The Monitor
A Weakly Newspaper devoted to the civic, social and religious interests
etf the Colored People of Nebraska and the West, with the desire to con
tribute something to the reneral good and upbuilding of the community and
#f til# r#c#.
Published Every Saturday._
Entered as Becond-Claaa Mall Matter July 1. HU. at the Post Office at
Omaha. Neb., under the act of March I, 117* _
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor and Publisher.
Lucille Skaggs Edwards and William Qarnett Haynea, Associate Edltera.
George Wells Parker, Contributing Editor. Bert Patrick, Business
Manager. Fred C. Williams, Traveling Representative_
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Address. The Monitor. 1119 North Twenty-first street, Omaha.
Telephone Webstar 4BSA
LET THE PRESIDENT SPEAK
MAJOR-GEN. BALLOU, command
ing the Ninety-second Division,
has at the request of Emmett J. Scott,
special assistant to the secretary of
war, written him a letter explaining
the issuing of Bulletin 35, which pro
voked such a tremendous wave of pro
test from all sections of the country.
The letter is published elsewhere in
this issue. It recites the fact, pub
lished in The Monitor several weeks
ago, that General Ballou had insti
tuted legal proceedings against the of
fending theater manager before .he
had issued Bulletin 35, intended only
as salutary advice to the men of his
command.
We pointed out at that time that
there were certain expressions in the i
order that were unwise, unfortunate
and indefensible. While we did not
indulge in the strongly denunciatory
language of some of our more radical
contemporaries our position as to the
duty of insisting upon our legal rights
was unmistakable.
In his letter to Mr. dcott General
Ballou implies that pro-German influ
ences are actively at work in this
country striving to aggravate the
grievances of the Colored Americans
on the one hand and inflame white
Americans on the other. It is implied
that these sinister influences were at
work at East St. Louis and Houston.
We doubt this very much. Southern
prejudice against the Cclored Amer
ican has been intense and bitter for
years, and increasingly so as he has
advanced in intelligence, material
prosperity and self-respect. It has
manifested itself on every hand by
indefensible and most reprehensible
acts of injustice, which have been
enacted into laws. This hatred for
the black race has required no fan
ning into flame by German propa
gandists. It is a peculiarly simon
pure American product cf which the
United States will be most heartily
ashamed some day, when she shall
have grown out of her narrow and
crude provincialism. Let us not lay
our sins of race prejudice on the Ger
mans. They have enough to answer
for, God knows, and so has America.
This, however, may doubtless be
true that German propogandists are
now trying to spread sedition among
Colored Americans, and very natural
ly believe that the injustices per
mitted to be practised upon us should
make us easy victims of their wiles.
It would, of course, be to their advan
tage to turn us from our loyalty. They
have not succeeded yet and WILL
NOT SUCCEED
IF—
Our president will only speak out
as the representative of our nation,
which we love and for which we are
willing to die, and make it plain that
he ag the chief executive does disap
prove of the lawlessness, lynchings
ana discriminations cf which, unhap
pily, we are chiefly the victims. The
persistent silence of our president will
do more to alienate the Colored Amer
ican than any machinations of the
Hun. The Hun may be as subtile as
the serpent, but if the president will
only speak out he can draw the ser
Xient’s fangs. Let the president speak.
THE RED CROSS
FROM out of the darkness came
light and out of the worst oft
comes the best. War is merciless, yet
out of war springs the Bweetest bene
diction of mercy. It was once a pro
verb that while man fought, woman
remained beside the hearth iand wept.
But that was in the olden days when
wars were fought for glory and not
for liberty. Today as men fight wo
men fight with them. But women’s
weapons are not cannon, machine guns
and submarines. Her weapons aie
gentle hands to soothe and heal;
subtle drugs that knit the flesh and
hang sweet dreams in the chambers
of the mind that lately knew but
visions of horror. *
The sword of Mars flashes across
the world as a silver wind of winter
sweeps across a lonely waste, but in
its wake glows the warm light of the
Red Cross, the symbol of love amidst
the storm of hate. To the wounded
man on the field or in the trenches
the sight of that little red cross is like
the sunshine after rain, laughter after
tears, the rainbow after the deluge. It
knows no race or creed or color. The
hurt cruel German cornea within its
radiant glow as well as the hurt
friend. Its errand ia mercy and its
mercy is the kind of mercy that means
MANKIND.
Once more the Red Cross appeals
for funds to carry on its work. How
many more times it will come to plead
with you we do not know. Let us hope
not many more, not because of the
paltry dollars it seeks, but because we
wish the war to end with the triumph
of liberty over autocracy. Yet no mat
ter how many times may come the
plea, let us heed and give all that we
can and more. Give until it hurts.
GEORGIA TIES LOUISIANA
ONE can well imagine what glee
fills the breast of the kai6er as he
reads of America's blood-red record of
Negro lynchings. Four more Colored
Americans, three men and one wo
man, accused of the murder of a white
farmer, were murdered by a Georgia
.'•nob this week. Georgia now ties
Louisiana in this gruesome Southern
sport, both 6tates scoring eleven vic
tims within the past fourteen months.
This makes a total of fifty lynchings
v/ithin the confines of the United
States since America’s entrance into
the war “to make the world safe for
democracy.” What an appalling rec
ord!
In the name of all that is high and
holy, when are the people of the
United States going to put an end to
these atrocities ? Whenever the gov
ernment of the United States really
want6 to put an end to these barbari
ties which are making us a byword
and a hissing in the mouths of our
enemies it can do it. The government
can control railroads, food, coal and
what it will in times of peace and in
times of war. Why is it that mobo
crats who murder black men and wo
men and children are alone beyond the
reach of government control ?
- --
BREAKING WORLD’S RECORDS
A NOTABLE record has just been
established by Bhip rivetters at
Sparrows Point. The achievement of
these men shows what Colored work
men can do when they are given a
chance. While white workmen have
been inclined to see how little they
could do, under union regulations,
Colored workmen have been anxious
to speed up to the limit of their
power. When it comes to skill, brawn
and endurance the Colored American
needs to take a back seat for no one.
We opine that such demonstrations of
skill as Knight and his colleagues
have shown will open the eyes of
Americans to the real worth of the
Colored artisan and mechanic.
SKITS OF SOLOMON
Bravery
BRAVERY is the nifty art of stunt
ing that lifts one into the hero
class. There are as many kinds of
travery as there are kinds of automo
bile tires, and that is going some.
Some call a man who is about to be
married a brave man, but he isn’t half
as brave as the man who stays mar
ried. Just now the world war is mak-,
ing heroes by the dozen, and they are
real, sure-enough heroes. General
Pershing sent in the names of two
jigg heroes the other day. They were
real heroes. They were standing sen
try duty when a party of boches plan
ned a raid on the Yankee line. Before
they got to the line they mixed with
the two Sams. One of the two had a
gun that worked and the other had a
gun that had decided not to work.
Quarters were so close that the bayo
net was about as useful as cayenne
pepper in hades. All that this partic
ular Sam had was a knife. Where he
got it nobody knows, but a cullud man
nearly always has a knife or razor for
close work. The knife got into action
and so did the Dutchmen. The knife
won and the raid was postponed. The
report reported that several boches
were seriously injured, as if it could
have been otherwise.
This bit of bravery also recalls an
other bravery stunt put across by a
Sam some time ago. This Sam car
ried a razor in spite of the advice not
to do so. He also got into close quar
ters and threw away his gun. Out
came the razor. A German started at
him. Sam hurled the razor with true
Hamitic aim. “Never touched me!’’
shouted the German. “Den you try to
shake yo’ haid!” shouted Sam. The
boche did and left his head on the
ground for a souvenir.
This all goes to prove that a cullud
soldier feels safer with a member of
the knife family than with a member
of the gun family. He is always brave,
but give him something to carve his
initials with and he'll have the whole
German army looking like a gory
alphabet.
The Children of the Sun
By George Welle Parker
A GREAT architect named Fergu
son once wrote a book unon the
history of his art and in it occurred
this surprising statement: “No Semite
and no Aryan ever built a tomb that
could last a century or was worthy to
remain so long.” A rather strong in
dictment of the ability of yellow and
white races in the building line, don’t
you think ? And yet when one studies
the subject of ancient monuments he
or she becomes convinced that what
Ferguson said was the truth. Among
the ancients there were seven works
of man that were regarded as truly
wonderful and which were called the
Seven Wonders of the World. They
were, indeed, wonders and would be
wonders today or at any future time,
aud every one of them was built by
people who were either African or of
African descent.
Egypt had the first wonder of the
world and it was the PyTamid of
Khufu, built somewhere about 3,000
B. C. I can give you no better idea of
what a really wonderful thing it is
than to join together some statements
concerning it gleaned from “The
Seven W’onders of the Ancient World,”
written by Edgar J. Banks of the Uni
versity of Chicago:
“The pyramid covered thirteen acres
of ground and was a perfect square,
originally measuring 756 feet on each
side; it is a walk of more than half a
mile about its base, and so accurate
were the measurements that modem
engineers with modem instruments
can detect an error of but a small
fraction of an inch. ... It has
been estimated that even with modem
machinery a thousand men would be
required to labor for a hundred years
if they would duplicate the pyramid.
. . . The granite, which was used
only for the lining of the walls of the
inner chambers, was brought down
thi Nile from Syene in Upper Egypt,
seven hundred miles away. . . . The
mortar used in cementing them was
scarcely thicker than a piece of paper,
for the joints were fitted together so
perfectly that it is impossible to
thrust the thinnest knife blade into
them. ... At the base once more
you look upward; now, better than be
fore, you realize that towering like a
mountain above you is the largest,
the loftiest, the most enduring, one of
the oldest tombs of man, and then you
really understand why the ancients
called the old, old tomb the first of
the Seven Wonders of the World.”
I can add nothing to these words. I
only want you to read them over and
over again and let their significance
sink into your mind. Then remember
that those who reared that mighty
pyramid belonged to your race ana
blood. It is a pride that no race or
blood upon the earth can claim except
ing those who are of the Children of
the Sun.
The Pyramid of Khufu was the
greatest of Egypt’s pyramids, but not
the only one. There were eight others
and Gizeh, and many more scattered
throughout the land. And besides the
pyramids there were other wonders
that excited the admiration of an
tiquity as well as the respect of mod
em times. You have all heard of the
Sphinx. I told you the myth of the
Sphinx some time ago and today I will
describe it. It stands at Gizeh in the
neighborhood of the Great Pyramid.
It :s partly cut from the solid rock
and partly constructed of masonry,
with a shrine built at its base. It is
172% feet long and 66 feet high. It
represents a wingless lion with the
face of a man, and the face represents
Horns, the early hero of Egypt. This
face is African in outline and was
originally colored brown, though few
traces of the coloring now remain. No
man or woman visits Egypt without
gazing upon the Sphinx, and the trib
ute paid by Mark Twain to that won
der embraces all the emotions one
feels when standing before that monu
ment which has become synonymous
with the mystery that hangs over the
land of the Nile.
You have heard of temples, haven't
you? Perhaps you have visited a tem
ple or two in your day, but unless you
have seen the ruins of Egyptian tem
ples you have no idea what a great
temple is really like. Around Karnac
and Luxor in Egypt there were many
temples and the greatest of them was
the temple of Ammon, founded during
the twelfth dynasty. It stood in an
inciosure about 1,500 feet square and
an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes led
from the river to the main gateway—
a colossal pylon 370 feet in breadth by
142 feet in height. Within the great
court and in a line with the gateway
were twelve enormous columns, six on
either side; six of these are well pre
served. A second pylon gate leads
into a magnificent hypostyle hall, 171
feet long by 338 feet broad, its roof
supported by 134 columns in 16 rows.
This hall is one of the finest works of
Egyptian architecture. At the upper
end of the great hall is another pylon
gate, now in ruins, leading to an open
court, in the center of which is an
obelisk76 feet high. Beyond this again
is another court in which stands the
tallest obelisk in existence. There are
a succession of smaller courts, corri
dors, pylon gates and halls. All these
were part of the temple of Ammon at
Karnac, and when you read of great
temples compare them with this one
and note for yourself how they sink
into insignificance beside this one
erected by black hands something like
5,000 years ago.
I might go on for hours and tell you
about the many other architectural
wonders of Egypt, her many statues
and colossi, her palaces and obelisks.
But time and space do not permit.
What I hoped to do, and that which I
trust I have done, is to give you some
idea of the vastness of the monuments
which Egypt has left as an inheritance
to the world. Other nations have con
tributed one or two monuments, but
Egypt has contributed many. She has
been called the land of magnificent
monuments, and she is this, indeed.
What other nations have contributed
are for the most part lost, but in
Egypt the dry winds and sands have
preserved them against the ravages
of time. The greatest damage to
Egypt’s monuments has been caused
by man and not by the elements.
Before closing this article I would
mention that only a few years ago the
temple of Osiris was discovered. The
world war has prevented the complete
excavation of this mighty monument,
but it bids fair to become another
wonderful temple. Osiris had been
called a myth and the writers of an
tiquity who gazed upon his temple
have been called victims of imagina
tion, but the temple has now really
been discoverer!. We shall learn more
of it after awhile.
And this ends the article upon
Egypt's monuments. I would that you
read it more than once and try to un
derstand just what it all means to
Egypt, to the world and to you. Count
each wonder and place it to the credit
of your blood and then you will appre
ciate what it should mean to be kin to
the race that has earned such glory.
Other races are satisfied to exult over
creations less great than these. When
Bishop Newman declared that the an
cestral glory of the African race
eclipsed that of any other race known
to history he uttered more than a
mere platitude. He voiced truth and
it is the truth that must eventually
make us altogether free.
“IN ILLINOIS AND ELSEWHERE”
THE Houston Post, recognized as
the mouthpiece of the democratic
party in Texas and one of the ablest
and most influential dailies of the
South, in its issue of May 11 contain
ed the following timely and outspoken
editorial,which will meet the approval
of all right-minded Americans. It is
perfectly astounding how indifferent
public officials and the press of this
country has been to the atrocities
against Negroes:
The attorney general, Hon. T. W.
Gregory, in an address to the Amer
ican Bar association, discusses lynch
law in an illuminating manner.
The lynching of the German, Rob
ert Praeger, in Illinois, prompts his
observations.
He urges lawyers everywhere to
stand out firmly against lynch law by
, volunteering their services as prose
cuting attorneys, where needed.
He points out the danger of re
prisals by Germany if German citi
zens are subjected to abuse at the
hands of mobs.
And then he says: “Lynch law is
the most cowardly of crimes. Invari
ably the victim is unarmed, while the
men who lynch are artned and large in
numbers. It is a deplorable thing un
der any circumstances, but at thU
time, above all others, it creates an
extremely dangerous condition. I in
vite your help in meeting it."
Mr. Gregory is perfectly right in
pointing out the cowardliness of lynch
law as well as the danger, when Ger
mans are involved.
Hut why in it not just as objection
able to lynch American Negroes?
Why should not the states and all
local authorities use quite as much
diligence to prevent and punish tlic
numerous mob murders of Negroes as
to prevent and punish the mobbing of
German suspects?
The fact that there is no likelihood
of reprisals on the part of the Ne
groes in no sense affects the question
of elemental justice that is involved.
The people do not believe there art
laws adapted to the adequate punish
ment of German spies, and for good
reason.
But the people know that there are
laws adequate for the punishment of
Negroes in every state, with no ten
dency upon the part of juries to with
hold the penalties where guilt has
been fairly well established.
Whatever may be the court house
failures with respect to white crim
male, there is nothing of that charac
ter when Negro criminals are in
volved.
The attorney general might remem
ber another thing. There is absolute
ly no question about the loyalty of
the Negroes. They are responding in
the full measure of the government’s
demand upon them, despite the fact
that they are by no means full bene
ficiaries of the guarantees of the bill
of rights and the constitutions under
which they live.
And the Post would rivet the atten
tion of the attorney general upon thv
fact that the mobbing of 100 Germ a*
spies would not give the lie to the
Declaration of Independence, the con
stitution, the bill of rights, the laws
of the land and uur democratic ideals
in the measure that one lynching of a
black citizen does.
The massacre of enemy spies in
time of war might, indeed, be at least
partially condoned upon the ground
that they are enemies for whom the
ordinary constitutional guarantees ara
not intended, whereas in the case of
the Negro citizen there stands the
solemn pledge of our laws and our
civilization, the violation of which
dishonors every ideal for which our
armies, composed in no inconsiderable
degree of our black fellow citizens,
are fighting.
The Post addresses these remarks
to the attorney general, because the
lynching of Robert Praeger in Illinois
involved no infraction of federal law.
It violated the statutes of Illinois and
the guilty murderers if apprehended
are amenable only to Illinois law.
The attorney general was in fact
lecturing the Noith for the lynching
of a white enemy alien suspected of
being a spy. In the section wherein
the attorney general was born and
reared are cases for his consideration
so brutal and murderous that they
cry out to heaven.—Houston Post.
r
‘Over the Top” once more must be
the record of our city and state
for our boys who are offer
ing their lives for us.
Help the Red Cross!
&
Thomas Kilpatrick & Co.
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Very easy terms.
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