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“We can’t have a democracy for whites
only." — Hodding Carter
THE ELECTION FOR SCHOOLS
November 7 the citizens of Chatham
county voted authority to the Board of
Education to ask for an increase in the
tax millage and for a bond issue to provide
money to accomplish some improvements
in our school system; to provide money
for equipment and operations, and for
buildings. Sometime in the month of
January, the Board will exercise that
authority. Whether we shall have im¬
proved schools will depend on the fa¬
vorable vote of the citizens. Every in¬
telligent citizen who is interested in cor¬
recting the very bad condition existing
in our school system has all the facts in
hand. Much time and work were devot¬
ed to placing the facts before citizens ol
every class and group in the county, and
they ought to be well fortified to meet
the challenge which the election will
present to them. The worst of the
bad conditions exist in Negro schools:
two school buildings need replacing and
additional new buildings need to be built
to get rid of double sessions that have
victimized Negro children for a quarter
of a century; the Maple School building
has been condemned by many Grand
Juries. it is still in use, though it
is a momentary hazard to 500 children
every day. Negroes have complained,
more or less loudly, about these condi¬
tions for 25 years. The Board of Edu¬
cation doesn’t have the money to cor¬
rect these conditions, for it will take a
lot of money to do so. Now, the Board
can get the money if the citizens, in¬
cluding the Negroes whose children at¬
tend the Maple Street School or double
sessions in other schools, will get ready
to go to the polls in January and vote
for the increase in the tax millage and
for issuance of bonds. Not only should
they get ready to vote themselves but
they should try to get their neighbors
and acquaintances to vote “Yes.” They
should work to get out a large, if not
unanimous, vote in favor of the Board’s
request, for their own good. It will be
the only way to show that they were
really sincere in the complaints they have
been making. It will be an opportunity
to show that they can meet a serious
challenge. It will cost nothing to vote
“Yes” but the cost will be beyond cal¬
culating if they fail to vote or vote “No.”
It is the duty of those who understand
the importance of the coming election
for schools, for our children, to spare no
pains to get out a large vote.
AN OPPORTUNITY MUFFED
Last week there was a conference of
small business men held in our city. We
do not know exactly what the purpose
of the conference was. It must have
considered matters of important concern
to small business men. We are sure
Negro small business men could have
profited by the discussions and informa¬
tion given out at ,the meeting. One thing
is certain, whatever the plans and in¬
tentions of the conference may have been
they can hardly be entirely effective with
some of the representatives of small
business left out.
It seems to be a difficult thing for our
white friends to understand that Negro
interests in any area have relationship
to the total picture, which should not
Firestone Has Built Within
Claude A. Barnett
(This is the first of two ar-
tides on the gigantic Firestone
Rubber Company enterprise in
African Republic.)
MONROVIA. Liberia —(ANP>
Whenever you mention Liberia
to many people in America they
imediately think of Firestone
and rubber. This is natural be¬
cause the Firestones, the late
Harvey, Sr., and Harvey, Jr.,
plus a brilliant coterie of assist¬
ants have developed an enter-
prize so gigantic in scope and
efficient in production that its
business volume exceeds many
times that of the country which
houses it.
So huge are the Firestone
plantations that they employ
more Liberians than all other
business enterprizes in the
country and the government as
well. More than 20,000 Liberians
work for this great organization
which during the last world war
produced 80 percent of all the
Entered as Second Class Matter at the
Office at Savannah, Oa, under the Act
March 3. 1879
National Advertising Representative:
Associated Publishers
562 Fifth Ave.
New York 19, New York
/Ml Mitt
\ucrr {ugeau
selfishness should clear away the dif¬
ficulty. For instance, the health of
Negroes can not be wisely, ignored. Tu¬
berculosis, typhoid, and other similar
diseases can not be confined in Negro
sections. Negligence or oversight in
the matter of health bears immediate
and tragic results, but neglect in pro¬
viding facilities for education, recreation
in adequate treatment in courts, though
slightly less immediate and tragic in its
effects, is reflected in the many disad¬
vantages Negroes suffer.
The practice of overlooking remedial
weaknesses among Negroes, such as sub¬
standard housing, discrimination as to
employment opportunity and as to many
public services, is a definite factor ob¬
structing progress in the sections where
it obtains. The effects of such negli¬
gence are obvious to those who give the
slightest thought to it. A group of At¬
lanta citizens calls attention to a noto¬
rious instance of it in the leniency ac¬
corded Negroes who commit violence
against other Negroes, a practice which
tends to make criminally inclined Negroes
hold the life of another cheap. We feel
as keenly about boledo as we do because
it seems that since Negroes are the vic¬
tims, it is permitted to operate. It is
wrong to let it go on. It is indefens¬
ible.
A CLEVER FOE
While the Grand Jury is pronouncing
that our city is free of gambling, bole¬
do, to he exact, and our police department
is being acclaimed as one of the best
West Broad Street and Negro sections
of the city are crawling with runners,
preying upon its victims with immunity.
It is correct to say boledo is tenacious.
It is not clever. It is not subtle.
It is hardly defiant. It is tolerated and
permitted. And why? Why should an
evil be permitted to exist which does
so much to hurt and hamper and doom
a segment of the population farthest
down in the economic scale, the least
able to waste its uncertain earnings on
a traffic which has not a single virtue
cr value to recommend it? Are we to
conclude that boledo is permitted to go
on because only Negroes, in the main,
are harmed by it? The authorities moved
at once to place some sort of restriction
on pin balls machines when it was dis¬
covered that white children were play¬
ing them. Years ago when houses of
ill-repute were existing in the neighbor¬
hood of schools, some of the strongest
people in this city saw to it that such
places were closed. It seems to us an
act of bad faith toward law-abiding Ne¬
gro citizens to permit boledo to exist. It
is unfair; it is wrong; it means that the
welfare of the i>oor people in this com¬
munity is no concern of our city gov¬
ernment. But Savannah’s reputation
as a clean and decent city can not es¬
cape being colored by its lack of con¬
cern for its humblest citizens. They
can be no more neglected in this matter
than they can be in the matter of health.
Boledo and allied vices are not only
demoralizing to its buyer victims, but it
is demoralizing to their betrayers, the
runners. All of them, buyer and ven¬
dor, are being permitted to fool them¬
selves that one can get something for
nothing, which everybody, with some
thirty or more notable exceptions—the
greasy pig et al—knows leads to evil
consequences. We plead again that
those who can stop this nefarious traf¬
fic. do so.
natural rubber available to
America and her allies.
It ws in 192 5 that Harvey
pj res t onPj seeking to break the
an experiment in growing rub-
ber independently. This pogram,
if successful, would free Ameri-
can rubber and tire manufact-
urers from a tight cartel which
at times forced rubber prices as
high as $1.25 a pound. The
British already had proved that
rubber would grow in Iiberia by
operating in Mount Barclay,
Firestone Holds 99-Year Con-
cession
In 1926. Firestone negotiated
a 99-vear concession from the
Liberian government with
Charles Dunbar Burgess King,
president. His firm through
%his contract controlled more
than a million acres of land at
a rental of six cents an acre.
Firestone is literallv sovereign
within the limits of the con-
! cession through virture of num-
jerous The extra legal its privileges.
company does own pol-
icing All machinery,
supplies, buildings,
rights . , , and , , .
incomes were ree
taxes, imports, otr levies.
port if Liberian workers
White workers were limited
L500. '
Through the National
Bank in New York.
with the aid of the U. S.
Department arranged a loan
j live million dollars at 7
interest for Liberia. This
abled the African nation
consolidate its debts
\Mere scattered among
countries.
This loan agreement
for a financial adviser
to the American
This adviser has charge of
berian customs and advises
all financial matters.
has made payments on
loan meticulously. Only
a half million remains,
Made Early Profit
From the start
the SAVANNAH TLIBCN1
“STILL BLOCKING OUR WORLD LEADERSHIP”
BETWEEN THE LINES
By DEAN GORDON B. HANCOCK for ANP
C T JR PERILOUS TIMTS
It is just as well that we face the ugly
fact, that we are face to face with catastro¬
phe, Perilous times are upon us and wheth¬
er we sink or swim, live or die, survive or
perish, are matters that are delicately poised
in the scales cf destiny.
With World War III upon us. we am
being forced to concede that what we thought
was the prospect of a lasting peace proves
to be merely an illusion. The nations are
not putting their trust in God and Right,
but in deadly weapons. The terrible atom
bomb is being brandished with abandon,
and that there will be resort to it is almost
one of the certanties of the crisis that is
upon us.
It is a fearful price that the nations ar°
willing to pay for the specious privilege oj
to admit it, we are living in a world where
might Is right as Neitszrhe long ago taught
godlessness. However reluctant we may bo
the Germans, This harking back to the
Dark Ages Is calamitous to say the least.
Eut the end is rjot yet.
Nations stand upon the dry bones of form¬
er nations and peer into the solemn fu¬
ture with hope that by and by a nation will
rise up and rule In righteousness. “Righteous
ness exalted a nation but sin is a re¬
proach to any people” is an admonition
that the nations thus far have rejected, but
one, and the only one, that has hopes of
a better tomorrow. Our vaunted civiliza¬
tion is on the eve of doom and the hands
of the clock of history are about to be tur^
fd back. Mankind must be brotherized or
it will be brutalized.
This is the grim fact that we loathe to
face but grim fact it is. Will the hurling
cf the atom bomb atone for a nation’s sins?
What will the loosing of the atom bomb set-'
tie aside from the question of who is mo¬
mentarily the master of destructive power?
Must peace lie slaughttred on the plan;]
of the Twentieth Century a victim of man’s
inhumanity to man? When will the na¬
tions grow up and put away the childish
thing called war? Are we shortly to see
go up in smoke and utter destruction all .that
has been built in sweat and tears and
blood?
Is the atom bomb way the only way to
stem the tide of communism? This is the
most potent question ever laid before the
councils of this nation. Such question de¬
mands that Its answer come of prayer and
fastiniT and agonizings of the spirit. When
will ‘the nation turn in righteousness
rather than in wrath to God for cleansing?
made money operating theMt.
j Barclay plantation felled the .He trees, cleared and! |
the area,
| | planted houses and rubber. bridges. He built He set roads, i l
I uo
electric and water surmlv, j
gprages, factories, s'ores, and !
offices. All this is said to have i
cost about $20,000,000.
The program reached a terno- !
orarv halt in the early ’30 s I
because of the depression w : hen
rubber prices fell to fou' I
a pound. Starting again in 1!>33,
the plantation agreed to try to !
soften the onerous interest
charges of $350,000 a vear
| the Liberian loan I
Firestone Plantations. the
firm name in Liberia, agreed to
p a y a 0 ne percent excise tax.
| This tax arose from a few
! l to on Liberia’s ?tT m \P ays account tins in in New the York Na-
jtional j Few City American-owned Bank.
enter-
prizes in foreign lands have
| I been as successful as this fab-
ulous business of the Firestones.
It is estimated that their profits |
| from Liberia before American
income taxes have exceeded !
Soil.0)0,000. The entire income
of the republic for that period
was substantially smaller. j
Company Has Contributed to
the Welfare of the People
| This company nas brought
benefits to the nation. It es-
; tablished a splendid hospital for t
jits employees. In 1946. Harvey I
| j Firestone, Jr., announced the j !
creation of an Institute of
Tropical Medicine and donated
j <250.000 for the study of dis-
eases of that and surrounding
they fell before the invaders because their
hearts wer not right with God..
France lived smugly behind her Maginot
Line but the Germans got behind it and
destrited the flower of her manhood. The
Germans found ease in trusting to her Seig-
fried Line but the allies got behind it and
Germany bit the dust of defeat. Will our
confidence in the atom bomb be shattered
some day by means more foul and devast¬
ating that will make of the atom bomb a
by word among the people? The survival
value of weapons has been tested and found
wanting.
Great armies and navies and great walls
and eroat lines have all failed to save the
unrlrghteous nations. When will the ra¬
tions put their trust in righteousness? If
ever this nation of ours had prayed it needtj
to pray now that the deliberators in the
UN may be guided by Almighty God into
the paths of peace. The impending human
slaughter makes the heart sick to contem *
p’ate and whether the slaughtered are Rus¬
sians, Chinese or Americans the results ar»
the same, the brutalization of the nobles
sentiments of mankind.
Will our earth soon be turned into a
Twentieth Century Sodom and Gomorrah?
Whose will be the gain and whose the loss?
These, are perilous times! “Behold I stand
at the door and knock,” saith the lowly Je¬
sus, and the nations will turn him away
at their peril. Does this world need eco¬
nomic. stability or does it need a great revi¬
val to turn men back to the wavs of tho
Lord. We have spurned the Faith of the
fathers; but their faith seems to be the only
anchor in these times of stress and struggle<
for survival.
So long as salvation is in the final analy¬
sis a personal matter there is hope and peace
i t the knowledge that personally our hearts
are right with God. It all may sound fool¬
ish in the premise to talk about rightness
with God; but it certainly does not sound
more foolish than trusting to material power
that has always let the nations down.
HEADLINES
By William Henry Huff, for ANP
Pv doing good one seldom gets
The front page of the papers
It is reserved for glamour pets
And their unholy capers.
racket°er vets big headlines
He’s played up like a hero
While he who has worthwhile designs
zero.
Rchools have been built on
the plan ations. Firestone pays
the teachers, selected by the
government. Until recently the
were paid about $30 a
"on h. As late as ]f)45, the
education budget did
not exceed $3,000 a vear.
A forward step has been taken
by the company, however, in
hiring of the dynamic Rev.
Smith to direct a division
of education and welfare,
Firestone's taxes, although
representing but a tinv fraction
the firm’s volume of business
accounted for a fairly large per-
cent of Liberia's reveune for
1949. This pecentage is less now
as new enterprises are moving
in and business activity is in¬
creasing. Because of Liberia’s
new income taxes on ail busi¬
ness. its income from Firestone
is now in the millon dollar class.
In general it can be said that
Firestone offers a concrete ex¬
ample of what can be achieved
n Liberia. The Bomi Hills Min-
Comanpy, the large scale
coc ®a plantations planned by
th ? Liberia company and the
success of the new port, fines*
in West Africa, offer other ex-
Despite A* \\ ,, these , beneits. Fire-
has been critized in Li-
beria. Next week I shall discuss
of these criticisms and
how the company itself feels
about them.
___
Thomas Edison, during his
produced over a thous-
ul P base -
I R0ST0N FIREMAN
CITED FOR BRAVERY
BOSTON, Mass. — (ANP)
Laddernmn Lloyd C Phillips
ladder Company 12,
street, received official
by the Boston Fire
in General Orders No. 69
of heoric action on the part
week.
The citation was the
Phillips in rescuing a
conscious man from his bed
a blazing building involved
a heavy concentration of
heat, and smoke.
Mr. Phillips may be the
Negro member of the
Fire Department to receive
medal for heroic
of dutv. The fire
according to the General
ers. has commended Phillips
has referred his case to
Board of Merit for further
sideration.
CHICAGO -U’DGE SWORN
INTO OFFICE
CHICAGO, (ANP)—J u d g
C. Ferguson, elected to
ir. last month’s voting took
;eat on the Municipal
bench. Monday.
He is assigned to the
branch of the court.
sitting in the civil branch
the court are Justices
E. Green and Fred W.
Slater.
An acre of pine trees
produce three times more
ulose than an acre of cotton.
THURSDAY, DEC. 14, 195f
HOME EDUCATION
Issued by the National Kindergarten Association. 8 West 40th
Street, New York City. These articles are appearing weekly in
our columns.
“THE CHILD'S FIRST SCHOOL IS THE FAMILY”—Froebel
DISCIPLINE AND
SECURITY
Bertha Younkin
It had always seemed strange
to us that little Carol Ann
Sloan, a next-door neighbor of j
ours, was not one the happiest 1
children in town.
“It’s just that Carol has an
unhappy disposition,” her
mother would say in explana¬
tion. We were inclined to agree,
because certainly Carol received
everything her heart desired.
A few tears from those big blue
eyes and Carol obtained exact¬
ly the doll she wanted, the extra
slice of rich chocolate cake, or
another hour or so of television
lpng after she should have been
in bed. Her father and mother
loved her most dearly, and the
routine of their lives circled
about Carol.
“It’s odd,” I heard the nurs¬
ery-school teocher tell Mrs.
Sloan was stricken with a seri-
a deeply rooted feeling of in¬
security. She wants everything
the other children play with
and no matter what is given to
her she is still unhappy.”
“I know,” sighed Mrs. Sloan,
“and we’ve done everything for
her. We give her so much and
love her so much, but she
always wants something she
doesn't have.”
The following summer Mrs.
Sloan das stricken with a seri¬
ous illness, and Grandma Gillan
stpeped into the picture. The
day Mrs. Sloan was taken away
to the city hospital Grandma
Gillan drove in from the coun¬
try, bundled the frightened
child into her high old-fash¬
ioned car and disappeared with
her down the highway leading
to the Gillan farm.
Something happened to Carol
that summer. I didn’t nonce
until long after Mrs. Sloan had
returned home and Grandma
Gillan had come to take charge
while Carol’s mother was re¬
gaining her health.
Carol heard me send my
youngest to her room for riding
ner tucycie in the busy street.
I felt the need to explain to her.
“I had to send her to her room,
Carol, because I have told her
YOUR HEALTH
BY. DR. GOSHEA
WHY CHILDREN FAIL
Much has been said by vari¬
ous writers about, why children
fail in their schoolwork. One
cause is said to be the home
environment whrfe surround¬
ings are not conducive to best
work. Some parents do not take
the proper interest in their
children and do not require
them to keen regular hou's and
study periods. Rome
vn<r at their children continu¬
ally and keep their nerves on
o*he r s depreciate the
child's ahilit”
give them a feeling of inferiori¬
ty which ri a'ways discouraging.
Thines of this nature may
rightlv be blamned upon the
parents. factor be that
Another mav
of malnutrition due to poverty
or to ignorance about food
va’nes or balances. Both society
and the parents may well bear
part of this blame, but is is not
mr purpose to discuss here
this phase of the question.
Otrer causes of this failure
are blamed upon physical de¬
fects, natural dullness and
underdevelopment of the child,
both physicollv and mentally,
and these points deserve care¬
ful attention.
A great deal has been said
about the value of physical
examinations. The employment
of a school physician and
nurse is usually advised. Much
stress has been placed upon
the examination of the teeth,
tonsils, and adenoids. Various
tests are urged to determine
susceptibility to disease, espec-
ialv hat of diptheria. the Although least
smallpox is one of
frequent of diseases, vaccina¬
tion against it is always de¬
manded. But the real primary
cause of tho most diseases,
chiropractors say, are defects
in the spine which are usually
entirely overlooked.
Why do some children haye
bad teeth, tonsils or adenoids?
Why are some dull and others
alert?
Why do some seem suscept¬
ible to every disease, while
others are not? All these things
are blamed upon improper diet,
home surroundings, inherited
traits, and the like, but if that
were altogether true, whv are
so many of these characteris¬
tics and defects often found in
the best of homes? Why also
are varied defects found in the
never to play in the street; she
must learn not to do so. Yoh
see, we love her dearly and
wouldn’t want anything to
happen to her.”
“Oh, I know,” said Carol
calmly. “Grandma takes good
care of me always. She won’t
let me eat too much candy, and
she makes me go to bed at
seven because it’s good for me.
Grandma won’t let me do any¬
thing that might hurt me.”
Carol had found security at
last.
I wondered how often the de¬
mands of children are tests of
adult strength. Certainly, when
a child knows something is bad
for him and still begs for it,
he must get a bewildered feel¬
ing when the parent, who is;
supposed to love him, weakly
gives permission. There is secur¬
ity in proper restrain!, and it is
frightening to a small child to
finl that his mother or father
seems smaller and weaker than I
himself. Of course, there should’
be no doubt in the child’s mind
ihat his parents love him;
however, it is equally important
that he should feel the can de¬
pend upon them.
Last week Carol was sixteen,
and she is now in the throes of
her first love. The toy is net
suitable for Carol, but, unfort¬
unately, not having previously
knowm any boys intimately she
lacks standards for judging
them, and her perents do not
seem to know how to handle
the situation. There have been
some ugly stories going around
about this boy, and he has been
taking Carol to places to which
she‘should not go.
But today I saw Grandma
Gillan’s old car drive up in
front of the Sloan’s, and I saw
Carol race cut and greet the
beloved lady with an enormous
hug. The two left soon after
! for the young girl’s vaca.ion
out on the farm.
They won’t have to worry
about Carol now. I thought
with relief. Grandma Gillan will
straighten out this affair some¬
how. She won’t say much, but
Carol s going to listen and Carol
is going to have a chance to
learn.
varied defects found in the ie
same family of children? And i JTk
again, w T hy do many of the»
defects develop later in child
ren once apparently iminun
to them? Can the medical ex¬
aminer or school nurse logically
answer these questions?
The chiropractor has a per¬
fectly .sound and plausible
answer to the above questions,
an answer that he has prbved
by actual experience time and
again, an answer that has
changed many a child’s life
from failure to success. Thei
answer is this:
controlled Every function in the body is
by the nervous sys¬
tem. All nerves of the body
emanate from the spine, there¬
fore. the spine is always the key
to the health of the body. As
is well known, every child is
subject to many falls and acci¬
dents. These sometimes displace
a joint of the spine slightly out
of position so important nerve
trunks are pinched, thus limit¬
ing the mental impulse of ener¬ the
gy that can pass over
nerves. Eventually the result
will be lowered resistance, dull¬
ness, physical defects, under¬
development and failure in the
child.
If your child has impaired
health or seems stupid and has
difficulty in learning, do not
resort to scolding and later op¬
erations and drugs. Normalcy
is not found that way. See a
chiropractor and let him
analyze the spine. Have the
cause of the trouble adjusted,
release the pent-up energy
within anq you will find there
will be far less sickness and
failure among school chddipu.