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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1935)
. .. EDI!ORIALS . . . The Omaha Guide Published every Saturday at 2418-20 Giant St., Omaha, Neb. Phone WEbster 1750 Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927 at the Post Office at Omaha, Neb., under the Act of 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. “*•'*»» _ Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday, APRIL 20th, 1935 managements want to wave the white flag and sur render their economic position, that is their busi All Who Love Peace Are Not Traitors! Colonel L. R. Boals of the 426 Infantry in a National Defense Week address the other day de livered a sincere and in many ways deserved at tack on forces that man undermine the coun.ry he defended in war. In the sourse of that address, he made several remarks that are so open to misinterpretation and so susceptible of misuse by professionel red bakers and flaw wavers that we believe the general dicus sion of the issues he raised will be good for the country. If we do not now pause to make certain that our vision has not been befuddled by propagandist s smoke screens and that our other senses have not been dulled by loose use of words by lecture plat form warriors, or by careless readers among the headline scanners, we are headed for trouble. In short, if we do not take stock now, we ap pear destined for a carefully-plotted campaign to paint all who love peace as traitors and all who believe in human rights as Communists. Then the paint brushes, the tar and feathers, and the flags will fly in the hot-air conditioned breezes of our hinterland to the accopmpaniment of clatter ing lances thrust into whirling Quixotic windmills. The reason for this is that no one, we hope, wants to be a traitor, and no one with an aibding love for this country wants to be a Communist; nor does anyone among these care to be so labelled. And there are interests that would like to pin those labels on all with whom they disagree. The preliminary skirmishes in this campaing ap pear to have all the earmarks of ihe atrocity story scourge of World War days. And, if we do not proceed with care, we will be charging that those who eat babies for breakfast include: The ministers who preach the social justice taught by Christ, and emphasized by the good Pope Leo, and by others since then. The war widows, the war orphans, the teachers, the prechers, yes, and the war veterans who love peace and would do anything short of betraying their country to prevent war. The patriots who are digging into the rotteness and corruption exposed among the munitions makers, conditions that will not prevail in the next war” if the program of the American Legion calling for universal service of manpower and wealth is adopted. We will see and hear more comments such as this from a Youngstown newspaper which said, after commenting on Father Coughlin, founder of the National Union for Social Justice: “In ihe showdown which must finally come, the decision will rest with the true Christians as against the spokesmen for ‘social justice’ which in the final analysis is merely Communism masquerad ing under and American name. * * * Fa.her Coughlin of course is not a Communist. Ilis ideas of “social justice” are no more “com munism” than are the teachings of Pope Leo on which Father Coughlin bases his most effective spokesmanship for “social jutice.” Communism has no more bitter and effective enemy than the Catholic Church and its leaders. The hasty headline reader may fall into just as dangerous errors in his consideration of Colonel Boal’s fine talk before the Canteen Club at the American Legion Home Mr. Boals attacked a certain man who happened to be a Methodist for his pacifist preaching, which called for the same consideration for conscientious objectors among the Methodist that is given Quak ers. Many we have talked with since that address have the idea that Colonel Boals intended to label all Methodists as Communists or traitors; and whether he did so or not, wre do not believe he so intended. We would want to be considered as much out of sympathy with such a National Defense M eek purpose, as we are out of sympathy with some of Hey wood Broun’s ideas of civil liberties which ap pear to be confined so often te the freedom of wine, women, song, and the ponies. We will consider all who love peace as traitors, and we will consider all who preach human rights or social justice as Communists when someone els< can prove to our satifaction that: All American of German origin were traitors in 1918: All the flag wavers who never got into a uni form were saviours of their country: All the benevolent speech makers who told us “your job will be waiting for you, my boy,” were patriots. Fair Dealings Essential When times are normal, the mining indus.ry creates more than Four Thousand Million in new wealth each year. It gives jobs to 1,700,000 work ers. Its beneficial influence is felt in every field of endeavor—farmers, stores, factories of all kinds, are indirectly dependent on mining for the disposal of a substantial percen.age of the things they make and sell. Mining has been hit hard by the depression— and it has likewise been hit hard by unfriendly legislation passed in various important mining states. Our lawmakers are powerless to force up turn in demand for mine products—but they would do well to remember that they can give mining a chance to fight for its own survival by making tas and regulatory laws fair and equitable. Leads By Doing William Pickens, field secretary of the Nation al Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple, who was the city’s guest Wednesday, is a lead er who sets the example himself. Ah hough he is devoting his life to the welfare of i he Negro race, his activities and his influences are such as to affect and benefit mankind in general He belongs to all the people as did Booker T. Washington and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Mr. Pickens talked to the Rotary Club Wednes day noon on “Abraham Lincoln.” It was a fitting tribute and a graphic picture by one who has made the study of “The Great Emancipator” a labor of love. As a leader of his people Mr. Pickens has at tained wide recognition in writing, in speaking and in putting his principals into action. The resul.s of his labors have been practical as well as spiritual. At present Mr. Pickens is devoting his time and energies to advancing the interests of the Costigan Wagner bill which would make lynching a Federal offense, a bill this newspaper has urged repeatedly. The wide-spread effect of Federal authority in kid napping offenses seems to justify his confidence it the measure both as preventive and punishment. Mr. Pickens is seeking support for the Costi gan-Wagner bill by directing attention to it and by orgazing the sentiment in its favor. Those who heard Mr. Pickens at the Roiarj Club at noon and at the First Presbyterian church in the evening, were impressed by his personality and by his intelligence, as well as by his able pres en, at ion of the cause for which he is so earnestly working. As has been said, he leads by not only showing the way, but by tackling the task himself. —From the Youngstown, Ohio Telegram, Reflections on the Harlem “Riot” Now that the Harlem so-called riot is some weeV behind us, we can view the occurance with becom ing calmness. It was quite evidently a protes against economic discrimination and Jim Crowism on the part of grasping merchants, who in far too many colored communities are eager to take all and leave nothing. Xohting has been gained by this hooliganism and vandalism, of course. No additional Negroes have secured employment, and it is unlikely that such tactics will be successful in getting additiona jobs. Nevertheless, the feeling of the Negroes can be un derstool now by everybody, and to that etxent the “riot” was educational. Negroes will have to go about this employment problem another way. if they cannot secure em ployment in certian stores, there is nothing to pre vent them from withholding their patronage or shrifting it to stores operated by Negroes. There is no law compelling a Negro to trade where he doesn’t want to trade. We must learn to punish our enemies and reward our friends quietly and without ballyhoo or vio lence. The Texas Vote Decision The United States Sureme Court has said that the Texas Democrats may bar Negroes from voting in the Democratic primaries on the ground that the Democratic party has a right to say who shall con stitute its members. At first blush, this looks as though the Negroes of Texas are prevented from voting in primarie operated by the Democratic party. But there is another view: The Supreme Court has not said that Negroes in Texas cannot form a party by what ever name, and define qualifications for membership in that party. Perhaps the Negroes of Texas should study the decision of the Supreme Court, with a view to determining what Negroes may do in Texas without Lekiiging to the Demo cratic party. If the Democrats can organize a party and define the qualifications of its members, the Negroes are not prevented from doing the very same thing. The decision of the Supreme Court says so much—not in direct language, but the inference is very clear and plain. Of course, the Negroes will not organize a party because that requires money and years of struggle, but The decision of the Supreme Court leaves open to them that very privilege, they may yet show both Democrats and Republicans that Ne groes can vote in Texas or an any other State if and when they set up their own party machinery. If this should be done, and enough political force is exerted, it will only be a question of years before it will be economically unsound for the Democrats or the Republicans to bar Negroes from their primaries. Self Reliance Still Exists —0O0— Those who feel that any gov ernmental security program will act 10 ihe detriment of the priv ate life insurance industry are mistaken, in the belief of Theo dore M. Riehle, president of the National Association of Life Un derwriters. To the contrary, he feels that the program will great ly increase interest in life insur ance. Mr. Riehle bases his opinion on the belief that “all of these projecs for social insurance will never reach the goals which am bitious Americans have always set for themselves, and upon which they will always insist. They do not profess, and they should not be depended upon to solve ihe terrible curse of inse curity of the individual, caused by the chief uncertainties of life. That isTwhat life insurance does. “Our citizens must still be pro tected against those forces with which self-reliance cannot deal. Our economic system must be come increasingly responsible for its needy victims. But that, I be lieve, is as far as social insurance will go. And that is where life insurance begins to function.” Entirely aside from these prac tical considerations, Mr. Riehle might have added that, to the great majority of Americans, gov ernmental financial assistance, through insurance or anything else, is anathema. They want se curity; but they want to earn it for themselves. They want to know that they will be economi cally comfortable in the future; but they prefer to achieve that through their own work, thrift and foresight. The average American has not degenerated to the point where he wants to become a ward of government or any o her agency. Things One Remembers By R. M. Hofer. Chickens come home to roost. From four widely separated Sou thern communities vigorous pro tests have arisen against the loss; of local tax revenues resulting from government acquisition of property and its consequent re moval from local tax rolls. When people clamor for “free political pork” —government ownership of industry or land in heir community— they forget that the only way the pork bar rel can be filled in order to make the gift, is through money drawn from their own hard-earned sav ings by faxtaion. The politicians “give” them nothing except what they first take away. A Georgia mayor wants some thing done about loss of munici pal revenue occasioned by two large tax-free PWA housing projects which supplant former tax-paying property.' One North Carolina county w'ants the government to compen sate it for taxes lost on account of huge acreage withdrawn for a tax-exempt park project. Another county in the same state has now lost taxes from 52, 000 acres of land taken by the government for a waterfowl re fuge and wants relief along with the birds. Six Tennessee counties find a loss in their tax rolls of from 5 to 35 per cent of total assessed valuation, as the result of TVA purchases. One Senator declares that pub ; lie ownership of railroads, wrhieh some are advocating, and public ownership of utilities would de prive his state of nine million dollars a year tax revenues. “Where in God’s world are they going to make it up?” he asks. The entire program of govern ment competing in business with its own citizens would be laugh able if it were not so serious. The politicians get votes by promis ing the people something for nothing, and the people try to get something which they think some body else will pay for. In reality the people pay for the whole works, including the government owned tax-exempt enterprises which destroy their own highly taxed businesses and ultimately government income itself. If this isn’t an endless circle of de struction, what is? Unless the people wake up to the menace of government owner ship of property and industry, they w’ill find more of their sav ings taken to finance political “hen houses,” than they will have left to build homes for them selves. When Mobs Fight By E. Hofer. During recent months property owners have suffered severe los ses due to infurated mobs getting out of control. Sometimes the damage was incidental to fights between opposing factions; at others the enraged crowds were bent upon deliberate destruction o fproperty. A few weeks ago, New York City experienced its worst race riot in 25 years. More than 4,000 angry men and women surged through the streets of the Har lem section ,staging pitched bat tles all night. Scores were in jured, a few fatally, and property damage mounted into the hund reds of thousands of dollars. Similar riots recently occured in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and a terrible strike accompanied by loss of life and heavy property damage happened at the Kohler plant in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The water-front strike in San Francisco, which culminated in a bloody pitched bat.le, was anoth er deplorable instance. Police forces are often inade quate in meeting sustained riot ing. Sometimes they are caught off guard. Property owners are seldom able to cope with such a situation and there seems to be little or nothing they can do about it, except to forearm them selves with insurance. A policy known as ‘ ‘ Riot and Civil Commo tion,” can be obtained to cover all direct loss or damage caused by riot, riot attending a strike in surrection, civil commotion and explosion caused by any of the foregoing. This type o fprotection provid This type of protection provid surance companies, meets a defi ni.e public need—a need that is intensified in depressed and troublesome times. Emptying the Motorist’s Pocketbook That vast army of politicians which is always on the hunt for a new way of raising money to spend for this purpose or that, is I again turning its attention to the gasoline tax. Agitation is underway in Cali fornia and seevral other states to boost existing gax tax rates. And the chances are that still more states will be invited to get in the parade. When the tax gatherers see their fellows across a border pre paring to cut a nice juicy melon at public expense, they want a slice too. It might be well to keep in mind the fact that the automobile ow ner already bears the largest bur den of class, special taxation of any group in the country. In California alone he must pay out Eighty Million a year—and if the gas tax is raised he will pay Twelve Million more per year in the future. _ This would be bad enough if the money were used exclusively for road building and other purposes directly benefit ing ihe motorist. But a rising percentage of tax revenues from gas and other automobile levies is going into general state funds, to be used for any and all govern mental functions; functions that should be paid for by taxes con by a single class, tributed by all the people, and not by a single class. The gas tax shouldn’t be in creased, it should be reduced. And the public should let the politicians know how it feels about it. • 1 Rising Tide of Public Protest By E. Hofer. When the Public Utilities Act of 1935 —the Rayburn Bill— which is now pending in Congress, was proposed, its advocates inti mated that it had the support of the state utility commissions. The results of the bill, if it passes, will be to eventually detroy all utility holding companies, and place the operating companies producing 99 per cent of the nation’s power, under the virtual dictatorship ofi a federal bureau. Now it appears that the state commissions take a different view of the bill. The National Associa tion of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners has drawn up aj long list of exceptions to various provisions of the Act, and will submit them to Congress. And individual state commissions are voicing protest against the bill. Here, for example, is a recent statement from the Georgia Pub lic Service Commission: “We have concluded that the provi sions of the Rayburn Bill as in troduced, vitally encroach upon the power of state commissions to regulate the production, trans mission and sale of electric ener gy.’’ The Georgia Commission further said that it had delegated one of its members to actively participate in taking aggressive action to preserve the state’s regu latory powers, and that he would be sent to Washington for that purpose. Anyone reading the bill will not wonder long why the state commissions are alarmed. If it passes, they will become almost entirely powerless—every act of operating utilities, from hiring a lawyer to building additions to plants, could be carried out only with the permission of the federal body. Federal officials could or der rate reductions, could prevent a utility from advertising, and could do a thousand and one things that now belong either within the province of commis sion regulation or private man agement. Under the terms of the Act, utilility executives, in com ECONOMIC I HIGHLIGHTS Happenings That Affect the Din ner Pails, Dividend Checks and Tax Biis oi Every Individual. Na ionai ar d international) Prcblemr. Inseparable from Lo cal Welfare. I For ’.he past few years, foreign commentators have continually proposed this question: “WILL there be war in Europe?” Now another question has tak en its place: “WHEN will there be war in Europe?” Dispassion ate observers incline to the view that the dove of peace is more bedraggled now than at any time since 1913, that armed con flict between some or all of the great powers is inevitable. Recent events have cer.ainly not been reassuring. All Europe is now an armed camp—every coun ry is building up its forces, increasing armametns, holding ar duous special maneuvers. France recently announced that 60,000 of her soldiers, who would normally have been released from the col ors, will be held on for an extra three months period in order to man the great concrete and steel fortresses which she has built along the German border. Germany, of course, offers the main reason for European alarm —Hitler’s announcement that he * would no longer abide by the Ver sailles treaty was a bombshell. But Germany isn’t the only of fender. Lithuania, Poland and France are all ori the nervous side—they are suspicious of each other, worried, afraid of invasion. Their fears may be largely groundless—but psychology plays an important role in fomen.ing wars. Your neighbor may be as peaceable as they come—but if yo uthink he’s waiting his chance to slit your throat, you’re likely to see a threat in everything he says or does. Against the forces of Mars, ihe forces of peace seem somewhat inadequate. Mainstay of peace is England—and ace English roving is suave Anthony Eden, not yet 40. Captain Eden recently spent his time going in whirlwind fash ion from one European capital to another, seeking agreements to outlaw war. England’s first move was to ask Hi.ler to back tip his many statements that Germany wanted peace by doing four things. Num ber one was to return to the League of Nations. Number two was to join with England, France and Italy in guaranteeing the maintenance of Austrian inde pendence. Number three was German adherence to the propos ed Eastern Locarno Pact, under which all nations east of the Rhine—Germany, Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Lat via and Estonia—would agree to ' respect each other’s boundaries. " "1 I Number four was German adher ence to still another pact, in which is would join England, France, Italy and Belgium in agreeing 10 resist “unprovoked ai raggression’’ committed by any power. England was not so naive as to believe that Germany would agree to all this without something in return. England’s offer to Ger many was that .he powers would release her from the \ ersailles paet and permit her to rearm on a basis of equality with other na tions. JuVtor's answer: “That Ger many would arm as much as she pleased, whether the other powers liked it or not. Next act in the grim drama will be underway by the time his ar ticle is read. At Stresa, Laly, all the great powers, * excepting Germany, will meet and deliber ate policy toward the Nazi gov ernment! Chairman of the meet ing will be fire-eater Mussolini, who distrusts Germany—and per haps distrusts France even more. Most commenfators think the Stresa conference is doomed to failure—realis'ically speaking, its purpose is to achieve an agree ment among nations whose ambi tions, plans and hopes are, for the most part, diametrically op posed. It is an interesting fact that the balance of power in determin ing peace or war may eventually lie with Russit. She has one of the world’s foremost military ma chines, and no country in the world like to go to grips with her. In addition, she connec.s the East and West, and can stand as a barrier to the ambitions of Ja pan as well as those of Germany. Russian altitude at present seems to be a sincere desire for peace— not because her government is basically pacific, but because she cannot spare the energy and mon ey that a war would require and at the same time pursue her vast internal development program. So far, the United States has muddle. Roosevelt’s foreign poli cy is one of isolation and strict neutrality. However, in any pro ceedings designed to overhaul the Versailles pact, cemer of the pres ent discord, we are almost bound to take a hand, as we were one of the signers and our war Presi dent, Wilson, helped write it. The tumult and the shouting have died at last, so far as ihe work relief bill is concerned. Af ter more than two months of acrimonious debate it has passed both houses. Save for relatively minor provisions, it passed in the form the President asked. The President will have the say in spending the money, with the exception of highway funds which are to be specifically al olcated. He will also have the authority to fix wage scales. Ac cording to the relief administra tion, it will be possible to create 3,500,000 jobs with the money. pany with the state commission ers, would become merely echoes of a voice from Washington. A new army of office holders would be created to be for by the tax payers or the ratepayer. What would this mean to the public? It would mean, in the first place ,that utilities would no longer be regarded as a local business, subject to local needs and regulations. Instead of the public policy being decided with in each state, by men fully con versant with local conditions, it would be decided largely in the nation’s capital, as is a railroad regulation. Local management would become figurehead—re sulting inevitably in loss of inter est in local community problems. All of this is entirely aside from the practical fact that the proposed Act would partially de stroy billions of doallars which have been honestly invested in great utility enterprises by mil lions of our citizens. Throughout the country a tide of protest is rising agains the de structive character of the Act. That protest stems not only from persons interested in the utilities; it stems as well from unprejudic ed newspapers, public officials and thinking individuals who fore see the great and unnecessary damage the act would do, not ! only to the utilities but to the \ery cause of general industrial recovery itself and future elect ric development. The Act, in brief, represents destructive legis lation of the worst possible kind —the kind that is the unrelent ing enemy of investment, employ ment, fair dealing, progress. A Modem Wise Man Wjlliam Pickens teaid what many a friend of the colored peo ple has felt when he told Hannah Blumenthal, the local Communist leader, at his meeting Wednes day night that the cause of the Scottsboro boys had been endang ered, and not furthered, by the Communists’ taking it up. Mr. Pickens went on to prove | this by showing, first that his own organization ,the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, had spent $13, 000 to defend the boys, and sec ond, that hundre^^of the leading whites of the Sourh, whose aid he had enlisted, felt that they could work with him no longer when the Communists came into the pitcure. In other words—this is the Vindicator’s opinion, and not Mr. Picken’s statement—the Commu nist made the cause of the Scotts boro boys a Communist cause and not the cause of the colored peo ple. The Communists have a sel fish interest in the matter. They are trying to save the boys so that later they can go out and, on the strength of this, enlist the colored people for Communism. Mr. Pickens and his associates are not Communist. Rather, they are common sense. The splendid colored orator who thrilled his hearers Wednesday noon, impres sed all as one of the wisest of , men. This opinion was confirmed ! Wednesday night by Mr. Pick en’s address to an audience com posed mostly of men and women of his own race. The colored peo- ! pie need such a leader. After the war they fell into the hands of dangerous men, men who thought that the way to advance their in terest was to foment discord and advocate violence. Mr. Pickens is in the old, sound tradition. He goes back to the deep wisdom and broad tolerance of Booker T. Washington. To resort to viol ence, he told his audience, is to be defeated before you start. A few hundred heard Mr. Pick ens, for whom Dr. Hudnut open ed his church. The whole city should have been there, for Mr. Pickens' counsel of patience and kindliness, understanding and friendly cooperation were import ant not for a single race only, but for all. It is safe to say that not one of his colored hearers depart ed without an increase in self respect, and the others carried away just as much.