Nebraska Newspapers

    THE MONITOR
K National Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interests of Colored
Americans. _
Published Every Thursday at Omaha, Nebraska, by The Monitor Pub
lishing Company. ___
Entered as Second-Class Mail 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 Madree Penn, Associate Editors.
Fred C. Williams, Business Manager.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES, $2.00 A YEAR; $1.00 6 MONTHS; 60c 3 MONTHS
Advertising Rates, 60 cents an Inch per issue.
Address, The Monitor. 304 Crounse Block, Omaha, Neb.
Telephone Douglas 3224.
- ^
t —-- '
THE SIN OF SILENCE
T) sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards
out of men. The human "ace has climbed on protest.
Had no voice been raised against injustice, ignorance and
lust, the inquisition yet would serve the law, and guillotines
decide our least disputes. The few who dare must speak and
speak again to right the wrongs of many.—Ella Wheeler
Wilcox.
V_/
A SERIOUS SITUATION
THAT a serious situation confronts
America in common with the
whole world must be evident to every
thoughtful observer. The relations
between capital and labor are strained.
Racial feeling and prejudice, instead
of having been allayed by the great
war, seems to have become more acute.
This is particularly so in the United
States.
Despite the fact that our people
fought for the right to fight to make
democracy safe for the world and our
race at home and abroad behaved
most nobly in the face of grievous
provocation to do otherwise, there
seems to be a well-organized and per
nicious propaganda to bring estrange
ment between us and our fellow Amer
icans. It is foolhardiness to ignore
this patent fact. There is appar
entlv a well organized plan to dis
credit the Negro in well-disposed com
munities. Somebody, something is
back of sensational headlines, so pop
ular in American newspapers, of em
phasizing and calling attention to al
leged crimes of Negroes
What is back of it? Is organized
labor getting its orders from the south
which is losing its labor to the north
and west back of it? Possibly so.
This, we believe, has entered into the
plan, if indeed it was not primarily
responsible for it. Or is it a continua
tion of the campaign of slander which
was inaugurated by southern officers,
like Colonel Greer, chief of staff of
the Ninety-second division, to discred
it black American soldiers in France
brought back to America? Is it a
continuation of the persistent cam
paign which we have preached to our
soldiers abroad to the effect that they
must not let the treatment accorded
them by the democratic French peo
ple lead them to expect similar fair
treatment in their own country ? This
is not impossible; indeed, we believe
it highly probable.
Whatever be the cause or the mo
tive there is apparently a well organ
ized plan to discredit the race in
America and to bring estrangement
between fellow Americans. A short
sighted, if not subsidized and malic
ious press, is contributing to this es
trangement by playing upon the pas
sions of the undiscriminating and
thoughtless by its glaring and sensa
tional headlines, emphasizing rumors
of alleged crimes by Negroes.
The situation is serious. To our
people, we counsel restraint and self
control. We urge upon all to be most
careful of their conduct. To do noth
ing to percipitate trouble. To do ev
erything in their power to avoid giv
ing offense.
To the press we appeal to cease
magnifving alleged crimes of Negroes
by glaring headlines and thus appeal
ing to the unruly passions of the
populace.
In these serious times we all need
to keep our heads in every community,
refuse to be swayed by prejudice or
passion and work together for the
common good.
“LIGHT FOR THEIR IGNORANCE”
FROM the grey walls of Auburn
state nri«on New York comes a
renuest to The Monitor which it is
a great pleasure to grant. It reads
as follows: ,
• “T, in the name of the Colored men,
inmates of this institution, respect
fully submit our most humble plea,
asking vou to allow us as a contribu
tion, one, if no more, of your publi
cations as per issue. Of course, how
ever, this renuest is nondescript, but
these men need light for their ignor
ance of outside soeietv, and also need
to be fullv informed of the movements
and development of their race. Your
paper is adequate for such informa
tion and will inform and teach these
hungry souls adenuatelv. Should vou
concur in our unique request, I and
others Will be most grateful and much
less lonely. Thanking you in advance
and hoping to receive a favorable
reply, I am, yours with respect,
“No. 36306 .Secretary
This letter furnishes much food for
thought. We do not know the crimes
for which these men who request
“light for their ignorance” are paying
the penalty. We know that shut with
in prison walls they are intensely in
terested in what is going on in the
outside world of which they are, and
yet are not a part; that they have
a desire for information and mental
improvement; and we believe there is
also the desire for moral improve
ment. We hope The Monitor may
bring to those who read it not only
the information desired, but also mes
sages of encouragement of hope and
inspiration to strive for higher ideals
of manhood when their prison terms
shall have ended.
It would be interesting to know
how these men in Auburn prison
learned of The Monitor and it is grati
fying to be advised by such communi
cations how favorably the publication
is regarded by all sorts and condi
tions of men who become acquainted
with it. Knowing how many and va
rious are the readers we reach and
how the printed page may help or
hinder, we are exceedingly anxious
always to give the best that is in us.
Not only are we glad to be able
to comply with this request, but The
Monitor will be pleased from time to
time to publish brief communications
and items of interest from these men
within Auburn’s grey walls. It is
not only men within such institutions
who need “Light for their ignorance,”
but men without, lest through ignor
ance or weakness they come into the
same condemnation.
A NATIONAL DISGRACE
Americans will flush with shame
as they read of race riots at Wash
ington. That the peace and order of
the nation’s capital should be disturb
ed by bloody clashes between whites
and balcks is a disgrace beyond ex
planation. It can be well understood
that crimes committed recently have
exasperated the citizens, but in the
presence of such occasion for impat
ient indignation, the interests of so
ciety require that sober judgment pre
vail. To loose the passions stirred
by anger and race prejudice will not
avail to check the crimes complained
of, nor does lawlessness beget order.
The police of Washington had been
well warned of the impending danger,
but for some reason were unable to
cope with the situation. Measures
that might have been taken were
omitted, with the result that the world
is shocked and the country shamed
by their incompetence. Blame for the
occurrences will rest on the authori
ties, chiefly because of the laxity of
vigilance that admits of such out
i bursts. Our national capital under
martial law, to quell race riots be
tween our citizens, at a time when
we are posing before the world as the
| protagonist of equality before the law,
presents a sorry spectacle. A little
firmer hand is sorely needed there.—
[ Omaha Bee.
This editorial is good. It is, how
ever, nullified by the two-inch head
line “Negroes Continue Rioting,”
which appears on the front page of
the same issue of the Bee in which
this timely editorial appears. Cut out
the scare crow headlines, Mr. Rosewa
ter.—Editor of The Monitor.
NO PLACE FOR LOAFERS
THERE is no excuse for idleness.
There is an abundance of' work
| everywhere for all who want to work.
Idleness begets crime. The police au
! thorities of every city should see to
l it that there is no room in their city
for loafers.
I
1'..
Flashes of
Most Anything j
America, Oh, America, Know Thyself!
T30 long has wrong existed and
cried out to be made right. Too
long has the stench of burning flesh
assailed the throne of heaven. Too
long has the Negro-hating south sown
the seed of lawlessness and disregard
for the rights of human beings. Too
long has a guillible public been fed
upon a tissue of lies about black
brutes, etc. Too long has the fiction
about protecting southern womanhood
hung as a bugaboo over our own
heads encouraging lawlessness and
crime. Too long has the most loyal
groups of Americans plead for jus
tice and fair play.
War walked rampant over the earth.
It’s discordant noises filled the world
with terror. Nations clutched at each
others throats. Black days of horror,
in which thousands of human beings
fed daily, the rapacious jaws of death,
we Have known. We have heard the
curses of frantic soldiers, the cries
of helpless children rise to heaven in
dreadful wail. Rattling musketry,
clashing steel, bursting shell intensi
fied and made more horrible by the
light from burning homes and the
smoke from sacked and burning
churches, noisome gases, famine, want,
despair, suffering, hate—all this and
more Europe has taught us. Selfish
ness, sordid commercialism, militarism
bred it; innocent humanity reaped it.
Horrible, as is world war, civil war
is yet more horrible. Those who seek
to encourage civil strife are enemies
of our nation and more traitorous than
words can paint. Let loyal Americans
rise up, in pulpit, press and street and !
crush out un-Americanism and class
hatred.
America, Oh, America, know they-;
self—and with wisdom and justice and
restraint purge away all prejudice and
injustice so that our commowealth
may be a bright jewel leading all na
tions to true democracy.
Know thyself, America. Rise in
thy might and through thy righteous
ness inherit the earth avoiding the
penalty for wrong that Rome deserved
and paid.
THE PERISCOPE
Tit for Tat
* It is deplored that 11 Americans
have been murdered in Mexico within
the past 18 months, yet eight Negro
citizens have been barbarously burned
to death in the United States within
the past six months.—Springfield
(Mass.) Republican.
A Hot Race
From Washington, D. C., the seat
of the government of this country’,
comes the report that the police de- j
partment of Washington, and a mob
of citizens are in a race. A Negro
is wanted for a crime. If the police !
catch him first, he will be tried forj
Hs offense. If the mob gets him first,
he will be hung, forthwith, and with-.
out a trial.—Battle Creek (Mich.)
New*.
High Time
If this country of ours is what we
like to think of it as being—a land of
justice—a true democracy—then it
was high time that it made a con
vincing demonstration to that effect
by putting a stop to lynehings.—Syra
cuse (N. Y.) Post-Standard.
Self-Determination
“Self-determination” is what an
American Negro wants for the Ne
groes of this country, and why not,
if all other people are to have the
same privilege?—Baltimore (Md.)
Manufacturing Record.
“America Again”
The fact remains that the disgrace
of one section of the country is the
shame of every part. The outer world
does not stop to consult the geography
when lynchjngs are reported. It mere
ly exclaims, "America again,” and
as a people we are discredited.—Phila
delphia Public Ledger.
Generous Handy
Generous Handy signs himself
“Handy" and proceeds to object to any
effort of whites and Colored people
holding conferences on the subject of
race adjustments. Handy tells us
what we ought to have and then stops
vs suddenly as a hall hitting a brick
wall. Listen to Handy:
“We do not need columns to state
a working plan between us and the
Negro. Give him his church and his
religion and his right to worship in
j his church unmolested. Give him good
houses to live in, good water to drink.
! Give him plenty of work to do and
pay him for the work he does. Give
him the market price for his produce,
honestly measured and weighed. Then
close."
Handy, this stop is so sudden.—New
Orleans (La.) Times-Picayune.
“Are You Ready for the Test?”
The Irish question continues to addle
the British Empire and embarrass the
American republic. In a lengthy edi
torial, the Chicago Tribune brings the
question to the fore, tells of all the
extenuating circumstances, from the
assistance of the Irish in helping to
form the American nation, to the pos
sibilities of becoming involved with
Mexico and Japan, concluding by say
ing: “We can establish the Irish re
public by fighting for it. We cannot
establish it by declamation, resolu
tions and cable messages to London.
“Are you ready for the test?”
The American people cannot con
sistently involve themselves with the
troubles of Ireland and England, with
out running into the snag of American
color adjustment. The 12,000,000
American Colored people have griev
ances just as serious and oppressive
as Ireland. This fart England knows,
and knows well, and it will not be
long until England will very frankly
remind America that it is time to
clean house at home. America must
clean house, and clean well, or stand
before the world as a hollow mockery
of the principles so loudly proclaimed,
and fought for, in France.
Time of Big Things
These are the times of big things.
Are you willing to be a vital part of
the times? It is truly painful to see
those who shrivel up into littleness
when there is so much at stake, when
there are such wonderful opportunities
for being big and going big. There
is much that might be said, but let
the poet tell of it in
THE BIGGER DAY
We are done with little thinking and j
we’re done with little deeds,
We are done with petty conduct, and :
we’re done with narrow creeds; :
We have grown to men and women, ‘
and we’ve noble work to do,
And today we are a people with a
larger point of view.
In a big way w’e must labor, if our
flag shall always fly,
In a big way we must suffer, in a
big way some must die.
There must be no little dreaming in j
the visions that we see,
There must be no selfish planning in
the joys that are to be.
We have set our faces eastward to
the rising of the sun,
That shall light a better nation, and
there’s big work to be done,
And the petty souls and narrow seek- |
ing only selfish gain
Shall be vanquished bv the toilers
big enough to suffer pain.
It's a big task we have taken, ’tis for
others we must fight,
We must see our duty clearly in a
white and shining light,
We must quit our little circles where
we’ve moved in little ways,
And work as men and women, for the
bigger, better days.
We must quit our selfish thinking and
our narrow views and creeds,
And as people, big and splendid, we
must do the bigger deeds.
(The author is anonymous.)
CONDUCT ON STREET CARS
USE discretion and common sense
on street cars. It has been no
ticed that some of our men in their
soiled and sweaty working clothes will
enter a street car and crowd them
selves down beside some neatly
dressed woman. Is this a wise or
proper thing to do? This is not a
question of one’s rights, but of com
mon sense and good judgment.
RIOTING IN WASHINGTON
rr IS a serious reflection upon our
country that there should be seri
ous race riots at the seat of our na
tional government. It would seem
that they were precipitated by sol
diers and marines. Riots wherever
they occur should be put down with a
strong ami and those who are respon
sible for inciting them should be se
verely punished.
ESTABLISHING SEVERAL
SOCIAL CENTERS
Newark, N. J., July 23.—With al
most $35,000 already subscribed to the
fund for the establishment of a Roose
velt memorial institute and social cen
ter for Colored people in this city,
the drive is now being conducted in
forty-five municipalities in New Jer
sey with encouraging results, accord
ing to Rev. Dr. Sylvester L. Carroth
ers, pastor of Pennington Street Zion
church, who started the movement.
Nor is the movement confined to
New Jersey alone, for Dr. Carrothers
is in receipt of a letter from Rev. Dr.
Henry P. Nicholas, rector of Holy
Trinity Protestant Episcopal church,
West 122d street, New York, express
ing a hope that every church in this
section will lend a helping hand for
the success of the project.
| JOHN H. GARDINER ff
x Auto Express and Baggage J
y Stand: P. H, Jenkins’ Barber A
% Shop, 2122 North 24th St. Web.
❖ 2095. Residence, 2622 Maple St. f
y Web. 1219. *
| The Beautiful Thing |
j! About the FORD CAR is its 100% simplicity of operation, 100% per .».
i- cent economy, and 100% service. That’s why we’ve adopted tne V
X slogan 100% Ford Service. We strive to maintain the Ford standard
.j! all the time, in all ways, in all departments. ^
•j’ We sell Ford Motor Cars and Fordsom Farm Tractors. X
X V
! Sam pie-Hart Motor Co. f (
| Tyler 513. 18th and Burt Streets- |
200,000
f Can Take Up DUDLEY’S NINETY DAY OFFER f
X For ninety days only will ship to all new agents $10.00 worth of J>
X DUDLEY’S FAMOUS POLISH for $5.00. Save time. Just inclose
Y five dollars and your address in full and a shipment will be made the X
* same day we get your order to Live Wire Agents. Hit the iron while y
❖ it is hot. Write for an order. X
! Dudley’s Leather and Chemical Works
X 116 South Main Street. Muskogee, Okla. j.
H Classified Directory of Omaha’s
Colored professional and
Business firms
>i>' ...i....i.iiiinnnn'iinimMi)mimw—»
I ALLEN JONES ANDREW T. REED *|
Res. Phone Web. 201. R«-»- I’hon* Red •>210- g _
| JONES & REED f
| Funeral Parlor |
'k Parlors 2314 North 24th Street. Phone Webster 1100. J#
h Expert Licensed Embalmers and Funeral Ifirectors. Auto and Horse
X Drawn Vehicles. Lady Attendant. Open Day and Nijfht. ,j.
X We are as near to you as your telephone with every convenience at j.
hand. Calls promptly attended at all hours. i
gcasK5ag5?wf!.m.i').',k'k;«:«wr)<' gwsBrasaass
Telephone Webster 248
Open I)a> and Night
| Silas Johnson f
I Western Funeral Home I;
2518 Lake St.
y The Place for Quality and Service jj
PRICES REASONABLE.
C Licensed Embalmer In Attendance ”
Lady Attendant If Desired,
k k
a MUSIC FURNISHED FREE.
« a « k a ::«a a a a k k a a a*
St, K
I R. H. Robbins |
& Co.
§ k
i! GROCERIES AND MEATS ;
I An Up-to-Date Store.
a ft
& 1411 North 24th Street,
a Prompt Delivery. W. 241. «
1 HKHHHHMWW a ak'.a :t K3SBK a KK0SKffi k
f Do It
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WHAT
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I Subscribe I
| for j
f The |
Monitor
Eureka Furniture Store
a Complete Line of New and Sec
ond Hand Furniture
PRICES REASONABLE
J Call Us When You Have Any !!
Furniture to Sell a
^ 1417 N. 24th St. Web. 4206 |
| GREEN & GREEN
We Operate the
k One Minute Shining Parlor
Chairs for Ladies.
I
!®K>O<1«i«BaSS>fl8BB8SfflgSK»S(H!aia0*HB
1 Repairing and Storing
Orders Promptly Filled jj
NORTH SIDE
:: SECOND-HAND STORE g
1 K
R. 11. RHODES
k it
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Dealer in
a New and Second-Hand Furniture a
and Stoves.
a Household Goods Bought and rf \_
•S Sold. Rental and Real Estate. ” *
•• 2522 Lake St. Webster 908
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a a a a a a a a a a a a a a,:t a a a a 83® a a w a
s A. F. PEOPLES
*" It
a Painting
PaperhanginK and
Decorating «
1 i
a Estimates Furnished Free. «
| All Work Guaranteed.
" 1827 Erskine Strett.
Phone Walnut 2111.
2 ajaHMBCWtaJK it ifiWKSR|
« 5
1 South & Thompson’s Cafe |
| 2418 North 24th St. Webster 4566 H *4
® SPECIAL SUNDAY DINNER
§ Stewed chicken with dumplings..40c l!
Roast Prime Beef au jus_40c
0t Roast Pork, Apple Bauce ___.40c it
« Roast Domestic Goose, dressing 60c
it Early June Peas
Mashed Potatoes
Salad
Coffee Dessert
s 9
We Serve Mexican Chile «
gj H
g_ H
EAT AT
WEST CAFE
'it, ^ m it
it Good Cooking, Reasonable Prices it
1712 North 21th St.
T. J. ASHLEY, Prop,
it w® 7®wik n •smxmmaowxtejt •« stag x “
,1 ::
S. W. MILLS
FURNITURE CO.
;t i?
We sell new and second hand
furniture, 1421 North 24th St. ?;
it Webster 148. 24th and Charles, it
2 a
i DR. P. W. SAWYER |
DENTIST
it Tel. Doug. 7150; Web. 3636 |
220 South 13th St.
It I
JOHN HALL!
1 1
PROGRESSIVE TAILOR it V
1614 N. 24th St. Web. 875. ” \
18 _______ \
! flHBBflffiSiRfKBf it i< m sewameK'Kncicg?* 8l
Open for Buelneee the
j BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
HOTEL
Nicely Furnished Steam Heated is
] C Rooms, With or Without Board. Jj
] 523 North 15th St. Omaha, Neb. |j
Phone Tyler 8«7.
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