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EQUAL OPPORTUNITY HA.0800
VOLUMN XXI NO. 6._ THE OMAHA GUIDE OMAHA NEBR. Saturday, March 13th, 1948 ONLY TEN CENTS PER COPY
“$1,000 in Prizes to be Awarded In
Clean-Up Campaign” __
Clean Up, Paint Up, Fix Up Campaign
MARCH 15th to SEPT. 15th 19484
“Omaha Guide’s Annual Clean
Up—Fix Up Campaign”
In cooperation with your local
Housing Contractors
$1,000 in Prizes for the
Most Improved Homes
GEORGIA DARES
WRATH OF KLAN
Two Suspects Ordered to
Scene of Crime
Atlantic Ga. (UP) — In a
double barreled assault again
tsanti-lynch legislation Friday,
Gov. M. E. Thompson1
1. Ordered two killer sus
p e c t s publicly transferred
from State Prison to the scene
of their crime.
2. Called for State Laws to
prohibit “intimidation” meet
ing by the Klu Klux Klan.
The governor announced the
hour and the route for the tra
nsfer of two Tennessee bro
thers ccused of killing a State
Police agent from Tattnall
Prison to the Emanual County
Jail. He said he was demonstr
ating that Georgia can con
trol mob feelings.
The Klan meetings should
be outlawed, Mr. Thompson
maintained because the hood
ed organization has “cut the
ground from beneath the feet”
of Southern Congressmen
who try to assure the world
that Federal anti-lynch laws
are necessary.
“FORMER OMAHA RES
IDENT RETURNS FOR
FUNERAL .
Miss Margaret Starks, for
mer resident of this city re
turned to attend the funeral of
her grandmother, Mrs. Mar
garet Jackson, of 2506 Jeffer
son St. Who passed February
14th of this year.
Miss Starks jeft for her
home in Oakland California,
Tuesday morning, during her
three weeks in the city, she
was the recipient of many
courtesies extended by her
many friends.
TEST IS NEAR ON
CIVIL RIGHTS
GOP High Command
To Oppose Rider
The civil rights fight mov
ed to the House floor Monday
with the GOP leadership ap
pearently ready to side with
Dixie Democrats.
The showdown test shaped
up over ,an anti^discriminaj
tion rider to the $1,017,851,000
Labor Department-Federal sec
urity appropriation bill up for
probable late Tuesday.
The issue is: Shall states
that do not give equal educat
ional and job opportunities to
citizens of all races, when
those opportunities are financ
ed with Federal funds, contin
ue to receive the money?
Representative Keefe (Rep.,
Wis.) said he would offer it
on the floor and give the en
tire House a chance to vote.
The announced stand of the
GOP high command is that
the proviso has no place in an
appropriations bill and should
be concidered as a sperate bill.
As for the prospect of a roll
call vote, one top Republician
said: “We would just as soon
not go on therecord on this
thing.”
Meanwhile, Senator Byrd of
Virginia told a radio audience
that his fellow Southern Dem
ocrats face a “very difficult”
task in trying to stave off civil
rights legislation.
Natfctng New Here
In 1804 the Pierce-Arrow had a
gearshift lever on steering column
and a single lever controlled the
Gas-au-lec.
FIRST PRIZE
Console Radio- Phonograph
SECOND PRIZE
Deluxe Refrigerator
THIRD PRIZE
1948 Electric Range
Florence Incident Not
Community Sentiment
I sincerely hope the recent
episode in our “peaceful val
ley’’ of Florence will not cause
any white or colored people to
believe it expresses the senti
ments of our community.
I havp been a continuous
resident of Florence for 33 yrs.,
and I know whereof I speak.
My two sons, have been grad
uated from Florence School.
I am a past president of Flor
ence P. T. A. and I have done
some teaching in Omaha.
When two fine principals
](Mr. Peterson and Mr. Krebs)
have offered so much to Flor
i ence School and this commun
; ity it is a downright shame
their planning to help youth
j should be thwarted in such a
senceless manner.
A Florence Citizen
R e f u s al of permission for
the Lake School basket ball
team to play in the Florence
gym because of a colored boy
I was very foolish. People of Fl
| orence, your children come in
contact with them every day
.unless you are sending them
to private school. And so far
I have not heard of any con
tamination.
Mfs. Fornetta Elmore
SITTING WITH NEGROES
ILLEGAL1 SAILOR
FINED
Galveston, Tex.(AP)—Clar
ence Jack Peterson, 27, sea
man from Birchwood, Wis.,
was fined $25 and court costs
Friday for sitting with Negro
es on a Galveston Bus.
HARRY KNUDSEN FILES
for CITY COMMISSIONER
Files Independently
Harry Knudsen, one of Om
aha’s present City Commission
ers filed independently for re
election.
Mr. Harry Knudsen issued
this statement at the time of
filing:
I’m not on any slate or tic
ket .I’m grateful to the people
of Omaha for having confiden
ce in me and the matter is en
tirely in their hands. I am just
“Awards to be Judged by a
Committee Picked by Mayor
Anyone having any repairs
made on them home during
this period are qualified to en
ter. Call the Omaha Guide and
register. A committee appoin
ted bv the Mayor will act as
judges. The home which is
judged the most improved will
be the winner of the first prize.
Select one of the local con
tractors whose advertisement
will appear in this paper be
. ginning March 2th, and make
arrangements for your improv
ements. These merchants who
will list with us are reliable
and can be depended upon to
give you the best service at a
j reasonable cost.
By George McDavis
Promotional Director
concluding my fifth term in
office and want to assure the
people of Omaha that I will
continue to serve them to the
best of my ability.”
Commissioner Knudsen has
servel nine years as Finance
Commissioner, where he had
done an enviable job and has
also served as Street Commis
sioner and as Commissioner of
the Police Department.
Mr. Knudsen ranks as the
senior member of the present
City Council and with his^iast
experience and outstanding
service, should be re-elected so
that the people of Omaha may
get the fujl benefit of that ex
perience and of his ability.
M i
Over Stimulated With Intox
icating Liquor
George C. Higgins came to
the front door of the Police
Station in a intoxicating con
dition Sunday, Mar<;h 7th, was
fined $1.00 and cost.
Felix Sutton Fined a $1.00
and costs for drunkness and
being a vagarent, 5 days in the
jail.
Preston J. Green fined a $1.
and costs ,for drunkjiess
Robert Gaston about 1:30 P.
M. Friday, March 5 told police
that he was at the Crosstown
Bar 2024 North 24th St. He
went to the mens rest room,
and while he was their two
men, Clayton Anderson, and
Arthur McCarthy tried to take
his money. They struck him in
the face several times causing
Going Through Red Light
Charge Dismissed
Dr. H. Wiggins, 3016 Em
met St. was dismissed in pol
ice court on Monday, March
8, 1948 on charges of going
through a red light on Wednes
day March 3, 1948. After his
explanation to Judge Nimitz
his reason for having to go
through the light, the Judge
granted a dismissal of the char
ge. The reason being that the
light turned red while he was
in the middle of the intersect
ion at 30th and Lake St., two
other %ars blocking his turning
East.
laceration under the right eye.
He was treated by Dr. A. L.
Hawkins, and sent home.
Reported to Rinn and Weide- j
man.
ANTIAIRCRAFT A MD RAINS IN JAPAN
.r rm-t-., *—». .. .~--r?r-g - VLJJ A . ^
Members of the 933rd Antiaircraft: ArtiHery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion Yokohama t , "
°f the battalion receiving instruction and in position at three of the units Sew ’served w^no^AM^?3 * U"dergoing intensive field training. Shown here are men
from First Lieutenant Eugene Pfauth, Fairmony, Michigan. Left to right- Corporal Henrv Bensol Ch’ ^ the gun director crew are receiving instructions
California; Lieutenant Pfauth; Private First Class Sam D Coons Detroit Henry Benson, Chicago, Illinois; Private First Class James Maryett, San Francisco
gun crew of “C” Battery, 933rd AAA Battalion, is shown in posZ’afoneS “eSfttali's Lela“d Witherspoon, Brooklyn, New York. Ce^“
Serf811? wTr 1 !;,Haye!’ Columbia, Missouri; Private First Class Alex Thomas St. Louis l gU“' Members of the &un crew are, left to right: Stall
Sergeant William Morris, Williamson, West Virginia- Private First ria=<= a v °U1?’ ^lssoun: Private First Class John O. Battles, Ardmore Pennsylvania
F?itPClVate f’J81 w8SS Ge°ree L’ Br°Wn’ Chicag0- Illinois. At right members of" the blttar6™6’ Technician Fifth Grade James Edwards, Muncie, Indiana
W ^ PCr’ Hammond> Indiana; Technician Fifth Grade Bennie GroomsMi™iFi 'd tin,p?B.,tlon at a 50 calibre machine gun. Left to right: Private
W and Private First Class Theodore Henderson. Chicago, Illinois. Miami’ F1°nda: Technician Fifth Grade William Battles, Goldsboro, North Caro
Omaha Public
Power Reduce
Electric Rates
Omaha Public Power District
to Reluce Electric Rates by
$1,250,000
Rate Cut Effective Aprill 1948
There was news—good news
—this week for customers serv
ed by the Omaha Public Pow
er District.
Tuesday of a one million, two
hundred-fifty thousand dollar
electric rate reduction follow
ing a special meeting of the
Board of Directors of th^ Dist
ict.
All classes of customers will
[benefit from the reduction,
which becomes effective April
1, 1948.
The action followed a rec
ommendation of the Special
Rate Reduction Committee of
the Board which hes been
studying the possibilities of
lower rates for the past several
months. Serving on the com
mittee were Samuel L. Cooper,
Charles D. Saunders, and Carl
A. Swanson, of Omaha: and
Roy E. Bott of Hooper.
According to wr. cooper,
chairman of the Rate Reduc
tion Committee, savings will
amount to more than a month’s
free electricity for most
Omaha homes. General trnsi
ness customers, including the
stores, offices, and small in
dustries will receive a cut a
mounting to $500,000 annually.
In addition, a special new low
rate is being put into effect for
all public and parochial schools
public buillings, churches, and
charitiable institutions.
In commenting on the rate
reduction, which comes after
only 16 months of public own
ership, Mr. Charles D. Saund
ers, chairman of the Finance
Committee and member of the
R,a t e Reduction Committee
said, “Before a cut could be
recommended by the commit
tee, we had to be sure resulting
lowered revenues would be
enough to amply protect the
principal and interest on the
District’s bonds. We also had
to make sure income would be
sufficient to propedly maintain
the properties and provide ade
quate working capitol for op
erations. It was further nec
essary that rate cuts be dis
tributed among all classes of
customers in a fair and equit
able manner.”
“After the new rate schedu
les had been prepared, they
WILLIAM E. HILL
Named director of commun
ity relations of the South Side
Planning boarl, Chicago, was
William E. Hill, former field
representative of the Ameri
can Council on Race relations.
A Johnson C. Smith univer
sity graduate, who received an
M.A. degree in economics
were sent to our engineering
consultants, Burns and M c
Donnell of Kansas City, the\
agreer with our findings anc
the recommendations,” M r.
Saunders stated. -
He explained that when the
District acquired the propert
ies on December 2, 19*46, the
Directors were faced with twe
urgent duties. ‘Our first duty,’
Mr. Saunders said, ‘‘was to
make certain the District was
properly financed. This has
been accomplished.”
Our second duty was equalh
important. Plans' had to be
made for a program to insure
continued dependable service
for our* customers) and take
care of their grooving needs.
Within the next two months,
a new turbine will be in oper
ation at our South Omaha
plant. Construction of an add
itional 30,000 kilowatts of gen
erating capacity is well under
way at the Jones Street plant
and over the period of the next
five years, the tost of our pro
posed expansion program will
be in excess of $15.000,OOo,” he
said.
l
In addition to the cost of
this expansion program,” Mr.
Saunders continued, “the com
mittee was also faced with the
problem of increasing costs of
fuel, materials and labor. These
costs have increased more than
$500,000 in the last year on the
basis of price alone. And, of
ourse, the District continues
to pay nearly a milliom doll
ars a year, in lieu of taxes, to
the state, cities, counties and
school districts in the territor
ies it serves.”
“All of these facts were car
efully weighed by the commit
tee,” he stated, “but after com
pleting our study, we still felt
there was justification for re
ducing rates at this time. Nat
urally, we are highly pleased
that this substantial reduction
in the- cost of electric serv ice
for our customers can be made
at this time substantial re
urally, we areduction in the
cost of electric service for our
customers can be made at this
time.
Mr. J. M. Ilarding. Presi
dent of the Omaha Public
Power District, said, “In vot
ing this rate reduction, the
Board of Directors is fufilling
its promise to distribute to the
users of service the benefits
| of public ownership”.
from Columbia university, he
will act as liasion officer be
tween Negro agencies and
SSPB directors in the inter
ests of church, social, frater
nal, health, education and
neighborhood activities. Prev
iously he served as race rela
tions advisor of the U.S.
Housing authority for the west
and mid-west, and was the
first housing manager for the
Pittsburgh Housing authority,
in a project now occupied by
both white and Negro famil
ies.
BASEBALL HIT ON
NEGRO ISSUE
Continued exclusion of Neg
roes from most of organized
I baseball was attacked Sunday
by Dan W. Dodson, executive
director of the Committee on
Unity in New York.
He declared that Brooklyn
Dodger President Branch Ric
key has been charitable toward
h i s colleagues in indicating
that discrimination does not
exist in baseball.
“One has only to look to the
New York Giants and Yankee
organizations to see this is not
the case” Dr. Dodson said.
He praised Mr. Rickey for
signing Negfo players.
The committee which he
leads was appointed four years
ago by the late Mayor Fiorello
La Guardia to promote inter
racial harmony.
A subcommittee on baseball
was named about three years
ago.
Dr. Dodson said this was
prompted by a request from
the Giants. The club told the
Mayor an ‘End Jim Crow in
Baseball Committee’ had thre
atened to demonstrate at the
Polo Grounds.
The baseball committee ask
1 ed the “Jim Crow group not
to demonstrate and it didn’t.
Dr. Dodson said.
“It is now the beginning of
the third season since Mr. Ric
key started his demonstration
that Negroes could be success
fully integrated into organized
baseball.
“The time has come to ask
■0
I
I
Little more than a year fol
lowing the end of the second
World War to perpetuate
“democracy,” the status of the
Negro still made of the word
“democracy” a mockery.
Despite Abraham Lincoln,
the thirteenth amendment and
the Golden Rule, American Ne
groes are still underprivileged
and ill-used. They are the vic
tims of prejudice and fear.
They are guilty of being a
minority.
A few Negroes rise to posi
tions of moderate honor among
Americans. Those who do rise
are N admired hysterically by
their own people, but* by ifiost
so-called whites they are re
garded affectionately as a sort
of living proof that America
is the land of opportunity.
In reality, they were just
part of the great mass of Am
erican Negroes who make up
the “problem” about which so
much has been written, and
about which so little has been,
I decided.
I he U.S. Negro is a tenth of
America’s total population—
there are 14 million of him.
Some are jet black, some are
as white as Mississippi’s vol
uble Representative John Ran
kin. They all can trace at least
a part of their ancestry back
to Africa. Some of their for
bears came from a long civil
ization, some were bushmen.
Today the African’s Ameri
can decendant has made one
enormous jump. He waa one a
slave whose human rights were
non-existent. Now he is a free
man whose rights are often un
recognized. He is still living
under the triple curse of the
slave trader, his American
plantation master and Harriet
Beecher Stowe, who has typed
him in American minds as an
eternal Uncle Tom whose con
versational abilities are limit
ed to “Yassuh, Boss,” or ‘Yuk,
yuk, yuk.”
Millions of Negroes are so
illiterate they cannot sign their
names. Most of them have the
equivalent of a third grade ed
ucation. Some of them, such as
New Yorker, W. J. Trent, Jr.,
director of the Negro College
Fund, are sa highly educated
that they insist the real prob
lem is education of tfc“ whites.
Politically, the way is clear
er. This year, for the first time,
Negroes may vote Ur. any pri
mary in the country f ecause
the U. S. Supreme Court has
ruled that “white primaries”
are unconstitutional. Only
seven states still have a poll
tax, and these are bound to
crumple -under public pressure.
All the pressure it not from
the outside. The Southerners
who have reacted to their sense
of guilt since slavery days by
attacking the ause of the guilt,
hte Negro, have recently
shown some inclination to ap
proach the situation more ra
tionally. Such organizations
as the outhern Regional Coun
cil, made up of leaders of both
races, and the University of
North Carolina Press, have
been plugging a better deal
for Negroes as a way to a bet
ter deal for the South. The
most ardent editorial crusades
against the poll tax (and Jim
Crow laws) are in Southern
papers.
Also, the C1U and the AbJ_
have gone into the South with
the announced purpose of
making Negroes politically
conscious.
Wtih anything like an even
break, economically and pol
itically, the Negro who is 10
per cent of the U.S. might
well contribute mdVe than 10
per dent toward U.S. progress.
For, as a group, U.S. Negro is
have come further than any
other.
if it isn’t possible for both the
Yankee a*nd Giant organiza
tions to find some Negro some
where who is worth being em
ployed in some capacity in
some league, however minor.”
In Phoenix, Ariz., Horace
Stoneham, president of the
Giants, said his club has no
objection to Negro players.
“We have tried out Negroes
for several years,” Mr. Stone
ham said. “But as yet we have
n’t found any who would fit
in our plant.”
Mr. Stoneham ' added the
Giants would be glad to get
hold of any Negro ball play
ers who could fit into their
organizations.
Officials of. the Yankees
could not be reached for com
ment.
