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«T8<N*TI3llAL KBQRP PRBS« j
Free Speech In Nazi Germany
By DR. HARRY A. ROSITZKE,
Assistant Professor of English, University of Omaha
(Editor s Sole; Dr. Rositzke has traveled extensively in Europe and recently
•cent nine months in the Hamburg experimental phonetic laboratory in Germany.)
The National Socialist government in Germany is found
ed on a complete negation of all liberal principles. It not only
opposes the democratic principle in politics as well as eco
nomics, but in the radical muzzling of all free expression it
most sharply violates basic liberal doctrines.
The Nazi policy not only insists
on the throttling of political op
position, but rigorously looks upon
even the most minor and casual
, criticisms of the
; existent regime
! as good ground
for membership
I in its numerous
| concentra t i o n
! camps.
Two farmers
in a country tav
ern are discuss
ing the price
9*. Boeitik* of pork. One
complains that his returns aren’t
sufficient to pay his feed-bill, is
overheard by a conscientious Nazi
at the next table, and gets three
months in a concentration camp.
Phones Are Checked
A Hamburg importer, during a
telephone call to Berlin, criticizes
the practicality of the new restric
tions on fat imports. He is over
heard and reported by his office
boy and ends up in the same place.
These are concrete indications of
a policy that not only violates the
basic right of the individual to put
into words his private thoughts and
bis reactions to his environment,
but, considered practically, makes
mountains out of extremely small
bnole-hills.
An interesting by-product of this
official mouth-taping is the rapid
growth and steady flourishing of a
vast number of jokes making sport
of government figures and policies
to work off the intellectual steam
bottled up by the Nasi dictator
ship.
Hitler Anecdote
! One of the comr-onest, though
not one of the best, of these jokes
is the one about Hitler attending a
moving-picture theatre. During
the newsreel Hitler’s picture ap
peared on the screen, and everyone
stood up and cheered—everyone
but Hitler. His neighbor turned to
'/ ' -=^TT.—-TTS.--. . =
An Echo
From My Den
By S. E. Gilbert
As I sit here in my den with
pen in hand meditating as it
were, I am thinking of the
great orientation of the world
today; and thus I write. Dur
ing the prehistoric days there
roamed the world an animal
that is now to be found only
in the museums of natural his
tory in its skeleton form. The
huge annimals were provided
by nature with an armored
body, huge flails, small front
legs and tiny heads) containing
about % pint) ojf brains. The
huge lizards were once mon
archs of all they surveyed} but
as time marched on the 70 foot
beast known as dinosauria van
ished.
The dinosauria had one track
minds and very small minds at
that. As long as the world in
wh.ich they lived, remained as
they found it they prospered.
The dinos(auria perished be
cajjse the world around them
changed its form and they be
ing unable to change du^ to
their one track mind, couldn’t
survive and thus they perished
Lake] ulnto the fate that be
fell the dinosauria will come a
similar fate to black America
unless we as a group Learn the
value y>f) 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.” _
