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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1918)
i The Monitor ^ 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, DECEMBER 21, 1918 Vol. IV. No. 25 (Wi.ole No. 180) Negroes Physically Superior to Whites A Surprising Revelation Made by the Official Report of Doctor Brewer of the Medical Reserve Corps. ARMY APPLICANTS EXAMINED Colored Candidates Make the Better Showing Overthrowing Generally Accepted Conclusions as to Physical Condition of Two Races. WASHINGTON, D. C.—Figures recently given out for publica tion in the New York Medical Jour nal by Dr. Isaac W. Brewer of the Medical Reserve Corps, relative to the physical and mental condition of ap plicants for entrance into the regular army, put the Negro in a most favor able light. Statistics show that the Negro is less tubercular and less ad dicted to alcoholism than the Cau cassian and besides he has less rejec tions for such defects as weakness of mind and flat feet. - _ Dr. Brewer has compiled two tables showing the percentage of rejection among applicants for enlistment. The first shows the rejection rate per 1,000 among 163,705 white and 11, 092 Colored applicants for entrance into the regular army from January 1, 1912, to December 31, 1915, as fol low's: Disease White Col. Total Heart Disease 91.3 75.0 90.2 Defects of hearing 87.2 41.9 84.2 Defects of vision.72.2 48.8 70.7 Flat feet . 55.7 44.8 65.0 Alcoholism .34.1 7.8 32.4 Hernia .31.4 42.3 32.2 Diseases of organs of locomotion 29.4 19.7 28.7 Disease of the genito urinary system 25.4 23.2 25.2 Diseases of the respi ratory system 25.2 15.7 24.6 t Underweight 22.3 17.0 21.9 , Defective teeth 21.4 22.8 21.5 Diseases of the skin 20.4 21.0 20.5 Defects of develop ment - 19.5 17.2 19.4 Tuberculosis . 19.2 12.8 18.8 Weakness of mind 15.2 7.2 14.8 Varicose veins . 14.4 10.7 14.2 Diseases of the nerv ous system 13.7 8.1 ' 13.4 General diseases 12.4 3.8 i'2.0 Curvative of the spine 9.6 12.1 9.9 Hemorrhoids 5.9 9.8 6.2 Diseases of the diges tive system . 6.1 7.2 6.2 Varicocele . 4.8 7.2 6.2 Physical debility . 4.5 2.2 4.3 Under weight 2.7 3.7 2.8 Diseases of the cir culatory system 2.4 0.9 2.3 Overweight 0.3 0.0 0.3 Injuries 31.1 2Q.0 31.0 Dr. Brewer’s comments on this ta ble follows: » "Venereal disease is the greatest cause for rejection and reports from the cantonments where the National Army has assembled indicate that a large number of the men had these disease when they arrived at the camp. It is probably true that vene real disease causes' the greatest amount of sickness in our country. We must face this squarely and bend our energies toward their eradication. Since we know the cause of these dis eases and their mode of transmission, we shall eventually be able to pre vent them. Heart disease stands second on the list, and this, too, is to a certain extent preventable. The same ap plies to defects of hearing and de fects of vision, which are third and fourth on the list, but it should prob " ‘ ably stand higher, as many with this defect in a moderate degree are passed into the service. Most of them are later discharged because the con dition of their feet precludes their doing full duty. Contrary to the general opinion the Colored men seem to have this deformity in less degree than the w'hites. “Defective teeth stands twelfth on the list, but should occupy a much higher place if we classed here all who have cavities in their teeth. To pass the examining officer it is only necessary for a candidate to have two opposing molars on each side, and bicuspids are counted as molars. My personul observation has been I that very few men have perfect teeth. These facts should increase our ef forts tow'ard securing adequate den tal treatment for school children. Tuberculosis is fifteenth on the list but it is probable that many who had that disease are rejected by the re crj'tinir parties because of poor physique or underweight and were never examined.” AIN’T IT A GR-R-RAND AND GL-L-LORIOUS FEELIN’? ■ '■■■■■. "■ ' — * "t - Vs/HE-N ALL You neeO To Join IVie RED CROSS I 5 M A HEART AMD A DOLLAR" AND You Can wear The BUTTON ALOMG WITH The REST OP - The CROWD-OHh-h BOY. AIN'T IT A Gr R-R'RAND AND GlOR R By courtesy of Clare Briggs, New York Tribun* Red Cross Roll Call Colored Citizens Are Doing Their Share and Answering Most Cheerfully. “All you need is a heart and a dol lar.” Our people may sometimes be short on the dollars, but we are al ways long on hearts. That is why j sorrow or suffering always appeals to us and we like to help. That is why our people are responding so gen- j erously to the Christmas roll call for j membership in the Red Cross. No single group will have a better show- | ing than ours. If you have not yet renewed your membership, do so by Saturday. Mrs. Dan Desdunes as captain of one of ; the large wards, is actively at work with her lieutenants. Fred C. Wil liams, who is chairman of the com mittee on our churches, has had active people appointed in the various con gregations, and Miss Turner of Mount Moriah Baptist church says: “No church is going to beat Mount Moriah in its ratio of Red Cross members.” Miss Lena Paul, who is in charge of the enrollment of St. Philip’s Episco pal church, says, “Nothing less than 100 per cent enrollment will do for us." C. W. Dickerson is rounding up the lodges; Will Lewis the waiters and hotel boys, and Dr. L. E. Britt the professional and business men. Larry Peoples, who has just come back from Camp Lewis, where he was dangerously ill with pneumonia, says: “I don’t believe Pd ever have pulled through if it hadn’t been for the ten der and careful nursing of Red Cross nurses, God bless them!” HOSPITAL FOR HUNTINGTON Huntington, W. Va., Dec. 14.—The Barnett Hospital and Nurses’ Train ing school, located in Huntington, W. Va., was incorporated through the office of the secretary of state with an authorized capital of $5,000. NEGRO SOLDIERS ARE NEAREST TO THE RHINE When the Armistice Was Signed and Hostilities Ceased Colonel Hay ward's Regiment Was Nearest Ger man Territory. »2D IN THICKEST OF FIGHTING TITHE Stars and Stripes, the official A newspaper of the American ex peditionary forces, in its issue of No vember 15 graphically describes the fighting just before hostilities ceased. It has this to say of the attack before Vignculles, where the Ninety-second division was engaged and gave a good account of itself: “Probably the hardest fighting be ing done by any Americans in the final hour was that which engaged the troops of the Twenty-eighth, Ninety-second, Eighty-first and Sev enth divisions, with the Second Amer ican army, who launched a fire-eating attack above Vigneulles just at dawn on the 11th. It was no mild thing, that last flare of the battle, and the order to cease firing did not reach the men in the front line until the last moment, when runners sped with it from fox hole to fox hole. “Then a quite startling thing oc curred. The skyline of the crest ahead of them grew suddenly populous with dancing soldiers and, down the slope, all the way to the barbed wire, straight for the Americans, came the German troops. They came with out stretched .hands, ear-to-ear grins and souvenirs to swap for cigarettes, so well did they know the little weakness of their foe. They came to tell how pleased they were the fight had stop ped, how glad they were the kaiser had departed for parts unknown, how fine it was to know they would have a republic at last in Germany. “ ‘No,’ said one stubborn little Prus sian, ‘it’s a kingdom we want.’ “Whereat his own companions mob ' bed him and howled him down. | “The farthest north at 11 o'clock on : the front of the two armies was held ' at the extreme American left up ! Sedan way by the troops of the Sev- j enty-seventh division. The farthest I east-—-the nearest to the Rhine—was | held by those Negro soldiers who M$ed to make up the old New York Fif ’ teenth and have long been brigaded i | with the French. They were in Alsace ' [ and their line ran through Thann and across the railway that leads to Col mar. — NEGRO DIVISION WILL BE KEPT IN FRANCE Washington, D. C., Poe. . 17.—The i assignment by General Pershing of j the Ninety-second division (national I army, Negroes) for convoy home has j been cancelled. In making this an j nouncement today the war department i gives no explanation, but the assump ] tion here is that the division has been selected as a reserve unit held to re I inforce the American army of occupa tion in Germany. NEGRO STUDENT BEST SCHOLAR Made Honorary Member of Phi Beta Kappa for High Rank in Classes. Lawrence, Ivan., Dec. 20.—James Scott, a Negro, Tuesday, December 10, was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honorary fraternity because of his at . taining highest rank among men stu dents of the Kansas university in ! scholarship. Scott lives in Kansas ! City. — FIRST COLORED BANK IN WEST VIRGINIA OPENED Charleston, W. Va., Dec. 7.—With a capitalization of $125,000 in cold cash, a million or more of good wishes of the entire community and under the most auspicious occasion, the Mu tual Savings and Loan bank, the first and only race bank in the state, open ed its doors to the public on Decem ber 2. v) THE REI) CROSS IS CALLING PS HY REV. FRANCIS P. DONNELLY, S. J„ |l Sjl College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass. Jfs 22 TITHE Red Cross is calling lor millions of hands pk wj A To float its fair standard o’er seas and o’er lands, ® *A Where wounded lie bleeding, where night time is nigh; jB §5 Oh, heed their keen anguish and come lest they die. INd The eyes of the stricken, when shadowed with doom, eL Must see that bright beacon dawn red thro’ the gloom. ^ Then bring hope to many, kind hands of the world; The Red Cross is calling with standard unfurled. P& TITHE Ited Cross is calling lor millions of hearts, E? A For love’s tender feelings, for sympathy’s arts, ‘ K For hearts that have suffered and long understood, The bars of whose crosses are dyed with their blood. PU Ah! they will give service and whole sacrifice To close the wide gashes, to still the deep sighs. jB Then bring love to many, kind hearts of the world; « The Red Cross is calling with standard unfurled. E? White Lieutenant Kills Sergeant Cowardly Officer Deliberately Mur ders Colored Soldier by Shooting Him in the Back fo£ Slight Offense. MAJOI^ COMPELS CONFESSION Which Clears Up Murder Mystery Puzzling Military and Civil Au thorities; Murderer Will Be Tried by Court-Martial. NOGALES, Ariz., Dec. 20.—Lieu tenant Brandon Finney (white), connected with the Twenty-fifth United States infantry here, has con fessed that he killed Sergeant Wil liam J. White (Colored), because the latter saluted him with a cigarette in his mouth. Sergeant W'hite, of Com pany F, was shot in the back during the early part of November and his body placed near the plant of the Arizona Gas and Electric company. Mystery at first surrounded his death and it was not until Major Easton, who was with the lieutenant when he • committed the cowardly act, inform ed him that if he did not confess to the crime he (Easton) would tell the whole story to Colonel Carnahan. Here is a version of "the unfortunate affair: “The two officers met the Colored sergeant near the gas plant, the ser geant saluting, but at the time had a cigarette in his mouth. Lieutenant Finney began a vigorous reprimand and the sergeant walked on. This seems to have still further angered the lieutenant, who pulled his pistol and fired, after which both officers hurried away from the spot, going to camp. “At the time the shot was fired the soldier was on the sidewalk coming toward town, and it is believed that when the bullet struck him he became dazed and wandered into the vacant lot and laid down behind a large box, where his dead body was found.” When Finney admitted that he com mitted the crime the civil authorities refused tc put him in the local jail, declaring that they did not want it torn down. Later the lieutenant was ' taken to Douglas for incarceration. He will be given a trial by court-mar tial.- ■ PROMISES TO INVESTIGATE Mr. McAdoo Hears Protest Against Recent Railroad Order Limiting Employment of Colored Labor. By Walter J. Singleton, Special Cor respondent. ASHINGTON, D. C.—W. G. Me Adoo, head of the federal rail road administration, has promised the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People that he would investigate the recent order of Re gional Director Aishton of the North western roads, requiring railroad man- « agers not to extend employment to Negroes beyond the custom prevail ing before the govemmnet assumed control of the roads. “I was not aware of the .orer to which you refer, but I am looking into the matter and will advise you later,” Mr. McAdoo said in a tele gram to John R. Shillady of New York, secretary for the protesting as sociation. The order of Regional Director Aishton, as quoted by the protestants, is sweeping. It requires that the em ployment of Colored people as fire men, hostlers, switchmen and brake men beyond the present practice shall be no part of the policy of the man agers, and concludes by saying that 1 they shall not be employed in any service not heretofore open to them. MEETS CULTURED BLACK MAN IN PORTUGAL Native of Martinique, Prominent in Business and Speaks Several Languages Fluently Detroit.—In a recent letter from Madrid, Spain, Mr. Daniel T. Brant ley relates the following incident: “A few days ago while in Lisbon at the hotel where I was stopping I \ met a black man (black as the pro I verbial ace), who was one of the most polished and affable gentlemen I have ever met, thoroughly informed on all the current topics of the day. This man, a native of Martinique, is the residential representative in Free town, Africa, of a large corporation in England and was at that time on his way to London to make his yearly report and consult with the directors of his concern, 'rtie man could con verse fluently in English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.”