The Monitor
A 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 Mall Matter July 2, 1915, at the Postoflice 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.
| f - * ■ |,
oinifr''
THE ROOSEVELT CREED
1 BELIEVE in honesty, sincerity and the square deal; in making up
one’s mind what to do—and doing it.
I believe in fearing God and taking one’s own part.
I believe in hitting the line hard when you are right.
I believe in speaking softly and carrying a big stick.
I believe in hard work and honest sport.
1 believe in a sane mind in a sane body.
I believe we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty
to the American people.
'---„-)
THE JOHNSON YEKDICT.
IRA Johnson is not guilty of crim
inal assault upon Bessie Kroupa.
We know a jury says he is, hut that
does not make him so. How a jury
could bring in such a verdict .after
hearing the evidence would be unex
plainable, were it not for the present
popular state of mind in this com
munity. In normal times we believe
that any fair-minded and intelligent
jury would have had the moral cour
age to have returned a verdict in ac
cordance with the evidence, even
though the defendant were black. But
these are abnormal times. The jury
was influenced, unconsciously per
haps. by the hysteria and acute race
prejudice which has been engendered,
evoked and inflamed by unscrupulous
yellow journalism. The jury, influ
enced by this sentiment, rendered its
verdict not against Ira Johnson,
merely, but against his race. This is
the unbiased truth.
The Monitor did not believe that
Johnson was the guilty man. after our
first interview with him, and verifica
tion of his statement by credible wit
nesses, his foreman, George Fahren
brook, being one of them. This con
viction was strengthened at the pre
liminary hearing by the testimony of
Miss Kroupa, herself, and of George
Kreil, who testified that he was
“pretty sure’’ that Johnson was the
Negro wearing a “brown coat” whom
he had seen in the vicinity of the as
sault about 11 o’clock. Testimony for
the state and the defense at the trial
just ended has but more firmly fixed
our belief in Johnson’s innocence.
Therefore, knowing the full import of
what we say and assuming responsi
bility for the statement The Monitor
fearlessly asserts that Ira Johnson is
not guilty of assaulting Miss Kroupa,
the verdict of the jury to the contrary
notwithstanding. This conclusion rests
not upon sentiment, but upon careful
weighing of the evidence. As Mr.
Howell, attorney for the defense said
in his able argument to the jury: “The
evidence shows that this defendant is
guilty of no crime, except it be the
crime of being born black. You have
had the evidence placed before you.
It is for you to say whether or not he
shall be made a sacrifice. The ques
tion for you, gentlemen, is this, have
you the courage and the manhood to
render a verdict according to the evi
dence ?”
When asked to take the case Mr.
Howell stated that his feelings were
so strong against crimes of the char
acter alleged that if he believed the
accused guilty he would not defend
him at any price. It was, therefore,
not until he had verified Johnson's
story and was cc . vinced of his inno
cence that he consented to take the
case. He believed and still believes
thoroughly in Johnson’s innocence.
What was the evidence in the case?
Miss Kroupa said Johnson was the
man who assaulted her and that at the
time of the assault he wore a blue
suit of clothes and a round black hat.
Kreil said, and we eliminate the con
tradictory statements of both wit
nesses, that Johnson was the man
whom he saw in the neighborhood of
the assault about 11 o’clock, and that
he was dressed in a blue or brown
coat and wore a round black hat.
Nine-year-old Charles Wentz, whose
testimony showed careful coaching,
testified that Johnson was the man he
saw in the vicinity on several occa
sions, and on this morning in par
ticular, "walking behind Kreil” and
"brushing shoulders with him,” and
that he had on a blue suit and a round
black hat. All three witnesses testi
fied that Miss Kroupa’s assailant was
a man dressed in a blue suit and
wearing a round black hat. Miss
Kroupa testified that the man had on
a blue coat. The scene of the assault
was about a mile and a half from the
Burlington ice house at Gibson where
Johnson was employed, at about IS:40
in the afternoon of July 7. George
Fahrenbrook, white, foreman of the
ice house, testified that he was talk
ing with Johnson at the ice house
shortly after 12 o’clock noon of that
day, when Johnson brought another
colored man by the name of Bell to
him for work, and that at that time
Johnson wore a khaki shirt, blue over
alls and an advertising cap, and that
he saw him again at the ice house a
little before 2 o’clock and he was
dressed in the same way. Bell, whom
Pahrenbrook employed on Johnson's
solicitation, verified this, as did two
other witnesses. These witnesses tes
tified that Johnson was around the
ice house all the afternoon or from
about 12 o'clock until 6 o’clock at
night when he went to his customary
night work in the ice house.
George Fahrenbrook was sub
poened.by the state, but when they
learned how he would testify they de
clined to call him. The defense called
him and his testimony verified that of
Johnson, Bell and Smalls and showed
conclusively that at 12:15 or there
abouts Johnson was at the ice house
dressed in overalls and wearing an
advertising cap. No hat answering
the description of the one worn bv
Miss Kroupa’s assailant was found
among Johnson's possessions or in
the bunk car where he stayed.
It is upon this evidence that The*
Monitor contends that Ira Johnson is
innocent and further maintains that
were the times normal, the jury would
have acquitted him.
We desire to stafe that Judge Redick
before whom Johnson was tried was
absolutely fair in his ruling and ex
plicit in his charge to the jury. At
torney Howell made a splendid fight
for his client, inspired by absolute be
lief in the man’s innocence.
The verdict, The Monitor admits, is
disappointing and depressing. It
awakens questionings in the minds of
many as to the willingness of the
dominant, race to render justice to all
men. irrespective of race, color or
creed. It shows the necessity of our
group being vigilant and willing to
render aid, not to every member of
our race accused of crime—for that
would be wrong, and an encourage
ment to criminals—but to men who,
like Ira Johnson, after investigation
of their case, we believe to be inno
cent of the crime alleged. The Moni
tor believes that every effort should
be exhausted to establish Johnson’s in
nocence and if possible, fix the blame
where it belongs.
The Johnson verdict should teach
us all a lesson in these abnormal
days when the times are out of joint.
CONCERNING SEGREGATION.
SOME weeks ago The Monitor
Bounded a note of warning against
what we believe to be a well-laid plan
to enforce a scheme of segregation in
Omaha. We said that we believed that
the rumors of crime by Negroes and
the apparent desire to make it appear
that Omaha haH an abnormal number
of undesirables and criminals among
its Negro population is part of the
scheme to justify the enactment of
such ordinances when deemed prac
ticable. This movement, we then be
lieved, and still believe to be but part
and parcel of a nation-wide movement,
inspired by the bourbon south, cer
tainly animated by its spirit, to en
force colonization upon our group
everywhere and to place certain re
strictions upon us in the enjoyment
of the rights of domicile, educational,
recreational and municipal privileges.
This is southern sentiment and the
southern method. It is permeating
the north. Some believe that this
sentiment is being spread by a well
organized and heavily financed agency.
As to this, we cannot say; but we do
know that this sentiment is being
spread. No doubt about it. Whether
Omaha will fall for It or not remains
to be seen. It will not, of course, if
our people are vigilant and not lulled
to sleep by the siren voice of some of
our group who seem to be playing,
consciously or unconscliusly, into the
hands of those who' are trying to put
this across.
Some do not seem to understand the
I
: difference between voluntary associa
tion, or voluntary segregation, if you
please, and involuntary or enforced
segregation. There is a vast dlffer
ence. The first is a matter 'of indi
! vidual choice, the exercise of personal
liberty; the second is an unwarranted
invasion of personal liberty, the de
nial of one's rights to choose fey him
self. An important principle is here
at stake.
Segregation, in the sense of volun
! tary association, is natural. For what
does segregation mean? To colled
into a flock or herd. It is natural for
each to seek its kind or group. Left
to themselves, people will naturally
form themselves into such associations
as may be most congenial or best
serve their interests or inclinations
This accounts for various groups, out
own among them, having their con
gregations, lodges, associations, insti
tutions and communities or neighbor
hoods. There can be no objection to
this, where it is voluntary. It is an
entirely different matter to set off a
certain section or sections of a city
and say, for example, only Jews, or
Italians or Hermans or Negroes, or
Methodists or Roman Catholics shall
be permitted to live in those sections
and nowhere else. So far as our race
in this city is concerned this is the
isue that we have got to face. ThL
enforced, involuntary segregation. The
Monitor intends to fight. We intend
to fight, also, any effort to limit our
municipal privileges for which w-e are
taxed. We would like to have our
readers freely express their views on
this subject, for or against, it, in our
columns. limiting such expressions to
two hundred words.
“( LEAN IT THE (HOOKS."
ITNDER the above caption The St
> Louis Argus gives some sound
advice to the police authorities of thai
city which is applicable to many other
cities in this fair land. The Monitor
is of the opinion that even the police
authorities of Omaha might profit by
the suggestions made in the Argus'
editorial which we respectfully com
mend to their attention. Here it is
“Following the wounding of Chief
of Police O’Brien, bv a highwayman
a few days ago, orders have been Is
sued to clean up the crooks of this
city.
“To a close observer, it furnishes
an amusement to see these blue coats
and detectives leave their stations
looking for Negroes. It seems that
they forget that there are white
crooks and gun toters until they run
into them robbing or shooting up
somebody. In which event they de
vote a little time to catching the of
fenders and then resume their vigil
ance looking for Negroes.
"Of course when the orders are is
sued. they must bring in somebody,
and we suppose that Negroes are less
trouble to bring in and, as a rule
more defenseless, and the police have
less trouble in 'making a case.’
“We have no defense for the Negro
idler, thier or gun toter, but the seem
ing one-sided affair does not help the
efficiency of the police department.
“The trouble may be in the orders
isued. They may not be specific
enough. These officers should tie in
structed to go into the ’Big Timber’
and get a few of the big criminals and
fetch them in. They should also lie
told in plain words that, there are
some white crooks as well as colored
in the city. And not to assume every
time a robbery is reported that the
crime has been committed by some
Negro, thUB wasting so many useless
hours looking for, questioning and ar
resting every Negro’ they see, while
the real criminal makes good his get
away.
“We believe that many real crim
inals have followed the police around,
laughing up their sleeves while the
police werp running around color
blind.
“It !b hoped that when the order is
issued to 'clean up’ that it. will be
applicable to white as well as colored.
The big as well as the little.”
There will be an old fashioned
tacky party at the War Camp Com
munity girls' room in Columbia hall
Tuesday evening, November 18. Prizes
for the most unique costume for man
or woman. No admission. Silver of
fering. Mrs. J. LaCour, chairman.
Nothing is denied to well-directed
labor; nothing is to be obtained with
out it.—Sir Joshua Reynolds.
LEA HI NO EDITORIALS OF THE DAV
—FROM RACE JOURNALS
One Besetting Sin.
If there is any one agency of force
that retards our racial progress affl?
renders teamwork and group action
Impossible, it Is the spirit of envy.
As soon as the colored man begins
to accomplish anything Immediately
there springs up a spirit of envy and
malice and ofttlmes this evil and mean
spirit is manifested among those
closely associated with the individual
or individuals’thus envied.
It seems to be a racial character
istic to hate to see another member
of the race succeed or rise higher than
the others.
The great races of the world have
I
; learned that in proportion as they can
I create and develop great men and
| women in that proportion will they
j hold their places in the sun, figura
; lively speaking.
Every race has learned to work to
gether but the colored race and with
all our envy, malice, bickerings and
internal dissensions we sit around
and whine about our status, when the
very program and method that we are
| pursuing will forever keep the race
I vassals to all the distasteful and dis
agreeable practices now heaped upon
\ us.
No race needs to sit supinely and
expect other races to bring to it its
rights and privileges upon a golden
tray, silver platter or even place them
in the garbage can. Eternal vigilance
is the price of success and labor con
quers all things.
nut when we permit envy to become j
the predominant spirit and hate and
hold a grudge against our brother or
sister for no reason save that of his ,
or her success: whe" we seek every
occasion to belittle fheir greatness;
when we maliciously lie on them and [
endeavor to slander their good name; |
when we misrepresent them to others ;
both of our race and the other races;
when we rejoice at every little mis
fortune or setback that they suffer;
when we hale to see them get in pos- ]
session of anything of a tangible na
ture: when we, crab-like, put forth
our every effort to keep them in the
basket with us; when we delight in
parading all kinds of dope derogatory
to their character, when we fail to
heed the code of racial ethics, the
little green-eyed monster. Envy, is the'
cause of it all.
There can he no eternal vigilance -
where the forces are divided and pull
ing apart, and if success will ever
crown our race os a whole it will only
come to tis when we have submitted
and subscribed to the same principles
and practices as a race individually
and collectively, in the same manner
as the other great races of the earth
have done.
The adage that labor conquers all
things is true both theoretically and
practically; but without teamwork, co
ordination of forces, respect for lead
ership, which in themselves preclude
the retention of such evil attributes
as envy, malice, hatred and all kin
dred devilish and hellish spirits, there
can be no labor in the true sense of I
the word.
There is a vast difference between
simply putting in time and giving ef
fleient service as a laborer, despite
the capacity in which the individual
might serve.
A race that simply hopes to occupy
a space on the program and then ren
der no number in keeping with the
calibre of the program will ere long
find itself a back number, and it will
have no one to blame for its condi- j
tion and position but itself.
The colored race had better read
the signs of the times and get busy
before the hour will be too late.
If we permit Envy and all her kin- I
folks to enter into all our efforts, re
ligious and civil, instead of our cause
having been advanced by our contri
butions in the great world conflict, It
will receive will receive a setback; for
our actions will prove that we do not
merit or deserve any more than we
are receiving, nor as much.
Envy came from the devil and every !
time you fall a victim thereto you art
cementing yourself to the master evil
one with adamantine chains, as it
were.
For the good of the race and the
cause of humanity Envy is entirely too
prevalent among us and every tare
and precaution must be exercised to
refuse her abode in our hearts.
The problems of reconstruction call
for a united race and a new leader
ship, but this will be impossible of ac
complishment if we pursue our old 1
policy and continue to operate our
forces in opposing directions.
Send Envy back home, as well as 1
all her kith and kin, and then a
brighter day will dawn for our race.
Its retention and operation mean
failure, defeat, disaster. — Houston
(Tex.) Informer.
- ..... I
Flashes of
Most Anything j
... . ..I
FLASHES OF MOST ANVTHING.
—
F course some folks think we Ne
groes are calamity howlerB, but
we are not. We are not talking the
high faluting language of Aristotle or
Plato or Kant or any other of those
great philosophy fellows, hut a man is
a mighty big fool If he can’t see a
thing that is as plain as the nose on
his face. Any old time a guy can be
bought for one thing it’s a cinch he
can be bought for another. The fol
lowing incident has a slightly familiar
sound; it ain’t us either, but somehow
we think It shows the proficiency they
got practicing on us for fifty-odd years
or so. Take a shot at it and let’s see
what you think: (N. B.: Editor of The
Mediator, please take notice):
Htee! Striked Charge Papers Falsify
News.
Wheeling, W. Va.—The secretary of
the national committee of the striking
steel workers, In commenting upon the
strike situation here, said the steel
strike, in so far as it affected Wheel
ing and vicinitv, should not be
blamed upon the union or local com
pany heads. The workers’ demands, he
declared, would have been granted had
it been u pto the local mill heads.
"If every district in the United
States,” he said, “were as well organ
ized as the Wheeling district there
would be no labor troubles in the
country. The industrial unions here
are so powerful that no employer
would think of fighting them if they
were on strike."
Reports have been circulated in the
Wheeling Intelligencer and by the As
sociated Press to the effect that the
striking steel workers here are meet
ing daily and taking votes to return
to work.
The capitalist press representatives
have so falsely reported the existing
strike conditions that steel strike lead
ers here now refuse to make any state
ments at all to them. Several times,
after promised to write the reports
which the strike leaders had given
without alterations, the Associated
Press representatives deliberately re
versed the statements, unionists
charge.
"You see,” the secretary explained,
"we have given Associated Press rep
resentatives figures and facts on the
slrike situation and they deliberately
falsified them. One night one of them
called me up and wanted to know
whether the strikers were meeting to
return to work.
"I told him no; that mass meetings
are being hold which show that the
strikers are determined to fight it to
a finish; yet the out-of-town papers
which carry their dispatches con
tained the ‘news’ that the strikers ,1
were meeting to take votes to return
to work. I.ittle wonder that I am
angry. I believe that the Associated
Press and its representatives have
been bought to misreport strike con
ditions.”—The Butcher Workman Ad
vocate.
GREAT
COAT SALE
SATURDAY
SILVERTONE, BROADCLOTHS, BOLIVIA
AND VELOUR DE LAINE
In a wide range of colors. Exceptional values at
47.95
das Stores
Cut Price Sale
I Men's Heavy Union Suits.$1.9* Heavy Sweaters ..... $1.9* X
Men’s Flannel Shirts.$1.9* Jersey Wool Sweaters.. . $2.95 |{*
y Men’s Wool Hose.........-SVr Heavy Wool Sweaters. •>•$<!JiO *j*
.j. Men’s Wool Hose......39c Trousers .$3.50 X
X Boys’ Overcoats ........ $7.50 Gloves and Mittens. ...... -98c £
I J. Helphand Clothing Co. |
■}• 314 North 16th Street.
y ?
i.‘,*X*v,Xm!m!,v‘!*,!m!mXm.,,v,X,vv*X,,X,vvv,XmX*vv,Xm!m!mX‘,XmXmXmX,,!,v,X*'!*,>
I i
j The W. H. & R. Investment Co. ?
£ Successor to the Douglas Washington Investment Co. !j!
$ OFFICE. 15TH AND CALIFORNIA STREETS.
’I* Phones: Tyler 897; Webster, 5966; Red, 3203.
I -
£ OFFICERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
.j. D. G. Russell, President. H. llamler, Chairman.
£ Anderson llamler, Treasurer. D. G. Russell.
<• N. W'. Ware, Sec. and Gen. Mpr. N. W. Ware.
?
■.■- 11 ■" ■’ 1
The Fashion Cabaret
Ip Stairs, and Bar and Billiard Parlor Down Stairs, at
1314 North 24th St.
FOR SALE
with four-year lease on account of out of town
business. Clean, paying business in good location. If
you mean business call Webster 2736 or Tyler 822.
CHAS. H. WARDEN, Owner.
II .... . ■ ■ I—.I ..I I ! I ■ I
Flor de
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