The Monitor
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A Nationa only Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of the Colored
Americans of Nebraska and the West
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor
$1.50 a Year. 5c a Copy Omaha, Nebraska, Dec. 30, 1916 Vol. II. No. 27 (Whole No. 79)
Brings Unprophesied
Opportunities to Race
War Conditions Create Shortage of
.Men In North and Negroes
Answer the Call
SOUTH PUSHING EXODUS LAWS
Way Is Opening for Race to Win
Better Place, Industrially
and Socially,
A considerable redistribution of the
Negro race throughout the States is
an unexpected phenomenon of far
reaching importance. This new form
of the Negro issue is widely discussed.
The Negro's migration will not only
be his "second emancipation,’’ accord
ing to the Chicago Herald, but “it
may be the prelude to a new emanci
pation for the South.”
“The feeling of race antagonism in
the South will inevitably be relieved.
Furthermore, the southern states will
necessarily progress along mechanical
and industrial lines. The fact that la
bor in the South has been cheap has
retarded both the Negro and the
whites. Labor-saving machinery has
not been'installed as rapidly' as in
other sections where human effort
meant the expenditure of more dol
lars. The wage competition with the
North, now feared, will have whole
some results. The process of divid
ing large farms and of attracting im
migrant settlers is likely to be en
hanced. Altogether a new civiliza
tion may be created.”
The gist of much Northern com
ment is expressed by the Dayton, O.,
News, which admits that there is a
good deal to be said on both sides of
the question as to whether it is better
for the Colored man to leave the
South. “But the only thing the South
can consistently do to meet the com
petition of the North in the matter of
inducements to the Negro is to pay
as good wages and to furnish as good
working conditions as the Northern
employer.”
The dominant note in Negro com
ment on the significance of the exodu3
is emphasis upon the big opportunity
that has been opened to the Colored
race. But bitterness is not absent. A
New York Age editorial reads:
“We have pointed out that the Ne
gro does not remain where he is un
justly and brutally treated because he
is indifferent to that treatment. He
remains there because economic ne
cessity compels him to do so. And
whenever economic opportunities open
for him elsewhere he will leave.
“These opportunities are now open
ing for him in the North, and it will
take* something more than ‘exodus
law’s' to keep him from leaving the
South. It will take a willingness on
the part of the Southern white people
to accord the Negro better treatment;
and that means better wages, better
schools, better police protection, less
police persecution, less brutal and un
necessary discrimination, and a
lamping out of lynching. In a word,
it means the treatment of the Negro
(Continued on Page B)
Another Revolution
In Santo Domingo
American* Charged With Non-Pay
ment of Salaries.
The cables announce another revo
lution in Santo Domingo and also
the discovery of immense stores of
ammunition in Porto Rico, intended
for the Dominicans. The following
letter will explain why the natives
had a clash with the American troops
Thanksgiving Day and wounded
eleven American soldiers, themselves
suxxering the same number of casual
ties according to reports.
“For three months the Americans
have not paid the teachers nor the
Government employees, in accordance
with the budget of the country. You
can form an idea of a country where
not more than about two million pesos
circulate and they keep back a mil
lion and a half. How can we keep
on living ? There is no business,
trade falls off, and our lives are men
aced by hunger. Can not you Amer
icans, who have a good conscience,
say something in the press of your
country? Bring it to the attention
of President Wilson that this is a
noble people and not a country of
savages, as they believe over there.
J am suffering horribly for the fate
of my country when I see the misery
that makes such ravages among the
poorer classes."
After the clash, the officer in com
mand of the American troops issued
a proclamation that all salaries would
be paid, but from the latest reports
we presume that the same has not
been done. This is a fair sample of
Wilsonian government and several
New York papers are already demand
ing a “strict accountability” to Con
gress of Wilson’s high handed meth
ods of dealing with Santo Domingo.
TENNESSEAN MAN GETS
$42,500 DAMAGES
Colored Man Sued Sheriff for Dyna
miting His House to Dis
lodge Him.
Memphis, Tenn.—Upholding the
contention that “a man’s home is his
castle and he has a right to defend
it,” which Judge John E. McCall em
phasized in his charge, a jury in Fed
eral Court here today awarded Mat
thew' Harris, Colored, $22,600 com
pensation and $20,000 punitive dam
ages in his suit against John A.
Reichman, former sheriff of Shelby
county, and members of a sheriff's
posse.
Harris, who sued for $100,000, was
seriously injured when his home was
dynamited in an attempt to dislodge
him after he fired on the posse which
was searching for one of his rela
tives. Harris testified that he was
rot aware of the identity of the posse
nen when he resisted their efforts to
search his home.
Riechman was exempted from the
verdict for punitive damages, as it
was shown that he was not actually
a member of the posse.
“Savage” a Senator
In Philippine Islands
One of Moro Tribe, Called Savages ,
Takes Seat in New Congress in
Philippines.
Manila, P. I.—The new Philippine
Congress, convened under the Philip
pine bill which was signed by Pres
ident Wilson on August 29, met
on October 16 and for the first time
in the government of the islands a
full-blooded Moro took his seat in the
upper house. The Moro senator is
Hadji Butu, for many years prime
minister of the sultan of Sulu, that
unofficial functionary of the Ameri
can government, who wields an im
mense influence among the Moham
nedans of the Sulu archipelago and
the far East generally.
Two other full-blooded Moros took
their seats in the lower house side
by side with two delegates from the
wild tribes—one an Igorot and the
other an Ilfugao. The tribes these
men represent stepped out of sav
agery only yesterday and their names
are linked with some of the bloodiest
deeds in Philippine history.
Altogether nine provinces, hitherto
regarded as too close to savagery to
have governmental representatives,
have spokesmen in the new Congress.
NEGRO DISTRUST OF
WHITES INCREASING
Church Report Shows Necessity for
Leadership in the
South.
_!_
St. Louis, Dec. 23.—An increasing
distrust of the white race on the part
of Negroes is set forth in the report
of the committee on Negro churches
presented to the Federal Council of
Churches of Christ by Bishop Wilbur
P. Thirkiel of the Methodist Episco
pal church.
The report emphasized the necessity
of leadership on the part of the white
churches of the south and said that
the Negro churches needed better
trained pastors.
On the part of the Negroes, said the
report, there is a growing contempt
for the religion and sense of justice
of the white man, but the committee
expressed its belief that the social
conscience of the south is astir. Ef
forts for the social and economic ad
vancement of the Negro the report
stated, are increasingly successful.
NIGHT RIDERS WARN NEGROES
Fort Worth. Texas.—Night riders
have appeared in west Texas warning
landlords to dismiss their Colored
tenants and Colored cotton-pickers. A
printed warning to this effect was left
under the door of every business house
in Haskell last week, according to ad
vices received here. The warning was
signed "The White Renters’ League.”
Many Colored laborers were taken
into west Texas this fall to gather
the large cotton crop and he printed
warning states it is feared these men
will not be allowed to remain.
Colored Conductors
On Canadian Cars
Thirty-five Men Employed as Con
ductors and Motormen on Street
Cars in Toronto.
NEWSPAPER MAN’S GOOD WORK
Secures Positions for Race in Indus
trial Field and Organizes
Battalion.
Toronto, Can.—The fact that there
are some thirty-five Colored men em
ployed as street car conductors in To
ronto is due largely to the work and
influence of J. R. B. Whitney, founder
and editor of The Canadian Observer,
who came here from the United States
seven years ago, after working his
way through high school and the Ohio
State University.
In an interview given to Hilda Rid
ley, a staff writer on the Toronto
Star Weekly, and published conspic
uously in that paper, Mr. Whitney
tells how he overcame the prejudice
against the hiring of Colored men by
the street car officials.
“Colored men had been successful as
porters and waiters on the railroads,”
he said, “and I thought they would be
just as efficient on the street cars.
You know there are different shades
of color in our race—some are much
lighter skinned than others.
“Well, I knew a young fellow who
was very light and who was anxious
to get into the street car service. I
took him to Mr. Fleming, and he had
the general superintendent hire him.
Had Hired a Colored Man.
“About a month later, 1 went again
to Mr. Fleming about another fellow,
and this time he asked if he was a
Colored man. I told him he was, and
he said, “I have never hired and Col
ored men as motormen or conductors.’
I beg your pardon, Mr. Fleming,’ I
said, ‘but you hired one a month ago.’
I explained to him the cifcumstances
and he laughed and said, “Well, Mr.
Whitney, I would rather give your
man a job than refuse him.”
There are now thirty-five Colored
men on the street cars, serving as
well in that capacity as on the rail
roads. The white men in the service
have taken them into the union, and
evince a broad-minded spirit in their
dealings with them.
Started a Newspaper.
In the same article, Miss Ridley
tells of Mr. Whitney’s struggles in es
tablishing The Canadian Observer as
an organ for the people of his race in
Canada. He launched this paper on
December 13, 1914, and was at once
editor and proprietor, general mana
ger and office boy, devoting to it only
his spare moments. Mrs. Whitney as
sisted and did most of the typing of
the material. At the celebration of
the first anniversary on December 13,
1915, a celebration was had, and Mr.
Whitney had as special guests on that
occasion prominent men like Sir Ed
mund Wolker, W. H. Moore, secretary
of the Canadian Northern Railway,
(Continued on Page 4)