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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1948)
/JUSTICE/ HEW TO THE LINEN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PHONE HA.0800 _CttK) (jKANI __ VOL. XXI—No. 16. _ THE OMAHA GUIDE OMAHA, NEBR. Saturday, May 15th, 1948 ONLY TEN CENTS PER COPY the case AGAINST UMT I Should World War III ma terialize, March 19th will no doubt be known as its begin ning. For on that day, Harry S. Truman, president of the United States, called for the return of the Draft and Uni versal Military training. In. the three years since Roosevelt’s death, the Truman administration has turned the United State s foreign policy towards war, without making any desirable effort towards peace. Truman has stated that Am erican sons are “needed to save our soil.” From whom, Russia? Mere folly to assume that Russia is preparing ag gression against the United States, or any nation as a matter of fact. All of our bu reaus, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the House Un-American Commit tee, the President’s Loyality Board, have not presented any evidence that would prove any of the accusation against Rus sia. As illustrated in the cases that have come before the courts, the government and its police were made laughing stocks of the world with their hearsay evidence against the so-called “Red spys”. But it is upon such a case that the Administration has cooperated with the “Brass Hats” to work up their hope for the Draft and the UMT. The case against the draft and UMT is so complete, that the President must resort to methods involving hysteria and • mob-like emotions to whip thhe American people in to the ‘correct" frame of mind for UMT. On no other question is there such widespread opposi tion as there is on the question of UMT and the Draft. Even the most “right” elements, such as the American Legion, VFW, Catholic hierarchy, etc. have voiced certain opposition to the military measures. Nearly every church organiza tion, civic club, and promin ent person of liberal standing has come out against UMT. Cardial Dennis Dougherty, ranking prelate of the Cath olic church in this country, has stated (and I most heartily agree with him’) : —It is against the tradition of this country. —Where it is in existence is precisely where most wars have taken place. —Said training would re move young men, at a critical age. from their home surround ings and safeguards. —It would throw them, with all their inexperience and with out adequate safeguard, into frightful temptations calculat ed to undermine their morality and physical health. —Epxerience shows that military officers are frequectly* corrupt and set a bad example to those under them. —\ ernereal disease would rise in a frightful degree and break down the health of fut ure fathers of families. —The exense of universal military training would involve annually millions, if not bill ions, of dollars to be paid by taxpayers. J There seems to be no need in this country of UMT, which is boosted most soldiers, par ticularly Army Officers, who covet promotion and higher salaries. —binally, the chances are that hereafter battles will be fought in the air, rather than on foot; and in that case large armies will not be need ed.” The Cardinal’s nine reasons speak for themselves. Manv pro-UMT'er maintain that UMT will make our nation strong. Will it? The Indians had UMT. All the male youth had to prepare for war. The Romans, too, tried conscrip tion, and the Empire disap pearance caused “flop” to be added to the dictionary. Mus solini tried it with the Italians. Germany tried it for the utn teenth” time under Hitler. Too, the Japanese tried it, and it led them to Pearl Harbor. Historically, conscription has been followed by disaster. Then, too, if it is a large army we want, why not ob tain it on a volinteer basis? The army has discouraged many who would volunteer because of its undemocratic princials. The American Vet eran’s Committee has brought forth in a letter to the Presi dent some very good propos als (in my opinion), which if included by the Army, would certainly increase the rate of enlistments. The proposals are —Lifting the quota of Ne gro enlistments. —Implementation of the Doolittle recommendations for improvement of the court-mar-1 tml system. —A return to war-time, ■g™1 ... ! REGISTRARS AND DEAN S MEET AT TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE hittv deans of colleges and 34 registrars attended the twe nty-second annual meeting of the National Association of | Collegiate Deans and Regist rars in Negro schools when they met recently at 1 uskegee 1 institute. Dean B. R. Brazeal, ninth from left, front, of More ( | house college, president of the Association presided over the sessions. Dean Betram \V. Do yle, Louisville Municipal col lege, Louisville, Kentucky, eighth from left, was elected president for 1998. standards as to eligible scores on the Army’s General Classi fication Test. —Immediate action to change the Army’s policies of segreation in line with the President's Civil Rights Re port. If “Joe” must be given a present on his eighteenth birthday, then give him a chance to go to school (college 2 years minimum), the chance to learn a trade, the chance to receive adequate medical at tention. Those are the things “Joe” really lacks. The money spent for UMT could revol untionize the chances for an education to Joe and all other Joes, if sent for education and an adequate health program. No, UMT is not concerned with the true needs of the American youth. It is concern ed only with the exploitation of all youth, American and European. UMT seels intim idation and fear to the French, Italian, and Greek youth who dares to defy Wall Street. At this writing, two American youth have died on the Greek battlefields while wearing the American Army uniform. That is the future of UMT, death for our youth. Henry A. \\ allace made a statement, March 19th, which throws a lot of light on UMT and its supporters. He stated, “We (the people) must de mand that our Government accept its share of the respon sibility for the world crisis. We must demand firm alleg iance to the United Nation. The price of self-righteousness is war and depression. “Let us remember that mil itary might has never imosed a good idea nor sustained a bad one. Recall with me the words of the prophet Isaish: ‘Woe to those Avho trust in Chariots, Because they are many And in horsemen, because they are mighty.' YOUTH HEALTH CON FERENCE TO STRESS MODERN PROBLEMS Central YWCA May 21 The Youth’s Organizations Steering Committee announc es the following program for their second annual health con ference being held on Fridav May 21, 5 to 10:30 P. M. at the Central YWCA. Registration 5:00 P. M. to 6:00 P. M. Dinner at 6:00 P. M. following by an address by Dr. Aaron McMillan on the subject “The Medinine man and Modern Medicine”. Three panel discussions will present the following topics and lead ers: “Want to Live to be a Hundred?”, Dr Wesley Jones, leader, “Planning for Marrage Mrs. Mary Frances Fredricks, Board of Education Family Home Life Instructor, leader and “How Your Physical and Mental Health effects your Social Behavior” Miss Fran-| ces Edwards, Chief Psycholo-j gist, Omaha University, lead er. The panel discussion will be followed by a social hour in tration 25 cents and dinner $1.00. Dinner tickets must be purchase before May 20th. Tickets may be obtained from the Northside YWCA, North Branch \ \\ CA, Woodson Cen ter and the LTrban League. THE BROWN RAILROADER Negro Rail Workers Consti tute Largest Industrial Unit The one hundred and forty thousand Negro men and wo men who work for the major railroads of the nattion con stitute the largest industrial family among that racial group anywhere to be found. By all odds, their employment is the most consistent of any Amer ican industry and their tenure outranks every other large the structure of that group by immeasurable limits. These one hundred forty thousand people are potential ly a tremendous power in the i Negro scheme of things in this nation. Economically, thhey were hit less by the pro longed depression than any otner working group, fewer of their number were dismis sed during the frightful years than in any other of the in dustries in which Negro em ployment is an appreciable1 factor. And, on the whole, the earnings of a great protion of them did not take the droop-headed air which char acterized salaries in a major portion of the industrial fields. As compared with steel, for instance, Negro railroad work ers have a much more consis tent employment record. When the demand for steel is iow, the smoke-chutes of that in dustry show it. In the manu facture of iron products, in which Negro employment is high, the overall demand may be a rather spurty thing. The employment of men also takes on somethiny of that air. And so it is in shipbuilding and mining and on down the line of the heavy brackets. In railroads, however, the picture has been different. 1 hroughout the depression, when railroads were taking' thhe licking of their economic lives and striving desperately to both earn a dividend for skeptical stockholders and keep their rolling-stock from actually collapsing within yard, limits, Negro emloyment was kept almist at peak figures. Indicative of that fact is the truth that despite the almost immeasurable load whichh rail roads have been called upon to carry throughout the war years, the increase in Negro employment was smaller among them than in any of the major industrial brackets. The hundreds of millions of meals which have been served by individual roads during the' turbulent w-ar years, for in stance, have been largely of fered by men with service stripes of long standing. And if a look could be made into the kitchen personnel of the far-flung diners of the various systems, in all probability the the truth would show that the men who prepare train meals, looked upon as “some of thhe best cooking in the world,” have been at it right through the years. The unsung men of the rail road, despite race, are those who keep prepared the road on which equipment must move. An airplane, much like the four winds, goes where it likes (Continued on page 4) RACES £ Face the Music In the bitter ideological war between communism and the democracy, too many Ameri cans forget what the commu nists never let others forget that democracy in the U. S. is far from/ perfect. Last week those Americans got a joAing reminder from deep voiced A. Philip Randolph, president of the Sleeping Car Porters’ Un ion. Testifying before the Sen ate Armed Services Commit tee, Randolph declared blunt ly. If a draft like that of a World War II was enacted, it would result in mass civil dis obedience on the part of the U. S. Negroes. Said he, Neg roes have reached the limit of their endurance when it comes*, to going into another war for democracy, a democracy, they have never forgotten. Grant Reynolds, chairman of the co , mmittee against Jim Crow in i Military Service and Training, soberly agreed Randolph de manded abolition of all racial discrimination in the armed services and under universal Military Training. He minced no words to the rank and file Negro in World War II. Hit ler’s racism osed a sufficient threat for him to submit to the jim crow Army abuses. But this factor is not present in the power struggle between Stal in and the U. S. Since we can not obtain an adequate con gressional forum for our griev ances, we have no other re course. The Senators were shocked. Oregon’s W a y ne Morse asked whether Rand olph realized that such civil disobedience would probably be prosecuted for treason. He .did and added, “We’d be will ing to absorb the violence, ab sorb the terrorism, for the mu sic, and take whatever comes.’’ F E P C Please, (Citizens help the fight for a ermanent, Fair Em ployment Practice Commiss ion. You can do this by writing, to Senator Taft, on a penny post card or letter saying. We Urge and demand that you in the interest of the people to lead the F. E. P. C. project, Senator Taft. 930 F St. N. W. Washington, D. C. IT TOOK COURAGE! Mr. George Brown, of 2216 Willis Street was rescued from a tree, May 12 about 6:30 p. m. He was sawing a huge bran ch of the tree when it fell ac ross his foot and held it in the fork of the tree. It was quite a painful job, but the rescued men were sawing the limb a .way but not fast enough for Brown, who let out a few re morseful cries of pain. He also took the saw and helped to release himself. LIVESTOCK SHOW AT SOUTHERN UNI. Scenes above were taken at the fifth annual livestock and poultry show and farmers’ short course held at Southern university, Scotlandvllle, La. More than 1,000 farmers, NFA PICKETS PROTEST POLICY OF ARMY Led bv A. Philip Randolph, an inter-racial picket line par aded for an hour along Penn sylvania Ave. in front of the White House in Washington Friday afternoon in protest against Army segragration. Mr. Randolph, leader of a proposed civil disobedience camaign against jim-crow carried a sign which read. “If we must die for our country let us die as free men not as Jim-crow slaves.” He led the picket line which included eight others. During the picket parade, Mr. Randolph passed out leaflets to which were at tached the “Don’t Join Jim Crow Army” lapel buttons. The pickets moved continous ly and were not molested al though secret service agents, assigned to protect President Truman, were on the alert throughput the picketing none of signs carried by the picket ers in Truman. Rev. Donald Harrington, white, assistant pastor of Community Church of New York. Dr. John Holmes Haynes. In the picket line boys, 4-H club boys and girls and professional workers, from 42 parishes in Louisiana at tended the event. Three short courses were held during the four-day period, one for farm ers, one for rural youth and one for professional and rural where Albert Black Washing ton, chairman, of Anti Jim Crow committee, Lynn Seitter whhite chairman of local inter racial workshop, Robert May hew, Howard Student, Barbara Henderson, Jim Peck, white, New York Labor Journal ed itor, William J. Fleming. the freedom train Do you remember the Free dom Train pageant a few wks. back, well for those that did, they will never forget, and for those who missed it, here’s hop ing a repeat performance will enable them to see it. This brings us to the coming of the Freedom Train, let’s all go and see, read and remember what we read and try hard and we can, to re-enact upon these documents, and make the liv ing realites and not just words on a piece of old historical paper. We as loyal Americans, and as a heritage to our free dom to work, to think, to go and do as we please as free Americans, we should strive hard for a better America to live in peace and harmony with one and all. leaders. Principals at the gen eral assembly program includ ed Sen. Gilbert F. Hennigan. Dr. F. G. Clark, Southern’s president; T. J. Jordan, assist ant state agent for work with Negroes; and J. W. Fisher, Southern’s director of agricul ture. (ANP.) The Freedom Train—May 14th and 15th between Cass and Davenport. Passenger travel is more than three and one-half times safer in this war. In 1917-18, there was one passenger fatal ity for every 107,917,000 pas senger miles of service per formed. From January 1, 1942 to December 31, 1944, there was only one passenger fatal ity for every 417 million pas senger-miles of service per formed. The higest point reached by a railroad in the United States is the summit of Pike’s Peak in Colorado, 14,109 feet above sea level, reached by the Mani tou and the Pike’s Peak (Cog) Railroad. The famous Lucin Cut-of, carrying the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad across Great Salt Lake in Utah is the longest railroad bridge structure in the United States. It is of pile-trestle construction , 12 miles in length, and was completed in 1903. j RANDOLPH ANNOUNCES BROTHERHOOD VICT ORY OVER C. I. O. New York April 29th— Pres ident A. Philip Randolph an nounced today that the Broth er hood of Sleeping Car port ers (AF of L) soundly thrash ed the United Railroad Work ers Union (CIO) by a vote of 52 to 23 in a representation election held on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail road by the National Mediat ion Board from April 22 to 27, 1948. “The secret ballot election settled the dispute by better than 3 to 1” stated Mr. Rando: therhood of Sleeping Car Por ters to represent the parlor car porters and space assigners on the New Haven Railroad.” International Field Organi zer B. F. McLaurin conducted the victorious organizing cant-, p a i g n for the Brotherhood while the vanquished CIO un ion’s efforts were in charge of Mr. C. E. Kendrick. “The Brotherhood of Sleep ing Car Porters has successful ly met every challenge hurled by the CIO affiliate and re sulted in President John Green on March 31, 1948 issuing in structions to all directors as signed to the United Railroad \\ orkers Union to discontinue all pullman porter organizing activities,” said Mr. Randolph. Mr. Randolph concluded by stating that 95 per cent of the porters on all railroad trains in the United States are organ ized into the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. YOUR FAMILY’S FOOD Red Cross Nutrition Director By Mrs. Evelyn Halm, MEAT TO MEASURE An aid to thrifty meat buy ing is knowing the number of servings to expect from a pound of meat of the different .cuts. Specialists from U. S. D. A. give the following handy guide which groups cuts accor ding to the amount ob bone they contain, and shows how far a pound is likely to go in good sized main dosh servings of lean meats:— Much bone or gristle—a lb. yeilds 1 or 2 servings, or less. Examples are shank, brisket, plate, a short rib, spareribs, Medium Amount of Bone a pound yeilds 2 or 3 servings Examples are whole or end cuts of beef round, veal leg or shoulder, ham with bone in; also steaks, chops, or roasts frfcmi the loin, rump, or rib sections. Little bone— a pound yeilds 3 to 4 servings. Examples are center cuts of beef round, pork shoulder, or ham; also lamb or veal cutlets chuck. No bone—a pound yeilds 4 servings. Examples are grOun meat; 'boneless stew meats: liver or other variety of bone less meats. NEW RECEIPT BOOKLET Money-Saving Main Dishes is the titile of the new free cook book prepared by the' U. S. Department of Agriculture to Aid homemakers in feeding the family nutritious yet th-1 rifty meals. This booklet gives | meal-planning and buying tips plus 150 receipts'os. ,n_q, plus 150 receipes for meat, pou ltry, fish, eggs, cheese, bread, and cereal and potatoes. The quickest way to get this new free cookbook is to print your name and address on a post card an address the card to: Food Conservation, Washing ton 25, D. C. From the date of the Pearl Harbor attack to the end of March 1945, the railroads transported approximately 39, 200,000 members of the Unit ed States army, navy, marines, and coast guard in special troop trains or in special troop cars attached to regular trains. This does not include many millions of railway journeys made by uniformed men and women traveling singly or in small groups in line of duty or on furlough. f SECRET ARMY DOCUM ENTS TO FEATURE JIM CROW PROBE Secretjimcr^w Army orders and transcripts of court mart ial, now in the possession of Grant Reynolds, former Army chaplin, will highlight testimo ny o wartime treatment of Neg ro GI’s on Saturday and Sun day. May 8th and 9th, at the 12 th Street branch of the YMCA, 1816 12th Street N. W. Wash ington, D. C. The two-day hearing before the Commission of Inquiry in to the effect of segregation on colored troops will be featured by Negro and hite witnesses and by introduction into the record of secret War Depart ment orders placing lestrict ions on Negro servicemen. Me mbers of the Commission in clude : Margaret Halsey, author, “Some of My Best Frieds are Soldiers”, “Colorblind”. Dr. Ed ward C. Lindeman, New York School of Social Work. Dr. Ch aning H. Tobias, member, of President’s Committee on Civil Rights Max Lerner, Author. Dr. Kenneth B. Clark, psy chologist, City College of the New York Kermit Eby, CIO education director. Thurman L. Dodson presid ent of the National Bar Assoc iation James 1. barrel!, autnor Dr. Goodwin Watson, Tea chers College, Columbia Uni versity Dr. John Haynes Holmes, chairman American Civil Lib erties Union. Dr. Robert S. Lynd, social ogist, Columbia University Morris A. Rubin, editor, “The Progressive” magazine. Mrs. Elsie Elfenbein, exec utive director, National Coun cil of Jewish Women. Father Allen P. Farrell, edu catio editor, “America” maga zine In announcing today the for matio of the Commission, Gr ant Reynolds and A. Phlip Ra ndolph, chairman and treasur er, respectively, of the Com. mjttee Against Jimcrow in the Military Service and Training 217 West 125th Street, New York City, stater that it was at their request that the Com mission had been organized to hold immediate hearings in Washigton during the debate on conscription legislation. He Philadelphia, shortly before the Republican and Democratic conventions. Randolph, who will open the hearigs on Saturday at 3 p.m. Washigton time with a state ment on the mood and temper of veterans and other Negroes, declared:'“I recently reminded the Senate Armed Services co mmittee that large numbers of white Americans are still blis stully unaware ot the extent ot physical and psychological ag gression against the Negro soldier. Neither the Senate nor the House has shown the least inclination to fulfill the 1944 Republican commitment for a Cogressional investigation of the Negro GI grievances. “This eminent group of Neg ro and white citizens has there fore agreed to sit as a Commis sion and to hear the sordid st ory of the Army jimcrow. On the basis of the testimony, re commedations pertaining to U MT and draft legislation will be made to Congress and the people in order that Negro yo uth may never again be threat ened with compulsory military segregation. The Commission will welcome written state ments from GI’s and others un able to journey to Washington to testify in person. ” Reynolds, member of the New York State Commission of Correction, stated: “In be half of the Commission we are appealing to Senator Robert A. Taft and Speaker Joseph W. Martin, Jr. to delay floor act ion on UMT and Selective Ser vice until the Commission’s re port is available to Congress. Members of both Houses have only a smattering of informat ion on Army jimcrow, and the views are understandably col ored by the propaganda of ex pediency that the Pentagon has long fed them. Since Neg roes are sorely distressed by the inaction on civil measurers, it is the firm belief of the Com mission that the House Repub lician Steering Committee and the Senate GOP Policy Com mittee should postpone consid eration of this avowed jimcrow draft legislation until Negro (Continued on page 4) t