The Monitor
A Weekly Newspaper devoted to the civic, social and religious
interests of the Colored People of Omaha and vicinity, with the desire
to contribute something to the general good and upbuilding of the
community.
Published Every Saturday.
Entered as Second-Class Mail Matter July 2, 1915, at the Post
office at Omaha, Neb., under the act of March 3, 1879.
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor and Publisher.
Lucille Skaggs Edwards, William Garnett Haynes and Ellsworth W.
Pryor, Associate Editors.
Joseph LaCour, Jr., Advertising and Circulation Manager.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES, $1.00 per year.
Advertising rates, 25 cents an inch per issue.
Address, The Monitor, 1119 North Twenty-first street, Omaha.
IS MR. MILHOLLAND RIGHT?
When we began the publication of
The Monitor, we stated in our first
editorial that we would publish, from
time to time, articles, original, con
tributed and selected, that would
make our readers think. We believe
that up to the present we have made
that promise good. We have received
written and verbal assurances that
this is true. This policy we shall con
tinue to pursue. In keeping with this
policy, following the contribution of
Joseph Carr in last week’s issue, in
which he advanced the view' that the
cause of personal freedom in the west
ern hemisphere was largely influenced
by the presence of Africa’s native
sons on this continent, we publish in
this issue an interesting article which
appeared first as an interview with
that distinguished sociologist and phil
anthropist, John E. Milholland, of
New York, in the San Francisco Bul
letin, and was subsequently copied by
The New York Age, in which he traces
the origin of democracy to Jethro, the
Ethiopian father-in-law of Moses. He
then shows how poorly America has
requited the descendants of the Af
rican for his gift. That part of the
article must go over until next week.
Our readers may or may not agree
with Mr. Milholland, but they will all
find this article intensely interesting.
Is Mr. Milholland, who is a white gen
tleman of culture, wealth and wide
reading, right in his conclusions?
We hope that such articles may
quicken in our readers the determi
nation to investigate along this and
kindred lines, in order that they may
realize that as a race the Negro has
not been in the distant past a mere
cumberer of the ground, nor is he now.
The Negro has a history of which he
may well be proud. He ought to
know more accurately than he does
what the great ethnic group to which
he belongs has contributed to civili
zation.
Is Mr. Milholland right? Personal
ly, we believe he ‘is. At all events,
he has advanced an opinion that will
arouse discussion and quicken
thought.
-o
VISIT THE SCHOOL.
It will be a good thing for all par
ents who have children in school to
get into the habit of visiting the
schools from time to time and so be
come acquainted with the teachers
of their children. To obtain the beat
results, there must be cordial and
sympathetic co-operation between the
home pnd the school. Acquaintance
ship with the teachers will establish
a helpful bond between the home and
the school. It will also show that
you are keenly alive to seeing to it
that your children shall make the best
possible use of their educational op
portunities. If your child complains
that the teacher is partial, it will be
wise to reserve judgment until you
get her side of the story. One of the
best ways to prevent partiality is to
make it known that you are carefully
noting your child’s progress in
school, and are anxious to know the
teacher and work with her for the
best interests of the child. Visit the
school.
YES, IT DOES.
Our venerable and able contempo
rary, The New York Age, says:
“If we are not forgetting what we
learned at Sunday School, the Bible
does not plainly state that Moses
married an Ethiopian woman.”
Well, if Bibles are as plentiful
in New York as they are in
Omaha, and the editor of The Age
can by chance lay his hands on one,
if he will turn to Numbers XII-1 he
will read: “And Miriam and Aaron
spake against Moses because of the
ETHIOPIAN WOMAN WHOM HE
HAD MARRIED: FOR HE HAD MAR
RIED AN ETHIOPIAN WOMAN.”
The word Aithiops, from which
Ethiopian is derived, means face
blackened or darkened by fire, heat
or the sun. Now, Moses’ wife may
have been, as many would have us
believe, a beautiful golden-haired, blue
eyed, Caucasian blonde , tastefully
tanned to a teasing brown, whose
beauty it is hard to withstand. She
may have been a tanned blonde, but—.
-o
THANK YOU.
A prominent business man and an
appreciative and appreciated advertis
er, said:
“You are certainly getting out a
good paper. The Monitor is a fine
publication, full of instructive reading
matter. You have a splendid field and
the paper ought to be a winner. Hope
you’ll make some money out of it."
Thanks for the compliment, good
wishes and advertising patronage,
which supports the good wishes.
-o
The Examiner (A1 Sorensen’s paper)
is booming early Christmas shop
ping and the swatting of the fly;
The Mediator’s bombarding Sunday
with "no quarter(s)” as his cry;
The Monitor is booming its subscrip
tion list and ads—
And incidentally taking a rap at one
of the city dads;
But in addition to this strenuous hust
ling for the stuff
It’s sounding forth its slogan for
street car comfort—“MUF.”
What do you mean by "MUF?” is a
question frequently asked. For your
enlightenment we would say, you will
find the answer to al lsuch important
public questions by reading The Mon
itor. To prove that we know what we
are talking about we will inform you
that it means Move Up Front. When
you board a street car. Move Up
Front.
BE OF SOME ACCOUNT IN THE
WORLD.
If any young man will make up his
mind to be of some account in the
world, he can do It. Let him cease
dawdling with no clear-cut aim! Let
him forsake the habit of trying to get
through each day as easily as possi
ble, working with one eye on his job
and the other on the clock! Let him
cease spending five evenings a week
at vaudeville or moving picture shows.
Let him cut off all useless waste of
time and energy, putting into his work
the best of himself, not the second
best! Before the gray hairs begin to
show above his ears he is likely to
find himself among the picked men in
his line, enrolled with Gideon’s three
hundred.
Hear Emerson, poet, philosopher,
transcendentalist though he was, hold
ing fast that cast of mind character
istic of New England. “Let any man
learn to do some one thing better than
the average man is doing it and
though he build his hut in the heart
of a forest the people of the world will
make a pathway to his door.”
We hear the wail about competition
being so keen and all the conditions
of success so disheartening to the man
who stands at the foot of the ladder.
But what are youth and health for if
not to go out and measure their
strength against heavy odds?
You can not possibly bridge all the
rivers of difficulty which flow between
you and the object of your desire. You
can not wait until some kind friend
shall come to ferry you across—he
may never come. Wade them! Put
your own unwearied, undaunted
strength into a heroic fight against
those surging currents which would
sweep you away, and boldly push
ahead. The men who are doing just
that are the men who share in the
joy and honor of Gideon’s three hun
dred.—C. It. Brown in The Congrega
tionalist.
TAKING IT ALL.
“Before I agree to undertake your
defense,” said the eminent criminal
lawyer, “you will have to tell me the
whole truth. Did you embezzle the
1100,000 you are accused of having
taken?”
“Yes, sir,” replied the accused man,
"I’ll not attempt to conceal the tact
from you. I stole every cent of it.”
“How much of it have you still?"
“It’s all gone but about a couple cf
dollars.”
"Young man,” said the eminent law
yer, buttoning his coat about him and
putting on his gloves, “you’d better
plead guilty and throw yourself on the
mercy of the court."
“I’ll do it if you say so, sir. What
are you going to charge me for the ad
vice?"
“Two dollars."
COULDN’T PROVE IT BY CASEY.
The case concerned a will, and
Casey was called as a witness.
“Was the deceased in the habit of
talking to himself when he was
alone?” asked the lawyer.
"I don’t know," said Casey.
“Come, come; you don’t know, and
yet you pretend that you were inti
mately acquainted with him?" said
the lawyer.
“Well, sir," said Casey, “I never
happened to be with him when he
was alone."
DEMOCRACY TAUGHT TO
THE WORLD BY NEGRO RACE
(Continued from first page.)
of the hour, of the family, of the
neighborhood, of the district, and of
the tribes.
“ ‘Every family matter they shall
judge,” says Jethro, ‘and only great
matters shall come to you on appeal,
so shall it be easier for thyself, and
they shall bear the burden with thee.’
‘‘There you have it,” said Mr. Mil
holland as he closed his Bible and re
turned it to his traveling bag. “There
you have the genesis of every democ
racy that the world has seen. There
you have the germ of one of the great
ideas that have influenced the human
race. And you’ve got to trace it right
back to that old Ethiopian priest
whose daughter Moses took unto him
self as wife.
Moses Took Jethro’s Advice.
Moses, as the narrator, could easily
have suppressed his colored father-in
law’s relation to the event. He could
easily have taken the credit of this
idea to himself. He was statesman
enough to see the importance of it.
But he didn’t. He couldn’t. He was
too sublimely great. And in this con
nection must be mentioned that other,
his recognition of that sublime truth,
ages before it was claimed by Paul
the Apostle that ‘God has made of one
flesh all the nations of the earth.’
There was not a trace of prejudice in
that great soul. He refused to divorce
his Ethiopian wife, although his
brother stormed and his sister, Mir
iam, raved until, we are told, the
Hand of God smote her with leprosy.
“ ‘So Moses harkened to the voice
of his father-in law, and did all that
Jethro said.
“ ‘And Moses chose able men out of
all Israel, and made them heads over
the people, rulers of thousands, rulers
of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers
of tens. And they judged the people
at all seasons; the hard cases they
brought to Moses; but every small
matter they judged themselves.
“ ‘And Moses let his father-in-law
depart; and he went his way unto his
own land.
“ He went into his own land.’ Jeth
ro disappears from history. Of his sub
sequent career we know little. He
had done his part for humanity’s bene
fit. His name is imperishably linked
with all forniB of representative gov
ernment which have become an im
perial necessity to modern civilization.
He ranks among the immortals. His
spirit walks the stars.”
REMEMBER—That the firms who
advertise in this paper expect and ap
preciate YOUR PATRONAGE. Ad
vertising is a BUSINESS, not a char
itable proposition. If you wish to
boost The Monitor—if you wish to
help make it the best Race Paper in
the country—patronize these firms
and tell them that you saw their ad
vertisement in The Monitor.
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