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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1927)
m The monitor s * NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OP COLORED AMERICANS | THK HSV JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, BdiUr. $2.00 a Ssar-—5 Cent* a Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, JANUARY 28, 1927 Vol. XII—No. 31 Whole Number 601 FUNERAL SERVICES ARE HELD FOR SUICIDE Wade McRaven, Who Shot and Ser iously Wounded His Wife and Killed Himself Buried Tuesday Wade McRaven, who shot and ser iously wounded his wife, Ruth, and then killed himself, last Thursday afternoon, was buried from the Har ry E. Swanson undertaking rooms Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock. The Rev. T. W. Kidd, pastor of Bethel A. M. E. church officiated. Inter ment was in Council Bluffs. Several boy scouts and scout officials attend ed the funeral, the pallbearers being officials of his troop, 79. Brief ad dresses were made by Scout Chief Boardman and Mr. H. J. Pinkett. Mrs. Blanche McRaven, the boy’s mother was unable to attend, being seriously ill at the University hospi tal. She has not been notified of W'ade’s death. Mrs. Ruth McRaven, victim of her husband’s bullet, is slowly improving at Lord Lister hos pital and her recovery is now ex pected. ANNUAL MEETING NORTH SIDE BRANCH Y. W. C. A. A large audience was present at the annual meeting of the North Side Branch of the Y. W. C. A., Twenty second and Grant streets, Friday evening, Junuary 21st. Reports of the chairmen of the various com mittees were presented and showed that a successful year had closed. While all had not been accomplished in a financial way that it had been hoped for, progress had been made, which was gratifying. A night school has been conducted three nights a week. A choral club of fifty voices under the direction of Mr. Ben Stan ley, and a course of ten lectures on “The History of the Negro,” by Mr. H. J. Pinkett, are the outstanding features of the year’s work. The Girl Reserve department has had a very successful year, not only in rec reational activities, but in service to the community. One of the pleas ing features of the evening was a solo by Miss Lucy Mae Stamm. Re marks were made by Mrs. Vance, chairman of the Committee on Col ored Work, Mrs. Patton, president of the Y. W. C. A. and Mrs. Campbell, general secretary. The program was closed with a very impressive and beautiful recognition service by twenty-seven of the Girl Reserves. Refreshments were served after this by the committee of management. FORMER OMAHAN DIES IN MINNEAPOLIS Richard Joseph Gamble, second son and third child of the late Wil liam R. Gamble and his wife, Evelyn I., former residents of Omaha, passed away in Minneapolis, Minn., early Friday morning after a protracted illness, contracted while serving with the American Expeditionary forces in France. He was buried with mili tary honors from the Laurel funeral home, Monday afternoon, the Rev. Alfred H. Lealtad, rector of St. Phil ip’s Episcopal church, officiating. The deceased was born in Omaha, February 8, 1880, and was educated in the schools of this city. Some years ago he moved to Minneapolis. At the outbreak of the war he vol unteered for service and served over seas. He is survived by his mother, five brothers, William B., and Fred erick D., of Chicago; Edward G., Leonard B., and George W., of Min neapolis; and two sisters, Mrs. John Albert Williams of Omaha, and Mrs. S. A. Steele of Minneapolis. The father, William R. Gamble, who was a well-known barber in Omaha for years died in St. Paul, Minn., seventeen years ago, but this is the first death in the family of eight children. WELCOME COLORED TRADE The Orchard & Wilhelm Carpet ■company is one of the oldest, most reliable and courteous firms in our city. They gladly w jlcome the pa tronage of pur people.—John Albert Williams, Editor. BANDIT VICTIM BURIED Large Number of Friendi Pay La>t Respects to John F. McCree, Who Was Shot by Daring Holdup Man The spacious rooms of the Joseph D. Lewis beautiful new funeral home was not able to accommodate the large concourse of friends of both races who attended the funeral of John F. McCree, who was the victim of a bandit’s bullet in a daring hold up Monday of last week. The hour of the funeral was 11 o’clock Satur day morning. The Rev. Mr. DeWittJ of Jacksonville, 111., a friend of many years standing, officiated. He was assisted by the Rev. Charles H. Trusty, pastor of Hillside Presbyter ian church. CONTRIBUTE NUMBERS ON COMMENCEMENT PROGRAMS Miss Elaine Smith, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Smith, a member of the graduating class of Central High school, and a talented musician, ap peared on the program at the class banquet held at the Blackstone hotel last Monday night, playing with bril liance the “Scotch Poem” by McDow ell, and responding to two enthusias tic encores with “The Song of the Lark” by Tschaikowsky, and “The Crescendo" by Laffon. Miss Helen Jenkins, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Northern Jenkins, a member of the graduating class of Lothrop school, gave a piano number at the commencement Tuesday morn ing, playing “Fond Memories” by Rich. Both of these young ladies are pupils of Mrs. Florentine Pinkston, who is doing wonderful work in the development of musical talent among the young people of Omaha. _ SURPRISES FOR THOSE WHO SEE "THE SNOW QUEEN” By Catherine A. Williams “The Snow Queen," a juvenile operetta, which will be given Thurs day evening, Feb. 17 at Technical High auditorium has many surprises in store for the public. Explorers, pack your grips and go along with Gcrda to help her find j her stolen Kay. Bundle up good, i for before you are through with your journey, you will be at the North Pole in the snow queen's ice \ palace. B-r-r-r. If you are not care ful, the snow queen will freeze you to ice, and you will be one of her dancing snowflakes. Detectives, you will be given a j chance to capture a band of vicious I robbers. Are you game? Prove that you are and see the operetta, “The Snow Queen.” The sympathetic person will be given a chance to show his sympathy when a crowd of stout urchins tie! up a poor, defenseless, old raggedy man, who is later untied by a sym pathetic Italian. Don’t forget to flirt with the vivacious young Span ish dancer. ' Skeptical persons who do not be lieve in fairies or the like will see butterflies dancing and just think of it, flowers, who can sing and dance. Who said a snow ball was not human? You will change your mind when you see “The Snow Queen.” Don’t forget the men, women, and children who lend their voices in choruses which the stars would be indispensible without. Children, be sure mother’s skirt is not too short so you can cling to it on the night of the operetta, for there will be a cunning old witch who loves to steal sweet little boys and girls. Forget the witches and robbers and be prepared for a surprise. A marvelous child acrobat will be fea tured between the acts. Most angels are good. The angels in “The Snow Queen" bring peace to all. Will you be there to see “The Snow Queen?” We hope so. HORSES RUN AWAYs FARMER IS KILLED Columbia, Miss. — Alfred Fox, farmer, was killed when his team ran away, throwing him to the ground and breaking his neck. EDITORIAL j There is entirely too much of pessimism in the world today. 1 This is evidenced by the jeremiads against the terrible de pravity of the day which seem to be so popular in many quar ters. According to the opinions of many the whole world is hell-bound and nothing can stop its plunge into the abyss of the wicked. This is a revival of the old doctrine, a horrible doctrine, of total depravity. But it is not true. By the fall man received a threefold wound which weakened his will, darkened his in tellect, and misdirected his affection. But this did not totally deprave him. There is good in human nature, and this good is the very ground of man’s moral recovery. So those who state that human nature is totally depraved and man is doomed to destruction are dead wrong. Of course there is much of evil in the world. But then there is more good than evil. The world is not growing worse, but better. The abolition of slavery, the enlarged opportunities of education, the growing interest in the welfare of one an other as manifested in hospitals and charitable institutions are evidence, indisputable evidence, that humanity is breaking through the chrysalis of selfishness, and becoming more kindly and considerate. A view of the social evolution of the past years will show that real progress in righteousness has been made. The brighter light generated by our advance which beats upon our civilization reveals its imperfections. This is the price of progress. It, however, illuminates the way upon which we are traveling to higher and better things. Sing no song of despair, but shout a paen of hope and victory and press onward toward the heights. RELIEF FOrf FARMERS -:- I The McNary-Haugen bill Which was introduced in Congress for the relief of the farmer by stabilizing prices, and was round ly denounced, in some quarters as vicious class legislation, is at last coming into its own. Business firms and commercial bodies are endorsing it. It now looks as though the long-de sired relief for agricultural interests is at hand. UNCHARTERED Anxiety to explore the future world and communicate their findings to this seems to be becoming an obsession with some of the youths of the land. Wether this is due to the teach ing of materialism, which undermines the sense of moral re sponsibility, or to some other cause, it is a very unhealthy sign. No explorer, that is to say no human explorer, has been able to chart the boundaries of the spiritual world. THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO IMIGRANT IN THE NORTH By Or. W. A. C. Hughes (For the Associated Negro Press) Recently we have heard much about the Negro in Detroit. What! about Detroit? This automobile center has been calling labor of all colors for the past ten years. It; bid for southern Negro labor and got it. I was in that city in the early days of the exodus and know how Negroes were crowded in the sheds, built in the rear of houses which were absolutely unfit for human be-, ings. These people were required to pay enormous rents for these sheds. It might be well to bear in mind that the white population of Detroit increased 166,500 from 1920 to 1925. During the same period1 the Negro population increased 41,- > 000 which of course shows that De troit was attracting labor irrespect ive of race. It is easily understood how the in crease of whites was practically un noticed, but everybody could see 41, 000 Negroes and to some peole it looked like a million. No new houses were built for Negroes and when a white man wanted to get a good price I fo* his property he would sell to a J Negro. The coming in of one Negro | family usually opened up a street. Remember, the Negro population of Detroit today is 81,831. In 1910 it was 5,471. At that time the Negro lived in a very small area. The rap id increase forced him into alleys and sometimes into abandoned sheds.! Should his desire to tqove out of an alley shack and live in a decent house and keep clean, bring his chil dren into a better environment be a provocation to the bombing of his home or should it prompt religious and civic co-operation in an effort to happily adjust him? These con ditions are more or less general in northern communities. The marvel of the whole thing is that with these tremendous handicaps, the majority of our northern Negro population is making good in the field of industry. In a reecnt checkup on establish ments employing Negroes in Chicago, it was found that out of 133 estab lishments employing five or more Ne groes, 118 reported that the Negro laborers had proved satisfactory. The thinking Negro of today is anxious for the hand of his white brother to help to a higher level the great mass of Negro men and women who have too long been denied the better comforts and contacts of life; but he is equally anxious to have white men educate themselves as to the progress he has made and the cultural life that thousands are now maintaining. My friends, it is a terrible thing to go through life knowing that no mutter what you do or who you are, you must be branded as an inferior and carry with you the burden of the shortcomings of the most inferior members of your race group. I wish by some magic power I could turn this audience into "Black Folk” and have you feel the discrim inations, see the shrugged shoulder and the frowning countenance of people who don’t like you simply be cause you are colored. I would not keep you "black” longer than a day because you would suffer too many inconveniences. But it would be in teresting to get your reaction on the many things that would transpire in the course of a day. The great agency through which the Negro is to be lifted is the Church. The finest thing that can be said about the Negro is that he believes in the Church of God. Of the 12,463,013 Negroes in America 4,788,521 are definitely connected with some church. The ratio of church members among Negroes is much larger than among the whites. We probably have had more need of the church than some other peo ple. For 250 years the only place where the Negro could give expres sion to the yearnings and aspirations of his soul was in his religious gath erings. The church has been our greatest school; not only has an in bred faith been quickened at its al tars, but our training in organiza tion, readiness in public speech as well as our social contacts have been cultivated at this center. GIRL, 12, SENT TO PRISON Raleigh, N. C.—Lucile McDaniel, who claims to be only 12 years old, has been placed in the state prison to serve a term of from two and one half years to four years for man slaughter. She is said to look to be 18 oh 20 years. “Opportunity” Publishes Annual Negro Press Rating New York, N. Y.—Among many other excellent articles published in the January issue of “Opportunity” is included Eugene Gordon’s “Sur vey of the Negro Press” for 1926, somewhat longer than it has been hitherto, and revealing a cognizance on Mr. Gordon’s part of the criticism to which his criticism has been sub jected. As in former years, Mr. Gordon has used his “notebook,” and has published comments made on various issues of a number of papers throughout the year. The papers named this year are The New York Age, The Chicago Defender, The De troit Independent, The Boston Chron icle, The St. Paul Echo, The New York Amsterdam News, The Chicago Whip, The Baltimore Afro-American, The Pittsburgh Courier, The Kansas City Call, and the St. Louis Argus. Each paper is rated on its news, editorials, features, and makeup. On these bases the Afro-American is de clared to be “far above the average;” The Amsterdam News “very good;" and The Chicago Defender “very good.” “Some of the notable achievements in Aframerican journalism during 1926,” writes Mr. Gordon, “were (1) the successful attack by William Warley, editor of the Louisville News, and I. Willis Cole, editor of the Louisville Leader, on Kentucky’s brazen injustices in the courts; (2) the defeat of Durkeeism at Howard university, by the Afro-American; (11) the Norfolk Journal and Guide’s consistent and persistent publication of strong editorials against “Nordic” barbarism at its very doors; (4) the Amsterdam News’ increased size and its special election extra (a splen did accomplishment!) on November 3rd; (5) the Pittsburgh Courier’s more trenchant editorials; (6) the continued manliness in the face of hopeless odds, of the editors of the Dallas Express and the Houston In former. These men and these papers have contributed not only to Afra merican but to the national good.” Mr. Gordon, who is an editor of the Boston Post, a white paper, has the following to say, apparently for those who have resented his critic ism : “There are news-sheets in Afra merica which fear criticism, yet which reserve the privilege of the most reckless indulgence. These hold that to attack the Negro press with anything but scented powder-puffs is treasonably malicious. Seemingly, they do not realize that some Negro sheets would be better dead than cremated. These are sheets which are accomplishing no earthly good, but which serve principally to har ass, irritate, cudgel, dog and brow beat the unarmed and defenseless. These papers are considerably more sensitive to criticism than are those which enter upon occasional crusad ing campaigns with clean hands, pure motives and unobstructed con sciences. They whimper like whip ped puppies when their skins are pricked; yet, they defend their own questionable assaults with compla cent and brazen assertion that a newspaper has a right to criticize for the public good. The chief weak nesses in this contention are, first, an implied elevation of that paper’s ac tions above public control; and, sec ondly, the fact that the editor alone determines, to suit his own peculiar temperament, what is the public good.” In Mr. Gordon’s opinion, most Ne gro papers include too much editor ial opinion in their news stories. The Chicago Defender and The Balti more Afro-American are both taken to task for this breach, and also for the use of headlines which ,in addi tion to being misleading, feature the sensational at the expense of impor tant news. The Afro-American’s stories on Roland Hayes are rapped, as is the attack on the National As sociation for the Advancement of Colored People, made by the Pitts burgh Courier. But, in spite of obvious defects, Mr. Gordon believes that “at no other time in its history—not since Russ wurm published the first issue of the Freedom’s Journal exactly 100 years ago the 30th of this coming March— has the Negro press reached so high a state of general excellence as it now maintains.” Taken as a group of class news papers, he believes they rank above all other class papers in the United States. MISS BATTLES IN RECITAL Miss Evelyn Battles, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Battles, 3122 Burdette street, was presented in violin recital at the Hillside Pres byterian church, Wednesday evening, January 26. She was assisted by Miss Odessa Banks, mezzo soprano. There was a good-sized and appre ciative audience present. Miss Bat tles’ playing was excellent and show ed thorough training on the part of her teacher, Miss Burger, and con scientious work on the part of the pupil. Her selections gave her the opportunity of showing her ability to interpret varied and difficult num bers. Miss Banks’ vocal numbers were pleasing and enthusiastically received. Miss Grace Burger, teach er for Miss Battles, was accompanist for both young ladies, who have a bright future before them if they persevere in their musical studies. BIG BLACK BOTTOM CONTEST AT THE LAKE In keping with the policy of pre senting the new while it is new, the new Lake theatre will offer a big Black Bottom contest Sunday, Jan uary 30. This contest will be under the personal supervision of Mr. Overstreet, Lake theatre stage show director. Mr. Overstreet advises us that the contest will be open to the public and that a number of real dancers have entered the big event. In addition to the big contest, one of the season’s finest photo plays, “God Gave Me Twenty Cents,” has been secured to make this one of the best shows the Lake has of fered to date. Plans are now being made for a monster piano playing contest which will be staged soon. According to reports, a contest will be held for children and one for the adults. Players are asked to register at the box office now. CHURCH OF ST. PHILIP THE DEACON The services at the Church of St. Philip the Deacon Sunday will be held at the usual hours. Holy communion at 7:30 a. m.;Church school at 10 a. m.; sung eucharist and sermon, “Con firmation: Its Authority and Place ino the Christian Life” at 11 a. m.; evensong and sermon at 8 o’clock. The sermon Sunday morning will be the opening instruction in the con firmation series. The Men’s Club has changed the date of their first social function, a pre-Lenten ball from Monday, Feb ruary 21 to Monday, February 28. ARMOUR EMPLOYEES ORGANIZE The employees of Armour com pany, hog-killing department, held a very interesting meeting Sunday in the Cultural Center, 2915 R street. Ten men were organized into a tem porary organization with George Payne, as chairman. A committee of three was appoint ed, with Odis Clay, as its chairman. Adjourned to meet next Sunday, January 30th, at 3 p. m. to adopt a constitution and by-laws which will govern the organization. The funeral of Dudly Maxey was held from Mount Moriah Baptist church last Friday afternoon.