f' -—..II ,,
The Monitor
I 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 Postoffice 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.
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For mankind are one in spirit, and an instinct bears along,
Round the earth’s electric circle the swift flush of right or
wrong;
Whether conscious or unconscious, yet humanity’s vast
frame
Through its ocean-sundered fibres feels the gush of joy or
shame;
In the gain or loss of one race all the rest have equal claim.
—James Russell Lowell.
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PRESIDENT WILSON’S ARGU
MENT
VV JE have read rather religiously,
W although we did not find them
very’ edifying religious reading, Pres
ident Wilson’s speeches in favor of
the peace treaty, and the league of
nations, and we are forced to confess
that his arguments do not either con
vince or favorably impress us. In-1
deed, his presentation of the case ap
pears to us as a desperate attempt!
to bolster up a tottering cause. There
seems to be a lack of candor and j
frankness and a very adroit avoid
ance of direct answers to direct ques
tions which are uppermost in the
minds of the American people. He
does not meet, or attempt to meet,
fairly and squarely, what appear to
many’ valid objections urged against
certain features of the proposed
treaty. This artful dodging or side
stepping of itself arouses suspicion.
Then, too, his querulous fault-find
ing with those who differ from him
and refuse to accept his mere ipse
dixit,’ or myself have said it and
therefore it must be gospel truth, is
anything but dignified. His covert
suggestion that the men who are op
posing the acceptance of the treaty
as it stands are pro-German is ab
surd and will get him nowhere. Such
a suggestion comes with very poor
grace from President Wilson. Im
pugning the Americanism of one’s
opponents is not argument. If the
peace treaty as it stands is such a
faultless document as Mr. Wilson
would have us believe it to be, then
surely one possessing his ability and
astuteness ought to be able to prove
it without resorting to the verbal
^ tactics which he would have the pub
lic believe ascends to the dignity of
a valid and convincing argument.
WOMEN AND PROFANITY
WOMEN who have any respect for
themselves will not indulge in
. profanity. Perhaps we are old-fash
ioned, and we are willing to plead
guilty to this indictment, but we
have always associated women who
swear with the brothel and question
able resorts. Swearing has no place
in the vocabularly of either a genle
man or a lady, and right-thinking
men, who have acquired this habit and
in many cases indulge in it mechanic
ally, will admit this. If this be true,
and it is, how can any woman retain
the instincts of gentility and habitual
ly use profanity?
HONEST BI T MISTAKEN
THE MONITOR believes that J.
Dean Ringer, police commission
er, is wrong in his refusal to suspend
the two officers woh have been bound
over to the district court on the
charge of manslaughter in connec
tion with the shooting of Eugene
Scott, the Plaza hotel bellman. That
• he is sincere in his convictions, we do
not for one moment doubt. We can
not understand his position. His con
tention is that the evidence elicited
at the coroner’s inquest and at the
preliminary hearing did not and does
not sufficiently connect the indicted
J officers with the crime to have jus
tified their indictment and therefore
he would be adding injustice to injus
tice to suspend them. This, as The
Monitor understands it, after a
lengthy interview with him, courte
ously extended, accurately states Mr.
Ringer’s reasoning and position. We
believe him to be honest and sincere
in his views, but we do not under- J
stand how, in view of the evidence
submitted, he sees the facts in this
light. Perhaps his is one of those
single track minds that can only work
along one groove at a time and just
now the groove in which it is run
ning is that of the intention to pro
tect and clear these officers of the
charge hanging over them, and of
which he believes them to be inno
cent. _
The public generally, and this opin
ion has been accurately sensed and
voiced by editorials in both the Bee
and the World-Herald, the latter of
which has not been unfriendly toward
Mr. Ringer, does not take his view
of the matter. The Monitor reiter
ates its statement that we believe
that these officers should have been
suspended upon their arrest for a
felony, and we regret that Mr. Ringei
refuses to see it in this light. We be
lieve that he is honest, but mistaken.
“LOCHGIEL” URE
THE MONITOR has never had any
confidence in Big “Bill” Ure, as
he is popularly called, but where his
bigness comes in it has been difficult
for us to determine. We have never
considered him at all friendly to our
people. His warning to us about stir
ring up trouble sounds strangely like
a voice from Texas, although Mr. Ure,
if we are not mistaken, hails by an
cestry, at least, from Scotland. His
“Lochgiel, Lochgiel, beware of the
day,” is doubtless well meant, but en
tirely unnecessary.
WORI.D-HERALD TO
BE COMMENDED
THE World-Herald is to be com
mended for the position it has re
cently taken in reports of alleged
crimes. In several instances no ref
erence whatever was made to the
race of the accused; and in other in
stances where the race was indicated
it was in a manner not to especially
attract attention. In other words, it
has not made the race primary and
crime secondary. This is a reform
which we notice with pleasure, and
hope that the World-Herald will con
tinue this practice and that other
newspapers will follow this most ex
cellent example, which will win the
commendation of all right-thinking
people.
THE MONITOR’S POLICY
THE MONITOR is always pleased
to receive constructive criticism
and to act upon it. Destructive crit
icism does not bother us a bit. W'e
have our definite, clear-cut policy in
trying to serve all the people in
whose interests it is published and
in pursuing that policy we are grow
ing steadily in circulation and influ
ence. Our policy is not to engage in
personal controversy; indeed, many
have faulted us because this was not
our policy. When principles are at
stake, we shall speak and speak fear
lessly. When we run across practices
which we consider unethical and
questionable, we shall say so and,
having tacts, and being sure of them,
we shall not fail to call a spade a
spade.
BISHOP SHAYLER
THE advent of a religious leader is
of great moment to any progrcs
sive community. For this reason the
election and consecration of a bishop
of the Episcopal church is not only
an event of importance and interest
to the people of that especial com
munion, but to all who value wise
and constiuctive religious leadership.
The Monitor therefore extends most
cordial welcome to Bishop Shaylor,
who comes to take up the work of the
late Bishop Williams, who was such
a staunch, true and tried friend of
our race.
The number of Episcopalians among
colored people is steadily growing ev
erywhere, and the progress and viril
ity of the work of this historic com
munion among our people who are
thinking as never before, depends
upon the broadmindnedness and sin
cerity of those placed in position of
leadership. This is equally true of
all classes of Americans in this period
of reconstruction.
The Monitor wishes Nebraska’s new
bishop a long, prosperous and fruit
ful episcopate.
LET US REASON TOGETHER
Dr. BuBois writes in the September
Crisis: Brothers, we are on the great
deep. We have cast off on the vast
which will lead to freedom or death.
For thiee centuries we have suffered
and cowered. No race ever gave pas
sive resistance and submission to evil
longer, more piteous trial. Today we
raise the terrible weapon of self-de
fense. When the murderer comes, he
j shall no longer strike us in the, back.
W hen the armed lynchers gather, we
too must gather armed. When the
mob moves, we propose to meet it
! with bricks and clubs and guns.
But we must tread here with sol
emn caution. We must never let jus
1 tifiable self-defense against individ
uals become blind and lawless offense
against all white folk. We must not
seek reform by violence. We must
not seek vengeance. “Vengeance is
mine,” saith the Lord, or to put it
otherwise, only infinite justice and
knowledge can assign blame in this
poor world, and we ourselves are sin
ful men, struggling desperately with
our own crime and ignorance. We
must defend ourselves, our homes, our
wives and children against the law
less without stint or hesitation; but
we must carefully and scrupulously
avoid cn our own part bitter and un
justifiable aggression against any
body.
This line is hard to draw. In the
south the police and public opinion
back the mob and the least resistance
on the part of the innocent black vic
tim is nearly always construed as a
lawless attack on society and gov
ernment. In the north the police
and the public will dodge and falter,
but in the end they will back the
right when the truth is made clear to
them.
! But whether the line between just
lesistance and angry retaliation is
hard or easy, we must draw it care
fully, not in wild resentment, but in
grim and Fober consideration; and
then back of the impregnable fortress
of the divine right of self-defense,
which is sanctioned by every law- of
God and man, in every land, civilized
and uncivilized, we must take our
unfaltering stand.
Honor, endless and undying honor
to every man, black or white, who in
Houston, East St. Louis, Washington
and Chicago gave his life for civiliza
tion and order.
If the United States is to be land of
law, we would live humbly and peace
ably in it—working, singing, learning
and dreaming to make it and our
selves nobler and better; if it is to be
a land of mobs and lynchers, we might
as W'eli die today as tomorrow.
“And how can a man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?”
LOADED WITH DYNAMITE
The holding of two Omaha patrol
men for manslaughter as a conse
quence of the illegal raid on the I’laza
hotel, in which an innocent Negro boy
was killed, should have the effect of
a sobering shock on the Omaha city
government.
The World-Herald has no desire or
intention to tear passion to tatters in
an unceasing attack upon the police
administration of this city. It has no
vendettas to wage or grudges to sat
isfy. liut the action of the prelimin
ary court, at the insistence of the
I county attorney, makes it not amiss
1 once more to call the attention of
the thoughtful people of Omaha to a
serious situation; a situation loaded
with dynamite.
How long will public sentiment in
Omaha, by its indifference, permit Su
perintendent Ringer and his support
ers in the council to continue in their
career of reckless fanaticism ?
How long shall police lawlessness
and police violence, practiced blas
phemously in the name of God, be per
mitted to serve as a constant example
for other lawlessness and other vio
lence ?
How long shall one element of the
community, temporarily and unfor
tunately vested with control of the po
lice power, be encouraged to misuse
that power in trampling down the
legal and moral rights and inciting
the sullen and justifiable resentment
of another element on which it has
declared a sort of holy war?
| What will be the eventful bitter
fruit of such a policy?
We have here a city of nearly a
quarter million people, made up of all
races and creeds and classes—a cos
mopolitan city, as former Mayor
Dahlman used to say, if there is one
; west of the Mississippi river. If we
are able to live together in peace and
harmony and continued prosperity and
security, it must be on the basis of
I tolerance, of fairness, of respect for
, one another’s rights, of equality be
fore the law.
Superintendent Ringer and his fool
hardy backers, inspired by the odious
spirit of superior righteousness and
the hatred and intolerance which that
spirit engenders, are doing their dan
gerous best to tear down that basis,
pile by pile and plank by plank.
We submit that the condition re
suiting—a condition that is constantly
growing more menacing—is one that
deserves the thoughtful and imme
diate consideration of all citizens with
a stake in Omaha.—The World-Her
ald.
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1 Flashes of
Most Anything j
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JACKSONVILLE, FLA., had its first
lynching the other day. Boston
had its first riot. The blot on the
national escutcheon is spreading so
as to threaten the entire shield. Crime
knows no color line; and lawlessness
fostered becomes an eating cancer.
“That we but teach bloody instruc
tion, which being taught return to
plague the inventor.” The fellow
who wrote that knew something about
human nature. I’ll say he did.
FUNNY isn’t it how a crooked shoe
can pinch the foot it fits? Listen
at ’em squeal, Pete, listen at ’em
squeal!
0~ N the trail of the lonesome Whine
—Borah, Johnson and McCormick.
ANOTHER 14 POINTS
Here are 14 points that opponents
of the League of Nations raise against
the ratification of the peace treaty.
1. The Shantung provision is in
ternational piracy, bringing dishonoi
to any nation party to it.
2. Great Britain is given six votes
to America’s one, without justification
in reason.
3. By entering the league, America
would abandon her traditional policy
of non-interference in European af
fairs.
4. The Monroe doctrine would be
subject to interpretation by the league
council, as asserted by British offi
cials without contradiction.
5. The United States would be
bound to maintain armies in Europe to
regulate purely European affairs.
6. Our constitutional provision that
congress shall have power to raise
armies would be violated.
7. Domestic questions, such as im
migration, tariff, and coastwise trade,
will come within the jurisdiction of
the league if the foreign council so
decides.
8. Insignificant nations, like Liber
ia, Hedjaz, would have voting power
in the assembly equal with the United
States.
9. The United States would be
bound to preserve the territorial in
tegrity and political independence of
every member of the league, many of
them monarchies.
10. By bringing the charge that
nation could require the United States
to submit any question to the league
for decision.
11. Article 23 requiring free tran
sit and equitable treatment of com
merce could be construed to forbid
protective tariffs.
12. America, industrially and fi
nancially strong, would become the
burden-bearer of the world.
13. The league covenant obligates
the United States to give full and
frank information concerning indus
tries adaptable to war-like purposes,
thus putting American industry at a
disadvantage, since most important
industries are of such character.
14. America has nothing to gain
and much to lose by entering the
league.
BRANCH W. C. C. S. TO COM
PILE COMMUNITY HISTORY
The W. C. C. S. with its headquar
ters at 24th and Burdette Streets has
in mind the compiling of a history
telling the part played by Omaha’s
soldiers and sailors in the great world
war.
The authors invite all soldiers ann
sailors to write a personal account of
their connection with the service from
the time of induction to discharge.
All soldiers are welcome to headquar
ters to relate in person each event and
incident of importance.
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Dental Hygiene and Care of the Teeth
By Dr. W. W. Peebles
I
I)R. W. VV. PEEBLES
FOREWORD
In the articles which will be writ
ten for the consideration of the read
ers of The Monitor, special care will
be taken to be brief and concise. In
an age where time plays such an im
portant part in the activities of life
much interesting and beneficial lead
ing matter is only casually glanced
over because of the long drawn out
and minutely detailed nature of the
SOUJiDS LIKE A JOKE
OUR Washington correspondent
states in this week’s letter that
the president-elect of Liberia, "Mr
King plans to remain in Washington
during practically his entire stay ir
the United States, because he feels
that the more representative colored
citizens live in the national capital
and is of the opinion that he can ob
tain better impressions of the prog
ress of the colored people of America
in Washington than in any other city
of the United States.”
Washingtonians may take them
selves seriously and believe that “We
are the people and wisdom will die
with us,” and they may have im
pressed Mr. King w-ith their progress
iveness, but if the president-elect ol
Liberia wants to secure, as we believe
he does, the best impression of the
progress of the colored people oi
America, he will have to travel many
F..~— .. .. ■■■■■ .. .r—. .... im. ws.
article written. Hence brevity and
concisiveness, or in other words, short
and snappy, will be my motto.
The writer does not hope to present
any new phases of dental science, but
simply desires to refresh your mem
ories with those elemental principles
of dental hygiene which if carefully , *
observed will save pain and extra ex
pense as well as give much comfort,
to those who w'ill take the time to
read these articles. The homely phrase
—"an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure,” has lost none of its
virtues as time has sped on. So with
brevity and conciseness and iteration
and reiteration I shall endeavor to
present some of the methods neces
sary to be observed to present dental
lesions.
Having served as dental surgeon in
the aiTny for over two years, I shall
from time to time, not only familiar
ize you with the progressive methods
used in the army to obtain and main
tain clean oral conditions, but shall
occasionally recount personal observa
tions of Europe. The mouths of the
people of Europe with whom I have
come in contact, and European den
tistry in detail.
Any questions which one desires to
ask will be gladly answered by the
winter.
! weary miles from the national cap
ital. Washingtonians are puffed up
with self importance, but they are
woefully non-progressive and behind
scores of other American cities whose
; colored population is much smaller
than that of Washington. The Mon- j
itor would respectfully advise Mr. f
King to see the United States, or as
much of it as he can during his so
journ in this country. Seven-eights
of the United States lie west of the
Alleghany mountains.
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THREE BROTHERS
OPEN GROCERY
Three brothers, Albert, Herbert and
Essie Kemp, recently from Ever
green, Ala., have opened a grocery
store at Twenty-fourth and Charles
streets, having bought out a Jewish
merchant, Mr. Abrahams. The store
is known as the Sanitary Grocery and
: Fish Market. /
/
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brandeis Stores <
&
W’e wish to announce that we are agents for
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Boys. The same quality, material and workman
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Douglas 6420 ‘
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YOUNG WOMEN WANTED
AS DEMONSTRATORS
We have an attractive proposition to make to a few am
bitious women. A line of goods that sell themselves. Ex
perience unnecessary. Four dollars a day and commission.
Apply Dr. Halliday, Hotel Loyal, Sixteenth and Capitol Ave.
