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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1926)
iss The Monitor mi NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS I THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor. stop it Year—:> § ts a Copy. OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1926 VoL XII.—No. 1. Whole Number ~>7I NEW BEDFORD GIBLS WIN ft VICTORY CONGRESSMAN DYER RAPS REPUBLICANS FOR DEATH OF BILL ( liarues Defeat of Anti-Lynch Kill to Insincerity and Supineness of 0. I*. Members in United States Senate, —- » FAVORABLE ACTION IN HOUSE Senate Judiciary Committee Comes in for Cordial Condemnation From Solon. Norris Is Member. Chicago.—Speaking before the 17th annual conference of the National As sociation for the Advancement of Col ored People, Representative I,. C. Dyer of Missouri, blamed Republican sena tors, especially those on the judiciary committee, who failed to support the McKinley-Dyer anti-l>(nching bill, which would make lynching a federal offense and provides for a fine of $10, 000 to he imposed upon uny county in which a lynching occurs, such sum to lie recoverable by dependents of the mob's victim. "A sincere and earnest effort has been made by the house of represen tatives in the past several congresses to pass this measure.” said Congress man Dyer. “In the 67th congress, this legislation passed by a very large ma jority. The United States senate failed in that congress to pass it- The house of representatives has been ready and still is, to pass this legis lation at any time. It has been con sidered useless, however, to do so, in view of the action of the senate when this legislation went before them in the 67th congress. They allowed a small number of senators to put on a filibuster and stop its passage there. We all know that the senate could then, and could now, if it wanted to, adopt a cloture rule which would limit debate and enable its members to vote. With the house in favor of it, it could have become a law signed by the pres ident, who has stated many times that he favors it. "A hearing was held by the judi ciary committee of the senate upon the bill introduced by Senator McKinley, in the senate, the same one that I introduced in the house. At the hear ing on February 16, a number of friends of this legislation appeared in favor of it. Among them was James Weldon Johnson, secretary of the N. A. A. C. I’. He made a very splen did address and furnished very com plete data and reasons for the enact ment of the legislation into law. In addition to that, he furnished an able legal brief shwing the constitutional ity of the legislation. No one appeared at the hearing in opposition to the hill. Not withstanding this, the judi ciary committee of the senate not only has failed, but it has refused by a vote of its members to favorably re port this bill to the senate. “Since the judiciary committee of the senate has had this legislation di rectly before them, as stated above, and as they have had a hearing upon It, and then refused to report it to the senate, it is apparent to everyone that the fault lies entirely with the senate, and that it would not only be foolish from a legislative standpoint, but that it Would be insulting to those who are especially urging this legislation to keep repeatedly passing it in the house. “A number of the senators who re cently have failed of renomination had my opposition. The chief respon sibility and the chief foilure t<> act, far as this congress is concerned, lie- with the judiciary committee of the senate. That the friends of this legislation may know who these sen ator.s are and where they are from, 1 give information touching this, to-wit: Republican members: Senators Albert II. Cummins (Iowa), William E. Horah (Idaho), George W. Norris (Nebras ka), Richard P- Ernst (Kentucky), Rice W. Means (Colorado), J. W. Har reld (Oklahoma), Charles S. Deneen (Illinois), Frederick H. Gillett (Mas sachusetts), and Guy D. Goff (West Virginia). Democratic members: Sen ators Lee S. Overman (North Caro lina), James A. Reed (Missouri), Henry F. Ashurst (Arizona), Thomas CALIFORNIA VETERANS ELECT TWO COLORED OFFICERS Monterey, Cal.—At the state con vention of the United Veterans of the Republic, which closed recently at Monterey after a four-day session, N. L. Montgomery, commander of Unit No. 112, and Harry Beal, a gov ernor, were elected to important posts. N. L. Montgomery is now a state vice commander and Harry L. Beal a member of the executive committee of the state of California.. Commander Montgomery is a world war veteran, /commander of Benj. J. Bowie post of the American legion and vice com mander of the Inter-City Council of the Ix>s Angeles American Ia>gion post*. Only three colored veterans attend ed the convention—one from Salinas ' ear Monterey, and the two veterans from Los Angeles, Beal and Mont gomery. COLORED ACTOR HEADS LITTLE THEATRE CAST Los Angeles—The director of the Pot Boiler Art Theatre of Los Angeles has announced that James B. Lowe will be seen in Eugene O’Neil’s “The Dreamy Kid.” Lowe recently created a sensation with his interpretation of Brutus Jones in the play “Emperor Jones." Because of his great work in this last play, Lowe has been mentioned for pi eminent parts in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and De Mille's “Porgy.” “The Dreamy Kid” will be one of several one-act playlets to Ik* pre sented at the Pot Boiler Theatre dur ing July. •OPPORTUNITY’ EDITOR INVITED TO CONDUCT NEGRO SURVEY Los Angeles—The Community Chest officials of Los Angeles who are plan ning a Negro industrial survey, have teen asked by Mrs. Katherine Barr, head of the local branch of the Ur ban league, to bring Charles S. John son, editor of the Opportunity maga zine, to i/os Angeles to supervise the taking of the survey. F unds have been appropriated for the survey and if the proper arrangements I are made between Mr. Johnson and | the survey board, work should be j starter! under the supervision of the i brilliant easterner the first of July. Urban league officials are insisting upon Charles Johnson being employed 'for the work because of his success in the game lines of endeavor in Chicago .an/I other cities. ' A survey was conducted last year in Los Angeles hut it Is deemed advisable that a new and more thorough one he made this year. I he survey is being made with the object of deter- ! 'mining the status of the Negro wag'* earner in this city in industrial plants. N. A. A. C. P. LEGAL COMMITTEE MEETS ON SEGREGATION DECISION New York—The National Legal com-j inittee of the National Association for die Advancement of Colored People, ha^ held a meeting to discusa further steps in the segregation fight, following tie* I . S. Su preme Court’s decision in the Curtis srg gregation case in Washington, D. C. I lie meeting was held in the offices of Louis Marshall, 120 Broadway, and besides Mr. Marshall there were in attendance Aithur B. Spingarn. chairman of the committee, James A. Cobh of Washington, Herbert K. Stockton and James Weldon Johnson, secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Because of the fart that the Supreme Court did not pass u[H>n the merits of I |he case hut deelared itself to he without I jurisdiction, the committee decided to take up another case as soon as it may in ' possible that will force a conclusive proof upon the fundamental questions involved. J. Walsh (Montana), Thaddeus H. Car away (Arkansas), William H. King (Utah), and M. M. Neely (West Vtr ftinia).” Mr Dyer quoted from a press state p ent of the N. A. A. C. P., showing that four senators had voted for the measure in committee: Cummins, Ernst and Denecn, all Republicans and A- hurst, Democrat. For Negroes, No Republicans or Dem ocrats---Only Friends and Opponents Chicago, III.—Declaring that for Negroes in America “there are no Republicans anil no Democrats, only friends and oppo nents." Moorfield Storey, of Boston, presi dent of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in a mes sage read at the opening mass meeting, June 23rd, at the Association’s Seven teenth Annual conference, urged colored people to unite in hehulf of their citi zenship rights. Mr. Storey, who was sec retary during the reconstruction days to Senator Charles Sumner, and has been president of tbe American Bar Associa tion, could not come to Chicago because of the strain of such a journey in his advanced years, sending the message read. “We represent more than twelve mil lion persons of Negro blood,” Mr. Storey's message continued, “entitled under our Constitution and laws to every right that belongs to any American citizen, sure eventually to receive those rights, and de termined to fight for them until they are secured. “The need of the hour is union. We must act together, work together, and vote together. We ask no charity, no privi-1 lege, only the rights of every American citizen, the right to live unmolested in any house where we have a legal right 'o live, the right to he protected in our j persons and our property against mob j violence, the right to a fair trial if ac cused of crime or involved in uny civil controversy, the same rights that any other citizen has in public parks, public schools,1 and all public institutions supported by taxes of which our taxes are a purl. We ask equal rights in public conveyances, public hotels, public places of amuse ments and above all we want the right to vote, for otherwise we are taxed and drafted without representation, the cause ! of the Revolution which established the ! United States. “How shall we use our votes? The answer is: vote together for men who Will work for our rights and Tor no others.’ There are for us no Republic ans and no Democrats. There are only friends and opponents. We are tired of promises, pleasant words, appeals to our gratitude for the acts of dead men fifty years ago. We want what those men up held now, we want constitutional amend ments which they passed and enforced, we want the rights which they gave us rec ognized, and no man who will yield any jot of those rights will receive our sup port. Let us make this clear and even ' the fraction of our votes which we can J cast will be found a mighty weapon. “Our next weaiHiti is the courts of the country. Our experience has abundantly satisfied us that the courts are our surest allies, and we have won many substantial Victories. Our rule must be that wherever any right is infringed our organization must be ready to take the case into court i and there seek appropriate redress. "Finally there is the never-failing ap- I peal to public opinion, and now especially at this anniversary time when men's minds ] will be recalled to the great principles I of \merican freedom. When the words of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, and the great band whose spokesmen were Sumner, Phillips, Garrison and their as sociates, are quoted on every side, it is time to ask our fellow citizens what those words mean, and if they are proud to repeat them, whether it is only as a fa miliar jingle or as words of vital meaning by which they wish to live. The great commandment, the golden rule which is the very essence of Christianity, does not ibid us love our white neighbors as our selves, Christ does not ask that little white children come unto him ‘for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven,’ We flatter ourselves that we are the most enlightened people on earth and are free with our criticism of Euro|)ean na tions. Yet we are the only people on earth where human beings are burned alive at the stake, where men, women and children look on with approval and where the murderers go unwhipped of justice and walk the streets, while the smell of burning flesh still pollutes the air, with heads erect exulting in their barbarism. Go through this country and open your eyes. If yod are civilized and Christians you cannot help being horrified at the treatment which is visited on our Negro fellows, and at the indifference with which it iB regarded. “The good people of this country must get together and uproot these abuses or the day will come when the whole coun try will suffer the bitter consequences. Abuses like those which the National As sociation for the Advancement of Colored People is formed to combat cannot long be tolerated without bringing the pun ishment which may 'have leaden feet but surely has iron hands.’ My friends, let us close up our ranks and press on." NEWARK PUBLIC LIBRARY SHOWS COLLECTION OF NEGRO BOOKS Newark, N. J.—The Newark public li brary is showing during the months ot June and July, a collection of books, pain phlets, pictures and playbills illustrating the Negro’s contributions to American culture. Most of the material shown has been lent for the purpose by Eugene Gregory, Newark lawyer. Among the exhibits are editions of the poems of Phyllis Wheatley ineluding the poem in her own handwriting, manu scripts of the poems of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, books, letters anil autographs of Frederick Dotigluss, and many biogra phies, pamphlets and letters from slavery and Civil War days. Among contemporary colored writers represented in the exhibi tion are Matthew Henson, the late Booker T. Washington, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jessie Fauset, Walter White, W'. E. B. Du l&is, Jean Toomer, and James W'eldon Johnson. A feature of the exhibition are signed state papers of the Haitian liberator, Toussaint L’Ouverture. MAYOR APPOINTS COLORED MEN ON N. Y. CITY SURVEY COMMITTEE New York Mayor Walker has appointed a number of prominent New York colored citizens members of a committee of 500 who will help the officials of the city of New York in discovering and planning to meet the needs of the growing metroplis. The colored members of the mayor’s com mittee are: James Weldon Johnson, sec retary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Dr. W. E. B. Du Buis, Editor of The Crisis; Eugene Kinckle Jones, secretary of the Urban league; John K. Nail, of the firm of Nail & I*arker; Dr. Louis T. Wright; terdinand Q. Morton, Civil Service Com missioner; and Lester A. Walton, journal Ut The committee comprises many of the outstanding persons in New York civic and social life, including bank presidents and industrial leaders jurists, educators, welfare workers, engineers and represent atives of all walks of life. Among the prominent members of the committee arc: the presidents of the New York and Co lumbia universities; the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the director of Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re search, the presidents of the N. Y. Life Insurance company, of the N. Y. Times, of the Herald-Tribune, of the Parks and Playgrounds Association, etc. The duties of the committee will be to report on housing and zoning, port fa cilities, traffic regulation, sanitation, high ways and bridges, parks and playgrounds, and new sources of municipal revenue. ' Newport, Ky.—School teachers of this city, while on duty, were ordered by the board of education to wear their dresses “with the lower edge not more than 11 inches from the ground, 1 “after a mothers’ club had protested that short skirts distracted the stu dents from their studies, I White Oaks, Ky.—Officer G. S. Mc : Neal said he dreamed several nights ago that there was liquor in the Bap- j tist church here. Investigation later 'revealed 20 gallons of “red” liquor in the belfry, much to the amazement of the congregation. None of them, however, was arrested. VICTORY FOR COLORED GIRLS IX USE OF NEW BEDFORD SWIMMING POOL New York.—New Bedford (Mass.) branch of the N. A. A. C. P. has es tablished the right of colored girls to use the Y. W. C. A. swimming pool in that city, according to reports re ceived by the national office of the N. A. A. C. P. The vote of the Y. W. C. A., accord ing the swiming pool rights to colored girls was taken after a conference equested by Mrs. Joseph Webster, secretary of the New Bedford N. A. A. C. P. It was voted that: “The board of the Y. W. C. A. wishes to go on record and states that there will be no discrimination in race, creed or color as long as girls and women i ve to uphold the purpose of this Association.” The fight by the N. A. C. C. P. against the swimming pool discrimin ation was upheld by both the New Bedford Evening Standard and the Newr Bedford Times, local dailies. NEGRO EXHIBITS AT SESQUl Philadelphia. Pa.—The collective Ne gro exhibit in the Palace of Agriculture is rapidly nearing completion. Decoration is now being put on by Miss Laura Wheeler, race artist, who has spent much lime abroad in the study of her profes sion. The scheme of the decoration is taken from ancient African art, and will be unique. 1’he booth of the "Sesqui-Dressmakers’ Club” has been worked out with splendid design under the supervision of Mrs. Fan nie Jones, a practical dressmaker and a leuder in artistic fashions. The club con sists ot 2.i persons who have combined to pul on a splendid exhibition of race efficiency in that line. Cheyney Normal school is featuring the subject of education, particularly as relates to the history of the Quakers in their aid to colored people. Among other features developed will be a medical exhibit in the form of a mini ature emergency hospital under the super vsion of Dr. John P. Turner. A trained nurse and an interne have been detailed from local hospitals to be constantly in attendance and to attend emergency cases as well as to exhibit hospital achievements of our group. Hie manager of the exhibit, T. J. Calloway, announces that this exhibit, when completed will be the most unique of its kind in that all features are being worked out on the basis of excellence in detail. No exhibits have been shown whicli oo not stand out as representing distinc tive contributions to the race advancement. The pageant “Loyalty’s Gift” under the direction of Mrs. Dora Cole Norman, will be held in the magnificent auditorium, wth a seating capacity of 20,000 on July 12th. DENSITY OF COLORED POPULATION Washington—In the 1920 population of the United States averaged 35.5 inhabi- j tants per square mile of territory. The I Negro population averaged 3.5 persons for ; , each of the 2,973,774 square miles that constitutes the total land area of the United States. Leading uR other areas was the Dis trict of Columbia with a colored popu lation of 1,832.7 persons per square mile, followed in the order named by states in which there are ten or more colored inhabitants per square mile: South Car olina, 28.3; Maryland, 24.6; Georgia, 20.5; Mississippi, 20.1; Alabuma, 17.5; Virginia, 17.1, North Carolina, 15.7; Delaware and Lousiana, 15.4 each, and Tennessee, 10.8. In the northern states, New Jersey ranked in first place in the density of the colored population with an average of 15.6 persons per square mile, fol lowed by Pennsylvania with 6.3; Ohio with 4.5, New York, 4.2; Illinois, 3.3; and Missouri, with 2.6 colored inhabit ants per square mile. Since 1920, how ever, decreases in the South and in creases in the North have followed as a result of the continued migration; and it is probable that Pennsylvania has now joined New Jersey and that these are the only northern slates in which there are ten or more colored inhabit ants per square mile of land area. ADVANCEMENT ASSOCIATION BE GINS CAMPAIGN Militant Civil Rights Organization Launches Drive for Large Fund to Fight Segregation and Disfranchisement. SECRETARY SOUNDS SLOGAN James Weldon Johnson Urges Race to Mobilize Financial Strength to Maintain Fundamental Rights Chicago.—A million-dollar fund to fight segregation, Jim Crow and dis franchisement, “the last vestiges of slavery,” was launched Sunday after noon in the Auditorium Theatre at a mass meeting of the National Asso- * ciation for the Advancement of Col ored People, holding its 17th annnual conference here. The fund was launch ed during an address by the secre tary of the association, James Weldon Johnson of New York, ex-U. S. consul j to Nicaragua and Venezuela, writer, and editor of compilations of Negro ! poetry and spirituals. ‘What American Negroes need and what we propose to begin raising now." declared Mr. Johnson, “is a fund of one million dollars to fight se j gregation, Jim Crow and disfranchise ment, these being the last vestiges of j slavery. “Such a fund will be a demonstra i lion of the mass power which the ! Negro intends to use and will serve j notive upon the country of the Negro’s I determination to secure and maintain every fundamental right which should be his in common with other Amer icans. “It is possible and feasible for American Negroes to raise this mil lion-dollar fund. The race has given the money and can give. The demon stration was recently given in the quick raising of a legal defense fund of more than $70,000. “The American Negro asks no al lowances, for what may be his short comings or his lapses. But he does demand equality of treatment. Ig norant white men have rights; pover ty-stricken white men have rights; and even white criminals have certain rights; and these rights belong to them regardless of their condition. We intend to see that unhappily circum stanced black Americans have the same guarantees and opportunities as unhappily circumstanced white Amer icans. “We shall, moreover, use this power to smash the practices which allow the most unkempt white persons to travel under first class conditions while the neatest colored person must travel Jim Crow; that allow the most ignorant white citizens to vote and bar the most intelligent black citizen; that allow a white man charged with a crime to be tried by a court of law and a black one to be burned by a mob at the stake.” BISHOP JOHN A. GREGG DECLINES HOWARD PRESIDENCY Washington — Bishop John A. Gregg, former president of Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio, following an informal conference of bishops of the African M. E. church at the recent commencement exercises at Wilberforce, has declined to accept the presidency of Howard Univer sity, recently tendered to him by its trustees, of which Colonel Theodore Roos evelt is chairman. Separation of Bishop Gregg from his parochial duties was found to be beyond the jurisdiction of the Board ! of Bishops of the church. It is said that the acceptance of the Howard presi dency by a Bishop would be an act of "inversion” inasmuch as the bishops of the \. M. E. Church are usually required to serve first as college presidents. Paris—A large part of this city is built on the water-soaked soil of the River Rhine, and in consequence, pile foundations have been used extensive ly. The wooden piles hitherto em j ployed are now being replaced by concrete.