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"=" i The Monitor 1 N”_
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A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS. ‘ ,> V
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor ■%
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$2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA. NEBRASKA. MARCH 29. 1919 Vol. IV. No. 39 (Whole No. 194)
V Concerning the
Negro Officer
Col. Charles Young Makes Answer to
Editorial Appearing in the Inter
national Military Digest Relative to
Negro Military Leaders.
PREJUDICE STILL RAMPANT
Idea of Negro Officers Inefficiency
Still Persists in Spite of Recent
Brilliant Record—Does Not Square
With America’s Sense of Pair Play.
THE writer of this article has given
both in peace and in war through
out thirty years as a commissioned
officer in the United States army, in
this country, in the Philippines, in the
West Indies and in Africa, the very
best that was in him.
He loves the country, its flag, its !
“*■*" institution- and its people both white
and black, both in the north and in
the South. He moreover has confi- j
denco and faith in the justice, fair
play, and sportsmanship of the Amer
ican people; and believes that they
love too much the square deal to with
hold any honors due the Negro Ameri
can for his devotion to the flag and
for his prowess in war. He further
believes that the American people will
tolerate no attempt or propaganda
having in view making a lower caste
of an officer or man of the Negro
race that has offered itself for the
honor of the country in this war.
The strength of the American con- |
stitution and of the worthiness of this
government to endure will he deter- j
mined by the treatment of the Ameri
can Negro, whether an unvarnished
square-deal has a full-fledged citizen
. is given him or whether an attempt
[ is made to reduce him to a lower
caste.
President Durkee (white) of How
ard University at Washington in an 1
address on race building and leader- j
ship recently said: “Let us make no
mistake in this late date of history. j
Every race that fulfills it destiny
must be led to that destiny by
its own leaders who can see. Such is
the word of history. Who disputes it?
“I affirm that any system of schools
saying to students of any race. ‘Thus
far shalt thou go and no further,’ is
flinging a lie in the face of God.
“I affirm that only as every sys
tem of schools and every leader of the
Colored race shall follow this age-old
wisdom of man and this ordination of
God, shall they be true to the race
they lead, the generation they mould,
and the God they serve.”
Recently on the editorial page of
v the "International Military Digest”
(published at West Point, N. Y.), was
an article entitled “The Negro Offi
cer,” which has been deemed by
many officers both white and black
to have been unfair when it is stated
that the leadership of Negro troops
by Negro officers was a failure and
that there was nothing to warrant the
statement that Negro troops led by
Negro officers could stand against
white troops led by white officers.
The object of this reply is not to be
controversial, but simply to state a
few facts that the editor has forgot
ten, some of which perhaps have not
come to his knowledge.
It is sure that a journal of the
high tone of this one would not be
guilty of joining any propaganda
against Colored officers as such or
' r against the leadership of the Negro
soldier by officers of his own race.
This leadership must be acknowl
edged and encouraged or American
institutions fail.
The ability and willingness of the
government and its pe pie to fit the
Negro into the body politic with all
the rights, privileges and immunities
of a full-fledged American will be the
test before the world which knows and
sees the relations and acts of the in
dividuals and states of the United
States.
Human equity and e respect for law
and truth must be sacred with us.
The spirit of America is the square
t has a right to be judged by a jury
of his peers. Before that judgment
can be rendered both sides of the
question must be heard, and all the
factors entering the case must be
considered and the result be rendered
by an impartial jury.
This granted as an American prin
ciple, the Negro people of the United
States demand to know whether the
sweeping generalization of lack of
leadership and the capacity of the Ne
gro officer was derived by consulta
tion of the recoids of the war de
partment, the press both white and
Negro and the reports of impartial
officers.
The black officer feels that there
was a prejudgment against him at the
outset and that nearly every move
that has been made was for the pur
pose of bolstering up his prejudgment
an^l discrediting him in the eyes of
the world and the men whom he was
to lead and will lead in the future.
Considering the contention in that
article as to the mulatto’s ineffi
ciency, the Colored people of the Unit
ed States are asking: “What is a
Negro?” According to the editorial
any man that evinces the leadership
and rapacity as an officer be he near
white, yellow, brown or black as the
ace of spades is a mulatto, that be
ing the case and considering that nine
tenths of the Negro Americans are
of mixer! blood the remaining portion
of these people are negligible and the
Negro problem is solved as pertaining
only to the one-tenth.
Remembering the multitude of the
Croix de Guerre and citations on the
breasts of the returning Negro offi
cers (for the Negro people for the
purpose of achievement claim them in
their own racial group) and the dis
tinguished service crosses to boot, the
Negro officer is smiling, not discour
aged yrith himself and is still carry
ing on for the flag, the country where
he was born and where the bones of
his fathers are buried, and for the
uplift and leadership of his people for
a more glorious Americanism.
History tells us that on the con
tinent of America that Toussaint Lou
verture, who with a leadership that
no man ever surpassed and who
routed the best troops of Napoleon
Bonaparte, was a pure Negro and a
slave until after fifty years old.
Major Martin R. Delaney was a
pure Negro, “Fagan” and others that
can be mentioned were pure Negroes.
Ex-parte judgments will not go in
the future history,- for the black man
will not only act ■ his history but he
will write it, and be it said that he
knows history methods, and that vrit.h
him they are not those which come
from the heat of prejudTc'F'Snd a di
rect concerted attempt to discredit
any group of American people.
Unpatriotic and unwarranted state
ments do no good and lull the country
to sleep, and throw it off its guard
while the effects of these statements
are causing just rankling in the
breasts of the Negro people who have
had a new vision.
The Negro officers know' the psy
chology of their own race and also of
the white race; but it is to be feared
the latter will never know the mind
and motive forces of the Negro if,
he imagines that this group has not
had a new birth in America, whose
language it speaks, whose thought it
thinks for its own betterment, and
whose ideals both social, political, and
economic it emulates.
CHARLES YOUNG,
Colonel U. S. A. Retired.
MISS ETTA CATON
RAPS MUL LEN
Hastings, Neb., March 21.—At the
woman’s suffrage meeting held at
Clarke hotel Friday, Miss Etta Caton,
well known local orator, addressed
the assemblage. In reference to the
recent remarks by Mullen of Omaha,
Miss Caton said:
“Woman need not lose one iota of
her womanhood because she votes.
She need not become a militant suf
fragette. For that woman is no more
the highest type of true American
womanhood than is the I. W. W. the
highest type of true American man
hood, or that (thing) in Omaha who
made the exceptionally brilliant re
mark ‘We make a mistake in giving
“niggers" the vote, let us not make
the same mistake in giving the vote
to woman.’
“Hut, if he did make a mistake in
placing the franchise in the Negro’s
hand, yet when he found out his
precious hear! was threatened with
danger by a foreign foe he made no
mistake in placing in the hands of
the Colored man the gun and the bay
onet. And the Negro prayed himself
brave enough, noble enough, unselfish
enough to give jiis life that ’things’
like that referred to and his gang
might liv^ and be free.
“That remark was intended as an
insult not only to the black man but
to the American woman as well, for
to minds such as his woman is not
an equal, a mother, wife, sister, com
panion; she is simp|y a plaything, an
article of convenience, an inferior
creature, a sort of lower animal, a
cow, a breeding machine."
EGYPT HAVING REBELLION
People Want That “Self-Rule”
Preached by Wilson and Allies.
London. March 24.—There has been
rioting at Tanta, Egypt, in connection
with the disorders which have oc
curred there duiing the past week.
On March 12 three thousand persons
tried to rush a railroad station at
Tanta, but the attack was met by
troops ami police and was frustrated.
There was some fighting and 22 cas
ualties are reported in a Cairo dis
patch received here.
(Tanta is an important town on the
Nile, 75 miles above Alexandria, and
is the capital of the Province of
Gharblya.)
A Reuter’s dispatch from Cairo un
der date of March 12, reports exten
sixe riotous demonstrations by stu
dents and the populace, with consid
erable destruction of property neces
sitating the employment of military
forces.
The motive for the demonstrations
is not stated in the dispatch, but it is
believed that the disorders were a
result of a recent national agitation
in Egypt.
VRABS CAUSING APPRE- ,
HENSION AT PEACE MEET
Whole Arab World in State of Fer
ment and Authorities Confer
on Situation.
Paris, March 23.—The Arabs are
causing lively apprehensions among
the peace conferees.
The whole Arab world is in a state
of ferment, according to newspaper
dispatches received here, and General
Allenby, who arrived here only Wed
nesday, conferred hastily with Pre
mier Orlando, Foreign Ministers
Pichon and Balfour and General Diaz
and left last night for Egypt.
The French are pleased with Pre
mier Lloyd-George’s decision that
England will not take charge of eith
er Syria or Armenia. Nevertheless, it
brings up a vital problem to be set- J
tied by the “big three,” that is ap
portionment of. the Levant. It is felt j
that France, England and Italy must
each be responsible for certain por
tions and be in a position to quell any |
possible upheavals.
The Temps says editorially that the 1
Arabs are inclined to take the prin
ciples of popular self-determination
too literally.
“We have proclaimed grand prin
ciples, says the Temps, “without tak
ing the trouble to define forthwith
their limitations. Better had we said
that self-disposal cannot apply to peo
ples incapabfe of governing them
selves.
“What’s worse, some powers—Brit
ain more than France—have been per
mitted to over-exeite the Arab imag
ination by admitting Emir to the ra
cial conference, which throughout the
orient is interpreted to mean that the
most primitive Bedouin is entitled to
absolute independence."
Appeal to Conference.
Paris, March 23.—Leaders of the
Egyptian nationalist movement, de
scribing their body as "the Egyptian
Association of Paris," have addressed
to M. Clemenceau, as president of the
peace conference, a letter asking that
the conference, in accordance with the
doctrine of the rigst of peoples as pro
claimed by President Wilson, head and
adjudge the claim of the Egyptian
people to national independence, apart
from autonomy.
JURY SUSTAINS NEGRO’S RIGHTS
Samuel Oett, Government Clerk in
Falls Postoffice, Wins Suit
Against Theater.
Niagara Falls, N. Y., March 24.—
The story of his embarrassment, told
in supreme court yesterday before
Justice Taylor and a jury, today won
a $392 verdict for Samuel Dett, a
Negro, of Niagara Falls, against the
Arcade theater company of the same
city for injury to his feelings as a
result of being denied the privilege
of occupying seats on the lower floor
ets at the box office.
NEW ORLEANS HAS
NEW COLORED THEATER
(By Associated Negro Press.)
New Orleans, March 26.—A theater
for the Colored population of New
Orleans has recently been opened. It
has a seating capacity of more than
2,000 and is one of the most beautiful
in the city.
THE REV. NATHANIEL H. II. C'ASSEIL. PH. D.
President of Liberia College, Monrovia, Who Is in America on a Campaign for
Higher Education in West Africa, and Has Accepted an Invitation to
Visit Omaha, Probably Early in May.
! A CAMPAIGN FOR HIGHER
EDUCATION IN LIBERIA,
VV E S T A F R IC A
I -; —
HE Republic of Liberia, the Liber
ian Episcopal Mission, under the
auspices of the Protestant Episcopal
church of America, and the Liberian
college have all simultaneously been
well represented in the United States
by the Rev. N. H. B. Cassell, who has
I been traveling extensively, lecturing
I and preaching in the interest of Li
i lieria. As a matter of fact, no other
! Liberian, since the incipiency of the
black republic as an autonomous state,
; has ever conducted such a systematic
and prolonged campaign in the inter
est of the church and state, and pre
eminently for the establishment of
higher education as has Dr. Cassell.
Cassell represents a fine type of the
full-blooded African educator—born,
reared and educated in Liberia—and
so affords a fitting example of the
influence of Christian and higher edu
cation, of which he is a product.
He comes well accredited from the
Liberian government, having creden
tials from President Howard and
from the Liberian secretary of state,
who is now the principal delegate at
the world peace conference in France.
He has had the able support here of
the president of the Episcopal board
of missions, in New York, Bishop
Lloyd. The doctor has a message
which he delivers in an honest, frank
and simple way, and has been well re
ceived both by his white and Colored
audiences wherever he has held meet
ings.
He was the third rector of Trinity
Memorial church in Monrovia for six
teen years, and has been responsible
for the rebuilding of a new Trinity
church, and for putting it on a self
supporting basis. The doctor is now
president of Liberia college, and it is
in this capacity we are now introduc
ing him to our readers, as he hopes
to devote the rest of his stay in the
states exclusively to a campaign for
the establishment of a better system
of education, and it permanence in
Africa, in keeping with the march of
time; and the time for this is oppor
tune.
In the city of New York, on the
evening of March 7, 1919, at the resi
dence of Mrs. Lelia Walters, wife of
the late Bishop Walters, Dr. Cassell
held the first inaugural meeting for
the establishment of a campaign com
mittee for work among Colored people
in this country, interested in the edu
cation of Africa. There were pres
ent: Rev. F. Wilcom Ellegor, for
merly vice principal of Cuttington
Collegiate and Divinity school, Liber
ia, and subsequently superintendent
of Julia Emery Hall, school for young
lr.dies, Bromley, Liberia; Mrs. Lelia
Walters, Mr. John E. Bruce, Rev. C.
N. Dunbar, Mrs. M. F. Mosselle of
Philadelphia; Mrs. Florda Howard
Johnson, Mrs. S. Scott, Mrs. M. H.
Jackson, Mr. Arthur Schomberg and
Mrs. Franklin. These parties repre
sent a portion of the advanced class
of the race in New York and have
consented to assist in the endeavor
to create an interest in the doctor’s
educational propaganda.
Dr. Cassell expects to visit Chicago,
St. Paul, Minneapolis and other west
ern cities. He has accepted an invi
tation to include Omaha in his western
iteniary and expects to be here the
last of April or early in May. Due
notice of his visit here will be given
in The Monitor and the daily press.
OPPOSE REGIMENT OF NATION
\L GUARDS AMONG COLORED
(By Negro Associated Press.)
St. Paul, Miss., March 26.—Labor
leaders and socialists opposed the bill
before the legislature to provide for
a regiment of National Guard among
the Colored people of this state. They
stated that every time a regiment was
formed it was only another weapon
against unions when they desired to
strike. These men were told by Rep
resentative Hompe, who defeated the
bill; that if the labor people behave
themselves they need not fear the
National Guard.
COLE BLEASE CHASING
A FORLORN HOPE
By Associated Negro Press.)
Yorkr S." C., March 25.—Former
Governor Cole Blease is now catering
to the Negro vote of South Carolina
in his fight against President Wil
son who wrote a letter asking for his
defeat for United States senator.
Blease has spoken recently before
several Negro audiences, and was in
troduced as “the real friend of the
race.” In a recent address here Bish
op Chappelle was on the platform with
him and each called the other his
friend.
THE BRAVE SON
A little boy, lost in his childish play,
Mid th’ deep’ning shades of the fading
day,
Fancied the warrior he would he;
He scattered his foes with his wooden
sword
And put to flight a mighty horde—
Ere he crept to his daddy’s knee.
A soldier crawled' o’er the death
strewn plain,
And he uttered the name of his love,
in vain,
As he stumbled over the crest;
He fought with the fierceness of dark
despai r
And drove the cowering foe to his
lair—
Ere he crept to his Father’s breast.
—ALSTON W. BURLEIGH.
NEGRO ARTIST SHOWS
REMARKABLE TALENT
(By Negro Associated Press.)
New Orleans, La., March 25.—Ar
thur Edwin Johnson of this city is the
name of a new Negro artist who has
been discovered in the last few days.
He has never taken a lesson in art,
but his productions are regarded as
marvelous and hundreds of people of
both races flock to his humble gallery
every day to see his handiwork.
Sees Silver Lining
in Southern Cloud
Fred B. Moore, Editor of the New
1 ork Age, Notes Changing Senti
ment in South—Says Tendency to
Give Race Square Deal Is Growing.
SOCIAL EQUALITY SPECTRE
t hief Bugaboo Which Still Frightens
Superstitutious Bourbons — Blease
Gives Interview and Frankly Favors
Mob Murder^—Colored Men of
Wealth-—Large Land Owners.
lyTEW YORK, March 26.—Fred R.
1' Moore, editor of “The New York
1 Age,” a national Negro weekly, a few
: days since returned from an extended
trip through South Carolina and Geor
gia, where he visited politicians, edu
cators and leading business men with
the idea of getting trustworthy in
formation concerning the condition
and prospects of Negroes in those
; states.
“In South Carolina they are begin
ning to understand the true meaning
of the oft-used word' democracy,’ ” he
said, “for throughout the state I found
intelligent white people more disposed
| to give the Negro a square deal. The
ballot continues to be a ticklish ques
| tion, but in a general way there is a
growing sentiment to treat the Negro
more as a man and a fellow citizen.
The only subject on which the white
people of the state seem absolutely
devoid of reason is the ‘social equality
bugaboo.
“I found many conscientious minis
ters, but a lot of worthless ones—
many barnacles and grafters. The
people expressed themselves as want
ing more conscientious teachers and
leaders.
Blease Favors Lynching.
“I had a chat with former Governor
Cole Blease. Governor Blease said he
was in favor of Negro education, but
declared he was an absolute believer
in lynching. He said lynching was
the surest way to stop assaults upon
women. He said he would just as
willingly lead a black mol) to lynch a
white brute as to lead a white mob to
lynch a black brute.
“Governor Blease said that he had
I the greatest faith in the Negro; that
the race had made the most remark
able progress of any people in history,
and that he could not understand why
| the Negro did not assert himself and
j stand up for his rights.
“Governor Cooper favorably im
: pressed me. He favors compulsory ed
ucation. He believes in withholding
the ballot from the Colored men until
they are better educated, and thinks
that they will come to it in about fifty
j years.
“In Florence I called on the sheriff
in the interest of the Boys’ Reforma
tory, at Columbia. I urged that the
inmates be accorded decent treatment,
i as they had no religious servise, and
no educational advantages. Some had
been in the institution twenty and
l thirty years, and had forgotten their
| names. I was assured that the inmates
at Columbia would be transferred to
Florence, where interest in them sim
j ilar to that taken in white boys, would
J be taken.
Colored Men of Wealth.
At Darlington I met L. C. Wood, a
lumber dealer. Some o£ his Colored
j employes are worth from $4,000 to
$15,000, he said. One Colored man, to
whom he referred as his partner, is
worth $70,000, and receives a salary of
$10,000 yearly.
"In and around Sumter I saw Negro
farmers owning from ten to 1,000
acres, owning from two up to 100
mules, and raising from twenty to
5,000 bales of cotton, worth from $1,
000 to $100,000, having in white bank
ing houses from $1,000 to $50,000.
and more.
“Jonas Thomas, of Bennettsville, is
in partnership with one of the leading
white men and Thomas took down his
portion last year of $50,000 in profits.
“J. E. Coleman buys second-hand
shoes in ton lots from the East Side
in New York, makes them over and
sells them to Colored and white cus
tomers.
•'At Augusta I visited one of the
; greatest preachers of our race, Dr. C.
T. Wolker. He is building a $125,000
institutional church, and when com
! pleted there will be none like it any
| where.”
MRS. JOHN E. BRUCE ILL
New York, March 20.—Mrs. John
E. Bruce, wife of Hon. John E. Bruce,
is ill with the influenza. The most
recent report is that she is slightly
improving. It is to be hoped that her
recovery will be speedy and complete.