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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1939)
OC^C>OC3CZXDC3OC>0C»0O i DITORIALS 1 X THE OMAHA GUIDE X 0 All News Copy of Churches and Organii- Q X ations must be in our office not later than X V 6:00 p. m. Monday for current issue. All V 0 Advertising Copy or paid articles not later M A than Wednesday noon, preceeding date of A a issue, to insure publication. _____ A X Race prejudice must go. The I* atherhood X V of God and the Brotherhood of Man must pre- J {] vail. These are the only principles which wiil M Q stand the acid test of time. Q 0 James”!!. Williams, Janies E Seay, Linotype Q X Operators and Pressmen A W Paul Barnett, Foreman X A Published every Saturday at 2418-20 Grant X X Street, Omaha, Nebraska— Phone WE. i517 V 0 Entered as 2nd Class Matter March 15, 1927 II A it the Post Office at Omaha, Nebr., under A X Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. X ELECTRICITY AND NATIONAL DEFENSE You’re heard an endless amount of political criticism of the electric utilities. What the politicians don't toll you are the many things the utili ties d: in the public interest. Some time ago, the War Depart ment started work on an important, far reachin gplan of enlisting the aid of key industries in preparing for na tional defense. Immediate contact \>as naturally made the electric utili ties. And here’s what the public official concerned, Acting Secretary of War Johnson, has to say about their res ponse : “We asked the utilities to supply us with information in regard to their present capacity. We called upon them to estimate their future load growth. We requested their plans for capacity installations. Every utility we addres sed sent a committee from its execu tive and engineering staffs to Wash ington, at its own expense, to analyze the nature and the breakdown of the information desired. Within 30 days, the power industry met the desires of the War Department and the Federal Powrer Commission. We simply had told industry what we wanted; and, characteristically, industry responded. Last September, 1 called a con ference of utility executives in muni tions centers and discussed with them the power situation. I pointed out to them shortages in capacity and asked them to start at once on the construc tion of at least a million killowatts of additional capacity. Their answer was prompt and wholehearted. Today, a capacity of approximately 900,000 kilowatts is ready for immediate in stallation or on (order and there is every indication that wo very soon will reac hour million mark. “As part of our power project, we asked the utilities and the manufactu rers of turbo-electric equipment to standardize engineering machinery of each capacity. Again, industry fully cooperated . “Our power program required that we confer with experts on rates and that we have access to company records. The National Defense Power Committee sent out field parties. Wherever they went, they were cord dially received. They were given free access to the necessary records. They were provided with stenographic and clerical help. They were offered en gineering advice. The narrow bottle neck in power supply is slowly crack ing and it is due to the wholehearted cooperation of the industry that we have made such excellent progress.” CALL A HALT It is encouraging to report that simple factual and authoritative mat ter concerning the immensely impor tant subject of fire prevention and control, is reaching a constantly wid ening audience. The National Board of Fire Un derwriters, for instance, has issued seventy-two bulletins covering vari ous phases of the problem during the past years. They concern such topics as building construction, air-condi tioning equipment, electricity and electric wiring, the handling of in flammable liquids and gases, fire de partment inspections, etc. Now these bulletins have been bound and distri bution is made without charge to the entire membership of the Internation al Association of Fire Chiefs, and to many other officers of fire depart ments. To others the volume is sold at a nominal price. And a certain number of schools are given copies for distri bution. The bulletin covers fire in all its phases—and the fire marshall or de partment member who reads them, receives a thorough lesson in the tech nique of fire prevention. The material pertaining to building construction alone, for example can very easily be of inestimable value to any commun ity —a sound building code has pre vented many a disastrous fire. Information designed for the gen eral lay public is likewise widely issu ed by the National Board, by insur ance companies, and by other organi zations. Plain and easy means of rid ding property of the most ordinary fire hazards are described. The pro perty owner who uses this informa tion, can usually through the expendi ture of a small amount of time, make his home and place of business far safer from fire than it is today. This steady, tireless work in the interest of fire prevention is one of the finest public spirited undertakings in the country today. Hundreds of mil lions of dollars worth of property is going up in smoke each year—most of it unnecessarily. It’s time to call a halt. * -v/ vy v 1 16,000,000 AMERICANS SPEAK “Hands off legitimate competi tion,” so far as destructive or discri minatory legislation is concerned. That, in effect has been said by nearly 16,000,000 Americans, in all walks of life, through associations and groups representing them. The organizations which have gone strongly on record in favor of honest competition in merchandising, and in opposition to any and all kinds of class legislation aimed at legitimate business of any nature, are scattered throughout the country. And they in clude representative associations of farmers, newspapers, property-own ers, union labor, consumers, etc. For example, last January, the Pennsylvania Potato Growers Asso ciation assailed the Patman bill to put the chains out of business as “contrary to the best interest of farmers, wage earners and consumer.” The same month the Maryland Farm Bureau went on record condemning the Pat man bill and opposing “all such un necessary taxes ai\d restrictions, both state and national.” The Georgia Federation of Labor states that “de struction of multi-unit retail distri bution would destroy at least 20,000 job opportunities in the state of Geor gia now increasingly open to organiz ed labor.” Killing the chains, thinks the Kentucky Press Association would hit community business, employment, tax revenue and agriculture. The Chi cago Real Estate Board holds that elimination of the national chains would “destroy real estate values; bring economic chaos to all American trade, commerce and industry; in crease uhemployment, and substanti ally result in the disorganization of thriving retail areas.” The Massachu setts Committee on Consumer Legis lation condemned anti-chain bills as “discriminatory legislation that inter feres with the rights of consumers to exercise their purchasing power to the best advantage.” A recent survey shows that some 334 resolutions of this character have been passed—all by responsible or ganizations which are in no way dom inated by chain interests. Ther^ is every evidence that this is what the great bulk of American citizens—as aistinct from a small intensely noisy group of politicians—thinks about restrictive legislation and punitive tax policies which would inevitably lower the standard of living of millions of families, destroy opportunity for the worker, and reduce the markers of agriculture, _nfln_— “IT COSTS TOO MUCH” Hardly a day goes by without our seeing something we want to pur chase—but don’t, because “it costs too much.” It may be a suit of clothes or a household convenience. It may be something special for dinner. What ever it is, the belief that “it costs too much” blocks the purchase. And we customarily blame the merchant. The merchant may be at fault in some cases, but not in the majority. He sells as cheaply as he possibly can knowing better than you do that high prices do more than anything else to build up sales resistance. Believe it or not, legislation, in many instances, is more directly responsible for high price than the people who make, han dle and sell commodities. A large number of states, for ex ample have passed so-called fair trade laws. These laws vary in detail, but all are about the same in principle. They effectively block honest competi tion by preventing merchants from selling certain articles below a speci fied minimum. As a result they place a premium on waste and inefficiency. The high cost dealer is allowed to be the arbiter of price and value. And the low cost stores isn’t allowed to cut the price even though it wants to and could do so and still make a satisfac tory profit. Various local surveys concerning the economic effects of these laws have been made. And in every instance, the surveys have sh'owrti that they raise the cost of living, and reduce sales. The average family spends about all it receives in income—and when prices are forced up it must buy fewer or in ferior articles. So don’t blame the merchant when you think prices are too high. Most of the time he, like the consumer, is a victim of price boosting policies which are beyond his control. _In__ CONFLAGRATIONS STILL HAPPEN “The day of conflagrations is not past,” says F. D. Layton, President of the National Board of Fire Under writers. And he has plenty of evidence to support his statement. Last May a Chicago granary fire and explosion devasted an area one fourth mile square, took eight lives and destroyed property valued at more than $3,000,000. Earlier in the year, fire razed a business bld,ck in Sandusky, Ohio, causing a million dollar loss. Several buildings went up in Halifax, Nova Scotia—to the tune of $800,000. As. Mr. Layton also says “The threat of great fires is present in most cities.” Inadequate or outmoded build ing codes—the existence of ancient firetrapsayi tenements—poorly or ganized fire fighting facilities—un stable water supply—these are a few of the hazards that may, at any mo ment, produce a hell of smoke and flame which will leave death and de struction in its wake. Further, the conflagration dan ger is not confined to the larger cities of the country. A quarter mile fire as that which occured in Chicago is soon forgotten in a metropolis—a fire of similar size in a small town would destroy it completely. In many of the small communities a single factory is the main source of the town’s jobs and income. If that factory burns, a blow is struck from which the community may never be able to recover. Here is where the cause of fire prevention comes straight home to us all. To help prevent fire is a personal job. _ _nOn - BUSINESS IN FARMING The agricultural marketing move ment has been given the widespread support of business leaders for two excellent reasons. First, marketing cooperation sim ply means applying proven business principles to meeting agriculture’s sales problems. And business know that progress requires all persons in volved in a given calling to work to gether. Second, business is vitally interes ted in the welfare of agriculture. The farm p pulation constitutes the great est single market for the products of our factories. As a result, prosper us farming has a great bearing on pros perous industry. Cc peration in farm production . and marketing is going ahead, and rapidly, with industry’s best wishes for success behind it. And the whole country feels the benefits. -oOo UNPRECEDENTED TREASURE The Masterpieces of Art Exhibi tion at the New York World’s Fair represents the greatest collection of old masters the world has ever seen. Probably never again will such a con centration of artistic treasures be possible. Ranging from Rembrandt* Titian, Van Etyick, land Waltteau through the whole catalogue of great masters, this exhibition records the development of the painter’s art through its greatest days. Under the supervision of the di rectors of the Detroit Institute of Arts, a non-profiit corporation called the Art Associates, Inc., was formed to build the special structure neces sary to house these priceless paintings and private contributions were secur ed to underwrite the heavy expense of shipping, insuring and guarding these works from damage by lire or theft. The collection has an estimated worth of $30,000,000. -oOo INTERESTS IN COMMON The farmer and the urban busi nessman are often represented as having drastically conflicting inter ests. The truth of the matter is that their basic interests are identical. As Secretary Wallace recently said, “Underlying the agricultural situation and seriously limiting the progress of agriculture toward a higher standard of living, is the low level of industrial activity and the large volume of city unemployment.” And, looking at the other side of the medal, is the fact that bad conditions among farmers means limited profiit less markets for manufacturers. The wise farmer knows that pros perity among businessmen is essen tion to wide and growing consumpt tion of manufactured products. It is for this reason that representative business is bodily behind sound farm betterment activities, such as the growing marketing cooperative move ment. -oOo “If government spending is lead ing us to ruin, it is because of what Washington is doing for the neigh borhoods. Each neighborhood now says: “Every other neighborhood is get ting its. We must get ours.’