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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1916)
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 $1.50 a 'Year. 5c a Copy. Omaha, Nebraska, May 6, 1916 Volume I. Number 45 Colored Americans And Employment The Race Should be Given Opportunity to' Earn Livelihood in Trades and Business Places. STOREY MAKES EARNEST PLEA Patrons of Retail Stores Express Will ingness to be Served by Compe tent Colored Clerks. Boston, Mass., May 5.—Speaking before the New England Dry Goods Association at the Boston City Club recently, Moorfield Storey urged fair play and greater chances for Negroes in industry and business. He said he wished to appeal to the American sense of justice in behalf of 10,000, 000 fellow citizens who were now de lied the opportunities for which their abilities qualified them and for no other reason except race prejudice against their color. Americans of Long Ancestry. “They are Americans as we are, he said, “and they are Americans of much longer ancestry than some of us. The South owes them a debt, but we as a people owe them the greatest debt one body of men can owe to an other, for we brought them here against their will, kept them here as slaves and denied them the ordinary rights of human beings. “Colored men are cut off from the mechanical trades, from positions as stenographers, and from other occu pations, so that whenever they come up they find a wall against them. In every corner of this land these peo ple are subjected to the gravest in justice. Should be Given Chance. “There should be a public opinion condemning that sort of thing, and every American is bound to help cre ate that public opinion. You are bound to see that the Colored people have an opportunity to live, work and show what they can do. The pur-' chasing power of the Colored people in this community is very desirable. You will find that the prejudice you are afraid of does not exist, and that some of you could take Colored sales men into your employ. To each member of the association present was furnished a copy of the petition recently signed by about 1500 citizens setting forth that: “We, the undersigned, purchasers in the retail stores of Boston and vicinity, wishing to increase the industrial opportuni ties of our Colored fellow citizens, hereby express our willingness to be served by Colored empolyes wherever found competent for the duties as signed to them. Wo would ask that opportunity be given to Colored ap plicants for positions to demonstrate their fitness for employment.” Nebraska’s 803 state banks contain $114,487,652.98, belonging to 382,222 depositors. Something To Make You Think “THE CATHOLIC SIDE OF IT” Recently a Mr. Scott of California appeared before a large audience in Pittsburg, Pa., with an earnest and impassioned plea for fair play for the Roman Catholic Church. He made a most favorable impression upon the large mixed audience which gave him, as they should, most respectful atten tion. The speaker claimed that the Roman Catholic of America is equally as loyal as his brethren and co-religionists fighting the cause of war-ridden Europe. The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the best of our many exchanges, after quoting some of Mr. Scott’s most striking passages, makes the following sug gestive comment: “His determination to present his church in the correct light; his unbiased appeal for fair play and righteous dealing on the part of man with man, offers to our group an important lesson. We hear ourselves attacked every day; we see instances of flagrant prejudice on every hand; we see our selves lynched and trodden down by unfair and biased men, and not infre quently we conclude that further protest is useless, worthless and of no avail. The Catholic brother does not view his situation with any such resigna tion. He is determined to present the true picture of his church and brother. He will not rest quietly under the stigma; he rises to the defense of his own. If the Catholic church sees the need of a country-wide campaign in their own interest, seeking to correct false impressions and biased views created by unscrupulous men and women,—if they see their salvation not in complacency but in a vigorous assertion of their rights, how much more should our group rise to the emergency and brand as false the accusations, the thrusts, the insults multiplying daily against us? Are we any less men than the Cath olics? 're we less concerned with false representations than they? Shall we sit forever silent while our opposition accumulates to proportions beyond human control? We believe in correcting every false impression, every un true statement, every wrong committed, until the country shall know that the worm will turn, regardless of his color. And the same arguments offered by Mr. Scott are at our disposal. We have served the country with undisputed loyalty. We have followed the flag of our country to a hero’s grave in every war this country has ever known. We have thrown ourselves before the enemy without reserve just as fre quently as have the Catholics. And if they hold up their loyalty as a iust and complete argument for their rights, why should we fear or hesitate to spread our record before the world? Loyalty knows no color, and what is defense for the Catholic is defense for us. Let us not be ashamed to be heard, nor fear to give the world our complete defense." Use the Monitor to Reach the Colored People of Nebraska. It Is Their Only Newspaper. From Fair Nebraska to Sunny Tennessee Incidents of the Trip and Impression Received by Editor on First Visit to Southland. NEGRO BANKS AND BANKERS Indicate Progress in Racial Evolution and Attest Growing Race Confidence. We told you last week of the Greeks and Italians who cater to the trade of the Colored people of Memphis as restaurant keepers and grocers. But practically monopolizing this trade not only in Memphis but in other cities, north and south, is not a peculiarity of these people here named, but seems to be characteristic of other thrifty groups of foreigners. Take the Jews, for example. What shrewd business men they are; and how they do go af ter the Gentile dollars, and among the Gentiles, “the lusty sons of Ham”— shocking! isn’t it, how familiar we are with snatches of song from pop ular Negro composers?—hold import ant rank when^ it comes to helping to fill the coffers of “the shrewd sons of Shem.” home Alliteration. How do you like this last as an example of alliteration ? We pride ourselves on believing that it is equal ly as good as many you would find in Coleridge’s “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.” Exempli gratia, (E. G.) for short, which means “by the way of example.” “Alone, alone, all all alone.” “Yet she sailed softly, too." We really believe that “the shrewd sons of Shem” is equally as good as the examples taken from Coleridge. Don’t you think so? But to return to business conditions. The Jews do a good business among our race, as grocers and dry goods merchants in the cities of the North, and also in the South, as well as Greeks and Italians. The moral of what we are here setting down, and please bear in mind that there is “naught set down in malice” here in these articles, is this: that we as a race should be more keenly alive and alert to the business opportunieies which lie within our grasp than we are. Growing Race Confidence. Do not get the impression from what we have said that the race in Memphis is inactive in business mat ters. They are not inactive by any means. They are doing much; but they could do more. We are doing considerable in a business way in Omaha and other cities, but we could do so much more, and we will do much more everywhere and every way. Never doubt it. Our rainbow of prom ise mounts high in the sky. We are developing race-consciousness every day and with it race confidence, which (Continued on eighth page)