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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1925)
w m EiHIv The Monitor ) 5 NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS 8 THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor __ - $2.00 a Year—5c a Cop f OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, MAY 15, 1925 Whole Number 514 Vol. X—No. 44 - '■tT ...-----— BROOKLYN NEGRO MAYOR LEAVES FORTBNE WOMEN IN NEVOLT AGAINST JIM CROW ARRANGEMENTS Singers Refuse to Furnish Program and Hundreds of Spectators Withdraw from Washington Auditorium PROTEST SEGREGATION PLAN Convention of International Council of Women Marred by the LTsual Exhibiton of Rare . t Prejudice J _ (Special to The Monitor by Walter J. Singleton.) Washington, D. C. May 15.—The International Council of Women are in session at the Washington audi torium. On May 5th some two hun dred singers were scheduled to appear. Mrs. Philip North Moore, president of the American branch of the council, had given a written guarantee that there should be no segregation. How ever, when it was found that the col ored people had been consigned to one half of the balcony, Hallie Q. Brown, former member of the faculty of Wil horforre university, and untd last August president of the National Association of Colored Women, ap peared before the curtain and said: “This i - a gathering of wompn of the world here, and color finds no place in it. We were told there would he no segregation, hut there has been. If we can’t have free equality, we won’t participate in the program" whereupon the colored people in the audience quietly left the auditorium. After the concert Miss Brown said she had heard rumors that there was to he segregation and had taken the matter up with Mrs. Moore, who had thereupon given Mary McLeod Be thune, the new president of the Na tional Association-of Colored Women, a written statement that there would he no segregation. “I was appointed,” said Miss Brown, "in 1021 to arrange the music of the colored group for May 5th at the International Council of Women to be held in Washington May 4 to 14. I rame to Washington to attend the inauguration of Presi dent Cooiidge, fori directed the col ored women’s political activities throughout the United States and felt we must represent them during the eventful wpek. At great expense to myself and others I remained in the city, except for a few weeks, gather ing the singers from various organ izations and cities to take part in the program. This being a great inter national movement, we had no idea that siicli a thing as segregation could enter into the arrangement. We had secured iich noted characters as J. Henry 1/ewis and Or. R. Nathaniel Oett, one of the noted composers of America: Professor Roy Tibbs of Howard university and other of note to participate in the music. Judge our surprise when we learned that there was to be segregation at the Capital of the United States, where we would least expect it, against a group of the nation’s constituents, who have been faithful, loyal, and pa triotic to this great government. We felt that we could not submit to this ostracism, and though we had 200 noted singers, with voices unsurpass ed, to participate, when we found that segregation existed, we could not be humiliated in the eyes of the foreign women who had come to believe that America was the land of the free and tlie home of the brave.” Mrs. Moore, president of the Amer ican branch, placed the blame on the ticket agency, and acknowledged that she had given a written agreement that there should be no segregation "on the advice of some of the befit people of this city (Washington).” In an interview Mrs. Moore stated: “As far as the National Council was able to control it, there was no segrega tion. We did not intend that there should be any. The tickets were placed in the hands of an agency, and it, I presume, followed Washington custom. I am sorry the controversy has arisen.” It is true, as Mrs. Moore added, that the official colored repre sentatives of organizations, who are affiliated with the International coun cil, were seated in the main body of the auditorium on an equal footing with the other members and without discrimination. It was a “vertical segregation” in the balcony of holders of tickets of admission to the concert )that brought about the refusal of the singers to appear. After the walk-out, there was con siderable discussion in the lobby of the auditorium. A number of foreign delegates had joined the colored peo ple in leaving the hall, expressing out spoken sympathy and indignation. One of them, an English woman, de WEALTHY NORTH CAROLINIAN RIDES ON URBAN BUS LINE The Three-mile Ride of Berry O’Kelly .May Force Decision of Very Important Question in Tar Heel State — MAY LIFT BAR AGAINST RACE Raleigh, N. C., May 15.—When Ber ry O’Kelly rode on the interurban bus line from this place to Method last week it was only a three-mile drive but broke all precedents in the state. Heretofore, interurban bus lines had refused to haul colored people. O’Kelly has several automobiles but he was in a hurry to get back to I Method and insisted on riding in the bus. The driver at first refused to haul him but O’Kelly showed his ticket and at last won out. As a result of this ride the whole question has been agitated in the state as never before. Attorney General Brummit refused ■ to give a definite opinion on the ques- i tion as to whether commercial busses ! shall haul colored passengers in the; future. W. T. Lee, chairman of the Public j Service Commission said it was his ! opinion that the busses were probably common carriers anil would probably ! have to carry colored passengers as I well as white in the future. Colored People Barred Until O’Kelly’s three-mile ride it1 hail been practically impossible for, colored people to use bus lines in the state. Had any ordinary man made an attempt at it he would probably1 have suffered violence. O’Kelly is,, however, both wealthy and prominent. He practically owns the little town of Method, three miles from Raleigh and is one of the wealthiest men of the state. He was an intimate friend of the | late Booker T. Washington and is I said to lie one of the three or four j colored men who have ever been ; named on the Trustee Board at Tus-1 kegee Institute. He founded a school ! in Method and has loaned money free ly to both races. It is believed that he told the bus driver to accept him as fare or stay out of Method. ANTI-LODGE BILL KILLED Springfield, 111., May 15.—(A. N. P.)—Chas. A. Griffin, one of Chica go’s four colored assemblymen, suc ceeding in killing the Barbour bill which hail passed the state senate. This bill would have made it im possible for any colored fraternal or- j ganization to function in the state if; a white organization had the same name. V APPOINTED TEACHER _ Jamaica, N. Y., May 15.—Miss I„ I Vivian Harris of 60 South street, was recently appointed u teacher in the; public schools. Miss Harris is the niece of Rev. and Mrs. R. A. McCar thy of the above address and well; known in social and civic circles. — WASHINGTON CITIZENS ADD TO TUSK EG EE-H AM ETON FUND Washington, D. C., May 15.—Kelly Miller, heading the joint committee of citizens working for the Hampton Tuskegee endowment fund campaign, .nnounced on April 28 that members of our group had subscribed $5,462. He expects to bring the amount tot $10,000. Chief Justice Taft and Fred eric Delano of the local committee have expressed their satisfaction with the results obtained. dared to the press representatives: “I should think you would be ashamed to have such a thing happen in your country!” The incident has caused widespread comment. The foreign delegates were, on the whole, rather angry over the incident. Among the most indignant dele gates was Mrs. Henry Villard of New York, daughter of William Lloyd Gar rison, the famous emancipator. "I did not think such an incident could happen before such an organiza tion as this," said Mrs. Villard. “Here is the one great organization in the world which stands for absolute free dom from all prejudices which go to separate peoples and disturb the peace of nations. Yet we have this insult thrown at a great group of our peo ple. “I do not blame the colored dele gates for being angry. It is disgust ing. I am very disappointed indeed in the failure of women to make any definite progress toward bringing about peace among men.” Venereal Diseases—Destroyers of Public Health and Wealth It is hard to measure the cost of venereal diseases in money. It is even more difficult to give an ac curate idea of the damage they do when that damage is to be defined in terms of individual and national health. In a previous article of this series, it was said that the money cost of venereal diseases for six years ending with 1924 amounted to a minimum charge of $25 for every man, woman and child in the country. Any attempt to explain the cost in health, however, is hampered by the absence of such definite units of measurement as the recognized values represented by dollars and cents. And yet it may safely be said that injury to health is the worst effect of syphilis, gonorrhea and chancroid, for it is from this ill health that the economic burdens of .these diseases largely arise. We have noticed that the money cost of venereal disease falls without favor upon the sick and the well, the rich and the poor, the innocent and the guilty. So, too, do syphilis anil gonorrhea take their toll in health J from all who become infected and who, through ignorance or foolhardy bravado, neglect to put themselves under the care of a competent doctor or an official public clinic. In all cases venereal diseases will pave the way for physical degeneration and suffering, unless they are promptly j checked by extended treatment un der reputable medical or clinical care. The old notion that gonorrhea is no worse than a bad cold has been j routed by an onslaught of facts. ; Gonorrhea may cause blindness or it may lead to gonorrheal rheumatism, which in turn may cause heart dis-1 ease. Dr. John H. Stokes of the! Mayo Clinic is responsible for the: statement that one-third of the blind ness in asylums, and one-half of the blindness dating from birth, is due to gonorrhea of the eye. An analysis of the statistics of the Pennsylvania j Institute for the I! 1 iml shows 1,020 cases of blindness admitted to the school in thirty years. Out of this total, 267 cases, or 26 per cent, were due to gonorrheal infection. It has been estimated that there are at least 20,000 cases of blindness from this cause in the United States. The By the United States Public Health Service III. The Cost in Health tragedy of it all is that most of these cases date from birth. Cold statistics cannot convey the immensity of the injustice. As Stokes says, “One has to see one of these little children rocking back and forth in a railed-in chair, and watch the haby groping about on the floor, gurgling as it feels your shoe strings, really to know in the soul of him what gonor rhea means.” Much of the surgery performed on the reproductive organs of women is made necessary by gonorrhea. Often such women can never have children, and in some cases death or lifelong invalidism has been the result of such infection. The Indiana State Board of Health says, “Gonorrhea is directly responsible for a majority of the appallingly great ,number of ab dominal operations on women, and for a very large percentage of all so called female troubles. The woman is usually an innocent victim of the husband’s earlier indiscretions and his incomplete cure. In men, gonor rhea causes sterility, rheumatism, heart disease, bladder trouble, stric ture and other complications.” And on the authority of Sir William Osier, “Gonorrhea is a disease of the first rank. It costs the country an nually thousands of lives, 30 to 40 per cent of all congenital blindness, chronic pelvic mischief in womeri, and the unhappiness of sterile mar riages.” So much for gonorrhea—now for j syphilis. According to a pamphlet issued by one of our state boards of health, it has been estimated that from eight to twelve per cent of all deaths are caused by syphilis. Most of these deaths are reported as still births, heart diseases, apoplexy, para lysis, locomotor ataxia, insanity, dis eases of the arteries, all of which may be caused by syphilis and some of which are invariably caused by it. The report of the New York State Hospital Commission shows that at present syphilis is the most prominent definite cause of mental diseases. An other authority estimates that 15 per cent of all first admissions to hos pitals for the insane are traceable to syphilis. It is asserted that syphilis is the greatest single cause of heart disease, the leading recognized killer. Syphilis is responsible for nearly one half of all abortions, miscarriages and stillbirths. A group of syphilitic wo men were under observation at a clinic in Toronto, Canada. Out of 192 pregnancies of these women there were 53 misccariages, 24 stillbirths, 42 deaths in early infancy and 36 syphilitic children—a total of 155 tragedies. Syphilis causes a degenration of tissues, loathsome sores, a feeling of shame and despondency and a sense of uncleanliness. It cripples? maims and kills innocent wives and children as well as loose living men and wo men. Is it any wonder that a state board of health has said that “Syphi lis and gonorrhea actually cause more suffering and death than smallpox, diphtheria,' infantile paralysis and tuberculosis combined.” In speaking of syphilis Dr. Stokes says, “It is a master disease, the peer, and indeed the superior of tuberculosis, the ‘great white plague’, in the range of its influence over the fate of mankind, present and future. There is not a tissue or a structure of the body that syphilis cannot affect nor is there an aspect of the entire science of medicine in which it will not be encoutered. No lane is so long that it may not find syphilis at its turning. The disease has changed the destiny of mankind upon the face of the earth. If it should cease at this moment to be transmitted, its effects would not disappear within two and perhaps three generations. Few, indeed, of living human beings can boast an ancestry free from its remote effects.” These articles have recounted the history and distribution of venereal diseases and have pointed out their fost in health and wealth. A large part of the loss occasioned by syphi lis and gonorrhea is unnecessary, ince these diseases are both prevent able and curable. In the fourth and last installment of this series, vene- ; real disease control measures will he 1 described and outlined. We have looked the situation in the face; now we must turn to the remedy. MUSIC FOR THE SIC I? Washington, D. C., May 8. (Co lumbian Press Bureau)—Under the enthusiastic direction of Prof. George W. Cook, of Howard University, and Miss Anna S. Payne, of this city, a five thousand dollar fund is in the making, with which to purchase three hundred radio sets for the entertain ment of patients at Freedmen’s Hos pital. Already, the sum of nearly one thousand dollars has been given by local churches, lodges and individu al givers, and it is expected that Freedmen’s sick will soon have their ills partially assuaged by music and mirth as broadcast by local and dis tant radio stations. ." ■— r PEPPER POT CLUB The Pepper Pot club met at the dub’s den at the residence of Mrs. Moss Tuesday, May 12. This was a social meeting so the evening was . pent in card playing and dancing, i The members have purchased arm bands. Miss Virginia Billingsly and Mr. Nortan Green, also members of this dub, have been united in marriage. CARNEGIE MEDAL AWARDED TO BALTIMORE CITIZEN Baltimore. Md., May 15.—Willim Cagle, 600 Wayne street, was among the fifteen awarded medals by the Carnegie hero fund commission, it was announced Saturday. William Cagle, employed by the Consolidated Gas and Electric com pany, descended into a gas-filled man hole last January and brought out his foreman, Roy Brunebrink, who was overcome. N. A. A. C. P. REQUESTS MEM BERSHIP DRIVE CONFERENCE A conference of representatives of the various churches of the city is called to meet at the North Side *‘Y” Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock, with the Executive Committee of the N. A. A. C. P. to plan for the N. A. A. C. P. Membership Drive which will be held from June 1 to June 15. All churches are asked to send one or more representatives to this confer ence. f---—— -* Spring Fever Epidemic \_____ 1 NEGRO MAYOR OF BROOK I. YN, ILLINOIS, LEAVES $500,000 Had Served as Chief Executive of Small Town for Six Years— Filled Other Important Positions WAS GRADUATE OF OBERLIN St. Louis, Mo., May 15.—Charles B. Jones, 64, for six years mayor of Brooklyn, 111., died Sunday, on the eve of his inauguration into his fourth two-year term of office at the head of ti*e village government. He was buried Tuesday afternoon, after funer al services at his late home. Inter ment was at Urbana, III. Mayor Jones leaves a widow, Mrs. Lily B. Jones, two brothers and a sister. Ill health, following a nervous breakdown a year ago, had gradually sapped his strength. His estate is valued at a half million dollars. May or Jones was a graduate of Oberlin college, Oberlin, Ohio. For 44 years a resident of Brook lyn, Mayor Jones has held nearly ev ery important civic office in this town of nearly a 100 per cent race popula tion. Of the 3,000 residents of Brook lyn only four families are white. The village has cast an electoral vote of 1,100, and in the last presidential elec tion gave all but one of these votes to the republican candidate. Six years ago Charles B. Jones was elected mayor of Brooklyn. He has filled the office with an executive ability that has won him re-election three times. His death occurred just as he was about to be inaugurated into hih fourth term of office. Twenty-six years ago he was made village supervisor, an office which he has filled continuously since then. He held it even when mayor. He was for many years principal of the public school in Brooklyn. WOMEN’S EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETS IN WASHINGTON, D. C. Washington, D. C., May 14.—Forty five members of the executive board of the National Association of Col ored Women, meeting in Welfare Workers’ hall, Twelfth street and Rhode island avenue, Saturday, voted a revision of the association’s na-; tional constitution and the establish- 1 ment of permanent business headquar ters in this city. A paid secretary will he located here throughout the year. Subscription among the women j present secured $5,520 as an initial payment on the new home of the asso- I ciation. The committee handling the $50,000 scholarship fund of which a large share was raised at the annual meeting of the association in Chicago last August, was enlarged by the ad- 1 dition of Mrs. Maggie Walker, bank- i er of Richmond, Va., and Dr. Mary Waring of Chicago. From Twenty-two States Twenty-two states were represented : in the gathering of women in the! executive board meeting. Discussion ! of important educational and financial (dans for the next two years occupied I most of the sessions, which were j adjourned on Monday. Plans for the next biennial meeting to be held in j California in 1926, were discussed. Mrs. Mary McCloud Bethune, na tional president, opened the meeting j with an address of welcome. Mrs. | Jennie Porter Barrett, chairman of the executive board, presided. Rou tine business was carried through. It was voted to restrict the welcome ad dresses, entertainment and biennial meetings to two evenings. Tl'SKEGEE INSTITUTE TO CLOSE 44th YEAR MAY 21 Tuskegee, Ala., May 15.—Dr. Rob ert R. Morton, principal of the Tus kegee Normal and Industrial institute, has announced that the forty-fourth scholastic year of the institute would come to a close Thursday, May 21, when the annual commencement exer cises will be held, at which the prin cipal address will be delivered by Bishop George C. Clement of the A. M. E. Z. church, Louisville, Ky. The anniversary exercises will be gin Sunday afternoon with the com mencement sermon by the Right Rev. William G. McDowell, bishop-coad jutor of the diocese of Alabama, of the Protestant Episcopal church. THIRD SUCCESSIVE WINNER IN ORATORICAL CONTEST Battle Creek, Mich., May 16.—Miss Mary E. Butler, formerly of Chicago, who is now attending high school here, won the oratorical contest of the Bat tle Creek high school this year and was awarded a price of $20 in gold. This marks the third successive year a member of our group has won this honor. DISPLAY DISPATCH IH GIVIHG DIPLOMA TO RACE DIPL T Quick Action Shown in Appointment and Qualification of Wharton for Diplomatic Post in Liberia NOT ADMITTED TO SCHOOL Department of State Exempts Negro Attorney from Taking Prescribed Course for Foreign Service Washington, D. C., May 15.—Afro Bureau)—A flagrant case of discrim ination on account of race by govern ment officials has just leaked through the veil of secrecy behind which the State Department moves in all its activities. Negro Shifted To Africa It concerns the way in which Clif ton R. Wharton, former Baltimore boy, was shunted off to Liberia in or der that there would be no colored person to attend the Foreign Service School, which was opened on April 20, last, for the training of new appoin tees in the diplomatic and consular service. The President on May 24, 1924, ap proved an act of Congress which pro vided for the reorganization and im provement of the Foreign Service. This act authorized the President to prescribe certain rules and regulations for administering the Foreign Serv ice. School for Diplomats Pursuant to the act of May 24, 1924, President Coolidge issued an executive order on June 7, 1924, whi,ch, among other things, provided for the estab lishment of a Foreign Service School for the instruction of new appointees. This executive order provided that new appointments to the Foreign Service shall be to the unclassified grade only, and no promotions to a higher grade shall be made except on the recommendation of the Foreign Service Personnel Board,, with the ap proval of the Secretary of State, after the completion of one full term in the Foreign Service School. The executive order further pro vided that “the term of instruction in the Foreign Service School is one year, which shall be considered a period of probation during which the new appointees are to be judged as to their qualifications for advance ment and assignment to duty.” The Secretary of State was author ized by the executive order to pre scribe the rules and regulations for the governing of the oreign Service School. Secretary Charles E. Hughes, on June 9, 1924, prescribed certain rules to govern the school. One of these rules provided that each Foreign Serv ice pupil shall be assigned to one of the divisions or bureaus of the De partment of State, where he will re port for duty when not attending classes. Wharton Passes Exam In conformity with these provisions of the Act of May 24, 1924, and the executive order of June 7, 1924, an examination was held in January last. Out of a field of one hundred candi dates, the first class consisting of nineteen young men and one young women was chosen. Among the nine teen successful young men was a col ored youth, Clifton R. Wharton, who had been serving as a law clerk in the State Department since August 16, 1924. His admission to the Foreign Serv ice and prospective attendance of the Foreign Service School constituted a grave diplomatic problem. It had to be solved before the school was open ed and the students learned the first principles of diplomacy. The faculty saw visions of political complications if the proper course were not taken. Secret Diplomacy The veteran diplomats of the de partment were called together in sol emn and secret consulation. In fact, the consultations were so secret that the press was not even given an inkling that a perplexing interracial problem was under consideration by the State Department. Out of the solemn conclaves a solu tion finally came. Mr. Wharton was graduated forthwith. Prior to the opening of the Foreign Service School and without taking a day of the year’s required training, he was solemnly and officially declared a full-fledged diplomat, given the department’s blessing as its first alumnus and sent to Africa. He was appointed secre tary of the American legation at Mon rovia, Liberia, March 21st and he and his wife sailed a week later. The Foreign Service School opened on April 20. It is “lily-white”.