one scans the stories of excesses in rord and deed, which appear in wwwipiwmiiwimHium—iwiiniiiiwwiinniiiwuiiwiMiiii—^mwiMHiitmw>| The Sanctity Of The Individual (by RUThl TAYLOR) A nation as well as an individ ual is known by what it believes. The beliefs of totalitarian regimes are clear to all. They believe in the sanctity and supremacy of the state and the complete subsurv ience of the individual. He is but a pawn. His work, his religion, his home, his children are directly under the control of his master the state, and its self appointed rulers. He may read, listen to and say only what they wish. Even his beliefs are regulated and reg imented. The direct antithesis of this are the beliefs of a democracy, based as they are upon the sanctity of the individual. The state is but the composite convictions of its citizens. He is no pawn—but a free man. considered capable and intelligent enough to govern him self with due regard to the rights of others. His laws are the traf fic rules determined upon by him self and his fellows as the most convenient way to give freedom to all by cooperation for the common good. He may work where and when and how he will—provided that work harms no one nor so affects him that he becomes a charge upon the state. If he doesn’t like a Job or a locality, he is free to get up and leave. He may worship in his own way —freely and with only his own conscience to determine his beliefs His faith is not for the State to dictate. It is between himself and God. His home is inviolate, protected from even the State itself by the Bill of Rights. His children, pro vided they are cared fcr and edu | cated, are his to guide and cherish I not to be taken from him, as long as he fulfills his duty of father hood. He may read what he wishes, lis ten freely and speak his mind open ly and according to his convictions without fear or favor of the State. And that State will protect him even when he speaks in disagree ment with it. In a democracy the individual is a man, ready to stand up and be counted as one. Under a totalit arian regime, by whatever name it calls itself, be it Nazi, Fascist or Communist, he is a slave. Let those who wish to be free men, therefore, consider what they believe—and let them stand up at all times for the democracy which, imperfect though it may be, stili proclaims the sanctity of the indiv idual and gives him freedom to live and to pass on a greater meas ure of freedom to each succeeding generation. Gifted Negro Artist Builds Thriving Business the daily press, but undoubtedly in the minds of many an American, and in the muster of important or ganizations, there has arisen a fresh sense of responsibility for the reform and clarification of the u»o..'a racial delemma. j ALONG i _ 1 (BY LAWRENCE P. LEWIS) ALMOST AN ENTERTAINER I was down to the AMVETS club 24th and Miami, the other night I conversing with Mr. Allen, the ] manager, and Mr. Whiteside, the secretary, about the Benefit dance I for the widow and the child of the | late James E. Seay. The dance will be held at the AMVETS Club,' 24th and Miami, on th night of March 17. All plans were going along swell until we started talk ing about entertainment. “We should be eble to have a few special acts for that night,” the manager of the AMVETS club stated. ‘*{rhat’s a good idea,” I said. “1 know’ some people who would be glad to do something. Some dance some play the piano, and many of them sing. Not wanting to brag, but I sing a little myself. Nothing like Nat Cole, but you know, I just don’t care to brag about my self.” "I understand,” Mr. Whiteside said. I began, ‘D id I ever tell.?” “Not now, not now,” they both1 cut me off. “Somebody has to entertain the crowd that will be there I just thought that I would give with a ' number or two. They don't want to dance all the time. At least, the ones in the physical condition that I am in.” I said. ‘Just say for in- ; stance that I.’’ “We ought to be able to find some professional entertainers that would give their services for that night,” Mr. Allen cut me off again. I said, ‘ that they should, this be ing a benefit. You know, I would not call myself a paid entertainer, but I’d be willing to.” “We should start the ticket sales at once,” Mr. Whiteside cut in. “You take care of that, Lawrence. See that those tickets are printed, and get them down to us right a way.” “I'll do that,” I stated. “Now a bout the entertainment. I’ll begin practicing, and when I feel I am ready then I’ll.” "We'll need placards, and plenty of advertising.” Mr. Allen remark ed, stopping me when I was just getting to the point. “We’ll have plenty of time to map out the entertainment pro gram.” “When I was just a boy, going U (BY VERNA ARVEY) Los Angeles, (CNS) Latest mec ca for tourists in Los Angeles is a ! green and red ultra-modern build ing on West Jefferson Street where Vv iimer James, gifted young color ed woman, has built up a thriving ceramics business. She has a dis tinctive line of products: colorful flower pots, bowls, cigarette box i es, ash trays and so on—all selling \ for extremely high prices in depart , ment stores, art shops, art-gift 1 shops and home furnishing stores I in many parts of the world. Inter ior decorators also use many of the Wilmer Janies Ceramics. Miss James’ line is different from that of her partner, Tony Hill, who pro duces lamp bases. The fact that their business has been so successful commercially never fails to atonish its founders. In the beginning. Miss James took up ceramics more or less as a re creation—just with the idea of do ing something creative. She join ed a class under Glen Lukens, in ternationally noted ceramist, at the Pueblo del Rio housing project where she lived at the time. Her work attracted attention at a later Museum exhibit, and she wras offered a job with the Bleeke porcelain company. Later she was employed by Barbara Wallis whose shop featured ceramics of terra cotta clay. Because her work In Miss Willis’ shop covered every phase of this sort of activity, Miss James began to wonder why she couldn’t do the same things for herself. Accordingly, in 1945, she and Tony Hill went into partnership and started a business in a garage. Then they acquired an agent who began to bring in orders which grew bigger and bigger each day. Then they established themselves in a little cubbyhole on Arlington Street—so unprentious that out siders didn’t even know what was going on inside It was in two rooms, with no display space and no connecting door. The workers had to go outside to get from one room to another. However, when the agent continued to place orders for more and more work, the two partners bought the lot on West Jefferson and erected their own building, called “Wlimer and Tony Ceramics.” They have been in it seven months and already the new building is too small for the rapidly expanding business! The artistic part of the business —that pf creating the basic de signs and of puting on the final glaze is done by Miss James and Mr. Hill. Miss James also does her own packing. All else is done by the working staff of eight. Miss James is the daughter of an inter ior decorator (Mrs. Helen Davies) and a graduate of Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles and of the California College of Embalm ing. She is married to Army Ser eant George James. THERE AIN’T NO SUCH ANIMAL! By collier' school, all of the teachers remark ed about my voice. I said, “we, or rather the school, presented a mus ical once a year and I was to be in the chorus. Not the star of the show but .” “We can have the hall in excel lent shape for that night." Mr. Al len said, not realizing that I had not finished telling them about my experiences in the entertainment field. “We will contact the band tomorrow and get that set, but we must begin the sales and the adv ertising at once.” "Now we are getting somewhere” I remarked. “The night of the musical they dressed me in white, with a pretty black bow tied a round the collar. I was a little frightened when the orchestra be gan to play, but I... .” “That is about all that we can do ' ..—..- .-■-- ■ ■ - • 4 On Being Vigilant By GEORGE S. BENSON President of Harding College Searcy.Arkansas w i-B THAT THE price we pay for lib erty is eternal vigilance may seem like old stuff to some of us. We are prone to relax after be ing vigilant for five years during a hard war. Like the next man, wc pay more attention to signs of optimism than to those danger signals that are likely* to call us ' to vigilance. As mode**-day Americans, we indicate by our actions and our ; interests that we are concerned about a lot of things — but per :haps least concerned about play i ing Paul Revere roles. Let Sam uel Adams and John Hancock and Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry and A. Lincoln and all the others stay in their history books. We won our freedom in 1776, and we’ve kept it since. So why take the trouble to worry about being vigilant in 1947? Take the IT IS always a lot of Trouble, trouble to have a mind toward our freedoms. With three-fourths of the world embracing doctrines which op pose our cherished freedoms, and with many of the nations of the world scorning our kind of Re public, we shall have to keep on taking trouble to defend our way of life. This is true, even when we know that our Republic is the best and most prosperous any where in the history of civiliza tion. We have called America the melting pot, the place where the cradle of liberty was first rocked, the refuge of all the persecuted of hundreds of brands of minori ai ■ ■ i ties. We have been a thrifty peo ple, an active people, a people building a continent — all the while warding off tyrants from abroad and having a care at home for your freedoms and mine. i Defence of HOW IS IT, then,' the Mind that we have been caught napping? Have we not in times of confu sion at home and trouble abroad, allowed doctrines to creep in which would chain our minds and shackle our bodies as well? Dis torting, misleading, boring from within, state socialism at home and abroad presents to us the kind of curse that tyranny has al ways been to free man. Inroads have been made on some sectors of the American mind. Did you know that polls have •shown that 51% of our people do not know what a balanced budget is? That virtually a third havfe no conception of the meaning of “free enterprise”? That many of us think it all right to owe a huge national debt to ourselves? That security is something Congress can hand out? That inflation is acceptable because it creates wealth? That there are ways to earn more by doing less? All these things are fallacies. With other fallacies they will en slave, just as surely as any ty rant. We must make our plat form freedom. Can there be a more constructive program than that of free men? Americana 1 everywhere must prepare the de fense of their own minds against the inroads of enslaving ideas. tonight,” Mr. Whiteside said, stand ing up ready to leave. As I said, I was somewhat fright ened. but I had to play my part,” I said hurriedly, not rising from my chair. “My teacher straighten ed out my tie, and I.’’ “We’re on our way,” Mr Allen said as he walked out. “This benefit dance is important to Mrs. Seay and her child. Well do our best to put it over, and I feel sure that there are many others who will help.” .1 stood up, pushed my chair a side, and walked out behind them. “Tomorrow we’ll talk about the entertainment, and then I’ll.” “Goodnight Lawrence," they bid ded in unison. _ i ASSAULT AND BATTERY Lawrence B. Barris, 51, 2308 N. 26th street, was charged with as sault and battery last week in muny court. Barris is reported to have struck his wife during an ar gument and in turn received a candy bowl broken over his head, wielded by Mrs. Barris. 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