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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1919)
The monitor K National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of Colored Americans. Published Every Thursday at Omaha, Nebraska, by The Monitor Pub lishing Company. 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 Madree Penn, Associate Editors. Fred C. Williams, Business Manager. SUBSCRIPTION RATES, $2.00 A YEAR; $1.00 6 MONTHS; 60c 3 MONTHS Advertising Rates, 60 cents an Inch per issue. Address, The Monitor, 304 Crounse Block, Omaha, Neb. Telephone Douglas 3224. __— THEN welcome each rebuff that turns earth’s smoothness t rough. f ! Each sting that bids nor sit; nor stand; but go. Be our joys three parts pain; J Learn, nor account the pang; * Dare, never grudge the throe. —Browning. PRESENT NECESSITIES TJERHAPS there never was a time in the history of the American Negro in which the necessity of lead ership and the demand for it were greater than they are at the present. A terrible war has been raging in Europe, and like all wars, it has left behind it gigantic problems, growing out of the building of a new and bet ter regime upon the ruins of the old. Progress is the distinctive part of man’s existence, the key which un locks his destiny. But always in the history of mankind have there been those who sought to clog the wheels of progress and zealously have fought to maintain intrenched wrong. America today is face to face with her problems of reconstruction. Prob lems that must be solved and solved immediately, if her national existence is to be maintained and her unity remain intact. In formulating a right reconstruction program she can no more get away from facing the Negro problem with frank, fearless, demo cratic spirit than she can the other vital questions of democratic control of industry, socialization of health conservation of public resources, and educational and religious reform. Many of America’s best thinkers realize the importance of this par ticular problem. They clearly under stand that the harmonizing of racial groups must precede ary real attempt at a strong national existence. The title of American and the rights of citizenship belong to those, and those only, who earn the right by loyalty and allegiance and work. Any denial of opportunity, any subversion of jus tice, that bases itself upon race an tagonism makes for disloyalty and dissolution and rears up the structure of a state upon quicksand. This is the time then, when we, who as a group of 14,000,000 Americans stood loyally behind our nation in times of stress, should show an united front and join with all those who fight for principle and make of Amer ica a consistent democracy for all men. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the most effective instrument for attain ing our purpose which is at hand. In the name of high heaven, let us use it! The enemies of true democracy are organized and at work. Last week in Georgia the Klu Klux Klan set fire to five churches, two school houses, and a lodge hall. The reac tionists are making use of a distinct propaganda of intimidation and pub licity. The exigencies of the time are upon us. Unity of action is imperative. Purity of leadership is a prime neces sity. Where rank unscrupulous leaders— too dense to see that the death knell of pettiness has sounded—seek to raise themselves at the expense of the group, crush them as snakes with poisonous fangs are crushed. The day has passed, when, like sheep, we can afford to follow the demagogue. Passion and emotion and unreason as stimuli to action must be cast aside. In their stead there needs must come sanity and calm deliberation as a se quence to clear, constructive thinking. If unity of action is not ours, we render ourselves powerless and impot ent by disorganization, and suspicion, we play into the hands of our enemies, and we lose the golden oportunitv that is ours today of making a substantial and effective advance toward the achievement of a democracy that is safe for us and the world. GIVE SCOTT THE SPINGARN MEDAL TBE Spingam medal is awarded yearly to the American citizen of African descent who has rendered the most distinguished service to his race and humanity. The Monitor believes that this medal has been wisely and most deserving] y awarded hitherto. We do not know whom the committee on award may be considering for this honor, but our own opinion is that no member of the race has rendered more distinguished service than Emmett J Scott. The Monitor nominates Em mett J. Scott for the Spingam medal. A WORD ABOUT LABOR OMAHA has a teamsters’ strike. They claim they are striking foi higher wages. It is claimed, however, that their real purpose is for “a closed shop.” Their tactics seem to support this contention. The principle of or ! gaaized labor is fundamentally right. i The application of this principle is at | times open to fault. The closed shop principle is fundamentally wrong. It violates the principle of personal lib , erty, which is autocratic and undemo | cratic. But the right of labor to or I ganize cannot be questioned. Into the merits of the local strike it ■ is not our purpose to enter. What j concerns us now especially is the j propaganda being spread by Team j sters’ Local No. 211, by means of cir i culars evidently intended to create1 | prejudice against the Colored race. The circular reads as follows: Warning to Citizens! Law-abiding citizens of Omaha shall j at once take steps: To protect their wives and daugh ters from the horrors of East St. Louis. . To safeguard their homes, theii | valuables and their lives! Do you want to suffer from an in flux of Negroes and disreputable like Omaha experienced in the summer of . 1917? We are reliably informed that i carload of Negroes is again being imported from East St. Louis, in order | to break the strike of the Omaha : teamsters who are fighting for a liv ing wage and the right to belong to | a union. Prettiest Mile Revolver club, take notice! Conference Committee Teamsters’ Union, Local 211. Here is unquetsionably an adroit appeal to stir up prejudice and the 1 local does not care one whit, so long as it serves its purpose, whether the so-called information upon which it ! is based is true or false. As a mattei of fact this “reliable information.” which has ben traced down by The Monitor is absolutely false and has been manufactured for a purpose. There are no Negro strike breakers being imported into Omaha and Mr. Rooney of the Teamsters’ LTnion knows it. Why not be fair? The Monitor desires to go on rec ord as not being opposed to organized labor, if it does not discriminate, but it wants it to be distinctly understood that it is here to expose and oppose j any effort by organized labor or any i other agency to discredit the Negro) race or to incite riot. There is entire ly too much of a disposition to make sweeping and unsupported charges upon most flimsy information. Or ganized labor needs friends not ene mies. It cannot afford to appear in the attitude of encouraging lawless-; ness and racial strife. A VALUABLE VOLUME THE Monitor acknowledges with gratitude the receipt of a copy, of a most interesting and valuable book. Its title is “History of the American Negro in the Great World War.” The author is the vigorous, versatile, veteran of the tripod, W. Allison Sweeney, whose pen work has commanded the admiration of hun dreds of thousands for more than four decades. The book is written in Mr. Sweeney’s pleasing and fascinating style, not the vitrolic style and diction used when he is evcoriating hypoc risy, injustice and sham, either in dividual or national, but when writ ing on pleasanter themes. One is con scious of this when he reads the au thor’s delightful “Foreword,” a prose poem which charms, pleases, enter tains and pulsates with vital thoughts. The book grips and holds attention from “Foreword" to “Finis,” which is written on page 307. It is profusely illustrated and abounds with valuable information not only concerning the part played by Negro soldiers in the great world war, but throughout America’s history. It is a valuable volume which should have a place in every library. The work is prevaded by a spirit of sunny optimism which The Monitor notes with pleasure and surprise. ROBERT COWELL THE Monitor joins with the thou sands of friends who not only know and esteem, but love Robert Cowell in washing him many years of well-earned leisure from business cares. His retirement from business as head of the well-known firm of Thomas Kilpatrick & Co., which has just been announced, has come as a decided surprise. It is hard to realize that this vigorous, sunny, versatile man has been in business fifty years, so wonderfuly has he seemed to pre serve his youth. Surely he has earned the right to r-etire from business. But retirement from business cannot mean for one of his temperament inactivity. We are quite sure that he will never be contented unless he be up and doing something for the common weal. Rob ert Cowell will always be accounted one of Omaha’s first citizens. He is succeeded as president of the firm of Thomas Kilpatrick & Co., by William F. Baxter, another remarkably strong broad-visioned, liberal-minded and progressive man, who has grown from boyhood to manhood with this firm and who. too, has made his influence felt in this city. The Monitor extends hearty and sincere congratulations to Mr. Baxter. * NEW EXCHANGES \\ "K welcome to our exchange list W two excellent new publications, The Houston Reformer and The St. Louis Independent News. Both of these publications take advanced ground in race journalism. Their edi torials are sane and fearless, their program definite and pronounced, their news columns timely and well supplied and their advertising patron age bespeaks prosperity. Clinton F. Richardson is editor and publisher of the Reformer and Walter Lowe>s edi tor-in-chief of the News, with an able corps of assistants. The Monitor cor dially welcomes these splendid publi cations into membership in the grow ing family of much-needed and appre ciated race journals and wishes them abundant and well-deserved success. “WOMAN LOST THREE SOLDIER HUSBANDS” IN the news columns appears an ar ticle headed: “Woman Lost Three Soldier Husbands.’ It ys funny and appeals to one’s sense of the ridicul ous upon first reading, but soon one is compelled to give more serious consideration to an all too prevalent practice of marrying much and often that detracts from the sanity and sacredness of marriage. There were too many women of all colors and con ditions that entered, lightly, into this sacred relationship during the recent war period. There were too many soldiers, who heedlessly, rushed into these entanglements, and the social fabric is the worse because of this. THE PERISCOPE Woman's Suffrage. Woman’s suffrage, as a national privilege, is now put up to the vari ous legislatures to vote on the amend ment, the 18th to the United States constitution, in order to make the privilege lawful. The south is against suffrage, for the principal reason that a clear and definite way has not been found to completely eliminate the women of our group. The south is frank about it, and one of the promi nent senator’s in a recent address de clared that while they were able to get away with disfranchising the men, he was not so sure that they could repeat in disfranchising the women. “Therefore,” he declared, "it is best to let well enough alone.” The south, undoubtedly, is most presumptuous to think that forever and a day, it will be permitted to hold the yoke of op pression against the majority of its population. The time is most certain of coming when the women and men of the Negro race will have the right to vote, and have their votes prop erly counted. The white south’s claim to “superiority” must be met in a square, and not a crooked, contest. Upon such a basis we are willing to stake our all, and if they are not they are either cowards or poor sports, or both. The Passing of Booze. From all indications, it seems that the great national event of the “Pass ing of Booze,” will occur on schedule time, July 1. At least, those who are most concerned, the brewers, dis tillers and saloonists, are preparing for nothing different. They may be talking hopefully, but as fast as they can, they are shutting off the faucets and clearing out the refrigerators, and preparing to take off the white jack ets and aprons. The one big thing about all this, so far as we are concerned, the states where we live in large numbers, and where the thing called “drink” has been discontinued for any length of time, we are the most prosperous and aggressive; the morality is high and the good will between the people of both races is commendable. If this is any argument for continuing the traf fic, eyes have not seen or ears heard.” SOME TIME SOME TIME, when all life’s lessons have been learned, And sun and stars forevermore have set. The things which our weak judgments here have spumed, The things o’er which we grieved with lashes wet, Will flash before us, amid life’s dark night, As stars' shine most in deeper tints of blue, And we shall see how all God’s plans were right, And what most seemed reproof was love most time. And we shall see how, while we frown and sigh, God’s plans go on as best for you and me; How, when we called, He heeded not our cry, Because His wisdom to the end could see; , And e’en as prudent parents disallow Too much of sweets to crying hahy hood, So God, perhaps, is keeping from us | now Life’s sweetest things because it seemeth good. And if sometimes, commingled with life’s wine, We find the wormwood, and rebel and shrink, Be sure a wiser hand than yours or mine Pours out this portion for our lips j to drink; And if sojne friend we love is lying low, Where human kisses cannot reach his face, Oh, do not blame the loving Father so, But wear your sorrow with obedient grace, And you shall shortly know that lengthened breath Ts not the sweetest gift God sends His friend, And that sometimes the sable pall of death Conceals the fairest boon His love can send. If we could push ajar the gates of life And stand within and all God’s I workings see, We could interpret all this doubt and ’ strife, And for each mystery find there a key. But not today. Then be content, poor heart! God’s plans, like lilies pure and white, unfold; We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart; Time will reveal the inner heart of gold. And if, through patient toil, we reach the land Where tired feet with sandals loosed may rest, Where we shall clearly know and un derstand, I think that we shall say God knew the best. — L. E. Hall. A CONSIDERATE ACT Mayor Smith is a busy man. But he was not too busy to take time to write a much appreciated letter to John A. Singleton, who recently re ceived favorable notice because he was i.ot a party to the examination scan dal in which ninety-eight dental stu dents figured. Mr. Singleton is a graduate of Howard university, not of Creighton. The mayor’s considerate act in writing the following letter will be appreciated by Monitor readers: June 13, 1919. Mr. John Andrew Singleton, 111 South 14th Street, Omaha, Neb. Dear Mr. Singleton: I want to congratulate you upon your successful completion of the course in the Creighton Dental Col lege, and especially congratulate you on the fact that you completed the course with honor and without stoop ing to some of the practices indulged in by other members of your class. It is to be regretted that any young men who have enjoyed the advantages afforded them by Creighton 'univer sity should in any manner bring re proach upon themselves and on Creighton university by resorting to i dishonorable practices at the very j close of their school work. I want to congratulate you upon the fact that your record is clear. I wish you success in your profession and again congratulate you on your clean record. With personal regards, I am, yours very truly, ED P. SMITH, Mayor. CARD OF THANKS We desire to thank our many friends for the kindness shown our daughter, sister and granddaughter, Olga Wat kins, during her serious illness, and the many floral tributes that were sent at her death, Respectfully. Mr. and Mrs. Joe Tucker. Mr. and Mrs. Warren Brooks. Mrs. Charlie Watkins. Horace Henderson. The Beautiful Thing X About the FORD CAR is its 100% simplicity of operation, 100% per X cent economy, and 100% service. That’s why we’ve adopted the y X slogan 100% Ford Service. We strive to maintain the Ford standard X X all the time, in all ways, in all departments. J A y Y We sell Ford Motor Cars and Fordsom Farm Tractors. y V Y | Sample-Hart Motor Co. | X Tyler 513. 18th and Burt Streets. v *•* ...... ...... .......... ... * . • . • •- **..*»•*•**••*• w*«M« vvv** « .*w*.,v *M«*... 2 00,000 | Can Take Up DUDLEY’S NINETY DAY OFFER | X For ninety days only will ship to all new agents $10.00 worth of A A DUDLEY’S FAMOUS* POLISH for $5.00. Save time. Just inclose *,• X five dollars and your address in full and a shipment will be made the X A same day we get your order to Live Wire Agents. Hit the iron while A X it is hot. Write for an order. Y Dudley’s Leather and Chemical Works '{. 116 South Main Street. Muskogee, Okla. .{. :**:--:-*:*-:**:-*:**:**t**:**:—:—:**:--:":“:**:»-t-'*—:“:":**:'<*'X**:****'***'**:**:**:":":**:**:":" .mmnt,m»i miii»nminitii.uiiimmuirtuutiimiuiHHnnutmmunu.uMnmnt ' H Classified Directory of Omaha’s Colored professional and Business firms ❖ ALLEN JONES ANDREW T. REED y , - X Res. Phone Web. 201. Res. Phone Ryd 5210. X | JONES & REED Funeral Parlor X Parlors 2314 North 24th Street. Phone Webster 1100. ,t X A A Expert Licensed Embalmers and Funeral Directors. Auto and Horse y X Drawn Vehicles. Lady Attendant. Open Day and Night. A A y ,J. We are as near to you as your telephone with every convenience at .*♦ *J* hand. Calls promptly attended at all hours. •£ — -.....t. j --mv mosns .vij.i wm ... « ,«*»»» ,#» #» >. .« »* /' »» » ” '**.'■* " : J. D. IliNES ! n « H THE TAILOR AND CLEANER § ji % " Suit-s made to order. Hats g cleaned and blocked. Alterations g r of all kinds. Call and give us a g " trial. ft - Phone South 3366 5132 South 24th Street. x x M _ It if ijX.xjiLx.X x x x x.x x x x .i x x xxxx if x x*x k k Telephone Webster 248 Open Day and Night Silas Johnson i Western Funeral Home 1 2518 Lake St. p The Place for Quality and Service ^ PRICES REASONABLE. *• k y Licensed Embalmer In Attendance Lady Attendant If Desired, k MUSIC FURNISHED FREE. k x X B Si ;;m « kkk a* it xkk« it xxkx x x x X | R. H. Robbins \ & Co. | GROCERIES AND MEATS £ g g g An Up-to-Date Store. g ji I 1111 North 24th Street, g j* If*. X | Prompt Delivery. W. 211. | it k _ M « MBgBBBBm* « « « if gi w! k, k Macco T. ! WILLIAMS j | Concert Violinist 1 and Teacher j; STUDIO, 2416 BINNEY ST. g Webster 3028. I | * Eureka Furniture Store « g Complete Line of New and See- g ond Hand Furniture PRICES REASONABLE g Call Cm When You Have Any g Furniture to Sell g 1417 N. 24th St. Web. 4206 |KS’a>aSK»f«Sl’ )<-J<OT»3W«B<»13e3«3««S««l)< | THE j WASHINGTON - DOUGLAS j: INVESTMENT CO. | BONDS, INVESTMENTS, £ | RENTALS AND FARM f LANDS ; Phone Webster 4206. 1417 North 24th St. EL ' * " ' ' jg \) Repairing and Storing « Orders Promptly Filled NORTH SIDE ;; SECOND-HAND STORE J R. li. RHODES Dealer in ;; New and Second-Hand Furniture •• and Stoves. g V ;; Hou.-ehold Good- Bought and i; \ i; Sold. Rental and Real Estate. £ ' a 2522 Lake St. ‘Webster 908 it «_ H :: »a a a. a a a. a a a •< a a.a a a a-a a a a a a;X A. F. PEOPLES !: Painting | t Paperhanging and Decorating « it :: Estimates Furnished Free. a All Work Guaranteed. i § a -1827 Frskine Street. Phone Walnut 2111. S aMHWWMBBDOBra’aWMMKW a* tsr.-.tx 4 a M x ‘it, I; South & Thompson’s Cafe ii 2418 North 24th St. Webster 4566 $! j n i . SPECIAL SUNDAY DINNER gj y Stewed cnicken with dumplings..40c S Boost Prime Beef au jus _40c ^ g- Boast Pork, Apple Sauce 40c “ x Boast Domestic Goose, dressing 50c jj Early June Peas 5 Mashed Potatoes Z K Salad % Coffee Dessert w, H We Serve Mexican Chile a :: 8 ” 8 ■■ 8 ■■ ■■■ 8 it :: :: it :: it :: :: it it :: ■ |{ I Little King Hotel 5 2615 N Street ” Steam Heated. Open All Night, fj it Room by Day or Week, steals it at All Hours. ii MRS. ELIZABETH HILL, Prop, it Phone South 3195. a, g! it bffitlt SWSOI a mm X.KX a a a a a a 8,8 a. a it ! S. W. MULLS FURNITURE CO. :: :: :: We sell new and second hand gj jj furniture, 1421 North 24th St. ;8 a Webster 148. 24th and Charles. <p DR. P. W. SAWYER I DENTIST 8 Tel. Doug. 7150; Web. 3636 220 South 13th St. it a'a )t a iotit axm-a a* l JOHN HALL I PROGRESSIVE TAILOR j 1614 N. 24 th St. Web. 875. Open for Buelnese the BOOKER T. WASHINGTON I HOTEL Nicely Furnlthed Steam Heated Rooms, With or Without Board. 523 North 15th St. Omaha, Neb. Phone Tyler 897. ■