COMMENTS EDITORIAL PAGE OPINIONS I THE OMAHA GUIDE Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street, Omaha, Nebraska Phones: WEbster 1617 or 1618 Entered as Second Class Matter March 16, 1927. at the Postoffice at Omaha, Neb., underAct of Congress of March 3, 1879. *” TDGMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YEAR Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God and the Brother hood of Man must prevail. These are the only principles which will Itai.d the acid test of good. All News Copy of Churches and all Organisations must he in our •ffice not later tnan 6:00 p. m. Monday for current issue. All Adver tising Copy or Paid Articles not later than Wednesday noon, proceed ing date oi issue, to insure publication. _ ..EDITORIALS.. Security and Freedom ■“If you peer ou; on the world today % you will find that wo really have a large measure of freedom. 'There is a place or iwo on this earth Where economic security is more general and is government’ guaranteed—but in those oounKries, there is no freedom. We want both. Wje want, both security and free dorn. Hut we want them bo h as a product '*C ouSr own achiev ing. We weiut' security ws .a produafi of our work. We want freedom as he result of vigilance. We want neit'heT as a gift. —George E. Sokolsky. Tile Electric Age The use of electricity is today 25 tiimeiX wjnat it was 85 years ago, according to W. C. Mullendote, exeeu.ive vice presiden; of the Southern CWjfomia Edison, Company. Its cost is only one third as nuuili now as it was then. This remarkable reduction of cost has been achieved in spite of flue fact that operating expenses of almost a!ll kinds lrnye risen, and the in duStry’s tax bill is 94 times a* great as it was in 1902. Cold figures cannot adequately teN w’hat this remarkable record of service means to the American people. Expressed in human terms, it means that wHefre only a small proportion of lionieq mi joyed tflip blessings <\f efleitric power at the start of the century, more than 80 percent of all homes have electric ity today. It means that we can upc power to operate radios refrigerators, stoves and other labor saving equipment for less than we used to pay for lighting alone. It means the average family’s electric bill is actually less than it* tobauco,' and a great deal less flian it* theatre and amusement bill. It means that hundreds of thousands of fawners have been provided with power that performs swiftly, efficiently and cheaply, tasks of hack breaking severity. Private capital started the electric industry. Private ini tiative and energy developed ft. Vision foresaw its magnifV’ent potentialities. In other lands, where electric developments mre dominated by government, progress has been nowhere near as great. There the dampening hand of politics has deprived peo pfle of electricity’s maximum aids to a happier more comfort able life. We are still in the beginning olf the dlectric age. If we make sure the utility industry is left in the hands of private individuals, under suitable state regulation, and is kept fr»'e from politics and bureaucracy, the futujre will bring wonders that are undreamed of today. The Indirect Cost of Fire “Burned property cannot be replaced” says Paul B. Soon mers, President of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. “It is gone forever, and the nation is poorer by that muck in tangible wealth. Fire brings unemployment, loss of time- and wages and buying power, sometimes cheeking the growth of communities and reaching out a detaining hand to dependent or allied industries.” It is high time we got rid of the wide qpread and completely erroneous idea, that fire insurance gis’es complete protection. Fine insurance is esential to individuals £nd industry alike—but there are risks which no policy can cov M*. UaseS are on record where the destruction of a factory has brought to 8 sudden stop a town’s progress and caused ilt to start on the down grade. Thie factory in the case was undoubt tdly covered by insurance, but the ultimate losfj to the com inunity was infinitely greater than the mere building and ma jterials destroyed. When a fire closes a pla«e of business, perma uently or temporarily, it means the purchasing power of (em pployes is reduced or eliminated entirely. Mortgages and rents g« unpaid. Stores lose patronage. Taxes are lost. Families move away and search for employment elsewhere. Property values decline and the entire life of the community is affected. The direct annual fire loss in this country can be tabu* lated—it amounts to several hundreds of millions of dollars. .This is a gigantic sum, but the indirect loss which cannot be put down exactly in figures, is many times as great and per haps runs into the billions. When we prevent a fire by simple precautions that eliminate most of the hazards in homes and places of business, we ante safeguarding jobs, savings, earn ings, security, thus putting dollars in our pockets. DELINQUENT SUBSCRIBERS—PLEASE NOTICE The postoffice department does net permit the delivery ef papers to delinquent subscribers. If your payments are not np to date, please mail or bring amount due to The Guide office jor call WEB1517 for representative: Your cooperation will be reatly appreciated' T*1® Management Economic Us fir# Every President, according to American political tradition, is giv f n a "congressional honeymoon"— that Is, for a certain period time, long or short as the case may be, his suggetion and requests of Con gross are received with almost un namious appeal and are enacted into law. He is aced by no major defections from his party ranks, and his floor leaders need give but little effort to keeping "the boys in line.” In our recent history, the. short est honeymoon was that of Presi dent Hoover, who had to deal with a hostile Congress within two years after his election—a circumstance that had much to do with his crush ing dpfeat when he ran for re election. The longest honeymoon has been that of President Roosevelt. For four years, every major policy he advocated was approved with a minimum of debate. He received no set backs from Congress. In such matters as disbursment of govern ment money, he was given almost a free hand. He had bills written by his advisors, sent them to Con gress and saw them made into law within a few days. Never was the authority of the Executive so broad ened. To say that this honeymoon is now over is simply to state an ob vious fact, aparent to both friends and opponents of the New Deal. Cause of the split was the Court Bill. Ultimate efflects of the split are today the subject for guessing, forecasting and editorializing by everyone in the coutry who takes an interest in politics. The death of Senator Robinson— who, through his great personal popularity, ability and mastery of the complicated parlimentary tech nique, was able to keep the Senate running like a well-oiled Adminis tration machine for four years— was a serious blow to the President. But the seeds of discontent have been brewing for a long time. Even had Mr. Robinson secured passage of the Court Bill, which is extreme ly doubtful, the breach between ■Congress and the White House wouldinevitably have widened. Fac ed with no effective Republican op position, the overwhelming Demo cratic majority has been gradually breaking into a number of opposed, restive factions. The upshot ox this, as the Wash ington columnists have been writ' ing, is clear. The Court Bill—per haps the most importat piece of legislation proposed by the. Admin istration—is definitely dead. There will be no increase in Supreme Court membership, no proctor, and no increase in the membership of the lower Federal courts unless a definite need for judges is shown. It is probable that bill will be of fered whereby the progress of cases ivolving Constitutional questions from District court to the Supreme Court, will be expedited, and the Attorney General will be empower ed to appear in lower court cases when the constitutionality of a Fed eral law is questioned. These minor reforms have long been advocated by conservatives and liberals alike, and will not stir opposition. Furthermore, the other “must” bills on the Administration’s five point legislative program for this session are definitely in danger— the chances, say the experts, are against them passing. These bills would fix minimum wages and max imum hours for industry in inter state commerce; reorganize the government department and bur eaus; provide for low cost housing; plug up loopholes in the tax laws, and set up a new farm plan, based on the “ever normal grannary.” Potent remarks came recently from Representative Woodrum, a strong White House adherent, who said that if the Administration insisted on passing an ambitious legislative program such as this, “Congress will still he here when the frost is on the pumpkin.” The revolt, in brief, has reached a highly advan ced stage. The effects of this on the coun try is gradually becoming clear. First, the chances are strongly against any additional “experimen tal legislation” on a wide scale. Se cond, the possibility of a split in Democratic ranks, that will result in a new party, with the conserva tive southern Dmocrats joining with the Republicans, becomes con stantly greater. Third, the Presi dent’s power and hold over Con gress is waning. Fourth, as recent Calvins Digest By Floyd J. Calvin ^ Dr. Work's Thesis It is encouraging to note in the current Social Forces, an article by Dr. Monrot N. Work on “Adjust ment of Race and Class in the South,” which outlines an ap proaching change in the economic life of the South, out of which will come better racial relations. The article was presented at the south ern Sociological Society in Birm" ingham, Ala. last April. Dr. Work says: ‘‘As the new ec ono m y, agricultural industrial commercial comes more and more into the South, there will be greater and greater conformity be tween the economic order and the political and moral orders. The evils surrounding the production of cot ton, both economic and social and growing out of ante bellum folk ways and modes, will tend to be eliminated. There will be a new basis of relationship between land lord and tenant. This new economy will provide a situation in which there will bt not only economic co operation, but also cooperation, but also cooperation between race and race and between class and class, so that the interests of all the peo ple will be conserved.” Dr. Work explains the practical side of his prophecy as follows: "At the present time, agriculture has, in the main, a two fold em phasis: the production of food and clothing for man, and foodstuffs for animals. In this new economy there would be a three fold emphas is in agriculture—the two already mentioned and a third, the growing of products for use in industry. This new innovation calls for: (1) new uses of old products as sweet potato; (2) the use of waste pro ducts as okra stalks, cotton stalks and cotton linters, this latter now being used in the making of insu lation boards; (3) the use of pro ducts growing in an area but not being used, as for example, the use of slash pine in the manufacturing of paper; (4) the introduction of new plants into an area, as for example, the introduction of the soy bean and the tung tree into sec tions of the South, the latter for manufacturing of tung oil now largely used in industry and in ad main imported. The former in ad dition to use as forage is also made into a lacquer forpainting auto mobiles. surveys, such as that made by Fortune*, indicate, he New Deal is slipping in public esteem, even though Mr. Roosevelt, as a person ality, still commands the admira tion of millions of voters. This is all true, whether Congress adjourns tomorrow or next near. The attitude of the Preident, ap parently, is that he will continue to insist on approval of his plans and will opposp, indirectly, the renomin ation of Democrats who are against him, such as Van Nuys and Wheel er. Not since the war has the poli tical situation been so chaotic and so full of dynamites. ‘‘It is estimated that the new ; industries which are arising as the result of the use of agricultural products in industry, will give em ployment not only to a greater part of the surplus population of the South, but would divert thousands of farmers now engaged in cotton growing and other profitable pur suits to tht more profitable grow the new industries that are already developing as the result of grow ing of agricultural products for use in industry and paper mills, sweet potato starch mills, tung oil plants, nnd power alcohol plants.” Here is food for though for the South and the Nation; for the plan ter, for the industrialists, for the agriculturalists, educators and race relation ists. NNIA Report One of the new rules adopted at the last meeting of the National Negro Insurance Association in Augusta, Ga., in May was that the proceedings of the organization be published within ninety days. After a whirl wind of effort on the part of the publication committee, the job is complete and the attractive ly printed 182 page booklet is in the hands of interested persons. The bringing out of the book so soon after the meeting gives the membership of thd organization a chance to study from the record and put into practice some of the plans, methods and ideas brought to the insurance fraternity at great sacrifice of time from rou tine business for special study and investigation. Formerly, publication was too late for this opportunity. According to Cyrus Campfield, sta ticiation of the Association, th© insurance business among Negroes in America, at the beginning of. this year, was $320,000,000 with over 18 million policies n force. According to G. W. Cox, chair* man of the National Negro Insur ance Week program last May 17 to 22, the goal of 10 million dollars in new business for all the companies together was over produced by nearly two million dollars, by near ly 8 thousand colored insurance salesmen of the country and that “the new income, as a result of the strong conservative program, will exceed six hundred thousand dollars a year.” The papers read before the body now published by the Association, reutct credit upon the organization upon the companies represented by the writers, and upon the authors themselves. Among these are “The Scientific Approach to Modern Trends in Life Insurance Practices” by Miss E. O. Tibbs, actuary of the Afro-American Life Insurance Com pany, Jacksonville, Fla.; ‘Some of the Local Aspects of Life Insurance from the Claims Point of View,” by S. B. Thomas of Pilgrim Health and Life of Augusta: and ‘ Immed iate Problems Facing Our Com panies,,” by G. D. Rogers of Cen tral Life of Tampa, Fla., who is the new president of the Association. j BROOZE Standouts Q\t\t KEMlf£)r MAS OPENED A LONG RUN M I ; DIXONKAFE IN SHARON HHL.PHIIAJ COMELY STAGE STAR WHOSE RAPID RISE TO STARDOM HAS SET THE EAST AGOCi. Ct M®#* * WHOSE FINE VOICE AND CHARACTER ACTING HAS WON FOR HIM MANY OUTSTANDING MOVIE PARK. „ g> 1957 I«T8f) cooperation and of adapting ourselves to changes taking place constantly in so cierty. Let us) as a group get away from prewar training handed down to us by the un scrupulous slave owners, that one is better than thd other simply beeause of color, educa tlonal opportunity or parental t» him and said: “You’d better stand up, my friend. We all feel about it the way you do, but it’s not safe to show it.” This suppression of free speech, however, is not be taken simply as evidence of an emotional fanatic ism gone hay-wire, but illustrates a basic tenet of the Nazi philosophy that Das Volk—the people—coma first, and that the individual’s rights and interests are subordinate to those of the society as a whole. The people irusl be taught the Naii doctrines as unquestioned stand ards of conduct. All hostile criti cism would .laterally tend to weak en this popular solidarity. Accord ingly, the man on the street, the newspaper reporter, the teacher, are compelled to get into line and sacrifice their individual opinions and rights of —pression to the cause of the national unity and advancement of national interest. This line of reasoning, of course, rests the assumption that the Nazi doctrines are in the best inter ests of the German people. Such an assumption can be satisfactorily tested only by the future. In the meantime, for the sake of the potential creations of a people that has already displayed its real abilities in the past, one hopes that they will achieve some sort of lib eral basis for their governing, and that such policies as the suppres sion of free speech, the anti-Semitic program, and the excessive social regimentation of individual living be gradually modified and event ually eliminated. I-- — '1 .—.—I Another column of discus sion by a member of the Uni versity of Omaha faculty will appear in this space next week. I connections, but instead let us present a solid united front of mass' action, get away from the one track mind of class dis tinoiion unless We perish, and fight forward for our own eco domic and sioei|al freedom/ re membering the time has come that Black America cannot let things slide along in the hope everything wild turn out all right in the end without any effort, on pur part. This is in deed an age of militant action, when all must tfigjht in order to receive, else all may perish as did the once powerful dino sanria. NOTE:—Each week your corres pondent takes his pen in hand and writes on local issues as he sees it. Written comments on these Echos will be welcomed. Just address your letters to "An Echo From My Den” Omaha Guide, 2418 Grant Street, Omaha, Nebr. -o Illinois Mayor Asks Courtesies for Negro Lobor Delegates (Continued from Pag® 1) But Mayor Orr, in his address of welcome at the convention’s open ing meeting, made more specific his demand that the colored delegates be fairly treated. He prefaced his speech as follows: ‘‘Before I begin my address of welcome, there is something which I wish to get off my chest. There has been a lot of propaganda about the ill treamient of Negroes by ci tizen of LaSalle. Any Negro com ing into the city of LaSalle to at tend the Illinois Sate Federation of Labor convention, are going to r& ceive the same kind of treatment, receive the same accomodations and the same courteous consideration that white men are going to receive. I have instructed the police de partment to arrest and fine heavily anybody who is discourteous to a»y , Negro during his stay in this town.” _