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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1924)
I.\The Monitor —— T A NATIONAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPER PEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS • THE REV1. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor . _ ■ $2.00 a Year. 5c a Copy > OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1024 Whole Number 445 Vol. IX—No. 29 FRANCIS VISITING THE UNITED STATES FOR NIS COUNTRY Stalwart Native Editor and Legislator Here to Plead Cause of Suffering Natives of Virgin Islands CONDITIONS ARE VERY NCNTE Islanders Are Poverty Stricken Thru Destruction of Their Chtef Industries by America New York, Jan. 18. — Rothschild Francis, editor of the Emancipator, member of the legislature of St. Thomas and St. John, Virgin Islands, United States, has just reached New York City on his way to Washing ton, D. C., to place before the Con gress and President Coolidge the acute economic conditions prevailing in the Virgin Islands and to ask for remedial legislation. A group of lib eral white Americans has pledged support to the cause. Mr. Francis de clares “Nearly half of the ’natives have left the islands due to lack of employment. This state of affairs was hastened through the application of Federal laws to the islands. The people are greatly disheartened and look to Congress for immediate re lief.” Continuing his story, he said “I fear that the situation is at burst ing point. Our people are unemploy ed through no fault of their own and its up to our protectors to remedy this evil. I am here to plead the cause of m y suffering countrymen, whose wives and children are under fed, before the bar of American Pub lic Opinion. I am not talking from sentiment. Uncle Sam bought these islands—applied Federal laws to them and then forgot to establish new in dustries in place of those his laws have worked hardships upon and in some instances put out of commis sion. Although an integral part of the republic the natives of these is lands are not citizens of the United Stktes.” Publicity and More Publicity “Many American who would cham pion our cause know very little about these new possessions called the Vir gin Islands. They need publicity and more publicity. They need remedial legislation to change things as they are into things as they ought to be. Uncle Sam owes to the natives a chance to eke out a livelihood.” Mr. Francis expressed a willing ness to address todies of colored peo ple and other interested parties in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, and Washington, D. C., who are willing to help to save the good name of this republic in these islands so recently purchased. His New York address is No. 166 West 141 Street. --— RACE INQUIRY BY GOVERNOR PINUHOT Harrisburg, Jan. 18.—Lincoln News Service.)—Governor Pinchot, welcom ing representatives of Institutions, agencies and persons interested In the welfare of the State’s Negro popula tion, who recently met in conference, told them he is planning the appoint ment in the near future of an “Inter racial committee to take account of the relations of the two.” The gov ernor indorsed the conference, which was called by Dr Ellen C. Potter, state secretary of welfare, to discuss health, Amusing conditions, recreation or leisure time activities and problems of dependency as they affect the Negro population. CONGRESSMEN INTERESTED IN THE SOLDIER PARDONS Boston, Mass., January 14, 1924.— The Equal flights league campaign to put pressure on the President iti vari ous ways for pardon of our soldiers Is meeting success in letters sent to all northern congressmen and sena tors. Replies are being received daily. Rep. A. P. Andrews of Massachu setts answers, "I shall be glad to con sider the suggestion you make of writ ing to the president.” Rep. J. W. Summers of Washington wrote to President Coolidge “I believe the Ne groes now in federal prison as result i of Houston riot have paid full penal ties and should be liberated, provided their records have been good in pri son.” Senator C. P- McClean of Connecti cut answers, “1 shall be glad to appeal to the President ... I feel sure he will do as Justice demands.” Senator Ralph H. Cameron of Arizona answers, “I shall take occasion to talk personal ly with the President.” All letters) to Congress were dated January 1st and sent as Emancipation ‘bay requests inasmuch as when eman cipated colored soldiers saved the union, soldiers who were the fore bearers of these in prison. JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SECRETARY N.A.A.C.P. DELIVERS ADDRESS The Negro problem in the United States is more a question of national mental attitude toward the race than of actual conditions. Given a fair chance and an equal opportunity, the! Negro himself will solve the major part of the problem. The problem is not that there are twelve million moribund people deliberatly ignorant anti poverty stricken in the very midst of a civilization trying to save them. The problem consists in the fact that these twelve millions are forward moving people and their forward movement is met by reluctance and often by refusal to open to them new doors of opportunity at which they are knocking. New York City is the greatest lab oratory experiment station of race relations in the world. Negro Har lem is a city within a city, the most Wonderful Negro city in the world. The statement has often been made that with the migration the Negro problem would be transferred to the North, with all of its acuteness. Well, 175,000 Negroes—75,000 more than live in anv Southern city—live in the heart of New York among their white neighbors and do so without any race friction. New York guarantees its Negro citizens protection of life and proper ty, equal treatment in the courts, I their constitutional right to the bal lot and, in a large measure, fair in- J dustrial opportunities; and in return f the Negro makes a good citizen, a \ good New Yorker. He loves his city I and is proud of it. There are dis- ] criminations, it is true ,but, possess-1 ing the basic guarantees of citizen- j ship, the New York Negro knows that j these discriminations will sooner or ltaer Ite abolished. The Negro New Yorker can thus help to make New York a greater and better city, and this he jjs. doing with enthusiasm and pride. ,His section of New York Is one of the most law-abiding sections of the entire city. In it Negroes own seventy-five per cent of the proper ties which they occupy. The chief purpose of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to secure for the American Negro the fair chance and! equal Opportunity that will enable him to work out his own problem. It goes about its task by seeking to change the national mental attitude regarding the race through educa tional propaganda. It bases its cam paign upon facts and it fights thru legal and constitutional means to maintain those common citizenship rights which the Negro already pos sesses and to secure for him all of those to which he is justly entitled. corin' OF APPEALS SUSTAINS COLOUED TEACHEK Washington D. C., Jan. 18.—Sus tained by the District Court of Ap peals, Louise F. Denney has won her fight to compel the Hoard of Educa tion to appoint her as probationary teacher of English in the colored high schools. The appellant, it is said, had failed to secure a writ of Mandamus in the District Supreme Court to com pel the Hoard to appoint her, even though she had alleged in the lower court that she was first on the list of eligibles. After reaching the top of the eligible list it appears that a vacancy was caused by the granting of a leave of absence to another teacher. The appellate court held that the rules were not observed in the grant ing of leave tp the other teacher with the "pledge” that the latter would re turn to work. Consequently, the pro cedure was held to be irregular anil the District Supreme Court was re versed, with the mandate to enter a judgment in consonance with the find ings of the appellate tribunal. I'HIKI'HEM AKE PKOMPEHOUS Cincinnati, Ohio Jan 18.—(Lincoln News Service.)—In the churches,, the year Just closed has been productive of prosperity. Pastors are better paid, old churches renovated, new churches built. We cannot say that they speak for much betterment of their respec tive communities/ since they devote too much time to the next world and too little to this. Churches should go strong for every little movement that tends to the civic and general im provement of the people. If God had wanted all of our thoughts and actions concentrated upon the next world, we would have been colonized there. (From The Cincinnati Union.) Johnson City, Tenn., Jan. 18.—JCs tablishment of a public library for the Negroes of Johnson City had its be ginning in a "book shower" held on January first, at the A. M. E. Zion church, under the auspices of the Women’s Bible and Civic club, an active organization headed by E. S. Grimes. - —... ■ - -V Modem David Hamms _ _12 „ iS!o»S^A B® I'll po- fLUWfc ifAMP 9® 70u ONE STAMP FROM CUBA FOR ONE Dg BOLIVIA FOP TWO OF VOVR PERU ^ FROM PERU -7*=^ ! Theodore Roosevelt Addresses Annual Meeting of National Advancement Association in New York City . - Col. Roosevelt said in part: Work of Association “Americanism of a Higher Order I strongly endorse the work that has been and is being done by the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People. It is constructive work of a high order and as such is practical Americanism of great value. We have far too great a tendency in this country to content ourselves with words. Words are allright in their way, but amount to but little unless they predicate action. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People both preaches and practices its preachments and that is why I am strong for it. As I see it, the ends we must strive for in this country divide them selves largely into two groups. Both of these groups are covered by the work of the Association. The first is to see that colored Americans get all the privileges to which they are entitled by their American citizen ship. The second is to aid in every way the development of colored Americans in order that they may take up and carry with credit the responsibilities of citizenship. Favors Enactment of Dyer Anti Lynching Bill The ideals underlying our endeav ors under both of these groups are thoroughly in accord with our con cepts of Americanism. I have said that words are valuable only if they predicate action. Therefore if the ideals I have outlined above mean to us more than empty words, we should set about seeing that they are practiced in our country. For this reason I favor the passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. Though others have been lynched, the vast majority of the lynching outrages are perpetrated on colored Americans. Regardless, however, of who is af fected thereby, lynching has beerj for a long time a stench in the nostrils of all liherty-loving, law-abiding Americans. Many an innocent man has suffered thereby, and for those wdio are guilty of crime, the punish ment should be inflicted through due process of law and in no other way. Lynching has not simbly destroyed its victims, but in addition it has contravened our American principles. There are those who say that the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill would not eliminate lynching in this country. Perhaps they are right, but at least it would indicate how the country, as a country, feels toward such brutal lawlessness. We should pass the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, and after its passage use every legitimate endeav or to have it legally enforced. The issue on lynching is Clear cut as a ■ die. It is law or lawlessness, and to every right-thinking American, un der these circumstances, there can be but one choice—law. Condemns Disfranchisement of Negroes Our country is a republic. In many communities colored Americans are unfairly deprived of the franchise. This of course violates the principles and guarantees of our country. It is idle to talk of freedom and lib erty when through cunningly drawn laws and tolerated chicanery Ameri i can citizens are deprived of their fun damental rights. When you permit a group or class to withhold the fran chise from American citizens who are entitled to! exercise it, you strike at the very roots of our government. Denounces Ku KIux Klan Over and above these things, and! more difficult to deal with because j it is outside the law and, cannot be! reached, there are organizations and groups that have as their creed the i banding together for the purpose of drawing distinctions against certain of our citizens, based «(n race or creed. As an example of this is the Ku Klux Klan, of which I have al ready spoken. There must fee no j compromise on a matter of this kind.” | Col. Roosevelt also urged full edu cation opportunities for the Negro throughout the country. A MODERN WELL-EQUIPPED UNDERTAKING PARLOR Thin is a cut of the beautiful build ing desiftned and built exclusively for the undertaking business of Jones & Company at 2014 North 24th Street. It is one of the most complete build ings of its kind in the city. There are a few larger ones, but none more up to date or better equipped. And ivory case chapel piano, matching the interior, finishing; a i'amily room, off the chapel; three slumber rooms; a bath room; a bed loom for the at tendant; a receiving and preparation room into which bodies are brought from the rear; a show room for cas kets; and a morgue. The heating plant is in the basement. A long hallway and well placed doors makes communication with various rooms congratulated upon .the erection and ownership of such an establishment. The total outlay represents a cost of $17,000. The building is a one story pressed brick, 80x40 and is so de signed that other stones can be add ed. The Ibuilding is divided into a large and attractive office and sev eral rooms. These consist of a neat ly furnished parlor, opening#off of the office; a large chapel, also neat ly and tastefully fitted up, with an this enterprising race firm is to be very convenient. A door opens from the chapel on the side entrance which provides convenience and a degree of privacy for filling hearse and auto mobiles. The curtains and furnish ings are rich and beautiful. The curtains and coverings for the chapel chairs were all made by the skillful hands of Mrs. Jones. This is an es tablishment of which all Omahans may well be proud as marking busi ness progress of our people in vari ous lines. INVENTOR PERFECTS AUTOMATIC COTTON PICKER Melbourne, Australia, January 15.— (Lincoln News Service.)—An automa I (ic cotton picker has recently been I invented in this city. The machine is | portable, and it is stated that it will pick an acre of cotton in much less time and at a lower cost than it can be done by hand. The machine 1^ seventeen feet high and four feet in diameter, and consists of a circular i tower carrying two horizontal arras i having a 35-foot spread. These arms | ars 8 feet wide and have a series of I holes on the underside. The ripe cot ton is drawn into the hollow arms by suction and is carried along the arms ! to a central chute, where it is com pressed Into bales and dropped out at the rear of the machine. _ ___ „ _ The Christ Child Center is the | | name of a community work which i has recently been opened at Twenty fourth and Grant streets, in St. Bene dict’s Community House and is under the charge of Miss Helen McLaugh lin, a native of Boston, Mass., but recently engaged in similar work in Minneapolis. There are classes in in strumental music, classical dancing, sewing, athletics, cooking, citizenship and recreation. A very important department of this work is Child Shelter. Working women can leave their children between the ages of 2 adn 5 here while they are at work. Miss McLaughlin whose heart is in the work wishes to have it distinctly understood that while this center is under the auspices of the Roman Ca tholic Church, it is wholly undenom inational and cordial welcome will he given to all who desire to avail them selves of its privileges. PROSPERITY DUE TO REPUBLICAN POLICIES Washington, January 18. — Wh$i Henry Ford, who employs a large number of colored wage-earners, said “I am satisfied that ninety per cent of the people feel perfectly safe with Coolidge, and I feel, too, that the country is perfectly safe with him,” he gave expression to the thought that is in the minds of most large employers of labor, who are hoping for a continuance of national prosper ity. With mines, factories and mills running at capacity production; with labor generally employed; and with business men preparing to make ex tensions that were retarded on ac count of the War, there appears to be a settled conviction that this is no time to rock the political boat or to try out national economic theories that have not had the acid test. If full recovery in industrial and finan cial affairs is desired and if the hor rors of unemployment are to be avoided, the machinery of the gov ernment must function to the satis faction of those whose investments of capital in business enterprises make it possible for industrial and financial activity. With 811 out of every 1,000 colored males, ten years of age and over, gainfully employed, and with 389 in each group of 1,000 colored females, ten years of age and over, also gain fully employed, our economic status shows a remarkable improvement, in all sections of the country, over the prevailing condition of -but a few years ago. This is reflected in the home-buying activities of the race; in the organization of banking insti tutions; in the extensions of our in surance companies; in the increase in the number of our retail dealers; in the purchase and building of chur ches; in the mechanical appearance and increased circulation of our news papers; and in the exceptionally large number of students attending the va rious colleges and universities all over the country'. In the recent announcement of his political attitude, Mr. Ford said: “Mr. Coolidge has shown in these months of service a great many qualities that should please his countrymen. I think they all feel that Mr. Coolidge means to do right. And when a man means to do right, so far as I have observed, it is usually quite easy for him to find the way to do right.” In these words Mr. Ford gave an expert op inion of a remarkably successful busi ness man, an opinion that should cause us to think deeply if we hope for the protection of our citizenship and our further advancement in busi ness and industry. > OVER BILE REPORTED FAVOR ABLY BY HOUSE COMMITTEE Congressman Dyer Wires National Equal Rights League and Asks That Fight Be Kept Up to VietoVy. Washington, D. C., January 10, 1924. —To William Monroe Trotter, Secre tary to National Equal Rights League, Boston, Mass. The Judiciary committee of the House this morning reported without amendment .favorably the House Bill Number One. It is known as the Anti Lynching Bill. A motion was also passed directing the chairman of the committee to ask the Committee on Rules for a special rule to make the legislation a bill to be taken up in the House at an early date. 1 will be glad to have the continued splendid assistance of your organiza tion until the legislation is written into law. Before taking the above action the committee voted not to have any pub lic hearing. (Signed) L. C. DYER. LKAHI’E WAS READY TO APPEAR AT 1IEAR1NU Boston, Mass., Jan. 11, 1924.—Mon roe Mason, publicity director of the Equal Rights League and representing its national headquarters here, was present at the Judiciary committee of the Hpuse yesterday with local na tional officers prepared to argue for the Dyer bill until the committee vot ed against having public hearings. Representative Dyer appreciated the presence of the delegation, asking con tinued aid. CLASS HATRED DECRIED BY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT New York, January 18.—Addressing a newly naturalized group of citizens in the Federal Court. Brooklyn. N. Y., Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, said: “There is no place in America for class hatred or religious persecution. Put the Old World animosities and the Old World hatred behind you. It is as un-Amer ican for the poor to hate the rich as it is for the rich to oppress the poor." RUN TREASONABLE ANB INHIBITORS IS THE VERBICT Kentucky Interracial Group in Fourth Annual Meeting Voices Protest Against Commercializing Prejudice MARKED PROGRESS REP0RT1 Better Schools Chief Objective in 1924 —Representation Asked on State Health Board. “Social Equal ity” a Scarecrow Louisville, Ky., Jan. 18—Vigorous protest against the injection of race prejudice into political campaigns, scathing arraignment of the Ku Klux Klan, the unveiling of the bugbear of “social equality” and the adoption of constructive plans for 1924, were among the high lights of the Fourth Kentucky Interracial Conference held in Louisville last month. Severel hundred people were in attendance, including leading men and women of both races. A two day program of addresses and discussion was carried out. Dr. James Bond, State Interracial Director, reported encouraging im provement in educational, health and traveling facilities for colored people, and the constant growth of under standing and sympathy between the races. There has been close coopera tion between the Interracial Commis sion and the State and local Boards | of Education and Health, the Y. M. C. A., and the United States Public Health Sendee. Among the recommendations re ferred to the Executive Committee to be worked out during the new year were the following: That the study of Negro history be put into the high schools, and the study of race rela tions into both high schools and col leges; that equitable participation be secured in all bond issues; that the advantages offered by the Jeanes, | Slater and Rosenwald Funds be avail I ed of as widely as possible; and that representation for the race be secur ed on the State Board of Health. An other important objective is the es tablishment of a second standardiz ed training college for colored teach ers. With regard to the Klan the con ference gave out the following state ment: “Whereas the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan is to stir up and make permanent race prejudices between the white and Negro races, besides the injustice done to Jews and Ca tholics; and whereas the existence and methods of the Klan are contrary to the Constitution of the United States and the State of Kentucky, in that they deny the right of every citizen to his life, liberty and prop erty under the protection of the law and the courts, “Therefore, we commend the ex cellent paper of Judge Hager, read before the Conference, in which he shows that the Klan is treasonable, in that it is contrary to human law as set forth in the constitutions o{ the United States and of the State of Kentucky, and is also contrary to di vine law, as set forth in the Holy Scriptures.” Another significant declaration was the following: "Resolved, that since neither race, the black no more than the white, wishes racial amalgamation, the mis leading phrase ‘social equality’ should no longer be permitted to hold back the helpful hand of white people from giving fair life opportunity to the Negro.” PHI DELTA’S CELEBRATE TWELFTH BIRTHDAY Mrs. George Blair and her sister, Miss Bertha Lawson were hostesses to the Phi Delta Sorority December 26, 1923 at the home of Mrs. Blair, 2722 Coitoy Street. Sixteen members were present. Plans were made for a birthday party to be given at the next meeting. The hostesses served a dainty luncheon at the close of the meeting. On January 9th, the Misses Ethel and Ruth Jones were hostesses to the Sorority at their home on Caldwell Street. The election of officers was held. The newly elected officers are: president, Ethel Jones, re-elected; vice president, Dorothy Williams; secretary, Ireta Walker; assistant secretary, Frances Peoples; social secretary, Ruth Jones; treasurer, Martha Roberts; sergeant-at-arma, Bertha Lawson; reporter Cuma Wat son, re-elected. After the election, an elaborate birthday dinner wag served. Everything about the dinner was A-l, even the service. The speak ers of the evening were Frances Bell Peoples, club organizer and Ethel Jones, president.