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The Omaha Guide
Published every Saturday at 3418-20 Grant St.,
Omaha, Neb.
Phone WEbeter 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, SEPTEMBER 7, 1935
THE RURAL PRESS
T! IERE are some 15,500 newspapers and period
icals published in this eountry. The greatest
proportion of them axe small-town weeklies, dailies,
and semi-weeklies, and magazines whose principal
appeal is to the rural dweller.
The importance, the influence, and the worth
of these publications can hardly be exaggerated
They are, as the San Francisco Arginaut has writ
ten, “the chief influence in the thought habits of
our rural population of fifty-four million.' And
the character of their comment, both in news and
editorial departments, well repays those who peruse
them.
As a resu’t, the recent contest held by the mag
azine “Country Home” to pick the best country
newspaper correspondent in the United States, was
of much more importance and interest than con
tests usually are. The winner, a wroman, lives in a
Missouri town which has a population of twenty
sevfen, and is fifteen miles from the nearest rail
road. For forty-four years she has been local cor
respondent for a rural paper in her county.
Urban editors, on reading excerpts from her
correspondence, have been amazed by its quality.
It does not deal wuth crimes and misdemeanors
Instead it tells of the crops, the trials, tribulations
and achievements of farm people who rarely make
the metropolitan headlines, but who, happily, are
more numerous and more vital to nation than our
gangsters, our political and business renegades, and
our ex-show'-girl divorces.
Most interesting of all, this woman’s corres
pondents. Winners of lesser prizes in the contest
show* the same qualities*—the same command of
clear and vivid English. The country newspaper,
little known as it is to the city dweller, is one of'
the finest, most permanent, and most deservedly
successful influences in our American life. Last,
but not least, it is the outstanding guardian of the
nation in upholding our Constituiont and American
ideals.
UNIROFM DRIVING
LAWS ARE NEEDED
i"V\'E of the greatest barriers to fair and efficient
^ enforcement of traffic laws is the lack of uni
formity in the traffic codes of different states and
towns
As one traffic authority recently pointed out,
when he drives from one state to another, he doesn't
hove to stop and change his nickels, dimes and
dollars into other and different kinds of money;
but, if hie wishes to operate his ear in accord with
the law, he must at onee revise his driving habits.
He leaves a state where the maximum speed allow
ed is 40—and then must remember that now he
must hold his ear down to 30. He has been accus
tomed to traffic lights and signs placed on eoraers
—now they are overhead in. the middle of streets
w'hiere he is liable to mins seeing them entirely.
Suppose that motor car manufacturers pursued
the same practices as many cities and states. Sup
pose a man who had been driving the Smith car
-wanted to trade it in for thie newJon.es model, and
discovered that it had a different kind of trans
mission, required a different kind of fuel, and pre
sented major points of difierenee in othr respects.
Such a policy would be no more absurd than is the
existing policy of our governmental units in adopt
ing traffic codes that are utterly at variance with
those of a town or state 10 miles away.
The Uniform Vericies Code and Model Muni
cipal Ordinance, prepared by traffic experts, could
and should be adopted by ■every town and city. This
o t ... n, ^ give the motorist a break—it would
immensely expedite the efficiency of our police
and traffic patrol departments, and make an im
portant contribution to the cause of highway safety.
THE FALLACY OF
“SELF-INSURANCE"
/"\N DECEMBER 1, 1934. a school in Fitchburg.
^ Massachusetts .was deluged by fire The loss
was $500.(K)0—and it was not covered by in
surance.
(>n January 29. 1935. fire claimed a Chicago
hieh school valife dat 250.000. Again the building
was uninsured.
Less than a month later, a Detroit high sehool
v as burned with a loss of $1,000.000—none of w hich
was covered by insurance.
On February 8, the State Arsenal at Spring
field, Illinois, burned. Loss was $500.000—and
there was no insurance.
On April 25. the 65-year-old Oregon State Cap
; itol was almost totally destroyed by fire. The buiid
! mg cost $700,000, and its contents were valued at
$800,000, making a total loss of $1,500,000. The
; building was “protected” by a state insurance fund
—wbieh contained $140,000 at the time of the dis
aster.
These are just a few of the many public struc
tures that have been destroyed by fire in recent
| years—and which, being uninsured, represented
j total loss to the taxpayers. In the best of times,
i a drain of a million dollars on the taxpayers of a
city or state to restore a destroyed building, is a
burden—in depressed times, w*hen every dollar of
tax revenue? should be used for new productive
purposes, it becomes doubly unfortunate.
The belief that a governmental unit can save
money through “seif-insuranae” is an old and per
sistent fallacy. In the bulk of instances, insurance
could have been carried during the life of destroyed
buildings for a fraction of what was njevessary to
replace them. Self-insurance saved the taxpay
ers a penny—while it wasted a pound
The tragic example of tlae many uninsured pub
lic buildings which, have been ravaged by fire, will
not be wasted if it causes other communities and
states to think—and then take the proper acion.
1-100 OF 1 PER CENT
By E. Hcrfer.
IT IS reliably estimated that the public utility in
1 dustry spent approximately $1,500,000 in efforts
to present its side of the holding company issue to
the publie and to government officials. It has been
subjected to a vicious political attack for spending
this “vast som”.
The public utility industry’s total investment
is. in round figures, $15,000,000,000. In other words,
its $1,500,000 expenditure amounted to just one
one-hundredth of one per cent of the industry’s
value! The money was spent in the hope that if
the people and congress were given facts one of
our greatest and most progressive industries might
be saved from uncalled for injury.
contrary to what the politicians <|Laim. the
$1,500,000 did no come out of the pockets of rate
payers, but out of the pockets of stockholders.
L nder the American system of state regulation of
utility operating companies, they are permitted to
earn only a limited and definite profit above the
expenses of carrying on their business. That profit,
when they are able to earn it, belongs to the owners
of the property. If it is spent for some other pur
pose than dividends, the consumer is not affected
at all.
The politicians have likewise said that spend
ing $1,500,0000 by utility managements amounted to
misappropriation of stockholders’ money. The
number of utility stockholders in existence is re
ported to be in the neighborhood of five million_
and if the $1,500,000 had been divided among them,
each one wool dhave received an average of about
cents'. Not very much to defend a $15,000,000,000
business.
It would appear that utility managements did
nor spend too much in combatting the punitive bill
that faced them—there is a question whether thev
spent enough
Is it fair to eritize a man for spending oi^e one
hundredth of one per cent of thewr»rth of his pro
perty to keep it from being crippled bv legislative
fiat ?
SEDITION BILL BEFORE HOUSE
Opposition V oiced By Many Groups
QN AUG! ST 13 the Kramer Sedition Bill
(HR 6427) was favorably voted onto the floor
of the House of Representatives by the House Judic
iary Committee.
If passed, this bill would multiply the number
of political prisoners in the country and it would
also be used as a strikebreaking weapon, it has been
indicated by observers of the application of state
sedition bills in the past.
The text o the Bill. “BE IT EXACTED ....
That any person who knowingly makes any state
ment orally or in writing which advocates or urges
the overthrow of the Government of the United
States, or of any State or Territory, by force or
' iolencve. or by assassination of the Executive head
or any other official of sueh Government, or other
unlawtul means, and any person who knowinglv
prints, ublishes, issues, edits, circulates, sell, dis
. ributes. or diplay in public any written matter con
taining any sueh statement, shall, upon conviction
thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than
$500 or imprisonment for not more than five years,
or both.
Sec. 2. As used in this Act, the term “person”
includes an individual, partnership, association, or
corporation.”
Requests to defeat the bill have been sent bv
groups including the International Labor Defense.
; American Civil Liberties Union, and the National
; Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners.
Many members of Congress have already expressed
disapproval of the bill.
ECONOMIC
HIGHLIGHTS
Happenings That Affect the Dinner
Pails, Dividend Creeks and Tax
Bills of Every Individual. Na
tional and International Problems
inseparable from Local Welfare.
_<v()n_
One of the most dramatie aets
of the late Congress oeenred, en
tirely unepeetedlj as far as the
eneral public was concerned, just
before the session passed into his
tory.
This act was the passage of the
so-called “neutrality plan/’ pro
posed by the White House, orig
inated by the Senate, and forced
through the House by Administra
tion leaders under a gag rule
which forbade any foreed amend
ments and limited debate to the
absolute minimum.
Reason for this unprecedented
occurence does not require a mic
roscope to discover. Everyone
knows that Europe is closer to a
major war than at any time since
1914. The American State Depart
ment doubtless has a much better
idea of how close wras is than
any other domestic agency—it is
a possibility that inside Secretary
Hull's handsome, impassive, white
thatched head there is knowledge
that, if disclosed, would make
headlines throughout the country.
And, with the memory of the “in
cidents'' that brought America
into the World foreign poliev,
seems determined to keep ns out
of future conflicts if that is at
all possible. High spots of the
neutrality plan include:
Prohibition of the export of
arms and amunition to any for
eign belligerent until February
29, 1936 (by that time another
Congress will be in sesst m, and
will be able to cope with chan e<
conditions.)
Prohibition of the use of Amer
ican vessels in arms traffic until
February 29, 1936.
Establishment of a strict iieens
n gsystem for American muni
tions manufacturers and expoit
ers.
Authorization fo rthc President
!o require or entirely close ter i
tciiai American waters to the sub
marines of bciigerents
Authorization for th? President
to forbid American citizens to
travel abroad during war except
at their own risk, unless such
traveling is made necessary in
order to escape a zone of conflict.
It is an interesting fact that
the neutrality bill passed both
Houses by close to unanimous
votes—vet a number of Congress
men, including some who voted
for it, are dubious. Senator John
son. oldtime advocate of U. S. iso
lation, said it would not prevent
our gettin ginto war .And a few
voices .including that of Senator
Wadsworh, potential Republican
Presidential candidate, spoke up
a.amst the principle it represents,
on the grounds that small, perse
cuted nations will be harmed by
the policy, while big, aggressive
nations will not. For example.
Italy could get by without pur
chasing arms abroad—while clos
ing of foreign buying to Ethiopia,
which has no industrial resources
that might be turned to munitions
production, would make it impos
sible for her to defend herself in
the event of war
However, editorial response to
the plan has been highly favor
ably—papers which oppose the
President in most of his policies
are for him when he attempts to
keep us out of the pending Europ
ean super-war. The provision
whereby Americans traveling on
snips belonging to belligerents
must do so at their own risk is
perhaps the most important single
part of the bill—remember the
JLUsitania!
The last Congress was unusual
ly spoken of as lethargic, slow
moving ,dead on its feet. But.
with September approaching and
Congressmen anxious to get home
in order to pay attention to their
political fences, the closing days
witnessed an amazing burst of
activity.
Passed was the banking bill—
in its final form it represents a
compromise between the Admin
istration and such conservatives
as Senator Glass. Government
will control the banks—but the
adminiaterini board will appar-1
ently be as non-politieal as pos- ’
sible.
Passed was the 250.000,000
“soak-the-hieh” tax bill, much in'
the form first asked by the Pres
ident.
Passed was the bitterly debated
l tiiity Holding Company bill.
The “death sentence" clause is
out. though there is considerable
difference of opinion as to what
the bill really provides. Some
say it gives the government the
power to put holding eampanies
out of business if it wants to—
others say it simply provides
strait-jacket regulation. Still in
the air is the burning question of
the bill’s constitutionalitv.
Passed was the bill setting up a
"little XRA" for the bituminous
coal industry—a measure whose
constitutionality seems more than
doubtful
Passed was a measure giving
the federal iovernment control
control over liquor, made neces
sary by the Supreme Court ’a abol
ition of the old NBA.
Passed was a bill placing a ban
against gold-damage suits after
January 1st.
Passed was a bill to provide
interstate compacts to restrict
crude oil production.
THE PEOPLE REVTLT
AGAINST DEBT
Signs indicate that the Ameri
can people are at last awakening
to the danger to tax-creating,
property-confiscating bond issues.
A few- weeks Ao a special elec
tion wa sheld in Rhode Inland, in
which the voters w'ere called upon
to pass on a number of proposals
for building public wtorks, and
carrying on other activities in
the name of relief. In spite of
the facts that pansage of all the
bills would have increased the
state s bonded indebtedness by
about 54) per cent, the “dope”!
had it that the measures, with
their political backing, would
pass.
The “dope” missed. Rhode Is
land citizens voted down ail but
one of the measures, by heavy
majorities. The measure that
passed provided for direct relief
for the needy, and w-as designed
to achieve the necessary purpose
at a minimum of cost—without
saddlin gthe taxpayers with un
necessary and expensive public
works.
A short time laier the voters of
California met a similar crisis at
the polls. Several measures which
would have put that already debt
ridden state farther into debt,
were on the ballbt. An aw'akened
citizenry swung the axe—and
when the votes w-ere counted the
measures had taken hearty lick
mgs
It is to be hoped that these el
ections, in widely separated states,
are symbolic of the national trend
of thought. The most menacing
governmental ventures of recent
years have been those whieh have
piled debt upon debt, put govern
ment into competition with pri
vate business, increased taxes,
weakened state credit and creat-|
ed industrial fear. This course has
made it next to impossible to \
impossible to create normal jobs
Decause private industry, sole
source of productive employment,
is afraid to take chances in the
face of eonfiseatory taxation, leg
islation and regulation. We are
drawing capital into tax-free fed
eral bonds where its chief bene
fits aecrue to our growing bur
eaucracy, not to the people of
the needy.
Follow- Rhode Island and Calif
ornia in defeating debt-creating
oo nd issues.
—oOo—
LIGHT FOE NOTHING!
An industrial publication re
cently printed a letter from a man
who had been thinking about his
electric bill—long a burning topic
where the politicians gather.
This man had run across one
of his ol dstatements. He found
that, seventeen years before, he
had paid a monthly bill of $6.58
for 92 kilowatt hours—while now
he pays only 27 cents for more
than 180 kilowatt hours.
Doing some further figuring,
he discovered that he was getting
current for his lights, vaeuum
Statistics prove that Americans
are drinking less whiskey than
they did prior to 1917. Tree. They
have less money to pay for it at
double the price was prior to
1917.
cleaner, radio and refrigerator
for what he had formerly paid for
L&ht alone.
He then estimated that he was
getting the current for at! these
appliances for what he had form
erly paid for ice alone—so, in
effect, his lighting was costing
him nothing!
Throughout the nation this ex
perience has been duplicated to a
greater or lesser degree. While
the politicians have been crying
about the high cost of power (in
stead of about rapidly increasing
taxes for which rapidly increasing
able.) the private electric indus
try has been steadily cutting the
bill. It has increased economies
in operation, and passed them on
to the consumer It has broadened
its field of service, thus cutting
the unit eost of doing business.
It has stimulated use of electric
appliances—thus increasing the
load, and again making a dent in
the rate level.
The politicians talk while pri
vate enterprise does things. That
always seems to be the case. Pol
ities provides non-productive rhe
torical fireworks, while ordinary,
ambitions eitizens pave the way
for real achievement.
EDUCATION FOR THT
FARMERS OF TOMORROW
The satisfactory solution of
many agricultural problems, in
the opinion of Dean Chris L.
Christensen of the College of Ag
riculture, University of Wiscon
sin. will be greatly advanced by
better education for farm youth.
Any sound curriculum of study
must be built around social and
cultural, as well as vocational in
terests. The young farmer must
be taught nutritional chemistry,
bacteriology, farm mechanics and
engineering, forestry, the hand
ling of farm insects and pests.
And he must be taught, as well,
the importance and methods of
cooperation activity, whieh is the
greatest social, as well as eco
nomic factor in the lift of the mod
ern American farmer.
The farmer's reliance on cooper
ative organizations Dean Chris
tensen believes, will steadily in
crease in the future. These organ
izations. when well-managed and
supported, have proven their
worth—they have passed the relm
of theory. They have brought
business technique to agriculture
—and doing that, in many eases,
has wrought order out of chaos.
The youth of the farm is its
great hope for the future—and
soundly-conceived programs, de
signed to educate boys and girls
in all the problems they will face
as time passes, will immeasurably
brighten the long-pull outlook for
agriculture.
—oO©—
CUTTING THE FOOD BUDGET
The price of pork and pork pro
ducts recently returned to the
1929 high levels. Other fasic- food
products are climbing the same
ladder, with the result that the
cost of living is daily becoming
more of a problem to the average
American family.
As prices thus advance, the need
for food distributing methods that
eliminate handling charges be
tween producer and consumer, be
comes constantly more evident.
This same problem faced the con
sumer in the early twenties and
eaused the creation of the large
scale food buying and selling or
ganizations which have done such
valuable work, not only in reduc
ing the cost of maintaining the
consumer's dinner-table, but in
benefiting the producer.
In this connection, it is well to
remember that the producer of
farm products, the farmer, like
wise constitutes a great consum
ing market. The producer, there
fore, is greatly interested not only
in what he receives for what he
sells, but what he must pay for
what he buys. Growth of chain
grocery merchandising, by elim
inating needless middlemen tran
sactions. has tended to increase
the farmer's share of the retail
sel ing price of his products, while
materially lowering the cost of
what he must buy as a consumer.
^HIm
In the single state of Calofirnia
one large chain grocery system
bought foods valued at more than
$46,000,000 from the state's farm
ers in one reeent year. Other
ehainss and independent groups
made similar vast purchases_to
the benefit of everyone concerned.
BILLIONS LOST TO INDUSTRY
Figures don’t lie—and in the
ease of railroad purchasing, once
the backbone of scores of Amer
ican industries, they tell a sad but
truthful story.
In the five years from 1925 to
1929 inclusive, railroads had a net
operating income of about $6,000,
000,000—and their purchases to
ta'ed almost $7,000,000,000.
In the next five-year period
railroad ineome dropped to $2.
6*10,000.000—and railroad pur
chases declined to the abnormally
low total of $3,117,000,000. Where
even in the bad year of 1931, the
rails bouarht $615,000,000 worth
of goods from factories, mines
and timber-producers, they
bought only $319,000,000 worth in
1933. Last year the trend turned
somewhat upward, bringing pur
chases to $625,000,000, which was
$65,000,000 more than their net
operating ineome.
These statistics certainly pro
vide proof of the oft-made state
ment that revival of freight and
passenger business, which would
be immediately reflected in soar
ing railroad buying, would be a
mighty influence for recovery.
Ever since the war, the rails have
faeed more and more problems
—they have been overtaxed and
overregulated, while some of
their competitors have been sub
sidized with public money, and
others have been, practically free
from government supervision.
The newly-passed bill, whereby
highway carriers will be regulat
ed in the same manner as the rails,
is a progressive step. However,
before the rails can resume their
place as the greatest single em
ployer of labor and patronizer of
industry, they must be freed of
such unnecessary restrictions as
the iong-and-short-haul law, and
of the fear of ne wand inherently
vicious legislation of the 30-hour
week and train limit law type.
_nfir,_
SECURITY COMES FIRST
There are two main reasons for
the exceptional record of stabil
ity and safety made by the life
insurance industry during years
of unparalleled stress.
First, the whole investment pro
gram of life insurance has but
one watchword: Maximum safety.
The men entrusted with the hand
ling, investing, selling and rein
vesting of life insurance assets
are thoroughly trained and are
intimately in touch with indus
trial conditions throughout the
country. They have expert fact
finding organizations at their dis
posal. which produce important
information long before the pub
lic is aware of it. In brief, they
provide what the average investor
is absolutely unable to provide
for himself—scientific, realistic,
hard-headed security analysis that
makes few mistd.es. As oae life
insurance executive has said,
‘ Eternal care and study in selec
tion is the price of safety'
Second, life niurance assets are
widely distributed—both from the
standpoint of geography, and the
type of holding For example, the
investment set-up of a represen
tative life company is something
like this Government bonds, 9.9
per cent; railroad obligations, 15
per cent; public utility obliga
tions, 9.4 pe rcent; other bonds
an dstoeks, 3.1 per cent; farm
mortgages. 7.9 per cent; other
mortgages. 24.7 per cent ; policy
loans. 17.7 pe rcent; real estate
5.8 per cent; cash, 2.5 per cent,
miscellaneous, 4 per cent.
Wide distribution of risk to ob
tain maximum security, is the
guidi gnprineiple of life insur
ance. The experience during de
pression shows how sound that
principle is.
Mother?—Let your boys be Guide
newsboys. Send them to the Omaha
Guide Office. 2418-20 Grant Street.
Notice. Subscribers: If you don’t
sret your paper by Saturday, 2 p. m..
'•all Webster 1750. No redaction in
subscriptions unless request is com
plied with. . ••
1 11» *