■.•.•.•.■.V.-,V.V.V.V.V^.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.-.V.V.,,V.V.V.,.V.V.V.V.V.V,VAV.V,V.V.V.WJWWVj . . . EDITORIALS . . . '.V.V.'.’.V.'.V.'.V.'.V.'.V.V.V.V.V.V.'.S’.V.V.'.V.V.'.V.'.V.V.V.V.'.V.'.V.V.V.V.V.V.'.'.V/.'.’i V. The Omaha Guide Published every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St., Omaha, Neb. Phone WEbster 1750 Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 19271 at the Post Office at Omaha, Neb., under thfe Act; ef Congress of March 3, 1879. Terms of Subscription $2.00 per year. ; Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man must pre vail. These are the only principles which will stand the acid test of good citizenship in time of peace, war and death. - ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ —— - ■ - rr. Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday, January 12, 1935 municipal insurance fund fallacy some community considers es tablishing a municipal insurance fund, on the •grounds that the money now paid in insurance premiums would be “sa\ed. That sounds well in theory-but practice paints a sorry picture. Towns, laree am small, that have made tho venture hate learnte the bitter lesson that municipal insurance fund, instead of saving the taxpayers’ money, can pave the way to immcipal bankruptcy. Montreal is an example of a city that created such a fund. Over a period of time, it reach ed the eomingly imposing total of $200,000. Montreal’s public buildings were well separ ated, as are those of many cities, and a ease of a fire attacking more than one of them at a time was apparently remote. Yet he city was suddenly faced with the loss of the. city hall, worth $1.-500,000; the municipal inciner ator plant, worth $130,000; and a public mark et valued at $30,000. This totals $1,660,$$$— and the difference between it and the $200,000 in the municipal insurance fund had to be made up by assessing the taxpayers. At the average existing premium rate charg ed by American stock fire insurance companies, it would take the owner of a $10,000 building more han 114 years to establish a fund out of the premiums saved, sufficient to replace it. Economy that Leaves valuable property uu' linprotected or inufficiently protected is expen sive indeed—whether the property belongs to to one man or to a community. Towns which are considering funds would do well to look at tho record of municipal insnitinee fund failures before risking the taxpayers’ property ! in a gamble with the law of fire loss averages j which sooner or later collects its toll. WHERE DOES YOUR GAS TAX MONEY GO? No group bears so heavy a burden of class taxation as do motorists. In 1933, for example, refineries produced gasoline valued at $759,000,00. The federal government taxed this gas $181,000,000. The states taxed it $519,000,000 or a total of $754, 000,000. As a result, the gasoline taxaetually amounts to almost 100 per cent of the value of the product. This situation, as the San Antonio Express aid, would be had enough if all gas-tax money • were spent for building and maintaining roads. The motorist would be at least getting for his money. But a constantly rising number of states are coming to regard the gas tax as an inexhaustible source of revenue for all govern* mental purposes. They divert eras tax funds to pay for schools, for unemployment relief, for harbor-maintenance, for oyster propagation and for a long list of similar undertakings, none of which directly benefit the average motorist. It it ems perfectly obvious that such undertakngs should be paid for out of the general taxes, provided by all the taxpay ers, and not by added taxes on that group of citizens which owns and operates motor cars. It is an encouraging sign that aggressive op* position is developing in all parts of the coun try against the diversion af gas tax money from use on roads. Road work was the rea son the for tax being inaugurated in the first place and motorists accepted it without objec tion. But now every motorist has a thorough justifed complaint neainst his gas tax money being used for projects unrelated to road de velopment—and every motorist should enthu* siastieally join in the movement to bring gas tax diversion to a halt. WAIT A MINUTE - The new year has come and we are off again for another annual journey. Before limber ing up for the stretch ahead it may not be out of place to pause a minute for reflection. Sev eral things could come up for serious consider ation as we indulge some recollections of the recent past—recent enough to include the year just closing. There has been a definite re volt against much that has been going on in the world, and build a different world. The idea of change has been the vogue. Things new have been stressed, often without any re gard to their value. Even the “New Deal” has, for a great many, been attractive more be cause it is thought to be new than for its qual ity. The revolt has had justification; but has the going the other way had the right direction? Have all aspects of the program had adequate scrutiny? Is it not time to cheek up on some of the trendsf Think of these things. In a moment of reflection some things are quite obvious. In the mad rush which began a few years ago to build a new world some of the leaders were wise in their own conceit and many had begun to find themelves in a world in which they felt no need of God, no need of faith, no need of prayer. Man had made such wonderful progress “ that he had begun to regard himself as the boss of the whole thing, he could turn to psychology and explain belief in God a mere figment of the imagination: We could explain it in philosophy as “subjectiv ism.” All the while he was apparently un conscious of the fact—made plain each day with baffling realism—that wh thie abandon ment of the sense of God w*xuld go also the high sense of the value of man. There was the awful spectacle of man forget ing himself in his average scramble for mere thing-;. Chief empahsis was placed upon materialism in phil osophy, go as you please in morals, grabbing of wealth in the world of affairs. Beauty and culture, noble aspirations and even freedom ■itself were almost lost sight of. And all of thus in the name of ‘‘building a new world”— and what a world it is. The rising tide of crime, the throwing off restraints and all au thority in morals and ethics—not to ay reli gion, the intensifying of suspicious, fear, bitter ness and all the evils and havoc that lie in their trail. What of the multiplied manifes tations of injustice? What of the devastat ing effects, upon millions, of unemployment, want and starvation in the midst of plenty? Why go on. can’t we see what is being contract ed? s Now is the time to stop and shift gear—at the beginning of the new year. Letusexamine again the foundations of our efforts and see what it is we are tryng to build upon. No need to go any further without fresh and vivid sense of God as the maker and keeper of things wor.h while. Man—no matter how wise and alert—cannot manage this world, he cannot manage himself—somebody to look up to and say, ‘‘help, help,” for all the world knows that help is needed and that right onw. Not only should the foundations be roexamned. there is need for careful scrutiny of the materials that ro into the supers' ructure. No need to put up the new building if the same things are there that destroyed the old and made it so insecure. Nor would it be a bad thing to re examine the workmanship that is rounding the new building into form and thinking and then planning, planning1, then working, working, in the right way and for noble ends. This new year offers a new opportunity for many things. New resolutions are not enough—hut make them. Then follow them with a new sense of the solidarity of mankind. Follow * them with new appraisal of present methods and policies, new attitudes and loftier purposes. Let us go forward into the new year with a program ofr the uplife, the material and spirit ual improvement of all the people. —The Plaindealer “YOUR sms WILL FIND YOU OUT" —The world pays off in percentage on the basis of production honesty, efficiency and in tentions of motives and actions fcr the welfare of society— The man that never does any thing never gets pay except in carity dona tions,—and who wants to be an object of char ity?.The man, that wraps himself up in sheep clothing, putting someone else on the spot in front for him, gets his pay check, but he meets his sins coming back.Sometimes a commun ity is focled for many years by men wrapped in sheep’s clothing. ,_._They honor them, they respect them, they look to them for ad vice and leadership. But when their sins meet them the community begins to squawk— and it is just too bad then, because brother you are through. Beware of men wrapped in sheep’s clothing, they are dangerous, they will get you in trouble and leave you holding the bag. Beware of the sneaking political henchmen, who dart in and out cf their bosses ’ office to meet you and find out what is on your mind. Beware of the Uncle Tom who lies every time he opens his mouth. Beware of the “South Before the War’’' Negro who betrays the race before the dawn of morning. Let them have full sway. The world pays off in percentage and their sins are ot in any way indispensable. Let them have full sway, but BEWARE, they will meet their sins coming back. A picture of Color rarely j seen- Imitation of Life’ at Ritz Feb.- 5, 6, 7 U. S. MENTIONS FIR IE INCREASE ACTIVITIES Last month three large muni-1 tions corporations in the United' States declared extra dividends. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co announced the payment of an ex-i tra dividend of 15 cents a share on common stock. The disburse ment will involve a total of $1,* 658,581. This extra is in addition to a regular quarterly dividends of 65 cents a share. Three months ago th company paid an extra dividend of 50 cents a share. The directors of Colt’s Patent Firearms Co. foted a special divi dend of 50 cents a1, share on com mon stoek in addition to the re gular quarterly dividend of 25 cents a share. Last year this com pany’s net profit was $675,132 in comparion with $20,795 in 1932. The Arms Manufae uring Co. vot ed an extra dividend of 50 cents a share. COUGHLIN—ANTI-LABOR Father Charles E. Coughlin, radio priest and organizer of the National Union for Soeial Justice, with the support o fsome large - financial interests and the Ilearst} Press, has repeatedly declared his opposition to strikes and unem-' ployment and social insurance. He' refused to employ union labor for the construction otf his huge church at Royal Oak. Michigan. I He has all his material printed in a non'union shop. The National Union for Social Justice, which is reputed to have enrolled 200.000 members among whom ar many prominent politi-j eians and industrialists, is Cough lin’s bid for the 1936 elections Not satisfied with hitting union labor, he declared that the for eign-born could bevome only hon orary nmbers of his organization. (Coughlin was bom at Ottaw-a, Canada.), that the people he want ed in his organization must be voters and 19-year old citizens who would be able to vote in two years. Coughlin contradicts his own tnstements from one day to the next. On December 5. he said •“hat the NR A had helped ■ work ing man, but net as much as it! should. The following day, at a press conference, he characteriz ed the NBA as “a lot of hooev” and declared also “the state has proved under democracy in Amer ica to be a hi-jaeker.” Aside from the financial backing Coughlin receives from Harry Jump, known Fascist, and George T eBlanc, the broker, as well as the general support ho receives from committee of the Nation com posed of 2.000 industrial leaders. Coughlin receives thousands of dollars from his radio listeners. Tie reeieved enough in 1933 to pav his 390.000 dollar radio bill and a sufficient sum to start construc tion on his new church. U. S. ARMS CHINESE NATIONIST GOVERNMENT While the United States govem j men.t nominally declared an em j bargo on munitions shipments to i fhe Chaco belligerents, no suee pol icy has been thought of with re spect to the Chinese Nationalist I government. Actually as far j back as 1929 the U. S. State De* i partment approved and eneour i aged an agreement between the Nanking government and Ameri can aviation companies whereby the latter would supply Chinese I Nationalists wtih war planes. Tn the spring of 1933 Colonel Jonett, an experienced American officer directed a staff of twelve American instructors in the train ing of 60 Chinese w~ho compose the first group of aviators deve* loped in China. In the fall of the same year, a month after Chiang Kai-shek ordered the construction of airdromes with accomodations for 300 planes for use in the war I against the Chinese Soviets, an a-: greement was reached with the Curtis Airesft Corporation to! erect atHangehow a 5,000,000 air-1 plane factory. A dispatch to th** “New York Times, the eleventh day of September 19:33 reported' that the Nanking government had obligated itself to buy a total of 60 planes a year. Lieutenant Commander Frank M. Hawks, IT. S. Naval Reserve was sent to Chiba in February 1934 to demonstrate a 170-mile an hour Curtis-Wright Condor plane, which carried 3 machine guns and 2.500 pounds, of bombs, for the' Chinese Nationalists. The far eastern correspondent of the N. Y. Hearld'Tribune, commenting on Hawk’s trip pointed out that it would lie similar to the one made the previous summer by Maior "Doolittle. as a result of which Chiang Kai-shek placed a $1,000, 000 order for Curtis-Wright fight* ing planes. In April or 19b4, the Chinese Nationalist government bought 32 training planes from the Consol idated Aircraft Co. of Buffalo, a fleet o 42-plaee Nought Corairs. and another fleet of Douglas ob servation planes and light bomb ers. An order for fighting plan es. actual number was not dis' closed, was also placed with Air craft Exports. Tnc. The open support of the Chin ese Nationalist government’s' mil* itnry aviation program by the U r>:ted States government was in dicated in an article in the Octo ber fith issue of the “Chinese TYeeklv Review,” published in Shanghai, which said, “The plane . manufactured by the Boeing Air plane Co. of Seattle, is to be dem onstrated to the high officials of the Chinese government by Mr. Beall and a special pursuit pilot. Edward Dorsey, who has been "iven short leave firm the United States Air Corns to demonstrate in China the new type of milBarv tactics which the plane is capable. The latest shipment of planes to China for nse in the present cam* paign against the Chinese Soviets was made at the end of September when the Northrop Corporation of Inglewood. California, complet ed an order for 22 ultra modern attack planes. PROVERBS AND PARABLES By A. B- Maim (For Th-* Literary Service Bureau) (“HITCH YOUR WAGON TO A STAR”) This is wise advice- It is to the effect that one should aim hgh; as pirs to the highest and the best at tainable. This beeing done, though he may faII short of his goal, still he would reach a higher plane than would be possible should his ambitions be easily satisfied. There is great help and encouragement in Longfel ! low’s declaration: “Heights by great men reached and kpt. Were not attained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept. Were toiling upward in the night.” The thought also is consonant with the verse which runs: “H aven is not reached by a sudden bound; We build the ladder by which we rise. From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies. And we mount to its summit, round by round.” But. clirpbing, ascending and attain ing, are impossible if one’s aspirations grovel inst ad of reaching- upward. FACTS and FIGURES ON WAR and FACISM Ohio Work Relief Factory; A Strike-Breaking- Ag-ency — .Abolition cf direct cash relief in favor of the so-called ‘ work relief” plan is the basis for the reorganization of unemployment relief on a nation-wide scale pro* posed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator Harry L. Hopkins, and now being concrete ly worked out by President Roose velt and his advisors. The plan which calls for the placement of all unemployed on; . subsistence farms and in “product tion-for-use” factories, unknown to the general public has been in operation for some time. The Ohio Production Units, a forced labor system for the unemployed of that state, has been in operation as one of Hopkins experiments for his new plan. If this plan is a 'dopted, only those who will work in the ‘‘production-for-use” fac tories or on subsistence farms will be eligible for government relief. Ohio Production Units, a work, relief project, operates factories^ with unemployed labor, paying1 wages corresponding to their; ‘‘bngetary needs”—on home re-1 bef—averaging $18 a month fori - a family of four in Ohio. While | workers are permitted to work < overtime, they are paid for this time in bookkeeping credits, scrip, or are allowed to apply their over time on purchases of products produced in other government “production-for~use” factories. The Ohio Plan, as the system is currently known, taken over idle factories, abates the taxes of the owners and pays the owners rent on a contractual basis, that nets him a greater profit than he would be likely to get if he were running the factory on a commercial basis and paying his workers a living wage, which permits the owner to take back his factory in good running order as soon as he thinks he can produce profitably for the commercial market. Such a system constitutes a dir ect strike-breaking agency be cause whenver a manufacturer finds his plant so well organized that he is forced to pay decent wages, he can simply turn over the plant to Ohio Production Units Theoretically the unemployed workers in these “ production-for ise factories are allowed to organ ize. But this is not an actuality ‘or organized workers wonld im nediately demand a living wage which is incompatible, in the eyes >f the gowemment, with this scheme that calls for the utiliza* ion of the unemployed at sub sistence wage. EDITORIAL OF THE WEEK (From the Cape Charles, Virginia, Times. November 29, 1934) About Time for a Federal Anti-Lynch ing Law. As another congress approaches there is a decided revival of discus sion concerning the introduction of an anti.lynching bill and we are free to admit that -;f the states persist in re fusing to punish this form of mob violence. Congress owes it to the self r specting and law abiding element of the country to save us from the fur ther humiliation of this remnant of barbarism. I.ynching is. the meeanest form in which it is possible for cowardice 'to express itself; th^re is seldom if ev r a member of a 1; itching party, who if left to himself would have the nerve to storm a jail, or openly comm.it mur der. Such savagery com s of over crowding foul conditions, and morall ly imperfect ventilation; in other words, lynching parties usually con sist of an improvised gang artificially ■■thused. who discountenance and re ject every breath of wholesom coun sel; ears have they, but they hear not. neither have they the respect for law, or r gard for society to refrain from ai|/ excess their frenzy may suggest out wnai snail dc said of those who are entrusted with the peace and well being of the communities in which thesi outrages are perpetrated? They “probe” but find nothing, eyes have they but they see not. and if perchance somebody is indicted, juries acquit them, and the same crowd is turn d loose with official blessing to perpetrate other crimes of the same or smilar kind. Prison authorities are often as cul pable as the mob; they oftimes make a gesture of resistance but not fre quently are easily “overcome.” They never recognize anybody and are like fools in a fog when called to give ac count of th.ir p-art in the affair. And so we say, if these travesties are to continue, and states wrill not uphold their own dignity by dealing out punishment to lynchers, the Fed eral authorities should be enabl d by congressional enactment to do so for them. In other words, the law, tho’ often hindered because of. our faulty procedure, must be r.spected, and men must be taught the virtue of pa tience. in this as well as other cases where the wheels of justice turn sluggishly. ECONOMIC^ HIGHLIGHTS During 1934 retail business was I substantially better than 1933 accord to leading commentators. Most surveys place improvement at 20 to 25 percent. However, industry showed little or no improvement . The explanation of that seem ing anomaly is that department store cash registered tinkled often* er than at any time since the be ginning of depression. But bas ic indusrites, such as steel. lunr ber and ruining, fund purchasers for their products few and far be tween. Fleople bonhgt perishabl es—shoes, food fuel, clothes—but they did not buy cement, shingles and similar non*parishable goods Increased retail trade was un doubtedly due largely to heavy relief expenditures. i no disparity oorween business and industry was especially mark ed during the Christmas buying season. Heavy employing indus tries were at an extremely low level—while scores were jammed with purchasers who bought not only necessities and staple goods, but more luxury items than in several years. The burning question now is, when will industry come hack and give regular employment ? And here’s a ease where the commenta tors are a long way from seeing eye to eye. For example, a short time ago, General Charles Gates Dawes, ex-Vice President, ex* Am bassor to Great Britain. and ex ehairman cff the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, spoke before the Chicago Association of Conr merce. Armed with an imposing array of charts and graphs, Mr. Dawes observed that during any depression, the demand for dur able goods rises last—but rise fastest once it starts. Then he made the unequivocal foremast tha June or July of the preceding year will mark the commencement of a period of full business prosper ity. Basis for this forecast was the experience of past depres sions, notable those of 1873 and 1893. In each case, according to Mr. Dawes, demand for heavy goods appeared preeiselv five years and six months following the stock: market collapse. Not so sanguine, hewever. is onp of the country’s most famed busi ness prognostocators. Gnlonel Den nard P. [AytaIs.o vice nreciden4 end economist of the GWnlnnd Trust Company. Mr. Avres can *»V«. UU ittv» Ul 2>A^lit-8iiiu l licit vUi* CVOUvaiiv iuuCiUiiti W(UI CUul* paraoie to a stain u aiuuuioime with a dead startt-r. \v e tunc, he observed, been been u*«inu*g tne machine go by pushing l#;Wi pu blic expenditures for more .nan a year without and indication that it will soon become sen.-jvupei" ling. One concrete sign that the. break in the clouds for heavy iu dustry may be not far off came* from Federal Housing Administra-. tor Janies A. Moffett. He US-' ! notmced that his remodeling drive had rolled up a total of $t#v 1 000,000 worth of durable gi» monev. men and rcnmmmt. ?<* triT-ip^ loose to effect his capture ati<1 eveeution. Tt is pleasant to he able to r*< nr'*4 that all the olorifT ■noipt ♦ main*- prime being “on the run” *n this country. TT <3 4>m TTm ur* » ’* * / =7— 4 The United .States decided to accept the role of ” peacemaker” m the Chaco dispute on December 7. This would seem to be in ac cordance with the policy enuncia | ted by the government when it placed an embargo on all munition 1 shipuiens to Paraguay and Bolr , via—but: ! On November 6, it was revealed | th*t arms shipments to the Chaco i belligerent have continued despite j the embargo and thus far the U. S. : government has done nothing a | bo”t it. “The West Coast Lead er” of Lima Peru, reports that j the Paraguayan minister in Wash ington requested the State De pannent to investigate the ship | ment of 184 cases of machine guns ] femn Norfolk, Va., to Bolivia via j ^jbca during the week previous. The embargo was supposed to go ; into effect in May 1934. The i Paraguayan minister pointed out i that it was entirely improbable that this consignment formed a I Part of the munitions hiprnents permitted on the ground that the contract had been signed prior to the embargo. It has been estimated that over W.OOO men have been killed and a other 40.000 disabled bv jumde diseases in the present ' dipsute over the rich Chaco oil deposits and grazing lands. Standard Oil ■°” t.Y* an^os and 7.000 inhabitants „nd tion?rpt0tth° Ameriean Intema ■onal Products, which has an in vested capital of 4 000.000 "ofd pesos and employs 2.300 workers.