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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1939)
THE OMAHA 6I1IDE EaMiehed Every Saturday at 2416-2# Grant St. Omaha, Nebraaka Phone MTBbater 1617_ Entered aa Secend Glaea Matter March 16, 1»27, A the Poet OOfece at Omaha, Nebr., under '• Aet at Oonproee of Mareh 8, 1879._ ViBUg or SUBSCRIPTION #2.0# PER YEAB au XetM Cepy of Chrwchee and add Orpanl he in our office not later than *-00 p. m. Monday for eurren ioane. AU Adver *un- OdW or Paid AAielaa not later the* proceeding date of iaeue, ta Eaee prejoOee aM pa. The Fatherhood at * End and the Brotherhood at Wan mast prevail, i^feae are the oh prtofdplee whfl will atand fee aetd teat of poad._ - editorials ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS , National and International Prof)lMna Inseparable From Local Well are “Prepare to the limit for war—and at the same time take every possible legislative precaution against becom ing involved in potential wars that are jbot directly our own concern.” That fen a sentence, seems to be the attitude «f Congress today. The details of the Administration’s lung discussed armament program have at last come to light The Presi dent has urged that with “as great speed as possible,” a special appropri ation of $552,000,000 be authorized and ■pent for the tools of war. Three hun dred millions of this, according to plan, is to go for army airplanes; $110,000, •00 is to go for anti-air craft guns, au tomatic rifles, field pieces, etc.; $8,000, 000 for strengthening our seacoast de fenses ; $27,000,000 to increase the nor mal garrison in the Canal Zone; $44, 000,000 for naval bases; $21,000,000 for navy airplanes, and $10,000,000 for training civilian air pilots, to build up a reserve of expert combat fliers in case of necessity. During the 1940 fiscal year about a billion more will be spent for military expansion and maintenance, in addit ion to this “emergency” half-billion, making a total of about a billion and a half. That comes to a little more than $10 for every man, woman and child in America—a sum not so large as exag gerated early estimates indicated, but still the largest in our peace time his tory. The American people haven’t had a chance to vote “aye” or “naye” on this program officially. But, unoffic ially, they have made their voices heard and the chorus of approval has appar ently drowned out the minority of dis •enters. A late Institute of Public Op inion poll, for example, shows that the public is overwhelmingly back of the armament program; that the bulk of •ur citizens feel that Germany is dem ocracy’s worst enemy, and favor a boy cott of all German goods, and that 46 per cent of those queried believe we will have to fight Germany again in their Hfetime.s In Congress, sentiment in favor of big-scale armament is similarly great. But there is also the feeling that any major arms race breeds great dangers which must be carefully guarded a gainst Almost all the countries, when they go into expanding their military establishments, do it on the grounds of “national defense.” And then, very *ften, their peoples find themselves in volved in wars of offense. A number of influential senators, fearing that our Hatred of dictators may reach the hys terical stage, are planning legislation to prevent the imposition of sanctions against any country which does not di rectly menace us—and to strengthen, not weaken, the terms of the Neutral ity Act. At the same time, sentiment in Congress in favor of rigorous isolation even from our World War allies, seems *0 be on the increase. France’s con tinuous series of governmental crises has weakened faith in her ability to hold her place as a dominant European power. And the feeling seems to be growing that the Chamberlain govern ment is adopting certain fascist tactics —such as control of press and radio, and the supression of anti-government al expressions—which are not in ac cord with domestic principals. Biggest debate over details of the armament program is liable to come in considering the proposal that Guam be made a first-class naval base. Some experts think this would be suicidal— Guam is an easy prey for Japan, and if we attempted to defend, they think, de feat would be inevitable. These ex perts feel we can defend our mainland and the Hawaiian Islands—but that is as far as we can go. There has been little change of im portance in the business situation. Ac tivity has continued at fairly high lev els, and the seasonal decline has so far been moderate.. A long term development of im mense potential importance is the in creasing interest certain industries are showing in the guaranteed annual in come system for Compensating their workers. In the past, this has been re stricted to a very few concerns, most of them comparatively small in size. Now more and larger concerns are ei ther toying with the idea, or making definite plans for adopting it. Among the latter is Armstrong Cork, which will experiment with it this year. Guaranteed wage plans are all the same in principle, though they vary somewhat in detail. Some of them guarantee that the worker will be given so much work during the year and be paid so much for it, irrespective of the time it takes him. Others guarantee so many hours employment during the year, at so much an hour. All of them, of course, attempt to mitigate the sea sonal factor in employment. It is an obvious fact that a high hourly or daily wage rate is of small benefit to the worker if he is out of a job for six months of the year. A les ser wage rate which he is certain to re ceive for 50 weeks out of each 52 is far more satisfactory to all concerned. The guaranteed annual wage has not made great progress yet in American indus try, but it promises to be one of the major developments of the future. _ CALVIN’S DIGEST by Floyd J. Calvin .Listed by Editor and Publisher Southern Policy — An interesting discussion of “Sou thern Policy” on the anti-marriage laws between the races has appeared in the Christian Advocate, a white per iodical, by Rolfe Lanier Hunt, of Lou ise, Miss., according to a reprint in the National Baptist Voice. The substance of the discussion is that while laws forbid marriage be tween the races in the South, race mix ing has gone forward in that section at a greater pace than in states which sanction intermarriage. So the writ er concludes that since the principle of racial integrity is what the South seeks to protect, protection of that principle would be more certain, according to actual statistics, if marriage between white and colored were permitted b* law. Says Mr. Hunt: “To permit a man to father a child without responsibility for his act of procreation makes for promiscuity and for miscegenation. To require the father to assist in support of his child and his mother makes for racial integrity. The marriage code of the Southern states, should, there fore, he revised to impose such respon sibility. The granting of licenses for marriage between the races might re sult in some marryiges between the races, but the amount of mixing of bloods would be vastly decreased.” At least an approach is suggested for justice between the races where rank prejudice has long ruled supreme. Press Support — Dr. W. M. Drake, president of the Houston Negro Chamber of Commerce Houston, Tex., in an official statement to the Negro citizens of his city recent ly said: “I have just fully realized my duty to our local newspapers. I somewhat thought that the papers were satisfied to have their papers bought on the streets by their friends and the people but that was an error on my part. The managers and editors do not consider you much of a friend or race man un less your name is on the weekly mailing list. We depend on our weekly news papers to get our business and news over to the public. — Economic Rating The recent study of magazine au diences made by Life is interesting be cause of the classification given to Ne groes. On page 22 of the study appears “Definitions of Economic Levels." Five groups are mentioned—A, B, C, D, and E, and the Negro is mentioned only in the D and E groups. “The ‘D’ group is the great mass of working people," says the study. “Manual laborers and farmers account for nearly 70 per cent with a scattering of other occupations. About one out of ten has no occupation at present, and abut one out of thirteen is a Negro. None of the ‘D’ group pays more than $60 a month for rent, less than one per cent pay more than $45, most of them paying less than $30 a month. “‘The ‘E’ group is definitely poor and low class, making a bare living, lacking many of the necessities of life. About two-thirds of all the Negroes are in this group. Negro readers should bear in mind that these figures are compiled ex pressly to prove to big business that practically all advertising expenditures should go to certain white publications and they prove negatively that no money should be spent to get Negro pa tronage. Yet there is now a popular im pression that Life magazine is friendly to Negroes development. These very figures which Life has published of our social in economics practically deny the existence of the very people represent ed in the pictures it has published. It is in the field of economics that the Negro is being strangled, and all too frequently it is our friends who are tightening the cords around our throats. How can a Negro publishing enterprise be expected to get advertis ing when Life broadcasts to the world that the Negro is too poor to consider. Yet Life turns right around and prints pictures of Negroes well situated eco nomically, to swell its circulation, so IT can get all the advertising revenue. Negroes expect competition in busi ness, even from whites, but they want that is fair. Many Negroes living in Northern cities will be shocked to hear that their top rating by Life is in a group where “most of them pay less than $30 a month” for rent Less than a year ago the New York Times made a food survey of Manhat tan for national advertisers, but when they go to Harlem, the point of the dol lar brand of liquor sold was given the given the most stress. Yet Harlem is noted in the food industry for buying large volumes of certain brand breads and other groceries. Truly, we must watch our “friends.” One hitch hiker to the other: “That’s just right, just sit there and let me work my finger to the bone.” BUILDING THE BRIDGE TO HEALTH — Presiden/t Roosevelt spoke with real elosuence when he declared in his message to Congress on a National Health Program: “The average level of health or the average cost of sickness has little meaning for those who now must meet, personal catastrophes. To know that & stream is four feet deep on the average is of ilittle help to those who drown in the places where it is ten feet deep. He recommendations of the committee of fer a program to bridge that stream hgr reducing the risks of needless suffer ing and death, and of cost and depend ency, that now overwhelm millions of individual families and sap the resour ces of the nation.” — The proposals drawn up by the President’s Interdepartmental Com mittee and submitted by Mr. Roosevelt to Congress, have already received the general endorsement of wide sections of the labor and progressive movement. At the same time, this move to raise the health of the nation and bring med ical care to thoe who need it most but can afford it least, has sturck a warm chord in the hearts of the rank and file of the medical profession. National Health Program is depen dent upon state as well as federal action as the cost is to be shared. That means that not only Congress, but also state legislatures and governors should be called upon at once to approve the plan put this milestone program into life^. __aHa V V V ,, BUYER’S GUIDE by Clarence H. Peacock While total employment has varied with conditions throughout the coun try, total government employment has risen steadily since 1929. In June '38^. approximately one person in every IS was regularly employed by'the feder al government, or by state or local gov ernments. Total employment in the United States reached its peak in 1929 when government employment accounted for 2.070.000 persons. In June, 1938 when total employment figures showed 4, 930.000 fewer workers than in< 1929* government employment showed op posite tendency, rising to a new high of 2,590,000 employees, an increase of 25.1 per cent over 1929. The employment of state and local government workers has more closely paralleled trends, of general employ ment, reports the National Industrial Conference Board, even though state and local governments increased their pay rolls in recent months in contrast to the decline in (total employment in the same period. Regular federal employees, exclud ing emergency workers of the WPA and CCC which are not included in th® totals, have been more numerous every year since 1929. The most rapid rise in regular federal employment figure® has occurred since 1934. Total of reg ular federal employees, 1,194,000 In June, 1938 is 43.3 per cent over federal employment in 1929. The rapid extension of federal au thority in agriculture, manufacturing and all other fields of industry is re flected in the sharp rise in regular fed eral employment since 1933. -— uvu Medicine Man: And folks, remem ber that I’ve got something that changes the color of a person’s hair over night. Man in Crowd: Yes, I’ve got a son in college too. -0O0 A man pinned underneath his car after an auto accident was being ques tioned by a policeman. Policeman: Are you married Man: No, this is the wrost trouble I was ever in*