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. . . EDITORIALS . . .
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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 25th, 1935
If it is Only a Dollar, It Will Help
Another Boy Get A Home
* * *
Dear Friend:
^-jLAT can you do to help a boy who is alone and
unwanted?
JJAVE you ever walked along a city street and
seen a little fellow standing alone and neglect
ed’ His clothes are threadbare and ragged; the
toes and heels of his little feet are exposed through
the holes and worn places of his shoes—his hair is
unkept—his little face is pinched and wan.
WHEN you see this boy who is alone and unwant
ed. does your heart ache for him? Way down
deep in your heart isn’t there a yearning to hold
him close and protect him from hunger and neglect ?
Wouldn’t you like to take him home, feed him,
bathe him. tuck him in bed and bending close to
his little ear say. “Ill be your mother or dad. From
now on you will not be alone and unwanted.
YOUR happiness would be complete. Of course,
you cannot do this with every liitle unwanted boy
you see, but yon can have this same happiness by
making a piaee for one of these unwanted litde
fellows. The cost of the keep for a boy in our
Home is 50 cents a day, or $180.00 a year. For how
many days will you be a mother of father to one
of these poor, homeless and neglected boys9 Last
year we were forced, through laek of funds, to re
fuse 346 boys admittance to our Home.
WE are calling on you and pleading for the cause
of the homeless boy. Will you in your great
kindness and charity help us to help him? Will
you help us nurse this neglected boy, who is alone
and unwanted .into a fine, useful man able to care
for himself? Will you help me to keep open the
doors of my Home so that I can say to the next
boy, regardless of his race, creed, or color, Lome
in. Thanks to the kindness of friends 1 give you
a home and prepare you for your place m the
world.”
TT is for the homeless, neglected boy that we come
t0 you—for the boy who stands alone and unwant
ed. Please.
Yours most sincerely,
Signed: Rev. F. J. Flanagan.
The Suicide Brigade
By E. Hofer
There seeni to be a good many people in this
c-ountrv who don’t care much for living but would
be the'first to be aghast if you accused them of it.
For no reason at all, they are constantly and cheer
fullv risking their necks, and yours.
This group of citizens; who total hundreds of
thousands, constitutes our reckless, ignorant and ir
reponsible motorists. Consciously or unconsciously
possessed of the idea that their abilities are not
second to those of the daredevils of the race tracks,
thev make a practice of driving faster than the law
allows, even though they are going nowhere in
particular and have all the time in the world to get
there. They weave in and out of traffic; if they
waited until the roadway was clear for passing,
thev lose a precious seeond or so. They drive on
the'wrong side of the road. They have a contempt
for traffic lights and signals, which were obviously
crea.ed for less gifted mortals. They laught at the
rumored perils of hills and curves, and take ex
treme pleasure in passing on them. When their
brakes go bad and their steering and lighting sys
tems falter, they put off repairs until some distant
tomorrow; they’ll certainly be able to get by until
then without a mishap. And so it goes, down the
entire list of acts of commission and omission that
cause our toll of 36,000 automobile deaths per year.
The rest of us wouldn’t have any kick coming if
the suicide brigade risked their own lives only;
that, after all, would be their pererogative. But
they menace us as well; menace everyone and
everything whieh uses the streets and highways.
The innocent suffer along with the guilty; and un
less these drivers are curbed, each of us runs an
excellent chance of being eventually numbered
among the victims of the suicide brigade.
SILVER SOARS
By E. Hofer
The outlook for “sidver prosperity’’ constantly
improves.
During the past few weeks silver quotations
L throughout the world have soared. This is prin
eipallv due to the belief that the United States
i
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Government is determined to es.ablish the price for
new silver at $1.29 an ounce.
Coupled with the rise in price, according to the
Wa l S.reet Journal, there has been almost complete
dearth of supply, as holders of the white metal
cling to their stocks in the belief that still higher
prices are in prospeet.
A good example of the trend is afforded by
Japan, where the Japanese domestic silver dealers’
association recently raised its price to 71.764 yen
per kilogram; the highest price established by that
group smee 1919. By contrast, the price was but
47.597 yen per year kilogram a year ago.
Thus, it looks as if our long depressed silver
mines are a. last on the verge of brighter times.
“The person does not live who can predict ac
curately today what Congress will do.’—Babson’s
“Congress Should Be Told!”
By E. Hofer
“Congress shou'd be told,v says the Manu
facturers Record, “that the present confusion of
government has created the belief that the only
certain results ahead are larger relief rolls and un
bearable debt. ,
“That ihe only way to recovery is to abandon
the fantastic cure alls that have failed and prompt
ly set about encouraging industry and capital.
“That indus ry. if unhampered by restrictive
laws, will employ the idle.
“That investors are scared by the attacks of
Government upon creative enterprises and will
not venture into new fields.
“That “reform ’ MUST wait upon recovery.”
A bill is now pending in Congress that perfectly
iilusira.es the depression producing kind of legis
lation the Record speaks of. This bill, officially
known as the Public Utility Act of 1935 constitutes
one of the most unjustified, unsound and indefensi
ble a.aeks upon a basic industry ever proposed. Its
sponsors seek support for it on the grounds that it
would remedy the alleged abuses that have resulted
from the holdnig company form of public utility
operation and management. Anyone who troubles
io read the bill, however, will find that it does not
provide for constructive regulation that would do
away with what is bad in our present utility struct
ure and maintain what is good; instead, it provides
for unqualified destitution of practically all holding
companies in order to prevent the abuses of the
few.
This bill, coupled with other attacks on the
utilities, has produced one result even before it has
come up for debate; it has forced the values of
utility securities down to abysmal levels. It has
thus depreciated the savings of several million peo
ple who invested pari of their earnings in utilties
in the natural belief that utlity securities, due to
public regulaton of the companes they represented,
were safe, sound and conservative. It has made it
virtually impossible for many utilities to obtain
new capital that may be needed for expansion and
improvement that would create jobs, purchasing
power and opportunity. The bill has thus, directly
or indirectly, ‘‘done its part” to keep the unem
ployed rolls at their record peak.
Other major industries will be sadly mistaken
if they believe the bill will have no effect on them
and their investors. Any intelligent observer of
current trends knows that there is no end to the
greed and the rapacity of politicians: if they man
age to get control of one industry, they will at once
begin looking around for new worlds to conquer.
If they manage to destroy the utility holding
company, is it logical to believe that they will not
turn their attention to steel, chemical, food, drug,
communication, automobile, newspaper and all other
types of holdng company that now exists? If they
succeed in placing the operating utilities of the
nation under the domination of a federal commis
sion—which is still another provision of the Public
Utility Act—is it reasonable to believe that other
essential industries wll not be accorded similar
treatment?
Bills such as this frighten investors in all in
dustries, who realize that once the trend is started,
it is simply a matter of time until it touches the
business in which they have plaeed their money. It
dries up the sources of capital; which are the sources
of the ojbs the nation sorely needs. Under the
guise of reform, it strikes at the very roots of re
covery.
Defeat of the pending Public Utility Act would
be a boon to all industry; precisely as it passage, in
its present form, would be a blow to all industry.
After A Decade of Struggle
By E. Hofer
On April 16, a pieee of important news to Ameri
can industry came from Washington. The Senate,
without a single dissenting vote, had passed the
Eastman bus and truck regulation bill. In the words
of Mr. Eastman, this means that his bill which car
ries the endorsement of the Administration and of
a legion of industrialists, has taken ts biggest
hurdle.
It is difficult to see how anyone could oppose
the bill on sound grounds. It does not penalize
buses and trucks; it simply places them on an
equitable basis with the rails. Under the terms of
the bill, the Interstae Commerce Commission has
eonrol of motor bus and truck rates, service, ac
counts and maximum hours of sendee for employes.
It can likewise prescribe regulations designed to
make bus and truck operation safer, and has the
power to supervise all phases of the business of
motor vehicle transportation brokers.
It is highly significant that responsible bus and
truck opera.ors have often voiced approval of such
legislation as this. Even as the railroads want it
passed to protest ..hem from impossible, inequitable
competition, stable bus and truck systems realize
tka. the bill is essential to protect them from wild
catting within their industry. About the only op
ponents of the bill are fly-by-night bus and truck
concerns, which are unwilling or unable to provide
adequate and safe service, to stabalize rates and
schedules, and fo assure employes of reasonable
wages and good working conditions.
Tne bill goes to the House next; and that body
will perform a great public service if it passes it
immediately.
Common Sense and the Scottsboro
Case
By E. Hofer
V ith the filing last week of another complaint
against the nine Sc-ottsboro boys by Victoria Price,
the dreary rigamarole starte all over again.
It is to be regre.ted that this ease is still with us.
It should have been disposed of years ago wi.h the
acquittal of the nine boys, who are unquestionably
innocent. . |
But, on the one hand, Alabama has sought in
this case to re-fight the Civil War and, on the other
hand, .he Communists have tried to use it as a lever
for revolution. Neither side has won; only the boys
have lost.
All except the professional agitators who view
such cases as meal tieke.s would like to be rid of it.
Alabama and white supremacy are certainly gaining
no grounds by its prolongation.
The effort of Attorney Samuel Leibowitz to get
Governor Graves of Alabama to grant an outright
pardon is therefore to be applauded. By one stroke
of the pen Governor Graves ean end this nonsen
sical routine of appeal, trial and appeal. He ought
to have the courage and good common sense to do
K.
Is It Not A Fact:
, —That the Negro does not in a number of instances,
cooperate successfully because of his individual
istic tendicies?
—That no man or group was every inspired to do
any.hing constructive while following foolishness
all the time?
—That the Negro raee, just now, stands in dire
need of numerous men of a highly truthful nature
To lead properly the people?
—That the constantly indebted churches are a dis
grace to the church folk?
—That the vast majority of church folk fail to
practice as mueh as one-eleventh of what theii
Good Book says that they should?
—That it seems doubtful whether we can long
maintain our self respect under our present so
cial order?
How About the Tax Bill?
By E. Hofer
One of the major political sports of the time is
to attack the rates charged for domestic electric
service. The politicians constantly observe that
existing rate structures impose a tremendous burden
on the American people, and help keep them rele
gated to a sad state of economic darkness.
It would be interesting to see a citizen who is
kept in want and poverty because of the cost of
electricity, which amounts, on the average, to a
little more than ten cents a day per family. That
average citizen pays more for tobacco than he does
for ower. He pays more for soft drinks, to say
nothing of more potent beverages. He pays more
for movie shows and magazines.
Last year the country’s residential biil came to
$677,000,000. The nation’s tax bill totaled $9,500,
000,000; over fourteen times the electric bill. Which
of those bills is the more important; and which is
given the most attention by public officials!
A four per cent reduction in taxes would mean
more to American poc-ketbooks than 50 per cent re
duction in the cost of domestic power. There's a
fact that the people would do well to bring to their
attention of their elected representatives. The same
officials who are shouting about power bills of
three or four dollars a month per family, are burden
ing those families with new taxes amount to many
times as much; and we’re letting them get away
with it.
The Fire Season is Never Closed
By E Hofer
Every season brings its own fire hazards. In
winter, heating equipment is apt to be the worst
offender. And while the hazards of spring and
summer are less than those of the colder months,
• . *
they should be conscientiously guarder against.
Grass fires cause much unnecessary waste each
year. Property owners possessing unused fields
have a habit of putting off until tomorrow the
sytche-work that should be done today; and con
flagration is often hte result. It will be remembered
that the great Berkley, California, fire of a few
years ago began in a field of uncut, dry grass.
Most communities have ordinances designed to
force property owners to keep grass cut. Unfortu
nately, these ordinances are often unenforced or
half-heartedly enforced—and when that is the case,
the town itself becomes as great an offender against
the public safety as the careless property owner.
Every community should have adequate laws to
cover this hazard and enforce them.
Still another important dry weather hazard has
to do with forest land. Each year millions of acres
of timber are destroyed, because of the carelessness
or ignorance of campers and others. Every person
1 ^—
when in wooded country should remember ihat liv
ing timber will burn, and once it is dry enough,
can literally explode at the touch of flames.
No season of the year is free from the fire men
ace. Carelessness in regard to fire is alway hazard
ous. Keep your wits about you and your eves open
for the common dangers that pave the way for con
j xiagrations.
The Flight of the Clipper
Bv E. Hofer
Aptii 16. 19oa, is a date that will go down per
manently in the annals of aviation and transpor
tation history. It marks the first successful as
v e 1 as practical trasoeeanic flight from a commer
I eial standpoint.
Capiain Edwin C. Husiek and five comanion of
! ncers Pi]oted the huge twe y-ton Pan-American
C hpper plane on a course as straight as that of a
Homing pigeon, from San Francisco o Honolulu, a
distance of abou. twenty-five hundred miles in
the record time of a little more than, seventeen
hours.
In the past, ocean flights have been considered
by a large majori.y of the public as spectacular
stunts, indulged in only by daredevils who figured
the publicity was worth the risk. The only thing
spectacular about ihe flight of the Clipper is the
unspectacular way in which it was accomplished.
The flight was carried out on schedule almost
to the minu.e. And after nearly a dav in the air.
the crew stepped from the plane dean shaven, dres
sed in blue uniforms without a wrinkle, and look
ing far fresher than many of those on hand to
greet them. In the words of Captain Husisk, “It
was a regular routine job.”
According to press reports, the Pan-American
Air Lines plans to inaugurate an air route to the
lar East within the next few months. After wit
nessing such proof not only of the possibility, but
of the feasibility of such an air route, one's* mind
is completely staggered with pictures of speed, com
fort and safety with which it will soon be possible
to travel to all parts of the world. Residents of San
t ranesieo will week-end in Honolulu. And the trip
to Shanghai, China, which now takes three weeks
by boat, will take only forty five or fifty hours
by air.
----.
A Fair Break For All
By E. Hofer
Throughout the country, groups of consumers
are rising in protest against high prices, notably
those charged for milk, meat and other agricultural
products.
In many eases, these protests are doubtless jus
tified ; but there is danger that a misunderstanding
of actual conditions may cause people to become
inimical toward the farmer’s desire to obtain a fair
selling price for his goods. That desire is the under
lying principle n the work of all our great agricult
ural cooperatives.
High prices charged at retail don’t necessarily
mean that the actual producer gets even profitable
prices. Giving the farmer fair priees doesn’t mean
that the consumer is going to be stung. In the case
of most commodities, the final selling price is many
times the price paid at the farm. The rest of the
cost represents profits and charges oecuring along
the distribution line.
Many authorities believe that distributors aud
other middlemen get too mueh of the selling cost of
products; while the farmer gets too little. The pur
pose of ihe cooperatives is to equalize this1 to see
that everyone gets a fair deal and that none make an
excessive profit. Once that is achieved, farmers
will make money, and the consumer will get stable,
quality products for a fair and reasonable price.
This is in the interest of the entire nation, which in
normal times, is largely dependent on farm pur
chasing power for the money that keeps factories
going, provides jobs in our cities, and maintains
pay rolls.
A Stabalizing Influence
By E. Hofer
Life insurance is regarded by the average person
solely as an individual contract between him and
his insurance company, whereby the company
agrees to make certain sums available at a specified
time in consideration of fixed premiums. How
ever, the five years of depression through which the
country has passed should have concentrated pub
lie attention upon the life insurance as one of the
greatest economic stabilizers in the nation.
Black headlines chronicle, form time to time,
the enormous amounts being paid out by the govern
ment for the relief of the unemployed. But the fact
that more than thirteen billions of dollars were paid
by life insurance companies to policyholders and
beneficiaries in the United States between 1929 and
1934, goes practically unnoted. These payments,
averaging about $2,700,000,000 a year, were equal
to about one-tenth of all wages paid in the nation,
and were several times greater than the total of all
government relief expenditures for the period.
In the lush years there were those who were
inclined to look lightly upon the conservative in
vestment policy of insurance companies. But this
conservative policy was responsible for the almost
unbelievably excellent performance of the insur
ance business throughout the depression. Once
more, as in numerous preceding national depres
sions, the life insurance companies have demon
strated that they are worthy custodians of the peo
ple’s money.
In the face of the nationwide suffering that ac
companies unemploymen. the message of Life In
surance Week comes this year with peculiar force:
“The sooner you plan your future, the better your
future will be.”
"— ■ -II
ECONOMIC
HIGHLIGHTS
Happenings Tha+ Affect .he Din
ner Pails, Dividend Checks and
Tax Bills of Every Individual.
National, aid International
Problems Inseparable from Lo
cal Welfare.
One £ the principa. questions
oi tne time is. ”Y\ha. does indus
try .iiiuk of the New Deal?” You
can iiiiti businessmen who are op
posed to the New Dea'. and you
can find one who are for it, but
a genuine consensus of opinion
has been eonspieiousiy absen..
During the last few weeks at
leas, a partial answer .o the
potent ques ion has been afford
ed. Two distinct sources have
provided important, if conflict
ing evidence, on the auitude of
large and middlesized industriai
• ists toward the extraordinary
acts of the Roosevelt reign.
One source is .he Uni.ed
States Chamber of Commerce
which, in the past, has pursued a
vague, fence-straddling eourse in
discussing poslitieal matters. The
Chamber is noi, as some believe
made up of the largest industrial
ists of the country; few heads of
America’s vast national and in
ternational corporations belong to
it or attend its meetings. Its
membershp consis.s principally
of middle sized industrialists. The
other day it convened for it an
nual meeting1 and i.s members
went on record as being aggres
sively and bitterly opposed to the
New Deal in practically every
major particular.
Heads of the Chamber sought
to temper the Chamber’s resolu
tions, asked for a policy of mod
eration, but they were" snowed
under with the wrath of the
delegates. Out of a literal uproar,
the mos. exciting in the Chamber's
history, came resolutions placing
the body on record as being op
posed, without the slightest,
qualification, to the Administra
tions Social Security Bill, the
Public Utility Act, most of the
principal provisions of ihe Bank
ing Act, extension of NR A save
I temporarily and in a highly modi*
: fied form, the proposed A A A
amendments which would give
the Secretary of Agriculture
sweeping powers over processors
and producers, and all pending
labor legislation. Only New Deal
measures to gain approval were
such relatively unimportant ones
as reciprocal with trade pacts,
direct subsidies for shipping and
retirement of submarginal lands
from production.
It is a significant fact that two
years President Roosevelt ad
dressed the Chamber personally,
a year ago sent it a conciliatory
: message. This year he “cut it „
■ dead. ’ ’ Thus, the break between
| the Administration and the type
! of indusnalists who make up the
| Chamber, seems complete.
Second source of evidence on
business’ attitude toward the New
Deal came from an industrial or
ganiztaion of a rather different
nature than the Chamber: the De
partment of Commerce's Business
Advisory and Planning Council.
This group is much smaller in
membership than the Chamber, is
much bigger in the light of the
corporations is represents. It con
sists of only Class A industrialits,
such as American Telephone's
president Gifford, General Elect
ric’s President Swope, U. S.
Steels President Taylor, Chase
National Bank's President Aid
rich. Its members meet often and
informally with the President,
represent about all the contact
with American industry he has.
From the Council, through the
White House, came a report giv
ing almost unqualified endorse
ment to the New Deal, which the
President produced as an antidote
to the Chamber of Commerce’s
attacks. However, even this, from
the Administration standpoint, is
not so cheering as it might be in
as much as was immediately
claimed, by a Senator, that the
White House had issued only flat
tering parts of the report, had
squelched all the criticism the
original contained.
Unheard from; as it has no
central orgartizatiflfci through
which to speak; is little business
which, in the aggregate, is the
biggest business of all. The
corner grocery store doesn't look
like much when stacked up
against U. S. Steel: but ten thous
and comer grocery stores do.
Attitude of little business toward
the New Deal is stricly a matter
of opinion. This much can be said,
from a digest of wealth of com
ment ; it does not think so much
of the Administration ss it used
to, is coming to believe that some
of the measures to which it gave
its unanimous support two years
age are not so good. The way
little business finally swings may
determine whether the Admini
stration rises or falls; and may
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