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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1918)
THE MONITOR A Weekly Newspaper devoted to the civic, social and religious interests of the Colored People of Nebraska and the Nation, 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 Postoffice 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. Bert Patrick, Business Manager. Fred C. Williams. Traveling Representative. SUBSCRIPTION RATES, $200 A YEAR; $1.00 6 MONTHS; 60c 3 MONTHS Advertising Rates. 60 cents an inch per issue. Address. The Monitor. 1119 North Twenty-first Street. Omaha, Neb. Telephone Webster 4243. V_ MERRY CHRISTMAS! ONCE again it is our privilege and our happiness to wish all of our readers a Merry, Merry Christinas. We do not write this by rote and be cause it is the season for greetings, but because it rises sincerely from our heart. The happiness of our sub scribers is always of moment to us and our aim ever is to further that happiness as much as it is within the power of journalism to do so. Happi ness comes from within, but the mate rial for it must come from without. Most of that material is, of necessity, mental and our readers know that The Monitor always cultivates the best of mental food. Our road some times looks dark, but the vision be yond is always glorious. Have hope, take courage and make happiness. If you haven’t started, start this Christmas day and never stop. And again, We wish you a Merry, Merry Christmas, “THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN” IN the Literary Digest for December 11, and under the heading, “Shall We Take German Africa?” we read these words: “Self-determination doesn’t seem to go south of Suez. The Africans are still considered a white man’s burden, and as Germany steps out it is now suggested by some of the London papers that America step in and relieve Great Britain.” Isn’t that simply a lovely and de lightful manifestation of generosity on tt e part of the London papers and shouldn’t Uncle Sam try to break his neck gathering in these colonies which Great Britain “really doesn’t want, doncher know?” Of course we have always had more or less suspicion that “self-determina tion’ doesn’t go south of Suez,” but doesn’t it rather strike you that if south of the Suez is such a momentous burden for the white man, that he would really want to turn it loose and apply “self-determination” there first of all ? The white man. when judged by some of his acts would seem to have so much hypocrisy in his make-up, that he too often imagines that it is sincerity. This “white man’s burden” stuff is a joke of too long standing. Read history with open mind and careful analysis and you will discover that the white man has never “assumed” a burden that didn’t pay for itself over and over again in dollars and cents. England’s “burden” in Africa has brought into her country a stream of gold that has enriched her beyond any nation of the world. She does not want to get rid of the “burden” and the suggestion that the United States take the German colonies is only a gentle feeler put out to have the United States say she doesn’t want them and beg England to take them, sort of Gaston-and-Alphonso like. It is a shrewd bit of diplomacy. Of course, we blacks of America will have nothing to say about it and, probably, neither will the blacks of Africa, but don't try to spring that old joke again about “the white man’s burden.” It has gone to seed now. : Those “burdens” are big investments that are paying handsome dividends and it will take more than words to make the white man turn them loose. WAITER PHILOSOPHY AND LIFE SOME students of the race have said that Negroes were bora phil- I osophers. Most certainly we believe it and we believe, too, that most of that philosophy is unconscious. The other day we had occasion to visit one of the large local hotels and while awaiting the manager, we heard one of our head waiters say to a new man, “Serve slowly; don’t take more dishes than you can carry, and help the waiter next to you all you can.” Somehow those words didn’t leave our mind and after turning them over and over, we thought, “Could any philosopher give better advice for the living of one’s life than that? Could any race advisor, with all the rhetoric at his command, gather so much of truth in so few words?” Hardly. “Serve slowly.” Most excellent ad vice. Do we not all try to do thingB and expect things too rapidly? To take life gradually, business calmly and cautiously, and to look toward the future hopefully and without too much anxiety; are these not the prop er attitudes? I “Don’t take more dishes than you can carry!” These words are as thoughtful as Carnegie's, “Don’t pile too many eggs in a basket,” and that advice has become the motto of Wall '■ street. The great fault with many of us is that we try to carry too many ' dishes and we stumble and smash them all. “And help the waiter next to you ! all you can.” Isn’t this the golden rule in different words? Help the fellow next to you and the fellow next you will help you and if we would all follow this bit of workaday wis dom, wouldn’t life be sweeter and i happier? We say it will. And so this headwaiter goes on and on. instructing new men every | day. He isn’t conscious of what one 1 can make out of his words, but he 1 is a real philosopher and if we would j all remember them, we will find them full of meaning and helpfulness. “Serve slowly; don’t take more dishes than you can earn-, and help | the waiter next you all you ran.” THE PHYSICAL SLPERIORITY OE THE NEGRO HE Monitor is indebted to the De | — troit Leader for bringing to its notice a clipping from the New York Medical Journal, which is of more than passing notice. The entire article ap pears in another column and proves itself to have been written upon high authority. It most effectually es tablishes the physical superiority of the Negro and dissipates the current medical myths that the Negro is more ; liable to certain diseases than the white man, especially to tuberculosis, heart affections and flat feet. It is a most convincing table to bring to the notice of national insur ance companies which bar Negroes upon the pretended basis of physical inferiority and to other companies which have in force discriminatory j rates. It also is a most excellent thing for the Negro to know the particular physical disabilities to which he is addicted and thereby study the means of overcoming them. And equally as valuable is it to him to learn of his physical strength so that he may strive to preserve the low percentages. It is a most interesting and valuable article and wTe request all our readers to digest it thoroughly. WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? ! From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat President Wilson, in his address to j Congress calling for a declaration of war against Germany, said “The world must be made safe for democracy,” : and this phrase became the rallying I cry of the peoples opposed to the central powers. The war is over. Autocracy has been dethroned and crushed. But has the world yet been made safe for democracy? A democracy is a government of and by the people. Whether the peo i pie rule direct or by representation I is a matter of expediency. But in either case a democracy is a govern ment, and a government is an estab lished authority for the administration of law and order. The ideal democracy is one in which absolute justice reigns, in which all men are on terms of exact equality under the law, in which the doors of opportunity are closed to no one, in which there is no domination by class. | That ideal is yet to be attained on earth, and it can never be attained or even approached except through the orderly processes, and with the reas onable restrains, of law, established and enforced by a government of the people, seeking ever to promote the | happiness of the people, of all the peo ple, in equal measure. There can be : no happiness, indivdiual or collective, ■ without the protection of law, and there can be no law without a govera ; ment to make it and the authority to enforce it. The infinite wisdom of the j Creator found it necessary' to estab j lish laws for the control and restraint : of the Universe. Wishing to give to all things, animate and inanimate, the largest possible measure of freedom he yet placed limitations upon free dom for its own sake. Freedom among men when unrestrained inevitably de stroys itself by its excesses, and this is the application of God’s law. Neith er freedom nor equality can be estab lished and maintained among men save by law, made and applied by con stituted authority, and it is not by the removal of all restraints to freedom but by the creation and application ► of laws wherein wisdom and justice and humanity strive for an equality of freedom, an equality of right and an equality of opportunity, that the perfect democracy is to be approached. That is the road that America, how ever, it may halt and stumble, is trav eling, and that is the road upon which we would see all other peoples make then way to happiness. HARRY B. ZIMMAN A COMMISSIONER ON THE JOB Harry B. Zimman is one of the city commissioners who is working over time on his job. He is due a great deal of credit for the successful end ing of the recent street car strike, which tied up the city. Although he has been sending up no skyrockets or beating no tomtoms the people ought to appreciate the splendid service Mr. Zimman is giving them. He is main taining the same good record he made when he was councilman and acting mayor several years ago. The Monitor hopes to see him mayor of Omaha some day. There is one thing we are still waiting for him to do, and that is to restore the Colored officers to the Colored fire company. Get busy on this job, too, Harry, please. Your stock is high with us and this will boost it higher. SKITS OF SOLOMON Christmas (CHRISTMAS is that every-once-in a a-while-time when friends and enemies throw open -the throttle of their emotional mechanisms and flood their carburetors with the gas of love. It is a really nifty feast. Hu manity needs some sort of celebra tion every now and then to remem ber that once in a while it is nice to put on the emergency brakes on their selfishness and give the grow ing pains of commercialism a chance to rest and recuperate. Of course there are always some slit-eyed per simmons who say it's only a grand stand performance to applaud the cardinal virtues of life, but even these must always grant that there are times when mankind should put on the polite reception stuff and forget the trap doors behind the plush curtains. There’s no use keeping the exhaust valve open all the time. Throw out the switch on the rails of life once in a %vhile and let the mile-a-minute limited of happiness take a side track so we can see what it looks like. This twin-six mental attitude of life needs some rest. This “peace on earth and good will toward men” salve is really something we should earn around with us perpetually, but we don’t and it is goud to remind us every twelve months that there is such dope in the world and that it will not hurt us any to try a sample. Now that we have passed you this plateful of philosophical hash, Solo mon pauses to wish you all a Merry Christmas. He hopes Santa Claus will stumble at your door and leave his sack and that your Christmas table will groan with good things and that you won’t need dyspepsia tablets or the doctor. He also hopes you will have egg nog, but when you gath er the wherewith, avoid all symbols of blue suits with brass buttons. Christmas in jail is what Sherman said war was. WHAT THE PRESS SAYS JIM CROWISM UN AMERICAN; STOP IT From the Madison (Wis.) Democrat. Now that the railroads are being operated by the government the of fensive jim crow car forthwith should be relegated to oblivion. It repre sents a spirit utterly un-American. As passenger and freight rates have been increased by a mere twist of the wrist, just as easily may this humili ating discrimination be brushed aside. In our national capital street cars are open to all alike. Why not all cars over the nation? Our Colored men abroad are nobly fighting on all fronts for civilization alongside white com patriots, and it is a great discredit to the nation that they should be the vic tims of unjust discrimination at home by the very government in whose care they are heroically battling. Not only should the contemptible jim crow car be banished but every other barrier prejudicial to any class of American citizens be wiped away. Freedom for the world is being saved on the fields of Europe; let us not fail in justice here. I [ Obvious Observations ONCE more the cars are running and the schedules are on time, and I sure am more than tickled to rest these dogs of mine. How’s that for Walt Mason stuff. W'hat we want to know is, what has become of that guy named Winter? He is painted white, has icicles in his whiskers and every time he blows his breath the thermometer takes a tum ble like humpty-dumpty. A president in Europe and running the U. S. A. by radio is a new stunt for rulers. If old Caesar could wake up and take an eyeful, he would look like Uncle Corntossel glimming the sights on Broadway. “Self-determination doesn’t seem to go south of Suez.” says the English papers. Well, it’s their inning and pile the score up as high as possible. Someday the “south of Suez and the east of the Red Sea” might have an inning and get into the game, ath letics record that dark skinned men can sure play ball. On this freedom of the seas noise. Unk Sam seems to be stepping on Johnnie Bull’s toes and Johnnie doesn’t like it a little bit. It begins to look like Germany messed up more pie than she dreamed of when Bill and Von Hindy started out to whip the world. It is good news to hear that Sec retary Baker has ordered the boys from everywhere to keep their suits and overcoats. If he hadn’t done so, there would have been many a man who would have resembled a cold storage rooster reclining in a butch er's window. One of our correspondents writes us from Over There that France is tailor made. It sure is fine to know that there is one good tailor in Eu rope, because there is going to be many a natch put on the map of Europe before the delegates get through at Versailles. Having bankrupted his medulla oblongata, ye scribe will now see how much worth of turkey two bits will buy. MOTON AND DUBOIS IN FRANCE □ SIDENT WILSON sent Prin pal R. K. Moton to France “to look after the morale of the Colored soldiers.” if reports are reliable. On the same ship that carried Major Moton. Dr. Dubois also took passage. The two men are in France—one to look after the morale of the soldiers and the other to lobby at the peace conference. There is a deal of speculation as to the mission of Dr. Moton. There is a general belief that President Wilson sent Major Moton to France with an eye single to any emergency that may arise at the peace conference. The subtlety of our president as a poli tician cannot be denied. In many quar ters the suspicion obtains that Major Moton was sent to France to be con veniently present in the event the Negro problem in America is brought to the attention of the members of the peace conference. Many subscribe to the theory that in the event Presi dent Wilson is asked too pointedly about the treatment the black Amer ican receives in the United States, he will call in Major Moton as a spokes man to tell how “well we get along together in the United States.” Of course, Major Moton is the successor to Dr. Washington, who was known pretty generally in France and Eng land. If he is called upon and intro duced as the leader of the black Americans, whatever Major Moton should say would have peculiar sig nificance. This view is shared by many of us. But it is just possible that we are not at all warranted in entertaining any such view. But “to look after the morale of the soldiers” seems to be a far-fetched purpose. Who looked after the morale of the soldiers when they went to France last year? Are they any less trained and disciplined now than they were then? Do they need a guardian now any more than they did then ? ] We had no representative in France in 1917 to look after the morale of the boys. Why one now when they are coming home? These questions are natural ones, and will be asked by a great many citizens. These very ques tions give rise to the suspicions that President Wilson anticipated the'need of Major Moton in France and sent him ahead so as to have him conveni ently near if the need for him arose at the conference. Dr. Dubois went to be present at the conference. He desires to be heard on the question of the American Negro and his oppression in the United States. Just how he expects to be heard we are unable to say. He cannot do more than lobby for his cause, being without credentials from his country. But a wise lobbyist can do a great good for his cause. It is hoped that both gentlemen will take advantage of every opportunity to present to the peace conference the actual facts as they exist in this coun try. They must stand as firmly for their fellows in America as their fel- ; lows stood before the fire of the Hun , for the cause of democracy. The Courier hopes the two men will | rise to the solemnity of the occasion and with one accord present the truth, the whole truth and nothing less than the truth anent the actual situation in these United States. The reputed conservatism of the one prop erly blended with the reputed radical ism of the other ought to furnish a sane, intelligent, pointed and frank presentation of our cause. May God give the mthe wisdom, the zeal, the courage and the opportunity.—Pitts burgh Courier. * % ❖Shirley’s Clothes Shop| •*♦ 10 j South Hth Street •*• a <♦ „♦* Omaha. Nebraska ♦♦♦ •> •** »»■. .»••« . 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BESELIN & SON THREE STORES 1 405 Douglas St. Sanford Cigar Stand. 101 North 16th St. ! “YOUR TRADE APPRECIATED.” * » X X X X X X x X * Headquarters for * ^ I SENSIBLE I l GIFTS \ 1 for | \ MEN I I i I I 3 ^ I I 3 X X X x ^ 1‘Si.U.tdld.Sdlddd £ X A Store Where A Store Where X ■ Your Patronage Moat of Your X X la Appreciated. Friends Trade. 3 X ■d.a.u.u.u.u.u.K IL-du.9itdu.u.u.9 X 303 South 10th Street x g JACK JOHNSON TO RE-ENTER THE RING London, Dec. 14.—Jack Johnson, cabling from Barcelona, Spain, has asked H. T. Booker, Anglo-American baseball promoter, to arrange a bout for him with either Porky Flynn or Jim Savage. Johnson said that King Alfonso had given permission for the bout to be held in the Royal gymnasium at Barcelona. He said he had been in training for some time, while acting as manager of the Royal gymnasium and was “in the pink of condition." He told Booker he would regard such a bout as opening the way for a re turn match with Jess Willard. Booker has undertaken to arrange the match for Johnson.