Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 1916)
The Monitor, w A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the £ight Thousand Colored People % in Omaha and Vicinity, and to the Good of the Community 2 The Rev. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor S • <y $1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy. Omaha, Nebraska, August 19, 1916 Vol. II. No. 8 (Whole Ui 60) Monrovia Capital Liberian Republic Buildings Chiefly Brick, Zinc and Con crete to Withstand the Severe Climatic Conditions. WHITES CANNOT OWN LAND Guy B. Robbins Continues Some of His Interesting Articles on Li beria and Her People. Monrovia is the capital and the largest city in the Republic of Liberia. It is situated on a cape of which the ocean and river almost make an island. The cape is of rock formation. It is quite high at the point, where a light house and an old fortress are located, and gradu 'ly slopes back to a plain. The town could be divided into two parts: First, the waterside, so named because it is on low ground at toe water’s edge. Then the residence por tion which lays high and sightly. On the waterside are situated the wharves, customs house, general stores, and a public market house. There is but one street in this section and this is a narrow, winding, unkept path. During rainy weather this is partly ocvered with water which draws off of the higher ground on its way to the river. At this time many of the people wear rubber boots for protection. The natives don’t, of course, because they always go bare foot the year around. The stores in this part of the city handle general merchandise which they keep to exchange with the na tives for African products. The na tives buy large quantities of leaf to bacco, gin, gay-colorcd cloth, iron, pots, matches, etc. For these they ex change palm oil and kernels, coffee, ivory, piassara fiber, etc. This fiber was used extensively in America for street brooms before wire took its place. Buildings of Brick and Zinc. The buildings on the waterside are built of brick and zinc. Zinc buildings are made with wood frames and cov ered with sheets of zinc which resem ble corrugated iron. It has a longer life than iron because it will not cor rode in the moist atmosphere as iron would. I have seen iron and steel eaten up by the climate alone. The general appearance of the waterside gives a newcomer a very unfavorable impression. This, how ever, will improve when he gets to the top of the steep hill where the residence portion begins. Residence Streets Wide. In this part of the city the streets are laid out straight and wide. The houses are of the same materials as are the buildings on the waterside; except the newer ones are built of concrete. They all have large piaz zas. People in the tropics live as much on the piazzas as they do in the house. The architecture of the (Continued on eighth page) Inspectorship Is to Be Retained By the Race “I Believe Your People Are Entitled to This Recognition”—Mayor James G. Dahlman. To a committee of our citizens who waited upon Mayor Dahl man Tues day afternoon with respect to filling the vacancy of John Grant Pegg, in spector of weights and measures, his honor said: “I have not decided upon the man, but 1 intend to appoint a Colored man to the position. It is the only posi tion of any prominence that your peo ple have. It is the head of a depart ment. It has been well handled. I believe your people are entitled to this recognition. It will require a m i man of some eduaetion and ability to study and master the details of the work and with good sense arrd judg ment enough to get on with the pub lic. I intend to appoint such a man.” The committee interviewed the Mayor in the interests of no particular applicant, their desire being simply to urge the retention of this position for the race. The committee consist ed of Drs. J. H. Hutten and L. E. Britt, M. F. Singleton, J. H. Broom field and the Rev. John Albert Wil liams. “I BELIEVE IN EQUAL RIGHTS"—HUGHES New York, August 18.—Charles E. Hughes, republican candidate for the presidency, has broken his silence re garding his attitude toward the race. A delegation, headed by Captain r(. II. Blunt, of this city, visited him Wednesday, August 9, at the Hotel Astor. The delegation was composed of W. Monroe Trotter, the Boston ed itor; J. C. Robinson, who is connected with a local weekly; Isaiah T. Mont gomery and Eugene 1*. Booze, of Mound Bayou, Miss.; M. H. Broyles, of Houston, Texas, and George L. Knox, representing the Hughes and Fairbanks Non-Partisan and Political League. Chairman Blunt, on behalf of the delegation, told ivir. Hughes that the time was ripe for the election of a Republican president and scored some of the Wilson policies. Mr. Hughes, replying, said he was a believer in equal rights and oppor tunities for all classes of citizens and cited his Supreme Court decisions re garding his fairness on the race ques tion. MAJOR LOVING AND BRIDE PASS THROUGH OMAHA Last Friday night Major Walter **. Loving, who gained international fame as the musical director of the Filipino band, and his bride, passed through Omaha on the Overland Limited en route to the East on their wedding rip. Major and Mrs. Loving, who Omaha friends will remember, as Edith McCary, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. M. McCary, who were res idents of Omaha a few years ago, were married at Alameda, Cal., Wed nesday, August 9th. i.irs. John Al rt Williams, who had been notified by wire, met them at the train. It >ossible that Major and Mrs. Lov ing will plan to visit Omaha friends on their westward trip in the autumn. -I PROMINENT PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AN OMAHA VISITOR Field Agent of Biddle University Guest of I)r. J. H. Hutten. The Rev. L. B. Ellerson, D.D., rep resenting the Board of Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church and Field Secretary of Biddle University of Charlotte, N. C., arrived in the city last week for a visit to his friend and classmate, Dr. J. H. Hutten, of 1105 North Nineteenth street. Dr. Ellerson, who is at present en gaged in the work of raising a Semi Centennial Endowment Fund of $150, 000 for Biddle University, which was founded in 1867 and will therefore be fifty years old next year, being at Minneapolis and having a week’s va cation, decided to spend it in Omaha. He will return to Minneapolis Friday to resume his work, from which point he will return east. Bidle University has about 1,800 alumni. Of this number over 1,000 have graduated from the academic de partment, 500 fro the college and 300 from the theological department. The alumni as well as friends are con tributing to the Endowment Fund and Dr. Ellerson feels ocnfident that the amount sought will be raised. TWO MEN TIED FOR JUSTICE OF THE PEACE Muskogee, Okla., August 18.— Frank McFee, white, and Ed Jeffer son, Colored, are tied in their race for the nomination on the Democratic ticket for the office of justice of the peace of Agency township. Each re ceived twenty-four votes in the pri mary eletcion. Both men conducted warm cam paigns and it was the even division of the two raecs among the voters of the township that caused the tie, as every Colored voter cast his vote for Jefferson. National Negro Business League Holds Annual Session. ..Reports Re veal Commendable Progress In Business World. MANY HONOR WASHINGTON Emmett J. Scott Prominently Men tioned For President, Delivers Memorial Address. (By a Staff Correspondent.) Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 18.—With energetic enthusiasm characteristic of the west this progressive city pre pared well for the entertainment of the National Negro Business League and affiliated organizations. And these organizations are here. Hun dreds of delegates and visitors keen and alert, have temporarily augmented Kansas City’s Colored population. Badges flutter on hundreds of breasts. The National Negro Business league which was organized by Booker T. Washington and held its first session in Boston in 1900, opened its con vention Wednesday morning in Elec- - trie Park. In connection with the Business League, the Negro Press Association, the National Negro Bar Association and the National Negro Funeral Di re' ,ors also are holding their annual meeting, and in Kansas City, Kas., is being held the National Association of Railway Postal Clerks. Interesting Speeches. Fortune J. Weaver, president of the local business league, in calling the league to order, declared that much good had been done through the league, because it had inspired the members of the race to get better homes, go into business and make places for the Negro boys and girls who are coming out of school and are barred by prejudice from business and industrial opportunities. The Rev. Dr. D. A. Holmes, pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church, made the opening prayer. Acting Mayor Albert I. Beach gave an ad dress of wrelcome, ycommended the race upon the progress made during the last fifty years. Other addresses of welcome were delivered by B. Watkins, for the se cret societies; J. Dallas Bowser, for the educational institutions; W. C. Houston, for the professional men, and Mrs. Ida M. Becks, for the citi zens. The gavel was then given to Charles Banks, of Mound Bayou, Miss., first vice president. He pre sented attorney P. W. Howard, of Jackson, Miss., president of the Na tional Negro Bar Association, to re spond to the addresses of welcome, and Harry Allen Boyd, of Nashville, Tenn., secretary of the National Ne gro Press Association. Emmett J. Scott, secretary of the league, read a list of committees appointed. (Contimiel on Page 8)