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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1918)
f ~:i The Monitor x n=n __ _' ..—O. .. A National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of Colored Americans % THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor ______ <»_ $2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy _OMAHA, NEBRASKA. SEPTEMBER 14, 1918 Vol. IV. No. il (Whole No. 167) National Negro Business League Holds Most Successful Convention in History of Great Organization Which Has Encouraged and Devel oped Racial Enterprises. WELCOMED BY THE GOVERNOR Stirring Addresses by Government Officials and Others, and Splendid Reports of Achievements Charac terize Sessions. 4 TLANTIC CITY.—What is re gaided as one of the most signifi cant events of the year and an epochal one in the annals of the race was the nineteenth annual session of the Na tional Negro Business league, which met in this city August 21 and ended Friday evening, August 23, with one of the most notable social functions of the season. The outstanding features of the sessions were the addresses of wel - • come by Governor W. E. Edge, Mayor Bachraeh, I)r. R. R. Moton and Hon. Emmett J. Scott, special assistant to the secretary of war. In delivering the welcome address on behalf of the state of New Jersey the governor spoke of the great prog • ress made by the race in the face of the blind prejudice which confronts it. He said that the attaining of educa tion first was the stepping stone to the business of the country. He gave a clear definition of democracy and said that it must be emphasized at home as well as abroad. He said: “We have among the troops white and Colored and men of every nation ality. now all Americans, of couise. We have nearly every race thrown to gether and properly so. They are go ing to be more tolerant of one an other’s viewpoint when they come home to take up again their civic re f sponsibilities. I hope then that this class prejudice will be eliminated for all time.” (Prolonged applause and cheers.) Mayor Bachraeh Mayor Bachraeh followed the gov ernor. After paying a high tribute to the Negro as a citizen he dwelt upon the men of color who readily respond . ed to the present draft and also when a call for twenty or more men was made ninety or more always respond ed. His rendering of the poem en titled, “A Little Service Flag,” moved many of the visitors to tears. His gift of the key of the city to the league was greeted with applause which lasted five minutes. President Napier in accepting the key said that since the organization of the league, in its annual sessions from city to city, Atlantic City leads, as this is the first key that has ever been presented to the National Negro league. Dr. Moton’s Response With his native witticism and elo quent manner of reaching his au dience, Dr. R. R. Moton, the recog nized leader of his race, ably respond ed to the welcome address of Gov ernor Edge and Mayor Bachraeh. He singled out inspiring facts revealing the intense loyalty of his race and cited the thrilling events of the battle of Carrizal. He gave a plain inter pretation of what democracy meant and asserted that the Negro was un swervingly loyal to his country and expected bis dontribution to bring him things that have been long de ferred. His masterly presentation of cer tain phases of the Negro’s life and his constant devotion to his country de spite his proscriptions and his inspir ing optimism, combined with his happy way of reaching his applauding audience, demonstrated that he has the confidence of the leaders. Hon. J. C. Napier, president of the body, ably presided and was assisted by Charles Banks of Mount Bayou, Miss., and Charles H. Brooks of Phil adelphia. His annual message was (Continued on Page Five.) TO OUR READERS We are glad The Monitor pleases you. It will also please your friends and neighbors. ;j Show them your copy and get them to subscribe. Help us double our circulation this year ji by getting one of your friends or neighbors to subscribe. Folk Lore Songs Thrill Audience (■real Chorus of Singers I nder Direc tion of Madame E. Azalia Hackley Pleases Large Audience and Nets Handsome Sum for Mercy Hospital. PREPARES PATRIOTIC PAGEANT Imposing Spectacle Will Re Given in the Arcadia, Which Is Said to Be the Finest Casino in the World. Detroit, Sept. 12.—a chorus of local singers numbering perhaps .‘500 assembled and directed by Mrs. E. Azalia Hackley, was the inspiring event on the evening of August 24 1 at Army Hall—a folk song festival under the auspices of Mercy Hospital. For ninety minutes the principals and chorus gave adequate and illumin- i ating expressions to the quaint old j tunes and hymns and crooning love i lyrics which have in earlier days en- I livened the evenings in “the quar ters,” and have lent their potent influ ences to repel the shadows of darkest j slavedom, to vocalize and revive a beaten but blindly resilient hope to give new breath to a faith so bitterly torn as to have lost all visible form of being—and in a more important way to symbolize the spirit or essence of whatever the strange thing may be i that was sufficient to keep the dusky | faces turned gropingly and falteringly | forward through the storm. Of distinct educational value in such | a grouping of the crude, but always 1 melodious songs that had their birth, who knows how far back in the piti ful story, and that have come down unpenned from the lips of one genera tion to the quick ears and sympathies of the next. The story of the race is in a sense told in the spontaneous and sympathetic minstrelsy—a race that, a generation away from illiter i ate and inresponsible slavery, and not so many generations from actual I savagery, has already given us orators ! like Frederick Douglass, poets like . Paul Laurence Dunbar, composers, I physicians, teachers and patriots. The chorus was made up of 300 j singers, Colored singers who are rated j for their rich musical voices. The names of a number of racd j composers were seen on the program, including H. T. Burleigh, J. W. John I son, W. aMrion Cook, Abe Rogers, ! Lester A. Walton. Mrs. E. A. Hackley is justly proud of her success in the conduct of the j great musical festival. She was greeted by 2,500 people, and who, ac- | cording to the demonstration, were well entertained. She will stage a patriotic pageant at the Arcadia Sep tember 26, the finest casino in the j world. 1 . ■ PORTO RICO POLICE WOMEN San Juan, Porto Rico.—A call has i been issued for several thousand wom j en in Porto Rico to form a police woman's reserve corps, to aid in cor ! recting “the decidedly immoral condi ! tions” which are said to exist not | only in San Juan but elsewhere. THE RT. REV. HENRY BLANTON PARKS, D. D. Bishop of (he Fifth Episcopal District of the Methodist Church, Who Will Preside at the Forty-third Annual Session of the Kansas Conference Which Convenes in St. John’s A. M. E. Church Next Wednesday Morning. The Negro and German Propaganda (Editorial in St. Joseph (M »>W(iazette, September 9.) rpHE busy enemy-alien propagandist is having a hard row to hoe J those days. So many of his plans have slipped up and so many of him are filling the concentration camps, for, while Fncle Sam is very quiet about it, he has a keen eye and long arm. Quite unex pectedly, out of the blue, the poor spy feels a heavy hand on his collar, and his usual haunts know him no more. In his confine ment behind the bars, or while he is hoeing the corn for better men to eat, he hasn’t even the satisfaction of gloating over his mis deeds. Too many of them have failed. With that boasted German efficiency of which we once heard so much the propagandist tackled the American Negro. Here were a people ready to his hand, simple, kindly, unsuspicious, with so many grievances against the government that it would be easy to incite them to riot and disorder, thereby seriously hampering war work. They tried it. They tried it again. They took another angle and tried it. Gott in Himmel! These people were loyal! They might complain among themselves, or to the powers that be, against their wrongs and oppressions, but America was their home, and the Stars and Stripes their flag—and God help the per son who dared suggest that they act as traitors to either! Then the busy little German bee began another flight, and j worked up feeling among the ignorant whites against the Negro. (Continued on Page Four.) I* l*****Z*************** Bar Association Holds Convention Decides to Continue as Auxiliary to National Negro Business League; Elects Officers; Will Enlarge Scope of Work. WANT MONUMENT FOR HARLAN • ' Memory of the Late Chief Justice, Whose Decisions on Matters Affect ing Rights of Race Were Always Fair, Venerated by Jurists. Atlantic city, sept. 12.—The National Bar association, after deliberating for three days, decided that it would not sever its relations with the National Negro Business league as an auxiliary during the next twelve ■months. There was a very large attendance, especially from the east and north, and many matters of importance were taken up. The following officers were elected for the ensuing term: President, Perry W. Howard, Mississippi; first vice president, James A. Cobb, Dis trict of Columbia; second vice presi dent, J. T. Settle, Tennessee; record ing secretary, S. D. McGill, Florida; corresponding secretary, W. H. Har rison, Oklahoma; treasurer, W. T. An drews, South Carolina. A movement known as the John M. Harlan Memorial was started under way and the committee was appointed with the hope of erecting a monument to the memory of the late Justice John M. Harlan, who stood as one of the best of the jurists that this coun try has ever known. The committee appointed to take up this work is headed by Judge Robert H. Terrell of Washington, D. C. A complete roster of the attorneys of the country is being made, and the same will be published by the Nation al Bar association. The association j has decided to enlarge its scope of I work to the end that it may meet the increasing demands during the recon i struction period to follow the closing j of the war. CANDIDATES FOR CONGRESS New York—Three Colored candi dates filed their petitions here and were qualified to enter the fall cam j paign for nomination. Dr. R. C. Ran I som will run for United States con 1 gress from the Twenty-first congres ! sional district, and E. F. Johnson and | John C. Hawkins for the general as | sembly at Albany. THE NINTH CAVALRY ARRIVES IN RUSSIA It is reported that the Ninth Cav j airy Colored Troopers, who were sta ; tioned on the Philippine islands, have been sent to Vladivostok, Russia. This | ! shows the value of these men for I strategic purposes as they have shown it in the Boxer uprising on the island I and in other guerilla warfare. -:-~ NEXT WEEK ■ “The Menace,” by Fred C. Williams. Watch for it! v EVERYBODY ! ♦*♦ *> | Get Ready For The | ♦> | FOURTH LIBERTY | I LOAN ! ❖ V v Z •_ • • ♦. A«. >. A ,*»A %• %• %• VV% V ♦ V ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ VV ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ V ♦’% V ♦ V ♦ V ♦ VVVV ♦ V ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ vvvvv Colored Troops Rout German Foe Take Sandemont, Recourt, Bertincourt and Other Towns, and Capture Sev eral Hundred Hun Prisoners in F'ierce Fight: Receive Great Praise. •arf; aiming to reach Berlin* Statement of Sprightly Officer as He Leaps Over Parapet of First Line Trenches to Lead His Command Into the Thickest of the Fray. WITH the American Army in France, Aug. 31.—Since August 21 the Colored divisions of troops, both the Ninety-second and Ninety third, have shoved forward on the enemy’s line by 12,000 yards, and con tinue to advance daily. It is a fact that America’s Black Devils are sounding the death knell of trench warfare. The Colored troops are forc ing open fighting upon the enemy since the failure of the German drive in July. The Huns seem to be greatly inferior at the style of fighting that these Black Americans put up. The Germans had been used to fighting a while and resting a while, but with the Colored troops there has been no resting, but continued fighting with the fierceness of tigers. Early today one division of Colored troops advanced 600 yards without a single loss. It is a noticeable fact that the Germans fear the American black troop,, because of the fierce manner in which they combat the enemy with their bayonets, shouting and singing as they charge on the fleeing enemy. When they began their attack on the towns of Sandemont and Recourt they ran the Huns from their trenches and kept them on the run until they cap tured both towns and several villages on the other side of Recourt. It was then that a command was given them to halt or retire to receive rations and rest, but not a man obeyed the com mand until they had driven the enemy out of sight. Monday, August 26, both Colored divisions almost annihilated four fresh divisions of German reserve troops who had been sent into the enemy’s line to drive back those Black Americans in their attack on the town of Bertincourt, but the town was soon taken by the Negro troops, capturing 800 Hun prisoners. “What we’re aiming to do," said a sprightly young Colored officer, “is to push our way right on into Berlin without stop pin’, as we promised the folks at home we’d do, and we don’t aim to be long at it, either," he con tinued, as he leaped from the first line trenches to jdin his comrades in the thickest of the fray, just as they were getting ready to make another savage attack on the enemy, and from the way they were going at it it won’t be long before they will enter Berlin. WILSON COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES IN RIOTING CASES Washington, D. C., Sept. 6.—Death j sentences of ten Negro soldiers who participated in the riot at Houston, Texas, August 23, 1917, have been commuted to life imprisonment by President Wilson. In six other cases the president af ; firmed the death sentences because the condemned men had been found guilty of having deliberately and with great cruelty murdered civil ians. This action, announced today by the war department, concludes the cases of twenty-nine Negroes given ’he death penalty for their part in r.ne riot. Thirteen were executed and ihe president was called upon to re view the findings in sixteen cases. The president found that the ten whose sentences he commuted had not been convicted of personally and directly causing deaths. The soldiers involved were not named in the war department statement. NEXT WEEK i “The Menace," by Fred C. Williams. Watch for it! TO OUR ADVERTISERS W<> appreciate your patronage f and are pleased to know that The Monitor is bringing you good results. It could hardly be jj otherwise, since our circulation reaches the best class of buyers ; in the world. j ^