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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (May 27, 1920)
" i The Monitor i ~ i A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS. ___THE RET. JOHN ALBEIT WILLIAMS, E*tr <2.00 « Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA. NEBRASKA, MAY 27, 1920Vol. V. No. 47 (Whole No. 256) LABORERS DESERT ALABAMA FARMS Race Friction r ing Out of Killing of White Far ^ » Colored Men In Fight Causes 'us of Lahor Which Threaten?^ -ius Loss of Large Crops. -V AGRICULTURE FACE. % DEMORA "ION CASTLEBERRY, Ala., May 21.— Strawberries on the berry planta tions in this section are rotting on the vines, and farmers are standing to lose thousands of dollars because of the sudden and almost complete exodus of colored farm hands from this county following the Intense race feeling and threatened mob violence on account of the killing of a white farmer by two colored boys. Excitement Followed Killing. Dan Whittle and Willis Whittle en gaged in a fight with Charles Saren, white, resulting from an automobile collision, and killed him. The two men escaped to the swamps heavily armed, and all efforts to locate them have proved futile, although the coun try teems with armed posses intent upon dealing summary justice to the two colored men. Following the kill ing, feeling between the races ran so high that riots were narrowly averted several times. All Colored Residents Threatened. Failure to capture the slayers so in furiated the whites that threats were made that unless they were captured every colored man in town would be whipped. These threats had an un expected result in the fleeing of prac* tically all the colored farm help of the county'. Agriculture is now at a standstill, and unless the colored farmers can he induced to return, all crops will be practically a failure. OLD MAN SAVES CHILD TAKEN DEE BY HIGH MINDS Tuscaloosa, Ala., May 12.—A small cyclone passed over part of Tusca loosa last week. That part of the city known as Alston’s quarter, a place settlement, was hit hardest. A col ored Baptist church was moved about six feet. A little girl was picked up off her feet and was hurled in the air some two or three feet above the ground, when an old colored man by the name of Tom Carpenter grabbed her and kept the child from being jammed against a house. THINK BRITISH TROOPS TO AID SCtTAN’S FORCES Constantinople, Mav 27.—British troops, it is b, ieved, plan to sup port the sultan's forces in the move ment against Turkish nationalists in Asia Minor, and even Join in an ag gressive offensive against Mustapha Kemal. TRADES CONGRESS FAVORS PROHIBITION Dunfermline, Scotland, May 15.— The Scottish Trade Union Congress has passed a resolution in favor of liquor prohibition. TO TEST JIM CROW SCHOOL LAW Threaten to Take Case to Court, If Necessary, anil Cite Fourteenth Amendment. Okmulgee, Oklu., May 27.—The col- ; ored public schools of this town have not been closed as ordered by the Board of Education. Thhc Board ordered the white school to take a full nine months’ term and the colored schools an eigtit and one half month term. At a mass meeting of citizens under the auspices of the National Associa tion for Adcancement of Colored Peo ple the teachers were asked to con tinue at their posts of duty until the end of a full nine months. At the end of that time pay will be de- i mantled, if refused citizens announce i their intentions of taking the case ! to court and testing it under the Four- < teenth Amendment. Opinion was expressed that if the < eight and one-half months’ school i term were accepted without protest, the school term might be further shortened next year. OPENS FIRST STANDARD Y. M. C. A. BUILDING IN SOUTH (By Associated Negro Press.) Atlanta, Ga., May 27.—The Negro branch of the local Y. M. C. A. was formally opened on the 16th of May with imposing ceremonies. This Is the first standard building opened for the use of Negro men and boys in the south. FOR MEMORIAL BUILDING (By Associated Negro Press.) Columbia, S. C., May 27.—A col ored commission has organized a state wide campaign in the interest of a colored Soldier’s Memorial build ing to be created on the campus of Claflin University. Prof. J. L. Wash ington is the secretary of the com mission. One hundred thousand dol lars is needed for the building. ORGANIZE POST OF AMERICAN LEGION (By Associated Negro Press.) Chattanooga, Tcnn., May 27.—The 'Thomas Freeman Post,” No. 82 of the American legion, was organized here last Friday night. The members of the Davis King Post were present in large numbers and assisted in the organization. The Freeman Post is the only post of colored men in this lection of the state. EXPERT PRINTER JOINS DALLAS EXPRESS FORCE (By Associated Negro Press.) Dallas, Tex., May 27.—Alfred Clyce Washington has recently been ap pointed superintendent of the Dallas Express Publishing Company. Mr. Washington is a graduate of the American Printers’ Cost Commission and has had a wide experience in the mechanical department of printing. He will bring to his new position modem methods of workmanship as well as new business ideas. He is very popular in the state of Texas. PROVIDING PROPER HOUSING CONDITIONS (By Associated Negro Press.) Washington, D. C., May 27.—Sen ator Wesley L. Jones has introduced a bill in the senate which provides for an appropriation by congress of a municipal bond issue for the construc tion of 4,000 model, sanitary and fire proof homes for poor white and col ored tenants, the same to be rented ir sold to them at cost. It is thought die measure will pass the senate. HOLDS JIM CROW CAR LEGAL (By Associated Negro Press.) Baltimore, Md., May 27.—Judge Am bler in the City Court decided last week that the provisions of the Wash ington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway Company for the regregulion of white and colored pas sengers was legal. The decision was (landed down in the case of Lewis H. Davenport, a colored man, who sued lie railway company for $5,000 dam ages for alleged assault by preventing aim from riding in a car that the company had set aside for the use of white passengers. The judge declared hat the Supreme Court had recognized (he lawfulness of segregation of the aces on railways. OLD RED CHILD IS CHAMPION BABY OF MANHATTAN New York, May 27.—The champion jaby of Manhattan is Andrey Tripp, .hree years and nine months old, of Vo. 41 East 133d street. This Negro ihild has been awarded a gold and diver medal for being the best pre inred school child in his home dis rlct and in Manhattan. The awards were made on merits in a physical •xaminatiou for nutrition, general de ncunor, character, feeding and care. I'hey were presented at the Milk and Jaby Show in the Grand Central Bai lee Thursday. The Tripp child won iver hundreds of babies entered in the mutest. .MAKES QUICKEST TRIP TO RIO Rio Janeiro, May 27.—The steamer /estrts has arrived here from New fork, having been fourteen and a half leys on the voyage. This is a new ecord, the previous best time having icen fifteen days and some hours. lOJMM) CHINESE HEADED FOR U. S. Washington, May 27.—-Forty thou iand Chinese In Mexico without con rnlar protection have petitioned the Rate Department for permission to iross the border in case they are hreateued by the revolution in that (ountry. The request is under advise nent. ARE LEAVING GEORGIA (By Associated Negro Press.) Thornasvllle, Ua., May 27.—Negroes ire leaving here in large numbers for ndustrial points in the north and vest. Detroit, Mich., and Pittsburgh igents are said to be the most active n inducing the people to leave. The Monitor office has moved into the Kaffir block, 817 North Six teenth street, comer Cuming. Tem porary phone number, Douglas 7074. “The World is Not a White Man’s World. The Church of Jesus Christ is Not a White Man’s Church.” The Premises From Which the Ecumenical Address Delivered to the Methodist Conference Discusses the Race Question.—Mes sage to the Connection by Episcopal Bench Rings True on Pres ent Day Problems; Deals Frankly With Economic, Political and Religious Crisis and Challenges Membership to Rise to Higher Ideals of Christian Service. HOUSTON INFORMER EDITORIALIZES ON REMARKABLE RELIGIOUS PRONOUNCEMENT Declares the Church Must Become an Aggressive, Potential, Ac tive, Alert, Assertive, Energetic and Militant Man-Redeeming and Re-Claiming Institution. It Must Blaze the Pathway and Lead Both by Precept and Example and Decisevly Rout and Overthrow the Forces of Obstruction and Destruction. THAT the Christian and religious forces of the country are awak ening, as never before, to a sense of their duty to assume aggressive and militant leadership in combating the forces of evil threatening the nation has been strikingly apparent in the official utterances, consisting of mes sages, charges and addresses emanat ing from representative religious gatherings which have been meeting for the last few months. These pro nouncements have been confined to no one denomination. Religious bodies called orthodox and others accounted unorthodox have spoken. Protestants of various names—Jews, Roman Cath olics and Episcopalians—in varying degrees, if judegd by their official utterances, seem to have awakened to the fact that religion, if it means anything, has to correct conditions here and now; to teach men and women to live as brethren here and now; to see to it that men and women and little children have well-paved and clean streets and live in sanitary conditions in earthly cities rather than having to wait for the gold-paved streets of the heavenly Jerusalem hereafter. It is being gradually driv en home that the Church is not to follow public sentiment, but to lead and make public sentiment; not to bow to prejudice, which arrays man against man and class against class, but to combat it. Whenever the re ligious forces of America really awak en to a realization of this their true mission and faithfully and fearlessly insist upon a consistent practice of its tenets, man’s injustice and inhu manity to man will cease. It Is there fore a most hopeful sign that official leligious bodies are taking high ground in their utterances which we believe must have a salutary effect upon their adherents. One of the most striking of these encouraging pronouncements is that issued by the Methodist Conference which has just closed its sessions at Ues Moines. The Houston Informer epitomizes many of the salient points of the ad dress and draws significant and note worthy deductions therefrom with which The Monitor heartily agrees, in the following editorial: The Episcopal address, presented at the Methodist Episcopal general con ference in Des Moines, Iowa, May 2, by Bishop William Fraser McDowell on behalf of the bishopric board of said church is the most fearless, com prehensive. prolific and far-reaching ecumenical deliverance in the history of that church or any church similarly constituted and situated. Employing as a theme, "What is our chief business at this confer ence?" the Episcopal address is preg nant and replete with a masterly and able presentation of the duty of the church in the present economic, polit ical and religious crisis. It deals at length upon the church and the youth, charging that not enough attention is paid to the youths of the country, who (those below 21 years of age) constitute 40 per cent of our entire population. It lays particular stress upon the kind of literature the children should read, as well as the type of educa tion and calibre and capacity of the instructors. The message takes up the social and economic conditions; proclaims to the world “no compromise now and no nullification anywhere” on the iniqui tous liquor traffic. The address contained this pertinent truth: “Evasion of laws regularly pasped leads to anarchy and disregard of law. Lynching and other crimes follow the evasion of the Fifteenth Amendment. Anarchy will follow the evasion of the Eighteenth.” In the discussion of the eternal “race question,” the Episcopal ad dress was predicated on two negative premises, viz.: (a) “The world is not a white man’s world.” (b) “The church of Jesus Christ Is not a white man’s church.” It deplores the universality and acuteness of “race misunderstanding, race prejudice, race assertion and race discrimination,” and sets forth the fact that a militant and aggres sive Christianity is the only panacea for all our ills. It longs for the day when each pro fessed believer in the teachings of the Lowly Nazarene will daily and hourly j apply the Golden Rule, and become fully and completely reconciled and converted to the doctrine of the “fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man.” The Episcopal address took up every phase of church and connection al life and human endeavor, conclud ing with this admonition: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Taken by and large, the message is a masterpiece and its main subject matter makes interesting and illum inating reading and nutritious spirit ual food for all men, regardless of racial connection or denominational affiliation. Coming at such a crucial and try ing period in our racial, national and international career, the message, and especially the adoption and execution of its suggested, well defined and ably outlined program, is sure to have a sobering and steadying effect. The church must become an aggres sive, potential, active, alert, assert ive, energetic and militant man-re deeming and reclaiming institution. It must blaze the pathway and not be content to serve in the role of “second fiddle.” It must not only point the way to Christ, but it must lead both by pre cept and example, and decisively and permanently rout and overthrow the forces of obstruction and destruction of oppression Pharisaical hypocrisy and sham. The church has been asleep on its job, apparently, and the cause has suffered as a consequence. It has dealt too much in negative religion and not enough in positive Christian ity. If the civilized world is to be saved from a terrible and terrifying calam ity and satastrophe. if the race preju dice, antipathy, antagonism and dis crimination are to be suppressed and obliterated; 1f truth is ever to ascend the throne and justice care naught for the color of the skin or texture of the hair; if swords are to be beaten into ploughshares and the reign of Mars cut short; if man's humanity to man is to cause countless thousands to rejoice and be exceedingly glad— the church of Christ must get on the job now and contend for the “faith once delivered unto the saints,” real izing that “God is no respecter of persons.” Unless the church becomes and re mains militant, it can never hope to be triumphant. SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS INCREASING IN NUMBER (By Associated Negro Pres*.) New York, N. Y., May 27.—Rev. J. M. Gaston, general secretary of the Presbyterian Board for Freedmen, re ports that the number of the Board’s day schools for colored people have increased from 127 to 1.38 during the past year and that the number of teachers in these schools have in creased from 480 to 522. MAN WITH 23 CHILDREN SAYS BIG FAMILIES PAY Father of Five Sets of Twins Has Had ■ 28 Offsprings—Older Ones Help Support Others. — OLDEST IS 50 AND YOUNGEST 2 | Third Wife Is Mother of 15 With j Three Sets of Twins—Father Is “Chauffeur for a Wheelbarrow” ! at 68. Fro mthe Post-Dispatch. IvriCHlTA. Kas..—The average cit W izen, toiling under the burden of he high cost of living and complaining of the hardship in providing for a family of tw oor three, should see "Sonny” Smith, 1530 Sherwood ave nue. “Sonny” has a remedy. “Raise large families,” he says. And he has practiced what he preaches. Twenty-three of his twen ty-eight children are living. Smith is 68 years old and has been married three times. He is one-quar ter Spanish and has just a tinge of I Cherokee Indian blood in his veins. Most of the remaining three-quarters of his make-up is Negro. His family is scattered over four states. His first wife is dead, his second wife is ( divorced, and his third wife lives with him in this city. He has 15 children by his third wife. Has Five Sets of Twins. The large size is not the only re markable thing about the Smith fam ily. There have been five sets of twins. Two children by his first wife, both of Jefferson City, Mo., are twins. Two of the 12 children by his second wife are twins. His third wife, with whom he is now living, presented him with three sets of twins, besides nine “regular” children. “I have tried it all out,” says Smith, “and I still believe that a large fam- i ily is the best. It is no more ex pensive than a small one, if as much so, for several of my older children ; are now working and send me money | regularly for the support of the others.” Smith works every day at local mills, as “chauffeur for a wheelbar row,” he says. No one dumps more gravel than he, he boasts, despite his age. Awaits Title to Farm. But the man of many children does not toil hopelessly, although he is nearing seventy years of age and has seventeen mouths to feed and as many bodies to clothe. A rich, 720-acre farm, his wife’s dowry, is waiting for him in Oklahoma oil county, and he will receive it just as soon as its title can be cleared. The land’s title is clouded. It was sold by his Indian wife’s false guardian, he says. “When that affair is settled,” Smith avers, “I'll let some one else worry about dumping gravel.” Smith was a freighter between Den ver and Pueblo in the early ’70s. He acquired ten teams, which brought him a weekly return of $360. This income continued for four years, when Smith estimated his fortune at several hundred thousand dollars. “I lost it all because I got home sick,” Smith relates. “Out in Color ado a man was a man, regardless of color, but when I sold out and went south, I soon found that a ‘nigger’ hadn’t the right to that much money. After enduring a lot of prosecution, I became involved in a shooting scrape 1 and had to flee, leaving my money 1 behind.” Prices in *1 o=e days in Colorado made even those of the present day look slim. Baron sold for $1 a pound, corn was $3 a bushel flour was $15 i a hundred, shoes were $20 a pair, while overalls sold for $9. Common labor was worth $8 and $9 a day. Oldest Child, 50; Youngest, 2. Smith was married when he was 17. His wife was 18. He now has a large number of grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren. The 1 oldest child is 50 and the youngest 2 , years old. Smith’s first children are well edu cated. When his first wife died, he left their children with his mother, settling plenty of money on them for their care and schooling. They were graduated from a Negro school in Missouri. Smith can neither read nor write. Smith has borne his family cares well and is spry and good-humored. The family will live here, pending the settlement on the farm when the title to it is settled. Patronize The Monitor advertiser*. WEALTHY FIREMAN KILLED BY POLICE Lee Turner, Reputed to Have Accu mulated $20,000 by Industry and Wise Investments, Is Shot to Death by Police While Returning Home From Work in Early Morning... JEALOUSY ALLEGED AS CAUSE OF ASSASSINATION MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 27.—Lee Turner, fireman for the Illinois Central railroad, reported to be worth about $20,000, was shot through the heart and instantly killed here May 17 by members of the police force, it is alleged. Southerners Jealous. It is reported that Turner, who had made several clever investments, had ncurred the jealousy and enmity of :he Southern whites by having accu mulated too much money. Once Robbed of $9,000. He is the same man who was robbed jf $9,000 some months ago, while en route to a bank to deposit it. Since Sis robbery, Turner has always car ried a pistol to protect himself from future depredations. Many threats were made against his life, it is claimed, because Southern whites were sften heard to say that a Negro had io business with so much money. Taunted by Officers. According to the report of eye wit nesses, Turner was returning home from the Illinois Central yards at about 3 a. m., when he was halted by officers who were hiding behind a large bush. Thinking they were robbers, Turner drew his gun to pro tect himself, but before he could raise it he was shot through the heart. Ruse Planned by Police. It is alleged that the police know ing that Turner always carried a gun, employed this ruse in order to kill him and at the same time have grounds for justifying themselves by saying that they shot to same them selves. U. S. HAS MORE MEN ALONG THE RHINE THAN CHEAT BRITAIN London, May 27.—Winston Church ill has announced in the Commons that America has more troops on the Rhine than Great Britain. The fig jres are: America, 16,000; Great Britain, 14,000; Belgium, 20,000; Prance, 95,000. In the foreign office it is said the sconomie executive of the supreme council is starting immediately for Copenhagen to negotiate a trading igreement with, the soviet government >f Russia. The British party from San Remo is expected in London when the whole question of relations with Rus sia will be taken up. BOYS ORGANIZE BANKING LEAGUE (By Associated Negro Press.) Atlanta, Ga., May 27.—Twenty-five :olored boys have organized what they sail the “Urban League Banking Scouts.” Cyrus Campfield, the sec retary of the local Urban League, an nounces that these scouts will be or ganized in every section of the city, rhe showing of a bank book by a 30y must accompany the application "or membership. Mr. Campfield de :lares that one thousand boys will be tnrolled before the first of July. NET PROFIT OF WOOLEN FIRM EOR YEAH IS $15,518,415 New York, May 27.—Net profits of he American Woolen Company for .919 were $15,513,415, less reserves or taxes and contingencies, accord ng to the annual report. IOOKEB T. WASHINGTON GOBS INTO BUSINESS Philadelphia, Pa., May 27.—Booker r. Washington, Jr. has resigned as !xecutive head of the Whittier Center n order to go into business here. DR. CUBTIS DELEGATE Washington, D. C., May 27.—Dr. A. M. Curtis was elected a delegate to he Republican State Convention at a neeting authorized by the Republican 3tate Committee, to represent Sub Oistrict 8-A. CONGRESS CUTS BUDGET IN HALF Washington, D. C., May 27.—Appro priation of $620,000 for colored schools of Washington, D. C., was cut in half by the senate last week. The amount may be restored in a inference of the two houses.