Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1938)
THE OMAHA GUiUE Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St. Omaha, Nebraska Phone WEbster 1617 Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1*27, 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 6:00 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 onfy principles whil will stand the acid test of good. _______ EDITORIALS ELECTION TIMES _aHa_ In a few weeks the American peo ple will go to the poles to vote and elect men to public office. The ballot is a very sacred instrument as well as pow erful and can be used to better our eco nomic, political and social conditions. The Negro race has a great opportun ity to advance in this Nation and that opportunity should not be cast to the winds. Now is the time to consider the candidates who parade before you and ask for your suffarge. Examine their records on public issues where our peo ple are concerned. Now is the time to make your demands for your rights as citizens and as taxpapers and as vot ers. Don’t wait until election day is over and be disappointed and then cry out, “Well, we will get even at the next election.” You have been saying that for the past 40 years, and the candi dates don’t believe you. Our leaders must think in terms of the advancement of the race rather than a job for one or two. After all, the Negro race is bigger in the life of Negroes than any partisan politics and our leaders who make their living from the sweat of the working masses had better learn that very thing. The time is at hand when our people must sup port and vote for men and measures, rather than traditions. Vote for those men seeking public office who are will ing to give the Negro a square deal in the economic, political and social devel opment of this Nation. From now un til November, candidates will be ap pearing before you passing out their literature and making promises. It is up to you to weight and consider the evidence in the light of the possible betterment of our race and the nation, and then go to the polls and vote in telligently. -0O0 BE WARY -0O0 A short time ago it was announced that the post office department was in vestigating certain “mail order” insur ance companies, to see if they were operating in violation of the law'. Whatever the results of this inves tigation, the prospective insurance buyer "'ll! do well to keep on his guard. “Prize” policies, whether for life, ac cident, or what not, usually contain long lists of exceptions and limiting clauses in fine print which make it im possible for the unwary buyer to act ually obtain what he thinks he is pur chasing. Buy your insurance from a well known company, w’ith agents in your locality. Pa^ standard rates, and get policies that mean w'hat they say. That's the be,st insurance protection anyone can obtain. -0O0 TWO APPLES A DAY!!! -0O0 Because of a number of complica ting factors, the apple marketing situ ation seemed to grow progressively . w'orse for several years. Then last year faced w'ith a bumper crop, intense com petition from other fruits, and a down ward spiral of consumer purchasing power, apple producers decided it was time to take action if runious losses w'ere to be avoided. They appealed to the organized food chains of the nation for help—and out of this request, came the “National Apple A Da^y Sale”, which was partici pated in by thousands of chains in all the states. A report has now been issued on just what the sale accomplished. It is an inspiring example of what organiz ed distribution, buttressed by extensive newspapers advertising, can do for the farmer. During the eight months from September, 1937, through April, 1938 —the period embraced by the campaign and directly following—the chains sold 47 per, cent more apples than in the same months a year before. And this was not all. .According to retail ex perts, the campaigns stabilized prices an dgave consumers excellent value. It ducated thousands of persons to the value of apples, thus creating perma nent new demand. It brought produc ers and retailers closer together in dis cussing other mutal problems. And of immense importance, it crystallized consumer attention on grading ,pack ing an dother phases of apple market ing—thus increasing the sale of high as well as lower grade fruit. Thus wras a big job well done. The surplus problem was greately alleviat ed. Farmers got a good cash return for their crop. Many long-range bene fits wTere achieved. It’s no wonder that progressive American farmers are coming to look on mass distribution as one of their greatest allies. GET DOWJN TO FUNDAMENTALS The average American is highly wary of Communism, Fascism or other foreign “isms” which he believes may slip through our borders surreptitious ly and destroy freedom and democracy as he knows it. Yet it is highly probable as Dr. Nicholas Murray Bu'tler has pointed out, that the great threat to American Democracy lies within our borders. Abuse of taxing power, grad ual centralization of government, and a growing bureaucracy are a few of the evils that are insidiously undermining Democracy from within, observes Dr. Butler. Political demagogues have taught millions of persons to believe that the way to better things lies in the destruc tion of wealth, or, if you will “redistri butio’n of wealth,” which is another way of putting it. The taxing power of government is being used to do the job. Instead of seeking to create more wealth, more production, and a higher standard, of living, the country is back tracking. The people are confused. They are allowing public money to be used to destroy taxpaying enterprises and private jobs under the delusion that they are thereby establishing “so da ljustice,” “social security,” or some Utopian condition that appeals to mass sentiment. What is the ultimate solution to this problem? There is only one solu tion—public education! Just as the three R’s reading Titin’ and Tithmetic, are taught to every child, so must the simple fundamentals of economics— the bread and butter side of life, the ob ligation to produce, the obligation to save—be taught to every individual, child and adult alike. Only in this way can Democracy ultimately survive. -0O0 “ACUTE INDIGESTION” . -0O0 Tho taxpayers and industries of this country have a vital stake in the railroads. That is the theme of an ed iorial in the Santa Fe New Mexican, which says in part: “Railroads pay a huge chunk of the taxes which keep up our public institutions. More often than not the railroad is the No. 1 tax payer in any county. The railroads have financial difficulties. They are entitled to help, but it should not be benevolent paternalism on the part of the government, nor should the govern ment toy with the idea of going into the railroad business. It is to be hoped that railroads can work out some plan whereby they can get financial assist ance without having to sell their souls. It is becoming increasingly apparent that if railway buisness isn’t healthy, most other forms of enterprise have acute indigestion, too.” The retrenchment that has been forced on the railroads, because of the failure of regulatory authorities to permit them to charge a “living wage,,K ’ for their product, has been an import ant factor in prolonging hard times. Under normal conditions, the lines spend more than a billion dollars a year for supplies. They purchase some 70,000 different items. The little man ufacturer of, say pins or blotting paper is a beneficiary of this—as well as the large manufacturer of locomotive air brakes. And it is this vast purchas ing, spread throughout the 48 states, that is normally responsible for hun dreds of thousands of jobs—skilled,, unskilled, technical and clerical. The solution to the railroad prob lem is basically simple. The lines must be given rate increases sufficient to pay costs and earn a profit. Inequal ities in the method of regulating them and their competitors must be ironed out. Not until this is done, and our largest single industry given a chance to get back on its financial feet, will industry at large be able to rid itself of “acute indigestion.” -oOo The Crucial Accident Period The automobile death and accident rate has shown a steady decline for a number of months. But now the cru cial test period is at hand. We are entering the most danger ous driving months. Fall brings rains, to be followed by the ice and snows of winter, all of which immeas urably increase driving hazards. E qually important, these seasons bring shorter days—and the accident rate at night, is much higher than in daylight. The wise driver will prepare for this dangerous period. And prepar ation should take two forms. Put your car in first class condition, so far as brakes, lights, tires and steering are concerned. And put yourself in the proper mental condition for safe driv ing. Never forget that the human el ement is the responsible factor in the great majority of accidents. Before anyone can drive safely, he must think safely. He must know the hazards he faces, and be prepared for them. This “safety consciousness” is the first and most vital essential of accident preven tion. Remember that chance-taking isn’t clever. Any fool can push the throttle to the floorboards, pass on hills and curves, disregard adverse! weather conditions, and perform similar acts of idiotic recklessness. Caution is the product of intelligence. Drive safely all the time. And be especially careful in the fall and winter seasons. Then the accident rate will continue to go dowm. BUYERS’ GUIDE by Clarence H. Peacock | A $40,000,000 market is large enough, and important enough for any manufacturer to consider seriously, in merchandising his products. Last year Colored consumers throughout the country spent over $40,000,000 for to bacco. In 1937, $25,000,000 was spent in ad vertising by the four big manufactur ers of cigarettes. The manufacturers of Chesterfield cigarettes spent $8,900 GOO in advertising. Camels spent $8,500 GOO. Luckies spent $5,600,000 and Old Gold spent $4,000,000. I find that not one of these four companies, during the year of 1937 found it necessary to advertise in the Negro press, or to make any direct ap peal for colored patronage in this $10, 000,000. If these manufacturers had spent as little as 1 per cent of their advertis ing appropriation in the Negro press, the purchasin’ power of the Negro race would have been greater by $250,000, in 1937. This quarter of a million dol lars might have given employment for one year, to 184 Colored, youths, at $25 a week. Why is it that these manufacturers are ignoring this $40,000,000 market in their advertising? Obviously, they have all the Negro business they want with out making arty special appeal for Col ored patronage. Just as long as the ma jority of Colored consumers persist in buying almost any brand offered them their economic status will not change. Some time ago, the R. J Reynold Company, manufacturers of Camel ci garettes, advertised their products in the Colored newspapers. The response of the Colored consumer to these ad vertisements evidently was not great enough to warrant them to continue using the Negro press, as an advertis ing medium. If Colored smokers had given their full support to these advertisements, by buying Camel cigarettes, Camels would have continued to advertise in the Negro press. As a result, the in creased sales would have ben a suffici ent inducement to have encouraged the company to have employed more Ne groes, both in their factories, and also as Colored salesmen and representa tives. At the present time, there are three brands of cigarettes being advertised in our Colored newspapers. They ares Twenty Grand, Domino, and Marvels. These brands deserve your patronage.. Demand ^hem w7hen you make ytour purchase. -0O0 LOOK BEFORE LEAPING Mass distribution is here to stay. Make no mistake about that. One hun dred and thirty million people can’t be fed, clothed and housed by the same methods that were used in this country a hundred years ago. Seasonable pri ces and smooth functioning efficiency are essestial. And these are the key stones of mass distribution. Do away with it and you will bring about a lower standard of living. These are facts that no amount of politick bally hoo can change.