. . . EDI!ORIALS . . .
» » r ____ _
The Omaha Guide
Published every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St.,
Omaha, Neb.
Phone WEbsrer 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, MAY 4th, 1935
How Long Can We “Take It?”
There is at least one calling that hasn’t been de
pressed during the past few years. Not only has it
held its own, but it has managed to go forward and
put more and more good round dollars in the till.
That calling is Tax Gathering.
According to a recent editorial in The Los An
geles Examiner, officeholders of the country now
receive abou. Five Thousand Million a year in tax
paid salaries; and the amount is steadily rising.
Public payrolls list over 3,250,000 people; and
that list is constantly leng.hening.
Last year over 90,000 new names were added to
the Federal payroll alone; in addition to increased
political employment in practically all of the 175,
000 subordinate governments the coun.ry has to
support.
Every citizen has to chip in to pay the bill the
puli icians create. The people pay it directly,
through income, propertvind security taxes. They
pay a larger amount indirectly, through taxes levi
ed on everyihing .hey use; from a pack of cigarettes
to the winter fuel. A recent estimate places the
cost of government at over thirteen thousand mil
lion dollars a year; nearly one-third of the nation’s
income.
In the words of The Examiner, ‘‘All the un
necessary governments and all the superfluous po
liticians are demanding and imposing more and
more axes on industry, more and more taxes on pro
ductive pursuits, more and more taxes on the pub
lic generally.” The American people have shown
they can ‘ take it” when it comes to paying
iaxes; but serious observers are beginning to won
der how long the people will permit official waste
and extravagance to absorb money that is needed
for jobs, industrial expansion, home building; in
brief, for recovery.
Japan’s Trade War
A headline in a New York daily recently pro- |
elaimed: ‘ Japan Looms as Workshop of the j
World.” The writer of the article quoted Clarence
H. Matson, manager of the foreign commerce de
partment of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
as saying:
Japan can buy raw cotton from us, spin it and
sell us the finished cloth at a price we cannot pos
sibly hope to meet.
She is gradually squeezing Great Britain and
the United Spates out of the textile market. It is
cf course, her cheap labor and low priced govern
ment control power. She is able to undersell us in
our own electric light bulbs despite our duties of
from 20 to 30 per cent. Rayon threatened partial
ly to displace her silk trade. She went in for its
manufacture and today is flooding the foreign
markets with i\ She is selling us around 50,000,000
yen worth a year.
A motion picture was shown in New York City
which gave an idea of the growth of Japanese in
dustry. Scores of Japanese boys and girls wrere
depicted in a factory turning out incandescent bulbs.
At another plant a small army of girls were mak
ing stockings for the export trade, and in another
picture where candy was being made, pounds and
pounds dere being shipped to the United States for
consumption by way of San Francisco.
While jinogistic speeches and newspaper articles
are utilized to convince the American pubic that
there are grave prospects of this country and Japan
engaging in battle in the future, the Japanese are
really waging a blodless conflict against other na
tions—an economic war. Cheap labor and the in
stallation of modem machinery are their chief
weapons.
Can the United States successfully compete with
Japan in our domestic and foreign markets by
adopting a thirty hour work week and apprecL" lv
increasing the wage scale at this time? Would a
fact finding conference of organized labor officials
with heads of the State and Labor Departments at
M ashington to determine just how much concession
industry can give to labor and make the desired
progress, help clarify a situation which becomes
more ominous each day.
Make This Test
During the past ten years an aggressive drive
has been concluded to destroy the private utility in
dustry. It has taken tangens, but the end sought
has never varied.
A substantial part of the public has been swayed
by anti-utility argumens. The anti-utility politi
cians are good speakers. They are persuasive. They
know the art of the half truth. They are able to
select facts that fit their case; and; slide gilby
over other facts tha would injure it.
Here is a litle test as to he legitimacy of the
war on the utilities that any one can make: Think
back thirty years, if you can, and recall the type of
gas and electric service you had then.
Even in big ci.ies, service was inefficient and
expensive. In smaller towns, interruptions oecured
almost daily; rates were so higR that only few
could afford to even light iheir homes well, much
less employ gas and electricity for other purposes.
Now think of the service you receive today
• in big cLies and small hamlets alike. Rates
are the lowest in the world. Breakdowns are prac
tically unknown. Power is almdst literally “as
cheap as air” used abundantly, it costs the average
home but ten cents a day.
That progress has been made under private
management. I. has been financed with private
capital. The public’s interest has been safeguarded
by state commissions. Shall we continue that; or
shall we turn one of our greatest, most necessary
and most progressive industries over to the tender
mercies of the politicians?
Battling Adversity —
The American farmer is learning the tru.h of the
old saying that “Troubles never come singly.”
Last year the most disastrous drought of recent
times gripped a vast arear that normally is the
most productive in the nation, and destroyed grain,
live s ock and other produce. This year dust storms
are being equally destructive.
Adversity such as this demands the most aggres
ive, intelligent and courageous action possible. L
calls on every quality of mind and spirit the farmer
possesses. And, it tests to the limit the farmer’s
principal weapon in his fight for stability; the ag
ricultural cooperatives.
The co-ops and their members are no faltering.
They are not giving in. As problems increase and
grow, they simply work harder. Questions of pro
duction, of price levels, of supply and demand, of
governmental policy towards the farmers, are be
ing subjected to the microsc'rope of hard logic.
Under these conditions, it is impossible to believe
that the farmer will not pull through. And when he
does, and the farm skies clear once more, he will
have added an inspiring page to agricultural history.
Winning The War on Arson
Two more states, West Virginia and Kansas
have adopted the Model Arson Law sponsored by
the National Board of Fire Underwriters. This
brings the to.al of states having the law to 35.
Not long ago arson was a fairly safe and one
of the most profitable of crimes. Prosecuting auth
orities were lax in apprehending the criminals. Ev
denee was difficult to obtain. Laws were inade
quate. The result was that arson cost honest citi
zens many millions of dollars each year; and, infi
nitely worse, took hundreds of innocent lives.
Now the efforts of fire prevention workers are
beginning to take effect. Using the Model Arson
Law as basis for action, constant watch is kept for
arsonists. All suspicious fires are thoroughly investi
gated. Arson gangs are listed, and a constant
check is kept on their activities. Once evidence is
obtained, it is turned over to the proper officials
and the way paved for successful prosecution. Pros
ecuting authorities, now that it is possible tc obtain
convictions in arson eases, proceeded much more
decisively and promptly than they did in the past.
The 15 states which still lack the Model Arson
Law should adopt it. No crime is more despicable
ban arson; none is more menacing to life and
property. And, with the aid of proper legislation
and concerted action, it can be reduced to the mini
mum.
The Changing- Weather Cycle
Writing in the California Journal of Develop
ment, S. Parker Friselle, a prominent agriculturist,
poin.s out that California appears to be entering
upon a new weather cycle; a period of copious
water supply, in sorely needed contrast to the past
two decades of defieinet rainfall.
This opinion is not based on guesswork, but upon
an exhaustive study of precipitation records and
weather trends during the past 85 years. Mr. Fri
selle is convinced that the theory of cyclic succes
sion determines climatology. In other words, dry
and wet years will come in groups .precisely as the
Middle "West now seems to be entering into a dis
astrous dry period after a long series of years in
which precipitation was adequate.
The effects of this California and adjacent areas
will be highly beneficial. The menace of aridity
that has overhung farms on the Pacific Coast will
be eliminated; streams and rivers that have been
dry or sub-normal will resume their flow. And, of
great importance, the change in the weather cycle
may provide a natural solution to the irrigation
problem.
As precipitation increases, the necessity for de
velopment of large irrigation works will disappear,
and the cost of irrigation generally will be decreas
ed. That will be of obvious economic advantage to
all the peoples of the areas involved.
Silver Grows Scarce
Silver is growing increasingly scarce.
The American government’s silver purchase pro
gram, whereby thousands of ounces of the metal
are purchased in the world market from time to
time, has absorbed much of the available supply.
In addition, foreign governments which hold
large quantities of silver, such as China, are show
ing disinclination to sell, for fear that ther bank
ing and currency systems might be disrupted as a
result.
i
•
ii
t
r
(
Substitutes
Most adults today can remember
the hard work of their fathers and
grandfathers. Wood had to be
chopped and fields plowed. It was
a long day they [
spent at heavy mus- j
cular labor. Even
the store keeper, the
minister, the doctor,
the postmaster,
and most all the
women had their
back-bending chores.
Tbeirs was a rugged existence.
And from it they acquired the
stamina, the strength, and the con
stitution that has been no small
factor in the successes of this young
nation. They were unconsciously
obeying a law of nature which
states that “growth and develop
ment take place through activity.”
No great analysis is needed to con
trast our time with those days.
Automobiles, buses, elevators for
the slightest errand. Gas, elec
■ tricity, no trees to fell. Push but
tons, gadgets, devices in great
number save the steps which to our
ancestors brought vitality. And
we hail with joy every invention
which promises greater ease and
luxury.
Combined with competition,
speed, short cuts, tension, greed,
this change is our loss. It will be a
disastrous loss unless we pay more
attention to providing the right
kind of substitutes for the young
generations. Those substitutes are
and will be to an increasing extent,
playgrounds, golf courses, tennis
courts, gymnasiums, swimming
pools, parks, and beaches. In them
lies our hope for preserving the
vitality, the organic power, which
has been the birthright of the
American people.
And here is the reason of course
why educators the world over are
urging these facilities and asking
for trained leaders to guide our
children.
Why do children sometimes de
velop aversions to certain good
foods, such as milk? One reason is
suggested by Dr. Ireland in his
next article.
Don’t Burn the House
By E. Hofer.
In a recent editorial, Collier’s
says: ‘ ‘ During a hundred years
politicians have been berating
sotxlless corporations. Vast vol
umes have been filled with laws
intended in one way and another
to hamstring and throttle corpora
tion business.
The struggle has not sueceed
I ed because the American people
decided that the corporation was
| a useful working tool. In spite
j of every repressive statute, cor
porate business has grown. When
the government itself takes up a
new business ae,ivity, its first
step is to organize a corporation.
‘ A campaign to outlaw hold
ing companies is now being wag
ed in Washington.
“If history is a guide to the fu
ture, the services performed by
holding ;c<|mpanies will be con
tinued regardless of what laws
are passed.
“'Of course, wrongdoing by cor
porations, holding companies or
individuals ought to be outlawed.
Of course law-breaking or the be
trayal of trust or responsibility
in any circumstances ought to be
prosecuted and punished.
“But it is futile and stupid to
outlaw a form of organization in
order to prevent the commission
of a crime. We don’t have io
burn up the house in order to
fumigate it.
“We have kept our heads and
used judgement during long and
anxious years. It would be tragic,
now that we have advanced so
far on the road to recovery, to
destroy agencies which rightly
conducted will prove highly use
ful in the management of our
business and the reemployment of
our normal productive powers.”
Recent events indicate that the
views expressed by Collier’s is
shared by the bulk of the Ameri
can people. Since committee hear
ings on the proposed holding com
pany law began in Washington,
: the Congress has been literally
j flooded with letters from voters
concerning it; and the vast ma
jority of the letters, according to
the Senators and Reresentatives
! of both parties who received them,
have said that the law should be
either defeated or thoroughly re
vised. The letters came from' peo
ple who had invested their sav
ings in holding companies; and
faced whole or partial loss of
money they had depended on for
old age.
They came from people whose
jobs would be imperiled if the law
were to pass. And they came from
a legion of citizens who have no
connection with holding compani
es. but have a patriotic interest
in doine what they can to defeat:
unsound and dangerous legisla
ive policies, and to advance sound
ones.
The other day Wendell L. Will
kie. President of the Common
wealth and Southern Corporation,
which is considered to be one of
-—- '
the best organized, best managed
and most useful electric holding
companies in the country, present-1
ed to the Senate a number of
specific suggestions on which
holding company legislation could
be based. Under his plan, state
regulation would be maintained,
and it would be supplemented
with federal regulation to take
care of eases where no state regu
latory power exists, or where it
cannot be successfully invoked, j
Sta.e and federal bodies would be j
given the statutory power to pre
vent any and all abuses which
critics of the holding company
say exis".
That is the sound, the*sensible
and the fair solution of the issue.
A law which would destroy a mul
titude of companies, along wi'h
the investments and jobs they
have created, in order to prevent
abuses by a few, cannot be justi
fied.
Is the Negro Too
Religious?
Denver, Colo., May 2—Sharp
differences of opinion were voic
ed here Monday af ernoon by the
Reverend G. W. Henry, ex-mod
erator of the Western Baptist As
sociation. now State Missionary,
and Fritz Cansler, Executive Sec
retary of the Glenarm Branch
Y. M. C. A. on whether Negroes
are too “religious.”
The tilt between the clergyman
and the Y Secretary followed a
statement by the clergyman that
“Negroes have too much religion
already.”
Cansler asked permission to answ
er the Baptist divine and proceed
ed to puncture the Reverend’s
contention at all points.
Cansler averred the Negro is
rapidly becoming the one least
concerned with religion and Chris
tianity.” In support of this state
ment, he cited “the many empty
pews, the lack of interest in or
ganizations formerly sponsored
by young and old, as signs of de
creasing interest in the church
and the religion and Christian
principles for which the ekurch
stands.”
Tells What He Would Do.
In a peculiarly effective and
caustic vein, Cansler said, “If I
were a minister, I would cease
repeating the ‘meaningless’ form
ula which has been used to de
preciate the importance of reli
gion iu our Racial life. The Ne
gro has not ‘got too much reli
gion,’ as the good Reverend has
just said. We need ‘more’ re
ligion in its real and abiding in
terpretation.
NegTo is Not Over Churched.
“We are not ‘over churched.’
If the Negro in Denver whom we
have even the right to expect to
be interested in the church and
its program, were to go to church
here next Sunday, there would
not be half enough seats to ac
comodate them at any one time.
“But,” said the well known Y
secretary, “religion is still a pow
erful force in life, and even hard
boiled s.udents of economics are
beginning to admit that there is
no hope for the present civiliza
tion, unless we can somehow
! capture for this generation the
| Spirit of Jesus and put into ap
plication as a remedial measure
for the widespread confusion and
disorder, the principles which
Jesus enunciated in the Sermon
on the Mount.’
Continuing, Cansler said, “No,
it is not ‘less religion’ we need as
Race and Nation, but rather
‘more religion.’ He issued a clari
on call to the group of ministers
at the Interdenominational Minis
; terial Alliance before whom he
took sharp issues with Reverend
Henry, “to talk, teach, preach
and live religion, and ever more
to emphasize religion as the soju
! tion of the so-called ‘Race Prob
lem and every other problem
which now baffles lawmakers and
challenges our very existence as
a nation.”
—By the Continental Press.
The President’s
Inconsistency
By R A Adams
(For the Literary Service Bureau)
In his “social security plan” the
president has gone farther than any
one of his predecessors. He seems to
have drawn from the socialists, com
munists and other ultra radicals many
of the things incorporated in his
scheme.
These things are representative of
social principles which commend them
selves to all. They mean industrial
and economic revolution of the most
drastic nature- In undertaking these
changes the president is gambling
with his own future, for if they fail
he will be held responsible for what
ever may ensue. More, he is endan
gering the most vital material inter
ests of the nation, for failure means
to the national interest wreck and
ruin- Viewing things from this angle
one is inclined to believe the president ]
to be sincere and his actions motivated
by genuine altruism.
But when we consider his actions in
bringing back rum, with its vicious ;
progeny, with unhappiness, the pover- '
ty, the utter waste, and the indisput- ;
able destruction it is impossible to
harmonize this sin against men, wo
men and children by the president who
is chiefly responsible for this moral
retrogression of America. To this
case aptly appl.es the adage, “Consis
tency, thou art a jewel.”
SHARECROPPERS IN
A STATE OF PEONAGE
Startling Revelations Bared; Conditions Pitiable
Among White and Negro Sharecroppers Alike;
Committee Releases 250 Page Report After
Year’s Study
DISTINGUISHED LEADERS OF
RACES ON COMMITTEE
Report Calls Forth For Drastic
Readmstmen" of South's
“Excessive Devotion’’
to Kiug Cotton.
ADVOCATES CONCENTRATED
REFORM
Washington, D. C. May 2.—The
committee on minority groups in
Economic Recovery, after a
years’ study of condi.ions among
; white and Negro sharecroppers in
| the Southland, made public the
j startling findings of its s udy in
j a two hundred fifty page report
| here Wednesday in whieh atten
tion of the public and offieia’s
; was directed to the dire need for
I a complete overhauling of the
South’s excessive devotion to
King Co.ton.
The report which was summari
zed in advocates among other
things:
Drastic readjustment of the
Souths antiquated system of
credit.
Immediate remedial steps to
remove the appalling and unbe
lievably low economic status to
! which Negro and white farmers;
mostly sharecroppers are assig
| ned.
Readjustment in the south’s
policy as regards land tenure.
Drastic readjustment of the
south’s long-time excessive de
votion to King Cotton as the
source of greatest revenue, live
lihood and support for the ma
j jority of the inhabitants, the
; south having held oruo cotton
as tis chief staple from prior to
the days of slavery to the pres
ent.
Financed by a fifty thousand
dollar appropriation from the Ju
lius Rosenwald Foundation, the
| committee which made the twelve
mon.h’s study was composed of:
Edwin R. Embree, president
! of the Rosenwald Foundation,
Chicago; Prof. Charles S. John
son, head of the Department of
Social Research, Fisk University,
Nashville; and Dr. Will W.
Alexander, Director of the south
ern commission on Inter-racial
cooperation and likewise Presi
dent of Dillard University, New
Orleans.
The Committee made its report
to the Department of Agriculture
more than a month ago, but was
not made public until last AYed
nesday. Dr. Alexander and Presi
dent Embree said the report had
also been brought to the attention
of President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt.
Among other things the vol
umnious two hundred-fifty page
report said:
“With declining exports and
increasing foreign cotton produ
ction. the South stands face to
face with a choice,” the com
mittee found.
“It may choose continued regi
mentation of agricultural pro
duction ,with subsidies for re
leased lands and relief for dis
placed tenants and agricultural
laborers.
“Or it may decide that this is
too great a price to pay for con
centrated land ownership. In
such a case America might well
follow the example of Ireland
and Denmark and embark upon
a program of government aid to
peasant proprietorship.”
Not Merely a Negro Problem
The report says the situation
constitutes not a Negro problem,
but a tenant and sharecroppers
problem alike, in that both races
of the farming classes are “in a
state of peonage that approaches
slavery.' ’
Continuing, the report further
said :
“As a matter of fact, the Ne
gro no longer furnishes the bulk
of cotton tenants.” There are
1,091,944 white tenants in the
south to 698,839 colored tenants.
While one may not be surprised
to note that over half the Negro
tenants are croppers, it is start
ling to learn that over one-third
of the white tenants are in the
same poverty stricken class.
The recent flareups between
plantation owners and sharecrop
pers and tenant in Marked Tree.
Arkansas and other sections
which have attracted attention of
countless millions in and out of
America, are but indications of
how tense is the situation and
pitiable the conditions are among
both white and Negro tenants and
Sharecroppers. Violence and in
timidation on the part of land
lords in some sections have greet
ed the attempts of the tenants,
Sharecroppers, and those interest
ed in them to make better and |
more tolerab'e their conditions.
The Federal Government sent an
attorney in o several of the south
ern states to study eondi ions al
ter repeated reports had been
made that the NRA code was be
ing flagrantly violated and farm
ers and sharecroppers had been il
legally evicted and otherwise mis
treated.
—By the Continental Press.
Proverb'1, and Parables
By A. B. Mann
“A Still Tongue Makes A Wise Head”
Here is another true saying. In
simple language it means that it is
more profitable for one to listen than
to talk and have others listen to him.
Listening he will be receiving, learn
ing, increasing his store of knowledge.
Talking, he is giving out, exhausting
his store. And always the former is
more profitable than the latter. Then
the listener shows wisdom by silence
when talking would reveal his mental
weakness -
Especially true is this saying as it
applies when one is tempted to use
harsh words wh.ch will hurt others
or that will cause strife and ill-will.
White Writer Exposes
Conditions in Southern
Farm Areas
New York—CNA—A typical
instance of the brutal oppression
and sharecroppers in the South
suffered by Negro farm tenants
was graphically told by Erskine
Caldwell, famous white Southern
novelist, in a series of articles in
the New York Post, metropolitan
daily last week.
Landlord Beats Negro
A Georgia landowner describes
his treatment of Negro sharecrop
pers in the following manner:
GEORGIA LANDOWNER: “We
know how to treat the blacks
like they ought to be treated.
I had black tenants last year
who moved into one of mv
cabins, and the first thing he
said was he wanted some steps
built. I didn't pay and atten
tion to him and he said some
thing about it again. I told
him to shut up. He talked back,
and I jumped on that nigger
and gave him the worst beating
he’d ever got in all his life. He
was in bed a week, he was that
beat up. The next time I saw
him he was as meek as a scared
kitten.
That’s all they need—just a
j showdown to see who’s running
things.”
The articles stated further that
poor white tenants and sharecrop
pers are also victimized by the
| “system of economic slavery” un
I der which both the poor whites
and Negroes are forced to live.
Caldwell’s article declared that:
“The white tenant farmer
has been forced away from the
rich productive soil of the
plantations to the stony acres
and steep, barren hillsides of
the uplands. Here he can make
practically nothing.”
The articles also charge that
the “crop control plan as it is
practiced in the cotton states of
Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia,
penalizes the tenant farmer and
enriches the land owner.”
Continuing the indictment of
the New Deal AAA program,
Caldwell lays the blame for this
condition on Federal plans of so
called “rehabilitation.” He
states:
“Present methods of Federal
crop control, the pressure of
the landowning class, and the
machinery of terror can bring
only one thing, and that one
thing is slavery.”
The sharecroppers Union in
Alabama, an organization of 10,
000 Negro and white sharecrop
ere. is conducting struggles to
combat the horrible conditions
under which Negroes and poor
whites are forced to live in the
farm areas. Similar sharecrop
pers activities are being carried
on in Arkansas, Georgia and Mis
sissippi.
POLICE SHOOTING PROTEST
UNPROVOKED.
New Haven, Conn.—CNA—Ne
gro and white workers here pack
ed the Odd Fellows Hall to pro
test the unprovoked police shoot
ing of Tracy Woods, a 16-year
old boy.
Eye witnesses to the shooting
testified to Wood’s innocence and
declared that the policeman, with
out justification, fired upon the
youth. The meeting was held un
der the auspices of the Interna
tional Labor Defense.