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- ----- Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday, August 19, 1933
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| EDITORIAL
March Of Events
“Every dog has his day,” an old
proverb goes. Well, President Machado
of Cuba has had his. His regime of cor
ruption and violence has finally come to
an end. His example is added to others
that teach us that a dictatorship that is
not justified by real public service but
ust s its power for exploitation does not
as a rule last long. In the whole matter
the attitude of the government of the
United States had to be extremely cau
tion.-. On the one hand the enormous fin
ance! stake that citizens of the United
States have in Cuban Tobacco and Sugar
intern manded as much protection
as we could give; on the other hand all
Latin-American Republics were for their
ow n pride's sake jealous for the independ
ence of the Cuban republic and would re
sent our officious meddling with the in
ternal affairs of one of their sister states.
Ambassador Welles counseled the with
drawal of President Machado. The state
wide enthusiasm that greeted Machado’s
request for “leave of absence” proved1
that his advice was in harmony with the
w ishes of the Cuban people.
The Marines of Uncle Sam have
hardly left the shores of Nicaragua when
a new attempt at a revolution is made in
that country. Some plotters have blown
up the arsenal in the Capital and Presi
dent Sacasa has had to declare marital
law.
The economic situation of a large
part of Russia must be terrible. I have
read recently heartrending letters from
a VYolga District where a large German
agricultural colony has existed for cen
turies. In many families two thirds have
died of starvation. People will walk a
hundred miles to get two pounds of flour.
The famine district is as large as four or
five American states. The much praised
communistic system is still far from run
ning smoothly. It does seem to me that
since we have an oversupply of bread
stuffs in the United States, It would be a
brotherly and at the same time a wise
business like act if we would offer the
Soviet Russian Republic through our
government as much grain as they need
to save these millions, accepting as pay
ment notes signed by the Russian govern
ment. I believe that there would be a
great deal more of a chance that these
notes would be paid than that we will ev
er be repaid the billions which we lent
the Allies for the purpose of not saving
but destroying life. Russia has utillized
the time, strength and skill of over 60,
000 common criminals and political pri
soners to dig a water highway which
connects Leningrad with the Arctic Sea
on the shores of which lies the ice free
port of Murmansk. We might well copy
some of the Russian Methods of handling
prisoners. Instead of locking them behind
bars and feeding them like animals in a
menagery we could keep them in God’s
'■pen air, under military discipline, and
have them earn their living by carrying
out such vast public improvements as are
now constructing with Mr. Roosevelt’s
great Labor Army.
This last weeks Millions of letters
have been sent by the government to
private consumers asking then to enlist
as supporters of the national N. R. A.
movement, The success of this co-opera
tive effort depends after all upon the in
dividual families. If they continue to
* patronize bootleggers and industrial cut
throats and dealers in sweatshopgoods
and are indifferent to the fate of fair
dealing business firms the whole move
ment will peter out and things will get
from bad to worse. I urge upon all my
readers the most wholehearted co-opera
tion with the governments plan.
I most heartily hope that some way
may be found by which the Omaha Muni
cipal University may be enable to con
sti net their badly needed teaching plant
with federal aid. This work must be done
sooner or later if the University is to be 1
a permanent institution of which Omaha
can be proud, and right now is the time
when the work can be done cheapest and
will at the same time be a God send to
many unemployed Omaha mechanics.
* * * *
TIIE NEVER-ENDING WAR
The American public has a war to i
fight every year.That war is against the
accident menace—in industry, the home,
on the highways and elsewhere.
This is not an empty parallel.
Automobile accidents alone actually cost |
more lives than war. They create as much j
suffering. They are even comparable to
war in the economic waste they entail.
On a number of fronts this war
has been successful. Ip the industrial
field, tremendous progress in accident
prevention has been made. The roster of
important industries which operate for
months at a stretch without a single mis
hap of importance, is constantly growing.
The life and health of workers in every
producing field has never been better
guarded—because management has been
tireless in instilling'the doctrine of safe
ty-first into its employes.
That is also true of children of
school age. Thousands of young lives
have been saved through courses on
caution and accident prevention.
The great failure has been in the
field of the automobile. Most years have
seen decisive advances in the number of
deaths and injuries over the last. Re
ductions, the fewT times they have occur
red, have been small. The reckless and in
considerate driver has scored victory af
ter victory. The result is that our public
streets and highways have become places
of carnage.
The never-ending war against ac
cident must be fought with increasing
vigor if it is to succeed. The dangerous
driver is Public Enemy Number 1. He
should be given the treatment he de
serves.
* * * *
THE VALUE OF A DOLLAR
An advertisement for a life insur
ance company makes the interesting ob
servation that the dollar changes in value
in terms of human need, as well as in re
lation to price structures and purchasing
power.
That is a statement not to be dis
missed as being merely an example of an
advertiser’s extravagance of expression.
A dollar means more to a widow than to
the wife of a husband earning a good liv
ing—it means more to an old man who
has outlived his earning power, than to a
youth wdiose best years still lie ahead.
The more difficult a dollar is to come by,
the more we value it.
This fact is illustrative of one of
the greatest virtues and services of the
institution we call life insurance. Life
insurance takes our cheap dollars—the
surplus ones we can spare when our
earning capacity is good — and returns
them to us as extremely valuable dollars
—when our earning capacity is small or
non-existent. The dollar that a young
man with a job pays to a life insurance
company, entails minor sacrifices. When
he gets that dollar back, as an old man, it
very possibly means the difference be
tween want and a decent living. The same
thing is true for his dependents, existing
or potential.
Putting your spare dollars to work
in life insurance now can bring them back
when, to you, they have grown many
times in value.
* * * *
AFTER THE SALE
Thel-e are two very important
factors you consider when buying a mot
or car. First, the car itself—its appear
ance, speed, stamina and adaptability to
your needs. Second, the reputation of the
manufacturer for backing up his pro
duct—for providing fast and excellent
service when needed.
That second factor, like the first,
applies with equal force to your comm
unity when it buys a fire engine. That
engine must be fit and ready at all times.
If anything goes wrong, it must be fixed
in the fewest possible number of hours—
and the local garage doesn’t carry the
highly specialized parts that control the
“innards” of a fire fighter.
Recently a-standard fire engine of
one of the pioneer makes was badly
v recked in an accident. Local mechanics .
w ere not equipped to repair it. The mak- I
er’s office w-as called long distance. With !
in a few hours the company’s service
engineer arrived with the needed parts.
And w ithin 8 hours the engine w as back
in ssrvice. The concern’s extraordinary
service facilities had taken the machine
out of the repair shop in less than a day
—when otherwise it might have been
there a wTeek or so, and thousands of dol
lars of fire damage might have been the
result.
This concern advertises that there
is “No quitting time until the parts are
on their w-ay.” That is a distinguishing
characteristic of the standard fire engine
makers — that is one of the things that
gave them their jealously guarded re
putations. No wonder the wise comm
unity demands standard apparatus—and
nothing else but standard apparatus.
* * * *
THIS WEEK’S TRAGEDY
During the coming week a ghastly
tragedy will occur.
Two hundred or more lives will be
destroyed. Property valued at about $8,
000,000 will be reduced to ashes. Because
of it, businesses will close, men will lose
their jobs, taxes will increase.
You won’t hear much about it—
because it won’t happen all at once. It
will be divided among a thousand comm
unities, a tl/jusand different kinds of
property. The destruction of a great fac
tory or a portable garage will all contri
bute to it.
The world remembers the great
fires—the Irquois theatre, the Cleveland
hospital, the little school at Collinsville.
What the world does not realize is that
these fires are no worse than those that
take place every week in this so-called
civilized world, and which, by cumulative
action, even exceed these single disasters
in loss of life and property. Many years
can pass without the occurrence of a fire
as horrible as that in the Iriquois thea
tre—but each year witnesses the de
struction of ten thousand lives and half a
billion dollars in property values.
If we look on fire in the mass, we
will come close to gaining some idea of
the unnecessary menace it is. Billions of
dollars have been spent in seeking to pre
vent it — and while these efforts have
borne good fruit, public indifference has
prevented the success that should be
achieved. It is time for a “Fire Prevention
Year.”
* * * *
ECONOMIC
HIGHLIGHTS
Happenings That Affect the Din
ner Pails, Dividend Checks and Tax Bills
of Every Individual. National and Inter
national Problems Inseparable From Lo
cal Welfare.
* * * *
Profits! Industry has been going
along fqr three and one-half years prac
tically without them. This month there
h'as been a turn. Companies which have
been running constantly in the red are
furnishing a market for black ink. In
vestors who have become used to going
without dividends are looking forwaijtl
to the reappearance of quarterly or semi
annual checks.
Here is how improved business is
reflected in the balance sheets of some
specific! large companies:
Chysler Corporation—In the June
quarter, net equaled $1.80 a share, total
ing $2,310,000. This is within 23 per cent
of the company’s record, achieved in the
booming third quarter of 1928.
U. S. Steel—Twelve months ago it
reported an operating loss of more than
$3,000,000. In the last three months it had
a profit of $4,880,000.
General Motors—Last year it had
second-quarter profits of 7c a^share; this
year it reported a net of 90c per share.
U. S. Industrial Alcohol— Profits
in first half of 1932 came to $32,000;
same period in 1933, $229,000.
All businesses haven’t had an
equally happy quarter or half-year. But
then general trend of profits is definitely
upward. Most important of all is sharp
improvement in the earnings of small
businesses whose fortunes" don’t con
stitute headline news. They represent the
bulk of American capital investment, and
their position is a great deal more solid
than it was even a month or two ago.
♦ * * *
There is a black spot in the indus
trial outlook—retail trade, which is still
in an extremely depressed state. Best
fact of all is that the upturn has been in
progress for four months without a set
back. The most stable barometers—car !
loadings, electric power, steel output—
indicate continued improvement. During
June there was an 18 per cent increase in
man-hours worked in manufacturing
plants, as compared with May. Wage tot
als showed a 10 per cent jump, while cost
of living went up less than one per cent.
So far, purchasing power is advancing
much more rapidly tlian prices. Welfare
agencies in most cities report that re
quests for relief are well below former
levels. A remarkable feature of recovery
is that improvement has been largely
apparent in heavy industries. According
to the Federal Reserve Board, this is the
first time that a pick-up has not been
almost wholly confined to industries pro
ducing nondurable goods.
The Administration has one major
worry now—the poor results of the farm
bill. The mortgage situation is more tense
than it was, and it is apparent that pres
ent legislation is either misdirected or in
adequate. All observers forecast that the i
act will be given a thorough overhauling I
when Congress meets again.
* * * 1 *
A few months ago the most talk- j
ed-about subject of them all was inflation.
Then it practically dropped out of the
day’s news. The President had been given
the powers he wanted, and nothing dras
tic happened. It looked as if they would
n’t be used after all.
Now inflation if* preparing to take
its place in the headlines again. The Ad
ministration’s desire for a “managed dol
lar” has not abated; it was simply shelved
for a time while other and more pressing
matters were being handled. A managed
dollar is one which, in terms of buying
power, does not deviate in value; it will
buy as many eggs, automobiles, suits of
clothes and what-not one year as the
next. Our present kind of dollar is con
stantly deviating. Where its buying
power, on the basis of a fixed normal, was
sixty or sevety cents at the height of the
boom, it rose to $1.50 at the low in com
modity prices we reached last summer
and fall.
The President has two courses
open in inflating the currency. Most ob
vious course is to lower the gold content
of each dollar. Then by varying it from
time to time, the dollar will theoretically
posses a constant value, and will be im
mune to important variations. Another
course is to order the Federal Reserve to
buy large blocks of government securities
in the open market, thus expanding the
Federal credit. This would not create a
stable dollar; it would, however, be trem
endously helpful in providing a market
for new Treausry securities.
Opponents of inflation say that the
managed dollar is a golden dream which
is impossible of realization, and point to
the disastrous effects of extreme in
flation in Germany and elsewhere. Ad
ministration spokesmen say that miscar
riage of a plan doesn’t necessarily mean
the plan is wrong. The public, confused by
technicalities, is simply in a waiting
mood.
OPPORTUNITY IS KNOCKING
The saying that it’s never too late
to mend, doesn’t apply to physical pro
perty. #
In these days, every community
has its share of homes and business build
ings which have been allowed to depre
ciate to the point where they are ready
for the wrecking crew. Their degenera
tion may be laid to the door of false eco
nomy. While a dollar was “saved” tem
porarily, many dollars were lost because
of it.
There are hundreds of thousands
of properties which can still be put in
good condition at a moderate cost, but
which will be gone beyond redemption if
work is put off much longer. Today we
can still get in on bargain prices for most
supplies and commodities — tomorrow
will tell a different story. The wholesale
price level has been skyrocketing, and
now the retail level is beginning to follow.
You don’t have to take anypne’s word for
it that this is the time to build and re
pair—the cold and unprejudiced statist
ical tables tell you that, and they permit
of no argument.
Build now, improve now—provide
jobs and purchasing power—remember
that investment and employment are
cheaper than charity, and that they make
charity unnecessary.
Editorial
(From the Baltimore Afro.Ameriean,
August 2, 1933)
Afro Readers Should Write the I’resi.
dent
Sunday’s dispatches from Wash_
ington quote President Roosevelt as
saying he will get out of business as
soon as the NRA codes are adopted
and let the business men shift for
themselves
This is sad news if true We can
understand that President has enough
worries from politicians without also
taking over the troubles of 1,000,000
business men
Still as we look at it, F D has
made only th beginning He can’t
afford to let go now after such an
auspicious start
We want shorter hours and mini
mum pay in industry That is what
the President asked for Employers
in Dixie begrudge any charge in the
status of black workers. . .
Virginia is opposing the $14 a
week minimum wage for colored
workers now getting $9 and $10. Say*
the Norfolk Ledger Dispatch, in ef_
feet, this will hurt the Negro, because
employers who must pay $14 will em
ploy whites . .
These incidents tell us that' the em
ployers cannot be trusted to shorten
hours and raise wages Except in a
few instances the world has never
been able to trust them
We hope President Roosevelt will
keep his hand on business and indus
try for a while to enforce fhe codes
and to punish violators.
We hope he stays in long enough
to see that the domestic servant, the
bellman, the waiter, and the farm
laborer are human workers, who need
emancipation from long hours and
poor wages . .
Afro readers should write Presi_
dent Franklin D Roosevelt and say:
Mr President. Please keep your hand
on business and industry until every
worker, whether in industry, business,
domestic service or laboring on the
farm shall feel the result of your
maximum hour and minimum wage
scales.
JOBS OR TAXES?
American business, as the Manu
facturers Record recently observed,
cannot continue to supply both wages
and taxes in the amounts demanded.
It is becoming a matter of which
shall it be—a job or some more dol.
lars for the public treasury? Govern
ment has apparently not learned a
fact which is of the utmost obvious,
ness to the rest of us — that every
dollar taken in taxes, means that
business must pare a dollar from
other expenses. In a great many
business the paring must be done
principally in the wage budgets, eith
er through decreased compensation or
fewer jobs.
At the moment, the entire re.
sources of the government are being
given to providing more jobs at bet
ter wages TW is being done
through the largest public works pro
gram in cur history It is being done
through agreements within industries,
and through official fiat. It is being
done through appeals to patriotism
and sentiment. All of this effort will
be vain without tax relief. After aU,
the most willing business in the
world ean’t raise wages when it hasn't
the money in the bank.
Both the practical and psycholo
gical effects of a decisive policy of
governmental economy would be un_.
imaginably great It would give in
vestors new hope, managements new
| spirit. It would be once reflected ire
increased production, higher buying
power and jobs. Every branch of
government—federal, state, county
and city — has been at fault; every
branch must do its part if real tax
reduction is to be obtained.
THEY AGREED ON SILVER
The World Economic Conference
has adjourned temporarily — and to
most observers, it will be no surprise
if the last word is changed to “per
manently.”
It disagreed on almost every im_
portant issue. It threw out of dis
cussion such burning subj?cts ns war
debts, tariffs and armaments—and
thus made it impossible to achieve
any progress whatsoever in solving
the problems which caused its create
ion in the first place.
But it did agree on one important
subject—and the fact that it dis
agreed so much makes that single*
achievement stand out like Everest
over the valleys of Tibet. The subject
is silver. The delegates found that
depressed silver prices are inescap_
able a factor in world depression, and;
that world recovery must be accom
panied by a substantial rise in the
price of the metal.
That really means something. If
we bring silver back—and it is start
ing back now—many of our problems
will grow less tense, and some will
disappear entirely. The World Eco
nomic Conference has applied the
spurs, and focused the attention of
the peoples of the world on the issue.
It is time for action.