Th^Monitor
A National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Colored
Americans of Nebraska and the Northwest
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy Omaha, Nebraska, Oct. 7, 1916 Vol. II. No. 15 (Whole No. 67)
Colored Bishops for
Episcopal Church
Important Question Demanding Con
sideration by General Convention
Which Convenes in St. Louis.
TO ELECT BISHOP OF LIBERIA
Convention Represents Membership
of Over a Million —Sessions of
Nation-Wide Interest.
(Special to The Monitor)
St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 5.—The Gen
eral Convention of the Episcopal
church begins its sessions here next
Wednesday. The city has been pre
paring to entertain this great church
gathering for more than a year. St.
Louisians outside of Episcopalians are
proud of the distinction which enter
taining the General Convention brings
to the city. This is the first time tne
convention has met in this section.
It comes to St. Louis because of the
fact that this year marks the fiftieth
anniversary of the consecration to the
Episcopate of the lit. Rev. Daniel Syl
vester Tuttle, D. D., D. C. L., who is
not only the bishop of Missouri, but
is also the presiding bishop, virtually
the archbishop of the Episcopal
church in the United States. St.
Louis has been his home for thirty
years. It is signally fitting that
Bishop Tuttle’s semi-centennial
should be marked by the meeting of
the General Convention in his See city.
It is interesting to note in this
connection that the only clergyman
who was a resident of this city when
Bishop Tuttle was transferred to this
diocese from Utah and Idaho in 1886,
thirty years ago, is the Rev. Cassius
M. C. Mason, rector of All Saints
church the Colored congregation here,
which has one of the largest and most
beautiful churches in the United
States. Fr. Mason is one of the best
loved and most influential men in St.
Louis.
The General Convention meets every
three years. It has been ailed one of
th most able representative legislative
bodies in the world. Its membership,
both inthe clergical and lay order, in
cludes many of the ablest men of the
country. It consists of two houses,
an upper and a lower, corresponding
to the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives. The upper house is
called the House of Bishops, the mem
bership of which is confined to the
bishops of the church, numbering
130. The lower house is the House of
Deputies. It consists of four clerical
and four lay delegates from every
domestic diocese, that is to say
dioceses in this country, and one cler
ical and one lay delegate or deputy
from each missionary district or dio
cese, domestic and foreign.
One of the chief matters of interest
affecting the Colored peoffle which
will be brought before the convention
is the question of electing bishops of
the race for work in Southern dio
ceses. Two plans have been recom
mended by the commission appointed
to consider this subject. The ma
jority report favors the erection of
the Colored work in the South into
missionary jurisdition solely on
racial lines with Colored bishops.
This is a departure from es
tablished methods. The other plan
favors the election of suffragan bis
hops under the present canons. An
other important matter will be the
election of a successor to the Fit. Rev.
Samuel D. Ferguson, bishop of Liber
ia, who died a few months ago.
The Episcopal church has a mem
bership of more than a million, with
nearly 6000 clergy. Its Colored com
municants number 30,000 and there
are about 150 men of the race in the
priesthood.
The deliberations of the general,
•onvention always attract nation-wide
itlention and this year there will be
added interest for Colored Americans.
Nebraska Celebrates
Her Semi-Centennial
_
the Historical Parade a Marvellous
and Thrilling Pageant—Band
Pleases President.
The citizens of Omaha have seen
many parades, but never such a pa
rade as passed along Omaha’s streets
Thursday afternoon. We may even
venture to remark that President and
Mrs. Wilson, our honored guests,
never before experienced the pleasure
of such a pageant. It was more than
a parade; it was a wonderful vision
from the past wrought into tangible
allegory. It was a romance wrestetl
from a page of earthly life; not a
romance that dallies with soft loves
and lotus dreams, but a romance that
was a retrospect of real life, of suf
fering, of starving,^of hoping, of des
pair, and of triumph. It was the kind
of romance that stirs the blood and
makes mankind have a more whole
some faith in themselves and in their
works. The actors were all heroes
and heroines, every one of them, and
across the years now receding and
growing dim, their shadows loomed
Thursday like the shadows of the Tit
ans of old to whom the thunders were
weapons and the hills mere toys.
The semi-centennial is over, but the
spirit of the Thursday parade will
linger long in the memory. We have
heard the call of the West and shall
never forget it, even across the space
of the world. We have been touched
by the romance of the land of the
afterglow, that may fade away from
the sky that roofs its plains and des
serts and hills, but that fades never
from the heart that has been touched
with its magic. It is the land that has
a spell, the wonderful, beautiful West.
Perhaps our readers may be glad
to know what we are about to tell
them concerning the parades of Wed
nesday night and Thursday afternoon.
Here it is. It is claimed that all of
those floats were conceived and de
signed by the Buford brothers, two
colored men who came here from
Kansas City several years ago. They
were sent for by the Ak-Sar-Ben for
the express purpose of designing
Omaha Welcomes President
WOODROW WILSON.
the floats for the annual parades.
They have a large number of men
under them and as soon as the car
nival is over they will begin planning
for next year’s parades. Don’t you
feel a little thrill of pride to know
that two men of our race mean so
much to Omaha?
And then there is something else
we can’t forget. Of all the bands in
the parade, to one and one alone did
President Wilson take off his hat.
Can you guess which one? A repere
sentative of The Monitor was inform
ed that Desdunes’ band would play,
“Old Black Joe,” when passing the re
viewing stand, and was present to
notice the effect. Eight bands passed,
all playing different patriotic airs,
the only one receiving any notable re
ception being the band that struck up
“Don’t Bite the Hand That’s Feeding
You.” But to none of the music did
the President take off his hat.
Then came our boys. Enthusiastic
and continued applause greeted them
the moment they crossed Seventeenth
street. They began playing “Old
Black Joe” and as the crowds caught
the tune their enthusiasm grew. Wo
men waved their handkerchiefs and
men their hats. The effect was not
lost upon the President. He smiled
pleasantly and watched the band.
The parade halted, just as the band
(Continued on Page 12.)
THE MONITOR’S POLITICAL POSITION
We desire to have it known just what the political position of The Mon
itor is.
We are INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN. This means that in the main
we shall support republican principles and republican candidates. We intend
to support the national republican ticket. We are for Charles E. Hughes for
president; J6hn L. Kennedy for United States senator, and Benjamin S.
Baker for congressman. For state, county and municipal officials we intend
to support men, irrespective of party badge or affiliations who have demon
strated their willingness to be fair and just to our race, or whom we believe
will be. Those who have manifested unfriendliness or unfairness we intend
to oppose.
We shall accept advertisements from all who wish to use our columns to
reach the Colored voters, of whom there are more than 2,000 registered in
Douglas county alone, to say nothing of those out in the state among whom
The Monitor circulates. Our editorial opinion and support are not purchas
able commodities.
We are opposed to prohibition, because we do not believe it makes for
temperance, and is not the most effective way of dealing practically with the
evils of the liquor traffic.
This is The Monitor’s position politically.