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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1933)
The eye of a Master will “No Man was ever do more work than his_ _ Glorious who was not =— -—' March ot Events City, ana Nat’l %ite Uaborous. Page Eight__OMAHA, NEBRASKA, SATURDAY, NOV. 11, 1933 _ ___ THE OMAHA GUIDE Published Everv Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street by THE OMAHA GUIDE PUBL. CO., Incorporated All News Copy must be in our office not later than Monday at 5 p m ,and all Advertising Copy, or Paid ' Articles, not later than Wednesday at Noon. Entered as Second class mail matter, March 15, 1927 at the Post office at Omaha, Nebraska, under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879. SUSCRIPTK1N RATES (Strictly in Advance) One Years ..$2.00 Six Months ... $1.25 Three Months.. . $1.00 TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION—The Omaha Guide is issued weekly and will be sent to any part of the Uni ted States for $2.00 per year in advance. Foreign .subscriptions (including postage) $3.00 in advance. Trial six months’ subscriptions. $1.25. Trial Three Months’ subscription £1.00. Single copy, 5 cents. RENEWALS—In renewing, give the name just as it appears on the label unless it be incorrect, in which case please call our attention to the mistake; and al ways give the full address to which your paper has been sent. . . , _ CHANGE OF ADDRESS—In ordering a change of addre s, always give both old and new addresses. If the paper does not reach you regularly, please notify us at once. ADVERTISING RATES—Given upon application. REMITTANCES—Send payment by postal or express money order, cash in registered letter, bank cheek or stamps. . OUR ADDRESS—Send all communications to The Omaha Guide Publishing Company. Incorporated, 2418-20 Grant St., Omaha, Nebr _ -dHTMBgRi-- r~~j] ■'■C' >;;• CIATION 19 ft a This paper is reoresonted for genera] advertising hy the Nebraska Preaa Association. EDITORIAL • ■ NEWS FROM NEWFOUNDLAND The other day a news item appeared from the Island of Newfoundland. It was short and almost lost in the welter of of other news. But there is a message in it for Americans. It said that govern ment was unable to meet her interest obligations when they fell due a short time ago, and railroads and ships it operated will be taken over by a British American syndicate. This syndicate will not only assume the entire obligation, and take its chance on profits or losses, fmt has promised to spend $21,000,000 in developing Newfoundland’s resources and in new road and railway construct ion. There is nothing particularly new in this—it is simply an addition to the long list of governmental failures in the pro vince of private business. England, Aus tralia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland— railroads and power Plants and hotels and markets and stemship lines have been built operated by government, and have provided poor service at high rates, or dave experienced terrific deficits for the taxpayers to meet. In the case of Australia, for example, matters got to so bad a state that there was, for a time, talk of national bankruptcy. There is an obvious danger that the United States will drift, into similar er rors. At the moment, the utilities are the principal objects of attack, and the “vic tory” gained with the Muscle Shoals development in spurring proponents of government ownership to renewed ef forts. They are proposing developments wdich lack even the justification of Mu scle Shoals, and if they have their way every city in the country will be operat ing its own power plant—and from there,, it isn’t much of a step to include - other businesses. Experiences like New foundland’s and others should be care fully analyzed before we go too far. THE TEST OF FIRE PREVENTION WEEK Fire Prevention Week is over. In every community in the land six days, of intensive effort were given to educating the public in the fundamentals of curb ing one of the greatest of all menaces to t life, property and industrial opportun ity. Civic organizations, fire depart ments, insurance representatives, public officials—all worked for the cause, and an appreciable share of the public list ened. ' t The real test of the week, however, has just begun. The public listened—but will it remember? In past years the memory of most of us was notoriously and tragically short. During the week fire losses went down, and kept to a lowT level for a short period directly after. Then they rose again to the ‘normal” level. Perhaps this week will have differ ent results. Three years of depression have taught us the dangers of waste, of waste, of whatever kind. And waste due to fire is the most complete, and the most unnecessary possible. It benefits none. It harms all. It creates unemployment and is a barrier to civic development. It raises taxes and lowers incomes. It is the best friend of hard times. The things we learned during the diffifuclt to remember. It takes little time and little money to put them into execution in most cases. There is no ex cuse for forgetting them. They mean money in our pockets, and safer, hap pier living. THE COOPERATION of TOMORROW In a recent issue, the Dairymen’s League News commented on future farm cooperators—the children of the parents who belong to the Dairymen’s League, all of ,whom are learning some of the simple, yet fundamental, rules* of co operation. It would be excellent idea if all farm' ers and others interested in cooperation made an attempt to develop an under standing of it in the minds and hearts of the producers of tomorrow. A genera tion raised almost from infancy with a belief in cooperative principles, and with constant opportunity <to watch them evolve and win success, should make in calculable future agricultural progress. This is an especially interesting supposition in the light of present agri cultural conditions. It is said that much of the difficulty experienced by the De partment of Agriculture in raising the farm income is due to the fact that too many farmers are still disorganized, and it is a long and arduous task to bring them together on a common footing. The cooperatives are making valiant drives to enlist more numbers now — and they are succeeding. But they would have succeeded in a much shorter period and the farmer of today been schooled in co operation by his forebears. Stronger cooperatives, better sup ported—that is the ideal now. And along with it, there should be plans for assur ing the fullest flowering of the coopera tive scheme through preparing farm children to take their place in organized agriculture. SOVIET RECOGNITION (From The Daily Worker) The diplomatic negotiations looking towards recognition of the Union of So cialist So vet Republics by the United States is an acknowledgement of the achievements of the Soviet Union, of its stability and its policies of peace. All militant workers throughout the United States who have constantly worked and fought for recognition, will rejoice on the occasion of this victory for the Soviet Union. American imperialism, one of the bitterest enemies of the victorious pro letarian revolution in the Soviet Union, one of the chief instigators of war a gainst the Soviet Union, is forced to take steps to extend diplomatic recognition. British, Japanese and French imperial ism, for some time have already taken this step, without in the least slackening their preparations for war. Japanese im perialism, whose recognition is of long standing, is at this very moment seeking to provoke war. Why does the Roosevelt regime at this time open diplomatic conversations? The downward sweep of capitalist economy in the United States, the col lapse of the iN. R. A. as a promised solu tion fo the capitalist crisis, is making Wall Street scour the world for markets. The Soviet Union peacefully building So cialism is ready to open trade relations with the United States as it already has with other capitalist powers. The Roose velt regme now grasps for this market. That the foremost imperialist power stands ready to open diplomatic and trade relations, is powerful testimony to the stability, the strength and Socialist advances of the U. S. S. R. At the same time, in tne rapid pre paration for imperialist war, the Roose ,velt regime while arming itself for war, spouts phrases and engineers maneuvers ,to give the appearance of peaceful in tent. Recognition of the U. S. S. R. which is contemplated, is a peace maneuver that does not lessen one jot the rapid moves to war on the part of Wall Street. The Roosevelt regime, through the Wall Street bankers supports the Hitler dictatorship in its anti-Soviet war thrusts. While antagonistic to Japan, the United States seeks to provoke a war of Japan against the Soviet Union to weak en both, and then to hammer out the unit ed front of all the imperialists against their main and implacable enemy — the victorious proletarian revolution sym bolized by the U. S. S. R. While recognition would open the way for trade relations, which together with loans would provide a market for some of the overproduced commodities in the United States, it by no means of fers a solution for the corroding capital ist crisis. The chief conflict in the present-day world is between the system of advanc ing Socialism and of decaying world j capitalism. The foremost representative of crisis-ridden capitalism, the United States, is now forced to step aside from its traditional policy of non-recognition and undertake diplomatic negotiations with the yorkers’ fatherland. All workers while greeting this achievement of the Soviet Union should realize that now, more than ever, they must be prepared to resist the trend to ward Fascism and war developed by the imperialist nations, particularly the United States. They must, now more than ever, be on their guard ready to de fend the Soviet Union against all its ene mies. A BIG MAN SPEAKS With so many influences and agen cies working to extend the socialist pro gram in the United States, it is hearten ing to those who believe in the superior ity of private initiative and enterprise, to read the following courageous expres sions from a recent address of former governor Alfred E. Smith at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. Mr. Smith said, in part: “As I went through the fair I thought to myself that there is still another great lesson for the people of this country to I learn—Aside from the assistance of Divine Providence, what has made this century of progress ? “If you will study this fair, you will | be obliged to come to the conclusion that this century of progress was brought about by individual; by the strength, the power, the courage, the brains and the ability of the men and women of the Re public of North America. Whether you point to progress in industry, science, in vention, transportation, or the arts, what .you see here is the triumph of the mind and the hand of free men, without dictatorship. “Ninety per cent of the exhibits here mark advances in our civilization due en tirely to individuals, private individuals, working without inspiration, compul sion, control or even suggestion from the government itself. In fact, it is note worthy that the government has done very little to contribute to this century of progress, while on the other hand, much has been prevented, much has been thwarted, much has been hindred, by the heavy, cold, clammy hand of bureau cracy. “Now let us not be too cynical about the motives that have actuated the men who have wrought these buildings which house miracles of science and invention. Pride of achievement, ambition to excel, love of work and art have had more to do with it than the mere desire to make money or to exploit others. And it is a matter of common fact—that govern ment is at its best when it supplements and cooperates with private industry. “And a century from now another exposition will arrive here, to mark an other century of triumphant progress of free men, under the American Constitu tion.” THE RAILROADS’ FINANCIAL HOUSE . In a recent address Philip A. Ben son, President, National Association of Mutual Savings Banks, commented on the ancient supposition that one trouble with the railroad industry is that it is vastly over captalized. Mr. Benson’s as sociation comprises some of the largest buyers of railroad bonds, so it’s a sub ject on which he can qualify as an expert. According to him, the rails, if any thing, are under capitalized. Their fund ed debt amounts to only 40 per cent of their present reproduction cost. If the entire railroad structure were destroyed tomorrow, it would require five billion dollars more to replace it than it acutally cost. Enemies of the railroads can’t blame their plight on top-heavy financing. Their economic house is in order. Nor can it be blamed on inefficiency and waste—no business in the world has made such spatan efforts to lower costs in recent years. The trouble with the railroads is unfair competition, outmod ed regulatory practices, and tax discrim ination—and so long as these exist there will be a railroad problem affecting ev ery American worker and investor. March Events By REV. ALBERT KUHN In Cuba the revolutionary govern ment set up by the army and the students and their Allies is still existing though its collapse, is expected from week to week. The chief reason for its weakness is the refusal of the rank and file of the people to pay taxes. The opponents of the gofernment add to this refusal the or ganization of general strikes. In the meantime business has come to a stand still and large parts of the population are at the verge of starvation. And yet Cuba is one of the most fertile countries in the world. Less than twenty years ago she was figuring among the wealthiest. It just goes to show what great harm a cor rupt government* by thieving politicians can do to a country. We do not however have to go as far as Cuba to learn the same lesson. The city of Chicago is so wealthy that with honest men in its ad ministration it could easily conduct its municipal affairs efficiently, with a moderate tax rate and all and a clean slate as far as debts are concerned. The first excitement caused by Ger many’s withdrawal from the Disarm ament Conference and from membership in the League of Nations seems to have somewhat subsided. Hitler continues to emphasize that this government does not intend to wage war in order to win back lost territory. France remains skeptical, wonders whether it would not be the wisest to provoke a new war with Ger many before the latter has rebuilt and re-equipped her army. So long however as England and Italy are lukewarm or even opposed to suqh a renewal of war ' she is just a little shaky about the adven ture. In th meantime she does her best to keep the public opinion of the world un favorable to Germany. In these efforts she seems to succeed admirably. In the United States at least nine tenths of the newspapers and magazines are unsym pathetic in the selection of news and in comments that have to do with the Fath erland. In the meanwhile Hitler in Ger many is about in the same fix as Roose velt is in the United States. He is popular and the rank and file of the people be lieve in his unselfishness and his eager ness to improve conditions but there is also a host of critics both among the con servatives and the radicals and things are mending to many too slowly. The re ports indicate that unemployment has decreased somewhat, that those who are without income are provided with at least the essentials in food clothing and shelter and that order and thrift prevails in the country. The coming election for the German Reichstag is of course some thing like a joke. No other political party than the National Socialists, known pop ularly as the “Nazi” is allowed to put up a list of candidates. Only the bravest or the most foolhardly dare to oppose this list of candidates openly. For the time being freedom of political action outside the ranks of the governing party is abol ished. History teaches that such an en forcement of political discipline has nev er lasted long. It is only the utter disgust of the rank and file of the nation with the endless confusion created by the party politics of the last 15 years which male this suppression of political organ izations possible. In France the Government is grap pling with the budget. The people de mand on the one hand that the govern ment should not plunge into further debts and should reduce the taxes; on the other hand it demands an undiminished army and navy, more government help for all kinds of organizations and the maintenance of good salaries for all its hundreds of thousands of employees. The government warns an unsympathetic Parliament that if it will not listen to its advice, cut the expenses and increase the taxes, the French Franc will have to be inflated. Kecent elections m England indicate that the present government is growing increasingly unpopular. And yet condi tions in England have improved and the government does all—on all a good job. in Kussia crops have been unusually good. Stalin ought to be able to overcome the terrible famine which has prevailed especially in the Eastern Part of the country. The world is looking forward ' with interest to the discussion between President Roosevelt and, Foreign Min ister Litvinoff concerning the possible recognition of the Soviet government by the United States. This recognition ought to have been granted long ago. b ive governors oi slates oi the Mid dle West have propsed to President Roosevelt a petition that the government should fix the price payable to the farm er on the main agricultural products raised in their states at a figure which would insure at least cost of production and that in turn the farmers should be obligated to obey the requests of the government as to the amount of grain that each farmer could raise. The Presi dent, to the disgust of the governors and their advisers, refused to accept their program on the ground that he did not have the constitutional right to fix prices and the scale of production. The result of this refusal will probably be a revival of th Farm Strike in th Middle West. _ HOW ABOUT THE TAX TRUST Recently a letter signed by the President of the Puget Sound Lfcht and Power Compaq appeared as an advertisement in newspapers of that area. It dealt with that mythical ogre, the Power Trust, ,aid in part. how this ‘Power Trust’ pro paganda is largely political raeket eering. Some of the boys must have straw men to lambast, and like Don Quixote, windmills to fight. All this agitation of the power quesiot keeps folks’ minds off the all-im portant tax question. Taxes are to day very much more of a threat to the security of homes and incomes than electric rates. Tax reduction of fers a fertile field for those who would effectively serve in public of fice.” The letter might likewise have said that taxes are a very important tactor in the making of electric iates. Power and light companies pay an extremely large percentage of their earnings to government_ na_.cnal state and local. An excell ent example of this is the Common wealth and Southern Corporation Which has recently come into the limelight because of threatened tax iree governmental competition from the Muscle Shoals development. The average rate obtained by the six southern subsidiaries of this com pany tor each kilowatt-hour of uomestic power sold in 1932 was 5. 46 cents. During that year these com panies paid in taxes an amount equaling over one-half of their gross leceipts from domestic service. Had operations been tax-free, with this sum credited to the domestic user of electricity, his rate would have been 2.72 cents—less than half. The so-called Power Trust is a great deal less important to the peo ple of America than the tax trust. The latter is a definite threat to prosperity and progress-^ana all the political chatter in the world can’t eliminate that fact. YES — COOPERATION PAYS Here is an interesting fact, ap pearing in a bulletin of the American Cotton Cooperative Association: During the past half-dozen years cooperative gins have handled, on the average, more than twice as the average for all gins. They have made money in many instances where other gins have failed, and a large part of the money received by them has been returned to growers in the form of patronage dividends. In addition, the cooperative gins have improved cotton quality through in stalling the best and most modern machinery and achieving the highest standards of service. This is just one more testimonial to the achievements of farm co operatives—whether they deal in cotton or wheat or dairy products or fruit. They’ve revolutionized old methods and banished ancient and fallacious ideas. They’ve shown the progressive farmer which side his bread is buttered on. They’ve demon strated beyond argument that disor ganized farmers are farmers on their way to the receive’s court—and that organization can bring agriculture more permanent worth hthan all the farm relief schemes ever proposed. FIRE APPARATUS MEETS THE TEST The test of any public works pro ject, whether it is to be paid for by a community alone or through fed eral aid, is this: Will it provide something essential and permanently valuable that benefits all citizens a like and is an influence for prosper ity and progress? On that basis, and it’s hard to argue that it isn’t a sound one, first class fire apparatus is one of the best of public works. It is a pro tection to all lives, and all property. It is an influence in favor of lower taxes, inasmuch as fires which de stroy productive property result in increased burdens on other property. It is an attraction to industry. Because fire engines are painted red, and all of them look alike to the lay eye, should not obscure the tact that thousands of departments, in large cities and small towns and ruial areas alike, have disintegrated seriously the past few years. Old engines are kept in operation when their period of fullest usefulness has passed. Necessary repairs are half done or left undone. And, in some cases, cheap new engines and appar atus have been bought or assembled in place of time-tested standard ones— and the community which do es that is in danger of learning that the most extravagant and wasteful “economy” is the kind that toys with the safety of lives and property. Fire apparatus has a place in ev ery public works program. And com munities which are now borrowing from the federal government, should pve local fire departments a careful look-over before completing their schedules.