*
THE MONITOR
! A Weekly Newspaper devoted to the civic, social and religious Interests
of the Colored People of Nebraska and the Nation, with the desire to con
tribute something to the general good and upbuilding of the community and
of the race.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.
Entered as Second-Class Mall Matter July 2, 1915, at the Postofflce 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 Editors.
George Wells Parker, Contributing Editor. Bert Patrick, Business
Manager. Fred C. Williams, Traveling Representative.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES, *2.00 A YEAR; *1.00 6 MONTHS; 60c 3 MONTHS
Advertising Rates, 60 cents an Inch per Issue.
Address, The Monitor, 1119 North Twenty-first Street, Omaha, Neb.
Telephone Webster 4243.
■_I
THE NEW YEAR
—
ANOTHER year is speeding on to
the dusty tomb of the ages and at
the portals of the present another
stands waiting and smiling. Man, the
mummer and the ghost and the highly
sensitized wraith of ancestral ten
dencies, welcomes it with outstretched
arms as he always welcomes things
new and filled with promise. Seldom
does he realize that all the years were
filled with promise and that if their
promise was not realized, it was be
cause he did not help them come true.
This New Year is a year of peace,
after four years of bloody, cruel war,
and its greatest promise is that na
tions will lay aside war and try to
make peace perpetual. It is a dream
that laps the horizons of infinity and
brings a vision of heaven down to
clumsy man, but it will ever remain
a dream unless man means it and
does it. It was a man alone who
blotted out the stars of peace and
man alone who must find them again.
God gave him Eden, but he chose the
earth and all his history has been a
blind struggle to make his choice a
replica of his pristine home. The time
is propitious and the world ready, but
peace must be done for all, not for
the few. It must mean that the
black man in the jungle will be as
safe in his home, as secure on Brit
ain’s soil or Americas plains.
If the proposed peace which this
New Yeas brings, and for which our
country stands sponsor, means all that
has gone before, it shall indeed be
a Hapy New Year, a year that shall
stand out shining above all the con
stellated years. It shall become a year
that will be as green in the memory
of men as the morning of creation or
as that night when the star shone
down on Bethlehem and the world
rejoiced in a dream that men forgot
till now.
THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
IT appears that President Wilson’s
proposal of a League of Nations is
to become the paramount issue at the
great peace conference at Versailles.
No less a notable than Gilbert K.
Chesterton says that the great diffi
culty will be found in trying to con
vince the Latin peoples that the pro
posed league is not to be for the pur
pose of perpetuating the power of the
white races.
There is undoubtedly some truth in
this, but the real truth will not be
come patent until it becomes known
how far the factor of the "self-de
termination” of peoples enters into the
final adjustment of world relations.
Already the English papers have
hinted that “self-determination” will
not apply south of the Suez, and if
this be true, then it lends color to
the conclusion that the league will, in
subtle purpose, provide for the con
tinued supremacy of the white races.
Whether the Latin races and Japan
will enter objections, is problematical.
Japan has already stated, through
Premier Okuma, that she will not
meddle with colonial questions in Af
rica, but the other Mediterranean pow
ers have made no statements along
these lines.
The final program, however, will
probably show that Africa is still to
be the playground for European ex
ploiters and that its untold wealth
will continue to flow into the coffers
of the great nations so that they may
continue their power and rule. But
time sets all things to rights. Africa
is waking up and stretching out her
hands to her kin throughout the world
and ultimately those of her blood will
unite and demand justice. Unity is
the slogan and watchword, for without
unity there will be no realization.
POLITNESS
IN every day life there is nothing one
needs more than politness. It is
surprising to know how far this per
sonal attribute will carry one and how
it will smooth out paths which other
wise might be a bit rugged. Our peo
ple need it and need it badly. As a
rule, the majority of us carry a pro
verbial chip on our shoulders and at
the slightest pretext we swell up and
want to fight. We somehow want
to look upon every white man and
woman whom we do not know as Our
potential enemy ai d approach them
with a reserve that is somewhat
frigid. As peculiar as it may sound,
the average man and woman whom
we meet on the streets and in busi
ness, never thinks of prejudice un
less some offender brings it up by
unpleasant action or word. A smile
and politeness carries one anywhere.
Out in the north end of the city,
where many of our people live, there
are generally crowds of young people
who appear to want to make things
unpleasant for white pedestrians who
frequent that neighborhood. Improp
er remarks, boisterous actions and the
frequent jostling of persons, are
among the greatest faults and they
should be stopped. These young peo
ple should have learned politeness in
their homes, but since many of them
have not, the duty of teaching it must
fall to the Sunday schools, churches,
social gatherings and, if necessary,
the law.
We hope that those of our ministers
and others who come into frequent
contact with this young element, will
impress the value of politeness and
courtesy. It is essential that we pos
sess these qualities more than others,
because we suffer some handicaps
from the start. Do not teach servilty,
but politeness. It is always worth
while.
THE TILLMAN MEMORIAL
ON Sunday, December 15 the United
__ senate and house of representa
tives convened to deliver eulogies
upon the late Senator Benjamin F.
Tillman. Several members took part
in the exercises and each, while ad
mitting that Tillman had striking lim
itations, also had striking abilities and
among them ability as a debater, log
ician and keen student of sectional
and national conditions. AH paid tri
bute to his sincerity and to the depth
of his convictions, however much they
sometimes grated upon the sensitive
ness of the north.
It is true that Tillman was a great
logician, that he was sincere and that
he was a deep student of national af
fairs. He knew the Negro and knew
him perhaps as no other southerner
ever knew him, and knowing him, he
never feared to tell what he knew of
him and why he was a menace to the
white man’s supremacy. Unlike other
southerners, Tillman never hesitated
to admit that it was the fear of the
Negro’s potentialities that made him
try to embitter the north against him.
At Harvard he told the vast assem
blage which gathered to hear him,
that nature had made the Negro the
only competitor of the white man,
and that unless the south withheld
from him education and the chances
for mental advancement, the Negro
would eventually rise superior to the
whites of the south. This is true and
Tillman knew that it was true and
the south knows it is true, only Till
man was naturally blunt and wanted
the north to know the real truth,
rather than create a blind prejudice
upon a foundation of ignorance.
Tillman is dead and we will let his
name rest in peace, but some day the
world will realize that the fear which
Tillman so willingly expressed is the
same fear which grips the south to
day and makes it so unjust to a
large part of its population.
READ, MARK—AND THINK
The Gold Coast Leader, one of our
African exchanges, publishes the fol
lowing article from the pen of G. C.
M., on The White Man’s Burden, which
furnishes much food for thought and
is significant of the trend of modem
African opinion.
“It is somewhat remarkable how
words and phrases come to stay. From
being leisurely employed in a few
fiction magazines less than a decade
ago, ‘The White Man’s Burden’ has
crept into more serious monthlies and
now bids fair to become a staple
phrase in certain well-known West
African newspapers published in Lon
don and to gain popularity among a
certain class of would-be apostles of
European philanthropy. But what
does it mean? It means the self
assumed governance and tutelage of
African and other peoples whom the
European has undertaken to teach his
ways, including his worship of the
almighty dollar, his whisky and soda
drinking, his forgeries and other
crimes previously unknown to Afri
cans, his ambition to cultivate the
society of so-called cultured men and
to ingratiate himself with men of
rank, and his love of artificial life; in
a word, it means Europeanization.
In practical politics, this is trans
formed by the immutable law of cause
and effect, into the burden which
Europeans have superimposed upon
I
African races willy-nilly. Nor does |
the grateful but unfortunate people '
apepar to resent it much, recognizing
as they do the futility and helpless- j
ness of the situation, being convinced
it would be expecting too much to j
have an ounce of European "goods”
without an overdose of his “evils.”
Experience has clearly demonstrated j
the fact that the Eureopean is “an
austere master, gathering where he
has not sown”—whether in driving
“profitable trade in human chattels,”
or in directing punitive expeditions
against weaponless “bushmen," or in
bargaining for cocoa or palm oil deals
in the market; that his religion and
civilization are only aids to social
limbs of commercial Eurepoeaniza
tion; that his true mission to these
parts is to possess himself of the
African’s goods—his lands, mark! just
glance at the map of Africa) yea, his
very soul, and deal with it as it may i
please him; in short, that he seeks
the denationalization of the African.
This is no imaginary or idle com
plaint and a little reflection will con- I
vince the most cynical that the Afri
can is no fool. Happily, there is ample
reason to believe that the European
has been reckoning without his host,
who stoutly refuses to be bamboozled
any longer, and makes bold in divers
ways to challenge him to declare the
faith that is in him. In the face of
his oft-vaunted assertions of “protec
tion” the African reads “exploitation,” .
and is inclined to regard his talk about
“salvation full and free" as all hum
bug and much of a piece with the
whole process of Europeanization and -
denationalization. And who shall
blame him ?
“But there really exists a “White
man’s Burden,” namely, the faithful
discharge of the responsibility that at
taches to every cultured individual or
race whose consciousness has been
awakened to a sense of the obligation
which he or it is under to the other
races of the world: a heavenly-bom
desire to help others to realize them
selves rather than to discourage their
efforts, to nourish rather than starve
out the natural and healthy aspira
tions of a promising race. That is the
'Whiteman's Burden’—his noblesse
oblige."
A NEW NEGRO NATION
A scheme will be presented to the
peace congress, and it is said that
among its backers are many eminent
men both in this country and in Eu
rope, which it is claimed, if adopted,
will go far toward settling the race
question. It is proposed to turn over
the German African colonies, in which
there are 12,000,000 people, to the
“African race,” not simply to Col
ored people of those colonies. Edu
cated Colored pepole residing in all
other nations are to be asked to go
there and build up a nation of Ne
groes, that shall at first be under
the tutelage of the entente powers
until a stable government is estab
lished, and then become an independ
ent nation on an equality with all
other nations.
There is no doubt that there are
enough educated Negroes in the world
to set up a stable government in Af
rica, but there is great doubt whether
any number of them will want to go
there. The republic of Liberia was
established with the same end in view,
but it has never made any advance
ment which has attracted the atten
tion of the world. Africa naturally
belongs to the Negro, but if that race
will not dcevlop its great natural re
sources some other race will.—Omaha
World-Herald.
CONCERNING LETTERS
FROM OCR READERS
THE MONITOR has an interesting
department entitled “Letters
From Our Readers,” under which we
are pleased to publish short letters
from our readers expressing their
views on public questions. We~wish
our readers would make more use of
this department than they do. Letters
should be reasonably short and plain
ly written on one side of the paper
and signed by the writer.
This week we have received an in
teresting letter captioned “Why?"
which was gladly given space. The
writer comments on an editorial from
the Pittsburg Coruier taking the posi
tion, which The Monitor indorsed, that
the talk of sending Negro delegates
from America to the peace conference
is foolish arfd impracticable. A little
thought will show that no matter how
desirable such a commission might be
it is impracticable. Only the United
States government has authority to
send duly accredited representatives
or delegates to the peace conference.
With what authority would Negro
delegates be clothed.
We know that organizations have
selected delegates to attend the peace
conference and that the public is being
requested in some cases to contribute
funds to send them, which to us is
an undignified and questionable pro
ceeding. While not impugning their
motives, we do question the wisdom
of those who are urging the sending
of special American Negro delegates
to Versailles. We think the Courier's
position is sound.
We are, however, pleased to have
our readers express their views on
these and other questions and we
hope that “Letters From Our Read
ers” department will be more gener
ally used.
DEMOCRACY
By Ben E. Burrell
Oh, Chosen of all chosen words,
Thou slogan of the great and free;
Today the Allied nations breathe
The sacred word, Democracy.
And rising god-like from the dust,
To thee the world new altars raise;
To thee the weaker peoples cry;
Thou art their canticle of praise.
And like the never-ending fall
Of waters from a bubbling fount,
Thou marchest with sweet conquering
tread
Like the great Sermon on the
Mount.
And thrones are crumbling into dust;
And sceptres slowly pass away;
Upon the world falls newer light;
It is the breaking of the day.
While anger stalks across the earth,
The lamps of Liberty are lit;
On kindred states of dusky tribes
Thy cloven tongues of flame shall
sit.
Then shall my race to vict’ry move,
That wondrous things the world may
see,
How black men bear the flag of faith,
Democracy! Democracy!
,
America, the Negro race
Is waiting for thy promised word.
The tempest passing o’er the earth,
The dead and dying leaves have
stirred.
Thou canst not be a nation' great,
W'ith half as bondsmen and half
free;
Give Freedom unto whom thou wilt,
But give us Democracy!
|_Obvious Observations
THIS rain in December business
might be all right down among
the cotton and the cane, but up here
we would like to see something that
reminds us of the North Pole.
The Allies had better throw out the
switch on their faculty of observation
and nail it there, or the wily Teuton
might slip in a wedge and wreck ev
erything at the peace table.
One column of news matter never
made a newspaper, just as one bed
bug never made a commercial hotel.
Since Unk Sam slammed a tax on
cigars, we never realized how much
we loved a pipe.
Many a friend female feels like
slapping herself because she made a
present to another friend female who
didn’t give one to her.
If the new congress does all it
claims it is going to do, we’re afraid
it will have President Wilson in a
psycopathic ward cutting out paper
dolls. *
Scientists will discover an immedi
ate cure for the flu after the flue !
has flued. It’s always that way.
A match isn’t worth three whoops
unless it is altogether. Neither is a
race.
Bruce Grit says: “The Monitor is
the best printed, best edited and best
published Negro newsapeer in the
country.” Thanks, Mr. Grit, you
ought to know.
Thanking you kindly for your kind
and earnest attention, we will now
cogitate and try to remember to whom
we lent our last and only umbrella.
SKITS OF SOLOMON
The New Year
NEW Year’s day is the uno annual
time when we arise from our men
tal deseutude and decide to put a
crimp in numerous and various falts
that decorate our coporeal frames and
psychological compositions. It is noth
ing more or less than annual hypnotic
hocus pocus, because we have abso
lutely no intention whatever of trying
to walk the tight rope of virtue and
drag down the halo of holiness to
crown our beans. For a whole year
we have followed out the year pre
vious and next year will find us hunt
ing the same opportunities to hand
friend neighbor a lemon. New Year’s
is just the annual festival for us to
flim flam ourselves and make our
selves believe that we have got some
good traits in us which we haven’t.
For instance, we resolute to treat
friend neighbor and competitor to a
plateful of sympathy, love and char
ity, but its all fake solicitude. On
January second, if friend neighbor
disturbs our New Year's equilibrium,
we are just as ready to hand him a
collection of tabasco English as we
were on December thirty-first. This
whole outcrop of New Year flirting
with good resolutions is simply to re
mind us mulgasabs that virue is a
word found chiefly in the dictionary
and seldom away from home. The
main trouble with being good is that
the other fellow won’t try to be good
along with you. He is always ready
to hand vou a mitt full of trouble
and remind vou that life is a game
of give and take. If you want to do
the take-stunt and net pass any of the
give-innk. your name is Mod.
I $100.00 !
for the Right Guess!
{• °
£ What is the meaning of this beautiful insignia and 5;
£ why has it been adopted by the Hamitic League of the ;;
£ World ? ;; „„
£ June 1, 1919, we wall pay $100.00 to man, w;oman or ;;
■{• child, who sends in the correct story. You wall find a 4
X hint in the League’s GREAT WORK:
5 The Children
f of the Sun _ j
£ The book that is waking up America and establish- £
X ing the Negro as the greatest race of all human history.
£ Send 25 cents (no stamps) for a copy of this won- !!
X derful study in historical research and become a mem- v
£ ber of the greatest educational organization ever found- ;;
£ ed for the uplift of the African races throughout the
X world. Then study the insignia and send in your story.
£
£ THE HAMITIC LEAGUE OF THE WORLD ’!
X 93.3 North 27th Street. Omaha, Neb.
4
6
THE CRUSADER
The Greater Negro Magazine.
Winning a welcome everywhere. You must have it.
A Monthly. One Dollar a Year.
THE CRUSADER
2299 Seventh Avenue, * • • - New York City