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PAGE — SIX
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07 J. H. DEVKA.UX
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“The South has the . . . highest percent¬ Lt
age of absentee ownership (the New
public deposit recently in Georgia said banks that is 85 owned % ol by N JjJ 1
capitalists); the greatest degree ot po¬
era only 3 U/« of u
litical autarchy, in that against
people vote-17 % in Georgia-as
77 < iij the rest ol the country. that
have the highest percentage of illiteracy;
the highest rate of tenancy; a per capita in¬
60% of the national average and
come health con¬
52% of the East’s; that----our
ditions are the nation’s poorest ... it
concede these things, then we must concede
that they cannot be cured by a static or de¬
fensive or a let-us alone attitude. lls
excerpt is from a speech delivered before
the Georgia Academy of Social Sciences,
February 16, 1945i by Mark Ethridge on,
The Hope Of The South. The speech is
being distributed by The Southern Confer¬
ence On Human Welfare. This organiza¬
tion is doing what many people, white and
Negro, are advocating as a means of curing
many of the most urgent ills of the South,
and it requires a type of mental acrobat
its (which utterly baffles us) to damn an
organization that is attempting to do that
very thing.
HITLER’S SPIRIT
Generally, in the fields of sport and en¬
tertainment, the color of the skin has made'
little or no difference to the devotees ol
sports and entertainment. While it has
not been true in the South, Negro skilled
artists have been accepted as such. Joe
Louis, Jesse Owens, Marian Anderson,
hosts of Negro players of football, baseball
and basketball, have received acclaim
wherever they have appeared, by all peo¬
ple. The South has yet to learn that skill,
merit, virtue, heroism, talent, and effi¬
ciency have no color, just as health or dis¬
ease or death has no color. A champion is
a champion whether* he be Joe Louis or
Hilly Conn. A Hitler refused to recognize
a Negro champion, Jesse Owens, and Jack¬
sonville, Richmond, and Savannah refuse
to see Jackie Robinson and Johnny Wright,
who have won berths with the Montreal
Royals. We are heartily sorry Savannah,
wouldn’t accept them, a city, our city, we
like to brag about, whose teams we have
always supported with loyal and large at¬
tendance,—we do not see how we can give
to this season’s Indians the support we are
wont to give. It would have been a recog¬
nition of the interest of colored citizens’
loyalty to baseball to have permitted these
players to exhibit their skill here. We are
satisfied there arV many white fans who
Would have appreciated seeing these two
men perform. This statemnt is made upon
the basis of the fact that a large number
of them patronized Negro games when the
sport was kept alive by Negro teams. Who
does not remember the days of the Chat-
liams and the Mutuals? Our comment is
based upon what we have heard up and
down the streets. We should not be sur¬
prised if Negro fans stay away from the
ball park this season.
DEMAGOGUES’ HEYDAY
Georgia is in the spotlight again and
the chief rabble-rouser comes to the fore.
The occasion for it is the certainty that
Negroes will be permitted to vote in pri¬
maries in this state if the citizens of Geor¬
gia abide the decisions of the highest court
in the land. It is a travesty on democratic
government that men who aspire to office
under such government should be seeking
devices for excluding a group of the state’s
citizens from any part in its government.
It is beneath the dignity of statesmen to
resort to such democratic unrighteousness
as to appeal to race prejudice and the ig¬
norance of a large portion of the state’s
electorate in order to ride into office. Every
citizen has a right to aspire to any office
within the gift of his fellow citizens, but
it is uiifair to exploit that aspiration to
arouse: bitterness against a group of people
whose present objective is only to vote for
those whose duty it is to administer the
functions of government.
It is stupid insincerity for any man to
say that because Negroes may have a
chance to vote—a right which has been
j wantonly taken from them—they will be-
come governors, and mayors of Georgia
j possibility cities. This which is placing present emphasis circumstances upon do a
mot warrant. We admit that Negroes have
a right t@ aspire to become policemen,
clerks, and any other offices to which other
citizens aspire. Why shouldn’t tfc\v?
are under no delusions that such will hap-
pen soon, nor that it will happen in any pro-
portion that will threaten white supremacy
and usher in Negro domination. Negroes
,do I not aspire to anv such thing, and
really believes that they do. No sensible
white man believes it and no decent man
would seek to afouse susceptible people in¬
to believing it. Certainly no statesman
would do it. All the talk about Negroes
becoming officers, about “destroying the
traditions of the South,” about the threat
to “white supremacy” and carpetbag rule
returning, is merely campaign fodder de¬
ployed to win the votes of ignorant white
people. It is not surprising that Mr. Tal-
madge has announced his intention to run
for the governorship at this time. So keen
a politician as he would certainly take ad¬
vantage of such appeals to prejudice as
“preserving the white primary” and “the
traditions of the South, that our forepar¬
ents fought to preserve.”
THE HUB’S RESPONSIBILITY
The Hub has worked together with the
NAAGP to get TEN THOUSAND VOTERS
on the voters’ list. It has instituted suit
to seek protection of registrants in their
rights, it has attracted state wide atten¬
tion because of its work in these directions,
but it must realize that it has just begun.
It would be a tragedy to accomplish the
registration of TO,000 voters, and then turn
them loose, uninstructed in the ways of
suffrage, subject to the wiles and trickery
of unscrupulous politicians. There are
already indications that these lean gentle¬
men are rubbing their itching hands to¬
gether in anticipation of “what they are
about to receive.” One of the reasons
given by those who oppose our voting is
that Negroes will be a prey to these unscru¬
pulous politicians. While The Hub has no
intention of engaging in politics as an or¬
ganization, it will be violating a trust to
the public if it fails to give guidance to
thousands of Negroes who will be partici¬
pating in elections for the first time. We
believe the best citizens in Chatham coun¬
ty will give their support to its effort to
keep voting clean, and to keep venal politi¬
cians on the side lines rubbing their hands.
“ ‘The Race Problem,’ .spelled with capi¬
tals, is something else again. It i s an in¬
vention of unscrupulous demagogues, usu¬
ally scalawags serving nonresident masters
bent on exploiting Southern resources and
Southern workers.”—Gov. Ellis Arnall
“For the lesser mentalities they use the
scare of the Negro, saying that if he doesn’t
watch out some ‘nigger’ will want to mar¬
ry him—” This is one of the baits for
suckers, Ralph McGill describes as being
employed by those bigots who preach hate
and prejudice.
It is reported that the desired “harmo¬
ny” does not reign at Georgia State College
and we may look for more of the “purging”
which marked last summer’s effort to rid
the college of “disgruntled” instructors. If
reports are true, there must be something
in the air at Thunderbolt that grows dis¬
unity. It is not at all out of the ordinary
for the college to experience a heavy turn
over in faculty personnel. In any other ed¬
ucational institution such a turn over
would indicate to those in authority that
something needed to be done to find the
soured of the trouble. As long as the dis¬
service of “Negroes Succeed In Georgia” is
a propaganda vehicle that speaks the lan¬
guage of certain interests, there will be no
effort to locate the trouble at this institu¬
tion. It is alleged that some instructors
have been warned of summary dismissal
il' they talk.
It is apposite to quote from an address
delivered by t'hanning H- Tobias before the
New York Women’s Committee of the Unit¬
ed Negro ( ollege Fund. “Mr, Tobias ask¬
ed the nation to accept the type of Negro
leader who ‘tells the truth an dwill not lie
about conditions.’ From the Negro point
of view, he said, ‘the man Who tells the
truth is willing to co-operate on a basis of
mutual respect.” This is so to the point.
AFTERWARDS — WHAT
By Ruth Taylor
‘If. after the manner of men, I have
fought with beasts at Ephesus, what ad¬
vantageth it me, if the dead rise not.”
So spake Paul—Paul the Realist, the prac¬
tical preacher.
Of what ayail will the sacrifice of our
youth have been if we go on blindly com¬
promising with principle, making the same
mistakes as before, allowing the hydra
head of tyranny to rise again?
We fought for freedom—our own and
our fellow man’s, for without his freedom,
our own was not and is not secure.
Democracy, our way of life, has one
answer and only one to all forms of Sta-
tism. It is the fundamental principle of
equality before the law, and the sanctity of
all men as individuals.
If the war is to stay won, then all over
Hie earth there must be freedom for all
men. Men everywhere must have the right
to decide without fear or favor under what
government they shall live and, regardless
as to whether they are the minority or the
majority, they must have fredom to live
and work and grow strong, in the spirit as
us * n flesh. A refuge is not a so-
lution.
If the war is to stay won, then there must
be established justice, giving to every man,
no matter what his race or creed or color,
an equal opportunity to utilize, in the chan-
ability n 4 s . his he own have. desire, As such great talents think- and
as may a
■ r '‘‘hi recently: When we pray for the
l* a «‘ of Jerusalem, we do not merely de-
s ' re that there should be no fighting in her
We are praying for the presence
uf that quality of justice which ensures
P eacfc > all( ! which, above all others, distin-
WINNER OF POSTER CONTEST
AKTHUR CLAY. JR., senior
at, Summer high school. St.
Louis, shown with the prize
winning poster in the
city-wide contest sponsored
«m MTuiii nucsun
a society that accepts the moral
from a society which repudiates it."
If the war has in truth been won by the
of democracy, there must
universal brotherhood of nations as well
of men. Only this spirit can bring in
new day for which the hearts of men
V *■-*.. •;
V LUXURY HILL
"t
> ’* \ J
of Ho r«sweeter
t>Ct-50fl5.
American
* »ncer Socie+y
Capital
Spotlight
By Louis Lautier for NNPA
Colored Republicans were
divided in their favoritism of
candidates for the chairman¬
ship of the Republican nation¬
al committee just as were the
whites. The adherents of
Senator A. Taft of Ohio, whose
candidacy for the Republican
nomination for president may
be announced any day now,
favored Representative B. Car-
roll Reece of Tennessee. The
Dewey supporters favored for¬
mer Senator John A. Danaher
of Connecticut.
The announcement sqjpe
time ago of Perry W. Howai^l.
Republican national committee¬
man for Mississippi, that he
favored Mr. Reece, was as good
a weather vane as was needed
to indicate which way the Taft
wind was blowing. Mr. How¬
ard has been a political sup¬
porter of Senator Taft for a
number of years, and if Taft’s
name is placed in nomination
at the Republican national
convention in >1948, he yyill
have a delegation from Missis¬
sippi pledged to vote for the
Ohioan.
Bob Church of Tennessee al¬
so supported Mr. Reece. They
have been political associates
in Tennessee politics and per¬
sonal friends of long years'
standing. The election of Mr.
Reece, however, has greater
import than that a friend of
Church’s is the chairman of
the Republican national com¬
mittee. It signifies a return
to cordial understanding be¬
tween Mr. Church and the
head of the party.
There are other implications
in the election of Mr. Reece.
Senator Taft vigorously pro¬
tested to Herbert E. Brownell,
Jr., the retiring chairman,
against publication of an ar¬
ticle critical of him in The
Negro Statesman, official or¬
gan of the National Council of
Negro Republicans, edited by
Joseph V. Baker of Philadel¬
phia.
Mr, Brownell admitted that
the Republican national com¬
mittee makes contributions to
the National Council of Negro
Republicans, but said it did not
“censor or review” the materi¬
al which appears in the States¬
man prior to its issuance.
Senator Taft regarded this
as an indefensible position. By
making the contribution, he
contended, the Republican nat¬
ional committee made itself
responsible for attacks on Re¬
publicans. He protested “most
vigorously” against any con¬
tinuation of financial support
to the council, and particular¬
ly to the “subsidy” to the
Statesman which he classified
as a semi-official organ of the
Republican national commit¬
tee.
Other discordant note among
colored Republicans is the ap¬
pointment of Valores Washing¬
ton, a member of the Illinois
Commerce Commission. Some
charge that his selection was a
move by Mr. Brownell and
Governor Dwight Green of Il¬
linois to have a colored man
actively pushing the presiden¬
tial campaign of Governor
Thomas E. Dewey, in the Mid-
West.
As the chairman of the Re¬
publican national committee,
Mr. Reece will inherit these is¬
sues. How he will dispose of
them remains to be seen. But
these issues are only a part of
the factional strife among col¬
ored Republicans for party
leadership. It will be Mr.
Reece's task to bring accord
among them in order that they
may be used effectively in the
Congressional campaign to win
a minimum of twenty-seven
additional seats to gain control
of tlie House and nine addi¬
tional seats to gain control of
the Senate.
Reece’s election was a victory
for the Old Guard. His record
in Congress proves him a con¬
servative. He has broken sec¬
tional lines to vote for anti-
lynching, anti-poll tax and
FEPC, but on most other meas¬
ures, his vote has been regard¬
ed as non-progressive.
* * *
At the hearings on the Has-
tie nomination the other day.
Senator Abe Murdock. Demo¬
crat, of Utah, asked Frederick
Dorsch. executive secretary of
the chamber of commerce in
conjunction with the 1947
. clean-up campaign. April 8 to
20. More than 100 entries were
received—tANP photo.)
have long yearned-* hew Hay hvwhich the
l»v,< is love, and love, th? fulfilling of the
law. ’
“If alter the of ,
This must come for manner
men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus
what advantageth it me, if tne dead rise
not.”
the Virgin Islands Chamber of
Commerce, to identify the
senders of a batch of telegrams
from the islands approving
Hastie's appointment.
Dorsch began to read the
names and state the business
of the senders. Senator James
O. Eastland of Mississippi, in¬
terrupted him asking him to
state whether each sender was
white or colored. Dorsch iden¬
tified one as colored, one as
white, and’ one as a Puerto
Rican. ^ ; i
“That’s colored!” snapped
Senator Allen J. Ellender of
Louisiana.
“Puerto Ricans do not con
sider themselves colored, if they
are born in Puerto Rico and
speak the Spanish language,”
replied Dorsch. “There is no
such ethnic group.”
* * •
Washington hears that Ralph
Matthews, the newspaper man,
has gone to Reno for a quiet
divorce and that Thomasina
Johnson, the head of the AKA
lobby, will be his fourth wife.
r. B ASSN . ASSISTS
IN HEALTH WEEK
PROGRAM
The Chatham-Savannah Tu¬
berculosis Association joined
other forces in the community
last week in celebration of
National Negro Health Week.
On March 31, Mrs. Gertrude L.
Greene, health education sec¬
retary for the local agency,
and Mrs. Leola F. Fields, field
representative from the Nat¬
ional Tuberculosis Association
served as guest speakers or
the opening program at St.
Paul AME church, Rev. N. K.
Kimball, pastor. Tire agency
made possible health education
movies and talks to mere than
2,000 persons in Burroughs,
Beach-Cuyler, Maple. W. Broad,
Haven Home, West Savannah,
Powell Laboratory and Spring-
field Terrace schools.
This week ends the efforts
in the T. B. Scrapbook in the
elementary schools and • the
national T. B. Essay contests
featured in junior-senior high
and Georgia State College.
Mrs. Fields spent last week
in Savannah conferring with
community leaders on the drive
for community control of T. B.
She met with the Ministers’
Union, medical staff of Charity
Hospital, Graduate Nurses As¬
sociation, Associate Board. De¬
partment of Public Welfare
staff. Hub organization, Jr. T.
B. workers and Georgia State
College students.
A fine corps of college stu¬
dents and community leaders
is now serving as volunteers to
the T. B. office clerical force,
giving an average of ten hours
weekly. The Junior Associate
Board is calling on all forces
to help in the anti-spitting
campaign from April l through
May 1.
THE COMMON
DEFENSE
Hope and Promise in America
Something significant is
happening in professional
baseball. For years Negroes
have been barred from mem¬
bership on a team in the big
leagues. But now Branch
Rickey, president of the Brook¬
lyn Dodgers, . has signed up
Jackie Robinson, a Negro, to
play short-stop for Montreal,
one of the Dodgers farm teams.
Rickey was asked why he did
it. His answer, in LOOK for
March 19th. was, “I’m doing it
because I can’t help it. I can¬
not face my God much longer
knowing that His black crea¬
tures are held separate and
d'.stincjt from His white crea¬
tures in the game that has
given me all that I can call my
own.”
That is in the record now.
And Jackie Robinson is part of
a major league baseball team,
done is a sharp rebuke to those
What Mr. Rickey has said and
critics of American democracy
; who. in unrestrained bitterness,
sometimes condemn America
as if it were a land of unre¬
lieved injustice.
Injustice there is in America.
No one can overlook it. But,
neither can anyone reading our
history, deny that we have
made—and still do make—pro¬
gress toward the creation oi
THURSDAY, APRIL 11* 194#
mutt* i............... .....................
Lodges \nd Chapters Notes
The call for the Seventy-
Sixth Annual Communication
of the Most Worshipful Prince
Hall Grand Lodge, will be is¬
sued next week. Lodges are
urged to render belated reports.
* * *
Grand Master Dobbs will be
in the city Friday and Satur¬
day. He will deliver a civic ad¬
dress on Friday night. He is in
great demand for addresses in
all parts of the country.
• • * •
Several of the brothers will
accompany the Grand Secre¬
tary to Burroughs Sunday af¬
ternoon in interest of the bro¬
thers in that locality.
• * »
The Eastern Star Chapters
should bestir themselves. All
should have large representa-
the kind of country in which
opportunity is open to all re¬
gardless of race or religion.
And because there is hope
and promise here for all men—
as in no other country under
the sun-—in spite of our short¬
comings, Americans are every
day more and more realizing
how good a thing it is to live,
under -how our good form it is to of be government free, free| j
to speak, to print, to worship, I
to vote—how good it is to
able to work toward a better
democracy here—to bring the
fruits of justice to those of our
people who yet do not enjoy
them to be able to do this
without government. fear of reprisal by the j
How good it is to be an Amer- j
ican! To live in a country
where Protestants, Catholics, j
Jews, whites and Negroes have j
an opportunity to carve out
their own destiny and, over the
years, to make progress toward |
that better, juster order of
which America gave promise at
her birth.
1743 NEGRO
SIONAL WORKERS i
ON THE W. P. A.
Chicago A total of 1,743
national Negroes are employed in the
and field offices of
the OPA throughout the United
States, Director of Economic
Esabilization Chester Bowles
reveals in an article, “The Ne¬
gro Sits on Prices” in the April
issue of Negro Digest.
Lawyers, economists and
technicians are numbered
among the Negro anti-infla¬
tion workers as well as clerks
and unskilled employees.
Because the Negro has as
much to gain as any other race
in a strict adherence to sane
price policies, Bowles places
Negroes in all types of positions
wherever possible. One Negro is
a member of the staff of the
interracial problems committee.
Asking for the help of all
groups in the fight against
inflation, Bowles declares:
“To win that fight—to build
a prosperous, secure America
for all—will need the continu¬
ed cooperation of all Ameri¬
cans, white and black, working
and pulling together. We must
not fail-and with Negro help,
we will not fail.”
54 r OLYMPIC CHAMP
DIED OF NATURAL
CAUSES
San Francisco (ANP)—Cor¬
nelius Johnson, 32, former
Olympic high jump champion,
died of natural causes, accord¬
ing to a coroner’s jury which
brought the decision last week
over testimony which showed
that the athlete was suffering
from acute bronchial pneumo¬
nia and was not given proper
treatment on his ship, the San¬
ta Cruz.
Johnson, who is said to have
run amuck last February 15 on
the vessel where he was a cook,
died as he was being subdued
by police and crew members.
An autopsy revealed that he
had not been drinking and
that no posion was involved.
Mrs. Ruby Braxton and The¬
odore Johnson, sister and bro¬
ther of the famed trackman,
attempted to learn why h?
wasn't treated for pneumonia
of which he was suffering.
W. N. Beckwith, officer of
the Santa Cruz, testified Ofii-
cers Victor w,lcox and James
Carpeneti had looped a towel.
around Johnson’s head to brim*'
i him • . ©
under control, and that
the towel had slipped around
his neck during the tussle.
tion at the Atlanta gathering.
• * * * *
Lodges and Chapters should
specialize in one particular
thing at least, but all should
emphasize the proper confej
ing of the degrees.
• • •
Many old members complain J .
about the non-interest of new
brothers so soon after their in -, 1
duction in the order.’ ''They! Thel
are not to be blamed.
main reason is that old mcm*
bers fail to encourage t^iem by
showing sufficient interest. Try
it and see the helpful result!
• » •
Always count the task before
undertaking anything.
• •
Interest should not lag-'in the
work of the higher degrees.
SCOUTNG ACTIVITIES
By Joseph B. Bowman, Jr.,
Troop 48
The March Court of Honor
took place Thursday, night,
March 28, at the West Broad
Street YMCA. Scoifts John
Grant of Troop 47, and Fred
Davis of Troop 470 advanced
to the life rank advanced soputs, and
three scouts td the
star rank. A very large group
of scouts advanced to , the scc-
class rank. Tbfdre were
over thirty merit badges
awarded.
Carter R. Andrew and Wcst-
ly W. Law were recently added
to the advancement staff. Mr.
Law was senior patrol leader
Troop 48 before entering the
a rmed forces. He received his
honorable discharge a few
months ago. planning
scouts, if you are to
g 0 t 0 summe r camp this sum-
mer this l5 a good timc to
start saving your fund8 for this
purpose wy
The Sea Scouts h g, Id their
meeting Monday night, March
PR0FES-
Greene'S room at Beach high
school. It was brought out by
Sea Scout Clifford Hardwicjc
that it is about time fb’r us to
renew our registration Officers^ as Sen¬
ior Scouts. elected
were: Yeomen treporter, 0 .1, (
John Morris and Walter Sim¬
mons, and Chaplain,’* Chance
Grant. The next meeting af~the
Sea Scouts took place Monday,
April 1, at the YMCA.
All scouts who advance for
a rank or merit badges arc a,sk-
cd to bring their parents with
them to the Court of Honor
which is held at the YMCA ev¬
ery fourth Thursday of*’ the
month at 7:30 p. m.
We now have six Eagle
Scouts in Savannah. 1.
Don’t forget to do a good
turn for someone every tiqy.
“KENNY" SIGNED BY
PRO FOOTBALL CLUB
Los Angeles, March 21-
Kenny Washington, former
All-American halfback at U. C.
L. A., today signed a contract
with the Los Angeles Rams of
the National Football’ League.
The championship Rams, re¬
cently transplanted fromMJlevc-
land, purchased the 27-year-
old Negro star’s contract from
the Hollywood Bears of the
Pacific Coast League for an
unspecified sum.
Washington, in signing the
pact, became the first athlete
of his race to perform in—the
National loop since Joe Lillard
of Oregon played with the
early 1930s. (
^ 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 ' 4 *
Files of The Savannah
Tribune VD' ,
FIFTY YEARS AGO
APRIL 4. 1896
Tomorrow, April 5, will be
Easter in all of the Churches.
Special mention made of the
services.
Knox Presbytery to be held
at Ezra Presbyterian ,, church
next Wednesday.
• » * * •
Every county in the First
Congressional District endorsed
Major McKinley for the presi¬
dential nomination.
* * *
All interest centers on Guy¬
ton at the district convention
next week.
BroaT^sriS^h „ 0 "! ^ ^
44 Fnday .f reet mght . sch001 at the to home meet
of Of E. F! J. .T PfiKinenvi Robinson. TT Hartridge nM i»iJr.n
street.