The Omaha Bee MORNIN G—E V E N I N G—S U N D A Y THE BEE PUBLISHING CO., Publisher N. B. UPDIKE. President I BALLARD DUNN. JOY M. HACKLER. Editor in Chief Business Manager MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press, of which The Bee is a member. Is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all new* dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper, and also the local news published herein. All rights of republication of our special dispatches are also reserved. The Omah.% Bee Is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the recognised authority on circulation audits, end The Omaha Bee's circulation is regularly audited by ,t,heir organisations. ___ Knterpd as second-class matter May 28, 1908, at j Omaha postoffice, under act of March 3, 1879. ' BEE TELEPHONES Private Branch Exchange. Ask for AT lantic 1000 I the Department or Person Wanted._* 11 OFFICES -» Main Office—17th and Farnam Chicago—Steger Bldg. Boaton—Globe Bldg. <• Los Angeles—Fred L. Hall, San Fernando Bldg. San Francisco—Fred L. Hall, Sharon Bldg. New York City — 270 Madison Avenue Seattle—A. L. Nietz, 514 Leary Bldg. " MAIL SUBSCRIPTION RATES DAILY AND SUNDAY 1 year |5.0() 6 months $3.00, 3 months $1.75, 1 month 75c DAILY ONLY 1 year 14.60, 6 months $2.76. 3 months $1.50, 1 month 75c SUNDAY ONLY 1 year $3.00, 6 months $1.75, 3 months 11.00. 1 month 60c . Subscriptions outside • the Fourth postal zone, or 6l>0 mile, from Omaha: Daily and Sunday, $1.00 per month: aUily only, 75c per month: Sunday only, 60c per month. CITY SUBSCRIPTION RATES Morning and Sunday .1 month 86c, 1 week 20e Evening and Sunday .••....•.....l month 66c, 1 week 16c Sunday Only .. month 20e, 1 week 6c ___— ■ ■ ^ Omaha’‘Where the West is at its Best NATIONAL CONTROL OF ELECTIONS. Considerable water has run under the bridge .since the first president of the United States and the • first congress were chosen by popular vote. Then the vote was "popular” in name only. The elect gathered at the tavern, where they openly discussed candidates, as well as the punch or toddy. Wh^n an elector had decided his course, he approached the judges and clerks and openly announced his selec tion, which was duly entered on the tally sheet. One feature of that custom contrasts strongly with present day usages. Then a man was not afraid to let all know his political leanings and his personal 'preferences among candidates. Today the latter is one of the most securely guarded of secrets. Other things have changed. Senator Borah has just reported to the senate the findings of the special investigating committee of which he was chairman. Chief of his recommendations is that congress should give serious consideration to the practice of collect ing money in one slate for use in the elections in an other. On the surface this would seem to be a sim ple thing. Voters in one state have no right to in tervene in the political affairs of another. Each is sovereign over its own affairs, and should have un trammeled control of its own elections. Look for a moment at the broader aspect of the question. New York is deeply concerned in how Ne braska may react to any policy or candidate pro posed. Because what Nebraska does may profoundly affect the material interests of New York, so far as national relations are involved. The same is true among all the states. We have in our national de velopment long since passed the. point where one •tate is absolutely independent 'at any or all of the •thers. Mutuality of interest is the sustaining influ ence that holds us together as a unified people. Congress Is concerned, because its members are •hosen from the several states by popular vote. Uni form practices and regulations are essential in this matter. These regulations need not interfere with the conduct of purely state or local elections. Gen erally states have sought to make their elections con form in all regards to the national laws. Under this condition, it does not appear to be an unreasonable fhinp to raise money in one state to be expended in another for the legitimate expenses of carrying on a common enterprise, such as a general election. Uitizens generally will support any effort at mak ing our elections less costly and more expressive of public desire. So long as the ballot boxes disclose the regretable fact that fully half the qualified voter* r.f the nation voluntarily disfranchise themselves, the expenditure of money appears to have been largely west?, rather than a menace. Congress may affix a srhedulp of rates beyond which its members will not be permitted to go in pursuit of their campaigns. Fo far so good. Yet experience has taught that na tional control of elections can not be effectively set up, nor does the amount of money put out in an effort to arouse the voters always succeed in getting them to the polls. Our nation’s greatest menace just now is the in difference of its citizens on election day. The voter 'who neglects his duty Is the one who needs attention. Jje needs it much more than the one who might be jflfpenced directly or indirectly l»y money. The negligent voter takes a bribe of his own interest, ease or convenience, and nothing can be more un worthy of aVitizen than that. KANSAS BOOTLEGGERS. It is illegal to sell cigarets in Kansas. But, of course, cigarets are sold in the Sunflower state. About as many, per capita, perhaps, as ip states where the sale is legal. A bill repealing the anti-cigaret law has been in Iroduced in the Kansas legislature. Two classes are *ighting repeal, those who abhor cigarets and those who sell them. Cigarets are bootlegged in Kansas, just as liquor is. And, like illicit liquor, illicit cigarets command a premium. The cigarets that cost 15 cents a package in Nebraska cost 26 cents a package in Kansas. The Kansas bootleggers of rigarets claim that they muste harge 66 per cent above the normal price in order to guarantee them sgainst loss through fines and “seeing" enforcement officers. That’s the same sort of plea the liquor boot legger puts up. The Kansas bootleggers of cigarets are merely taking advantage of a situation. In this way they are like bootleggers of liquor. The law insisted upon by reformers merely gives the cigaret dispensers an opportunity to wrest huge profits, and it is no wonder that the dispensers join with the reformers in oppos ing repeal. It is an interesting situation. Also it is an In teresting commentary on the ways of modern society. GUN TOTERS. It is* a violation of law to carry concealed weapons. A concealed weapon may be a pistol, re volver, dirk dagger, knuckles, billy or even a pocket knife with a blade of unusual length. In some states it is against the law to sell flre »rms without first obtaining a permit, and then sell 'ng only to those who are able to show a permit to purchase the same, It is a fine law, but like so many jf our laws it fails to work in the forward motion. It deters law-abiding citizens from purchasing weapons for defense, while every thug, thief, burgle”. k porch climber, highwayman, dip and safe-blower can secure weapons for offensive purposes without the least "bit of trouble. Unfortunately the law does not operate against those whose activities are most in need of curbing. The citizen who might find a gun a handy thing is deterred from doing so because it would be a viola tion of law. The criminal, active or potential, who should be barred from ownership or handling of a pistol always has one in his possession. • The law prohibiting gun-toting is a dead letter. Either it should be repealed that honest citizens may be legally entitled to carry pistols for self-pro tection against the growing horde of highwaymen, or it should be enforced rigidly. The knowledge that citizens are prepared to defend themselves and their property might .serve to curb the crime wave. GOOD JOB WELL STARTED. A really worth while piece of work was done by the house at Lincoln on Wednesday. A bill was passed which will make available for new buildings for the University of Nebraska $3,700,000. This is extended over a period of 10 years. Only one real criticism ran be lodged against the action. The sum is not enough. When it is recalled that enrollment at the uni versity has more than doubled since the last build ing was erected, and that the several colleges are now trying to take care of more four-year students than the total number of all, short course as well as full course, students in 1919, the need for new buildings will be appreciated. The tax is insignifi cant when compared to the good that will be ac complished. The bill will be well received in the senate. At least the men who have been working for its pass age ’are so assured, - Needs of the state’s great educational institute have been explained to the members in a way that convinces them. Opposition in the house was slight, once the subject was thoroughly opened up. A similar experience is an ticipated in the senate. A good job has been well started. PUTTING THE SERVE IN SERVICE. One of the well understood maxims of modern business practice is that customers come to him who goes after them. And there are many ways of going after the customer. The best-known way is that of newspaper advertising. Public service corporations have come to appreciate the neces sity as well as the value of spreading before the people the qualities of the service they have to offer. J. E. Davidson, general manager of the Nebraska Power company, gives us this information: “The value placed upon advertising by public utility companies is shown by increased expendi ture during 1924. A total bt $11,000,000 will be spent by these companies in the United States. This is an increase of $3,000,000 over 1923. “The electric light and power industry spent $4,500,000, an increase of 50 per cent; electric rail ways spent $2,500,000, an increase of 25 per cenf; the gas industry $2,500,00, an increase of about 20 per cent; the. telephone Industry $1,500,000, an increase of 50 per cent. "During the present year, It is believed, these appropriations will be materially increased." Please notice that each of the various utilities | increased its advertising expenditure in 1924. No j better proof could be asked in support of 'the prop- ! osition that the money first expended for advertis- j ing was a good investment. It produced returns, qr the increase would not have been made. The modern newspaper literally puts the “serve” in “service.” It is the great forum through which all the multifarious and complex needs of the race are satisfied. The show window in which are dis played all the forms and varieties of use and 1 eaut£ designed to aid life in every way, esthetic as well as material. And commerce and industry alike recognize this fact and act accordingly, as the statement made by Dr. Davis amply attests. If possession of one pint of liquor is to he pun ished by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 52,000, the possession of a quart surely deserves electrocution, and possession of three pints burning at the stake. The Treasury department is trying to promote the circulation of silver dollars by telling us that paper money is a great transmitter of disease germs. The sight of greenbacks often gives a man the itch. It appears that it did not take Judge Gary nearly so long to work up sympathy for the Japanese as it did for him to show a bit of it for the 12-hour shift workers in his steel plants. Minting of marks in Germany Is being held up because monarchists and republicans can not agree upon a motto. How would “Honesty is the Best Policy’’ do? Americans consumed 10,000,000,000 bottles of carbonated drinks in 1924. purely such m saturnalia of, imbibing demands the immediate Passage of a Law. The Filipinos tried by propaganda to win what Aguinaldo tried to win by force of arms, which shows that the Filipinos are making progress. The world’s greatest authority on daffodils com mitted suicide in New York the other day. Prob ably studied daffodils until he went daffy. . If Dad follows the fashion, in due time daughter can make a couple of voluminoua skirts out of Dad’s pantaloons. Speaking of things humorous, there is the serious way in which George W. Harvey takes himself. We’ll never become ecstatic about radio until the static is ex-static. /-— Homespun Verse By Omaha's Own Poet— Robert Worthington Dm ie K_—-' HE WANTS HIS DAD AT HOME. My son Abe Martin V■ If members o' th' projrro.«»ive party pay their fare* all th’ way t' Chiraito jeat t’ dlahand tt'll prove what I've allu* maintained. Sooner or later ever' triri or woman ha* t' rely on her peraonality, an' the ran't paint that. »u».t sale killings similar to the Torrio case .and also similar to the Herrin case, which is nothing more nor less than a case of class hatred and boot legging, has been but a trivial excuse to camouflage the real cause. The Torrio gase is more or less political, which naturally includes the liquor business, as It always has before. Now no sensible person will deny th;\J we are a pretty law abiding nation, with one or two exceptions, chief of which is the so-called prohibition law. If we take time to think a little, every law we haVe is a prohibition law, even to the laws governing indemnity and Insurance. The indemnity laws says you must not hurt this man; If you do you must pay the damage. The Insurance law means the same. We have many laws that Interfere with our movements and ideas, but we overlook that part and try our best to conform to what we are led to think is best for us. We ol>ey laws in ceneral until one appears that af fronts our sense of right and Justice: then we rebel. I-aws should be put on the statute books only after the question has teen thoroughlv gone Into: “Will this law work effectively? Can it be enforced at a minimum ex pense?” If this were done to every law. there would be many a one wiped out as being impractical. Don’t worry about oivilliation, but make laws that are workable, that we can obey with out losing our self-respect. JAMES WELCH. LISTENING IN On the Nebraska Press v_/ Editor Hall of the Merna Messenger has applied for membership In the Redslat Club. He urges application earlier in life. • • • The Potter Review vouches for an almost unbelievable story. It says the Potter High school basket ball team lost two games, but "feel good about It." e • • • Chester Krebs, who is editing the Scotia Register for fhe time being, noticed that a I-os Angeles newspaper claims to be the biggest In the world "Mebbe," says Chester, “but Scotia has the gol-dingdest." • • • The Ord Quit tells of a Valley coun ty man whose wife is so ill and frail that he has to hold her on the milk stool twice a day so that she can SUNNY SIDE UP lake Comfort, norforge t. -h 1 hat Sunrise n&\Jer failecL us yet: C*Uol *Jh.afteir ___' /---' We seize the opportunity to take a day off by devoting our allotted space to the following soul-searching letter; • Omaha, Neb., Feb. 10.—Dear Bill: It appears, or at least we shall attempt to make it appear, that it is high time you were called to book for the but slightly veiled innuendoes and insinuation** running constantly through the literary rubbish with which you each day, alas and alack, cumber the northeast corner of the editorial page of that great Omaha daily that some one named after an insect, or whatever a bee is or should be. —j-- * •Tou seek to convey to all and sundry that we have far too many laws. William, in this you err, grievously. There ' is. In fact, a paucity of laws. Instead of seeking to prevent and hinder the passing of more laws every ablebodied citizen should insist that a law be passed forthwith making it a crime for any man or woman to sit for more than two weeks in con gress. legislature or council without having at least one new law to his or her credit. It should further be the duty of the proletariat—whatever that is—to see that the most able, astute and persistent new law-passers be retained and sustained. Too many laws, indeed! I ask you to consider the few, too few, new laWs that we can think of right now that are needed and needed bad. We don't care how bad. For instance, we ask you, is there today anywhere a law saying how often and how and where oil should be changed in a fliver? “Nowhere is it written in the statutes that a man must v and shall so often and in a certain manner, clean and keep clean the number plates attached to his car which attest that another law has been complied with. Many people keep a dog or cat, or both, and yet when these have a litter of young how are we to know which to drown, which to keep and which to give away? Strange and appalling as it may seem, there is no law or ordinance governing this. “I challenge you to show me a law which says what shaped head should have a shingle bob, or boyish, or straight. Look at some of the bobbed heads you see today on the street and tell me, If you can, or dare, that such a law is not needed. Look at the trouble we are having because there is no law saying how late these old men and women of ours, aged from 16 to 21, shall stay out seven or eight nights a week. Think of it. “And, search as we may, nowhere can we find even a little law saying on which day or days it is proper to eat corned •beef and cabbage. "Now fo r the dirty work. By these shall I win your sup port. Every couple having seven or more children should be given, from any public funds available, each year 20 pairs of new shoes: size and kind to be determined by said couple or couples, aided by one deputy assessor and the canine catcher. Any daily paper regularly employing a columnist shall be fined or jailed, or both, for not forthwith furnishing such columnist with an automobile, costing not less than $1,000 or more than $10,000. Now I have your attention. "Also to-wit, and further, any dally paper employing a male person, aged 60 or over, in any editorial capacity, shall he obliged, absolutely, to provide all such with at least one new dress suit, of the latest mode, each and every year. "But enough. Were there a place having a proper resting place for our good right foot, where we might hoist a few high balls, we know full well we should be able between now and closing time to think of dozens .and dozens of more laws that are needed. And were you and your right foot with us we know full well that the output and input would be more than doubled. Very truly yours, VERITAS. v_______> ——i—■«■ milk six cow*. Being very tender hearted, the Quiz editor expresses due sympathy for the unfortunate man. • • • Chadron voted down the city man ager plan by a 2 to 1 vote, and Editor Snow announces that he can stand It if the rest of 'em can. • • • “The man who called it 'mean' tem perature certainly knew his stuff,'' growl* Editor Stone of the Hartlngton Herald. • • • The Blair Pilot tells of an Omaha doctor who was called to see a sick boy “only to discover that the boy was 76 years old. the call having been put in by hi* father, S7 years old.” The father said his son's groan* dis turbed grandpa. 11* years old, if the Pilot wants the whole truth of the matter. NET AVERAGE PAID CIRCULATION For JANUARY. 19C5 THE OMAHA BEE Daily .74,002 Sunday .77,23^ Doe* not include returns, left over*, temples or papers spoiled in printing and includes no special sales or free circulation of any kind. V. A. BRIDGE, Cir. Mfr. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 2d day ef February. 1925. W H. QUIVEY, (Seal) Notary Public . i CHRISTIANITY “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten tson, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”—John 3:16. HE/eligion of those who accept Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, that is the Christ, promised of old to - Israel. It is now the dominant religion in Europe, in North and South America and in Australia, Southern Africa and many islands, and is making steady progress in other parts of the earth. It exists in the form of a large number of particular churches, sects and denominations, which may be classified in three large groups: The Protestant, the Roman Catholic, and the Oriental churches, including the Greek Church. The aggregate nominally Christian population of the earth exceeds 400,000,000. ' Christians hold that God, in addition to His providential manifesta tion of Himself in nature and in human history, makes a spiritual illumi nation in and guidance for individuals, the methods of which are revealed in the Bible. The truth of Christianity is supported by many different evidences, independent, but mutually corroborative. Select a Church and Then Support It by Your Attendance — « "In a wider appeal to religion and to religious faith is to be found the answer to the grow, ing tendency toward law' violations which we see on every hand.” This is the judgment of a group of Omaha men and institutions, who have arranged for a pro* gram of appeals for church attendance. The appeal published herewith is second of the senes.