The eye of a Master will ^ U I D t M TUT O M H >\ .
do more work than his I I II I “No Man was ever
hand.- I I LM I _ ______ Glorious who was not
——— March ot~ Events^ I ■ ■ J M Ctt^r^N^tTutT L,borous’’
... ~ .. ■ ■ _ - _1 ™ — - page SIX
OMAHA NEBRASKA MAY 9, 1934 ” '
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TH E OMAHA GUIDE
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EDITORIAL
OSCAR DePRIEST THE LAST MOHICAN ’
C°ngresSm Oscar DePriest got scant applause Sunday
.... , aat week at bis patriotic musical in the House
office building when he paid a tribute to the lowalfv if
colored people to the government in timeVo? p^and
+,.. " °t ?nn- ^ing, that is a peroration now worn f-iirlv
hin. Intelligent people are beginning to realLe that
then* is something wrong with the head so willing to
lick the boot that is kicking it. wmmg to
TvleMPterS,,Wr “P°? ^at, audience was William
„ ' ‘ uhite, ancient clerk and jobholder in the
House, u ho first insulted his audience by telling it he had
a black mammy and then insulted Mr. DePriest his host
hi elected to Congress C°1°re'1 man who wili
last ofthe MoWcans!^ ““ "'aS that ^ DePriest is the
tMr,Hk(tf(e““ny-br®!' many white People do not
irm chat k is a special mark of distinction to have had
a black a mammy, or in good taste to brag about it
heed of a wet nurse indicates that the mother was
unable to function normally and had to call for help.
To many a baby a cow’ or a goat is a wetnurse. No
body can say this makes us more tender toward a cow7
than toward a goat.
Long experience.with the fellows who talk loudest
about their black mammies has taught the AFRO to
watch them carefully.
Mr. Page and many of his neighbors born on the
Eastern Shore of Maryland had black mammies. They
also lynched tw7o colored men within a year.
—Afro-American.
x YES-YOU’LL PAY.
1^ ro^nt eclltoi'ial on excessive taxation, the Philadel
phia Dispatch said: “If the rich are made to pay, the
rich will find a way to pass the burden down the line, so
that m the end every penny of these burdensome taxes
wi!l be paid by the average man. He may not realize
that he is paying it, because it won’t reach him in the
form of a direct tax. But he will pay it just the same
just as he always paid it, and always will. He’ll pay it
in increased i ent, in a surcharge on everything he eats or
wears or uses. He’ll pay it in reduced wages. He’ll feel
it for many a decade to come.”
That old fallacy of taxing the rich to help the poor
was never more dangerous to the public welfare than it
is now’. We, as a people, have watched cities and states
and the federal government appropriate and spend mil
lions and we ve sat by and said nothing, thinking that
none of it would cornel out of our pockets and that some
of it might go in. We’ve been conscious of waste, of ex
travagence, of graft, of duplication of effort. We have
thought that wealthy individuals or great corporations
were paving the necessary taxes.
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough wealthy indivi
duals or big corporations to pay thei cost of government.
Thev can’t meet even a small percentage of it. Over-taxing
individuals w-ealth simply drives it into tax free bonds
and takes it out of productive enterprise wdiere it wmuld'
provide iobs. pavrolls, purchasing powder: And when wTe
overtax business, we simply increase the cost of every
thing we use. Business has no magic means of creating
money. Evervthing that adds to the cost of a comoditv
or a service, including taxes, must be pasred on to the
customer purchasing it.
Yes, the average man paftrs the bulk of the cost of all
units of government. He bears the burden of wraste and
inefficiency. And he is the one wTho, by united action
can cure an intolerable condition that means recovery.
-3L
RECKLESS WALKERS.
A RE you a safe walker? If you can’t make and honest
** answTer in the affirmative your life and health isj
literally in peril.
Last year automobile—pedestrian collions accounted i
for 37 per cent of the 756,000 accidents W’hich occured on!
the streets and highways of this country. Deaths result
ing from accidents comprised 45 per cent of the total of
29,500 fatalities. In other words, pedestrians were in
volved in more than a third of aU traffic misadventures
and the chance of fatality was greater than in other
types of accidents.
Pedestrians crossing in the middle of the block
proved the most hazardous—that caused 31 per cent of
ti.e fatalities. Careless walking on highways was re
sponsible for 17 per cent. Childrefn playing in the street
came to 13 per cent. Walking out from behind parked
cars into traffic accounted for 11 per cent, with the
balance of 28 per cent laid to miscellaneous causes.
The careless pedestrian is a menace just as is the
careless driver—but he receives less attention. Crossing
against signals—playing hide and seek with parked
cars—walking along rural roads with his back to oncom
ing traffic—these are some of the surest means of court
ing death. Think over your walking habits—and correct
them.
A NEED—AN OPPORTUNITY
T'HE greatest potential business development in this:
country today is that of building, equipping and fur
nishing better homes, according to the American Builder.
Recent official surveys show that millions of Americans
live in homes without plumbing of any kind—without
kitchen sinks, running water, indoor toilets or bathtubs.
Rural homes are particularly bad in this respect—lack
of modern conveniences and coforts is the rule in manv
sections, rathelr than the exception. And more than half
of the entire population of the nation lives in houses that
do not meet the accepted requiremesns for a decent
level of living.
Here is a great need—and a great opportunity. It’s
not only an opportunity for raising the standards of hous
ing, but for providing jobs and payrolls, for stimulating
a thousand industries, for putting money into circulation.
America needs homes—and she needs the jobs and
investment opportunities that home construction and
modernization will provide.
When the boom starts, costs are going to-rise—and
rise fast. Supplies and materials and skilled labor will,
as compared with pre sent levels, be at ia premium. The
wise property owner, by building and repairing now, can
spur recovery—and, at the same time, obtain a genuine
bargain for himself.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CONGRESS OF THE
UNITED STATES
The Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill is now be
fore you for consideration in the Senate and the Ford
Bill, which is identical, is before1 the House of Represen
tatives.
We the undersigned writers, publicists and editors
of the United States, take this means of urging immedi
ate passage of thir legislation, which has been declared
constitutional bv Charles H. Tuttle, former United States
Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and
other eminent lawyers whose opinions are a part of the
official record.
Far too long has America been held up to shame
and ridicule throughout the world because of the unres
trained activities of lawless mobs which have lynched and
even burned human beJings at the stake. Among the
victims have been white and 94 of them have been women.
The argument that the majority of lynchings are in
punishment of rape has long since been exploded by im
partial examination of the facts, which reveals that less
than one-sixth of these victims have been accused of sex
offenses. No part of our country has been immune to
this. crime and the evil is spreading with alarming
rapidity. State governents have clearly and unmistakab
ly manifested their unwillingness or their inability to
prevent lynchings or punish lynchers. A solem obligation
therefore rests upon the federal government speedily to
enact this legislation into law.
UNNEEDED HORSEPOWER
Writing in Public Utilities Fortnightly, Herbert Cor
ey recently said: “The Columbia Basin (hydro-electric)
project is a plan to double the present supply of power in
a territory which is now using only one-third of the
theoretically available supply.”
The question that brings up is: How will the govern
ment create a market for this surplus power it is to
create? The on}y answer is: By using its innate advan
tage of taxfreedom, plus subsidization from the public
treasury, to undersell both heavily taxed, privately plants
—and small municipal plants serving the same area.
It’s an amusing fact that a group of municipal utili
ties in the Pacific Northwest have joined in a protest
against threatened federal competition. They too are
tax free—but they can’t offer competing rates. And
the private utilities, representing the savings of thous
ands of investors, are in a still worse predicament.
As a result, the Columbia River project—like vari
ous other projects of the sort, distributed about the coun
try will create hundreds of thousands of horse power of
unneeded electri—c energy. It will deprive counties and
states and towns and the federal government itself of
millions in taxes paid by private plants. It will menace
investments, and throw men out of work. It will, in case
of an operating deficit abcorb more tax money. And the
public, which has more power than it can use, now will
foot the bill.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
" ~N average of $10,956,164 a day was distributed by life
insurance companies in the United States in 1933, accord
ink to statements of Arthur F. Hall, president of the
Lincoln National Life Insurance company.
“Life insurance companies paid out more than $40,000
000,000 last yesar in death claims, loans on policies and
other payments to policyholders,” said Mr. Hall. This is
probably twice as much as will be paid out by our gov
ernment in 1934 in federal relief.” Mr. Hall pointed out
that diuring the past four years life insurance companies
have put into circulation in the United States more than
$17,000,000,000. This included more than $13,500,000,000
SfirAnnnInnn1S- ai?d ******** to living policyholders; and
p,6o0,000,000 in loans to the United States government
to corporations and to property owners.
“The ability of life insurance companies to hold the
confidence of the investing public is due to the fact that
life insurance has kept its promises. Those who sought
safety found it in life insurance and will continue to do so
“Only three cents of each dollar of the income of the
people of the United States it put into life insurance. The
fac that 87 cents of every dollar left at death is derived
trom life insurance proves beyond question that life in
surance is the surest and safest way of providing sup
port for one’s own old age, as thousands of annuity own
ers testify today.
FARMER COMING OUT OF THE RED.
JHERE is good news for the farmer in a late Depart
ment of Agriculture report. The farm. price index
on March 15, was at 76 as compared with 50 a year ago
(The 1909 to 1914 average equals 100). g
In addition, the index of prices that farmers pay for
the things they buy was 120, as compared with 100 a year
earlier. In other words, the price he pays has risen but
-0 per cent, leaving him a substantial advantage.
A gi eat deal of the credit for that must go to the
farm cooperatives. They have put in what is possibly the
hardest working, most aggressive year in their history,
they have brought home to their members the necessity
ol crop curtailment. They have steadied markets, and
held up price levels in the face of strong adverse condi
tions. They have had a commanding voice in agricultural
commodities.
Those are definite achievements. And during the
present year, the co-ops are carrying on their campaign
tor better, and more prosperous farming with unabated
energy and vigor. The outlook is better than at any time
since 1928. The attitude of the average farmer toward
his cooperative is more understanding—and more en
lightened.
“Until private industry is made profitable and at
tractive, and the rewards of success art' made available
to business men, there can be no full recovery from the
depression. ’—David I. Walsh, United States Senator
irom Massachusetts.
COL. E. HOFER
The death of Colonel Hofer on
March 18th signed “30’' to one of the
most dramatic and colorful careers
in Oregon newspaper history. He
was a leading figure in state, civic
and development enterprise in Oregon
for 45 years.
It can be said of Colonel Hofer
that he would be the first to smile,
perhaps a little disdainfully, at a
formal eulogy. To those who came
in contact with him his occasional
eccentric moods were as endearing as
his most serene ones. You were
aware always, even when he had pas
sed 75 of his amazing vitality—and,
much more important still, of his
youthful viewpoint- You were aware
of his hatred of hypocrisy and of
sham—things which were no part of
him- You were aware of a direct, a
brilliant forcefulness, that found out
let in crisp phrases, in turgid epi
grams, that you would not forget
Preeminently, Colonel Hofer repre
sented a disappearing figure—a
newspaper man of the old school. He
surrounded himself with the things
he loved—family, friends, garden*,
pictures, books- He was always
proud of the fact that he was a
“country publisher.” He was no wor
shiper of money. In people he loved
genuineness and loyalty—thetr po
sitions of prominence were secondary
to him- He would have felt highly
honored to know that the Negro
bootblack who shined his shoes for
years, attended his funeral- There
can be no finer, no more accurate
characterization of him than that
The Colonel did not acquire his out
standing qualities by chance- He
came from a line of bordears who
fought and died for personal liberty.
He was without fear and without
malice—and he never scorned a
good fight when the cause, in his
opinion, was justified. He stood un
flinchingly for what he believed to
be right, but he was without false
pride which makes a Iman hold a po
sition when events have shown him
that he was in the wrong. He had a
hatred for crooked politics and sharp
practices He was opposed to pater
nalism in government and top-heavy
officialism which crushes individual
ism- He conducted, through the me
dium of the printed page, aggressive
disagreements of opinion with other
editors—and it is a testimonial to his
character that some of those with
whom he differed most vehemently
were, at the end of his life, his de
voted friends
Colonel Hofer was bom in Clear
mont, Iawa, ia 1855- He entered the
newspaper business with his father
on the McGregor News, McGregor,
Iowa. He moved to Oregon in 1889
and with his brother, the late A- F
Hofer, acquired ownership of the
Daily Capital Journal, Salem Oregon
THE MAGIC KEY
In commenting on problems faced
by agriculture, particularly those
concerning international exchange
of farm products-C-O. Moser, vice
president of the American Cotton
Cooperative Association said that
cooperation is the magic key to suc
oess—“cooperation n production, co
operation in moving products into
market, and cooperation in regula
ting their exchange value-”
Th best proof of that lies in the ex
perietnce of the immediate past- It
is not an exaggeration to say that
agricultural, a year or two ago, was
faced with complete choas- Narkets
were disorganized and prices had fall
en far below the cost of producton
There were tremendous surpluses of
almost every agricultural commodity
—and moe were constantly being prod
uced- At that time the cooperative*
started a determined and aggressive
campaign to cause farmers to pull to
gether for the common good, and to
urge the passage of essential legis
lation.
That campaign was a success. Pri
ces are low—but they are risng, and
are substantially better than they
would have been had the coopera
tives not existed. Markets are be
coming stabilized- And the work of
the cooperatives finds its reflection
in federal legislation designed to
carry the farmer through the pre
sent peiod of stress.
The coopeative movement is the
farmer’s insurance for the future
It deserves the support of every citi
zen in bringing and keeping good
times
—
FIREMAN SELLERS
SAVES WOMAN CLING
TO WINDOW SHUTTER
Washington—fCNS)—Trapped on
the fourth floor of a burning apart
ment house on tenth street. Miss Jesse
Harris, 27, climbed through a window
and clung to a shutter by her finger
tips until a fireman raised a ladder
and carried her to safety.
Miss Harris, who was clad only in
pajamas, lost her grip as Fireman C.
C- Sellers, white, reached for her from
the top rung of the ladder and dropped
nto hs arms. The fireman, although
severely jolted, held onto her and
carried her to the ground.
Meanwhile Mrs. Mary Clark. 60.
had been assisted from the second
floor of the four-story building by
other firemen, who reported she was
nearly overcome by smoke.
USING YOUR MONEY T0
CREATE UNEMPLOY
MENT
What would you think of a program
to spend hundreds of millions of dol
lars of taxpayers’ money to produce
something of which the nation already
has surplus, and throw thousands o
men out of work ?
You would oppose it- If the opinion
of Senator Metcalf of Rhode Island,
is correct, that is precisely what taxx
free, federally-financed hydro-electric
projects'are doing
It is assumed by the senators that
hydro-electric projects undertaken by
the government will displace 53.000,
000,000 kilowat hours of electric en
ergy now generated by fuel plants
which use 40,000,000 tons of coal
annually. A miner, on the average
produces 1,000 tons of coal a year.
As a result, unnecessary government
power development would be respon
sible for throwing 40,004 miners out
of work—in addition to oorailroad
and other workers whose jobs, dir
ectly or indirectly, depend on steam
electric plants.
There might be some excuse for
this if there was a power shortage.
But private electric systems are now
capable of producing 26 per cent
more energy than the nation uses
They are adequately prepared to meet
any prospective demand. They sell
electhclty at very low rates—and
they contribute tremendous sums to
government in taxes- The political
power program, menacing as it does
a legion of jobs and billions of dollars
worth of nvestiment-s, is a genuine
threat to sound recovery.
PRIEST ADMONISHES
PARENTS TO FORGET
MYTH ABOUT STORK
Cleveland, O.—An admonitio to
parents to drop the stork myth in
explaining birth to the child comes*
from Rev. Felix Kirsh of Catholic
university, a speaker at the confer
ence on family life.
It is better to give the child in
struction in sex matters a year too
soon than too late, he declared before
a thousand parents and educators
attending the Conference
Parents have placed the responsibil
ity for sex education, which he said
rests entirely with them, too much in
the hands of pastors and school teach
ers, the priest asserted.
The younger the child the less emr
harassment there will be for both
parents and the child he added, when
the time comes for a clear explana
tion.
BLOCKING FTtttrf.
depressions
The American people, consiously or
not. are busv erecting a mightv ec
onomic harrier against the possiblity
of future depressions.
They are doing that bv buying
h'fe insurance—and more life insur
ance. The trend of sales has been
steadily upward for a number of
months. Men are finding job- Many
families are enjoying regular and de
incomes for the first time in year*.
And life insurance, through one or
another of the many policies it writes,
is able to guard against almost any
human exigncy. It protects one’s
family’s and dependents—and it like
wise protects oneself against one of
the greatest of all human tragedies,
a proverty-stricken old age- It re
builds depleted estates—or creates
new ones- It assures an education
for one’s children—and it covers loss
in case of business reverses
Life insurance is the friend of good
times. It is the unreuenting enemy
of depressions. During the five try
ing years that have passer it has car
ried thousands of families through ec
onomic storms, and kept them from
want and distress- And, with more
citizens showing greater realizaton of
its possibilities, it will do a still finer
work in the future to assure financial
independence
NEGRO CORRESPOND
ENTS POURING THOU
SANDS OF COMPLAINT
INTO WASHINGTON
Washington —(CNS) —Complaints
by the thousands are pouring into the
Departments here in relation to the
working of the AAA, NRA, FERA,
as they relate to Negroes throughout
the country. The White House alone
is in receipt daily of several hundred
“complaint letters from Negroes” ad
dressed to the President and Mrs
Roosevelt
Clark Foreman’s recent newspaper
article “Negro Seen As Gainer in the
Recovery Deal” seems to have stir
red up many to state just how they
have been left out of the new deal
picture.