The Houston Informer and the Texas Freeman (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 45, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 2, 1932 Page: 2 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Houston Informer and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rice University Woodson Research Center.
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EDITORIALS
THE HOUSTON INFORMER
AND
• THE TEXAS FREEMAN
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FOR ALL THE PEOPLE
OPINIONS
THE HOUSTON INFORMER
AND
THE TEXAS FREEMAN
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FOR ALL THE PEOPLE
Published every Saturday by the Webster Publishing Company,
499-411 Smith Street, Houston, Texas
Entered as second-class mattar May 28, 1919, at the post-office at Houston,
Texas, under the Act of Congress, March 8, 1879.
G. H. WEBSTER ...................
CARTER W. WESLEY
8. B. WILLIAMS .......................
J. ALSTON ATKINS
C. N. LOVE
MISS EULALIA A. EDWARDS
J. M. BURR
GILBERT T. STOCKS
J. M. NABRIT, Jr...............
President-Treasurer
....................Vice President
....................Vice President
...................... Editor
Contributing Editor
Society Editor
Advertising Director
Circulation Manager
..............General Counsel
him read them for four weeks in succession and he will be con-
vinced.
Always anxious as they are to foster Negro institutions and
enterprises, Negro newspapers very generally open their columns
to this propaganda of the Negro colleges, free gratis. And the
more of it that Negro newspapers publish, the more of it the Ne-
gro colleges send. But what happens about the pay matter? The
Negro colleges run all of their standard (indeed, most of the ads
are standing) advertising in magazines, which seem to have lit-
tle space in their columns to carry on the propoganda crusade.
Lest our Negro colleges who have advertising budgets for the
magazines, but only news propaganda for the Negro newspa-
pers, should think that the Negro press is too dumb to see that
the wool is being pulled over their eyes, The Informer and Free-
man makes this protest, with the plea that our colleges be fair.
POLITICS
(A Capital News Service Feature)
• By CAPITAN
THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPEN
By GENE BYRNES
THE “JIM CROW” DECISION
The Criminal Court of Appeals of Texas held recently that the
“Jim Crow” law of Texas does not apply to busses. Which means
that the Texas legislature has another job of showing to the
WOMEN IN POLITICS
Not long ago, Mathew Bullock, the
only Negro member of Republican
State Central Committee in Massa-
chusetts, stated publicly that “women
learn politics too fast.” There is no
intention to take Mr. Bullock’s state-
ment out of its context. He praised
colored women for their political ac-
tivity. He stressed the need for uni-
ty in politics. But he concluded by
say ing that the tendency of women
in politics had been to strain under
the leash of their men leaders and to
feel all too soon that they had reach-
ed their political majority. There is
much wisdom in Mr. Bullock’s re-
THE BIG PROFITS
IN THIS BUSINESS 1
ARE IMAGINARY
RATHER THAN
REAL-1 WAS FOOLED
WHEN I BOUGHT
IT! ALL I WANT
IS A REASONABLE ,
• PRICE!
SUBSCRIPTION RATES (Cash in Advance):
One Year, 32.00; 9 months, $1.50; 6 months, $1.25; single copy, 5c
(No paper mailed for less than 6 months) 1 . . - ..
____world its method of helping powerful corporations to take money mark. Indeed, the woman voter has
Telephone PRESTON 7916 out of the pockets of Negroes without giving them value received, learned thepolitical game with amaz.
When the legislature meets it will doubtless pass an amend- she has, as Mr. Bullock lamented,
ment to the present “Jim Crow” law so as to make at apply to learned the game too fast.
busses as well. It will no doubt also include the familiar require- The presence of the Negro woman
ment that the accommodations, though they must be separate, voter in politics has given the male
^^^^^^ =====r^"^ ============
meant to be enforced, there would be no Jim Crow law at all. politicians by white leaders cannot be
For the whole purpose of that law is to permit those corporations used against women. Then too, the
(railroads and the like) to which it applies to charge first class reaug to" Otderthke the routine ewort
fare to Negroes for third or fourth class service.
Office, 8 a. m. to 6 p. m.
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
W. B. Ziff Co., Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Rochester, Kansas
City and Lagos, Gold Coast, Africa
of same is desired.
Make all checks, drafts, money orders, etc., payable to and address all
comm unications to the Webster Publishing Co., 409-411 Smith Street,
Houston, Texas.
Always demand a receipt when paying your subscription to The Houston
Informer, and pay no subscription to unauthorized representatives. All duly-
appointed agents of The Informer will have receipt books. Protect your
own interests, as well as ours, by insisting upon a receipt and keeping same
when obtained.
ing swiftness. But it is doubtful if
: has, as Mr. Bullock lamented,
has proved herself
undertake the routine work
BEST
MOVIES
WISE GUY
TRYING TO
SELL HIS
MOVIE
BUSINESS
of politics, the registration cam-
The law requires paigns, the house-to-house canvasing.
that the “Jim Crow” accommodations shall be “equal in all points "orpargns she ibattstm of the itial
of comfort and convenience.” Under this, pretext the same first sion about the game. She has seen it
class fare is charged to Negroes as well as to whites. But there as a fight for better civic conditions
First class fare entitles the white in state and nation. It is only natural
that the do-nothing policy of many
Take the railroads in Texas for instance.
is where the equality ends.
passenger to buy a berth on night trains; but it is taken for or"het male leaders sour Nave
granted that Negroes do not like to sleep at night on trams. First her to revolt, should have caused her
class fare entitles the white passenger to buy meals in dining cars to assume leadership where she found
STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT. CIRCULATION, when meal time finds him on some Texas train; but it as assum-none. °n the whole the woman voter
etc., REQUIRED UY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24. 1912. ed that Negroes either do not like to eat or do not need to eat
INTELLIGENCE AND INTEGRITY MAKE MEN
AND RACES GREAT
bSpnieke,
INTERNATIONAL Cartoon Co R. Y.
mes
Of THE HOUSTON INFORMER AND TEXAS FREEMAN, published when they are on trains,
weekly at Houston, Texas, for April 1, 1932.
First class fare provides for white pas-
sengers clean, comfortable coaches in which to ride; it provides
for Negroes dirty halves of baggage cars, the same toilet for men
has thought less of her own political |
neck and more of the political neck of
the Negro voters who trust her. She
has seen a job to be done and set
about to do it.
SHOPPING ADVICE DURING 1932
State of Texas, County of Harris:
Before me. a notary public in and for the state and county aforesaid, per- UT, eEVES VIE "**,‘PEL some* "= The generalization of the last para-
sonally appeared G. H. Webster, who, having been duly sworn according to and women, dirty and unsanitary waiting rooms, no place to eat graph will be bolstered up in a few
law, deposes and says that he is president and business manager of THE in stations, and a host of other impositions which, but for the -............-
HOUSTON INFORMER AND TEXAS FREEMAN and that the following
is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the owner-
ship, management, circulation, etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date
shown in the above caption, required by the Act of Aug. 24, 1912, embodied
in section 411, Postal Laws and Regulations printed on the reverse of this
form, to-wit:
1. That the names and addresses of the editor and business manager are:
J. A. Atkins, 409-11 Smith St., and G. H. Webster, 409-11 Smith St., Hous-
ton, Texas.
2. That the owner is the Webster Publishing Co.; Stockholder: Lola Cul-
lums, 3111 Dowling Street, G. H. Webster, Carter W. Wesley, J. Alston At-
kins and S. B. Williams, all at 409-11 Smith Street, Houston, Texas.
3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders
owning 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other se-
“Jim Crow” laws, would make the fares that Negroes pay from
one-third to one-half of the first class fare.
The Informer and Freeman is glad that the Criminal Court of
Appeals was unwilling to extend the “Jim Crow” law beyond its
present scope, and wishes that Negroes of Texas may soon have
that only weapon—the ballot—which will make the ligislature
think the second time before it encourages, under the guise of
the “Jim Crow” law, the exploitation of helpless Negroes.
PUTTING IT ON THE NEGRO
curities are none.
(Signed)
G. H. WEBSTER,
Business Manager.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 17th day of March, 1932. ,
G. T. STOCKS,
Notary Public.
(My commission expires May 31, 1933.)
HOUSTON, TEXAS, SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1932
More crimes than will ever be known are constantly committed
by white people who put them on the Negro. Blacking their
hands and their arms up to the elbows, and blacking their legs up
to their knees, two white men in Austin recently attempted a
hold-up of a Piggly Wiggly store. The storekeeper thought that
they were Negroes, the officers who fired at them thought that
they were firing at Negroes, in fact everybody concerned were
laying another foul deed to the hands of the Negro race. It was
only after the two men were caught and examined that it was
specific facts to be stated in this. In
Mississippi Mrs. Mary E. Booze, tak-
ing leadership in a worthy cause, has
challenged the United States Senate
to nominate a man, who dared insult
Negro womanhood. .In Georgia anoth-
er colored woman is fighting the re-
gular Republican organization in its
attempt to make the party lily-white.
In many states colored women secur-
ed representation tri State and Na-
tional conventions. Not long ago Ne-
gro women led the way to polling
places in Florida at the risk of their
lives.
VOTE FOR YOUR CHILDREN
The thousands of qualified Negro voters in Houston, that is,
those who own poll tax receipts or exemption certificates, have
a chance to cast a vote for their children. The school board elec-
tion, in which a majority of the members of the board of educa-
tion of the Houston Independent School District must be elected,
and which will be held on Saturday, April 2, is the one election in
Houston in which Negro voters may participate. It just happens
that a vote in the right direction, for the right people in that elec-
tion will be a vote for the Negro school children and the Negro
discovered that they were in fact white.
Had they gotten away and had a chance t o wash their faces
and then come back upon the streets of Austin as white men, in
all probability two innocent Negroes would in time have been ar-
rested and identified as the men who attempted the hold-up, and
in all probability, too, two Negroes would have had to pay a penal-
ty for a crime of which they did not have the slightest knowl-
edge. It has happened before; and it is a certainty that innocent
Negroes have even been put to death for crimes which were
committed by white people with blackened faces.
In a nation which has not yet become sufficiently civilized to
In this day of political surrender
on the part of many so-called leaders,
there can be no such thing as women,
children or anybody else “learning
politics too fast.” Indeed, the only
hope of a politically enslaved race
seems to lie in the future increased
activity of Negro womanhood through
out the conutry. And there is no
reason why the courageous and en-
lightened Negro woman should short-
en her stride to the snail’s pace of her
male fellow worker. It is to her cred-
it that she has taken up the falling
standard and held it out of the mire
of political defeat.
By THE EDITORIAL STAFF .
During the year 1931 The Informer discussed the general principles which
it felt should govern the 70,000 Negroes of Houston in spending the millions
of dollars which they spend each year. A quotation or two will call to mind
just what position The Informer took on this all important question:
“One thought that we should have in mind throughout this year, A. D.
1931, is that the merchants and other business houses which invite our trade
and appreciate our patronage should be given preference when we have
money to spend. We should not offend people who do not want our business
by spending money with them.”
“The Houston Informer stands squarely for the principle that the 70,000
Negroes who comprise the Houston Negro Community should cooperate with
those merchants and business houses which believe in Negro progress and
which invite and appreciate the patronage of this great Negro market.”
During 1932 The Informer will call attention from week to week to mer-
chants, manufacturers, and other businesses which are interested in promot-
ing the progress of Negroes, and which do invite and appreciate the patron-
age of the 70,000 Negroes in Houston and the 1,000,000 Negroes in Texas.
have one law for all, regardless of color, it is a travesty upon jus-
tice for oppressed Negroes to live in the further fear that some
schools of the district.
This comes about in this way. The present school board has .. *
done more to advance the cause of the Negro school children of white mans crime will be laid to their door. At any rate The In-
Houston than any other school board in the history of the city, former and Freeman rejoices that these two white hoodlums in
There are better buildings, better equipment, and generally a bet- Austin did not accomplish their heinous purpose.
ter chance than Negro school children ever had before. The pres-
ent school board, while unable to eliminate all of the inequalities
in the brief few years that it has been in control, has shown a
disposition to try to be fair to all of the children of the Houston
Independent School District, without regard to race the condition |than trying to find work, were the victims of the most cruel
the basis of the facts it has gone about to improve the condition frame-up. The Alabama Supreme Court has just held that this
of the Negro schools as rapid y as t his mould s done or Rao K frame-up must stand as the final judgment of the state of Ala-
i Three of the presen members o the s hool board. Dr. for K. bama, and that these boys must die because they are black. All
===
Justice unu ,45 N 1 baton were hoboing, too, and also some white girls (shame upon the
Houston's more than twelve honsi bv Judge K % Bail dreg, Pho South that conditions are such that white girls or any girls find
==============================
the upbuilding of Houston, will likewise be a vote for justice and bovine trait chertseinsandhmred ahead that the Negro boys were
fair play to the Negro schools and school children.i A ScXboro the arrested and the white
======================== ==
RAYDATE Y COOP DALE ROGERS and W B ly around a thousand, more than ten thousand people swarmed
RAT DAILY 1 MRSCo down' Labout the court house, demanding the death penalty. And as the
BATES. Don't let your children down. jury taken from this howling mob brought in its verdicts of guil-
ty, the band in the court yard played Dixie and the mob yelled
with ghoulish glee.
THE SCOTTSBORO FRAME-UP
There is every evidence that the cases against the poor, unem-
ployed Negro lads at Scottsboro, Alabama, guilty of nothing more
A COLLEGIATE INCONSISTENCY
The Informer and Freeman certainly does not begrudge our
leading magazines, like the Crisis
of the advertising which they run in
the amount of advertising which our Negro colleges run in these
magazines, when compared to the lack of advertising which these
same colleges run in Negro newspapers, is a collegiate inconsis-
tency worthy of commenting upon.
The latest wrinkle in Negro colleges is their publicity depart-
ments. Even while they yet talk voluminously of hard times and
their inability to balance their budgets, they are able, most of
them, to maintain and operate more or less high pressure public-
ity agents, whose main business seems to be to furnish the news
departments of Negro newspapers with several pages each week
of mimeographed matter elegantly described as “NEWS.”
Most of this matter which our Negro colleges flood the Negro
press with each week is pure propaganda, with little news value,
and written, as everybody by this time well knows, for no other
purpose in the world but to pull the chestnuts (some of them
burning) of these Negro colleges out of the fire. If anybody
doubts the absolute propaganda purposes of these releases, let
It was such verdicts as these that the Supreme Court of Ala-
and Opportunity, a single line bama has just affirmed, with the chief justice of the court hav-
thor aan mob ni ations But ing the courage to express his dissent. Let us hope that the Su-
P .. preme Court of the United States will hold in this case, as it did
in the Elaine, Arkansas, cases, that such mock trials as these are
not due process of law, despite the fact that they may be to the
liking of a majority of the judges of the Supreme Court of Ala-
bama.
AN OPPORTUNITY
The coming of Langston Hughes to Houston next week pre-
sents a double opportunity to the Negroes of this community.
It gives to them in the first place a chance to see and hear a
young man who is an artist when measured by accepted stand-
ards among all people in the nation—not just a Negro poet. Lang-
ston Hughes is the kind of Negro youth who should be an inspira-
tion to Negro boys and girls everywhere, and those in Houston
should be no exception.
In the second place the coming of Langston Hughes to Hous-
ton gives the Negro citizens here another opportunity to further
DENTAL TALKS
By DR. WALDO J. HOWARD
Houston Dentist
DON'TS IN DENTISTRY
DON’T—
Forget that the facial outline is
built around your teeth and they
should be replaced if lost.
Forget that a diseased tooth leads to
a diseased body and its attending
dangers.
Forget that in construction of a
restoration (work) in the mouth
each tooth presents its problem.
Forget your visits to the dentist at
least twice a year will save you
many visits and ill effects later
in life.
Use things that are not suitable for
your teeth (bone, cracking of
nuts, etc.)
Put fingers or other objects in the
mouth, unless you know they are
clean.
Allow your child to be a finger
sucker.
Forget that no substitute is as good
as nature’s provision—try to keep
your natural teeth.
Forget that health and happiness
depends largely on a healthy
mouth.
Forget to discuss your dental prob-
lems with your wentist.
DON’T forget these DON’TS.
SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES
The Houston Informer recommends
the Southern Pacific Lines to the
traveling Negro public. Whether you
wish to go North, East, West, or
South, or any other direction, the
Southern Pacific Lines are ready to
serve you. The convenient schedules
of Southern Pacific always make it
easy to get where you are going at
the time that you want to go, and to
arrive at your destination without
long delays or waste of time. South-
ern Pacific trains are fast, and by rid-
ing them you avoid that dull monot-
ony of slow trains.
Then there are other reasons why
the 70,000 Negroes of Houston and
the 1,000,000 Negroes of Texas should
prefer the Southern Pacific Lines.
In the first place the Southern Pacif-
ic is the only railroad running in Tex-
as which advertises in Negro newspa-
pers with anything like enough reg-
ularity to indicate that this adver-
tising is meant to convey an invita-
tion to the thousands among the 70,-
000 Negroes of Houston and the 1,-
000,000 Negroes of Texas who travel
to use the S. P. Lines. In other words,
the mere fact that Southern Pacific
advertises with some degree of regu-
larity in The Houston Informer shows
that S. P. does invite the patronage
of the ever enlarging traveling Ne-
gro public. No other railroad in Tex-
as extends any such invitation.
The very best accommodations for
Negroes on any trains in Texas are
provided by the Southern Pacific
Lines on its Sunbeam, which operates
between Houston and Dallas. The
Negro coach is cleaner, more comfort-
able, and makes a more enjoyable
place to ride of any train operated by
any railroad in the whole state of
Texas. It is one of the few trains in
the entire South that provide a clean
place for Negro passengers to refresh
themselves, with clean towels and
soap, and the only one in Texas,
where Negro passengers can be sure
that they can get something to eat
on the dining car, if they are travel-
ling between Houston and Dallas or
between Dallas and Houston on the
Sunbeam.
The Southern Pacific Lines could
get away with much shabbier accom-
modations on the Sunbeam, and the
fact that it has not done so is some
proof of the fact that the - " —
Pacific does appreciate its Negro pas-
sengers. [
The Houston Informer therefore,
while recognizing the fact that the
“Jim Crow” accommodations for Ne-
groes on all trains in Texas are not
nearly “equal in all points of com-
fort and convenience” as the statute
requires them to be, yet in the choice
which the Negro travelling public
must make, The Informer finds a
more definite invitation and apprecia-
tioncoming from the Southern Pacif-
ic Lines, than from any other road in
Texas. And for this very good rea-
son it recommends to the traveling
thousands among the 70,000 Negroes
of Houston and the 1,000,000 Negroes
of Texas, the SOUTHERN PACIFIC
LINES.
WEEKLY RHYMES
By J. WALTER FRIDIA, M. D.
CLEAN UP TIME
Dedicated to F. Rivers Barnwell’s
Annual Health Week
Tear down the shack,
It is not any good;
Build a new house,
the programs of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., and to encourage
the leaders of these two institutions to press forward to new
heights of usefulness to Negro young men and women in Hous-
ton.
The Informer and Freeman urges all Negroes to hear Langston
Hughes.
A TIMELY SUGGESTION
Bishop R. E. Jones of New Orleans, made a very timely sugges-
tion to the Negro business folk of Houston last week. In sub-
stance he said that, regrettable as the unfortunate fate of such
institutions as the National Benefit is, Negro business men and
women will only make their lot and the lot of Negro children
much worse if they give up and make no further efforts to make
progress. He urged Houston Negro business men and women to
press on, and in the words of baseball parlance, “to stay in there
and pitch.”
The Informer and Freeman thinks that this is the advice of a
wise man. Just because some Negro business has failed (thou-
sands of white businesses have failed in recent years—they are
failing all the time) is no reason in the world to take the attitude
that no other Negro business can succeed. We can if we think
we can, even though today we may seem to fail.
“Then welcome each rebuff that turns earth smoothness
rough. Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go, be our joys
three-fourths pain.”
Where the old shack stood.
Tear down the shack,
And clean everything;
Show to the world,
You appreciate spring.
Clean out the yard,
From the front to the back;
And leave no trace
Of the tumbled down shack.
Get the white-wash,
The shovel and the hoe;
White-wash the trees,
And make the garden grow.
Fear mosquitoes,
You must break up their dens;
Stop breeding places,
For your good health depends.
Clean up the yard
Of the lice and the flees;
Enjoy the cool
Of the pure spring breeze.
Tear down the shack,
And build a better house;
Make it all tight,
From a rat or a mouse.
Screen the windows,
That will keep out the flies;
From out of the
Milk, cookies and the pies.
Clean up the lot,
That draws so many flies,
Save the babies
From a trip to the skies.
Then you cen talk,
And spend only a dole;
State that you live
In a city with • soul.
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Atkins, J. Alston. The Houston Informer and the Texas Freeman (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 45, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 2, 1932, newspaper, April 2, 1932; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1637798/m1/2/?q=a+message+about+food+from+the+president: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.