The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19??, December 31, 1938, City Edition, Page Seven, Image 7
THE UMAHA GUIDE Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St. Omaha, Nebraska Phone WRbflter 1517 Entered a.s 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 cations must be in our office not later than 5:00 p. m. Monday for curren issue. All Adver tising Copy or Paid Articles n»t later than Wednesday noon, proceeding date of issue, to insure publication. ___ Race prejudice must go. The Father-hood of God and the Brotherhood of Man must prevail. These are the only principles whil will stand the acid test of good._— EDITORIALS IN THE DOGHOUSE We are not qualified to say as to whether the patrolman placed on the 24th St., beat last week was the victim qf injustice. However, we are concern ed, when our daily news publication re fers to this 24th St., section singularly, as the “doghouse”. We do have our share of hoodlums and undesirables, which is also true of other Omaha sec tors. The great majority of peoples who have their residences and businesses on 24th St., and those who visit this sec tion daily are without police records and are not iikelfy to have any. They are striving to better their community, to be decent and upright citizens worthy of associating with any others who class themselves likewise and rightfully resent any possible infer ence that they are residing in the “dog house” district or be the dogs in the house. In a later edition this paper states that the N. 24th St. beat is one of the longest three beats in town. Not wish ing to be unduly sensitive, we hope this is what the frank but not too tactful writer had in nund when he used the quoted term doghouse. We wrould not like to believe such journalism, even though unthinkingly done is the general policy of the World Hearld, in-as-much as w’e have personal knowledge of a very commendable stand taken by this paper on matters of much more serious consequence. r\( )n_ KEEP ON THE JOB “Producers principally interested in the sale of tiuid milk need to keep on the job if they intend tc* keep a breast of increased consumption of other dairy products,” observes the Dairymen’s League News. Consumption of fluid milk has to comparatively unchanging levels, while consumption of evaporated milk per capita has increased 50 per cent or more in ten years, and consumption of cheese and butter have likewise shown material gains. Here is a big lot for prorucers—and for their marketing cooperative organ izations. A substantial increase in con sumption of fuild milk, by both adults and children, is needed in the interest of the public health, l’ts up to dairy farmers, distributors and others invol ved to “sell” the public the fluid milk story. -0O0 A CASE FOR STATESMANSHIP .. .» There is an old proverb that often we can’t see the forest because of the trees. That can be applied aptly toi today’s railroad problem. We hear much of the opinions, po licies and differences of railway man agement, railway labor and govern ment regulating authorities. But we hear little of that vast, unorganized group of Amoricans who have most to lose if the lines continue along the road to ruin—the owners of the indus try, who have purchased its stock and bonds. Hundreds of thousands of citizens most of them of moderate means, are direct owners of railroad securities— and are thus directly dependent, in whole or in part, on the railroads for their livelihood, and old age security. Millions of other citizens are indirectly owners of the industry. Every man or woman, for example, wrho owns a life insurance policy or a savings account has a vital interest in the railroads— for banks and insurance companies have always been among the largest holders of the industry’s securities. The interest of these millions in the the railroads transcends that of either railway management or labor. And it is to these millions that manage ment, labor and the government owe a tremendous and inescapable responsi bility. The crash oi the railroads wrould mean chaos throughout our whole eco nomic order. It would mean unemploy ment, commercial failure and general business depression on an unpreced ented scale. It wTould mean the ruin of an untold number of individuals. --ouo “Not Alms, But Opportunity” We are reminded of this, the Moto of the National Urban League, by the prevalence at this time of the year of those who wtould give alms to the less fortunate. Charity, we are told by St. Paul, is the greatest of virtues, but we dofn’t believe he meant that kind of charity that w'ould give a man a dime for coffee and rolls when he is hungry, but would not lend a helping hand to aid the same man to secure a job and rehabilitate himself. It seems to us that far too many Negroes are accepting alms of instead of seeking opportunity and that those of us who promote the “benefits” that give Christmas baskets to the poor are aiding and abetting this social tenden cy. Were we as diligent in behalf of making these same people self-sustain ing there would be fewer Negroes on the relief rolls or seeking “handout” at Christmas times. We fully realized that there are those who through sickness, old age or other circumstances over which they have no control, are in need of food and clothing and would' be unable to get these things but for the aid of their more fortunate neighbors. Neverthe less, we also know that there are far too many colored families who make it ?. practice to go from place to place and. register for baskets or anything else that is being given away. They have no scruples about accepting two or even two or even three such baskets if they can get them. Such people have lost al lsense of pride and have made up their minds that the world owes them a living. They cannot become an asset to their city or race until thqy too adopt as the motto for their personal lives—“Not Alms but Opportunity.” New York Age. -0O0 THE HOME Government of the people, by the people, and for the people. This form of government guarantees the protec tion of life, liberty, and property to gether with certain definite rights— freedom of religion, and of speech both spoken and written, the right of peace ful assembly, and all rights that may be implied in the “pursuit of happiness.” At this moment we are exercising many o± these rights because we live in a democratic country. On the ether hand democracy pre supposes the assumption of eer-ain re sponsibilities such as participation in government by the governed, under standing and practice of the principles upon which our government is founded intelligent cooperation with govern ment alertness. The entire structure of democracy rests on the premise that the government and the people are one; thus, is the people fail to fulfil the functions of government and grow lax both in attitude and in performance, then the ideal will become confused, and subversive propaganda will creep into our midst. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" said the statesman and it is indeed a small price to pay. h’acism, Nazism and otherisms, are all in direct oppositions to democracy. In the latter the people are supreme and constitute the reason for the exis tence of government; in each of the former the impersonal government is supreme and people live for the state. “Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home” sang the poet and we can testify that it is the dearest spot on earth. It is a fundamental unit of civili zation, the cradle of ideal, exerting a refining and sustaining influence with out which civilization could not exist. In this spot held sacred to individual expression a man may live his life in his own way so long as he does not in terfere with the wellbeing of his neigh bor. Democracy recognizes the home as one of its most precious components, nurtures and proptests it, and grants that “.a man’s home is his castle." THINGS QNE REMEMBERS -# ' .—»■ — i — ■ • By R. M. Hofer In a conversation with one of the nation’s leading bankers, I gained a new impression of banking. The banker said: “People think of me as sitting on top of the world of a pile of money—my money. They don’t stop to think that it’s their own money that I am respon sible for protecting. It doesn’t seem to enter their heads that I am just a paid hand, that I lie awake nights worrying about my responsibility of caring for that pile of money which can be claim ed by its owners, the bank’s depositors, at any time. “A bank that did not loan money to businesses and industries that maintain a local community, would not be pa tronized by the people, and it wouldn’t deserve their patronage. This means that if a community fails, a bank nas to carry a great share of the load. Peo c like bankers because they have to consider the more pessimistic side of the business picture, knowing that the public will blame the bank instead of itself for community failures which result from the many causes beyond the banker’s control. “It makes me laugh when I am pictured as sitting on a pile of money. A more accurate picture would show me with a wrinkled brow trying to make loans that will be safe from los ses due to undue business optimism and all the pitfalls of business risk. People don’t like bankers, and you can’t blame them, for too often they have to turn down the financial requests of their best friends.” Yes, l gained a ditierent impression of the banking business after talking to this man who is a power in the finan cial world. I didn’t envy him, or his job. He gets little thanks for doing it well and he runs the constant risk of abuse and criticism for community failure beyond his control. -o°o Billie: Tell me, what is the first thing that turns green in the spring? Elmer: That’s easy. It is Christmas jewelry. -o°o Jackson: Are you a man who can smile when things go wrong? Stone: Sure I’m a garage man, and I get paid for fixing them. $ -0O0 Bub: Do you like to play with blocks? Sue: Not since I’ve grown up. Bub: Then why are you forever scratching your head? -0O0 Enough is Enough • • Dora: I’ve had enough. Next week I’m divorcing that faithless husband of mine. Talma: Oh, so you are part of a triangle? Dora: Triangle nothing. I’m part of an octangle. [BUYER’S GUIDE by Clarence H. Peacock | . Certain recent events seem to in dicate that business and government might be beaded toward an era of good feeling. Business men are no longer leaving the job of explaining their po licies and practices to public officials, professional agitators or self styled re formers, they are now beginning to state their own case. Mr. H. W. Prentis, in a closing address before the annual convention of the National Association of Manufac turers in New York City, set forth the policies of this body. The National As sociation of Manufacturers admitted making mistakes in the past, they changed their policy of strafing the government and in their resolutions, they' encourage amity. The administration is trying in many ways to put purchasing power in to the pockets of people who have little. There aVe subsidies to give farmers spnding cash, WPA jobs for millions who can’t find private employment and minimum wage guarantees for those who do. Yet our federal tax system picks these same pockets. From 50 to 70 per cent of the governments revenues are from taxes which are passed on to the consumer. Corporation taxes and im port duties raise the prices of the goods people buy; so do excises on liquor and tobacco, playing cards and matches, automobiles and tires, gasoline and oil, radios and refrigerators and admission to amusements. Only five per cent of America’s vot ers pay income tax, the other 95 per cent are taxed heavily on the goods they buy. If the government collected the bulk of its revenues in direct taxes on commodities, the very poor would pay a lot less in taxes, and therefore have a lot more to spend for the things they need. Business believes that; the gigantic spending program by the government many achieve temporarily a degree of success for its immediate objectives, they also believe that it is dissipating the resources that are vital to perma nent recovery and ultimately it must be paid for by a grinding burden of taxes. The withdrawal of these addi tional tax billions from legitimate in dustry diminishes the ability of busi ness to provide more goods and more jobs in the future.