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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1939)
THE OMAHA GUIDE Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St. Omaha, Nebraska Phone WEbster 1517 Entered as Second Class Matter March 16, 1927, at the Post Office at Omaha, Nebr., under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YBJAR 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 only principles whil will stand the acid test of good. James H. Williams & James E. Seay—Linotype operators and Pressmen. Paul Barnett—Foreman. ■.. " . " I.I. — ■ — EDITORIALS ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS Should the United States be a mil itary participant in the next wtorld war? To that question, going by re cent public opinion polls, the American people answer NO by a tremendous majority. Will the United States be militari ly involved in the hext wtorld war? To that question, according to the same polls, a small majority fo our citizens pessimistically answer YES. There’s no question in the public mind as bo who will be the participants in that threatened war—a war that many experts believe will be incredibly destructive and horrible. On one side will be arrayed Germany and Italy. On the other will be Great Britain and France, and a number of minor pow ers. At the beginning, say the experts, the Axis powers have the edge, due to their superiority in air power. Then, if the war settles down to a slow con flict of attrition, as did the last, the su perior resources of the democracies will gradually take command. The reader will notice that Soviet Russia is not mentioned here as a belligerent. She is the question mark. Ideologically she is a natural enemy of the fascists and nazis. But so far she has not de finitely responded to suggestions that she pledged herself bo aid France and England, and there is a belief in some informed quarters that she hopes to stay out of thr* next war, so that, tonce peace comes again, she will dominate Europe. To go back to this country s part in world affairs, it is apparnet now that—whether or not AEF is ever sent to Europe—we are already involved The Administration has gone about as far as it can in denouncing the dictator nations without completely severing relations. (And in this regard, it should be remembered that the U. S. Ambassador to Germany has been re called and kept home for some months, as has the German Ambassador to the U. S.) We have thrown the whole weight of our moral influence behind England and France. This Administra tion is strongly internationalist irf character. It is said that the man who has the most influence with the Presi dent in determining foreign affairs is Ambassador Bullitt, who is a firm be liever in the necessity of internation alism on our part. The President has said, through his spokesmen in the Congress, that he feels it necessary to change our pre sent neutrality law to allow him tc give the democracies immediate econo mic and material aid (such as muni tions, wheat, cotton, etc.) if war comes. Opposing him or the isolotionists, led by Senators Borah, Nye, Clark and Johnson, who feel that we should let Europe fight its own battles and go to its own ruin without ruining ourselves in the process. Against this argument is the point, often brought up by Ad minstration men, that a victory in Eu rope of the Axis powers would probab ly be at once followed by a really strolng drive on Sjuth and Central A merica—in which case this nation would be open for the first time in its history to territorial attack and pot tential conquest. Without debating the merits of any of these arguments., it can be said that the President’s pro position has an excellent chance to be made into law. Many a conservative in House and Senate, as well as the New Deal “100 per centers” are behind it, in the belief that it represents the les ser of two evils. It is a question, in the event ot war, whether or not we could aid the democracies without aiding them even tually with troops. Past history wojuld seem to answer No. Every expert is convinced that the next war will see incidents affecting r American citizens far more important, say, than the sink ing of the Lusitania—a bomber, after all, doesn’t differentiate between na tionalities when it strikes at great cit ies. If Hitler fulfilled his rumored threat, and sent a gigantic air fleet over Paris and London! at the outset of hostilities, our emotions would be stir red to the utmost by the resulting slau ghter of non-beligerents. And then, what? The President’s dramatic telegram to Hitler s^sking him to pledge non-ag gressioh against 31 nations met with thinly veiled derision in Berlin. The dictators are desperate—faced with the most pressing internal problems, they apparently can see no solution save to press on. From our point of view, there is or.b bright spot in the (international picture—our relations with Japan have steadily improved. Japan, though theoretically a member of the Rome Berlin axis, seems bo be getting far ther away from fascism. And, curious ly enough, the improved relations lar gely stemmed from a trivial incident. When the late Japanese Ambassador to the U. S. died suddenly in this coun try, his ashes were sent home with great formality 'on an American bat tleship. The Japanese are the most formal of the world’s peoples—and this gesture of goodwill found an im mediate response in the Japanese press, and in the feelings of the Nip ponese. _oOo BUYER S GUIDE by \ Clarence H. Peacock v*.. 1 , -**. After two years of study, the tem porary commission on the “Condition of the Urban Negro Population” of the state of New York, reports to the le gislature on their findings. In the sum mary of their report, they charge wide discrimination of the Negroes of New York numbering 500,000, in the fields of employment, housing, educa tion, recreation and hospitalization. Because the commission beleves this discrimination to have been prac ticed by local government agencies, and by labor unions, they have propos ed fourteen legislative reforms. In a joint statement used in the summary of the report, Senator Schwartswald who was chairman of the commission, and Assemblyman Andrews, vice chairman said— We realize that no successful at tacks can be made on the secondary problems of New York’s citizens, un til the basic handicap df inadequate in come is removed. Bad housing, juven ile delinquency, high mortality rates and attendant evils, will continue as long as vast areas of possible and pre ferred employment are barred to a large percentage of the colored popu lation. “We realize that there is need for State Wide action beyond what can be accomplished through legislation a lone. Lawk can set the pattern for community improvement, but they reach the maximum effectiveness only with the support of an aroused public opinion which understands their im portance. The cotmmission also said “Your commission feels justified in stating that the principle and intention, fre quently avowed by the State Govern-, ment and the people of the State of New York to acoord all constituents of the population equal opportunity to share in the rights and privileges of citizenship, have been disregarded by many local government authorities, who have been reluctant to remedy unfavorable conditions which make it impossible for Negroes to share equal ly such rights and privileges of citizen ship. “Failure of these local govern ment officials to act—and the addit ional fact that these conditions have State wide' implications and seriously affect the general public welfare of the State—makes it imperative that action be taken by the State Legislat ure—‘Legislative action’ in the words of His Excellency Governor Lehman,’ that will give real significance to the declared principle of equal protection of the laws, irresponsive of race, creed or color.” -0O0 The Railroad Omnibus Bill The sok;alled Railroad Omnibus Bill (H. R. 4862) which was recently introduced in the House by Represen tative Clarence F. Lea, marks the first attempt in many years bo adequately reform and equalize our transporta tion policy. In general, the bill is designed to put into effect the recomtnendatio,ns of the President’s Committee of Six, which has made an exhaustive report on the transportation problem. This report met with the almost unqualified support of railroad management and railroad labor. It was widely praised by completely unprejudiced economists and educators, and was generally giv , en the full approval of the press. The Lea bill takes its recommendations, phrases them in legal form, and makes them part of a proposed law whose primary purpose is to place all c.'inrn ercial carriers o-' an equal footing in order that all may serve the puhMe to the limit of their capabilities. The bill lays down the principle tnat all forms of transportation shall be equal in the eyes of the law, and that n,on'e shall be favofred and none penal ized. It provides that all carriers shall charge reasonable rates, and that there shall be no unjust discrimination. It gives the Interstate Commerce Com mission power to establish bo th mini mum and maximum rates foir all car riers under its jurisdiction. It replac es the present obsolete rate makipg rule with a new, equitable rule, design ed to fit the actual conditions and needs of the present time. Of vital importance, it provides for creation of a Transportation Board which is to re view all proposals for water projects before they are submitted to Congress, which is to study the subject of subsid ies to various forms of transport, and which is to have authority over certif icates of convenience and necessity, etc. It provides for fair tolls on inland waterways, and the discontinuance of that costly white elephant, the Feder al Barge Lintes. In reading the Lea Bill, one is impressed by the fact that every con ceivable protection is given to the shipping and traveling public, and that all carriers shall be subjected to ade quate, sweeping public regulation. There may be differences of opinion as to specific sections of this measure —but it certainly seems as if it marks a realistic approach to a \ital problem, and that Congress should give it im mediate attention. _nOn_:_ PLAGUE The Georgia State Senate de cisively defeated a bill to levy a puni tive tax against the chain stores of the state. During the early stages of the bill’s progress toward a vote, it was believed that it would become law. But when this possibility became widely known, manufacturers, farmers, labor union officials, real estate owners and consumers raised so strong a protest that enough Senators switched from their previous position to defeat the bill, 30 to 15. About the same time a similar bill was beaten in the Kansas legislature. Looking over this year’s legislat ive sessions in general, it is no exag geration to say that there is a genuine undercun-ent of public resentment a gainst any and all kinds of punitive tax legislation which raises the cost of depressed property and rental values by driving sto/res out of business, and penalizes the many to benefit the few. In several states strong support has gathered behind movements to repeal lawrs of this character passed by prev ious legislatures. In other states, new punitive lawTs have been buried in con ference rooms, due to the fact that there wasn’t enough support to bring them to the floor for a vote1. In only one state has a new anti-chain law been passed—and in this case, accord ing to observers, the nerd for addit ional tax revenue superceded every other consideration. One interesting phase of the ques tion is that an increasing number of thinking independent stofc*e operators have gone on record in opposition to “soaking the chains.” These men realize that once the principle of puni tive class taxation is firmly establish ed, it will be only a matter of time un til their owTn and other businesses come in for attack. Unfair, unjust taxation is like a disease—unless it is firmly checked in its infancy, it is likely to spread to plague proportions and nlo one will be safe from its ravag es. - ■■■ » -— -vvjsj- vi L ' % SAFETY FIRST - — - An authority on life insurance ob serves that during depression, the statistical and analytical sections of the companies’ investment depart ments have been increased, and moye and closer attention has been paid to digging out investment possibilities. v The job this industry has done in protecting its polictyhoflders, and at the same time obtaining investment* which pay a reasonable rate of return, has been nothing short of miraculous. And it wasn’t done by accident. It is the result of expert analysis of the in vestment field, under management which holds as its cardinal principle that “safety comes first.” That’s why, in spite of hard times and ups and downs in the business cycle, your life insurance policy will be paid, in full, on the day it crimes due. -—oOo-— “The soi-disant Liberals of today are the people who feel that if they adopt the identical measures and methods used by Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini, the results must be entirely different because of the excellence of their irttejitions—And it is no use telling the perpetual-motion genius that his machine, whatever it may be, will not work because of friction and the law' of conservation of eneirgy— He will only reply happily that in his machine friction is eliminated.”—Isa bel Patersori. t» « *