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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1939)
THE OMAHA GUIDE Published Every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant St. Omaha, Nebraska Phone WEbster 1517 Entered as 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 sations 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. James H. Williams & James E. Seay—Linotype operators and Pressmen. Paul Barnett—Foreman. EDITORIALS BETWEEN THE LINES by Dean Gordon B. Hancock for ANP Turkey or Bologna? The outstanding fact in the realm of race relations, is the liberal thinking that is taking place among the young er generation of whites! With fair ness and with candor, the<y are inclin ing to think matters through; and in this we have abundant reason for hope. The conviction is becoming more over whelming that within the near future the young whites are going to call the young Negroes into conclave solemn, and there around the table, interracial matters are going to be subjected to acute discussion. If the young Ne groes can “talk turkey,” that is going to be a happy day; but if they talk “bo logna,” the tide of discussion will be a gainst them and their cause will suffer great retardation. The man who does “factual think ng” talks turkey, and he who does “wishful thinking” talks bologna. For instance, when Mussolini invaded Eth iopia, there were those who contended that Haile Selassie’s tribal cohorts had a chance. It was contended that Ethiopia’s survival dated from ancient days and that the Italian legions could not defeat the courageous armies of Ethiopia. That was Bologna. < En thusiasm and courage are no matches for scientific equipment. That noth ing except defeat would come to tho tribal armies of Selassie was clear to all those who appreciated the powers of science that are being daily multi plied. Again when Japan invaded China, everybody saw a “reborn China” with standing the invading hordes of the Mikado. Every skirmish gave occasion to extol the bravery of the Chinese and the brutality of the Japanese be came the little brown Huns with fiend ish passions for blood and booty. Every bomb that the Japanese dropped killed “defenseless women and child ren,” and invariably fell upon hospi tals, etc. Japan, they said, was inter nally disorganized and China would in the end swallow Japan and the Ja panese victory was minimized and every Chinese advance was magnified. That Was Bologna. The fact is Japan is conquering her in an economic way. Japan is doing what Great Britain and the United States and France taught her to do. They are international saints and Japan is the international sinner. Now our marines are banding up in China tq “protect” our interests etc. As cleverly as wrar was every worked up, we are working up a war with Ja pan because Japan is stealing our stuff. When Russia went communist, the press of the world did more “wishful thinking” and more Bologna talking. The opinion was widespread that com munism would soon collapse, but there are more signs of collapse among the so called democratic nations. The world said so because it wished it so when the downfall of communism was predicted. More Bologna. When Hitler and Mus solini formed a compact and announc ed the Rome Berlin axis, the democra cies belittled the alliance, and forth with predicted that within a short time the compact w?ould be dissolved, either from the duplicity of Hitler ojr the hypocrisy of Mussolini. That was Bolo gna. The fact is Hitler and Mussolini are in a good way to dominate the wrorld. And if the democracies are saved, communist Russia must save them. That is turkey. The much malig ned and misrepresented Soviet Russia holds the most strategic place today of any nation of Europe, if not indeed of the wrorld. That is turkey. Statistics are constantly uncover ing ugly facts within the Negro race. For instance, they show a higher inci dence of crime among Negroes, and a higher incidence of syphillis. Within recent weeks, much has been said about the high illegitimacy among Ne groes. Many Negroes will rise in holy wrath to dispute the facts. That is bologna. Negroes who are segregated and aggrevated and exploited and subjug ated and dominated and repudiated and are expected to have more crime and illegitimacy and syphillis. That is turkey. The Negros higher incidence of of crime does not prove that the Negro is more criminal; the higher in cidence of syphillis and illegitimacy does ncyt prove the Negro more im moral. That is turkey. To make it appear that Negroes without a chance can equal the whites with a chance is Bologna! Shall we talk turkey, or shall we talk bologna. That’s the question! -0O0 RIGHTS AND DUTIES Our faith in freedom is based on the belief that every human soul has its own sovereign rights—rights that are not merely granted by society but are an essential of the human charac ter. Since society is nothing apart from the men and women! of which it is fahioned, it can never ignore this right of freedom without courting its own destruction. Yet this freedom is not the freedom for men to do as they please. Even in primitive society this freedom is denied, and the complex demands of civilization denjy it in a thousand ways. When men agree to live together for the sake of work or happiness, they set limits to their behavior and agree to live beneath a code and law. Yet the right of freedom remains. It is a right not to. natural but to spiritual freedom. Its most vital doc trine is that men have the right to think as they please. Man as a member of society has duties rather than rights. As an in dividual his rights are supreme. The problem of society is to appoint to each man his duties while scrupulously pro tecting his rights. For in the right of man to think as he pleases lies the on ly hope for endurance and perfection of society. _ a v v/ w " WHAT A FRUIT! Who will again doubt the benevo lence of science? No grower, bcorterer or lover of watermelon will, at least. Whether fruit, vegetable or herb, the watermelon has always had a host of friends. People like berries, grape fruit, peaches and cantaloupe, but their attachment to the watermelen is some thing deeper and more enduring. One thing y>nly the watermelon was thought to lack. It is beauteous; it is luscious; it is satisfying. Its outer shell of somber green, inner lining of white, its luscious red contrasting ir resistibly with the rich mahogany of its ripened seeds, are as satisfying to the painter as its full flavored sweet ness to the epicure. But still it was supposed to fall short of the ideal. For even those most addicted to its consumption never gave it credit for being nourishing. Here is where science proves its benevolence. Experts have discovered that watermelons are clock full of four kinds of vitamins. Any fruit, or what ever a watermelon is, that boasts of one vitamin can get by with the dieti tians. But four of them! What a fruit! That reminds us, the first water melons ought to be along soon. —-0O0 HOT Upon the current phase of the weather remember the weather?) wo may comment unequivocally. Moppng a brow which, if not fevered, at least has the appearance of it, we declain from our editorial rooftop that it’s hot. It is an opinion wre hold to without condition, subject to defense with every drop of ink in our typewriter. The sun has returned with what is popularly referred to as a venge ance; the rains have lost their cooling powers; the breezes, such as they are, merely buffet the hot air frofcn one place to another. Man has reacted in the normal way, and begun to wilt too. (Women have begun to wilt also, no doubt, but wron’t admit it.) Children, on the other han(d, have sought the logical alternative and gone swimming. Having pined audibly for the sun and summer, we can hardly object to this advance agent of the season and remain consistent. Moreover, it will certainly get worse before it gets bet ter. But whatever it gets, the immem orial right of all of us to be dissatisfied with what we have—whether it be the weather or something else—will re main unchanged. -0O0 THE STORY OF THE FUG The United States flag date's back to June 14, 1777. On that June day 162 years ago, Congress passed a resolu tion providing the present arrange ment of stars and' stripes. As states have been added to the union, the 13 original white stars have become 48. It is a giorious constellation of free commonwealths, every one of which has fine institutions and a good chance for progress and development. The flags of many nations show little variety of design. The flag of France, for instance consists of three solid stripes of blue, white and red, running up and down. It has stirred French valor on a thousand fields of battle, but as an aesthetic picture, it it not so fine. The United States flag with its narrow red and white stripes, its white stars on a blue field, has a beautiful variety and contrast of color. Those bright shining stars in the blue ground might be taken as a symbol of the can opy of heaven, suggesting the ideals ’ that have been created by the founders of our country, and which it is our duty to maintain. A hat may fool men, but the ladies know by your tame and timid spirit that you are the bald kind. -- * A HISTORIC DECISION The historic Supreme Court deci sion of March 27, which held in the words of Justice Stone, that there is no constitutional immunity “from in come taxation of officers or employes of the national or a state government or their instrumentalities,” apparently removes all legal obstacles in the way of a reform that has long been advo cated. It has been generally believed that it would be unconstitutional for any branch of government to tax the work ers of another, and it has been argued that an amendment to the constitution would be necessary to make that possi ble. This decision in deciding that the federal government and the states would not hamper or burden each other by extending their taxing power to government workers, now makes that argument completely invalid. The president of the United States other high government officials, busi ness leaders, newspapers, and a large number of economists have all pointed to the unfairness of tax freedom for government workers. In a great many cases these workers receive higher sal aries than they would be paid for com parable work in private business. Dur ing recent years especially, thousands upon thousands of additional persons have been placed on the public pay rolls, and a good proportion of them receive salaries ranging from $5,000 to $12,000 a year. Certainly there is no justice or reason in permitting these people to go tax free—while persons in private industry with incomes as low as $1,000 are taxed to maintain them. There are about 3,800,000 persons now employed by the government. A large number of them of course, have salaries w'hich fall below the exemp tions allowed in the income tax laws. But many enjoy salaries above those limits and they should be taxed pre cisely as anyone else in the same brac ket is taxed. This will bring in sub stantial additional revenue to govern ment—and at the same time it should have an excellent moral effect on the government officials and employes who control the spending. THE SILENT PARTNER Reassuring speeches by public of ficials designed to soothe the “nerves’" of the “business man” and grease the wheels of industry are all very fine. But the country needs more than a lot of reassured busines men. It needs business. For example, it does not good to “reassure” utility managements in one breath, and in the next make public grants to build competing electric plants to put the utilities out of busi ness. Under such circumstances, pri vate management is helpless to expand and increase employment. The investor holds the trumn. It i - ->-7 “The names for spendifigHgliave changed several times in the pastuiree years, but the multiplication table has remained the same for centuries.”— Raymond Moley. -0O0 If he blames his wife, he is lying. The man whose wfe is a handicap to him is ashamed to admit it. A college diploma is nice, but wouldn’t it be cheaper if daughter learned to smoke, drink and pet at home? — ». ^ — v