COMMENTS EDITORIAL PAGE opinions I
THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant Street,
Omaha, Nebraska
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Entered as Second Class Matter March 16, 1927, at the Postoffice at
Omaha, Neb., underAct of Congress of March 3, 1879.
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Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of God and the Brother
hood of Man must prevail. These are the only principles which will
stand the acid test of good.
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ing date of issue, to insure publication.
..EDITORIALS..
<
Lighted Cigarette—$70,000 Gone
A short time ago a cureless Oregon motorist tossed a eig
arette from his car. An area of 5,000 acres, covered with good
young timber, iwas burned. A$ the present average l-’mber
price, that means $70,000 in payrolls and supplies was lost to
the satt: And, according to a conservation authority, “It will
really amount to a Joss of over $1,000,000 in the future re
sources of .he state.’’ Many decades are required before a
burned tree is replaced and the land becomes valuable again.
'Preventing fire is said tube 75 per cent of reforests ion. And
more than HO percent of all forest fires arc man made. In ev
cry lumber state, you can sec thousands of ghostly acres, eov
crcd ;wi h only the blackened stumps of once great trees^—
(i'rtin remembrances to ignorance and carelessness.
Every individual owes his follow citizens an obligation
•when he goes into the woods, or drives in timbered country.
That obligation is easily discharged—but failure to,do so may
result in the loss of millions, and the ruin of irreplaceable nat
ural beauties. Take the utmost cure with smoking maetrials—
and don’t throw matches and butts, even if you ,do feci they
are out, from your ear. Watch eampfijres like jn hawk, and
when you leave, saturate them and bury with dirt. Obey laws—
especially local rulings that are put into effect during fire
seasons in areas where hazards are especially great.
Remember forests are our heritage, and it is up to us to
dissipate or conserve that magnificent legacy.
He Saved Money—But!
Some years ago the Pulitzer Prize award for the best car
toon of the year went to John T. McCuttchoou. It was of a sad
and shabby man seated on a park bench. A squirrel playing
in front of him asked: “Why didn’t you save your money t”
The derelict replied, “1 did.”
Thousands of men have saved their money—only to lose
it at an age when their fortunes could not oe rebuilt For
saving is one thing, and security of principal is another. On
happily, they don't always go together.
Every man should place a large part of his savings m
some plan such as life insuriuicb, that, guarantees tho maxi
mum of security. Only the spare dollars should be used for
speculation—for \eniuifs, though they may return i great
profit, may also result in 100 par cent, loss of the principal
employed Before tnl ing risks, it is essential to build a sc mid
financial bulwark for the future
The Price of Speed
As evryone knows, speed is the great highway killer. A
motorist who drives at an excessive speed endangers not only
his own life, but those of everyone else on the public streets
and roads, lie can offer but one (‘excuse” for his conduct—
that superfast driving gets him to his destination sooner.
The truth is, the minutes we save by excessive speed arc
pitiifuiUy few in tihr light of the risk involved. Some time ago
a teat was made in Chicago. A radio announcer was told to
drive his ear on an eight mile trip in heavy traffic, observing
not only every traffic regulation, but every rule of courtesy.
At the same time a police officer followed the same route un
der instructions to take every risk and reach lithe destination
in the shortest possible time. Twenty fhree In'jnut'es later
the reckless driver pulled in at the stopping point. The safe
supposedly slow driver who had taken no risks at all, got to
it two minutes later.
We have nil met the motrist who makes a trip in a
length of time requiring him to risks a hundred lives, and
spends twice the time he saved over a normal, safe passage,
boasting about it. None of us are so busy, none of !us have
so great la need for saving a few minutes or a few hours, that
we can afford the “price of speed."
•'Save ten minutes)—take a. life.” That should be the mot
to of the driver who “opens her up” on every'possible ocen
Bion. Speed alone is the dominating factor in the great bulk
of the nation’s serious trafic accidents. Look at it from yout
own point of view and from a purely personal standpoint—is
it worth it t
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Teatly appreciated’ The Management
Economic Review
The Social Security Act has
created an interesting paradox.
Practically everyone believes
the purpose of the law is good
and the public interests de
mands that provision be made
for the aged and unemployed.
At the same time, practically
every competent economist be
Plieves the present act is badly
drawn, contains the gravest
kind of legislative errors, and
mu it be dras icttlly revised.
This lias been the feeling ev
er since the law was passed.
However, there was no strong
movement for revision, for the
reason the act was inline
ly taken to court in a test of
its constitutionality, and there
was no point in doing anything
about it until that had been de
teruiined. When « few weeks
ago, the Supreme Court held
the act constitutional in two
decisions (one upholdng the un
employment, benefit part of it
by a 5 to 4 vote of the justices,
the other upholding old age
benefits by 7 to 2 majority) it
came again into the public eye
and a definite movement to
maintain its virtues while rid
ding it of its vices is under
way. It is a notable fact that
liberal and radical commcnta
tors wish revision no less than
the conservatives. The more or
less sociaflistie League for In
dustrial Democracy has pub
lished a monograph criticizing
the act, and so has| the Twen
tieth Century Pupid, which
has a board of directors con
sitting largely of prondnent in
dustrialiHlts. And in some ins
tnnees, both radicals ami con
servatives make identical erit
icisms.
Objections to the act are of
varying kinds. Some of the
more important are:
1—Under the wording of the
existing law, all of the funds
raised by taxing employers and
employees for old age insur
anee must he invested in gov
eminent bonds. It is estimated
that the money will total over
$47,000,000,000 by 1980. Tin
national debt (which means the
amount of government bonds
outstanding) is now at a rec
ord peak of about $35,000,000.
000. As a result, if the act is
left unchanged, it will be nee
essary to increase our debt by
$12,000,000,000 in the next 40
odd years to tjake care of the
old age insurance funds alone,
Speech of Hon. A. Phillip Randolph
__
(Continued from Page 1)
nations of the world is about to
sacrifice democracy under the as
saults of Fascism. This represents
a grave situation to mankind. If
democracy is destroyed in Spain,
it may mean the destruction of De
mocracy all over the world.
“We here have seen the plight
of Spain, and have been through
the great depression. We have seen
the attack upon Ethiopia and the
subjection of white people. So you
see in he study of strains and
stresses a conflict between class
even if no government bonds
are then held by corpora ions,
individuals, trust funds, banks
educational ins.itui.ions, etc.
2— There is nothing in the
law to prevent congress from
selling the government bonds
purchased with the Social Sc
curity Fund and spending the
money for any purpose it may
wish. Thus, an irresponsible
Congress might legally dissip
ate the billions of dollars that
workers and employers deposit
to insure a subsidence liveli
hood in old age.
3— Some commentators feel
that the cost of social security
should be borne by the entire
nation, and paid for by gene
ral taxation, not just by taxes
on employers and emplov"
alone. In other words, under
present provisions, the tax acts
as a burden on productive in
dustry, influences employers
toward using more labor sav
ing machinery and against hir
ing more workers. It is some
what in the nature of a class
tax, whereas, say these com
mentators, it should be a gen
eral tax, inasmuch as it is de
signed to increase purchasing
power, which is a benefit to
everyone.
4—The administration ot the
act, to quiote Dorothy Thomp
son, “is incredibly cumber
some, complicated and expen
sive.” According to Abrahmm
Epstein, executive secretary of
the long established America!'
Association for Social Seeur
ity, “Instead of promoting ade
qua'cy of standards and uni
fortuity, the act, encourages a
confusing variety of systems.
Indeed, the act lias already
brought about a miscellany of
48 divergent state plans.”
This does not exhaust the
list of criticisms of the act, but
it outlines the most potent and
important. Congress is listen
ing to the exports, and it is cor
taiii that sentiment within the
body in favor of revision is
growing.
MIZE Standouts I
AWAfHMlKMfms
WHOIE FINE BARITONE VOCE wKj
RECOGNIZED BY THE THEATRE
~ MANAGER-- A
(lo4c(jrIffrn /
THE GOLDEN VOICEo
PRIMA DONA WHO SINGS ('
NIGHTLY OVER WDAS '
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WHO PLAYS A FEATUREM
IN THE WPA PRODUCTION— ;
'THE TRIAtOfDOCTOR BECI<
ffl lmt imuutiMAX. am run I
ea, nationality ana religion. mere
fore, the great cause today is the
cause of peace, because under the
strains of war, minorities that
fight for progress have their ef
orts arrested.
‘Millions of peoples are slaugh
tered and property wasted. Work
ers are victims. We are also cor,
cerned about the maintenance of
the institutions of democracy, be
cause under the maintenance of the
frame work of democracy man
kind moves forward in the van of
progress. The workers are able to
fight for liberation, and for that
reason all the people in the world,
Jews, Negroes, Catholics and the
other groups in America must fight
for the preservation of democracy.
I The. Negro people are essentially
the working people, and our pro
I blems are those of working people.
1 In other words, we have to sell
our labor in the market from day
to day, to get the means to buy
clothing, food and shelter. When
wages are low, living is low. It is
the interest of the workers to fight
for higher wages because it means
life. White workers have the same
exploiters that we do, and have the
same goal. All workers want se
curity on the job in order that they
may not constantly face fear. The
workers want a higher standard of
living which may enable them to
enjoy the culture of our civiliza
tion, and the work of our artists,
and writers, and philosophers, etc.
“Workers need leisure, time in
which to develop the mind, spirit
and soul. Negro workers must build
power because it is obvious that in
this machine age that it is utterly
impossible for the workers to se
cure the things they need without
power. Business interests have po-'
wer. It is a historical fact that
groups that possess power, keep
it. All groups must build power.
The only way Negroes and whites
can build power is to form industi
al unions.
“We have come to the point in
America where the forces that con
trol our lives, the great trust and
holding companies, etc., will crush
the workers unless they are well
organized.
“Because of the rise of mass pro
duction in America today, the
march of specialization and tech
nogical advances, workers must
build structures to combat these
forces; as a result the old craft
form of unionism is now giving
away to Industrial Unionism, be
cause it has the power to combat
the organized powers in steel, rub
ber, automobiles, and various mass
industries of the nation. It is evi
dent that this must constitute the
new form of industrial organization
in this country. And the Negroes
are now participating in and build
these industrial organizations.
‘In Chicago, they have marched
in the van of industrial progress
to win economic security and free
dom. So the problem of'the Negro
today is shifting. It is tied up with
the problem of workers in this na
tion, with the problem of peace,
and with the problem of world
democracy.
“No Negro is safe while one
white worker is in bondage, and no
white worker is safe while one
Negro is a slave. Workers in Am
erica today know that we face a
crisis. The Liberty League, United
States Chamber of Commerce are
attempting to make an association
of American Manufacturers laws
for the incorporation of unions.
“The reasons for the 14th and
16th Amendments not being obser
ved comes not from outside, not
because of race or color, but be
cause of fundamental weakness on
on the part of the Negroes them
selves. In other words, it expresses
an age old saying that whoever is
weak somebody will trample upon
him, black, white, yellow or brown,
somebody will subjugate him. He
is subjugated because he is weak.
He is weak because he lacks or
ganization. Therefore, the. problem
of the Negro people today, is a
problem of organization, unity to
build trade and industrial organi
zation to achieve things. This does
not mean that Negro people should
build for themselves alone. The
trade union movement is a move
ment of white workers, and black
workers, for every body who sells
his labor in the market for wages.
“The unity of Negro workers is
tied up with the unity of white
workers. The unity of black and
white peoples on the industrial
fields is necessary. Is it not be
cause of our disunity in the indus
trial fields that we are now in the
Scepticism In Education
By Wilfred Payne,
Professor of Philosophy at The University of Omaha
t ’ •%
(Editor's Non: Dr. Payne hot been interested in progressive cePkem since
1926, and is the author of five articles on that subject.) ^
When a railroad president announces that a eoHoffe edu
cation is useless, the professors are troubled.
I i ms is Decause iney nave observ
ed that he controls jobs, and they
| fear that he may discriminate
against the product of their insti
| tution, and thus discourage stu
dents. They believe he thinks a
liberal education is useless because
it does not equip the student with
specific skills, but only with a sane
understanding of life. They fancy
| he wishes to employ young men
who have learned to run compto
meters, typewriters, and bookkeep
ing machines.
Blessed with a
liberal educa
tion themselves,
they can not
bring themselves
to agree that the
[ college ought to
t furnish such
, training. They
j believe that the
artisan has his
Dr. Fays* piace in me—ne
is the fabric of society. But they
do not suppose it is their duty to
train artisans.
Tormented by the conflict and a
stubborn loyalty to the ideal goal
of a liberal education, they com
promise. They propose that the
students be liberally educated and
trained in practical arts concur
rently. Thus is bom the curricu
lum content of the contemporary
college.
[ However, the professors are
wrong. They are not wrong in
their loyalty to ideal values. They
are Vrong in their guess as to the
situation that our economic organi
zations cannot meet adequately, the
problems of the Negro people?
‘‘The state chages the forces of
things, and the Negro workers of
America must have political ex
pressions. This political expression
must not be under business inter
“President Wilson said, 'An in
| visible empire has been built in
American democracy, these forces
impinging upon all phases of our
lives because in their hands poli
tical powers are concentrated to
shape our lives and that of the
people of the nation.. ’ The only
way this power can be broken is
by the workers to build their poli
tical power to form a farmer labor
political organization so that work
ers and farmers may give expres
sions to their political aims.
“At this time the Negro people
must take their place in the band
of independent political movements
that will express the interests of
workers and all minority groups
' I am happy to say that Negro
workers are awakening all over the
land. This conference here in Oma
ha is an example. Here today is
an effort to unify all dining car
groups. An efort to bring into be
ing a National Organization. When
this is formed, white and Negroes
will take their place beside the
Pullman Porters Organization.
“To build these structures we
need to develop the new spirit of
struggles, a spirit to fight, a will
to suffer and sacrifice because the
great battle of the people of the
world is bound to be won through
blood and tears. Somebody must
pay the price, somebody must sacri
fice, somebody must be willing to
go to jail, and even give up life it
self.
“The Negro has entered this
struggle into this stage where the
problem is to build power for the
people.
*'I am happy to be here to share
in this struggle. To help build this
organization. That is the spirit of
the Negro worker and white work
er. I am reminded of the works of
Eugene V. Dobbs, that great fight
er and leader as he was lodged in
a Cleveland jail persecuted for his
fight against the war.
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to
pole,
I thank whatever Gods may be
For by unconquerable soul.
I
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced or cried aloud
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond the gate of wrath and
tears
Looms but the borrow of the
shade
i
grounds on which the wosid con
demns a liberal education. It is
the scepticism of the liberally edu
cated man which affronts the worffi,
not his lack of artisan's skill, and
his scepticism affronts because it is
mistaken for cynicism.
It is inevitable that the
blessed with the opportunity af
leisure should deny that there is a
single road to culture and liberal
ism; yet his consistent scepticism
about formulas affronts the less
fortunate ana they account him a
cynic.
Professors are too easily shaken,
and need leadership. The induction
of Dr. Charles Seymour into the
presidency of Yale University, in
October, should give them renewed
courage. He chose that occasion*
to announce, with singular clarity,
a defense of the simple scepticism!
of the liberal mind, confirming the
conviction that freedom, and not
technical skill, is the goal of edu
cation.
Here is reason enough for the
professors to hail the new Prexy as
master, but there is another, and a
very positive reason for the ac
claim. He avers that education
must not content itself with free
dom to seek truth without let or
hindrance. Education must recog
nize that devotion to an ideal larg
er than itself is requisite. Thus
Seymour adds his name to a long
list of masters who have agreed
that man’s life needs justification;
that to live, without living well,
and without a goal, is ungodly. j
THE LOW DOWN
—--from
HICKORY GROVE
BY
JO
SERRA
I was skimmin’ through my
paper and I see where it eon! s
650 million to run the U. S.
Farm Dept., which is newly 2
million a. day; and it is sorted
erablc money.
And I also see that farmers
will raise maybe 800 mlBW»
bushels of wheat. And if they ^
was to sell it for one doMar a
bushel, they would have eauf
left over, maybe, after payin’
the cost of the Agriculture Da
partment, to buy the seed to
p/lant next year.
And when us boys was there
helpin’ our father, he told us
how to tell whether it was gon
na rain by listenen’ to the car_
over on the Wabash, and the
Govt, it don’t predict any dos
er now And we raised as much
corn as they do today, and we
didn’t have any Govt. feller
followin’ us around bellin’ us
things that we could tell him
better than he could tell ufl.
But I reckon if I had a U.
S. automobile and free gas©
line, I would be ridin’ around
too, and tellin’ some fawner
how to feed a calf or some
thing.
Hot ziggity!
Yours, with the low down,
JO SBRRA
And yet the menace of the pass
ing years
Finds, and shall find me, un
afraid
It matters not how straight the
gait,
How charged with punMmamit
the scroll,
I thank whatever Goda mag he
For my unconquerable eOel."
t
"Now I bid you forward to aotkg
for black workers everywhere, #>r
the future belongs to die wtcMag
people.” M