—i Thi > Monitor l.
A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS. \
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THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor %
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$2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy OMAHA. NEBRASKA. APRIL 19, 1919 Vol. IV. No. 42 (W, % No. 197)
Commissary General for
V Colonial Troops
French Government Is Successful in
Finding Competent West African
Who Is Eminently Qualified for Im
portant Office.
MEMBER CHAMBER OF DEPITIES
Interesting Sketch of Praiseworthy
Career of Monsieur Blaise Diagne
Whose Services Have Proven Most
Valuable to the Senegalese and
France.
By ( has. W. Farquhar.
AFTER noticing in West Africa for
October that the French govern
ment had created an office of commis
sar)’ general for colonial troops, and
that Monsieur Blaise Diagne had been
appointed to the post, I feel like ef
fecting a purpose I have conceived for
months, viz, to write for the readers
of the Weekly News an impression of
Monsieur Diagne’s visit to Conakry in
.' February last.
My attention was attracted to the
distinguished and, probably most fa
mous African of our day, at the time
when he began his canvas of the fac
tors of Senegal for the post of deputy.
I forward to this paper a translation
of his election manifesto—a document, :
which, in every line, breathed a spirit :
of evolved manhood. M. Diagne’s elec
tion over the heads of white and Col- [
ored competitors was a grand race !
triumph. When the fact was an- |
nounced a howl of execration was
heard from Senegal down to this '
place; only native rejoiced. Nothing j
more was heard of the deputy until j
the war broke out and then we learned |
that in the chamber of deputies he j
had claimed the right for his com- ]
patriot Senegalese to take their places )
in common with other citizens, among j
the fighting forces of the republic, j
The idea was hailed by the govern- i
ment and recruitment wak actively j
prosecuted in the four ancient com- |
munes of St. Louis, Dakar, Goree and
Rufisque. It followed naturally that
as the one responsible for the enlist- j
ment of and draft to France of his ■
compatriots, M. Diagne should take j
steps to ensure to them the best treat- 1
ment in housing, food and dress and :
so mitigate the rigours of the north
ern clitmate.
Then, at the beginning of the year,
there appeared a need of a large
augmentation of the man-power of the
republic and of a more extensive and
systematic scheme of enrollment of its
African subjects. The government ap
pointed a commission of recruitment
and placed M. Diagne at its head.
With him were associated a colonel,
a Senegalese sub-lieutenant, European
sergeants, photographers; a European
^ and a colonel surgeon, etc. A battle
cruiser took the party to Dakar and,
thence, the commission passed through
Senegal and upper Soudan, recruiting I
en route. Taking the Canakry-Niger
railway at its eastern terminus the
distinguished party arrived here on
a memorable day in February. The
town was beflagged; there was aj
guard of honor at the station and
another at the quarters assigned to
the head of the commission. Native
chiefs with their musicians and dan
cing girls filled the town. When the
deputy emerged from the ga'rc—a
fairly tad sparse figure dressed sob
erly in a brown traveling suit with
deputy's tricolor sash across his |
breast, the populace gave him a most
enthusiastic welcome. I thought his
acknowledgment was a little cold. Be
» ing a Joloff he is quite black, but j
residence in France has slightly paled j
the characteristic pigment of the
Senegalese.
In the afternoon the deputy held a
reception for native chiefs at govern
ment house and entered fully into the
objects of the commission—later I
shall give a brief summary of his
pleading.
Naturally, resident Joloffs were ex
ceedingly proud of their countryman
and wished to testify their apprecia
tion in a public way. They, accord
ingly, organized a grand vin d’hon
neur at the Hotel Dubot for the fol
lowing evening and invited the admin
istration and representatives of all
/sections of the community—Europ
eans, Syrians, Sierra Leoneans, Susus,
etc. The terrace of the hotel was an
animated scene at 6 o’clock when the
guest of the evening appeared with
the governor and his adjoint, some
two hundred invitees rising to receive
them. Joloffs in different departments
of the civil service presented addresses
after which there was a perfect fusil
lade of champagne corks, precursory
to the drinking to loyal toasts and to
the honored guest.
M. Blaise Diagne then rose and ad
dressed the audience which, with the
crowd packed before the terrace, must
have numbered several thousands. He
spoke on the war and the diabolical
aim of the Central Powers, egged on
by Germany, to dominate the world.
He described the enemy as the com
mon foe of mankind-—of Africans no
less than Europeans, Asiatics and
others. He claimed that France’s need
was Africa’s opportunity to advance
from the status of subject races to
that of free citizenship. France would
ever be grateful to all who aided her
in Jjer day of stress and strain, and
who mingled their blood with that of
her brave sons on a common battle
field. Chiefs should see to it that
they send forward their sons in pref
erence to their domestics otherwise
’hev would find after the conclusion
of peace that their erstwhile slaves
had become masters in the land. He
warned his hearers that education and
culture were necessary conditions of
citizenship and stated that France was
about to establish medical and indus
trial schools for African youths, and
schools of obstetrics for young wom
en; that in future it will be possible
to train doctors on the spot and so
help to break down the common pre
judice against treatment in public hos
pitals by European practitioners.
There would be nothing to prevent
deserving sons of the soil from aspir
ing to the highest position in their
homeland; Men of culture, probity
and experience might hope to become
administrators and chief doctors.
Those who could justly appraise the
speech told me it was couched in
French the most elegant and cultured.
The impression made was excellent,
bursts of applause greeting each point
mane ny tne speaKer.
As I looked upon the scene I tried
to picture a similar one in an English
colony but I could not envisage it.
Frenchmen are logical; Englishmen
arc not. .Suppose England needed to
raise a large African army, she would
not dream of appointing a black man
as head of a commission of recruit
ment over the heads of white men.
She would see too many lions in the
way. She would remind herself of the
unimpeachable fact of one swallow not
making a summer of one shower not
constituting a rainy season. She would
foresee the possible aversion of local
authorities to the selectiond and sym
pathize with fears of an unsettlement
of the crude native mind through see
ing one of themselves on such a pin
nacle of greatness. The rulers of
France probably saw all the objections
to the selection, but being logical, they
argued, “here is something to be done
and here is the very best instrument
for doing it. Our choice falls upon
a man whose skin-tint will offend
some of the other human instruments
of our colonial administration, but
that same skin tint is his prime rec
ommendation; and so they brushed
aside all objections and misgivings,
and, having confidence in the discre
tion of M. Diagne himself, they sent
him forth with the powers and digni
ties of an envoye extraordinaire, with
the result that in a few months he
recruited 75,000 native troops; and
now most fittingly, he has been ap
pointed their special protector. Vive
la France! Vive Depute Diagne!
Conakry, December 6, 1918.
P. S.—Curiously enough I heard
last night that somewhere in the prov
ince of Nigeria the commissioner en
tered British territory and that its
distinguished head was refused the
comfort of a sleeping car because the
law says no black man shall enjoy the
privilege. I sincerely hope the report
is only a canard; if it is true then,
surely, nothing more disgraceful and
discourteous has ever been perpe
trated under the sanction of British
law—Sierra Leone Weekly News.
JEWISH RABBI SPEAKS
ON TRUE DEMOCRACY
(By Associated Negro Press.)
Indianapolis, Ind., April 10.—Rabbi
M. M. Fuerlicht, in a recent address
here at the Y. M. C. A., on the sub
ject of ,-T,rue Democracy,” declared
that the time has come for frankness
and open court in dealing with the
problems of lace adjustment.” He
raid that this country must mete out
equal and exact justice to all if it
provee true to its iceals.
MASON FOR HALF CENTURY
Detroit, Mich., April 10.—Commem
orating his Masonic life of half a
century, a banquet was recently ten
dered James Francis Rickards, of this
city, thirty-third degree Mason. He
was the recipient of many valuable
gifts.
ROSCOE CONKLING SIMMONS
Famous Orator and Brilliant Journalist, Who Has Just Returned
From Protracted Visit to Europe.
Mob Violence Versus Jim Crowism
The Latter More Subtile and Subversive of Human Rights Than
the Former—“Mob Violence Is the Leaping Disconnected
Tongue of Flame From a Moral Conflagration, Bui Jiw-Crow
isni Is the Smoldering of the Ilody of Fire in and About the
Very Foundation of Our Racial Integrity.”
By Ailey W. Lewis, LL. B.
BEFORE the oceans were mapped
and chartered it must have been a
desperate predicament for one to have
found himself between the devil and
the deep blue sea and having to take
to the latter.
In some such and similar predica
ment it might be said one is who at
tempts to persuade that jimcrowism
(as it applies to railway transporta
tion) is an offense meteing out great
er detriment to our race than mob
violence.
Your writer feels so positive this is
so easily true that all the minor forms
of jimcrowism are not considered for
the purposes of this discussion.
It is admitted that mob violence is
barbarous and fiendish; that it lies on
the very border’s edge of treason and
anarchy, if it does not constitute both
of these offenses; that it is an offense
against the nation, state and com
munity wherein committed. It is an
offense against our race demanding
consideration and opposition because
approximately 98 per cent of the total
victims are of our race, and because
lynching in its inception and present
existence is an arch form of race op
pression the effect of which is the
humiliation and villification of the
race.
The fact that one or two out of
every two or three hundred lynched
persons are white does not alter the
point of view. The fact, if it be a fact,
shows that lawlessness founded on the
limitations of prejudice may grow to
lie a habit recognizing NO limitations.
If one offense is more aggravating
than another, there must be a differ
ence in them, and in the difference
must lie the elements and circum
stances that make one offense worse
than another.
So by comparison we find certain
differences. Mob violence takes place
sometimes, jimcrowism is continuous;
mob violence may lie prompted by a
pretended or reported provocation, not
so with jimcrowism, which is always
without provocation; in mob violence
the victim may sometimes be guilty of
the offense charged, but in jimcrow
ism there is no charge and conse
quently no guilt.
Mob violence affects directly only
its few victims; jimcrowism affects
directly the hundreds of thousands
who are compelled to accept that mode
of transportation. Mob violence in its
publicity, as a rule, is not as far
reaching as jimcrowism. Mob violence
is confined practically to Southern
states and rebel communities, lhe
news of the event are no doubt quite
emphatic in the immediate vicinity
where committed, but the racial villi
fication consequent thereto outside of
that community is minimized in pro
portion to the distance remote from
the scene that newspapers must carry
it. Not so with jimcrowism. It does
not depend upon newspaper notoriety
—it’s quite prevalent (and pardon the
digression, it’s everywhere—a living
physical menace). It is a most con
spicuous and unmistakable label of in
feriority forced upon a race, and every
class and condition of foreigners may
be impressed with the spectacle as of
fact to spread the impression to all
quarters of the globe.
Mob violence may be looked upon by
visiting peoples of other countries as
an accident, but no foreigner, however
dense or biased, could consider jim
crowism anything other than carefully
planned purpose.
Mob violence is the leaping, discon
nected tongue of flame from a moral
conflagration, but jimcrowism is the
smouldering of the body of fire in and
about the very foundation of our ra
cial integrity.
Mob violence is unlawful, but jim
crowism has the sanction of law and
in this state lies crouched the green
eyed monster that mocks our moral
standing, upon which it feeds.
Mob violence is a legal offense
against two races, while jimcrowism
is considered no legal offense against
either; hence, relatively, mob violence
must be considered the weaker of
fense as against our race. Because
there are two races to fight against
mob violence makes it weaker against
us; because we are to fight jimcrow
ism alone makes it stronger against
us. We have only a moral fight
against mob violence, but we have
both a moral and legal fight against
jimcrowism.
Now, while the points of compari
son are not exhausted, it is trusted
this will suffice to arouse a greater
vigilance concerning the hindrances to
the advancement of the race. So be
yond the pale of this comparison I fur
ther trace the evils of jimcrowism to
the extent of greater offense.
If two wings of an army can be shut
off from communication one with the
other, or if that communication can be
minimized, it is a victory for the
forces that obstruct or limit that com
munication, for the effect of such ob
(Continued on Page Seven.)
RACES UNITING FORCES
TO ROUT ROWDYISM
Recent Riotous Occurrences in Harlem
Has Called for Decided Actions
Upon the Part of New Yorkers to
Prevent Further Outbreaks.
(By Associated Negro Press.)
New York, April 17.—New Yorkers
if both race divisions are getting their
heads together in a frank' and open
way, as the result of the recent oc
curence in Harlem, where a crowd of
more than 300 people waited for a mo
torman, who had flagrantly mistreat
ed a Negro soldier.
There is no intention to minimize
the effects of this state of affairs. In
talking to the Negroes of the Harlem'
district, it is learned that there, is
no disposition to permit Greeks, Jews,
Italians, Irish and other foreign ele
ments to carry on their nefarious con
duct of exhibiting color prejudice.
There is no disposition on the part
of the Negroes to agitate disorder,
but there is a burning determination
to sec that everybody gets fair play
and a square deal. There may be oth
er outbreaks in New York if condi
tions are not improved, is attested by
conservative leaders of both races who
are willing to discuss present condi
tions.
A studied program of insolence has
been carried on here for some time.
Not only has there been a plan to keep
Negroes out of certain lines of busi
ness, which money grabbing whites
may be in, but when once the Negro
gets into business, all sorts of schemes
are resorted to, in order that his
chances of success may be impaired.
Mistreatment of Colored women and
children by white ruffians, has been
tolerated in some instances to the
breaking point, and particularly is
ihis true with reference to discharged
soldiers who faced German guns to
“make the world a decent place to
live in.”
SUPERVISORS GIVE
NEGRO MUSICIANS
PLACE ON PROGRAM
National Conference of Mimical Su
pervisors Holds Twelfth Annual
Session and Emphasizes Importance
of Musical Education.
(Special to Monitor by Staff Corre
spondent.)
ST. LOUIS, MO., April 10.—A con
vention of far reaching importance
was in session here all last week. It
was the twelfth annual session of the
Music Supervisors National Confer
ence, which was organized at Keokuk,
la., and now has a large membership
from all parts of the United States.
Daily sessions were held from 9 to
12 and 1 to 5 with special features
and entertainments occupying the
nights. Practical tests to show the
result of a musical education, the val
ue of music in every day life, its im
portance in the army and many other
phases occupied the conference.
Tuesday night the program was de
voted to Negro musicians and com
posers as spokesmen and no feature
of the conference was more interesting
than this. The efficient, intelligent
and diversified rendition of the pro
gram was a revelation to the vast au
dience present.
John Wesley Work, professor of
Latin and history at Fish university,
Nashville, Tenn., addressed the meet
ing on “The Development of the Mu
sic of the Negro from the Folk Song
to the Art Song and Art Chorus.”
The study of Negro melody by the
music teachers is in connection with
their study of the development of mu
sic that is typically American. It is
the belief that such music had its or
igin with the Negroes and Indians.
A musical program was arranged
by Gerald Tyler, assistant supervisor
of music for the Colored schools of
St. Louis, and included two of his
compositions, besides work of Harry
T. Burleigh, S. Coleridge Taylor and
Nathaniel R. Dett.
FI BE < -VISES HEAVY LOSS
Birmingham, Ala., April 10.—An
entiir Negro l 'n ck recently burned at
Bessemer here, causing the loss of
more than ?fi0 i/;0. The majority of
the line.-os were cwreil by the ten
ants. The cause is unknown.
BUFFALO DAILY OPPOSES
OPPROBIOUS EPITHETS
Buffalo N. Y„ April 10.—The Buf
falo Commercial, daily, is backing
strongly the nation-' ide movement
for the t oolit’on of the terms “wop,”
“dago,” “kike,” “nigger,” “shine,” and
other similur characterizations.
Roscoe Conkling Jimmons
Returns From Paris
Distinguished Orator, Brilliant Jour
nalist and Keen Observer Does Not
Bite His Tongue About Things He
Learned While Abroad.
SOLDIERS BRAVE;
STATESMEN STUPID
Glory Won by Troops Being Dimmed
by Fingers-Crossed Barn-Stormers
—American Negro Has Reason to
Hold Up Head and Ask Fair Treat
ment at Home.
CHICAGO, 111., April 18.—Roscoe
Conkling Simmons, orator and
journalist, has returned home from an
extended trip at the peace conference
in Paris, where he went as special
foreign representative of the Chicago
Defender. In a statement for the As
sociated Negro Press, he said:
“What I saw, I saw, and what I
heard I remembered, and just as I
saw or heard I will speak. Our sol
diers, black and white, were the brav
est that fought in that terrible war,
and our statesmen are stupid as any
that ever set at a table of diplomacy.
Much of the glory our boys won is
being daily lost by the ‘fingers
crossed-tag-on-you’ barn-stormers in
charge of our business. The poor
American people, being the bravest,
are the ‘goats’ of the day. No blunder
has cost us as dearly, in all our his
tory, as that made when Theodore
Roosevelt was not permitted to go to
France, either during this war or im
mediately after the armistice was,
signed. Roosevelt, dead, is the stand
ard American in France.
The American Negro has reason to
hold his head up and ask his govern
ment, “What now, is he to be free or
continue to tread the wine-press while
everybody else enjoys the nectar?”
Against odds that even slaves ought
to have been spared, our boys taught
warriors how to fight and Christians
how to die. They won the hearts of
France in the face of the
even many of their white command
ers that ‘they ain’t nothing but nig
gers.’ They taught white American
fortitude while white America held
classes in nerve stretching. ‘I’ll say’
that today and not tomorrow is the
time when our thoughts should turn
to liberty. We have got to save the
American white man from himself.”
BISHOP DEMBY SEES
RAINBOW OF PROMISE
Philadelphia, Pa., April 10.—Bishop
E. T. Demby, one of the two Negro
bishops in the Episcopal church in
this country', in a statement issued
here, said in part: “There is a ten
dency as never before to wipe out race
prejudice; and things like Jim Crow
cars and schools, will go in a few
years.” Asked what is responsible
for the change, he said: “Chiefly the
cheerful spirit with which our Colored
youths marched away to war, and the
wonderful record they made for them
selves while over there.”
WILL ESI ABLISH
DEPARTMENT STORE
Organize Company With $20,000 Cap
ital to Open First Store of Kind
in Community.
(hv Associated Negro Press.)
Macon, Ga., April 9.—A company
with a paid in capital of $20,000 has
been organized here, with some of the
wealthiest and best known Negroes as
stockholders, for the purpose of open
ing a department store. It will be
the first of i'.s kind here, and will af
ford an example for other cities to
follow.
PROPERTY OWNED
RUNS INTO MILLIONS
Atlanta, Ga., April 10.—Rev. B. R.
Holmes, president of Holmes institute,
in a recent address, declared: “The
Colored people of Atlanta pay taxes
on nearly $3,000,000 worth of property
and those that live in rented houses
are valued at more than $7,000,000,
which makes the property owned and
rented by Colored people valued at
more than $10,000,000.
MARRIES IN TORONTO
Miss Mildred Bryant, daughter of
Charles Bryant of Omaha, was quiet
ly married to Robert C. Rudd at Tor
onto, Ont., March 12. Mrs. Rudd was
bom and reared in Omaha. She has
been living in Toronto for the past
year.