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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (March 10, 1917)
THE MONITOR A Weekly Newspaper devoted to the civic, social and religious interests of the Colored People of Nebraska and the West, with the desire to con tribute something to the general good and upbuilding of the community and of the race. Published Every Saturday. Entered as Second-Class Mail Matter July 2, 1915, at the Post Office at Omaha, Neb., under the act of March 3, 1879. THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor and Publisher. Lucille Skaggs Edwards and William Garnett Haynes, Associate Editors. George Wells Parker, Contributing Editor and Business Manager. Joseph LaCour, Jr., Lincoln Representative, 821 S. St., Lincoln. SUBSCRIPTION RATES, 11.50 PER YEAR Advertising Rates, 50 cents an Inch per Issue. Address, The Monitor, 1119 North Twenty-first street, Omaha. Telephone Webster 4243. PUBLIC DANCES A MENACE TO MORALS Dancing is a pleasant recreation, and when not indulged in to exceed, is a healthful exercise. Our people love to dance. As a race we are more inclined to educate our heels than our heads. Our danger, therefore, lies in carrying what should prove pleasant diversion and wholesome recreation to excess. There is nothing wrong in dancing under proper conditions and circumstances. While we enjoy seeing people dance, we are old-fashioned enough to be lieve that many of the modern dances are disgustingly suggestive, anything but graceful and entirely out of place among ladies and gentlemen. As a matter of fact, in much of modern dancing there has been merely a transferring of the abandonment of the house of ill fame to the parlors of those who really want to stand for respectability. But human nature is the same in the parlors of the elect and select, if you please, as in the parlors of those whom we are wont to call the fallen. There are certain dances, lascivious and suggestive, which ought not be tolerated by re spectable people. There are plenty of graceful, enjoyable and innocent dances without resorting to those which are of questionable expediency. Since it is natural for young people to dance, we ought to see to it that opportunity for indulging in this form of recreation is provided for them under proper conditions. The public dance is a menace to morals, for the reason that anyone who has the price of admission can enjoy its privileges, and it is difficult to exclude undesir ables. Young men and womtn who attend such promiscuous public af fairs place themselves under the stress of strong temptations, which may result tragically. Parents should not permit their daughters of tender years or their sons, either, to go unattended by themselves to public dances. Have dancing parties for them at home, at tended by their companions and asso ciates, where they can be surrounded by influences that will uplift and not drag down. Promiscuous dances where money-making is the chief con sideration are, generally speaking, a menace to morals. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, TOM ' 4 We publish elsewhere in this issue a letter from an old Detroit friend, with whom in our early youth we often recited from Shakespeare when our indulgent friends saw in us bud ding Booths and Barretts. One of the masterpieces, for be it known unto thee that our reportoire was exten sive, was the dialogue between Brutus and Cassius, he impersonating Brutus and I, Cassius. Nor did we confine ourselves to Shakespeare; we essayed the ambitious interpretation of other literary masterpieces. One of these was the scene from Longfellow’s Hia watha in which Mondamin and Hia watha appear; he representing Hia watha and I, Mondamin. Whenever Mondamin and Hiawatha wrestled, the stolid Hiawatha would whisper, “John, stop pinching me.” Pardon this reminiscence. Tom is a grandpa now, although he is not much our senior, and has a daughter who has won coveted honors in the musical world. He still has the love of doing things to uplift. In his let ter he asks what we think of the ob jects sought by the Detroit Dunbar Lyceum to enlighten and unite the members of our race. We think the objects good. Iso lated and sporadic as such movements seem, they are going on all over the country, and are having a tremendous influence in developing racial self consciousness, self-respect, cohesive ness and strength. We are gratified to know also that The Monitor is being found useful in this work of enlightenment and unifi cation. Thanks, Tom, for your subscription. Thanks, too, friend of our youth, for the good work you are doing along the lines mapped out for us by that rare worn ». of our race, who inspired so many of her boys and girls, as she called us, before she went within the low, green tent whose curtain never outward swings. Keep up the good work, Tom. DOES MONITOR ADVERTISING PAY? Does Monitor advertising pay? Well, I'guess yes. Several weeks ago our business manager blew into the Hungerford Potato Growers’ offices and asked them for an ad. They are a fine set of gentlemen, but they didn’t just know whether Colored peo ple knew a good thing when they saw it or not. Our manager ladled out the facts and figures and every known kind of statistics to prove that Monitor readers wouldn’t let anything go by that looked like a fighting chance. The result was that we landed a nice ad. A few days ago the business man ager again ambled up to the afore mentioned potato offices and asked about the, past performances and future outlook. He was greeted with the fact that Colored people don’t go to sleep on the job nowadays. Several now own potato farms, and the ex pectant list is long. Among those who have plucked a potato plot are: Alfred Jones and family, who took five, Mrs. Philip Letcher, Mrs. L. Davis, Wm. Johnson, Robt. Wisdom, and the business manager. The busi ness manager is mentioned last, but he got his first, thank you. Rev. Jno. Albert Williams, the editor, expects to invest when subscribers pay up. So don’t think that either The Monitor or The Monitor readers are asleep at the switch. Some things may slip by us, but it’s because they use an aeroplane. When it comes that mother earth can grow a little cash for us out in Box Butte while we are paying whist and lollygagging around town, we’re on, brother, we’re on. Get wise and grab opportunity by the top knot. SONG OF SOLMON. Feet. 1. Give ear, O my son, whilst I treble to thee a fantasy upon the subject of feet. 2. They are the pedal extremities of the mammal tribes and serve to haul around the figure when it hath not the whereof to ride. 3. There are good feet and bad feet and the latter feet are ofttimes called dogs. 4. Bad dogs are an abomination and cause more anguish to the pos sessor than the Teuton causeth to the White House. ". Feet also dance, and once had much trouble learning the list of Terpsichorean skits, but now they trouble not their pedal brains. There is only one dance, the one-step. 6. Feet also wear shoes, 0 my son, and these are costly as ambergis and sapphires. Once upon a time three beans would dress them up muchly, but now thou must dig for eight or twelve. 7. A delicate odor surroundeth some feet, O my son; odor so delicate that limburger becometh as a garden of flowers. 8. Some feet are also cold, and when a husband or a wife hath cold tootsies, beware lest neither be forced to trot to Reno. 9. Cold feet are also a symbol of fright, the tail-end of a yellow streak, the badge of fear, and the emblem of cowardice. 10. Feet also, O my son, are—but what’s the use? The lino man is tired and wants to smoke a cigaret. Obvious Observations Four more years of Wilson! Well, sit tight and don’t rock the boat. He can’t be as bitter an enemy to the race as he was four years ago, be cause the south won't let him. Eggs twenty-five cents per dozen! Pinch us, please, so we may know we are awake. Maybe you think one paper can’t tackle a big job like southern migra tion, but just watch us. Some things might slip by, of course, but we mean to give a good account of ourselves. It is almost time for some folks to take their annual spring bath, and they are not all Colored folks either. We have signed up for a few potato tracts out in Box Butte county, have you ? Our Colored citizens weren’t able to buy many automobiles at the show last week, but just wait ten years. Tnen we will be hesitating whether to get a Pierce-Arrow or White. Of course the wife will have her Baker Electric long before then. We laid by a five dollar bill so as to have “ham and” on Easter morn ing, but we have borrowed two and a half of it. We sort of feel that the rest might cover that breakfast. Thanking you for your kind atten tion, we will now assist the postman to drag in our bags of southern mail. Can You Pick a Flaw? Our plan of selling you a farm and working it for you and selling it to you on monthly payments coupled with crop payments, is said to be one of the nicest and best propositions ever offered the wage earner in this county. It gives you a chance to become a land owner and yet to continue in your present employment—we make the land help pay for itself. No one as yet has been able to pick a flaw with our plan. The longer we are before “The People” the less they will try it, for the dividends we will pay will wipe out any skepticism. Our plan is a ! plan for “The People.” Please call in and get one of our books which explains what we are going to do for you. Limit of tracts to be farmed this year almost reached. Choose yours now. The Hungerford Potato Growers Association • 15th and Howard Sts. Douglas 9371 I W A N T ED! COLORED TRACK MEN FOR U. P. R. R. APPLY TO Shipley’s Labor Agency 305 So. 11th St., Omaha, Neb. 506 Wyandotte St., Kansas City, Mo. . .. n 111