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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1919)
i =' i The Monitor ltej u 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, MARCH 15. 1919 Vol. IV. No. 37 (W §; No. 192) Hays Makes Bid for the Solid South s. _ s Delivers Address to Republicans of Greensboro, N. C., as the Opening Gun in Campaign by Republicans to Break Democratic Control. IS G. O. I\ TO DESERT THE RACE? Speech Significant in View of Chair man Hays' Former Reception of Ne gro Political Delegales and Refusal to Consider Wrongs. Greensboro, n. c.—William h. Hays, chairman of the republican national committee, delivered a speech before 2,000 republicans here on Feb ruary 15, and it is considered by the south to be the opening gun in a cam paign to break the “solid south.” The Negro throughout the coun try is interested in the speech by rea son of the fact that in any effort to win the south by republicans, there is only one basis upon which the trade can be made and that is by the elim ination of the Negro as a political " consideration. While the rare issue was untouched, a careful study of the speech will convince thoughtful men of the race that the chairman of the national committee leaves open the suggestion that the party is willing to compromise upon the rare question and proceed upon such terms to win the south. “We have heard it suggested that the south needs the republican party,” said the chairman to the Greensboro state convention. “This is true—but I say that the re publican party needs the south. The republican party needs the south that we may fulfill our avowed purpose and function in our faithful perform ance as a real national party. I most earnestly urge everywhere, for the benefit subjecticvely and objectively that will come therefrom, the honest /registry of a freely expressed, intel ligent political self-determination. Tn no place is this more important than in the south, for the good of those immediately concerned, for the good of all our people, and for the ultimate preservation in their entirety of our institutions everywhere in the coun try. Republicans of the south, demo crats of the north, democrats of the : south and republicans of the north are alike patriotic. The time no i longer when any echo of the past will ! deter the good citizens of the south from acting for therr own best inter ests, and with the now final amalga mation and nationalization of our peo ple, brought out of the crucible of this war, we will move forward to the complete fulfilment of the destinies of the union.” When Chairman Hays was seen with refemce to his visit to North Carolina he avoided making comment . that might be construed as narrowly ! partisan. In fact, he avoided it in j his Greensboro address, which all the : way through was along patriotic lines. | “The gathering of republicans in 1 Greensboro was all that could be de sired both in numbers and spirit,” Mr. Hays said, “They are a splendid people. There has been no geography, political or physical, in the patriotism of this country, and there will be no geog raphy in our patriotism in these try ing times of readjustment that are ahead. “This is no time for little things. Just as during the war period, so now, as we approach these problems, we have no time for petty jealousies, carping criticisms, pullings and haul ings, but fearlessly, in a spirit of pa — triotism, with our eyes solely on the country’s welfare, the republican par ty accepts the commission given it bv the electorate of the people last November, and will proceed to solve the problem.” The democratic daily newspapers of Greensboro were less conservative in their comments on the republican gathering than Mr. Hays. “The Greensboro Daily Record" of Febru ary 15, in an editorial captioned “Time Was,” comments as follows: “Timo was when the republican party in the south was held up as the refuse of all creation. The war and the reconstruction period left bitter memories and to be known as a ’radi /cal’ was to be excommunicated. Time was when the democrats had nothing to fear from the republican party ex cept the Negro vote—and finally it put that out of the way and domi nated. "The machine in polities in North Carolina became high-handed, arro gant and insolent—and the republican party watched its chance and saw that dissension was abroad, and by fusion with the democrats dissatisfied, call ing themselves populists, cleaned out the machine. Russell was made Gov ernor, Pritchard and Butler went to the United States senate—and the impregnable walls of democracy crum bled as the Hindenburg line dissolved before the attacks of the allies. “But then there was another appeal to democracy; the same machine worked its cards and for a long time North Carolina has been democratic. Perhaps it will be democratic for many years; but the machine has lost several cogs in its drive wheel the past week, in its blunder on woman suffrage. And now comes the re publican party to Greensboro today— a representative gathering of business ami professional men, declaring they are in earnest against election frauds and asserting they are organized to render real seivice to the people. “Nineteen twenty will be a great year in politics. The republican party will be united. Roosevelt has passed from the scene of action and his per sonality will no longer be felt; there fore it follows that no faction exists— a solid party will line up with the in tention of taking from democracy the control of the government. This meet ing here today shows beyond any doubt that the republicans are in earnest—that they are preparing for battle—and propose to battle to the finish. This meeting should be a no tice to North Carolina democracy that it must get busy—and it must get together. While it is not freely ad vertised it is a fact known of men that North Carolina democracy has at least a dozen factions; and while Sim mons is regarded as the master ma chinist operator, yet when it comes to balloting districts are split wide open, and unless there can be a get to-gqther meeting, and the hatchet buried democracy will have the hard est fight of its life in 1920.” BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA British Impose Heavy Tax on Natives, Uprising Follows and Many Lives Lost. Abeokuta, Nigeria, Dec. 31. ISIS— (Special to The Monitor.)—The Brit ish resident of this place carrying out orders from the crown government, has imposed a very heavy tax on the native, against which they had com plained without avail. Their pro tests against its injustices were not heeded by the president, so an up rising of the people followed in which a number of British officers were killed and thousands of native black troops that were ordered into the Egba country to put down the rising also lost their lives at the hands of the infuriated natives. While other black troops in Europe were fighting to save the world for dernoiracy, Eng land is Imposing burdens grievous to he borne, upon her loyal black sub jects in Africa and the West Indies. The Egba uprising will be remem bered for long years to come as one of the bloodiest and most brutal puni tive expeditions in the history of West Africa. The natives sold their lives dearly and exacted a heavy toll of death from the invaders of their homes. The Africans believe that a man’s home is his castle and that to defend it with their lives is a sacred duty. They have done this in a man’s fashion and will do it again under the same provocation. SOLDIER RESISTS ARREST Greenwood, S. C., March 13.—A Ne gro soldier caused quite a little ex citement here when he refused to be arrested by a policeman, who ac cused him of disorderly conduct. The soldier maintains that it was purely a case of discrimination, and gave the policeman a real tussle. When the military police appeared on the scene he quietly went away with them. ! _ FINED FOR PRACTICING WITHOUT A LICENSE Atlanta, Ga., March 13.—Dr. W. Pearlistine was fined heavily in court for practicing without a license. He stated that he charged no fee ,but the patients simply gave him the money. ORGANIZE INSURANCE CO. t Orangesburg, S. C., March 13.—The Bankers Life Insurance company was recently organized here with a cap ital stock of $100,000, to do a gen eral life insurance business. W. E. Atkinson, R. H. Jennings, Dr. W. R. Lowman and W. W. Barr, Jr., are the incorporators. Describes Last 15 Minutes of War First Lieutenant Edward Turner in Battle Near Metz—Battalion Saved by Announcement of Armistice. “Some of our men had never seen a soldier and did not know what military life was in any form. In fact it was a crowd of scared men; but after seven months of intensive training we had this scared crowd of farmers and miners formed into a creditable military machine, as yet untried," says Lieutenant Turner. Men From Alabama. “These men, Colored selects from Alabama, were organized at Camp Dodge, November 1, ,1917. All line officers were Colored. Leaving Camp Dodge June 1, 1918, they landed at St. Nazairc, a typical old French town as Lieutenant Turner describes it, June 28. They left July 4 for an in termediate camp and there received further instruction. “Our men being much larger than the French, it was natural that they should be crowded in the French com partment cars," says the lieutenant. “It was the same way with the box y-% LT. EDWARD TURNER cars. Our men were too large for them. They rode to Bon Les Bain and then marched to Lenaide depart ment of the Vosges, and there took five weeks of intensive training. The French inhabitants took deep interest in us, and proceeded to make it very pleasant for us during our spare time, which was not very much. We went to the advanced zone in trucks. That was another tiresome ride; we gen erally would walk farther than we rode; we would rather march than ride on the French railroads, the Paris and Orleans express being an excep tion. “We relieved the Sixth infantry in the Vosges mountains. It had just taken Frappelle and turned over the trenches to us red hot—under fire. “It was the longest fifteen minutes I ever knew,” says First Lieutenant Edward Turner, Three Hundred and Sixty-sixth infantry, Ninety-second division, Colored, speaking of the last fight in the war. “We had made a forced march into the Argonne forest, with no food for forty-eight hours. We were so tired that we lay on the wet ground and slept like babies, with no cover over us but the sky. Our troops went ahead and made very rapid progress through the forest, walking over the bodies of fallen comrades—but such is war. • “After the Argonne offensive we went into the Marbache—that part about seventeen miles from Metz. We were the first shock troops on No vember 10 and 11, and sustained many casualties. i Germans Knew Positions. “About 10:30, the morning of No vember 11, a fog dropped over the wood through which we were going. We went out of action except for our firing from our right flank which was nearest the Gormans. We could not see and our men were ordered to scatter. “The Germans kept firing. They knew where we were. We were los ing men right along. I was expect ing every minute to get mine. We could not have lived through, for our whole battalion would have been wiped out in two hours more of that fighting. "The Germans were firing on us from a village with their big guns in the street and their machine guns at the river bank, and shrapnel, gas shells and bullets were showering us heavily. They were taking advantage of Americans since we never fired on a village because of the women and children there. “Metz was also firing on us with its long range guns. Before the fog lifted, a runner from headquarters made his way to us, and finding the major, gave the word that the truce was signed and we should cease firing. “A little after 11 o’clock the fog lifted and it was as pretty a day as you could see." The messenger got a D. S. C. Lieu tenant Turner went on into the vil lage whence the German had been firing on them, and saw their guns in the streets. Battalion Cited. The whole battalion of the Three Hundred and Sixty-sixth was cited for gallantry. “I got my baptism of gas there,” says Lieutenant Turner, who carries a wound chevron. We had to fight every night, but after the first night’s scare the meh shaped up like veterans, and gave a good account of them selves. "We had ten or twelve men in our organization, two in my company, who received the Distinguished Serv ice Cross. They showed beyond a reasonable doubt that shell fire had no effect upon the American Colored soldier, and that he, with his officer, would go just as far and stand just as much as his white brother, and without a murmur. Discipline was splendid.” Lieutenant Turner, who was a lieu tenant in the Omaha fire department Colored company, and is going back to that place, was the first officer of the regiment to come over with Colonel Hayward, and had charge of 102 wounded soldiers. FIRST COLORED COURT ATTENDANT IS APPOINTED New York, March 9.—The first Col ored attendant was appointed Friday last by the committee of employees ' ■ Uie board of city magistrates, which met to fill vacancies caused by resignations, deaths and other causes. He was Harold E. Simmelkjaer, 27, of 230 West 142d street, where he resides with his wife and two children. The new court attendant was bom on Saint Croix island formerly known as the Danish West Indies, but now the Virgin islands, an American pos session. Simmelkjaer came to the United States in 1894, was naturalized in 1913, and drafted into the national army under the selective draft law. On Sept. 15 last he was honorably discharged with the commission as a second lieutenant, having served with the 367th regiment. Later he was assigned to a machine gun detachment at Fort Hancock. UNVEILING BUST OF GENERAL O. O. HOWARD Washington, D. C., March 11.—A bust of General O. O. Howard, the revered founder of Howard univer sity, was unveiled amid impressive ceremonies Sunday in Andrew Rank lin Memorial chapel at 4:30 p. m., in the presence of an overflowing au dience. TKe bust was procured through the energetic labors of the Howard University Alumni associa tion and the exercises were conducted by this organization. Addresses com memorative of the life and character and educational and moral reforms in augurated by him in behalf of the Colored people a half century ago were delivered by President J. Stanley Durkee, Prof. George W. Cook, Mr. W. W. Cohran and others. SAMPLE OF SOUTHERN JUSTICE Ashville, N. C., March 13.—Rachel ] Smith, Co'ored, was given a sentence | of “ten j ears visit out of the city” ! by the police judge on a charge of | disorderly conduct. The judge an nounced that henceforth it will be his ! policy to send all disorderly Negroes on a “Ten Year Visit” when they come before him. PLACED ON DETECTIVE FORCE Philadelphia, Pa., March 13.—Wil liam Robinson of this city, was placed on the retective force last week, tak ing the place of John Duey, who re signed to go into private business. Robinson has been a member of the force for some time, and Philadel phians are elated at the new spirit of democracy being shown. JACK JOHNSON LANDS IN CAPITAL OF CUBA Former King Champion Arrives in Havana on Way to Mexico—Hopes to Meet Jesse Willard Again and Also Jack Dempsey. Havana, March 8.—Jack Johnson, formerly world’s heavyweight pugi listic champion, arrived here today from Spain on his way to Mexico City, where he will make his first appearance in a ring contest since he lost the championship to Jess Wil lard in this city almost four years ago. Johnson declared that he wants a return fight with Willard “anywhere, under any conditions except those which governed the Havana contest.’’ He would, he said, split the purse to suit Willard, winner take all, 75 and 25 per cent, or otherwise. Johnson looks to be in good condi tion and said he weighs 225 pounds. The former champion has signed a blank contract calling for five ring battles in Mexico with any opponents who may be selected for him. He i hopes to meet Jack Dempsey and oth ers of the best Amencan fighters. Within four months, or after fulfill ment of his Mexico contract, he ex pects to visit the United States. CLUB FOR COLORED SOLDIERS Raleigh, N. C., March 9.—To care for not only the Colored troopers at Camp Polk and Camp Method, but all the large bunch that will shortly re turn from overseas and other camps, Mr. Ossian Lang, local organizer for War Camp Community Service, is planning to pone a Red Circle Club on Wilmington street, back of the old market building. The new club will be put in charge of a representative Colored committee, who will manage it for the Red Circle. The store build- j ing will be used for the club proper, j and the rooms above as headquarters j for a Colored women’s auxiliary. 369TH HONORS ROOSEVELT Oyster Bay, N. Y., March 9.—About j 1,000 persons visited the former presi dent’s grave recently. Among them ; were fifty Colored soldiers from the | Fifteenth Regiment, which Colonel William Hayward commanded in j France. They brought with them a j large wreath, which they placed on j the grave while others stood at at tention. RACE PAPERS BARRED Somerville, Tenn., March 9.—White people of this city have issued an or der that no "Colored newspapers” must be circulated in the town, but that every “darkey,” the petition reads, must read the Falcon, a local white paper, edited by a Confederate veteran. The whites stated this step was being done in order to keep the “nigger from getting beside himself, and to keep him in his place.” Since the invasion made in this city by newspapers of our race, people have been leaving by the wholesale,> seeking better opportunity and devel opment in northern cities. The edict was issued against the newspapers when white men were forced because of the lack of help, to plow the fields. Somerville is the county seat of Fayette county. There are 25,000 of our people residing in this section and only 7,000 whites. Our people fur nished five soldiers to one white sol dier from this district to the national army in the fight for democracy. ASSOCIATION PROTESTS NEGRO DEPORTATION New York, March 11.—The Nation al Association for the Advancement of Colored People, through its Secretary John R. Shillady of New York, has called the attention of Secretary of Labor Wilson and the Pennsylvania authorities to the wholesale deporta tion from Coatesville, Pa., of Negroes, who during the war were employed in the various industries, but who are now unemployed as a result of the shuting down of these industries. William B. Dickson, vice president of the Midvale Steel and Ordnance com pany, has also been asked to insure humane treatment of these men. The Association offers to co-operate in any way possible with the department of labor in seeing that fair treatment is accorded these men who have served the nation in its war industries and protest against arbitrary arrest and deportation of men who it says have met as critical a need as have the soldiers who fought in the trenches. Improving edi tions in ihe Sonth Progressive White Dailies of South Urging Cultivation of Friendship Between the Races, PROPAGANDA FOR JUSTICE Better Elements Banding Together for Improving Conditions Causing Economic Unrest and Alarm. (By Associated Negro Press.) WHNSTON-SALEM, N. C., March O 13.—“The new dav of friendship between the races” is what the Win ston-Salem PJoumal, one of the lead ing white dailies o ftne south, calls the present time in a lengthy edi torial, in which it admonishes both the whites and the blacks to join efforts in continuing the good work. The entire south is very much alarmed over existing economic condi tions. The south is awake, as never before, as to the intrinsic value of the Negro population. Whereas, only a short time ago, there was a well fi nanced progaganda to destroy the Ne gro and his rights, there is now, also, a propaganda just as well organized and as well financed, with the aim of giving the Negro justice in all the ways of civic opportunity.. That this kind of feeling should prevail in the southern states, and upheld in pulpits and editorials of the be upheld in pulpits and editorials of the leading whites, goes far to prove that the “new day" has ar rived. Not only are the whites urg ing that the Negro be given real, rather than fancied justice, in the courts, but it is being urged that he be given the right to vote in many sections where a few years ago such an assertion would have meant a riot. Recently Dr. Proctor of Atlanta, urged the Negroes of Atlanta to reg ister and vote, and as strange as it may seem, his address was given un usually promnent space in the daily newspapers. Even in the supposedly God-for saken state of Mississippi, the whites and Negroes are banding together for the bettering of conditions. A recent gathering was held in the board of trade offices at Jackson, where Fed eral Director Weir, of the United States employment service stated that “We have come to a time for readjustment between men, races and nations on a common basis of under standing, which is right and justice.” This assertion was greeted with the loudest applause by both Colored and white people in attendance. This new day in the south is giv ing the white industrial concerns in the north much concern, for with im migration practically cut off for a number of years, the heretofore de spised Negro, has become the greatest economic factor in the land. The north is literally bidding against the south for the labor of the Colored people. While it is true that the north is yet far in the lead in granting privileges and justice, with another year of improvement in the south such as we have had in recent months, the south will become once more “the gar den spot of earth." JAILED BECAUSE OF LOVE FOR NEGRO (By Associated Negro Press.) Wheeling, W. Va., March 13.—A white woman, Mille Gray, was brought in court here because it \yas discovered that she was in love with a Negro, George Williams. Every effort was made by the court to show her the “folly of her way,” but she absolutely refused to disclaim her af fection for the man Williams. As a result, the woman was given the maximum sentence of six months in jail and $50 fine. The woman went to her punishment without a murmur except to state that as soon as she is out she will marry Williams regard less of protests. OFFICER KILLS CARD PLAYER — Atlanta. Ga., March 13.—Warren Edwards and Henry Landers, two Ne groes engaged in a little card game, were brutally murdered by a white officer here when they attempted to escape. ____________________ FOR SOCIAL BETTERMENT Ashville, N. C., March 13—The War Camp Community Service plans to ex pend $8,000 here for the social bet terment of the soldiers returning from the war.