THE OMAHA GUIDE
Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St.
Omaha, Nebraska
Phono WEbster 1517
Entered as Second Class Matter March 15, 1927,
at the Tost Office at Omaha, Nebr., under
Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 82.00 PER YEAR
All News Copy of Chrurches and add Organi
zations must be in our office not later than
5:00 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 only principles whil will stand
the acid test of good. _
EDITORIALS
; ! _________
OMAHA MUNICIPAL BANK
SYSTEM
The voters of the City of Omaha will
on May 9, 1939 have an opportunity to
express their choice on the establish
ment of a municipal bank system in
Omaha.
In view of the establishment of the
First Municipal Bank in Birmingham,
England in the year of 1915 and now
established throughout the various
municipalities of Australia and New
Zealand by the labor governments
which is made up of the wage-earners
of these countries, where labor rules
supreme and a system of unemploy
ment insurance and old age pensions
as well as the blind, indigent and de
pendant mothers are properly taken
care of from the earning of these
municipal banks.
For its latest development of muni
cipal enterprise a system has been work
ed out where, by poverty is over come
by the establishment of an unemploy
ment and old age pension system with
out taxation simply by taking the prof
its of the banking system and applying
the benefits to the economic needs of
the people. That it has attracted wide
spread attention and there must be
many students of social conditions of
the local government who will desire to
obtain a closer acquaintance with its
methods and to trace the sources of its
success.
The main object of a municipal
bank system is to encourage thrift a
mongst the working classes and the
small business men who are denied
bank credit under the old system of
banking by the international bankers.
The fact that financial relations be
tween the bank and the municipality
are of a service to the people, because
it reduces taxation is one of the es
sential features of its existence, it mak
es loans of credit to the common work
er which have in the past been a victim
of the loan sharks and exorbitant rates
of interest which has pauperized the
working classes. The municipal bank
mr vo .^ans to the wage-earners and
the unemployed and to the small busi
ness interests which are today denied
credit from any source.
The municipal bank owned by the
people is constantly in the public eye;
it commands the service of its most re
spected citizens; the councilers, the
clergy, the magistrates- the teachers,
creed via one another in proclaiming
and the local leaders of every class and
its virtues. Its elasticity and adapt
ibility in meeting the needs of the peo
ple from any defect in administration
which has hampered the people and
prevented them from securing the nec
essary credit to provide for their wants
And through its own numerous branch
es throughout the cities, it familarizes
the general public with the opportunity
it offers and no one appears to feel any
difference about entering a municipal
cipal bank which is provided for the
building which is recognized as a muni
convenience of the people.
The city of Birmingham composed
of the workers of Great Britain, the
first municipal bank was established
and it has today over $35,000,000 on de
of the needs of the people, especially the
posit- Municipal enterprises take care
unemployed where a municipal bank is
established. Birmingham has been the
pioneer in municipal banking. She has
opened up the mine, drive shafts which
reveal the possibilities before us. By
skill and prudence she has hitherto a
voided' the perils which beset such op
erations. Marked the danger spots,
laid out the regulations by which dis
aster may be avoided, and by the use
of municipal credit has provided a
means to take care of the unemployed
paying them a liberal wage while out of
work, provided for the aged over 50
years of age with an old age pension
taken care of the blind, mothers and
children.
Omaha is municipally minded; it
has municipal water, municipal gas and
ice. Why not have a municipal owned
bank to handle the taxpayers money
which today is being handled by na
tional banks without interest being
paid to the city? Why not use the peo
ples’ money for the benefit of the peo
ple and not the banker?
Roy M. Harrop.
-—0O0
CALVIN’S DIGEST
“The Negro Woman Worker,” a
new bulletin issued by the Department
of Labor, Washington, reveals the
points which must be most vigorously
attacked by our women if their econo
mic status is to be improved. “In all,
says the Bulletin, “Negro women in
what may be termed ‘white-collar oc
cupations’—in transportation and com
munication, trade, public service- pro
fessional service, and clerical occupa
tions—totaled about 91,600 in 1930, or
only 5 per cent of the Negro woman
gainfully occupied. On the other hand,
native white wo'men in the same occu
pations totaled 4,330,000 in the same
vear, or 56 per cent of all gainfully
occupied’ white women of native birth.”
Here is the crux of the problem—
more jo'bs in the “white collar” area.
But this is the area in which prejudice
is strongest, North and South. Even
Negro men often forget that they owe
the same obligation to their women as
to themselves in their fight to smash
barriers holding them back.
Recently the Secretary of War- Mr.
Woodring, said the Negro himself ac
cepts the principle that the races
should not be mixed in organizations.
However, Mr. W. Frank Parsons, di
rector of the United States Employ
ment Service, speaking to the second
national conference held hy the NYA in
Washington on Negro youth recently,
reported that Negy#es now have an
opportunity to get jobs as administra
tive officers — “managers, assistant
managers, junior and senior interview
ers, vocational counselors, reception
ists, stenographers, typsits, clerks, tele
phone operators, messengers and cus
todial workers.” Mr. Parsons reported
further that: “They are working in
separate divisions or offices in some
cities and in mixed offices in others.”
I his is important. The U. S. Gov
4 eminent is employing Negroes in mix
ed staffs and according to Mr. Parsons,
“Careful observation of workers in the
Service over a period of years lead me
to the opinion that Negro workers have
proved themselves efficient in every
position in the Service to which they
have been appointed. These Negro ap
pointees have contributed to a better
understanding of the problems of un
employment as they affect their partic
ular group; and have aided in intepret
ing the Service to the public.”
If this is true in the Federal service,
then it must be made more increasing
ly true in private industry. Great em
ployers of white-collar workers like
the Metropolitan Life Insurance Com
pany and the public utilities, like the
electric light and telephone interests,
must be made to give more employment
to Negro workers, and to Negro women
workers. Trained Negro women simply
must find more outlets for their talent
and ability than school teaching and
social service.
Individual Negroes can am mis
program by resolutely standing behind
all picket lines which seek to force en
try into avenues of employment now
denied the group, particularly where
the group is a large per cent of the
consumers of such enterprises. This
method has proved effective in several
northern cities, and must be used even
more vigorously to force new openings.
Let Negro men not make the mis
take of fighting for themselves alone,
and forgetting to carry their women
with them. All should go up together.
-
NO SUBSTITUTE
Those who subscribe to the doc
trine that a government can “spend its
way into prosperity,” are due for a
rude awakening, as a study recently
published by the National Bureau of
Economic Research indicates.
According to this study, tremen
dous drops have taken place in the pro
duction of durable goods and in pri
vately financed construction. Between
1919 and 1929, the money spent for
these purposes averaged about $19,000,
000,000 annually. In recent years, the
average has dropped to $6,500,000,000.
In those years, government spend
ing has been at record levels—levels so
high that the bulk of disinterested
the federal government—which means
money going into construction and
durable goods industries—has aver
economists freely forecast ruin for the
country if they are long maintained.
Yet, in spite of that, pump-priming by
aged but $2,620,000,000 a year.
As the Morning Oregonian obser
ves, “The incapacity of government to
overcome the decline in private invest
ment in durable goods is at once ap
parent.” Furthermore, the very weight
of government spending is in itself a
a tremendous barrier to a resumption
of private spending on any substantial
scale. Governwent pump-griming
means continually rising taxes* plus a
continually rising debt—and the re
sult is to frighten the investor, dis
hearten industry, which finds its pro
fits diminishing even when it manages
to hold its volume of sales to good lev
els, and drive money into hiding in tax
exempt government securities.
No one argues that this so-called
“emergency” spending by the govern
ment can now be terminated at once.
But all the valid economic evidence at
hand proves that the salvation of the
country depends on a program to grad
ually reduce this terrific spending—
and to encourage, through sound tax
policies, a resumption of private spend
ing in the durable goods field. There is
no substitute for private capital—even
as there is no substitute for private
initiative and energy in making the
wheels go ’round.
-uuu
A NEW PRODUCES—CONSUMER
PROGRAM
.... ■ ■' ■
Speaking before the American
Farm Bureau Federation, Edward A.
O’Neil, the organization’s president, re
cently said: “The chain store has ex
tended its efficiency beyond question.
The cost of distribution is one of the
great unsolved problems and we must
admit that the chains have rendered
great service to producers and consu
mers in stortening the route between
the farmer and city consumer.” Follow
ing this, the Federation went on re
cord with a strong resolution condemn
ing punitive taxation of business.
Reports have been lately made pu
blic concerning a “new set of ideas?*
being developed by the U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture for the purpose of
improving the distribution of food. It
is said that the intention of this govern
ment program- Which is designed to aid
both producers and consumers, is k*
move surpluses into consumption; .(U|
stimulate consumption; to increase vcd
ume by reducing costs all along the dis*
tributive line that reaches from produc
tive to consumer
it is apparent to anyone that that
ambitious and worth-while program
can be made successful only by enlist*
ing the aid of our existing mass-dist
ribution systems—which means th0
chain group, and the organized inde
pendent stores. Those who are working
on the program point to the need for
standardizing packages, minimizing
gluts and shortages in the market, sta
bilizing prices, etc. And this is just
where large-scale distribution, w ithi
centralized management and great
turnover, is all important. The chains
and the organized independents can
point to many fine achievements in the
past on behalf of farmers and consum
ers. And, giver} encouragement* they
can achieve still more in the future.
It’s a real pleasure to see the gov*
ernment planning a program that real
ly will help the people. And it is to
hoped that this program will dampen
the ardor of those “special pleaders?*
in Congress who are seeking to des
troy mass distribution at the expense
of farmer, consumer and worker, for
political purposes.
-n()n-—.
BUYER’S GUIDE
by Clarence H. Peacock , . v
_ i
Southern Negroes eat more chick
en, duck and turkey than any other re
sidents of the United States except
those of the North Atlantic States,
where the average consumption is four
pounds more, says the Department of
Agriculture in their palate poll of the
American worker.
for food by the thirteen million Color
Over a billion dollars a year is spent
ed people in this country. Through in
discriminate spending our people are
not reaping the full benefits of this
huge buying power.
A recent consumer survey conduct
ed in Harlem disclosed the fact that
Negroes in this community preferred
the brands of rr|any companies that
ignore the Negro market and Negitf
labor. *
First choice was given to the fol
lowing brands, yet not #ne of these
brands advertised in our papers, not is
there any special effort made for Col
orer patronage. Maxwell House Coffee^
Quaker Oats, Del Monte canned goods
and Kirkman Laundry Soap.
Others first preference were, Lucky"
Strike Cigarette, Colgate Tooth Paste,
Libebuoy Soap and Eureka Vacumn
Cleaners. Not any of these brands were?
advertised in our papers last year.
The following brands advertised re
gularly in our papers, they also receiv
ed first preference. For greater econo
mic security read our papers and buyr
their advertised products.
_nOn_
A visitor to Hollywood says the*
only real things he saw the!re were*
sparrows hopping around on the gpy
sum snow. Huh! How does he know
they were real sparrows?
-0O0
Womens seem to have been mis*
understood. “They don’t originate gos
sip,” says Elsa Maxwell. “They merely
repeat what they heard from men/*
