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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1925)
“"■'"'Vt.; T' H E M O NIT O R \ NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS r THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor $2.00 a Year—5c a Co OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1925 Whole Number 497 Vol. X.—No. 29 ————_ . _— ——^—————^——Bp;———————m CONGRESSMAN MILLS URGES EQUALCHANCE • FOR COLORED FOLKS National Advancement Association Told Race Is Entitled to Square Deal and Merited Reward WARNS AGAINST BALLOT BLOCS Advises Audience to Show Political Independence and Avoid Traps —Segregation Is Also Discussed New York, Jan. 16.—A square deal, equality of opportunity, and unprej udiced reward of individual merit are the legitimate demands of the Negro race, Representative Ogden L. Mills declared at the annual mass meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, at the Renaissance Casino, 138th street and seventh avenue. “In your struggle to attain these conditions, you should place your trust not in demagogues but in organiza tions and committees composed of members of both races, such as we have recently seen organized through out the country," he said. "The mem bers of these bodies are earnest men and women who realize that here is a problem upon the solution of which depends the happiness of millions and '■ possibly the future welfare of our country.” Favored Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill Representative Mills said he had voted for the Dyer anti-lynching bill because he considered lynching u na- \ tional disgrace. “When it is shown j that lynehings are decreasing in num- j ber, but that every year from sixty j to hundred of these hideous crimes go ! unpunished in this country so proud of its civilization, its public morality and its education, the fact that these crimes are decreasing seems to me in- ! significant beside the fact that they ; ocuur at all," he said. A warning against the formation of ■ blocs was sounded by Mr. Mills. “Vote individually,” he advised. “Don't ever I put yourselves in a position where politicians of either side can say they can deliver the Negro vote.” Segregation Discussed The question of residential segrega tion by race, which has arisen out of agreements among property owners, I was considered at the meeting. Wil- j liam Pickens, former dean of Morgan College, Baltimore, spoke on this sub ject. Other speakers were Robert W. Bagnall, Mary White Ovington, chair man of the board of directors of the association, and James Weldon John son, secretary. It was announced that a check for $1,007.50 had been re ceived from Philip G. Peabody of Boston bringing his total contribu tions to the association to $10,000 in the last few years. >. A. A. C. P. LAWYER WAIVES $200 OF FEE FOR WINNING SCHOOL SEGREGATION CASE New York, Jan. 16.—Elisha Scott, of Scott and Van Dyne, counsel for the Coffeyville, Kansas, branch of the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People, who won a case opening the doors of all Kansas Junior high schools to colored stu dents, has waived $200 of his fee. Mr. Scott, who would have been entitled to $600 for his work, has accepted $300 from the Coffeyville N. A. A. C. P., in view of the court order award ing him $1,000 from the Bchool hoard of the city of Coffeyville. The national office of the N. A. A. C. P. is sending $200 to the Coffey ville branc. * BORN A SLAVE, DIES RICH AND RESPECTED Middletown, Conn., Jan. 16.—Thom as E. Smith, an aged Negro, bom a slave in Virginia, who escaped to the Union lines and joined the Federal forces in the Civil War, died here re cently the owner of a four-story brick block on Main street. His estate will total about $60,000. Mr. Smith opened a small antique and second-hand shop. He developed the business, became well-to-do and won the respect of the community. He was an active prohibition worker and had been nominated for office on the state ticket. He was also an active worker in the Salvation Army, and attended the jubilee celebration of that organiza tion in England several years ago, serving as a delegate from this coun try. Topeka, Kan., Jan. 16.—Ku Klux Klan was outlawed by the supreme court of Kansas on January 10. Put ting an end to a battle that ha/1 been waged between Klan and state for more than two years, the supreme court handed down a decision sustain ing the state’s plea and ousting the Klan from Kansas. 1 FIND JAR OK GOLD IN DEAD MAN’S CELLAR (By the Associated Negro Press) Brownsville, Pa., Jan. 16.—Directed to the cellar of the home of his sister, Mrs. Gray, by a note left when he died by Oliver L. Weston, appraisers of his estate found a jar of gold. The money was hidden away beneath the floor of the cellar and was easily found by the searchers. In $5 and $10 pieces (he gold totaled a little more that $4000. Many of the coins were more than 50 years old. It was found that Weston had an aversion to banks and had stored his surplus funds away. At the time of his death the man was 65 years old. In addition to (he jar of gold and sil ver another pot of gold and silver was found in the Weston home. This amounted to $124.50. The personal property totaled $20,257.64. VETERAN TRUSTEE H UNIVERSITY PNEUMONIA VICTIM Had Been Resident of National Capital for 43 Years and Prominent in Racial Matters Washington, D. C., Jan. 16.—Dr. Andrew F. Hilyer, 66, veteran trustee of Howard university and one of the best known persons in this city and the east, passed away at his residence, 1883 Vermont avenue N. W., Tuesday afternoon after an illness of three weeks. The deceased • became suddenly stricken on Friday after Christmas. His illness developed into heart com plications after a pneumonia attack, and in spite of the valiant fight which he made to rally, he continued get ting steadily worse until the end, Tuesday. Air. Hilyer has lived in Washington forty-three years, more than twenty of which were spent in the service of Howard university, as member of the executive and finance committees. He compiled the first survey of Negro business in the district thirty years ago and twenty years ago was presi dent of the Coleridge-Taylor Choral society. At the time of his death he was in the accountant division of the United States government service. Two years ago Mr. Hilyer was mar ried to Dr. Amanda V. Gray, prom inent social and welfare worker in New York City, who was with him at the time of his death. Other rela tives surviving are a son and daugh ter, Gale P. Hilyer, Minneapolis, and Mrs. Kathleen Hilyer Bingham of this city, and one sister, Miss Jennie Hilyer, Tallahassee, Fla. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR HONORS LEGISLATORS Springfield, III., Jan. 16. (Exclusive ly for the Associated Negro Press by Chas. E. Griffin, Member of Illinois Legislature.)—Springfield, the city of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Eman cipator, and capitol of the state of Illinois, is seething with excitement as the Illinois legislatures convenes for the fifty-fourth general assembly. There seems to be concerted opinion among the solons that Governor Len Small will be able to organize both branches with little opposition. Rep resentatives Scholes of Peoria, who was Governor Small’s floor leader in the last legislature was unanimously elected speaker of the house, and 1 Senator Richard Barr of Joliet was chosen president pro-tem of the sen ate. There was no actual business transacted with the exception of the organization of the two houses. The outstanding feature, however, was the honor and distinction of being the first colored person to arise to the magnificent honor In any state during the last decade. Senator Roberts is a brilliant scholar; refined and cul tured and an orator without a peer, and without doiibt he will make an enviable record and be an outstanding character in the upper branch of the legislature of the state of Illinois. Also in the House of Representa tives the race had the distinction of having four members to take the oath of office: Representative S. B. Tur ner, who is serving his fifth term, a man of great force and broad ac quaintance. He is considered the Dean of the House of Representatives. Representative Warren B. Douglas' who resumes his seat for the third term, a lawyer of rare distinction and an able orator. Representative Wil liam E. King also a lawyer who has made a splendid record as assistant state’s attorney in the city of Chicago and also the writer. All of these had the pleasure of receiving beautiful floral contributions placed on their desks by admiring friends, and the race is to be congratulated that noth ing was lacking in the ceremony to make them the outstanding features during the inauguration. Kellom Grade School Girls Lead School Volley Ball League The Kellom grae school girl volley hall players have won four games in the Woodrow Wilson league and have their eyes peeled on the league cham pionship. They have beaten Ixing, Beal, Park and Columbia. They play Satur day morning at the Tech gymnasium. Left to right in the photogaph are: rtont row, Lucy IJix, Irene Hirsh, Vivian D’Ercole, Le Neive Bovat, Rachel Miller. Second row: Left to right, Allie Matheson, Dorothy Allen, Catherine Williams, Ester Zuker. Third row: I^eft to righ, Minnie Jones, Juanite Smith, Anna Arndt, Veronica Bates is captain of the team. This picture shows the Americaniza tion which is being done in the Oma ha schools as several nationalities are represented on this team but they are all Americans. THE ASPECTS AND TENDENCIES OF THE RACE PRODLEM Editor's note—The American Social logical society which includes most of the leading sociologists in the country as well as the professors of sociology in the chief universities of the coun try, wrote its members some months ago asking what projects they wished to suggest for presentation at their annual meeting. Two hundred re plied and out of the two hundred sub jects offered ten were selected. One, “The Aspects and Tendencies of the Race Problem” was offered by Prof. Monroe N. Work of the research de partment of Tuskegee Institute and editor of the Negro Year Book. It was among the ten selected and is re produced below. Aspects and Tendencies of the Race Problem. (1912-1924) (By Monroe N. Work, for the Asso ciated Negro Press). In the limited space at my disposal I can give only some of the more im portant results of the study of “As pects and Tendencies of the Race Problem” in the past thirteen years. I present first what I call, for the want of a better term, some secondary aspects of the problem. There is (1) the economic progress of the group. In the past ten years Negroes have entered industry in a large way. The 1920 census reporta 332,249 Negroes engaged in skilled and semi-skilled work. The wealth of the group at present is around $2, 000,000,000, which is one and one-half times more wealth than it had accum ulated up to 1912. There is (2) the educational prog ress of the group. The total amount expended in 1912 for all phases of Negro education was $13,576,561; the umount expended this year for Negro education is over $40,000,000. The past thirteen years have witnessed an ever increasing demand in all lines of work for the educated Negro. The improvement in education is reflected in the increase in the number of stu dents in elementary, secondary, and higher courses. This improvement is especially reflected in the increase in the number completing college courses. Up to 1912 about 6,000 Ne groes graduated from college. In the period, 1912-1924, about 5,000 Negroes graduated from college. That is, in the past thirteen years as many Negroes graduated from college as in all the previous years. There is (3) the progress, which, in the past thirteen years, has been made in health Improvement. The Negro now has a declining mortality rate, and an increasing life span, in 1912 (he death rate per thousand was 22.9. In 1922, ten years later, the death rate was 15.7 per thousand; a decrease for the period of 31.6 per cent. A recent Btudy of mortality among the 1,000,000 Negro policy-holders of the Metropolitan Idfe Insurance Com pany indicates that since 1912 there has been an increase of 6 years In the life expectancy of the Negro. In 1912 the average expectancy of life for the Negro Metropolitan policy holder, male and female, of all ages from two years up, was; for males, 41.32 years; for females, 41.30 years. In 1922 the expectancy of life was for males, 41.91 ^years; for females, 46.10 years* In 1912 the life span for the Negroes of the country as a whole was about 35 years. It is now about 40 years. That is, since 1912 the life span of the Negroes of the country has been in creased five years. There is (4) the Negro in politics. The period under consideration wit nessed an increased activity of the Negro in politics. Some striking fea tures of this activity were: 1. The tendency to develop inde pendence in politics. 2. There is an increasing number of Negroes voting the Democratic ticket. 3. Political parties are making ef forts to get the Negro votes. In the presidential campaign which has just closed, special Negro campaign bu reaus were maintained by the Repub lican, Democratic and Third Party national campaign committees. 4. There is an increase in the num ber of Negroes elected to office. In 1914 there were eight Negro members of city councils. In 1921, these mem bers numbered 21. There were in 1915, two Negro members of state leg islatures; in 1924 there were eleven. It is also of importance to note that in 1915, I had a record of 14 cities with Negro policemen; in 1924 there are 70 cities which have Negro police men. 5. A fifth feature of the Negro in politics is the entry and activity of Negro women. 6. A sixth feature is the gradual in crease in the South of the number of Negroes qualified to vote. " 7. A seventh feature is the in creased efforts of Negroes to vote in and break down the “white primary” in the South. With the Negro dividing his vote, and an increasing number voting the Democratic ticket, the maintenance of the so-called white primary becomes a more difficult problem. Another of these secondary aspects is (6) the population shifts which have taken place in the past thirteen years. During this period there oc curred the greatest migration of Ne groes which has ever taken place in this country. In addition to the move ment from the country to the cities and from the South to the North, 200, 000 Negro soldiers were transported to Europe and back again. The net result of the migration is that there is now almost a million more Negroes living in cities than there were thirteen years ago, and over a half million more Negroes liv ing in the North than there were in 1912. 1 pass now to the consideration of some primary aspects of the race problem. One of these is lynching. Begin ning with 1912, there has been an in creased publicity, in the press of the country as a whole with reference to lynching. There has been in recent years a striking growth of public opinion against lynching. In the period, 1*112-1924, eight states passed laws designed to check lynch ing. A federal bill against lynching is now pending in Congress. There has been in the past thirteen years a notable decrease in the num ber of lynchings. In the period, 1912 1924, there were 705 lynchings. This was 40 per cent less than the number of 1177 for the previous thirteen years and 07 per cent less than the number 2137 for the thirteen years before that time. The socond primary aspect of the problem is segregation. 1. The efforts to restrict by law the areas in which Negroes shall live began in 1911. From then to 1917 a number of cities in the border and southern states passed segregation laws. 2. In 1917 the United States Su preme Court declared the segregation laws invalid. 3. Since 1917, two new devices have been evolved for legalizing seg regation: (a) By zoning ordinances. (b) By property owners contract. 4. The legality of these methods is being tested in the courts. 5. In numerous instances bombing and other violent methods hove been used in attempting to intimidate and drive out Negroes. (To be continued) APPROPRIATION GIVES HOWARD UNIVERSITY $221,000 Washington, Jan. 16.—The senate on Tuesday night, after two hours’ consideration passed and sent to conference the interior department appropriation bill carrying approxi mately $239,700,000, in it was $221, 000 for Howard university, which was restored through Senator Smoot of Utah in charge of the bill. Although the building project was lost, the senate did, however, restore $221,000 of Howard’s $406,000 appro priation which was eliminated on points of order in the house. There is no way now for the building item to be put into the bill, as the con ferees will have no power to deal with it. In approving the interior bill, the senate adopted all amendments sub mitted by the appropriation commit tee, except that relating to a proposal to appropriate $185,000 toward be ginning construction of a $370,000 medical department building for How ard university. DIES AT AGE OF 107 YEARS Indianapolis, Ind., Jan. 16.—George Anderson, 107 years old, died at his residence here recently after a brief illness. Mr. Anderson was born in 1817 in Lexington, Ky. He came here at the end of the Civil war and had remained here ever since. Hundreds of citizens were in attendance at the funeral to pay their tribute to the pioneer citizen. He was well known in fraternal and church circles. AMERICAN WHITE RACE IS WYTH, SAYS SCIENTIST / Washington, Jan 16.—There is vir tually no such thing as an American I white race, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, curator of anthropology of the National mu seum, said recently at a sectional meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The time is approaching, however, he added, when one will be established. Dr. Hrdlicka told of the work of researchers of the National museum in the past 30 years in an effort to establish a white American race. At first theiy tried to go back four gen erations for their studies, he said, but there were so few families able to date their American ancestry back that far that the standard was low ered to two generations. NEGRO QUALIFIES AS STENOGRAPHER FOR SUPREME COURT i Isaac Newton Braithwaite Placed Among Successful Applicants In Recent Civil Service Examination New York, Jan. 15.—For the first time in the history of New York state, a Negro has qualified for appointment as official stenographer in the Su preme Court. This honor fell to I. Newton Braithwaite, of 2376 Seventh avenue, New York, who, from a field of 153 candidates that took an exam ination recently held by the New York State Civil Service Commission, was among the forty-five successful ones to pass and be placed on the eligible list for appointment to the Supreme Court. The examination was the acid test of shorthand writing skill and affords those who passed the oppor tunity of attaining to the highest pos sible stenographic position that may be reached in the courts of New York State. Some of the best shorthand writers in the country were among those who entered. Mr. Braithwaite is the proprietor and principal of the Braithwaite Shorthand and Business School, which ‘he has conducted for the past five years, and whence he has turned out a large number of persons who are now earning their living as stenog raphers in both the government serv ice and private concerns. HAITIAN LABORERS PUBLICLY PROTEST ACTS OF AMERICAN OFFICIALS Editor of “La Post**” Arrested and Placed in Solitary Confinement. Without Trial, Is Charge. New York, Jan. 16.—The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 69 Fifth Avenue, has announced receipt from Port au Prince, Haiti, of a protest against acts of the American occupation, pub lished by Haitian laborers, and news that Edouard Pouget, editor of “La Poste’’, a newspaper of Port au Prince, had been arrested on the night of December 26, and, without trial, had been placed in solitary confine ment. Among the signers of the laborers’ protest are Perceval Thoby, former attache of the Haitian ministry in Washington, George J. Petit, Flavius Leon and Audre Zamor. The laborers protest against the ar bitrary parity of 20 cents for the Ha itian goudre. They charge that rail way ties were recently imported from the United States, depriving Haitian lumber workers of opportunity to la bor; that Englisb is being substituted for French, the national tongue, by the American administration; that prison and school labor is used to supply resident Americans with cheap com modities; that hard woods are bought by the government at prices arbit rarily fixed to the prejudice of Ha itians; and that American industrial companies, under the present admin istration, are acquiring rights denied them heretofore in Haiti. Arrest of Pouget As to Mr. Pouget, it is reported that he was arrested at night, placed in solitary confinement without trial and held without legal proceedings, on the status of a common criminal, for hav ing written an editorial displeasing to the administration. Mr. Pouget has been Haitian min ister to Germany, secretary of state, of the treasury, and a senator. SCHOOL OFFERED $75,000 Boston, Mass., Jan. 16.—Mr. and Mrs. *Glene L. Stone, of Brookline, have offered $76,000 for the endow ment of Alice Freeman Palmer Mem orial institute at Sedalia, N. C., pro vided a like amount is raised by the trustees. Almost 600 members of our j group attend the institution, it is claimed. SECRETARY DAVIS DISCUSSES MIGRA TION PRODLEMS Lack of Educational Facilities in South Places Unfair Burden on New Communities and Weakens South SERIOUS LOSS OF MAN POWER Wisdom Dictates the Development of Sturdy, Intelligent and Contented Citizenship Among All Races Washington, Jan. 13.—Hon. James J. Davis, Secretary of the United States Department of Labor, in dis cussing some of the effects of Negro migration with Karl F. Phillips, Commissioner of Conciliation in the Secretary’s office, expressed the sin cere hope that ample funds for educa tion and training, without exception as to race or locality, may soon be available in every state in the Union, in order that contentment and ade quate preparedness may fully pervade the citizenship of all Americans, thus encouraging everyone to contribute a full share to the advancement of America, the greatest and fairest na tion in the whole world. The Secretary of Labor said: “We do not live in this country as a white race or as a black race, but, rather, as full-fledged Americans, all under the same flag and the same government. Hence all must be pre pared to carry the burdens of our country, that all may share fully in its joys and it progress. “The Negro migration of the past eight years has taught us the lesson of the double cost of educational neglect . These migrants, to whom a large measure of training in the in dustrial and educational standards of America had not been previously available, though they rapidly adapted themselves to the new conditions of the industrial and community life to which they migrated, have themselves felt the effect of insufficient training; the sections to which they came have been severely taxed, not only in dol lars and cents, but in the extra strain upon their welfare forces and educa tional institutions; and the sections from which the migrants departed have felt the loss of man-power, which could have been more helpful and contented had it been adequately prepared to meet high standards of industry and education. “Such a policy would, I believe, re sult in a strong, sturdy, intelligent and contented citizenship, one which would be unswerved by propaganda or inducement, and which would re main loyal to its homeland and its people, far beyond any desire to de part therefrom. “Every person in our country has the absolute right to become a citizen of any section which he may choose; but, wherever he may be, it is much to be preferred that he shall have been thoroughly trained in the effi cient standards of American industry and education. Then, he may labor and advance upon the same fair terms that are open to all, and no section of the country will be forced to carry educational and other obligations of preparedness, which should have been fulfilled elsewhere.” ZONA GALE, NOVELIST, , PRAISES PICKENS’ “BURSTING BONDS” Zona Gale, the novelist, author of “Miss Lulu Bett,” “Faint Perfume” and other books, has written an ap preciation of William Pickens’ “Burst ing Bonds’’, an enlargement of his “The Heir of Slaves”. In her review Miss Gale calls the book “a valuable record, an important contribution to the story of contemporary times, for the future to wonder at and for the present to weigh.” INSURANCE COMPANY PURCHASES NEW HOME Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 16.—The Su preme Life and Casulty company, T. K. Gibson, president, has just com pleted arrangements for the purchase of a new home office building at 1009 E. Long street, six blocks east o( their present quarters. Four large apart ments of five rooms each, with base ment and attic space will house the central administrative forces of the Supreme Life and Casualty company after July, 1925, when it is planned to move into the newly acquired build ing. The Ladies’ Crochet Club enter tained their husgands at the residence of Mrs. Wm. H. Jackson, 3632 North Twenty-ninth street, Monday evening, * January 12. Mrs. T. S. Riggs arrived Sunday morning from Chicago for a visit with her mother, Mrs. Laura ThomaA, and sister, Mrs. A. D. James and family.