Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (July 17, 1915)
The Monitor A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Eight Thousand Colored People in Omaha and Vicinity, and to the Good of the Community The Rev. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor ___ $1.00 a Year. 5c a Copy. Omaha, Nebraska, July 17, 1915 Volume I. Number 3 MAJOR LYNCH TAKES ISSUE WITH CHICAGO TRIBUNE Two Classes Commercialize the Race Problem. Chicago, 111. Thousands of the old er generation of people, throughout the country, will remember the Hon. John It. Lynch, as a part of the south’s “Reconstruction” period; as a member of Congress, for several terms, from the state of Mississippi; as the temporary chairman of a Na tional Republican convention held in Chicago, many years ago; as a Re publican leader of his home state, Mississippi, for many years, and iinal ly, as a major of the United States army until placed upon the retired list a year or two ago. Few men liv ing are so thoroughly capable and such an authority on the subjects dis i cussed in the following communica tion to the Chicago Daily Tribune, as is Major Lynch: Speaking of the photoplay called “The llirth of a Nation,” the Tribune says: “It is in all essential episodes grounded on historical fact, repre senting the struggles of that terrible time in the south when the whites, back from war, saw their government taken over by the newly enfranchised blacks controlled by the northern car pet baggers. What happened with the Negro ascendant and how the white re-established his supremacy is shown with obvious natural sympathy for the south, and no doubt with such height ening of effect as dramatic art has a right to employ. It pre lents what th< south says and the north of our day, at least, is inclined to believe to be the truth.” exactly the reverse of this is true, for there never was a time when any one of the state governments of the south was taken over by the newly enfranchised blacks controlled by the northern carpetbaggers. That some mistakes were made during the prog ress of reconstruction will not be de nied. How could it be otherwise? The war had just come to an end. Sec tional animosity was bitter and in tense. The Republican party was looked upon as the enemy of the south. No white man could identify himself with the Republican party at that time in any one of the southern states without running the risk of be ing socially ostracised and publicly characterized as an enemy to his sec tion, his state, and his race. Notwith standing these things, not less than 25 per cent of the white men of that section men who were to the manor born, many of them, ex-Oon federate sole dlers, identified themselves with and became leaders of the Republican par ty. These, in the main, were the men that the newly enfranchised blacks selected as their leaders and whose leadership they loyally and faithfully followed. I do not hesitate to assert that the reconstructed state govern ments at the south were the best gov ernments these states ever had before Think on These Things "Smile awhile, for while you smile another smiles—and soon there’s miles and miles of smiles, and Life’s worth while because you smile.” MAJOR JOHN ROY LYNCH, U. S. A. or have ever had since. Tnere never was a time when there was actual physical "Negro domination." or even carpetbag domination, in any one ol' the reconstructed states. The play to which you refer, instead of being "grounded on historical fact,” is grounded on historical misrepresen tation, without having a single actual fact as the basis of its existence. It is fiction pure and simple, painted from a diseased and prejudiced imag ination, with a false and deceptive background as a basis upon which to stand. Such a play could not be oth erwise than mischievous In its incep tion and dangerous in its results, even if the scenes depicted were a truth ful reproduction of actual occurrences. But when it is or ought to be a well known fact that the alleged scenes ire pure fabrications with not a sin gle background of truth to support hem, their production can hardly be less than criminal. In the main they are false, slanderous, and malicious. They are calculated and intended to engender and intensify race preju dice and race hatred. In the interest of peace, order, truth, justice, and morality they should be suppressed. No good can come but much harm may result from them. It is, there fore, the duty of the authorities to suppress them, just as they would suppress any other nuisance that is calculated to incite crime and general disorder in the community. In this connection allow me, as a southern man, to say, and to say whereof I know, that there are just two classes of white people at the south who keep this so-caded race problem constantly before the public. The first class Is composed of those who commercialize race prejudice simply for the dollars and cents they (Continued on third page) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION AGAIN IS DISGRACED Two Innocent Men Murdered by a Blood-Thirsty Mob—Ponder the Facts. Macon, Ga., July 9.—The hot-headed spirit of the mob has again besmirch ed the state of Georgia. Silas Turner, a white planter of Gray, Ga., was found dead on Thursday at his farm home. Immediately, as is always tn<» case, it was concluded that he had been murdered by colored men. A posse was immediately organized, and search was instituted. Colored Amer icans, of course, were their prey. Not :'ar down the pike road leading to Ma con, Will Green and his son, a boy of 17 years, were encountered. Their color was enough to prove their guilt. They were immediately “roped” by he infuriated mob, and notwitlistand ng their pleadings and protests, they tre strung up on the limb of a near by tree and their bodies ribbled with bullets. Contented with having aveng ed (?) the murder of their white brother the mob dispersed. Lynch Wrong Man. According to information received here today, the authorities have made an investigation and positively learn ed that Green and his son were inno cent victims of the mob. It is said that they were at their home miles from the scene of the murder whea K occurred. Now suspicion has been di rected to John Richey and Thomas Brooks, whose whereabouts on the (lay of the murder have not been sat isfactorily accounted for by the au thorities. This information has again aroused the mob spirit, notwithstand ing the accepted view that two inno cent Americans have been executed by the mob for the alleged murder. Governor Is Not Immune. At this writing the authorities are undicided on the question as to wheth er farmer Gray committed suicide or met his death by foul means. Meanwhile the mob spirit is ram pant, and it is feared that if Richey and Brooks are caught they will meet the same fate as did Green and his 17-year-old son. Verily, Georgia, is cursed with the spirit of the mob. Even the Governor of the commonwealth is not immune, as witness the mob’s conduct in the case of Governor Slaton on account of commuting the sentence of Frank. CHARLES ROSS OPENS OFFICE IN LINCOLN. Mr. Charles Ross, who was grad uated from the law course in the Uni versity of Nebraska in June has open ed an office in Lincoln. He was for three years guard on the Varsity foot ball team and three years weight man and high jumper on the ’varsity track team. When Kansas university drew the color line on Ross, Nebraska forc ed them to yield by threatening to break athletic relations.