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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1915)
The Monitor A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Eight Thousand Colored People in Omaha and Vicinity, and to the Good of the Community The Rev. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor $1.00 a Year. 5c a Copy. Omaha; Nebraska, July 31, 1915 Volume I. Number 5 THE LOGIC OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE By Rev. Francis J. Grimke. I am heartily in favor of woman suffrage. I did not use to be, but it was simply because I had not given the subject due consideration. The moment I began to think seriously about it, I became convinced that I was wrong, and swung over on the other side, and have been on thal side ever since. I do not see how any one who stops to think, who takes a com mon sense view of things, can be op posed to the franchise for women. What is this right to vote, after all? Is it not simply the right to form an opinion or judgment as to the char acter and fitness of those who are to be entrusted with the high and re sponsible duty of making laws and administering them after they are made, and of having that judgment count in the selection of public offic ials? The ballot is simply the ex pression of the individual judgment in regard to such matters. Such be ing the case three things are'perfectly clear in my mind: (1). The inter ests of women are just as much in volved in the enactment of laws, and in the administration of laws, as are the interests of men. In some re spects they are even more so. In many things, such as the liquor traf fic, the social evil, and other demoral izing influences, which directly affect the peace and happiness of the home, the kind of laws that are enacted, and the character of the men who arc to enforce them, have for women a pe culiar, a special interest. (2) . The average woman is just as well qualified to form an opinion as to the character and qualifications of those who are to be entrusted with power as the average man. The aver age man is in no sense superior to the average woman, either in poirt of intelligence, or of character. The av erage woman, in point of character, is superior to the average man; and, in so far as she is, she is better fitted to share in the selection of public of ficials. (3) . To deprive her of the right, to vote is to govern her without ner con sent, which is contrary to the funda mental principle of democracy. That principle is clearly expressed in the Declaration of Independence, where we read: "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their Just pow ers from the consent of the govern ed.” Under this principle, which i3 a just principle, women have the same right to vote as men have. Ara they not governed? And being governed can the government imposed upon thepa be Justly imposed upon them without their consent? It is simply to treat them as minors and inferiors, which every self-respecting woman should resent, and continue to leseni until this stigma is removed from her sex. The time is certainly coming, and coming soon, I believe, when this just claim on the part of women will be fully recognized in all truly civil ized countries.—In August Crisis.) Think on These Things “FOR anything worth having, one must pay the price, and the price is always work, patience, love, sacrifice—no paper currency,no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.” JESSE HOWARD HUTTEN, M. D. One of Omaha’s Most Skillful and Sue cessful Physicians. CHARACTER, NOT COLOR, COUNTS IN BRAZIL (The Chicago Evening Post.) It certainly is a great eye-opener to white people who come here from our southern states to see how this mixture of races is encouraged. There is no color line in Brazil. All men and women are judged by their earn ing capacity, irrespective of color. Moreover, instead of branding one "colored” because he is one-eighth black—as is customary in the south ern states of North America—the re verse system is used. One who has an eighth or one-sixteenth part white blood is branded as "white.” But notwithstanding the Brazilian system of intermarriage and its ap parent good results, the development of the country has been due to Euro peans. Readers who know the Portugese appreciate their good qualities of thrift, good nature and apparent ambi tion. CINCINNATI CHARITIES EMPLOY COLORED INVESTIGATOR A new position was created at the Associated Charities in Cincinnati re cently when a colored woman was ap pointed to investigate and care for the colored cases that come to the institu tion for aid. Miss Martha Fletcher was given the place by Secretary Ed monds. “We have a great number of cases among the colored people," he said, "and I believe that a colored assist ant can more successfully investigate them than a white person. About 20 per cent of our cases are among the colored people. Miss Fletcher can not handle all of them, of course, but she will be able to care for a great many of them. “We will endeavor to co-operate with the colored schools and churches along this line and believe they will aid us greatly in ihe new way of handling the cases that affect their class.” CLAIM $68,000,000 BELONGING TO SLAVES HELD BY U. 8. Suit Seeking Its Distribution Filed in the Supreme Court. Washington, D. C., July 26.—Claim ing that Secretary McAdoo of the treasury department is the custodian of a funu of $65,072,385, gathered into the treasury as the fruit of the labor of slaves in the southern states be tween the years 1859 and 1868, H. N. Johnson of Louisiana, R. Bowers of Texas, C. B. Williams of Mississippi and Mamie Thompson of Tennessee have filed suit in the supreme court of the District of Columbia for discov ery and establishment of a lien on the fund for their alleged share and for such others as may be entitled. Government Collects Fund. The court is told that the claimants were subject to a system of involun tary servitude in the Southern states, and performed work in the production of cotton and in its preparation for market, and that the fund was col lected by the government as internal revenue on raw cotton. The title of the United States is questioned by the plaintiffs, who say that this sum is not the legitimate property of the United States and it should be distributed among those by whose labor the cotton yielding the revenue was produced. Noted Attorneys in Case. The plaintiffs further declare that the system of involuntary servitude by which plaintiffs were dominated forced them and their ancestors against their will to render the labor while in justifiable fear of bodily harm or destruction. Through Attorney E. M. Hewlett ot the local bar, Cornelius J. Jones of Muskogee, Okla., and H. A. Guess the plaintiffs ask that the matter be re ferred to a masler in chancery to take proof of their claims. MAYOR INVITES COLORED CITIZENS TO BRYAN BANQUET Los Angeles, Cal., July 23.—Mayor Charles E. Sebastian, recently elected mayor of Los Angeles, Cal., named four prominent citizens of the race, along with other representative citi zens, to receive and lunch with Will iam Jennings Bryan on his visit to the "city of angels” last week. Fol lowing is a list of citizens named: Rev. E. W. Kinchen, pastor of Wesley chapel; Rev. J. D. Gordon, pastor of friendship Baptist church; Prof. T. A. Greene, secretary of the Y. M. C. A., and Noah D. Thompson, a former Chi cagoan. The new mayor of Los An geles is a thorough westerner and pays no attention to color or creed when looking for men or women to aid him in performing his duties as chief executive of the metropolis of the Pacific coast. A census report, relating to the Ne gro Church, says there are four color ed priests in the Roman Catholic church in the United States and one colored priest In the Greek church.