The Omaha guide., 1947-08-02
Life at a Glance
BY David Bethe

WllC1A IN SAOoS0 lac oOC
horse had scampered out, Senator
Taft of Ohio is ready now for a
change in the new Labor Law, of
which he is co-author. They cook
ed up a clause, which prohibited
unions from active political cam
paigns and Congress passed it
over President Truman's veto.
Now the Good Senator Taft is
concerned quite a bit about it.
Maybe he has just discovered
that the clause might not be in
the framework Of free speech and
a free press.
But The Truth Of The Matter.
Senator Taft would like very much
to have a little of the union pres
sure in his stable in 1948. But I
am mighty afraid he closed the
gates too late. The irate protests
are already out grazing vieiously
across the country.
The Abolition Of Rent Control
has proved its worth to the avar-
icious landlords throughout the
country. In New York City, there
was a rs per cent increase in dis
posses for reasons other than nom
of rents during the first
seven days of July. Believe me, the
little salaried man and woman
may wake up soon in a furry of
high prices that will all but
smother them. There is coal, steel
too, which will reflect the increase
the miners recently secured. It's
affect will be felt in every COM
modity-even in old pots and pans.
For Some Unexplainable Reason
folks will not learn to understand
the present by studying the past.
Oh. but they do have the OPP
portunity of better understanding
the past by observing the present
men see their mistakes
too late, or they don't see them at
all.
After World War /, every living
head tried his best to squeeze his
brother and friend for a nickel
and dime. So hungry and greedy
were they in the days of prosper
ity. Why, you would have thought
that business in it's rosy and pro-
fitable state was going to last ''r
ever. This greedy reaching out
for exactly eleven years.
Then one afternoon, all the papers
throughout the nation and the
world, splashed headlines about
the downfall of Wall Street.
Yes, The Very Foundation CO
our capitalistic system had tum-
bled, and was swaying. Those were
ominious headlines, if you re-
member them, that afternoon-I
haven't forgotten them.
Strangely enough, there had
never been political and economic
.rognostigators, who said it could
never happen here. When the
crash came, they stood dazed and
.elpless-like a little child-sur-
rounded by all the protection in
the world, but unable to figure out
how to use it. Here were those
and ecomoic experts,
armed with all the resources any
civilized nation needs to give it's
citizens a livelihood, yet they
could not devise any means to use
it.
Even Mr.. Hoover, who cannot
be held entirely responsible for
the cracking economy, was SO
shocked, he could do nothing more
than lift his voice meekly in a
lame assurance that prosperity
just around the corner.
Yes, everybody just stood with
their hands outreaching. Banks.
real estate brokers, landlords, rail-
steel mills insurance COM
farmers plantation owners
all had their hands outreaching.
But this time, they were reaching
with their bellies full Of nickels
and dimes. They were reaching for
help-for some means by which
they could find a place to spend
the change. And it was not until
Roosevelt arrived on the
scene with his New Deal, did
life in this wealthy country take
a spur of activity.
We Are Easy To Forget. But
the next two or three years may
determine whether our economy
a solid on, or will totter at the
first cry of Wall Street.