The Omaha guide., 1934-03-17
HOW WILL THE NEGRO FARE UNDER GOVERN
MENT CONTROL?
By Kelly Miller

MENT CONTROL!
.. By Kelly Miller .....M.
Under Facist state production is regulated by the
government through capital and organized labor. The
emergency powers conferred upon President Roosevelt
are facistic in character, which our industrial and eco
nomic imnasse makes inevitable Democracy mist needs
be adjourned, aor at least suspended, until the emergency
is passed. The magazine section Of the New York Sunday.
Times for January 81. carries an Illuminating article:
Behind the Mark of Dictators," illustrated by the like
nesses of Stain, Musilini and Hitler. It might well have
added another-Franklin D. Roosevelt. The only differ
ence between him and the former three is that they have
assumed the role of the dictator as a permanent mode,
while American democracy has conferred it upon RoOse
welt for a definite period. Democratic government must
needs resort to dictatorship in times of emergency as was
instanced in case of Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War
and Woodrow Wilson in the World War. But the powers
of the dictator did not survive the duration of the emer
gency. Just how long our existing economic emergency
will last, no one has the wisdom to foresee, and therefore
it is impossible to p%rophesy the duration of the dictator
ship. 1t is too ambitious for the limited purpose of this
release to attempt to determine the effect OF his dictator
ship upon the economic future Of the nation nor yet how
far it will modify our democratic traditions and preten
SiOnS. My chief concern is to point out the effect upon the
industrial and economic lot of the Negro. 1t is the acting
principle of facism to regulate, if not to control product
ion through the coordination OF capital and organized
The task is comparatively simple where all labor is
Ieligible TO organization. But in America black labor is not
acceptable to white labor organization. A representative
Of Henry Ford, presumably voicing the sentiment of his
chief, is reputed to have said that organized labor is the
greatest enemy Of the Negro. Mr.. Ford has been the Ne
gro's greatest industrial b~enefactOr, employing Negroes
on the quota basis and allowing them to do whatever their
abilities can command. He has not been restrained by the
intalerant exactions of organized labor, which at one fell
swoop, shuts out the black competitor. The government
does not, and probably will not, engage to direct the pur
pose of union labor nthis racial respect. 1t is apt to leave
labor and capital numbered IN their customary prero
gatives but will confine its concern to seeing that there
shall be no wasteful friction to Illustrate production.
When the Government announced intention to take
over the management Of the Rail Roads during the per
iod Of the World War. the American Negro Academy was
thar ~ occiC ~ tho oifu Of WochinrtOn Turoc outhnr
lied to indite a telegram to President Wilson to the effect
that the government should see to it that there should be
no discrimination among American citizens so far as pas
Senger traffic was concerned under government opera
ton. This telegram was never answered. AS a matter of
fact the government adopted the policy that it would not
interfere with existing racial regulations. During the
War, jim crow cars rolled unquestioned on railroad lines
under government operation. The N. R. A. does not ques
ton the prerogative Of labor unions to include or exclude
whomever they will, nor yet of capital to employ or refuse
to employ whomever it will. Thus under government
dictatorship, however kindly it may be disposed to the
Negro, and however justly it may insist upon a square
deal for all employees, still the Negro is left out in the
cold with an empty to hold without content to fill his
empty stomach. Labor no longer has the incentive to en-
courage Negro workers to form their own racial units,
because there is no longer work enough for all. Capital
has no further incentive to employ Negro workmen~ be
cause they are cheaper. for the government fOrbids this.
Neither is it constrained to employ Negro workmen as a
foil to hold white workmen in check. The government will
do this. Lo, the poor Negro is left knocking at the door of
labor and of capital, while the government looks on with
a plying but an impotent dye. There is not work for all.
The marginal worker is threatened with determination.
Not feeling able to cope with the unjust ~exactions of race
prejudice or to wipe out race distinction in employment,
the policy of Henry seems wisest. Give the Negro a quota
according to his numbers and adaptability SO that indus
trial opportunities will be evenly distributed throughout
the population.
ADANGEROUS 1 0 THE ARONIST
The Winter issue of Safeguarding America
Against Fire" contrasts American sentences for the
crime of arson with those imposed in Europe, citing as
examples Of European severity the b~eheading of Van der