Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1919)
• i =■ i The Monitor l^j . /lio A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS. %0j THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor ' _____ $2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, MARCH 8, 1919 Vol. IV. No. 36 (Whole No! lb*) “Jim-Crowed On X^ Ship” Says Officer The Treatment Accorded Brave Black Heroes on Their Return to the Land Which Went Into War lor an Ideal. IS THIS TO BE REWARD? Segregated on the Olympia by "South ern Commander,” Who Dodges Is sue When Men Make Manly Pro test—Colors Lost, the Charge. By Philip A. Payne. NEW YORK.—Negro officers of the 366th infantry, Chicago’s Ne gro draft regiment, who returned from France today, charged they had been “Jim Crowed” on the transport Olympic and that a brigadier general and colonel, ranking officers aboard the ship, had refused to rescind an order segregating them • from the white officers. Their charges, made in writing and presented to newspaper men by a Negro Y. M. C. A. secretary, acting __« •on behalf of the officers, were sub stantiated by Negro officers of the 360th Field Artillery, the 367th In fantry and the 317th Sanitary Train, the other Negro units on the trans port. Officers Refused Justice. They said Brig. Gen. Charles Gaer hardt, commanding all troops on the Olympic, and Col. George H. McMas ter of the 365th Infantry, were “southerners of the old school, with all the old traditions, and refused to see justice done the Negro officers.” British naval officers commanding the Olympic, told a delegation of the protesting Negro officers the segre gation order had been issued to them by their white commander. Twelve Negro officers of the 365th and the other organizations gath ered in the cabin of the regimental chaplain while the Y. M. C. A. secre tary gave a copy of the charges to reporters. The “Y.” man said he was acting for the officers who feared court-martial proceedings if their i names were used. They substantiated his statement. “Fair Play Denied.” Their specific charges were: That Negro officers of the 365th in fantry, 317th Sanitary Train, 367th Infantry and 350th F. A. were grouped together, irrespective of rank, in a separate dining room on board the Olympic, while white lieu tenants, captains and field officers of the same organization, with nurses of enlisted men’s rank, Y. M. C. A. secretaries and field clerks were seated in the main dining room with passengers. That the demand of the Negro offi cers for fair play in letters to Com mander General Charles Gearhardt resulted in his dodging the issue by saying the Negro officers go the same service as was given in the main dining room. That feeling among the officers is aggravated by the fact that the regi mental flag and colors of the 365th Infantry were lost. The Negro offi cers say this is the result of negli gence and lack of regard for their flag. Negro Captain in Tears. With tears rolling down his cheeks, a Negro captain said if the regiment paraded in Chicago it would march without its colors. • “These colors which were paid for by the pennies of little Negro children in Chicago and formally presented to the regiment at the Coliseum, were taken away from us after hostilities ended to be ..alvaged,” he said. Every Negro officer and enlisted man in this regiment—and many of them have been cited for bravery— bums with indignation because of this added insult.” Scores of enlisted men verified the statement made by the captain.—Chi cago Herald-Examiner. MRS. ASTOR THROWS KISSES TO NEW YORK’S FIFTEENTH New York.—Bullet-dented “tin” helmets crowned the woolly heads of Col. Bill Hayward’s “hell fighters,” New York’s old Fifteenth (Colored) regiment, as they marched up Fifth avenue the other day amid the plaud its of great throngs of white and Col ored people. Mrs. Vincent Astor thrust her head through a window of her home and treated all and sundry who might care to look to the sight of the wife of one of the world’s richest men show ering kisses with both hands to the dusky heroes who had done so much to uphold the honor of America and the freedom of the world. SEEKING TO SAVE SNOWDEN’S LIFE _ Remarkable Effort Being Exerted hy Members of Both Races in Mary land to Save Convicted Negro From Execution. (By Associated Negro Press.) Baltimore, Md., March 6.—The city and the whole state are aroused over the refusal of Governor Harrington to commute the sentence of John Snowden to life imprisonment. Snowden was convicted of the mur- i rler of Lottie Brandon, white, a year ago. The case was appealed and the decision of the lower court sustained. Final appeal was made to the United States supreme court this week, on the ground that Snowden was not tried by a “jury of his peers,” that is that there were no colored men on the gl and jury or the trial jury. It is also alleged in the appeal to | the highest court of the land, that j excitement and race prejudice were so j rampant, at the trial that the proper j form of indictment and passing of j sentence were not gone through by the j court. Should this case be passed favorab ly by the supreme court, Colored peo ple will no longer be barred from service on coroner’s and petit juries in the state. Late Monday the governor was vis ited by representatives from the jury, which passed sentence on Snowden, and presented a petition signed by eleven of them praying commutation of the sentence to life imprisonment. Petition was also presented by sixty white business men of Annapolis where the crime was committed. Four hundred persons, mostly white, filled every available space in the govern or’s private office and urged that Snowden's life be spared. No such demonstration in behalf of a Colored man convicted of crime has been witnessed before in the his tory o,f the state. The governor remained obdurate in his refusal to commute the sentence, and it is said that he is influenced in his decision by his southern wife. White and Colored people so far have raised more than $3,000 in fight ing this case through the supreme court. The conviction is state wide that the woman’s husband committed the crime. TO PROTECT COLORED GIRLS Memphis, Term.—'The association for the protection of Colored girls is pushing a vigorous campaign for $5, 000 in the Memphis territory to be raised this month. This is a move ment in harmony with similar plans by the federal government to safe guard the health and morals of the cities. ONE REAL GEN. IN DEMOCRACY Washington, D. C.—Gen. H. L. Scott must be given credit for recommend ing to the war department the ad mission of Colored women into the Red Cross as nurses, both at home and abroad. Under General Scott a number of military officers in command of Col ored troops w'ere court-martialed for calling soldiers “N-.” UNION PACIFIC PRAISES COLORED OPERATOR Omaha, Neb.—Alexander Travis, employed recently as an operator by the Union Pacific and placed in charge of the Lane Cut-Off station, is re ported by the railroad to be a most efficient man Mr Travis came Oma ha several months ago, having been employed on the Big Four as operator for several years. FIRST NEGRO TO SIT ON JURY Milwaukee, Wis.—The first case of a Colored man sitting on a jury in Milwaukee circuit court occurred re cently when Lawson Forde, 724 Win nebago street, was selected as a ve nireman in a case being tried in Judge Turner’s court. According to the dep uties and judges of the court it was the first time to their knowledge that a Colored man had sat in a jury box in that city. COLORED GIRL APPOINTED For the first time in the history of Illinois a young Colored woman, Miss Lillian M. Hunt of Chicago, has been appointed one of the clerks and sten ographers of the Fifty-first General Assembly of Illinois. There are about seven other ladies holding such posi tions, but they are white. LEADERSHIP AND RACE BUILDING College and University Training Eloquently Urged by Head of Howard University as an Essentail for the Important Task of Efficient Leadership Among Race. MUST GUIDE OWN PEOPLE President Durkee Outlines a Broad Program for Higher Culture for Negro Race—Essence of His Progres sive Program ior a “Greater Howard Univer sity”—Thoughtful Men Approve Policy. (Special to The Monitor by It. W. | Thompson.) WASHINGTON, D. C.—At the ses- ! sion of the Conference on War Problems of Negro Labor, held last j Monday at Carnegie Public Library, I under call of Dr. George E. Haynes, | director of Negro Economics, Dr. J. Stanley Durkee, the new ami forward looking president of Howard Univer sity, in discussing the general topic of “Education and Negro Workers," delivered the following address, which has been generally accepted and in dorsed as the essence of the progres sive program adopted by Dr. Durkee in his announced plan for a "Greater Howard University.” Dr. Durkee, being introduced, spoke in part as follows: If a pure heart he the portal of vision, then surely a cultivated mind is the compendium of wisdom. When I try, as I often do, to come into that state of vacuity possessed by those who have no education whatever, or that state possessed by those who have just learning enough to make them egostistical, then I realize, as in no other way, what a college and uni versity training really means. Not that I would declare all those people, or only those people, educated who pass through the courses offered by our higher institutions of learning. Many a father and mother, receiving a boy back from graduation, has been forced to say with sadness of Aaron, “I put in my gold and there came out this calf!” All I am saying is that for one to have an increasing appreciation of his world, of his place in that world, and how to make that world yield him health, happiness and peace, he must have a brain and a soul ever enlarging by the acquiring of knowledge gained by others and by exploration into that great un known mental world which stretches away beyond us to measureless hori zons. You will see at once that by edu cation I mean not certain acquired facts, but a continually enriched mind fed by constant streams of incoming truth. I am not, therefore, thinking of a mere human animal simply taught how to gain its food, clothing and shelter in an easier way, but of an immortal being growing into larger immortality while that being eats and drinks and wears clothing and lives in a house of greater com forts and conveniences than did those of the generation before him. The first kind of being is of the earth, earthy. The second possesses both earth and heaven. “That has the world here, Should he need the next? Let the world mind him. This throws himself on God And unperplexed, Seeking shall find Him.” Such trained men have, through all history, been the leaders of the human race. The heights we have climbed have been climbed because such a leader has gone before crying, "Ex selsior, Excelsior.” The battles we have won have been won because such a leader has shouted “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” The salva tions we have gained have been gained because such a leader has "given his life a ransom for many.” Let us make no mistake in this late date of history. Every race that ful fills its destiny must be led to that destiny by its own leaders who can see. Such is the word of history! Who disputes it? Today we are talking of the Negro race and its leaders. Who are they? The ignorant, the stultified, the half trained? To ask is answer. Who are the white people who give their lives to assist the Colored people to advance? The ignorant, the stunted, the half-trained? To ask is to an swer. If the white raec is led by its most highly trained, so will the Col ored race be led. Who shall the eco nomic leaders of the Colored race be? Why, the most highly trained men and woinen of the Colored race. I resent more keenly than my words may ex press, the assumption that trained white men must always lead untrained I Colored men. The assumption is a base travesty on facts. Why, we have \ at Howard University a dozen Colored educators who are the peers of any : white educators in America, and the only reason they are not drawing ] the large salaries their genius en- j titled them to, is merely because they \ are Colored men and thus have not i the wide field for advancement. First, I take it, a leader must know j what his task is. A real leader has a definite job. God save us from more of this pretended, aimless lead ership. The university trained Col ored man knows what his job is, bet ter than does the university trained white man. His is the task of build ing a race. I marvel what these leaders have done in fifty years— these preachers, teachers, business men, seers. Fred Douglass shouted loud as he took the road of the new freedom. Coleridge Taylor played the marching song. Paul Laurence Dun bar sang to cheer the weary road. Tanner painted the glories which all eyes should see, and the whole race has saved itself by its laughter and its singing. Not just to teach his people to eat and drink and be merry and save some money is the task of the Colored leader of today, but to love righteousness and hate iniquity and to do unto others as he would have them do to him. Then, the leader must possess the necessary knowledge and skill to ac complish his task. Only a banker can successfully run a bank. A blacksmith cannot do it. Train Colored men for blacksmiths only, and where shall their bankers be? One of the alarm ing things about the race today is that their savings have outgrown their banking facilities. Here are, for in stance, in Washington, 100,000 Col ored people, but they are not living like 100,000. Where are the Colored colleges which are teaching them in commerce and finance? Not one in this great race of nearly thirty mil lion! Only last week did the trus tees of Howard University vote to take up their eighth grade commer cial school into a university course of commerce and finance. If the race shall come to its rightful place in American and world democracy, it must have its broad-visioned econom ic leaders. I notice that the Colored men of refinement and wealth have no serious complaints against their white neighbors of refinement and wealth. Again, the leader must have the view-point and spirit and blood of those he leads. I never can be a Frenchman even though I live in France all the rest of my days. I haven’t the French blood, the French nervous system, the French outlook on life. The Anglo-Saxon is funda mentally different from the French man. I never can fully appreciate a woman’s standpoint of life. I have lived with a lady for these many years, now, but I do not know a woman! Of course I am more and more con vinced that a woman does not and cannot know a man! Hut there is more to the thought than the laughter. Man will ever look out on life from the masculine standpoint and because he never can be a woman, he, therefore, can never see through a woman’s eyes. The same is true of a white man and a Colored man. God made the difference for His own purpose and (Continued on Page 2) RACE CONGRESS A FLUKE Monitor Receives Direct Word From Paris That the Pan-African Con gress Is Failure. Paris, France.—(Special to The Monitor by Paris Correspondent.)— There has been held here a sort of gathering calling itself the Pan-Afri can congress, but the remarkable part of the congress is to Ire found in the fact that these people are talking about Africa, of which they know nothing whatever and they have never tried to get into touch with those people who really have some informa tion to give them. In the session there sits a delegate from Hayti (her minister to Paris), a Liberian, a few West Indians and Dr. DuBois of United States. Africa is wholly unrepresented and the real grievances of the Africans are not even known, let alone being discussed. The native races of South and West Africa have sent a memorial to the colonial office praying that the Brit ish plenipotontionaries at the peace congress may be pleased to support any resolution having for its object the removal of race restrictions, while Monsieur Diagne, the black French deputy, is looking after the interests of the French African colonies. Oth erwise there is no body or congress concerning itself with the African questions. “MAKE AMERICA SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY” This Will Be Slogan of Race for Po litical AspirantA at Next National Election. (By Associated Negro Press.) Chicago, 111., March 6.—Two years from the fourth of March, the next president of the United States will be inaugurated, who will he be? That’s the question everyone is beginning to ask. Senator Cummings of Iowa; Senator Harding of Ohio; Senator Watson of Indiana; Gov. Lowden of Illinois, and former Gov. Whitman of New York, are among the repub licans who have been mentioned. One of the great slogans of the coming campaign is to be: “Make America Safe for Democracy,” and the 12,000, 000 Negroes of the country are keen ly on the alert to see that real busi ness, and not sidestepping, will lie the order of the day, if the activities of organizations and returned soldiers may be taken as a criterion. APPOINTED TO STATE AUDITOR Denver, Colo.—Elbert Robinson, popularly known and highly respected citizen, graduate of East Denver high and Denver university, received an appointment last Monday to the state auditor’s department. Mr. Robinson, one of our deserving young men, is a Denverite with a pleasing and attrac tive personality, and his educational accomplishments, backed up by the environment in which he moves will, we hope, help to establish that pres tige on his chief that may tend to the opening of other positions for our peo ple. EL PASO, TEX., DAILY AGAINST LYNCHING Houston, Tex., March 6.—The bet ter element of people in Texas are beginning to take note of the infamy attached to this state by the lynch ing records of recent years. The El Paso Times, white, in a lengthy edi torial deplores the condition of things, and says the “legislature should sub mit to the people a proposition so to amend the constitution that a lyncher shall be debarred from hold ing any public office of honor, trust or profit.” This state, with others, is very much alarmed at the Negro migration that is starting this spring from the south. OMAHA OVERSEAS OFFICERS ARRIVE New York, Feb. 28.—(Associated Press.)—Several Colored overseas of ficers belonging to Omaha arrived in New York today. The list includes Lieutenants Madison, Johnson and Pinkett. ALBANY N. Y. TO PRESENT FINE HOME TO JOHNSON Albany, N. Y.—An appeal, backed by the leading Colored residents of Albany, was made Tuesday for funds to erect a home.in Albany for Private Henry Johnson, hero of the world war, and Mrs. Johnson. Thompson Renom inated at Primary Chicago Mayor, Who Was Criticized and Opposed by Influential News papers for Alleged Lukewarm Pa triotism, Receives 59,000 Majority. POLITICAL CONTEST PRESAGED Chicago Tribune Concedes That the Determining Factor in Future Elec tions Will Be the Negro Vote—The Second Ward Controls Absolutely City Elections. (By the Associated Negro Press.) CHICAGO, ILL., March 6.—The pri mary election in Chicago, result ing in the nomination of Mayor Wil liam Hale Thompson, on the republic an ticket, and Robert M. Sweitzer, on the democratic ticket, promises Chi cagoans, and the nation, the most in teresting political contest ever held in an American municipality. It is a well known fact that the republicans of Chicago are placed in a rather embarrassing position, par ticularly that group who have fought the present mayor and his administra tion. All through the campaign it was publicly stated that the nation al republican committee, through Chas. Will Hays, of Indiana, desired to have Judge Olson nominated as the harmony candidate, particularly be cause, it was stated, that Mayor Thompson had been lukewarm in his demonstration of patriotism during the war. All the great daily news papers opposed Thompson, and par ticularly the Tribune and the Daily News, which are Chicago’s chief dailies. Notwithstanding, Thompson won out by more than 59,000 votes. Even now there is no general disposi tion to “bury the hatchet” and support him, and there is expected to be “big doings” politically within the next week. In it all, the Negro voters of Chi cago are “regardless of how distaste ful it may seem to some,” quoting the Tribune—the “ace in the hole,” speak ing in one figure; and the "stellar at traction” admits that the nationally famous Second ward, in Chicago con trols absolutely city elections. There is more politics to the square inch played in that ward, than in any other section of the city. Every candidate gives the most respectful considera tion to the voters therein, and the next mayor, will have to thank the voters of that ward for his election. But there is going to be something doing in Negro politics in Chicago, henceforward. The nomination of Al derman Louis B. Anderson, present official, for a second term, defeating former Aldreman Oscar DePriest, who was ousted from the council on bribery charges, afterward cleared in one trial, but still under pending in dictments, has only served to stir up interest among the younger genera tion of voters, returned soldiers and women. The returned soldiers, who seem to have selected as spokesman Capt. Lewis E. Johnson, a hero of the French battlefields, declare that the time has come for the men who “bared their breasts to the enemy fire should have some say in political matters, and that those who have been living at the public trough for years and years, and enriching themselves, must step down and out.” The boys have all been demobilized, and they have had several confer ences regarding their plans for the future, and it is certain that their decisions will have wonderful effect on results. NOT A BLACK NURSE IN FRANCE Don’t let it be said by the great American historians in the coming years that only the American white women served as nurses in the great conflict. Put in a paragraph that the Colored woman wanted to go, but we wouldn’t let her. But, thank God, she was there, any how; over 300 went as white, and our historians will give their names and photos after the war is over. SENTENCE 15 WHO TRIED TO LYNCH NEGRO IN JAIL Winston-Salem, N. C.—Fifteen of the sixteen men tried for breaking into the city jail November 17 and atempting to seize Russell High, a Negro, who had attacked a white woman, were found guilty today by a jury in the Surrey county court and sentenced to terms ranging from fourteen months to six years on the county roads.