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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1925)
LjrT'NC :: r I ^ If T? Ik/l C\ XT T Hr C\ U GROWING ■■ » lift t°° X n M2j 1VA U 1M 1 1 U rv : := thawk yo° NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor $2.0t a Year—5c a Copy OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 1925 Whole Number 509 Vol. X—40 Moorffil Id Storey Urges Our Race to Join Association WART OFFERDIRG LABOR OFFICIAL PROMPTLY FIRED Negroes Ask Secretary James J. Davis for Dismissal of Dr. Plecker from Labor Department DISTRIBUTE PAMPHLETS Charges That Government Agent Used Postal Frank to Dis seminate Anti-Negro Propaganda New York, Apr. 10.—The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 69 Fifth Avenue, to day made public a letter to Secretary of l,abor James J. Davis, demanding the dismissal of Dr. W. A. Plecker of Richmond, Virginia, from the Labor Department’s staff, on the ground that he had used the Labor Depart ment’s privilege of free mailing, to distribute “a pamphlet which contains the most insulting and virulent at tack upon the colored people of the United States that could be imagined. “This anti-Negro propaganda is contained in a pamphlet entitled ‘Eu genics in Relation to the New Family and the Law on Racial Integrity.’ It is issued by the Bureau of Vital Statis tics of the State Board of Health of Richmond, Virginia, and is published in Richmond. In it is included an ad dress on ‘Virginia’s attempt to Adjust the Color Problem,’ by Dr. W. A. Plecker. On the official government envelope in which the pamphlet is be ing circulated Dr. Plecker’s name is printed as Special Agent of the Unit ed State Department of Labor, Chil dren’s Bureau.” The letter, signed by James Weldon Johnson, Secretary of the Advance ment Association, cites the following quotations from Dr. Plecker’s 32 page pamphlet in support of the demand for his dismissal: “The mental and moral characteris tics of a black man cannot oven under the best environments ami education al advantages become the same as those of a white man.” “Let us turn a deaf ear to those w ho would interpret Christian brother hood to mean racial equality.” “Not only do the most enlightened modern authorities recognize Negro inferiority and the danger of amalga mation, but leading Americans in the past also until the issue was confused by being thrown into politics, saw clearly the possibility of disaster to our institutions and culture.” “The mongrels are superior in ment al power to the lower race. They are more cunning and more capable, but they lack the creative power of the higher race, and cannot sustain a last ing civilization that will rank with the best of the world." “There is but one absolute solu tion which is acceptable and feasible, and that the one advocated by Lin coln and other far seeing Statesmen of the past, the separation of the races by gradual repatriation of the colored races. This measure is still possible, but the longer it is deferred the greater the task.” Speaking of the advocates of birth control, Dr. I’lecker is quoted as say ing: “They are failing utterly, and Will always fail to reach the uneducated, the feeble-mined, the morons, the Ne groes, criminals and undesirables, who do not read and hear, and if they did, would not have foresight, self-denial or fortitude to practice the methods advocated.” Commenting upon Dr. Flecker's pamphlet sent out under U. S. Labor Department franking privilege, the Advancement Association’s letter to Secretary Davis says: « Dr. Plecker is an avowed anti-Ne gro propagandist who is continually expressing his views in the public prints and on the platform. What he has to say through these two mediums is insulting to all colored American ci tizens, but when as an official of the United States Department of Labor he sends this matter out under govern ment frank and at the expense of the common tax-payers, his actions be come a public outrage. “Dr. Plecker has used his official position to disseminate propaganda of ipsult and injury to a large class of American citizens and in so doing has used the govemmen franking privi lege for the distribution of matter en tirely unofficial. Therefore, we, the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People, voicing the united sentiment of the Negro citizens of America, respectfully place before you their demand for the summary dismissal of Dr. Plecker from the fed SCHOLARS OF BOTH RACES HOLD MEETING IN NORTH CAROLINA Association for the Study of Negro History Discusses Important Phases of Racial Life. (Preston News Service) Durham, N. C., April 9.—Under the auspices of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, students and teachers from all parts of the country met in a spring confer ence on the first and second of April to discuss the Negro. Schools, clubs and cooperative organizations from various parts of the country were re presented. What has been done in these fields was reviewed and plans for further efforts were worked out and put into execution. The speakers were representative of both races. Among them were Prof. W. K. Boyd, of Duke University, who spoke on the "Negro in Durham”; Prof. William T. La Prade, of the same institution, delivered an address on the “Negro Before the Civil War”; Prof. John R. Hawkins emphasized the “Im portance of the Past of the Negro,” and Prof. R. H. Taylor, of the Uni versity of North Carolina, gave a re sume of “Plantation Economy.” A special session, at which W. A. Robinson delivered the opening ad dress was devoted to the teaching of Negro history. Prof. D. M. Jarnagin, of the State Colored Normal School, read a paper on “Valid Claims for Teaching Negro History.” N. C. New bold, head of the department of Negro Education in North Carolina, spoke instructively. The morning session of the first day was devoted to a discussion of the present social and economic condition of the Negro. Prof. T. E. McKinney, of the Agricultural and Technical Col lege, read a paper on “Our Uniting Forces,” and Dr. R. C. Rrown, of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, enlarged upon the present status of the Negro. The conference closed with the even ing session of the second when Dean W. S. Turner, of Shaw University, de livered an address on "The Develop ment of Negro Leadership” and Dr. C. G. Woodson spoke on the “Negro in History.” NO. CAROLINA MUTUAL STILL GAINS. Durham, N. C., April 9.—(By The Associated Negro Press)—The twen ty-fifth annual statement of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Com pany, th" largest Negro insurance company in the world, shows a steady increase in the assets of the organiza tion The income during the past year amounted to $3,709,496.49, of which amount $1,899,761.49 was paid in pre miums by policy holders and $130, 596 25 was made as earnings on in vested assets. The payments of policy holders and beneficiaries, including sick and death claims, surrenders, etc., amounted to $729, 833. 65. MIGRANTS REPORTED COMING INTO CLEVELAND. OHIO AGAIN. (Preston News Service) Cleveland, O., April 9,-According to a report from the U. S. Department of Labor last week it is said that Dr. Joel Branch reports that Negro mi grants from the southern states have begun entering Cleveland again in search of employment in the various plants and factories of this city, is claimed in the report that there al ready existed a surplus supply of both white and colored laborers here, and that recently there has been consider able unemployment depression in the ranks of the Negro labor. The report indicates that Cleveland is over supplied with labor and that the influx of Negro labor from the South is adding greatly to the ranks of unemployment here. U. S. COMMISSIONER OF EDUCA TION CALLS A COLLEGE CON FERENCE. Washington, D. C., April 9.—Com missioner of Education Tigert Wed nesday called the fifth annual confer ence of Negro land grant cotloge edu cation of April 16-18 at Greensboro, N. C. Presidents and officers of the 17 Negro land-grant institutions of the South will attend, as well as a large group of State and Federal edu cators. Dr. G. F. Zook, chief of the division of higher education of the bu reau, will preside. eral service. “We are sending a copy of this let ter to President Coolidge.” U. S. Citizens, white and colored, throughout the United States are be j ing urged to protest to the Labor De partment against the retention of Dr. TO FILE SUIT IN WOOD LAWN SCHOOL CAST TO MEET CONDITIONS New Proceedings Will Be in Nature of an Injunction, Which Court Ruled la the Proper Action _ Woodlawn, Ohio, April 9.—The deci sion by the State Supreme court which had the effect of affirming the Court of Appeals’ decision in the controversy between Caucasian and Negro resi dents of the Woodlawn School district, • will result in an entirely new suit to test the question involved, it was stat ed by Negro residents Wednesday. The suit was brought originally by the Negro residents of the district as a mandamus action to compel the School board of the district to cease alleged “discrimination” against the Negro children. The Negro residents complained that the board had segre gated white and colored children in different rooms in the first three grades of that school. The Negro re sidents demanded that the children be mixed. Judge Robert A. IeBIond heard the case and found from the evidence that there were 42 white children in these three grades of the school and 45 Ne gro children. Judge Le Blond found from the evidence that there had been no improper “discrimination” against the children and that the School board had the right under the law to exer cise its discretion as to the establish ment of separate white and Negro classes in the school. The Negro residents carried the case to the Court of Appeals. That court did not pass upon the merits of Judge Le Blond’s decision at all, declaring that the mandamus suit was not the ^proper form of a suit to have been brought. The Court of Appeals held the ques tion could have been tested only by an injunction suit. The Supreme Court refused to review the question. The Negro residents now will file an in junction suit. HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO, SHERIFF INDICTED BY GRAND JURY (Preston News Service) Cincinnati, O., April!).—Richard B. Witt, sheriff of Hamilton County, was indicted by the “business man’s grand jury” in its final report made to the Common Pleas Court Wednesday. Witt is charked in the indictment with permitting a house to be kept as a resort. He is also jointly indicted with Bessie Banks, a colored woman, proprietress of the alleged resort. The building in which the alleged re sort is located is declared in the grand jury report to be the most notoriots building in Cincinnati. It is said that no mention was made in the report of the other heirs, white, who jointly own the property with Sheriff Witt. It is said that Sheriff Witt issuer! a statement following the indictment in which he declared that he was the victim of political enemies who are en deavoring to kill him politically. FILMLAND’S POPULAR HAIRDRESSER DIES FOL LOWING AN OPERATION (Preston News Service) Los Angeles, Cal., April ifc—Seldom has the death of any race member at tracted such wide spread grief as was occasioned by the passing from labor to reward of Mrs. Hattie Wilson Ta boume, nationally recognized as Film land’s most noted hairdresser, who died here Monday March 30th follow ing an operation for a tumor. The funeral services were held the Thursday following and was attended by hundreds of film stars. She was buried beside her mother in Evergreen Cemetery. The funeral was conducted by Connor Johnson undertaking firm. Mrs. Taboume was a life long member of the Episcopal church. Large floral offerings were sent by the Lasky Stu dios, and from patron stars among whom were Estella Taylor. Mita Naldi, Lois Wilson, Cecil DeMille, Betty '"'ompson and others. She was buried in a green silk dress, jade necklace, a rift fror* an admiring film star. Mrs. Tabourne was regarded as ex ceedingly thriftv and during her ex tremely busv life she managed to a mass a considerable portion of this —nrirl’s (roods. She died intestate, leav ing a fortune variously estimated at from fifteen to twenty-five thousand dollars. She leaves a son aged seven years. Land operated by Negro farmers oonals in extent two per cent of the total land area of the United States. Good Friday Should Have Peculiar Sig nificance for Member of African Race There is one outstanding event in the many thrilling and touching scenes enacted on that memorable day upon which JESUS CHRIST was crucified for the salvation of men which should make Good Friday of peculiar significance to all descend ants of the African race. When the Saviour of mankind, after the protracted watching and sleepless ness of twenty-four hours, the ex haustion of His agony and bloody sweat, the fatigue of being hurried to and fro from the courts of three judges, the loss of blood through the scourging, and the weakness of body which in every human being must oc cur through the harrassing of the mind by insults and humiliation, was unable to bear His heavy cross but a short distance beyond the city gate, where He sank under it, the heavy rood was laid by the Roman soldiers upon the stalwart shoulders of a black man, Simon the Cyrenian, who carried the cross for the Son of Man. Intended as a humiliation upon this Negro, it was the greatest honor that could have been bestowed upon him. They enshrined his name in the very Gospel of the Cross. Whenever the story of that memorable day is read or told there things forth the memorial of this son of a despised people. Is this event without significance and profound meaning? The Rt. Rev. James Theodore Hol ly, late (bishop of Haiti, the first man of our race to be elevated to the Episcopate of the Episcopal Church, preached a memorable sermon on the Feast of St. James, July 26, 1878, in Westminister Abbey. The peroration of that eloquent sermon went the rounds of the English-speaking world, and has been considered a classic. Its reference to this event of Good Fri day justifies its quotation here, and is reproduced that those who desire to preserve it for future reference may do so. These were the words with which he closed: "And now on the shores of Old Eng land, the cradle of that Anglo-Saxon Christianity by which I have been, in part at least, illuminated, standing be neath the vaulted roof of this monu mental pile redolent with the piety of by gone generations during so many ages;«in the presence of the ‘Storied urn and animated bust’ that hold the sacred ashes, and commemorate the buried grandeur of so many illustrious personages, I catch a fresh inspira tion and a new impulse of the divine missionary spirit of our common Christianity; and here in the pres ence of God, of angels and of men, on this day sacred to the memory of an apostle whose blessed name was called over me at my baptism, and as I lift up my voice for the first, and perhaps the last, time in any of Eng land’s sainted shrines, I dedicate my self anew to the work of God, of the Gospel of Christ and of the salvation of my fellow-men in the far distant isle of the Caribbean Sea, that has become the chosen field of my special labors. “O, Thou Savior Christ, Son of the Living God, who when Thou wast spurned Iby the Jews of the race of Shem, and, who, when delivered up without cause by the Romans of the race of Japhet on the day of Thy ignominious Crucifixion, hadst Thy ponderous cross borne to Golgotha’s summit on the stalwart shoulders of Simon the Cyrenian, of the race of Ham, I pray Thee, O precious Saviour, remember that forlorn, despised, and rejected race, whose son thus bore Thy cross, when Thou shalt come in the power and majesty of Thy eternal Kingdom to distribute Thy crowns of everlasting glory. “And give to me then, not a place at Thy right hand or at Thy left, but only the place of a gate-keeper at the entrance of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, that I may hehold my re deemed brethren, the saved o the Lord entering therein to be partakers with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of all the joys of Thy glorious and ever lasting Kingdom.” [ The Easter-Tide / PLAN RESTRICTION OF EMPLOYMENT OF AFRICAN NATIVES AND ASIATICS. I General Smuts Sounds Warning A gainst Proposed “Ring of Hatred” of Black Africa and Yellow Asia. (Exclusively by N. A. A. C. P. Press Service.) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 69th Fifth Avenue, New York, has received a report transmitted to the London Times, of a speech made by General Smuts in the South African Legisla ture, warning against the white gov ernment’s Bill to limit the employ ment of native Africans and Asiatics in the South African mines. The Bill, ; known as the Color Bar Bill, would I deprive natives and Asiatics of the certificate required for certain kinds of employment in factories and mines. Warning of the consequences of : such a bill, Gen. Smuts is quoted as I having said: “We shall gather on our heads the hatred of the whole of 1 Asia. We shall feel the weight of that j hatred in years to come. The bill will j he taken as an outrage not only by ' Black Africa but by Yellow Asia. We, a handful of whites, are ringfencing ourselves, first with the near ring of hatred, and, beyond that, with the ring of hatred of the whole of Asia, for while only a few Asiatics are directly affected by this bill, the inclusion of their name will wrin us the hatred of hundreds of millions of Asiatics from the North of Asia to the South. General Smuts asked the govern ment to withdraw the Bill and refer the subject to a committee on which he offered to serve. - I PICKENS GETS AFRICAN TIGER SKIN. New York, N. Y., April 9th.—(By The Associated Negro Press)—An African native has sent to William Pickens a tiger skin by Missionary Curtis H. McDowell and his wife, who returned to the United States on fur lough. This is how it happened: tyr. McDowell and his wife were both pu pils of Mr. Pickens at Talladega Col lege, and on the ir mission field they saw a native who “looked like Prof. Pickens,” in face at least, if not in the fullness of dress. They therefore, nick-named this na tive “Prof. Pickens,” and explained to him the reason why. Pickens says that when the McDow ells return to Africa, he will send this native his photogarph, and that “after the native sees what McDowell accused the native of, said native will hand to the Rev. McDowell next time,' not a tiger skin, but a wild live tiger.” WOM AN FORGER SENTENCED TO JAIL. Washington, D. C., April 9.—(By The Associated Negro Press)—Mrs. Margaret B. Buchanan, who has been secretary of two members of Con gress, and who was recently convicted of on a charge of forging the name of Mrs. Martha Warfield, formerly em ployed by Mrs. Buchanan as cook, has been sentenced by Chief Justice McCoy to serve three years in prison, and to pay a fine of two hundred dollars. “TIME” MAGAZINE CORRECTS SLIP UPON PROTEST BY N. A. A. C. P. Protest by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple, at an unfortunately phrased ar ticle in “Time”, employing the term “blackamoor” and other objectionable phrases, brought a prompt reply from the editor of the magazine who stated: “I agree with you, we were thought less and unfair. It was flippancy, not prejudice, that caused the article to which you object. I am sorry. Through you, I apologize to any of the 11,000,000 whom we may have hurt. "What amends can we make? It seems to me that the best possible amends is for us to resolve in the fu ture to be as fair as we were up to the time of this unfortunate article.” SUBSCRIBERS 80 “FORUM” BE CAUSE OF ARTICLES BY NE GRO WRITERS. Lucius Frank Bell, of Washington, D. C., has forwarded to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, copy of a letter he wrote to the editor of “The Forum” praising the magazine for publishing articles by Negro writers and enclos ing his subscription. Mrs. Bell wrote that he was subscribing to the Forum solely because It was cordial to col ored writers. "This alone,” he wrote, “has caused me to become a yearly subscriber to “The Forum.” MOMFIELD STOREY ACKNOWLEDGES BOTH DIRTNDAT GREETINGS I i - Tells Colored People: “Stand Fast, Persevere in Asserting our Rights and We Cannot be Beaten.” URGES SUPPORT OF ASS’N No Self-Respecting Colored Man Should Be Satisfied With Being a Looker-on When His Help Needed Moorfield Storey, of Boston, for mer President of the American Bar Association, and now President, of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, has ad dressed a message to members of the Association throughout the United States, expressing his thanks for con gratulations received on his 80 birth day and urging all citizens to stand back of the movement for racial jus tice and betterment. “During my life I have seen slavery abolished the world over,” writes Mr. Storey. “I have seen serfdom abolish ed in Russia, I have seen the emperors of France, Turkey, Russia, Austria and Germany swept from their thrones, and their places taken by the representatives of free peoples. Bear ing these facts in mind, I want you to realize that the tide of freedom is rising the world over, and that its pro gress is irresistible.” Mr. Storey’s letter in full is as fol lows: “To the Various Branches of the Na tional Association for the Advance ment of Colored People, “My Friends: “ I have received from Branches of this Association all over the country the most cordial congratulations on my eightieth birthday, and most grati fying assurances of their regard for me personally. I take this means of thanking one and all for these mes sages of respect and affection, and as long as my health permits I shall con tinue to work for the cause which the Association was founded to promote. I bid them be of good cheer and per severe in their efforts. “The suits that are brought in the courts against those who violate the rights of the colored people in this country are most effective weapons, and every judgment in our favor is a precedent which discourages attacks. Let it be generally understood that it is not safe to injure a colored man or woman, that lynching is dangerous to the lynchers, that the colored citizens of this country are determined to as sert their rights under the constitu tion and laws, and those rights will be respected and the progress of the race will ibe more rapid. “During my life I have seen slavery abolished the world over, I have seen serfdom ended in Russia, I have seen the emperors of France, Turkey, Rus sia, Austria and Germany swept from their thrones, and their places taken by the representatives of free peoples. Bearing these facts in mind I want you to realize that the tide of freedom is rising the world over, and that its progress is irresistible. Least of all countries of the world can the United States arrest this progress, as it was the first to announce the proposition that all men are created free and equal, and that all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. "We have only to stand fast, only to persevere in asserting our rights and we cannot be beaten. Take no backward step, urge our fellow-citi zens to join our organization, to fight with us and not stand by mere lookers on. That is a positio nof which every colored man should be ashamed. His help is needed and the larger our force, the sooner will come our suc cess. Yours truly, (Signed) MOORFIELD STOREY.” HON, JEFFERSON S. COAGE, AP POINTED DEPUTY RECORDER. (Preston News Service) Washington, D C., Apr. 9.—Jeffer son S. Coage, of Delaware, has just been named Deputy Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia by Record/ er Arthur G. Froe. The new ap pointee, who entered upon his official duties April 1, is a conspicuous figure in national politics by reason of the appointment which he formerly held under the Coolidge administration as Commissioner to the Virgin Island, up on return from which Coage lectured in the principal cities of the East up on economic and industrial conditions in the Virgin Island.