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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1938)
COMMENTS EDITORIAL PAGE OPINIONS |; THE OMAHA GUIDE, } -Dlistn'ii tfety .•aturui.y at .118-9) Grant St. Omaha, 2 ebre ,a Phone Wh^i.u .617 Entered os '-'e,'end Olas* M’Her March 16, 1027, at the Post Office at Omaha. Nebr., «ad«r Act of Congress of March 8, 1870. | ” TER MS OF UBSCRIPTK N J2.C0 PER YEAR ^ ! Race -o-ei ■ be mint go. ’the Fatherhood af God ani li . .otherhood of Man must prevail, j These v>— *' e only principles whii will stand the acid tes! of good. / " « , Copy of Ch’-urches and add Organi sations i’oat be in our office not later than li oo p. m. Monday for curren issue. All Adver tising Co-y or Paid Articles not later than Wednesday noon, proceeding date of issue, to insure publication._ _ EDITORIALS Why hot Face Railroad Facts? The President’s recent message to Congress, in which he pointed to the plight of the rail road industry and stated that it is the duty of our lawmakers to attempt to save the lines frrm impend ng ruin, has agin focused public attend >n on the railroad problem. And no gra ver r*'ustr’al problem exists. The fprts underlying this crisis are vividly detailed by Franklyn Waltman in the Wash ington post. The average wrge of railway em ployes was twice as large in 1936 as in 1916. In 1936 Ihej paid 9 cents rut * J»ch revenue dollar intaxes, as against 6.3 ceRts in 1929. The cost of everything the l'nes use has made especially notable advances since 1932. Yet, in 193,, the freight rate !e\el was 10 per cent lower than in 1929, and the average passenger mile rate was 36.4 per cent lower. To blame the condition of the railroads on excessive capitalization— a common cry of tbore who either misunderstand of deliberately mistake the issue—is an error. According to the ICC the proportion of operation revenue for fixed charges has fallen since 1890, and in 1936 the proportion was 16.9 per. cent—materi ally less than in 1916. Lastly, even less founded is the charge that the railroads have failed to keep pace with the times, and so have unnecessarily lost traffic to their competitors. Freight train speeds in 1937 were almost 50 per cen> higher than in 1923. Locomotive fuel consumption, in spite of this, was the lowes on record. And gross ton-miles per train hour also reached a record mark in 1937. To sum up, the real cause of the railroads cr's's is this: A steady rise in labor and raa teri-1 and tax costs, accompanied by a steady decline in the rates charged for freight and passenger service. The railroads have asked for a “living wage” and have been refused it. It is folly to talk of any “solution/” to the pro lem unless it involves rate adjustments com mensurate with the growin/g cost of carrying on the business. What industry can continously reduce the cost of what it sells and at the same time pay continously more for what it buys, and remain solvent? -_o Devil Take the Taxpayer The story of public electric power develo ment in the state of Nebraska would be high ly ludicrous were it not for the fact that mil lions upon millions of dollars of general tax payers’ money have been sunk in the silt of Nebraska’s “many waters.” Extensive surveys by army engineers and private engineers long ago indicated that the streams of Nebraska are not suited to electric power development. Within the last quarter century numerous attempts have been made in thig direction, and in most instances have fail ed miserably. jBut undaunted and with perverse obstinacy public ownership enthusiasts have builded ditches, dams and power bouses from one end of the state to the other. They have defied nature, dry riverbeds and tons of silt. According to Ernest R. Ajbrams of the New York Sun, out of $94,526,000 allotted for non federal power projects by WPA, Nebraska re ceived over 33 per cent or nearly $32,000,00. Fifteen states, including Nebraska, received 93 per cent of the total sum. A 8ood share of these lopsided expenditures represent borrowed money and all of th tax payers of the nation will share in the burden of paying the debt, for years to come. Apparently the politicians who would socialize the electric industry have not the slightest un derstanding of the word “fair." To them the end justifies the means and Devil take the tax payer. , --o Fire Prevention Winter is over. The good days are here. And millions of people will soon start a pleasant round of motoring trip, picnics, camping ex cursions and other forms of outdoor recreation. Hf you are one of these, you will see nature at her best. But do your part to make sure she continues at her best—by being careful with fire. There are millions of acres of ravished, blackened stum land in this country that once bore magnificent trees -because someone was careless with a camp fire. Some of the finest natural garden« have been turned into ashy wastes-—because someone was careless with a cigarette. Animals apd humans have perished homblv in holocausts of ragirjg flame—because somfone took a chance with fire. Almost all states have laws aginst throwing ; matches or lighted tobacco from cars—obey them rigorously. They are sound laws, desigis ed for your protection, and they deserve your cooperation. An excellent practice is to break a match in two between your fingeis >foie dropping it—then you’ll know that it really U I out. L'on’t go on a camping trip without the basic j tools of fire control—a shovel and a good-sized bucket: If possible, make a rock fireplace for your fi:e. Under no circumstances build it near bru h, dry leaves or other easily inflammable materials. Don’t build a large fire—a relative ly small oreo is adequate for all camping needs. And when yoru are through with it, really put it out—douse it with water, and shovel dirt over the ash. Be certain that not aspark re mains. The prevention of fire in the outdoors ts its own reward—it guarantees that there will be a beauty spot for you to visit next year. -o-— Things One Remembers by R. M. Hofer The Bonneville hydro-electric development on the Columbia River, is the the second ggg to be hatched in the government’s power sociali zation incubator. As one listened to the stories its promoters told of the blessings it would bring to the North i wes*-, one almost became hypnotized with the 1 thought th"t this great section of the Un<ited i Otatos had ever seen electric lights. Then when the spell-binding; ended one suddenly re membered that tjigre had been electric lights and power in the Northwest ever since one could remaube.1, and that, starnge as it may seem, Bonneville could be washed out completely and not a wheil would stop turning or a light stop burning in all the country tributary to it. The people of seven states counties in Ore gon were asked at a recent special election to vote for a tax-exempt power districts to use tax-exempt Bonneville power, in competition with the power service they already enjoy from highly-taxed private Companies, which taxes help support their schools, roads and all public activity, including paying for Bonneville. And what happened! The spell must have been broken. By a majority of nearly two to one, the people of the seven counties voted not to saddle themselves with debt to duplicate their greatest tax assets, private eleceric com panies. ' ^ The Northwest needed Bonneville about as much as the average home needs two pianos and maybe the voters looked at the matter in that light when it came to going into debt for something they already have, and when the thing they have is a taxpayer instead of a tax eater. j * a . -o Face the Facts Fix the Pump | After five years of pump priming, the water I seems to have gone back into the well. It does not do much good to prime a pump unless the mechanism is right to hold the water. \ye might as well face the fact that it looks as if too much political meddling with business has just about wrecked the pump. Walter Lippmanru, one of the most fearless and realist is writers in the nation, in a recent syndicated article, shows that mere govern ment spending will never solve the question of depression as long as business incentive is discouraged. Elasy credit will only put busi ness deeper in the hole, unless it is permitted to make a profit. On the possibility of busi ness expansion under such conditions, Mr. Lipp mann says: “With capital gains and undistributed pro fits taxes piled on top of ernormous surtaxes, all the risks remain but the prospect is vir tually gone.” In addition to necessity for cor recting such a killing tax system, Mr. Lipp mann adds that “business will have to be as sured that the sit-down strike is not going to be permitted and that there is going to be an end of tolerated violence and of government favoritism in collective bargaining. There will have to be peace with the utilities. There will have to be peace with th railroads and some end to the arrangement by which rates are fixed by one government board and wages by another.” And he might have added, a cessa tion of legislative proposals in Congress to de stroy busines and drive up the cost of living. How can pump priming do any permanent good with rotten valves to hold the water af ter it is raised from the bottom of the well ? -o Savings Bank Life Insurance Periodically there is agitation for the issu ance of life insurance by saving banks, where the man wanting a policy may go in, look over the list of contracts, make his selection and complete his purchase. There is probably nothing against this sys tem of issuing life insurance—if adequate legal safeguards for the protecton of the buyer are erected. But it is inconceivable that the Ameri can people would have ever purchased $120, 000,000 of life insurance protection, as they have, in “over the couniter” buying. Savings bank life insurance has been legal in Massachusetts for a Vreat many years— yet the total is extremely small in comparison to that of the regular stock and mutaj compa nies doing business in that state. It is the agency system, under which men trained in un- | dei-writing call upon the prospective buyer, that it is responsible for our being the best insured of all the world’s peoples. No other system can hold a candle to it. Between The Lines An apprecia.ion of the President'* Wife 3y Gordon H. Hancock, “The Gloomy Dean” for ANP Eleanor The Great One of the firust influence be ing exerted upon the life of America and the world today is that Mrs. Roosevelt. It is at once exalted and powerful. She h»s brought to the White House some-1 thing tha» blesses a nation, anH although it cannot be described or defined, it is there. There has been no coronation day nor pttbl’c coronation, but in the heart of the.sa United States Mrs. Roose velt has been crowned queen. Up on her head rests no royal diadem handed down by ancestors through long generations; but she carries upon her brow the invisible dia dem of a nation’s gratitude and affections. Wherever she goes she radiates sunshine and common sense and above alt minds her own business. These months she has both graced the White House she has not made a single mistake. Just how she has steered her course through sueh critical times with out one major mistake is one of the marvels of the century. She knows how to deal with person alities and issues with e know ledge born of Heaven. Above all Mrs. Roosevelt rings true on the color question. It is with her e’ en> as it was with Father of odd, she seemed destined of God “for such a time as this." Mrs. Roosevelt is not; an official of the United States, because her husband is its chief executive. She is rot merely great because she is the wife of a great man. She is great on her owi account! She has wisdom; She has abilitv. She has that unyield ing moral courage that is rare among the sons of men. She is a great mother and a great public man's wife. She is a great m’s tress of the White House; hut she gives no evidence of being Presi dent. She is a blessing to her day and generation. The errorless Eleanor! The women of Amerci could profit from a close study of the woman and her ways. It is customary among narow guaged statesmen to interrogate white chaninior»s of Negroes rights thus: “Would you let your daugh ter marry a Negro?" Mrs. Roose velt has answered once for nil this irrelevant question. Her daughters are already married and when she gave them in marriage, ;t was not to a Negro. Mrs. Roosevelt is giving to the Negro race along with the nation some thing more important than her daughters' hand. She is giving them encouragement and a help ing hand. She is trying to make them feel like humans. She is ever trying to extend unto a stricken race the sympathy and encourage ment without which they will sure die! She is trying to have Negroes know that true tristocraey is more manifest in helnfulness than in haughtiness; that the real Nor dies are humance! I Ufv>n nearly everv ouestion of the day Mrs. Roosevelt has been approached and menv of these in volve directly or indirectly her hn‘•bard. Not once has she an swered to the detriment or em boernssment of her husband. It f"kcs ore genius bo play the part she is olaying than it takes to olay the nart of a President. Playing safe by saving nothing he- merit*-; but saying plenty and still playing safe is marvelous. At first she interesting; later she was delightful; still later she was marvelous; today she is ma iestic and indeed is she enshrined ' in the hqart of this nation as its | uncrowned queen. Her life and' labors are a moral tonic for our distressed social order. In sptte of ■ the pressure that the depression I and recession place upon the Negroes, the Roosevlts have made n.s feel more a part of the nat'on than ever we felt before. The "tip-doe” policy for Negores about the White House has been ^lasted and Mrs. Roosevelt more than any other person in the world is responsible for its blast ing. Mrs. Roosevelt knows th*>* mendicants cap never be men an*’ that sychonhants cannot n?ver he citizens and the way she has driv en this fact home to the hearts of this ration is reassuring. But in her exalted afand on race re lations she is not olone. She is surrounded by friends who encour age her to do what they them selves felt like doing but were afraid. This writer is convinced that race relations in this country are improving; that racial understand-! ing is far in advance of racial' policy. He has further contended that the greatest need in race re-1 lations moral courage and this is ■ what Mrs Roosevlt is commend ing to the nation This nation is i proud to hail its uncrowned queen ELEANOR THE GREAT. Colored M. E. Church Holds 19 th Quadrennial H t Spri”gs, Ark., May 11 (ANP)—The regligious spo'l g'it of the nation centered this week on two Southern cit:es—Hot Springs, where the 19th quadren nial Conference of the Colored Methodist Church opened on May 4, and Birmingham, Ala., where th*» General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Souta opened last week, handed down a history-making decision on Thurs day on the controversial church merger program. Here in Hot Springs the atten tion of Bishops, Presiding Eiders, ministers, church officials and laymen centered about the Epis copal address on May 5, deliver ed by Bishop James A. Bray of Chicago, elevated to the bishopric at the 1934 general conference in St. Louis. The quadrennial con ference, highest legislative and governing body of the C. M. E. Church, holds special significance this yeah because of its broad field of endeavor and because of the importance of its Episcopa message to the Negro laity of the nation. In Birmingham, on April 28 like a U. S. Supreme Court decision, with two dissenting Bishops—Col lins of Rihmond, Va., and War ren A. ‘Candler, Atlanta,, Ga.— tho white M. E. Church, South, through its Episcopal address, de livered by Bishop Hoyt M. Hobbs of Shreveport, La., commended tho unification plan of the three branches of Methodism ,and de clared, “It is worthy of thorough consideration and such action is befitting the most important mat ter before the church since its organization followed the split in 1814 over slavery. Senator Carter Glass of Virginia opposing the plan, sounded off: “Its will bring the Negro into our other churches." Heading advo cates, white Bishop John M. Moore rebuted, “The racial ques tion is rot involved!” The CME Church, in a sense, grew out of 1 he M. E. Church, South Bishop Bray on National Problems Delivering the CME Episcopal address on May 6, Bishop Bray, discussing the present economic plight of the Negro, declared, “Since the Negro was emancipa ted, the race has purchased 738 000, homes; and operated 860,000 farms, 20 million acres, 31,000 nun re miles. This area is equal to the five New England states: New Hampshire, Vermont, Mass achusetts, Connecticut anJ Rhod • friand. More than 96 per cent of this area is in the South. Add to this 70,000 businesses conducted, the accumulated wealth of the Negro since 1866 is rated at $2, 480,000,000. Such advancement is nothing less than miraculous. “Such are our economic assets. This must not blind us to our economic liabilities. The depression of almost eigth years has brought the Negro face to face with the most serious economic situation the race has faced since the Emancipation. Approximately two million Negroes are unemployed and quite as many on relief shown by 1933 statistics and with the •iresen4 down-curve, there will be rr>oro for 1938. The In rye Negro un-mplayment is attributed to dis erimination in point of employ ment. Nowhere does the Negro ♦and, an even chance for emnloy mf,n+. The race must be instruct ed as to their just share in govern | THE LOW DOWN HICKORY GROVE Susie—that is Mrs. Jo—says she to me the other day, Josephus, she says, what is this pump priming business I a all the time seeing in the paper? And I was brought up in the* country and have tried to prime a pump when the well was dry and you can keep! on priming it tiilC the cows cornel home and all you* get is a wheeze and a gurgle. So that is the way I explained it. But Susie, says, I am not talk ing about any pump in the coun try—I am talking about pumping onev like they do down in Wash. So I says, pouring water in a pump, when the well is dry, and pouring money in a gopher’s hole, like in Wash., it is no different. And if you get hack half what you put in, you are doing good. And Susie savs, who is getting the money —and do you have to crawl into a gopher’s hole to get it? and I says, with the diet I am on, I could easy enough get into a gopher’s hole. So nothing came of our conver sation—and it is the same with pump priming. Yours, with the low down, Jo Serra ment relief and for the city. Much •offerin' is being it reased by lnrg-’ movements to urban centers. The N. E. Unification Plan "The historical r latio; n be tween the Colored Mejhodist Epis copal Church and the Mcthod’st Episcopal, Sou’h, have from t me ti time yielded such fruits of fel lowship and mutal aid, each g ving the other an opportunity to mak-' co i rihutions, sh ubl be corservel. This fellowship has been ef great er value than the casual oKse:vef •*“o appreciate. In view of the practically certain adoption of the rian of Unification of the Meth odist Episcopal Church, the Meth odist Episcopal Church, South, '"d the Protestant Mo'hodist Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Protestant Methodist Church, we express our selves in sue a wav as may you choose, to the General Conference ! of the Episcopal Church, South, meeting in Birmingham, uoon the I necessity of conserving the r!ch values already achieved in inter racial cooperation bv the Metho dist Episcopal Church Sooth, and 1 th„ Colored Method'st Spiscopal Church, through Paine College anil iho veneral departments of the two churches.’ Fight against Lynching Continues Unabated 'Detailing tne concentrated at ‘*.oW rf the OME Church, since 1922. aginst the Ivnchira? evil, B s hop Bray said. “During the quad rennium lending up to this Genr eral Conference 193B, since our last General Cor/erence, there has been 5’ lvnchings—49 of whom were Negroes. These expressions horror, disapporwal, condemnation i and comtempt for this uniustif' | able, inhuman and barWc un I American practice show that yo r | Episcopal leaders are alert to the necessity of abolishing lynching I if the America government is to “The Commission on Interracial Cooperation with headquarters in Atlanta, with representatives com posed of boTTT whites arjd Negroes, bended by Will W. Alexander and r B. Eleazer. stands out as one of the wise achievements for the "rom°*ion of interracial goodwHl. The e are 62 Southern white col ’eges giving special courses in race relat!o*'s with a total of 108 offering an! executing courses in ynro relations, Wp con ‘■tppe our vigorous opposition to •'ll forms of lawlessness, concen ‘rntHng much of our interest to •'•ard the elimination of that most Mireatening evil in American civi ’ Nation—lynching. Nn Increase in Bishops Bench “We have eight bishops. In our ’’udgment eight active bishops can give adequate Episcopal supervi sion to our Conference and ehur hes at this lime. We have some and vigorous bishops who can ef fectively serve their Episcopal dis tricts than the,, are serving now. Thev are willing to have their Episcopal districts increased in or der to utilize their surplus ener gies for the church. In view of these facts and facing the general necessary movement towlard re trenchment rather than expansion, we recommend that you retain at present the number of bishops at mom than eight active ones. Con sidering our present bench, wtf recommend no Episcopal election at this General Conference. Nemo education in the South; Tt\ suite of the handicaps and hind rnneces on all sides, the Negro advancement in education has been startling!v rapid. In 17 Southern at-stes with seggregoted schools, thero are 2,500,00 pnnils enroll»v *-» 25,000 elementary schools. There are 900,000 colored child ren in Southern states who are "ither not provided with school faciBties or who are out for other causes. Tn college attendance, ‘here has boon an increase from ’"ss than 1 OOO in ’900 to 000 todav The people will believe i” our educational nrogrnm and objectives —ben the church not only trains its leaders through ’ts co’leges. but when the church recognizes Its own work bv making full use of !ts trained product.. The Military a”d Naval Service “In view of the persistent dis "crtmination against the Negro !„ ‘be different branches nnr Mill, ♦a—, nr,d Naval services' in tbeMili *orv and Nes*»1 nendamios, and *rmv Air Force; and in the foiirts of the Department of Jus tice, “We recommend '.that nunroeri ate memorials he framed and di rected b,. this General Conference ‘o the President and Congress of ‘be United States, -calling atten *’on to these undemocratic and ur \ mfc-icsn attitudes end nract'Ves. and ur<ring that Negroes be admit- ' 1 cd and —aptpe*ed in a]l branches * of onr Military forces, ipcludfng 'be Army, the Naw ard tile Air ’force, and to the West Point Mili tary the Annapcl’s M-val nnd to ■ ’’ National Acodemies, oni i>ar ’••Itb all other citizens- "Iso that remnatent Negroes be given equai j r-moderation for appointment in j ••’1 the Courts of the Department r f ,Tnofi(*A Economic Highlights The n>'w Anglo-Italian pact marks a g. eat step toward the pre servation of world peace and com pletely pustifies the attitude taken by th> Cham'erlain government which forced the resign ition of Anthony Eden. The new Anglo-Italian pact marks the complete and unequivo cal sell-out of England to the Na zis and Fascists, and is proof of the "perfidity of Albion." Thoso two statements indicate the extreme of opinion regarding this immensely hnnprtarrt docu e;xt, signed the dav before Easter hv Count Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister, and lord Perth, BrH'sh Ambassador to Rome. Nothing that has happened in tangles! Europe has seared up more headlines—or Soon reflected in more diversity of onin/ion. Both the pact’s friends and enemies are intensely ve*~al. Ad it seem* n certa'nty that if the rhomherlnin government and the foreign policy it has adopted re main in the ascendant, it w.dl be hecause of this pact. Ani if the Chamberlain government falls, it will likely he because of this pact. Only time can tell what will come of it_or answed the more immed iate question of what the English asses think of cooperation and conciliation with t^e dictators. The nact rom''le‘elv cover* ooii't* of conflict, between Italian end English interest* in the Med iterraean. Italy guarantees to cease spreading anti-English pro napfcn.li fcmong fBrit|ir/s Afri can subjects. She Ukewiae guaran tees the preservation of Englan»l s rights in Tj«k« Tana, headwaters of the Blue Nile. And the two governments agree to inform acn other beforehand in the event of ar.y chages in their military facil ities n both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Of KTeater importance »o rar as the rest of the world is concerned, is Fnrr'"nd’s great concession to ttpiy_. Vio •> ~*eps to recognize the of F^iopia, and to help Italy get recognition to a bloody conquest which was strongly de nounced by the English govern ment in power at that time. Of equal importance is what amounts to an abandonment of the Spanish non-intervention pact. It aly agrees to withdraw her troops and supplies from that troubled coun*rv. (thus, by indirection of ficially admitting what everyone knew: that -he has been active participant in the revolution) ns non as the war ends. This is the las* straw so far as the Spanish government <s corremed, and r>v>Ves r Franco v:"t"rv, and the consentient esf.*iblishmer,t' of a Spanish Fascist government large ly dominated by Hit'cr. a virtual certairtv. . So far as this pact’s possible in fluence on the map of Europe is corremed. pu '<TiiWl VlT^® could hardly have been more effective. It means that England, rightly "r wronglv has pin “whole hog in concilliating the dictators. It means that France is left alone, horde red by enemies—(and tihafc, from necessity, she too may. be forced to attempt to make similar pacts with Gerarov end Italy. It means that the little countries, such as Czechoslovakia (hat “is land of demovracy in a sea of des potism”) have been abandoned to their fate—which must almost in evitably mean subservience to the will of the Reich, even if thev es cape being made a geographical part of German, as was Austria. It means, finally, that Russia will stand alone, a gigantic lard con* peting Europe and Asia, in oppos ition to Hitler and, to a lesser ex tent, Mussolini. If all this comes to pass, the stage will be set for an invasion of iRussia by Germany— possibly accompanied bv an inva sion by Japan from the Asiatic side. Thus, it s apparent, even from thig brief review, that the possible ' conseouences of present da v IV** tish policv, as reflected in this pact, are limitless. The pact has undoubtedly delated, though no one know* how jon, the possiblity of a major European war. But, think its critics, it has, at the same time, furthered an eventful which will be all h° more hor rible and destructive because of ♦h* concessions that belliger ent dictators have wrung from Bri tain. Certainly, from anv point of view, the pact has immensely weakened the sick cause of Eu ropean deocracy. So far as this country is con cerned. it seems to b"> true that ♦be Chamberlain government and its policies are unnopular—an that this n*ct has ade even more re mote the chance of tb| American pconle beintg willing to pnter into accord with England. Likewise, today is one of rigorous isolation. —0O0— The business outlook has chang ed liH'e. “Moderate bet^erme’-t" is I still the opinion of most econom l ists—and thev are being extreme ly cautious about forecasts. The pending <rovernment spend ing program will, of course, be a favorable factor. However, fast excellence seems to indicate th^t the gains resulting from govem> ment. spending are lost as soon ns