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A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COIXIRED AMERICANS.
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS. Editor
$2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy_ OMAHA, NEBRASKA. SEPTEMBER 25, 1919 Vol. V. Nc Whole No. 221)
„ Refuse Colored People—Train Swept Into liSy
Liberian Party
Visits Cincinnati
President-Elect King Royally Enter
tained by Prominent People in the
Queen City; Makes Favorable Im
pression; Tells Modestly of Africa’s
Aspirations and Ideals.
MAYOR GALVIN GIVES
WELCOME TO VISITORS
(Tamher of Commerce Give Party
Automobile Tour of City; Cars Dec
orated with American and Liberian
Flags; Dr. I. Garland Penn, Chair
man Committee of Arrangements.
(Special to The Monitor.)
CINCINNATI. O., Sept. 22.—The
Liberian party touring the United
States as guests of the nation, con
sisting of President-elect C. B. D. King
and Mrs. King, with Hon. W. F. Wor
\ ley, financial advisor to the Republic
of Liberia, has visited in Cincinnati in
their itinerary.
They were entertained at the Hotel
Sinton while in the city. It is said here
this is the first African or descendent
to be entertained at the Sinton hotel.
Bishop Joseph C. Hartzell, retired
bishop to Africa of the Methodist
Episcopal church; Mr. J. G. Schmid
lapp, a millionaire philanthropist of
the city', and Dr. I. Garland Penn, cor
responding secretary of the Freed
men’s Aid society, were the principal
hosts to the party.
They had but a twenty-four-hour
stay in the city, which was crowded
with features of entertainment and op
portunities to see the racial and com
mercial progress of the people of the
Queen City.
During their visit the party was
taken to the model and modern hous
ing movement on Walnut Hills in Cin
cinnati, which is the work of Cincin
nati’s great philanthropist, Mr. J. G.
Sehmidlapp. This model community
work has attracted the attention of
leading social workers everywhere and
it was appropriate that the presiden
tial party should see this plan.
Mayor Galvin received President
elect King and party at the city hall
in the presence of seventy-five white
and Colored leaders. Secretary I. Gar
land Penn had the honor of intro
ducing the citizens to his excellency
the president of the Republic of I.i
bnri.i. Bishop Joseph C. Hartzell, so
helpfully identified with all move
ments for Negro welfare in America
and Africa, presented President King
to the mayor.
^, The bishop explained the new day'
which was on for Liberia and of thf
hopeful outlook. Mayor Galvin was
most gracious and courteous in his
welcome to the president and party to
the city. Cincinnati’s great mayor
never appeared more at home and to
better advantage than in his gracious
words of welcome upon this occasion.
Following the mayor’s reception Mr.
J. G. Sehmidlapp entertained at lunch
eon in the Sinton hotel a select party
with the president, Mrs. King and
Hon. Mr. Worley.
Attending this luncheon were Mr. J.
G. Sehmidlapp, Mr. Miller, another in
terested white friend of the Negro
race; President Hinsch of the Fifty
third National hank; Dr. W. H. Wehr
ly, district superintendent Cincinnati
district, West Ohio conference; Dr. E.
C. Waring, editor Western Christian
Advocate; Misses Campbell and Phil
lips of the War Camp Community
Service; Secretary I. Garland Penn of
the Freedmen’s Aid society, and
Bishop Joseph C, Hartzell. The bishop
appeared at all functions in the garb
of the knighthood granted by the Li
berian government to those who have
served the republic in a period of
crisis.
The Chamber of Commerce had the
presidential party on an automobile
tour of the city. The auto was appro
priately decorated with flags of the
United States ami Liberia intertwined.
As the party drove through the city
citizens seemed greatly interested.
The great and large function of the
visit was at the Colored Y. M. C. A.
auditorium, when a hundred banquet
ers, representing the most prominent
colored men and women of Cincinnati,
sat down with President and Mrs.
King, Hon. Mr. Worley, Bishop Joseph
C. Hartzell, Mr. J. G. Sehmidlapp and
Superintendent of Public Schools R. C.
Condon at the banquet table.
Looking down upon the banquet was
a crowded • gallery to hear the ad
dresses to be delivered.
Secretary I. Garland Penn, chair
man of the committee, was toastmas
ter.
Hon. Joseph L. Jones, prominent
business man, delivered the address of
welcome on behalf of Cincinnati’s col
ored population. When Dr. Penn in
troduced President King as about to
enter upon the greatest day for the
Liberian Republic in her history and
that it was fortunate that he should
return to his country from the peace
conference by way of Cincinnati and
the United States, the assembly arose
as one man and waved and cheered
the president before he began his ad
dress. The address was sincere,
thoughtful and informing. The gen
eral impression made upon the leaders
of the race was that President King
is a reserved, sincere and earnest man
who will give to Liberia a splendid ad
ministration at a time when the op
portunities are great and responsibili
ties heavy.
The address by Hon. W. F. Worley,
financial advisor to the republic, con
cerning the loan of five million of dol
lars by the United States government
and the purpose of such loan and what
it will mean for the development of
the country, was of the most encour
aging, nature. Other addresses were
delivered by Lieutenant Gow, who was
bora in South Africa, and Bishop
Hartzell. The entire banquet party
went to Walnut Hills for another
great meeting, which closed the visit
of great and helpful events.
The committee who had charge of
arrangements are among Cincinnati’s
most prominent colored citizens. They
are: Dr. I. Garland Penn, secretary
of Freedmen’s Aid society, chairman;
Hon. W. Philip Dabney, assistant pay
master city treasurer’s office, general
secretary Y. M. C. A.; Mr. H. S. Dun
bar, president W. J. Decatur Colored
Industrial school; Hon. George W.
Hayes, former member Ohio legisla
ture; Principal F. M. Russell, Doug
lass school, and Hon. Joseph L. Jones,
proprietor Central Regalia company.
At the banquet table were such
leaders at,, *"’r. D. P. Roberts of Allen
Temple, A. M. E. church; Dr. B. F.
Smith, Park Street M. E. church; Dr.
E. H. Oxley, Protestant Episcopal
church, and a host of others. Cincin
nati feels and has been told that her
welcome to a live Negro president was
ti e greatest yet.
J VPA N CRITICIZES
THE UNITED STATES
Prominent Newspaper Accuses Amer
icans of Being Conscienceless and
Points to Treatment of
Negroes.
' 3K YO, Sept. 24.—That the obser
vant people of Japnn are meas
uring the sincerity of America by her
treatment of Negro citizens is shown
by prominent newspapers of the
Flowery Kingdom.
One of the leading Japanese news
papers, the Yamato, in a criticism
upon the supposed altruistic role the
United States is playing in bringing
justice to the weaker peoples of the
world, and especially in the east, as it
appertains to the Shantung situation,
said that Americans have no con
science at all. They should bow their
heads in shame instead of holding
them in the air and trying to question
the integrity of other nations.
They accused Americans of lynching
and discriminating against Negroes in
open defiance of the constitution. And
when they are questioned about this
they answer: What of it if one or two
amendments are broken—if Negroes
are kept out of participating in gov
ernment affairs.
The paper also prophesied that un
less a federal lynch law was passed to
prevent such depraved and outlawed
occurrences the United States would
face the most serious crisis in its his
tory. A Japanese statesman just re
turned from Paris took occasion to say
that Amprican missionaries in the east
are looked upon as colossal hypocrit
ical jokes, because the whole world has
turned the spotlight upon the injustice
done the American Negro.
T. It ’S FRIEND DIED
Sioux Falls, S. D., Sept. 24.—“Cap
tain” Seth Bullock, noted frontiers
man and close personal friend of the
late Colonel Theodore Roosevelt died
at his home in Deadwood, S. D., early
today after a long illness.
SOUTH WANTS NEGROES TO |
RETURN TO COTTON FIELDS
Southerners Express Willingness to
Pay Fare of All True Sons of the
South Who Will Answer the Call
for Laborers From Dixieland.
NORTHENERS NOT WANTED
Recent Migrants Interviewed by The
Monitor Unanimously Agree In De
cision to Remain in the North.
□EMPHIS, Tenn., Sept. 23.—Plenty
of farm and mill work, better
wages than ever before paid and im
proved living conditions await south
ern Negroes who have gone to the
north and who now are said to be
clamoring to return to the south, ac
cording to employers here.
Southern farmers and plantation
owners want the Negroes back. If
there were some method of getting in
touch with them it is declared the ex
pense of their return to Dixie would
be willingly borne. This will hold es
pecially true for the next few weeks,
because there is need of Negroes who
know how to take care of the cotton
crop.
But these employers say they do not
want northern bom and reared Ne
groes. They would prefer to bring in
foreign labor, they assert.
“We would not hesitate to pay the
expense of a hundred or more Negroes
from Chicago or other northern cities
to our place, if we can get southern
Negroes, particularly Negroes who
have gone fiom Mississippi, Arkansas
and Tennessee,” said A. C. Lange, vice
president and general manager of the
Chicago Mill and Lumber company,
which owns more than 70,000 acres of
timber and agricultural lands in north
eastern Arkansas. "I think it safe to
say that every southern Negro in the
north would be brought back without
expense to him if southern farmers
and plantation owners knew where and
how to get in touch with the southern
born. We don’t want and will not have
northern Negroes.”
The question of how to get in touch
with Negroes who have gone north
was discussed at the Memphis meet
ing of the Alluvial Land association
several days ago and the subject will
be a special order of business at the
next meeting. The association is an
organization of bankers, land owners,
Chambers of Commerce, planters and
lumbermen of the lower Mississippi
valley, formed to serve, in measure,
the same purpose for the delta country
as the Chamber of Commerce serves
the town or city. At the last meeting
it was said there was great need for
more labor in the lower Mississippi
valley anil especially for Negro laboi
acquainted with southern agricultural
methods and with cotton growing and
handling.
Wishing to secure the opinions of
those who have come from the south
to Omaha within the past two years,
as to their desire and willingness to
answer the call from the sunny south
land, The Monitor has interviewed sev
eral from different states and finds an
astonishing unanimity in sentiment
favoring remaining in Nebraska. All
express affection for their native
heath, but assert that they are un
willing to return to the conditions
which they left. They complain of the
low wages received there, the inability
to secure justice in the courts, the lack
of educational opportunities and only
a few, however, speak of the denial of
the ballot. The following symposium
is representative of the opinions ex
pressed by all the migrants inter
viewed:
James Bowler, formerly of Pensa
cola, Fla.—“I was a successful school
teacher for thirty years in Florida. I
would not exchange my work as a day
laborer in Nebraska for even my for
mer position in Florida.”
David Merriweather, formerly of
Mobile, Ala., where he was a cotton
sampler for one of the largest brokers
in that state—“After two years’ resi
dence in Nebraska the south has noth
ing to offer me that I would either|
consider or accept.”
Dr. J. L. Green, former teacher and
merchant at Morehead, Miss, says— !
“I left Mississippi, where they rob,1
beat and burn my people, because of
their helpless situation, and I could
not return there to submit to those
conditions after my residence in Ne
braska.”
J. O. Ward, a well-to-do farmer i
from near Newport, Ark.—“The White
river valley is rich and productive and
I had a good farm there. Repressive
conditions, however, were galling to
my manhood and I decided to look for
more favorable surroundings. I came
to Omaha, was pleased with the place
and so I bought a little home here and
am working as a day laborer. No, no
more south for me, thank you, unless
conditions are radically changed
there.”
Will Paris of Houston Heights, Tex.
—“I prefer to remain in the north,
where you have protection of the law.
a better chance to educate your chil
dren and steady work at good wages.
I intend to remain in Omaha and if I
don’t I’ll go farther north, not back
south. I remained there thirty-six
years and could stand it, but I have a
wife, four boys and two girls and could
not protect them. Haven’t much edu
cation, but 1 can see a little ahead.”
CHURCH COUNCIL CALLS
FOR JUSTICE TO THE NEGRO
Problem No Longer Sectional; Co
Operation and Racial Under
standing Necessary.
\CALL to the citizens of the United
■ States to act in conformity with the
high ideals of democracy and of Chris
tianity in the present condition of
strained relations between the races
has just been issued by the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in
America, acting in conjunction with a
large representative committee of
white and colored citizens from all
sections of the country. This commit
tee met recently in New York City on
the call of the secretary of the Home
Missions Council and the chairman of
the Committee of the Federal Council
on Negro Churches. Much time was
given to a full and free discussion of
the racial situation. As a result this
address was issued, which represents
the thought of these leaders and the
deli Iterative judgment of the adminis
trative committee of the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in
; America.
A Statement and Recommendations on
the Present Racial Crisis.
1 The recent race conflicts in some of
our cities challenge the attention of
the churches of Jesus Christ to their
responsibility respecting an amicable
and fair adjustment of race relations
in America.
In the fellowship of the Federal
Council of the Churches of Christ in
America are included 3,98!),852 mem
bers of the Negro churches. In speak-1
ing therefore at this time for human- 1
ity and justice we voice the mind and
conscience of both races. The present
situation is a challenge to the churches
charged with the promotion of the
brotherhood of man, which look upon
all men as entitled to a footing of j
equality of opportunity. This calls for I
preaching the duty of economic and
community justice for the Negro, thus
securing peace and goodwill between
the races. Beyond all else the present
situation calls for confession on the
part of Christian men and women of
failure to live up to the standard of
universal brotherhood as taught by
Jesus Christ.
In the adjustment of race relations
our country has in this crisis not only
its own conscience to satisfy, but also
to justify itself as a nation before the
enlightened opinion of mankind. As
a foremost exponent of the ideals of
democratic government the United
States has been lifted to the full view
of the world. Our present settlement
therefore of race relations will influ
ence in a very large measure the set
tlement of race relations in other parts
of the world.
We must face frankly the fact that
u most dangerous inter-racial situa
tion now threatens our country. The
problems growing out of the presence
(Continued on Page 2.)
Reviews Parade of
“Pershings’s Own”
By Invitation of Secretary of War
Colored Americans Are Represent
ed in Seat of Honor in Front of
White House; An Event in Race
History.
(Special to The Monitor.)
WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 24.—
In recognition of the 400,000
Colored men who helped to win the
world-wide war for democracy and
freedom the Hon. Newton D. Baker,
■secretary of war, invited Dr. Emmett
J. Scott to have a seat of honor in the
official reviewing stand, immediately
in front of the White House when
“Pershing’s Own” swept in triumph
down Pennsylvania avenue Wednes
day, September 17. Dr-. Scott served
throughout the war period as special
assistant to the secretary of war with
great satisfaction to the race and na
tion, having in charge the affairs of
the colored troops and colored civil
ians generally, and since July 1 has
been secretary-treasurer of Howard
university.
The official invitation sent to Dr.
Scott read as follows:
0 O
THE SECRETARY OF WAR
Requests your presence at the
Review of the
First Division, United States Army
1 At the Official Reviewing Stand.
Pennsylvania Avenue,
September 17th, 1919.
at 1 o’clock.
|
o
Dr. Scott was accompanied by Mrs.
Scott, and these were the only mem
bers of the race to have seats in this
magnificent structure, especially
erected for the accommodation of dis
tinguished citizens. Among those in
the official stand, in addition to Gen
eral John J. Pershing and his staff,
were Vice President Marshall, Secre
tary of War Baker and other members
of the president’s cabinet, General
Peyton C. March, chief of staff,
United States army; Ambassador Jus
serand of the Republic of France, and
others of like prominence in the af- !
fairs of the world.
The review of the First division,1
United States army, is the last grand
review of the recent war, and, his- j
torically speaking, takes its place by!
the side of the last review of the union
troops which paraded down broad
Pennsylvania avenue in 1865 at the j
close of the civil war.
The distinction which Secretary
Baker accorded to the Negro race in !
this connection, with the universally
popular Emmett J. Scott as its spon
sor, is heartily appreciated by Colored
Americans throughout the length and
breadth of the land.
A WARNING TO TOO AMATIVE
TWOS WHO ARE WEDDED
North Carolina Judge Keeps Ten Dol
lars Which Woman Refused to
Accept from Her Husband.
(By Associated Negro Press.) ,
Salisbury, N. C., Sept. 23.—In the
county court Judge Carlton was called
on to decide an argument between a
Negro and his wife. The husband
claimed that he was merely loving her
and offered her $10 to keep the affair
out of court. The judge decided that
the affair had no business in coui-t and
declared that the $10 which the hus
band tried to give the wife and the
wife refused to accept should go >to
the court as costs and the discourage
ment of such trivial cases from com
ing before the court.
ROSENWALD OFFERS
NEGRO SCHOLARSHIPS
New York, Sept. 24.—Julius Rosen
wald of Chicago has offered six
j scholarships of $1,200 each for Negro
graduates of American medical
schools who desire to take post-grad
uate work in pathology, bacteriology,
physiology, pharmacology or physi
logical chemistry, according to an an
nouncement made here by the general
educational board.
Appointment, to be made in 1920,
will be made by a committee compris
ing Dr. William Welch, dean of the
Harvard Medical school, and Dr. Vic
tor V. Vaughn, dean of the medical de
partment of the University of Michi
gan. Abraham M. Flexner, secretary
of the General Educational board, will
act as secretary of the committee.
PREJUDICE PROVES
PROVIDENTIAL
Intel-urban Train, Upon Which Col
ored Passengers Were Not Per
mitted to Ride, to Escape Galveston
Flood, Is Swept From Causeway
Into Bay and Hundreds Perish.
LOOKS LIKE SOLEMN WARNING
n( Special to The Monitor.)
OUSTON, TEX., Sept. 22.—What
looks like a solemn warning
against race prejudice which would
place color before humanity even in
the face of a common danger is fur
nished by a tragic happening which
took place at flood swept Galveston
last week. Whether this be so or
not, it is certainly one case in which
apparently from a race point of view
prejudice proved providential.
That your readers may understand
the situation it is well to state that
Galveston, which is located on an isl
and, a mile and a half from the main
land, from which it is separated by
the waters of Galveston bay, has been
almost totally destroyed twice by
storms and floods, once in 1900 and
again in 1915. Naturally, then when
storm signals are raised over the
customs house, there is always anx
iety about the safety of the people
on the island, and preparations are
begun to take the inhabitants from
the danger zone to Houston, which •
is fifty miles distant, and adjacent
territoi-y. That was the case last
week. When the news was heralded
that a storm was sweeping up from
Yucatan bringing death and destruc
tion to Brownsville and Corpus Christi
and was headed for Galveston, relief
trains were immediately assembled
to convey the endangered residents of
Galveston to Houston over the inter
urban. Despite the fact that the
colored population of Galveston num
ber one-third of the whole, the inter
urban trains refused to allow any col
ored passengers to board any of the
first trains out of the threatened city.
The rule was white people fir.st. When
the first rescue train, loaded only with
whites, had reached a point half a
mile distant from Galveston the storm
swept it from the causeway into the
angry waters of Galveston hay and
hundreds perished.
It was a most distressing tragedy
which brought sorrow to hundreds of
homes. It strikes your correspondent
as being a most significant occurrence
which should teach a solemn lesson
to those who would discriminate
against any class of citizens in a
time of common danger. It may be
only an unexplainable coincidence,
but it makes one think.
THIS KIND WOULD
MAKE GOOD WIVES
T" o Girls Can Fourteen Hundred
Cans and Jars of Fruits, Berries
and Vegetables.
Wolfe Citv, Tex., Sept. 24.—Four
teen hundred cans and jars of fruit,
berries and vegetables, all grown by
Negro students of the Farmers’ Im
provement Agricultural school near
this town, were put up by two girls
of the school and recently placed on
exhibition. About thirty articles of
food were included in the exhibit. Or
ganized about twelve years ago for
the purpose of preparing Negroes of
the state for farm and rural life the
college lays special stress upon agri
culture. The institute is under the
auspices of the Farmers’ Improvement
Society of Texas which has for its
aims the following objects: (1) To
fight the credit system; (2) to buy
and beautify homes; (3) to co-operate
in buying and selling; (4) to pro
mote education among its members;
(5) to assist its members in distress
and provide a decent burial for its
dead.
HEART COVERING PIERCED
New Orleans, Sept. 24.—The at
tempt of Arthur Rainey, Negro, to end
his life by shooting himself in the
chest with a revolver is expected to be
defeated by an operation performed
in Charity hospital by Dr. Jerome
Landry. The bullet tore through the
covering of the heart. To reach and
mend this Dr. Landry resected four of
the man’s ribs, bent back and made an
I opening in the chest five inches
square. The heart itself, which was
not touched by the bullet, was in plain
view during the operation.
,, *.