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A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS.
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THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor
$2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FEBRUARY 22, 1919 Vol. IV. No. 34 (Whole' 189)
The Rockefeller
N Labor Creed
A Program of Ten Principles for the
New Partnership—Putting Fair
Play to Work.
By John It. Rockefeller, Jr.
Organization has its <ianger.
Organized capital sometimes con
ducts itself in an unworthy manner,
contrary to law and in disregard of
the interest both of labor and the
public. Such organizations cannot
be too strongly condemned or too vig
orously dealt with. Although they are
the exception, such publicity is gener
ally given to their unsocial acts that
all organizations of capital, however
rightly managed or broadly benefi
cent, are thereby brought under sus
picion.
Likewise it sometimes happens that
organizations of labor are conducted
without just regard for the rights of
the employer or the public and meth
ods and practices adopted which, be
' *" cause unworthy or unlawful, are de
serving of public censure. Such or
ganizations of labor bring discredit
and suspicion upon other organiza
tions which are legitimate and useful,
just as is the case with improper or
ganizations of capital, and they should
be similarly dealt with.
We should not, however, allow the
occasional failure in the working of
the principle of the organization of
labor to prejudice us against the prin
ciple itself, for the principle is fund
amentally sound. In the further de
velopment of the organization of labor
and of large business, the public in
terest as well as the interest of labor
and capital alike will be best advanced
by whatever stimulates every man to
do the best work of which he is cap
able.
While labor unions have secured for
/labor in general many advantages in
hours, wages and standards of work
ing conditions, a large proportion of
the workers of the country are out
side of these organizations and are
to that extent not in a position to
bargain collectively. Therefore an
adequate plan of representation for
labor must be more comprehensive
and all inclusive than the labor union
as now organized.
On the employers’ side representa
tion has been developed through the
establishment of trade organizations,
the purpose of which is to discuss
matters of common interest and to
act in so far as is legally permissable
and to the common advantage, along
lines that are generally similar. It
will be a nice problem to determine
just how labor organizations and em
ployers’ associations can work togeth
er, but certain it is that some method
should be worked out which will profit
X^ to the fullest extent, by the experi
ence, the strength and the leadership
of these groups.
Wouldn’t It Help Industry?
Might not the parties to ^industry,
subscribe to an industrial creed some
what as follows:
1. I believe that labor and capital
are partners, not enemies; that their
interests are common interests, not
opposed, and that neither can attain
the fullest measure of prosperity at
the expense of the other, but only in
association with the other.
2. I believe that the community is
an essential part to industry, and that
it should have adequate representa
tion with the other parties.
3. I believe that the purpose of in
dustry is quite as much to advance
social well-being as material well-be
ing and that in the pursuit of that
purpose the interests of the commun
ity should be carefully considered, the
well-being of the employes as respects
living and working conditions should
be fully guarded, management should
bo adequately recognized and capital
should be justly compensated and that
failure in any of these particulars
means loss to all four.
4. I believe that every man is en
titled to an opportunity to earn a
living, to fair wages, to reasonable
hours of work and proper working
conditions, to a decent home, to the
opportunity to play, to learn, to wor
ship and to love, as well as to toil,
and that the responsibility rests as
/heavily upon industry as upon gov
ernment or society, to see that these
conditions and opportunities prevail.
6. I believe that industry, efficiency
and initiative, wherever found, should
be encouraged and adequately reward
ed and that indolence, indifference
and restriction of production should
be discountenanced.
6. I believe that the provision of
adequate means for uncovering gricv
(Contlnued on Page I)
JIM CROW SYSTEM
CAUSE OF MURDER
Sergeant Edgar Caldwell, Who Shot
Street Car Conductor Who Ejected
Him, Given Death Sentence by Jury.
Anniston, Ala.—Senrt. Edgar Cald
well, Negro soldier who shot and killed
Conductor Cecil Linton and seriously
wounded Motorman Kelsie Morrison
on an Oxford Lake car, December 15,
was found guilty of murder in the
first degree by the jury, which fixed
his punishment at death.
The shooting of the two street car
men occrrued on Constantine street,
opposite the plant of the Ornamental
Foundry Company, and within a block
or two of the home of the dead con
ductor. Caldwell is said to have in
sisted on riding well up toward the
front of the car in the section set
aside for the use of white passengers.
The conductor forced mm to the rear
and in the fight which ensued Cald
well was ejected from the car by Lin
ten.
The motoiman took a hand in the
fight ami when landed on the ground
he is said to have drawn h is pistol and
opened fire.
The defendant was brought before
Judge Merrill Monday fci sentence.
He was represented during the trial
hv ex-State Senator Charles D. Kline
and Judge Basil M. Allen of Birming
ham.
CHICAGO LAD WINS
HONORS aT CRANE
Chicago, 111., Feb. 18.—The only
representative of his race to graduate
with scholastic honors ip a class of
seventy-two whites who completed
four year terms at the CVane Techni
cal school here last Wednesday eve
ning is Lloyd F. Smith, son of Mrs.
C. A. Williams, 6540 St. Lawrence av
enue. In the commencement records
considerable spare was given in the
praise of young Smith for his work in
architectural mathematics. Aside from
winning honors in the class room,
he has won them in athletics, having
been a member of the heavyweight
soccer team of ’17, ’IS and track team
of ’16, '17, and 18. Followers of the
cinder path will remember this stel
lar performance in The euarter mile
event of the Tribune meet held last
summer at Grant park, which landed
the City Playground Championship
for Doolittle Playground, 35th and
Cottage Grove avenue. Smith was a
member of the S. A. T. C. unit of the
Crane Junior College.
FORM SOCIETY FOR
BETTER HOUSING
Chicago, 111.—Better living condi
tions and ownership of property by
Negroes of Chicago are sought
through the organization of the Pyra
mid Building and Loan Association,
3529 South State street, according to
an announcement recently made pub
lic.
The officers of the nev. society said
they have worked out a comprehen
sive scheme of rebuilding the Negro
district and improving sanitary and
housing conditions. The plan has
been approved by members of the
Chicago plan commission, they de
clared.
The association is incorporated un
der the state laws, with SfiO.OOO sub
scribed. The following officers have
been elected: George H. Jackson,
president; William If. Terrell, secre
tary, and Charles S. Duke, treasurer.
ENGLISH HOODLUMS
BEAT NATIVES
Nigeria, Wist Africa.—The natives
here are incensed over the recent
whipping of a native merchant’s em
ployees by some Englishmen. It ap
pears that the merchant purchased a
property from the government and
moved to it with his employees. They
were met, however, by a gang of
English hoodlums who heat the mer
chant’s employees unmercifully be
cause "the merchant had dared to
buy property near houses where Eu
ropeans live.”
A SPECIES OF GERMAN CRUELTY
London, England.—A photograph
just reached this country showing
how the late Chief Magato, of the
Herreros, was buried alive by the
German Captain Schiel. It shows the
chief’s head above the ground and
his neck cemented round in order to
form a slab. It Is reported that he
remained in this position for several
days at the mercy of white ants, be
fore death put an end to his suffer
ings.
I«. - . ■, • . ■ , . . - •1; it I j j j | j 11 j III liliiTv. ... f- n _ ■■ :
THE CITY OF VERDUN—Nearly All Omaha’s Colored Boys Are Billeted Near This Famous French City.
Our Negro Soldiers’
Brilliant War Record
Saw the Hottest Fighting in the Argonne and Elsewheie—Entire
Battalion Got Croix de Guerre for Heroic Conduct.
'PHE leading newspapers of the country are publishing lauda
* tory and fascinatingly interesting articles concerning the
valorous deeds of Colored American troops on European battle
fields. French and British newspapers also ring with plaudits
for the heroism displayed by their Black colonials. These facts
are most significant. A writer in the New York Times of Febru
ary 9 gives the following account of how America's “Negro”
troops fought on the western front:
NEGRO soldiers made a record as
fighters in this war as they did
I in the Spinish-American and civil
wars. Fighting for the first time on
the soil of the world’s most famous
battlefields—Europe—and for the
first time brought into direct com
parison with the best soldiers of Ger
many, Great Britain and Fiance, they
showed themselves able to hold their
own where the tests of courage, en
durance, and aggressiveness were
most severe.
Colored troops fought vuliantly at
Chateau-Tliierry, Soissons, on the
\esle, in Champagne, in the Argonnc,
end in the final attacks in the Metz
region. The entire first battalion of
Ihe 367th infantry—“Buffaloes”—was
awarded the Croix de Guerre for hero
ism in the drive on Metz. Most re
markable of all, they received their
baptism of battle in this attack; at the
start they won honors which veterans
ol many conflicts have failed to cap
ture.
In previous engagements of the war,
for distinguished service, three Col-1
01 ed regiments as units were awarded
the Croix de Guerre, which bestows
011 each member the right to wear the
coveted badge. When the fighting
stopped the Negro troops were near
est the Rhine.
Not until now has the story as a
whole of the part played by our Negro
tioops in France been available. The
total number of Negro combat troops
was 42,000. These consisted of the
02d division, commanded by Major
General Charles G. Ballou, and four
regiments of the provisional 03d divi
sion. To describe the Colored man as
a fighter in a war which, because of
the terrible weapons used, called for
more pure nerve than any other war,
three ways present themselves: to
show the Negro in individual exploits,
then in a regiment, engaged separate
ly with white troops, and finally, to
show him in a battle in a division en
tirely composed of men of his own
race.
Negro as Individual Fighter.
Here is an individual exploit:
The 368th infuntrv, Colored, fought
in the Argonne. It became necessary
to send a runner with a message to
the left flank of an American firing
line. The way was across an open
field swept by heavy enemy machine
gun fire.
Volunteers were called for. Pri
vate Edward Saunders of Company I
responded. Before he had gone far a
shell cut him down. As he fell he
cried to his comrades;
“Some one come and get this mes
sage. I am wounded.”
Lieutenant Robert L. Campbell of
the same company sprang to the res
cut. He dashed across the shell-swept
space, picked up the wounded private,
and, with the Germans fairly hailing
ballets around him, carried his man
back to the American lines.
r'or the valbr shown both were
cited for the Distinguished Service
Cross, and Lieutenant Campbell, in
addition, was recommended for a cap
taincy.
Another single detail, taken from
this same company.
John Baker, having volunteered,
was taking a message through heavy
shell fire to another part of his line.
A shell struck his hand, tearing away
part of it, but the Negro unfaltering,
delivered the message
He was asked why he did not seek
aid for his wounds before completing
the journey.
“I thought the message might con
tain information that would save
lives,” was the answer.
Under the same Lieutenant Robert
L. Campbell, a few Colored soldiers,
armed only with their rifles, trench
knives, and hand grenades, picked up
liom shell holes along the way, were
moving over a road in the Chateau
Thlerry sector. Suddenly their course
was crossed by the firing of a Ger
man machine gun. They tried to lo
cate it by the direction of the bullets,
hut could not. To their right, a little
ahead lay a space covered with thick
underbrush; just back of it was an
open field.
Lieutenant Campbell, who knew by
the direction of the bullets that his
) arty had not been seen bv the Ger
mans, ordered one of his men, with a
rope which they happened to have, to
< rawl to the thick underbrush, and
to tie the rope to several stems of the
I rush; and then to withdraw as fas
as possible and pull the rope, making
the brush shake as though men were
crawling through it. The purpose wan
to draw direct fire from the machine
gun, and, by watching, locate its posi
tion.
The ruse worked, Lieutenant Camp
bell then ordered thiee of his men to
steal out and flank the machine gun
on one side, while he and two others
moved up and flanked it on the other
side.
The brush was shaken more violent
ly by the secret rope. The Germans,
their eyes focused on the brush,
poured a hail of bullets into it. Lieu
tenant Campbell gave the signal. The
flanking party dashed up; with their
hand grenades they killed four of the
bodies and raptured the remaining
three—also the machine gun.
In the larger bodies of Colored
troops, from the regiment to the di
vision, the participation of the Negro
soldiers naturally divides itself into
two parts on account of the way they
were sent over. The Negro division,
composed of drafted men, did not get
into action until right at the last, but
individual regiments did. The four
regiments that went over first were
composed of old .National Guard units
recruited up to the required quota.
These were the 369th, 370th, 371st,
and 372d infantry regiments, after
war organized into the provisional 93d
division. Until just before the last
days of the fighting, however, they
were brigaded separately with French
troops. Three of these regiments, the
269th, the 371st, and the 3722d, have
received the high honor of the Croix
de Guerre from the French govern
ment for distinguished service. Sixty
one ofieers and men of the 370th have
Leen similarly decorated.
Fighting Beside the French.
Here is the fighting record of one
of these regiments sandwiched among
the French forces—the 372d. It was
the first to go over. Practically all its
line officers, as well as privates, were
Colored.
They arrived in Fiance on April 14
and went into training with the
trench on April 28 On June 6 the
3"2d was sent to the trenches just
west of Verdun, oecunving the famous
battle-swept Hill 304 and sections at
Four de Paris and Vauqois. On Hill
304 thousands of French and German
soldiers had fallen as the battleline
swung back and forward, and that this
hill was given to the Negroes to hold
shows that as soldiers they had al
ready won the confidence of the
French.
The regiment’s first engagement
was in the Champagne sector, with
Montoir as its objective. Here came
the real test; the Colored men were
eager to get into the fight. They
cheered and sang when the announce
ment came that their chance hail ar
rived—but the question was: back of
their enthusiasm had they the staying
qualities drilled into Kureopean troops
through centuries of training in the
science of warfare ?
The answer was that some of the
heaviest and most effective fighting
of the day was done by the Negro
regiment. From June 6 to Sept. 10
the 372d was stationed in the bloody
Argonne Forest. On the night of
September 25 they were summoned to
take part in the Aigonne offensive
and were in that t :iTific drive, one
of the decisive engagements of the
war , from Sept. 26 to Oct. 7. In the
nine days’ battle the Negroes not only
proved their fighting qualities in an
ordeal such as men have rarely been
called upon to face, but these quali
ties, in deadly striking power and
stubborn resistance in crises, stood out
with such distinction that the regi
ment won the coveted Croix de
Guerre.
During che battel they aided in cap
turing 600 prisoners, fifteen big guns,
twenty minenwerfers. rounded up an
enormous amount of engineering ma
terial, large supplies of artillery mu
nition, and brought down three Ger
man airplanes. For these achieve
ments they were at once cited for
bravery and efficiency in the general
orders issued by their French com
mander. The casualty list of the 372d
in this and previous fighting carried
500 names of men killed, wounded,
and gassed.
Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 19.—The
charter has been received for the new
$150,000 Masonic Hall to be erected
shortly. The officers arc G. Grant
Williams, president; John C. Morton,
vice president; John P. Scott, secre
tary; James R. Williams, assistant;
John S. Tricks, treasurer. "*■
British Guiana Aiert
and Wide Awake
Inhabitants of Colony Watching
Events at Peace Conference and the
Part Played There by the Republics
of Liberia and Haiti.
URGE UNION FOR JUSTICE
Editorial Leader in Tribune Voices
Sentiment of Country Calling for
Sinking of Differences and Demand,
ing Fuller Rights.
(Special to The Monitor by G. McL.
Ogle, Staff Correspondent.)
T1UXT0N, Demerara, British Gui
-LJana, Feb. 8.—It may be interest
ing to the Colored people of the Unit
ed States to know that we of this sec
tion are keeping closely in touch with
events taking place there as well as
throughout the British Empire. At
present our eyes are centered upon
the peace conference and we tre
mendously interested in ascertaining
what the outcome of that conference
will be in safe-guarding the rights
of Negro peoples throughout the
world. As evidence that the people
of British Guiana are keenly alert to
the improvement of their condition
and appreciate the necessity for unit
ed action the following editorial leader
captioned “The Negro and the Peace
Conference,” which was published in
the Tribune of Georgetown, the only
newspaper controlled by Colored peo
ple, in its issue of January 26th, -will
prove interesting:
In this backward British colony
where its civilization was entrusted
for the most part to un-Christian and
highly immoral slave owners and their
offspring and from its evil reputa
tion for yellow' fever and subsequently
malaria has generally kept the better
class of Britishers even up to the pres
ent, ignorance stalks and abounds
in what ought to be civilized and re
lined ranks, and so it has come to a
surprise to many, including Europeans
that at the conference there are Ne
groes accredited delegates from the
Negro republics of Haiti and Liberia.
When the announcement was made
that President Wilson of the United
States of America was taking a Col
ored American to the conference as
adviser on questions affeting the Ne
go anti his offspring, and when a
cablegram reached the Hon. A. B.
Brown at Christmas time urging the
Negroes of this colony to make re
spectful representations through the
the governor to his majesty the king
to have a West Indian Guianese Ne
gro representative adviser to the Brit
ish delegates at the conference for a
similar reason, the colossal ignorance
and prejudice of many otherwise re
spectable inhabitants in high places
were laid bare, and it was amusing to
hear the wild comment of several of
these W'ould-be wiseacres.
_ The strength and majesty of the
Great British Empire have never rest
ed on brute force, animal passions,
and doubtful morality of her half edu
cated and semi-sivilized sons who
venture forth into the colonies to
benefit themselves. Like the United
States, Great Britain’s adult daughter
country, the United Kingdom has al
ways produced men of unimpeachable
virtue, earnest morality and conscien
tious righteousness to keep in check
the masses of worldlings, and by their
courage and unswerving rectitude to
preserve the Christian spirit which
has for centuries now permeated Brit
ish statesmanship and leavened the
British world. The student of history
must be impressed with the wonderful
progress of the island of Great Brit
ain ever since the Reformation move
ment, and the great contrast between
Great Britain from its epoch of Pu
ritanism on to that of religious free
dom and Roman Catholic Spain, or
Austria, or Portugal. The United
States of America have developed
along the same lines of religious
thought as Great Britain, and, behold
the rapid growth and the sturdiness
of that great country'. Surely then
Righteousness Exalteth a Nation, and
henceforth all men shall realize this
fact. The godliness of President Wil
son, who spent his life in scholarship
and teaching in the University prior
to his elevation to the White House
at Washington has made him best fit
ted to lay down the points of settle
ment in the Peace Conference of the
w'orld, and today it is fully demon
strated that worldly success is not
the best training and recommendation
for selecting rulers of nations and
countries. Henceforth In our colony
of British Guiana we must realize
the value of a sound education, we
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