EDI70RIALS
THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published every Saturday at 24618-8# Grant Street.,
Omaha, Nebraska
Phone WEbster 1750
Entered as Second Claes Matter March 15, 1W7, at the Post Of
fice at Omaha, Neb., uudcrtheActof Congress of liaroh 3, 1879
TERMS OP SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YBAB
Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God and
the Brotherhood of Man moat prevail. These are the
enly prioiples which will stand the acid test, of good
YOU CAN’T GET AWAY WITH IT
NOTE-—Fake accident racketeers are an insidious threat
to every honest business and individual. Agencies of justice
are bringing them to book and continue to do so with your help.
This is one of a series of articles describing some of the tricks
of the racketeers. Watch out for them yourself.
THE TACK SWALLOWER
When Boris Kikovsky swallowed a brass tack he thought
he had really swallowed a gold mine. He decided to make
money on the mishap, not in a circus sideshow or on the stage,
but in the fake claim racket. He was successful—for a time.
In playing his simple act, Boris traveled from town to town.
In a strange city he picked out the best restaurant, entered and
ordered a meal. Half way through it he sprang to his feet with
a blood-curdling yell. “ J have swallowed a tack !” he screamed.
The startled restaurant manager usually sought to quiet
him until he reached a doctor, bu Boris continued his noise as
part of the act. He demanded x-rays, which inevitably revealed
the tack nestling prettily in his insides. Afraid of a civil suit,
the restaurant proprietors made quick settlements—and large
ones.
Then Boris made the mistake of trying his racket on a
member of the Index Bureau System of the National Burenu
of Casualty and Surety Underwriters. Investigations revealed
long lists of eating places where the faker had eaten a tack.
Medical examination disclosed that although there actually was
a tack in his stomach, it was held there harmlessly by a growth
of skin.
An operation removed it, and Boris entered on his prison
sentence admitting, “You can't get away with it.’’
“WITHOUT COST TO THE “TAXPAYER”
Would it be worthwhile for the nation to establish a public
utility policy, which, in effect, said’ “Go ahead, utilities! You
will be regulated, but fairly. Wild-catters in your midst will
be ferreted out and given a dose of strong medicine. Any
crooks will he punished to the full extent of the law. Adequate
laws will be set up to protect consumers and investors from ex
ploitation. Well-managed utilities and their investors will be
protected and allowed to make a reasonable profit.*'
Well, if countless experts are to be believed, such a policy
would do more than anything else to create confidence and spur
us along the road to recovery. Only the fear of governmental
competition nnd legislative strangulation prevents the utiliies
from spending something like a billion dollars a year on new
construction. That money would go largely into the durable
goods industries, and provide employment all along the line.
It would create new taxable wealth and help prevent threatened
tax inereeses. It would open up investment and development
opportunities in a dozen great industries.
Going farther, it is an important fact that the more power
the utilities sell, the higher their standards of efficiency be
come—and the sooner justified rate reductions are affected. It’s
a continuous circle that never ends. Greater power demand calls
for more facilities—moro facilities permit lower rates—and
everybody reaps the benefits.
We all want the best and cheapest electric service—we all
want to use moro appliances and electric gndgets. We all want
a greater share in the blessings of electric power. The private
utility industry is ready to go ahead and give us all this without
new burdens on the taxpayers if it is freed from the dread hand
of government strangulation.
$16,000,000,000 WORTH OP SECURITY
We are accustomed to astronomic figures these days. We
think of a billion dollars as we used to think of a million, and a
mere hunlred thousand seems insignificant.
Even so, recently published figures concerning the life in
surance industry should cause the reader to think twice about
the service the industry is rendering the nation.
During the year 1935, life insurance payments totaled
$2,600,000,000—of which $1,700-000,000 went to living policy
holders, and only $900,000,000 to beneficiaries. No one knows
how much of that great sum was received by persons in strait
ened circumstances, to whom it meant the difference between
comfort and privation, but it is certain that a substantial
part of it served that purpose. For the six-year period begin
ning in 1930, life insurance paid out over 16 billion dollars—
dollars which kept homes from foreclosure, businesses from fail
ure- and individuals from dire want.
Quietly and efficiently, the life iusurance industry has done
a magnificent piece of wrork in bringing social security to mill
ions of foresighted, thrifty citizens.
SWAP YOUR AUTO FOR A HORSE
If foreign countries are destroying the wealth ami the
savings of their citizens with confiscatory taxes which make
life a burden, why should the United States follow their
eiamplet
Ever so often the people are offered as an excuse for rap
idly increasing taxes, the statement that they are not yet tax
ed as highly as the citizens of England or some other country.
Well, why should we be! That question is never answered.
Now that the 1937 federal budget with an admitted biliion
and-a-half deficit, has been knocked into a cocked hat by loss
! of processing taxes and an over-two-billion-dollar bonus obli
gation, plus an undertermined relief expenditures, the tax-rais
ers are looking for new sources of income.
One plan that reports say has been suggested in Washing
ton, is for a tax levy on the horsepower of automobiles. It is
pointed out that England, France and Italy have such a tax.
There are some 25,000,000 motor cars in the United States.
, It is estimated that iw they average 20 horsepower each, they
furnish 500,000,000 horsepower available for taxation. A tax
of one-half cent per day per horsepower, would yield $912,500,
000 a year, or $1,825,000,000 a year if the levy were increased
to 1 cent per day per horsepower.
Automobile owners are already paying approximately one
billion dollars a year in Federal, state and local taxes. So what
does another billion more or less amount to! A penny per day
per horsepower, for a 20-horsepower ear, would be only 20 cents
a day, or $73 a year on top of present taxes.
The scheme sounds wild and impossible but we already bid
fair to be record breakers in other taxes, so why not trail along
and become Europeanized on our automobile taxes! No matter
how you figure public expenditures, they all come out of the
common citizen's pocket.
__ _ __
DYNAMITE IN YOUR KITCHEN
-.
Your kitchen contains everyday materials potentially as
dangerous as dynamite!
This was demonstrated recently in an apartment house,
when a tenant decided to bake a cake. In gathering together
the ingredients, she discovered that the flour, which she had
poured out into a dish, contaned bugs. She stepped over to the
ineinerntor, the shaft of which ran up past all the apartments
opened the door and emptied the dish.
As she closed the door- a volcano seemed to erupt. A terrif
ic explosion shook the pl|ace and a sheet of flame swept from
the shaft into the kitchen, disfiguring the girl for life. The
doors of the incinerator shaft were torn off in all apartments
and great damage was done on each floor. Several persons
were sent to the hospital. And yet, only a smtall quantity of
flour was emptied into that incinerator—perhaps a pound and
a quarter!
What happened to cause this great and unexpected explo
sion T The National Hoard of Fire Underwriters offers this ex
planation:
As the powdery substance was thrown into the. incinerator
it separated and many minute particles floated in the air, caus
ing a dust cloud that exploded ns soon as it came in contact
with the fire at the bottom of the incinerator shaft.
Com starch acts similarly under certain conditions. Ac
cumulations of dust, such ns are removed from vacuum cleaners
I or carpet sweepers, unless compressed into a matted mass, are
also hazardous. A shovelful of dry coal dust, if thrown loosely
j over a fire, could cause a devastating explosion and will, in any
| event, cause a dangerous flash-back.
The way to avoid dust explosions is to keep the material
in a compact mass. When disposing of dust, it should be put
in bag or wrapped up securely. Then there will be no possibil
ity of its separating and forming m dust cloud.
As the bajority of the thousands of deaths annually caused
by fire occur in homes, this recommendation should be placed
high on your “ Safety First ’’ list.
ARE TVA RATES TOO HIGH?
A great, deal lias been heard of the low electric rates estab
lished by the TVA in certain southern communities Tt has been
claimed that if the TVA program could bo spread to other parts
of the nation, it would create an electric paradise, wherein wo
could use all the current we want, and pay next to nothing for
it.
Maybe so! But, in a recent March of Time news-reel, which
delineated TVA acts and objectives, Wendell L. Willkie, Pres
ident of the Commonwealth and Southern Corporation, which
has given a large part of the south improved electric service at
declining rates- for many years, was called upon for his
opinion. Mr. Willkie. who is generally regarded as one of the
most progressive of utility leaders, and who is certainly not a
man given to wild and unprovable statements, said: “TVA can
.sell power more cheaply only by charging the deficits to the
i federal taxpayer, which means even-body in the U. S.. and by
bookkeeping methods which so amazed the Comptroller General
of the U. S. that he issued one of the most caustic reports of
recent governmental history.”
.tie then added the most startling statement of all—that
if the government would give his company the same subsidies
now received by TVA, it would promise to undercut the much
publicized TVA rate structure by at least 25 percent!
Similar challenges have been made in the past—and it is
a matter of record that not a single governmental official in
volved in this great socialistic experiment has clearly, fact
ually and understandably refuted the criticism. That is some
thing for citizens of the whole nation to think about. The gov
ernment is undertaking many vast hydroelectric developments,
and still others are proposed. Continuance and extension of
the TVA plan will mean that the taxpayers must put up bil
lions to erect unnecessary and subsidized federal electric plants
to unfairly compete with private enterprises whose rates, it is
claimed, could be materially reduced if they were given equal
advantages.
ALTA VESTA
A GIRL’S PROBLEMS
(By Videtta Ish)
Dear Alta Vesta:
Since I am in a hurry I shall
answer one or two of your ques
tions right now. You like birds
and other people because there is
kindness in your heart Your dear
mother was one of the most kind
ly souls that ever lived, so it is
natural that you should be so.I em
phasize that kindness not only
pays in winning friends, but it al
so pays in the happiness afforded
to the individuals who practice it
Now, as to these girls who
threaten not to play with you,
they are giving evidence of the
grossest kind of unkindness. Kind
ness should know no class, race or
condition except that those most
greatly in need should be helped
first, and most Renvember, dear,
it is true, as the Bible tells us that
more happiness comes from giv
ing than from receiving.
With an abundannce of love to
Aunt Cornelia and you.
Your Father
LOYALTY OF MINISTERS'
WIVES
By R. A. ADAMS
(For Literary Service Bureau) 1
_ !
Much is said and written in
praise of loyal ministers of the gos
pel, the thing which they suffer
and the sacrifices they make, but
as a general rule little is said of
the women who walk and work be
side them, and who suffer and sac
rifice with them and for them.
These women have made their
contributions and at a terrible
price- Often they have been shabby
and ashamed, and sometimes per
haps many time, have lacked suf
ficient nutriment- They have
been deprived of necessary com
forts and conveniences which mean
so much today- And, as a general
thing their misfortunes and de
ficencies have been endured with
out complaint.
But, there is another phase of
this loyalty, and it is this bhat I
have in mind. I refer to the atti
tude of the ministers' wives when
their husband are victims of slan
der and calumny, and even when
they have been guilty of moral de
partures.
I have in mind right now, a wo
man who, as a minister’s wife,
saved him from ruin. She knew he
was guilty. In fact, in his desper
ate situation, he told the truth to
his wife and threw himself on her
mercy- This woman gave false tes
when he had confessed that he was
at the place set forth in the accus
ation; and she prevented his con
viction. There have been and are
thousands of such worrae", and they
aro deserving of the highest
praise.
Calls For New
Political Party
As Congress Opens
Chicago, Fab. 20—(A \ l’)—j
Bombarding the New Beal, nig
ged individualism, both major
political parties, and calling at
tenion to the threat of fascism
and a world war, A. Phillip
Randolph, absent president of
1 l«r» National Negro Congress,
cal'ed for the intelligently mil
itant union of Negro and white
workers in a new farm-labor
political party for the econom
ic betterment of the masses.
Ilis address was read Friday
night by Atty. C. W. Burton,
chairman of the congress.
Randolph also hit other cur
rent economic and soeinl phen
omena. He flayed discrimina
tion in labor unions, capitalism,
unemployment* the American
Liberty League, William Iian
■do’iph Hearst and his publica
tions, Father Coughlin and the
Townsend plan. Salvation can
be expected from neither the
Republicans nor the Democrats
nor from whites alone, the lead
er declared, adding that Ne
groes must take the initiative.
For remedies, Randolph urg
ed the breaking down of the
color hnr in trade unions, sen
sible mass demonstrations, a un
ited front, a new farm-lobar po
litical party and support of
John Lewis in his industrial
'unionism program.
NO SURRENDER TO YEARS |
by R. A. ADAMS
for the Literary Service Bureau
Because my years are few,
Do not suppose
I’ll sit supinely down,
And life’s book close,
Counting my work all done,
And wait for setting sun.
Some may surrender make,
But ne’er shall I,
I’ll strive till comes the time
For me to die,
Then having done my best
Lie down to peaceful rest
HAPPENINGS THAT AFFECT
THE DINNER PAILS OF
EVERY INDIVIDUAL
Nothing startling has occurred
in the business world of late. No
important industry has made great
gains as yet this year—none has
experienced severe retrogression
from the levels attained at tha
end of 1935. That fact has caused
business commentators to feel con
siderable optimism. They are be
ginning to fgure that the “visi
ble” future will not be marred by
major swings either upward or
downward, and that industry as a
whole is on a relatively even keel,
and may look ahead to slow but
steady recovery.
By and large, January business
activity was the best in five years,
even as 1935 was the best year to
date since the depression got its
hold on American industry. The
most accurate industrial barom
eters place business at around 76
per cent of “normal”— normal, in
most cases, being established as
the average for year such as ’23,
’24 and ’25, when business was
good, but not spectacularly so.
Business Week has reported that
“confidence in the next few
months improvement continues
strong.” This is largely due to the
appearance of earnings reports
from many important industries
These reports are uniformly bet
ter than were anticipated—com
pany after company which had
broken even or suffered losses for
five years, is now in the black
again. Companies which had dis
continued dividends have resumed
them, and -others which had cut
dividends have increased them
Some specific business items,
taken from various authoritative
sources, follow;
Construction: During January,
heavy construction totaled almost
$290,000,000, as compared with
$160,000,000 in January, 1936. Pub
lic building still dominates the con
struction picture, but more and
more private projects are coming
to light
Textiles: Wool -prices continue
the rise started last year, with
salas good. It is said that stocks
are low, and that heavy importing
is imminent.
Utilities: Electric power demand
is increasing beyond expectations,
causing many companies to in
crease and revamp construction
budgets. The industry has announ
ced it will spend about $400,000,000
for capital improvement this year,
some think that figure is low and
will be increased. Spokesmen for
the industry say that if they were
freed from fear of governmental
"competition and persecution”
utility budgets would pass the
$1,000,000,000,000 mark.
Steel: Is operating at 60 per cent
of capacity. Railroads and utilities
are buying more of the essential
metal, as are machine tool makers
and farm implement companies.
Future of steel is obviously deter
mined practically 100 per cent by
particularly heavy industry.
Motors: This is the off season
for the car makers, largely be
cause of the weather. Even so,
January was much better than the
month has been for a number of
years. Rumors of ambitious plans
for 1937 cars are leaking out, and
many car makers are planning ex
tensive and expensive retooling
programs. Used cars, with which
all markets are glutted, constitute
ore of the industry's annoying
problems It is forecast that mak
ers may carry on a campaign to
rid the highways of “wrecks”, pay
ing dealers bonuses for old cars
that are completely junked.
Employment: The unemployed
total is going down, but the fig
ure is still plenty large.Business
Week says that in December it fell
below 9,000,000 for the firt time
since 1931, and though no end of
other estimates are available, this
is probably close to the truth- The
tendency is still slowly downward.
Political events, of course, can
cause drastic changes in business
conditions, and a general election
is always unsettling. However,
more and core of the commenta
tors are saying that 1936 may dis
prove the old and not always true,
saying that an election year must
be a bad business year.
nr * ■■■ ■■■■■»■ m ■
i PROVERBS i
l AND l
l PARABLES \
^ by A. B. MANN i
VJVSVWAWWVWA'AV.V.V
for The Literary Service Bureau
KISSES ARE DECEITFUL
Some kisses are doubtless
sincere, but it is a safe bet that
the vast majority of them are not
so—they are deceitful. A minister’s
wife looked out and saw a woman
of the church approaching. Her re
action was unfavorable. She said
angrily, “Here comes that old Mrs.
Sb-and-So, and I wish she would
n’t come here, because I hate her;
I hate her in my heart.”
The woman rang the door bell
The minister’s wife went to the
door, and actually kissed the vis
itor saying, “I am so glad you
have come; I wanted to see you
You know you are welcome here at
any time " Yes, some kisses are
sincere, but no doubt many more
are deceitful. Why give them, then?
SERMONETTE
By Arthir B. Rhinow
For The Literary Service Buretn
BOOKS THAT HELP
A minister bold me of an eleva
tor accident in which his son was
killed
“The shock was so severe," he
continued, “that it made my mind
reel, and only gradually was I able
to regain control of myself. Then
I overcame and experienced a
deepening of faith such as only
comes through sorrow. While I was
still struggling, J earched my li
brary for books that had helped
me in the past and might comfort
me now "
Knowing him as I did, I believe
ho found such books, and I know
he was comforted as he read them.
And as I think of the incident and
how bravely my friend stood the
test, I feel like asking the readers
of my sermonettes whether they
have any book that would comfort
them in sorrow. They would have
to be books worth reading more
than once, books that offer peace
for strife, strength for weakness,
and the assurance bhat God’s child
ren never suffer in vain- Sensa
tional fiction is like chaff in the
crises of life, and a treatise of
more knowledge is of little avail.
When the heart is bowed down in
grief, wo need something that will
help us to say, “The Lord ia my
shepherd, I shall not want."
Have you such books?
whileot ,e etaoi etaoi vbg rv
MAXIE MILLER
WRITES |
(F*r the Literary Service Bureau)
(For advice, write to Maxie Mil
ler, care of Literary Service Bur
eau, 516 Minnesota Ava, Kansas
City, Kaos. Hor personal reply
send self-addreesorl stamped en
velope.)
Maxie Miller:
I .‘ijn a woman 48 years old and
still good looking. My husband died
three years ago and i am lone
some- Then I need a man to look
after my property and manage
things for me. A man 24 is in love
with me- He knows I am lots old
er tham him but he says that it
make no difference if I’ll let him
get married to me. People say he
is too young and he just wants my
money Do you think he is too
yioung? Do you think there is a
chance to be happy?—Sarah Jane.
Sarah Jane:
To marry this man means to take
a long chance. Remember when he
reaches forty, not yet in his prime,
you will be sixty-four and at six
ty-four a woman has lost her phy
sical attraction. This man may
love you; you may care for him;
though you do not say so; but, if
you marry him make up your mind
to bear what will come when age
has done its work for you, and he
shall be still "going strong”. You
have a slight chance for happiness
but again, I ay, ‘lit is a gamble
with the odds against you;" and I
advise you to wait and marry a
man nearer your own age
—Maxie Miller
1
The Brazilian government has
formulated a new code regulat
ing the cultivation, preserva
tion and cutting of timl>er and
|extraction of forestry products.