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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1917)
The Monitor i . ■ i - ■ ■ ——-— ▲ Weekly Newspaper devoted to the civic, social and religious Interests of the Colored People of Nebraska and the West, with the desire to con tribute something to the general good and upbuilding of the community and of the race. Published Every Saturday. Entered aa Second-Class Mail Matter July I, 1*15, 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 and William Garnett Haynes, Associate Edltora George Wells Parker, Contributing Editor and Business Manager. SUBSCRIPTION RATES, *1.80 PER YEAR Advertising Rates, 50 cents an Inch per Issue. Address, The Monitor, 1119 North Twenty-first street, Omaha. Telephone Webster 4243. THE CRIME WAVE IN OMAHA Omaha World-Herald, Aug. 29, 1917. A succession of revolting crimes in Omaha, with women the victims and Negroes the suspects, combined with unprovoked slashing of white men by a Negro running amuck, has created a dangerous condition of the public mind and the community must be on guard lest its reputation be sullied by outbreaks of mob violence such as have disgraced other cities. The great majority of Omaha’s very considerable Negro population iB made up of industrious, law-abiding, well-behaved men and women. These are entitled to respect and protection. It would be a wicked mistake to make them tht victims of the prejudice ex cited by the foul acts of individuals who happen to be members of their race. Whites and blacks have long lived in amity in Omaha, and because of it the latter have made a gratify ing progress and the city has escaped the turmoil and evils that spring from the fanning of race prejudice. Omaha’s welfare and good name de mand that this condition continue. All good citizens will exert their influ ence, in any sudden emergency, to the end that it may continue. It is unfortunate that, in recent months, a material addition, and not at all a desirable one, has been made to Omaha’s Colored population. The northward movement of the most ignorant, shiftless and dangerous ele ment of the black population of the South has affected Omaha as it has other industrial centers. It adds to the hardships of a police force already inadequate numerically if not other wise. And it brings to Omaha a share of the difficulties and responsibilities of that race problem with which the South has so long been struggling. These recent outrageous crimes have stirred Omaha from center to circumference. It is incumbent upon city and county to spare no effort or expense to bring the criminals to swift justice. In this stem task the respectable element of the Colored population should join, for the pro tection of their own security and to vindicate the hitherto good repute of their race in Omaha. With a united and determined effort they can be im mensely serviceable to the cause of law and order. There is no place in Omaha or any where else today for shiftless, lazy, professionally unemployed men. There is w'ork clamoring for all. If you know of any such men, white or black, re port them to the police, and the police will prove their incompetence if they do not at once see that they are put to work or run out of town. We commend the position of the World-Herald, of which Senator Gil bert M. Hitchcock is editor, in the above editorial. The World-Herald, however, is mistaken in one state ment. The northward migration ha* not brought to Omaha as yet “the most ignorant, shiftless and danger ous element of the black population of the South.” Those who have come in the main beloitj»"U>~t»MC'i««*f»vi well-intentioned laboring classes. This is the testimony of employers whom The Monitor has interviewed. Na turally undesirables are to be expect ed, but fortunately as yet they are a negligible quantity. THE RIGHT STAND. We are pleased at the stand the government has taken in the matter of the training of Colored troops. The South protested against their being sent with other troops to Southern cantonments. Tillman and others urged that they should be sent to Cuba or Porto Rico or to—well, any where else, except among “the Negro’s best friends.” It looked at first as though the counsel of these had prevailed, for it was given out that “no Negro troops will be sent to cantonments in the Southern states.” Recently the w-ar department, be it said to its credit, has reversed this order and Negro troops have been sent South with the units to which they belong for train ing. This is as it should be. If American soldiers are to fight in the trenches together, why should they not be trained together? And isn’t it about time, anyway, to let the South understand that its peculiar preju dices are not to be allowed to jeopar dize the interests of the nation? The United States should have the right to send any of its troops to any section of the country it may desire without let or hindrance, and have those troops respected. American soldiers should not be considered or treated as pariahs any where on American soil. THE HOUSTON TROUBLE. When well trained and disciplined regulars with the record for good be havior which has been the pride of the Twenty-fifth United States Infantry indulge in an outbreak like the de plorable rioting at Houston, Tex., last Thursday, it can be safely conjectured that the provocation which incited it was extreme. These men know the ; rules of the army. They know that it is a time of war. They have been ! schooled to self-restraint. They are ' amenable to discipline and devoted to their officers. Such men do not wan tonly disregard their officers and jeo pardize their life and liberty without great cause. The statement of the officers that the men had complained to them of the treatment- received at the hands of the Houston police and the infor mation volunteered that in a confer ence between the military and civil authorities the Houston police had been instructed to speak of them as “Colored soldiers” are rather signifi cant. It is to be regretted that the senti ment in any section of this country is such that deplorable affairs of this > kind are possible. THE BEAM AND THE MOTE Our country has entered the world war on the side of the allies. Pure , democracy is our goal, and we must plant it on the ruins of militarism. The purpose is sublime. Each and every right thinking man and woman cannot but appreciate this great aim and must bring his mite towards it. If young, to serve in the military or navy ranks; if older, to help material ly. No one should remain with folded arms, not to assist in removing the mote in the militaristic countries, which molests humanity and destroys peace. It is a deserving cause and every man should put his shoulder to the wheel of humanitarianism for the purpose of subduing brutality, con quering savagery and quelling bar barity. However, while we are beholding the mote in our adversary’s eye we should consider the beam in our own j £>e. The East St. Louis brutal at- j tack on "blacks” by the noble “whites” j in which murder, arson, robbery and abuse of men and women, old and young, took place, and some noble hearted white women took part, is one of these beams in our eye which deprives us of the right of judgment of motes in somebody else’s eye. The fact that the defenders of the state of Illinois were inactive- « report- ; ed in the press—makes that beam im measurable. How dare we try to bring into order somebody else’s house when disorder reigns supreme :n our own house? But in this case ,we do not st&R'LalfiBft, seme jyiU.say. The Black Hundreds in democratic Russia made pogroms upon the Jews and incited the people to a renewal of massacres upon the Jews, and liberal England has its Leeds, where attacks upon Jews, destroying their homes and business became a pastime to the good subjects of the king. Yet two wrongs do not make our one wrong right. Surely we—the liberty-loving peo ple—should not be murderers, arson ists and robbers. These activities do not enter into the definition of liberty and equality. Again, the moral pogrom made by some United States military officers upon Jewish applicants for enlistment do not spell justice, nor does it mean fair play. True, as the Black Hundreds in Russi^ do not include all the people of the country so the white savages of East St. Louis do not embrace the other elements of that city, and the b goted military officers do not in clude all the other military officers, yet so long as the culprits are not punished, so long as the offenders have not received their deserved chas tisement, the beam of shame is in the eye of every citizen of this country. The rin is too great to condone. The question whether we may bring order in somebody else’s house before we have brought order in our own house remains unanswered. This immeas able beam must be removed and the quicker the better.—Jewish Bulletin, Omaha, Neb. ■■ \ Obvious Observations The Houston riot is a very serious affair, but one thing it shows is I that Colored men and women must not ' be abused when guns and ammuni j tion are plentiful. The kaiser still delivers optimistic : speeches to his troops and the Allies ; still say that the war is almost ended. The price of coal has been fixed at the mines and if the administration will fix the freight rates on the way over, it will finish a mighty important problem. Goodbye to the wheat pit. The 1 grain gamblers will now have to try ! poker or craps. Get in on The Monitor special rates. ! There’s going to be some fine reading ! in it this winter. The south doesn’t want any Colored soldiers trained down that way. If ! it treated the Colored man right it j would not be scared, but it knows it doesn’t and hence the frigid feet. Spuds are still two bones a bushel and there are oodles of them. There’s somebody in the wood pile somewhere and that somebody “ain’t cullud.” The nation has been promised a lower cost of food, but if the Hoover gent doesn’t hurry up we will starve to death before anything is done. If these nice cool days keep up, June won’t have a thing on August days. Gee whiz, mister, haven’t you paid that subscription yet ? Get busy. Thanking you for your modest at tention, we will now proceed to can a few opinions and pickle a few thoughts. _ SKITS OF SOLOMON Profit Profit, my son, it a small amount of change which a man is supposed to make off the investment of his ma zuma. Twenty years ago if a man made six per cent off a dollar he con sidered he was going some, but now adays when every man wants to crowd John D. and brother Pierpont off the stock exchange, a hundred per cent is a mere piffle. Take ham, for instance. I remember in the old days when you could go down to the comer store and get a ten cent ham hock to boil with a nickle’s worth of cabbage and there would be meal enough to board the neighborhood. Now a small size ham hock makes a ten dollar note look like it has per nicious aneamia. Then there are' spuds. Everybody has been raising; spuds this summer and many have spuds, but the poor sucker what wants to eat spuds must plank down two 1 bones per bushel. Eggs and butter are also examples. Once upon a time a man could stand in front of ten tubs of butter ranging from a dime to twenty cents a pound and keep on j tasting until he found the kind he ! wanted. But just try tasting butter j nowr! Why, the plain clothes man j would be giving you a nice automo- j bile ride before he could say, "Wait j a minute, please.” It’s a fright. And running this engine around to where it started, who gets the profit? The farmer says he doesn’t and the com mission man let’s out a whoop of hard times that would make a Comanche Indian sick at the stomach. The middleman just bows his head humbly and tells you to buy a flashlight and look around, ’cause it “ain’t him.” And friend consumer has to stand it. He is giving somebody anywhere from 100 to 200 per cent on his money. Profit is a nice thing, an awful nice thing, but it’s getting to be too nice. Somebody has to take a fall out of it and some soon. Mr. Hoover is ap pointed to be the fall guy, but up to date Sir Hoover has been talking more than acting. Let’s have some sure enough fireworks. We’re all willing. LETTERS FROM OUR READERS Omaha, Neb., Aug. 20, 1317. The Rev. John Albert Williams, Edi tor of The Monitor. Dear Sir: Being a subscriber to your excellent paper, I wish to state that it is the best companion one could possibly have. I am especially gratified to know that your publica tion is not sensational or unreliable, but furnishes food for thought. With best wishes for a continued success, I am, as ever, a booster, EDGAR A. LEE, 2706 Corby Street. • August 28, 1917. The Rev. John Albert Williams, Edi tor The Monitor: My Dear Sir—I beg leave to offer a suggestion relative to the Charles Smith case. I believe that every Col ored man in Douglas county ought to subscribe at least $1, to be used as a defense fund to see that this accused man of our race gets some semblance of a fair trial. If you think this proper and the right thing to do you may head the list with my name and dollar. I think this case demands im mediate action. Just common, plain justice is all we demand for the ac cused. JOHN H. WAKEFIELD. 4430 South Sixteenth Street. I WORK School days again for the boys and girls! Again you must get down to hard work. Never has there been such a demand for trained men and women, and only by hard work may one be- i come so fitted. There is a Latin pro verb which should commend itself to each one, “Vive quasicras moriturus; stude quasi semper victurus” (“Live as if you were to die tomorrow, study as if you were to live forever”). No real success in life may be attained without hard work. The student who thinks he can shift through school and plans to have a good time and then settle down after graduation will find to his regret that “the habits formed in youth will cling through life.” Work, hard work, giving your best effort to each day’s task, is the only way to success and contentment. Great danger lies in idleness. Don’t be afraid, don’t be unwilling to “labor ard to wait.” L. S. E. FATHER'S DAY By Annie Willis McCullough. Father’s Day is bright and sunny, Though the weather may be bad; Ai:d you’re happy, too, and sunny, Never sad! No, of course you're never sad! Father’s Day is full of stories And of quiet Sunday fun; And you love to hear the stories He’s begun— Splendid stories he’s begun! Fathers’ Day is full of rambles In the spring and summer time. You can learn so much from rambles; Oh, they’re prime— Lessons learned that way are prime! Father’s Day is full of loving, Full of extra kisses, too. And you cannot help be-loving, Sweet and true— All the world seems sweet and true! _y Dried Fish Chowder. ’.2 pound salt fish. 4 cups potatoes, cut in small pieces. 2 ounces salt pork. 1 small onion, chopped. 4 cups skimmed milk. 4 ounces crackers. Salt codfish, smoked halibut, or other dried fish may be used in this chowder. Pick over and shred the fish, holding it under luke-warm water. Let it soak while the other in gredients of the dish are being pre pared. Cut the pork in small pieces and fry it with the onion until both are a delicate brown, add the potatoes, cover with water, and cook until the potatoes are soft. Add the milk and fish and reheat. Salt, if necessary. It is well to allow the crackers to soak in the milk while the potatoes are be ing cooked, then remove them, and finally add to the chowder just be fore serving. TRUNKS THE BETTER KIND Made from good clear lumber, covered with fibre; well bound on edges. Durable comers and bracts where necessary. Sturdy locks and hinges, 2 trays nicely cloth lined. Priced at $10.00, $12.00, $13.50 and $15.00. Freling & Steinle "Omaha’s Best Baggage Build ers" 1803 FARNAM STREET t I 1 I I TAKE PLEASURE In thanking you for your patronage I want your trade solely upon the merits of my goods. i You will profit by trading here. H. E. YOUNG Webster 515 2114-16 N. 24th St. CRONSTROAVS PANTALORIUM LADIES’AND GENTLEMEN’S TAILORING CLEANING PRESSING ALTERING There’s a difference. All work done by tailors who know how to keep garments shaped and in condition, something unattain | able by pressing machines. Look over your wardrobe and then call Douglas 5407 Room 8, Patterson Block 17th and Faraam Streets Phones: Office, Douglas 3841; Res idence, Harney 2156 Reference—Any Judge of the Dis trict Court of Douglas County. E. F. Morearty ATTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR AT LAW 640 Bee Bldg. Omaha, Neb. HOLSUM AND KLEEN MAID i Why Boy Inferior When The Best 11 COSTS NO ”r'RKT JAY BURNS BAKING CO. 1 t-......,—..... jtiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii£ | WE CAN’T SELL ALL THE MOTORCYCLES AND f BICYCLES SO WE JUST SELL THE BEST ~ \ The Indian—Best Bicycle Built | ! Omaha Bicycle Company 1 = MOTORCYCLES AND BICYCLES E 16th and Chicago Sts Omaha, Neb. E 111111111111111111111111 ii 111111111111111111 m 111111111111111111111111111111111111 i 111 it 1111111111111 rf ii 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 | YOU SAVE AT | | Kinney’s Big Shoe Store | I 58 STORES—THATS WHY = Indies’ Fancy Fall Shoes Have Arrived. All Colors and = Styles. $5 to $8 Values, But Nothing Over $3.98 School Shoes MOST COMPLETE LINE IN THE CITY E Misses Shoes—AH Styles and Materials, 98c to $2.48 Boys’ Shoes, Black or Tan—AH Styles, $1.29 to $2.48 Tennis Oxfords, 49c = Free to AH School Children—Big Yellow Pencils i Satisfaction Guaranteed. = ! G. R. KINNEY CO., Inc. I E 207-209 North 16th St.-Loyal Hotel Bldg. § “Be Sure You Are in Kinney’s Before Buying.” i Look for the Kinney Sign. Mail Orders Filled. = 7in 111 in 11111111 ii 1111111111111111 mi 11111 ii i in 1111 n 111 ii 1111111111 in n mi 11 ii 111111111111111 mrE lllHllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllh j Circulation Boosting \ Bargain \ The Monitor is $1.50 a year—and worth it. E | To introduce it to NEW SUBSCRIBERS we will send § § it to the FIRST 200 new subscriptions reaching us | 1 after this date, but before September 1st, for $1.00 a E | year. This applies only to NEW subscriptions (not £ = renewals) and only to the first 200. Names of lucky ones will be published in order E = received. | Send In Your Dollar Now | Special Limited Subscription Order Blank : The Monitor, 1119 North Twenty-first Street, Omaha, Neb.: Please find enclosed One Dollar for One Year’s Subscription, £ S under terms of your special limited offer. It is understood that I am 5 £ a new subscriber and must be among the first 200 names sent in to £ E receive it for a year at this price. 3 £ Send to. E £ x x Street Address. £ E Town.. State.. — £ Date. E niiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiimiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiB