THE OMAHA GUIDE [
___
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St.
Omaha, Nebraska
Phone WEbster 1517
Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927,
at the Post Office at Omaha, Nebr., under
Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YEAR
All News Copy of Chrurches and add Organi
zations must be in our office not later than
5‘J)0 p. m. Monday for curren issue. All Adver
tising Copy or Paid Articles not later than
Wednesday noon, preceeding date of issue, to
insure publication.
Race prejudice must go. The Fatherhood of
God and the Brotherhood of Man must prevail.
These are the only principles whil will stand
the acid test of good.
EDITORIALS
-0
— ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
Happenings that Affect the Dinner
Pails, Dividend Checks and Tax Bills
of every Individaul National and In
ternational Problems inseparable from
Local Welfare. —
When representatives of 32 na
tions recently met in France to disclss
the refugee problem and attempt to
arrive at solme sort of a solution, it
didn’t make headline news. But to the
thoughtful observer the conference
served to emphasize the fact that this
one of the most tragic and difficult so
cial and economic problems of the mo
dern age.
.Never in modern history has the
plight ox racial minorities principally
the Jews, been so bitter. Ine poroms
of ancient times almost pale into in
significance beside those of today. Ger
many, ot course is the seat of the Jew
ish oppression, it is apparently Hit
ler’s desire to completely eliminate
Hebrew influence of any kind in Teu
tonic territory. In Germany, and also
in Austria since jthe anschluss Jews
have been forbidden to engage in most
field of profitable occupation. Even
when they are not of business, their
stores are placarded, and the German
■who trades writh them comes at once
into conflict writh the dread Nazi se
cret police. Jewish professional men—
doctors, lawyers writers, teachers—
are boycotted. In German schools the
instructors tell their pupils to have
'nothing whatever to do with Jews,
either socially or as a matter of busi
ness. Persons with as little as one
eighth Jewish blood are elaseified as
Semitics and are consequently ostra
cize1. In brief the Jew7 under Hitler’s
dream of a race of Nordic supermen
is regarded as an enemy of the state.
Matters would not be so bad were
the Jews allowed to leave Germany and
Austria with what resources they po
ssess to seek a place in other lands. But
the Jew who is given a German pass
port is necessarily a bankrupt. His
monqy his property even his personal
effects are taiten from him. He must
leave his home and his occupation with
no resources with which to make a
fresh start. And according to late re
ports the German government is going
farther in the case of rich Jews and is
virtually holding them for ransom.
For example it is said that the release
from Austria of Louis Rothschild head
of the Vienna branch of the great
European banking house can only be
obtained when and if his foreign fri
ends and relatives give $10000000 to
the Reich.
A biting commentary on the ques
is found in the fact that Myron C. Tay
lor, American delegate and chairman
of the 32 nation conference, recently
pleaded with Germany to permit re
fugees to take their personal belong
ings away with them—and received no
answer.
Sdme time ago it seemed that the
problem might be solved by the action
of England in opening raie^me to
Jewish colonization, ana setting aside
as a land where the Jews might create
a nation of their own. Today that hope
is largely gone. The Jews came to
Palestine. They liked it. They proved
to be excellent settlers and capable
business men. But the Arabs, whose
religion is srongly anti-Semitic, im—
mediately began to fight the migra
tion. Hundreds have been killed in
guerilla warfare^ Arabian sentiment
against the Jews has steadily increas
ed, and it is said that there is grave
danger that the cause /may develop
into a holy war. England now has 12,
000 troops in Palestine to defend the
Jewrs—and still the rapine, slaughter
and pillage continues. The result is
that only 12,000 Jesws a year are to
be admitted tq the country—a drop in
a gigantic bucket. There are about 1,
000,000 Jews remaining in Germany
and Austria alone.
The 32-power conference took all
this into account. Its attitude was ex
tremely symapthetic toward this op
pressed people. But talk was about all
that resulted. No major country is will
ing to open its gates wide to the Jew,
of famous men, there is usually a place
—many educators, for instance- have
left Germany for England and this
country, and obtained suitable occu
pation. For the rank and file of Jews
there seems to be nowhere to go. All
the big powers are occupied with un
employment problems. There is not
enough work for their own people,
and not enough money to go around—
and they regretfully soy, no, when he
asks permission to enter.
As Oswald Garrison Villard has wtf t
ten, “The man who could show the way
out would deserve the greatest re—
wards bestowed ever upon anybody.”
That man has not yet appeared.
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— MEXICO’S PREDICAMENT
-0O0
Almost four months have passed
since President Cardenas of Mexico
and bis labor associates seized the pro
perties of seventeen foreign oil com
panies. To date the stoiy is one of de
creased production, lowered refinery
runs, lessened employment, wage re
ductions- inferior products and near
economic collapse.
Great Britain has withdrawn her
ambossador after issuing a flat de
mand that the properties of the British
companies be returned. The United
States has sent a note acknowledging
Mexico’s right to expropriate foreign
properties, properties, provided she
was prepared to pay their just value in
good money. Without credit, Mexican
bonds would not be acceptable.
The peso, worm ^oc wnen eApru
priation occured, is novtf down to 20c.
The substantial payments of taxes by
the foreign companies have ceased.
The number of jobs has been dicished
and the cost of living has taken a vio
lent jump. The status of 18,000 work
ers is lower than it was before the ex
propriation.
If these mattes concerned only the
oil companies and the Mexican people
they would not disturb the average ci
tizen of the United States. Unfortu
nately, part of the costs of Mexico’s
action falls on us. There are some 300,
000 investors in the United States who
are the real owners, through their
companies, of the oil properties. They
have a right to demand that Mexico
return the properties or buy them at
their just value. There are a larger
number of citizens engaged in the pro
duction and manufacture of products
going into export business, who are
likewise losers. Unable to sell the
seized oil in the United States- Mexico
has been trading it to foreign coun
tries for equipment ami supplies form
erly bought in this country. The big
gest purchaser to date has been Ger
many.
Our State Department has follow
ed a policy of kindly patience. This has
apparently been misunderstood by the
Mexicans as tacit approval of their
actions. It seems to be time for the
State Department to take further act
ion in such a manner as to be under
standable to the Mexican government.
-ooo
MISLEADING STATEMENTS —
-0O0
A spokesman for a government
bureau recently said that if the elec
tric rates charged by the TV A were ap
plied to Oregon, for example, the sav
ing to the domestic users would be
$2,000,000 a year.
This made a considerable impres
sion on his listeners until an engineer
observed that if the Oregon electric
utilities were free of taxes, as the TVA
is, the two largest companies in the
state alone, could cut their household
rates by more than $2,000,000!
It snouici not ue iwguncu
endell L. Willkie President of the
Commonwealth and the same Southern
Corporation, has stated that if his
companies in the Southwest were given
the same privileges as TVA—such as
tax freedom, cheap money, mail frank
ing, etc.—they could cut TVA rates
by at least 25 per cent. And it is a mat
ter of record that in many states hea
vily taxed private utilities are operat
ing next door to untaxed public utili
ties, and charging rates as low or
lower.
Whenever a fair comparison is made
between private and public operation,
taking all factors into accounts, it is
almost invariably found that the pri
vate companies give the lowest rates—
and infinitely better service.
-0O0
—HAVEN FOR SAVINGS
Proof of the fact that the Ameri
can people look upon life insurance as
a safe haven for savings as well as a
protector of dependents is found in
some figures concerning the sale of an
nuities.
An annuity, strictly speaking, is
not insurance at all- It is all investment
and savings, Yet in recent decade the
premiums paid for annuties increased
relatively six times as fast as the pre
miums paid for life insurance. And
during that decade life insurance pre
miums, as well registered substantial
advances.
The wise policyholder buys two
kinds of contracts. One is for the ben
efit of his dependents in case of his
death. Thet other is for the future, in
case he lives to retirement age. That
program g-ives full protection
-0O0
SAFETY MOVEMENT
-0O0
Schools and cttynmunities • are
showing increasing interest in the
traffic safety problem. Educators,
traffic officials and others have come
to the conclusion that something to
be done—and that the time to do is
now.
Proof of this is found in the wide
spread acceptance of two standard
books on traffic safety issued by the
National Conservation Bureau. “One,
“Man and the Motor Car,” is designed
for high schools. Its sale has exceed
ed 120,000 copies and numerous special
editions have been issued by state de
partments. It is used as a standard
text in thousands of schools- and its
vivid message is reaching hundreds of
thousands of young people.
The other book, “Creating Safer
Communities.” is a guide for planning
and executing sound com^mutv traffic
control programs. So fat* 31 of the
states have published aufhorized edi
tions of this text. The book recom
mends and completely describes pro
ven techniques for engineering, driver
education and community law enforce
ment.
This is the kind of “scientific ac
cident preventon, which gets results*
nil ana miss ettorts have pro
worthless. We must look to the m
neer, to the educator, and to m
authorities in the safety field fofl
dance which will reduce accident*
fact that so many states and nS
panties nave eagerly seized the chaHl'S:
to get books such as these, written by
experts for the layman, is the most
cheering and significant sign in the
accident field.
--nOn
OUTWIT ECONOMIC'
, MISFORTUNE
As an authority points out, life in
surance has not one, but four distinct
functions. First to guarantee security
in old age, if the wage earner lives..
Third, to enable the insured, after
he has reached retirement age, to li
quidate his accumulation gradually
through some income or annuity plan.
Fourth, to enable anyone to accu
mulate an emergency fund to protect
his family, his business, his invest
ments, his property, and himself.
A well insured individual adopts a
program that takes all these functions
into accounty. The result is real soc
ial security against economic misfor
tune.
_r\_
DICTATORS FEAR FREEDOM
-0O0
News- Marshfield, Oregon.
“One of the first things dictatorsr
and communists demand is the right
of free speech, and one of the first
things to which an end is put when
they get into power is freedom of
the press. There is no freedom of
speech or of the press in Russia, Italy
or Germany. Dictators are afraid of
the truth.” — Southwestern Oregon
-0O0
Business Week says that “the main
thing to hold to is that a broad turn—
around in rirection is being achieved
this summer, and that the last half of
1,38 will be marked by a significant re
vival from last year’s collopse.”
Most business publications and
commentators are in accord with that
view. The boom in the stock market
fooled almost everyone—and the fact
that the relatively high levels reached
have been held, is perhaps the best
sign of all. The status of individual
an corporate sentiment is definitely
better than it was a short time back.
Substantial improvement has ap
peared in consumers’ goods industries.
Comparable betterment in heavy in—
dustries is hoped for the fall.
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